X-Men What If: How Would the Future Change?

[PsychoEFrost]

Proposing a what if question to the forum at large, brought about by the recent annual:

What If Scott died along with Jean at the end of Grant Morrison's run?

In this scenario, Scott departs the world of the living to be with Jean in the White Hot Room. M-Day occurs as it did before.

When the Purifiers, the FoH, and all of the other enemies come to kill the X-Men, what happens? Does someone else take up Scott original plan of violence to counter them?

[Havok83]

Proposing a what if question to the forum at large, brought about by the recent annual:

What If Scott died along with Jean at the end of Grant Morrison's run?

In this scenario, Scott departs the world of the living to be with Jean in the White Hot Room. M-Day occurs as it did before.

When the Purifiers, the FoH, and all of the other enemies come to kill the X-Men, what happens? Does someone else take up Scott original plan of violence to counter them?

I dont think Storm would have ran off and married BP. She'd have stayed to lead the X-men. I really cant see anyone else from that era picking up Scott's position

[PsychoEFrost]

My personal view is that the X-Men and the remaining mutants would have suffered heavy losses during the attacks. Eventually, the Avengers step in and rescue the remaining members. The eventual future is the X-Men living on a sort of government reservation as a protected species, with a certain level of autonomy.

[TheDeadSpace]

My personal view is that the X-Men and the remaining mutants would have suffered heavy losses during the attacks. Eventually, the Avengers step in and rescue the remaining members. The eventual future is the X-Men living on a sort of government reservation as a protected species, with a certain level of autonomy.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure Here Comes Tomorrow solidified the idea that the future would have been horrible if Scott was absent.

[Hizashi]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure Here Comes Tomorrow solidified the idea that the future would have been horrible if Scott was absent.

I read it as a domino effect that goes Jean dies->Scott leaves->X-Men are strained->Hank suffers under the strain->X-Men fall apart->bad future.

[Snoop Dogg]

lorna gets a shotgun and takes command

[Digifiend]

Without revolutionary Cyclops, the time displaced O5 would never have been around (since Beast brought them to the future in order to bring Scott back to his senses). That would potentially mean that Jean is never resurrected, since young Jean was involved with that. It also means everyone they fought in All-New X-Men and X-Men Blue would've had to be handled by someone else. If nobody did take care of those villains, then...

[blanchett]

I always thought it would be interesting to see a mini where Scott died instead of Jean at the end of Morrison's run. I always felt that Jean would have mercy killed Wanda before M-Day. She's really the only person who could have actually understood what she was going through and how terrible the cost would be when Wanda slipped.

[The tall man]

I think it's kind of arrogant to say all of mutantkind would be destroyed because one single solatery person was not there. The X-men have saved the world and the universe itself countless times without Cyclops, not to mention some members are among the most powerful beings on the planet and all are highly competent. To say Cyclops dies and the X-men just fall apart and are slaughtered is disrespectful. They would continue on as any species would. Mutants are too varied and powerful to just roll over and die, dispite what has been presented in x- books recently. When people backs are against the wall and they have the power to fight back they will. The idea that they need Cyclops to lead them is a joke, if you see your family being threatened to dont need someone else to tell you to fight to save them. So yes mutants would be under threat weather Cyclops is there or not, I mean he's not immortal so what happens when he dies permanently? Unless some think mutants will achieve utopia before he's gone.

[FUBAR007]

When the Purifiers, the FoH, and all of the other enemies come to kill the X-Men, what happens? Does someone else take up Scott original plan of violence to counter them?

Yep.

Most likely Cable or Wolverine. Perhaps Emma, too, if she matured back to her late 90s hardass self.

Addendum: Magneto would've played a much larger role, too.

[ariwl1]

What I often found weird about the end of Morrison's run leading to HCT is that it discounts the fact that Charles was still alive. I can believe that the X-Men would fall apart if Beast were left in charge, buuuut I have a harder time thinking that personalities like Charles, Storm, and Emma would have watched him flounder and the school/team all the way to ruin. Yes, Xavier was planning to retire at that time, but I can't believe he really would have if the situation was that obviously screwed up. And even without Charles, Emma had the resources and resolve to at least keep the school going on her own.

[pandafarmer]

I always thought it would be interesting to see a mini where Scott died instead of Jean at the end of Morrison's run. I always felt that Jean would have mercy killed Wanda before M-Day. She's really the only person who could have actually understood what she was going through and how terrible the cost would be when Wanda slipped.

This is actually a super interesting viewpoint and it wouldn't shock me if Avengers Disassembled/House Of M was one of the reasons they took her out. It's possible they would have had something similar to House Of M, but they would have absolutely would have had to take Jean out of the equation to make the story gel.

You also change some pretty big storylines by keeping Jean around. Emma basically took the place of Jean in several storylines as the resident "uber psychic" and we certainly would have had a much different resolution to Astonishing X-Men's Whedon run as well as the Grey family massacre had Jean been there for example.

[Hizashi]

There's no way Jean would've mercy killed Wanda - taking her own life in DPS does not translate to euthanizing someone else.

[ariwl1]

I've long thought Jean would have been the most sympathetic non-Avenger to Wanda and, being a telepath, would have tried her hardest to help. But House of M still would have happened.