Age of X-Man: General Discussion *spoilers*

[Rosebunse]

Theory: with her true name not being revealed, what if Unveil is really...

... Joanna Cargill, AKA Frenzy. I say this with her retaining her AoX memories in mind, and that somehow leading to this new incarnation, in AoXM.

Her powers are completely different, but given how things could potentially work, well, who knows?

[Glio]

I was thinking...

If we know that Nate Grey is one of the O5 in Age of X-man but on the other hand it implies that Cable existed in that reality just like Hope Summers and ended up dying ..

What the **** is Nate Grey? Is he even Nate Grey?

[Rosebunse]

I was thinking...

If we know that Nate Grey is one of the O5 in Age of X-man but on the other hand it implies that Cable existed in that reality just like Hope Summers and ended up dying ..

What the **** is Nate Grey? Is he even Nate Grey?

I would assume that he just took Cable's place.

[Glio]

I would assume that he just took Cable's place.

How can he be the son of Scott and of O5 at the same time? Did not anyone find it strange?

[Havok83]

How can he be the son of Scott and of O5 at the same time? Did not anyone find it strange?

He comes from an alternate universe. It’s not that confusing

[xhx23x]

How can he be the son of Scott and of O5 at the same time? Did not anyone find it strange?

I'm sure if anyone question the reality they get to go to virgin prison.

[Rosebunse]

How can he be the son of Scott and of O5 at the same time? Did not anyone find it strange?

Time travel and alternate realities explain everything.

I'm sure if anyone question the reality they get to go to virgin prison.

Aren't most of them probably in there for having sex? Wouldn't it be, like, Sex Addict Prison? Or Horny Jail?

God, I love this theme.

[Anduinel]

Yeah, they're assholes, but that isn't them, it's Nate. Nate is the creepy *******.

Who deliberately chose to put queer characters in charge of policing and repressing the sexuality of an entire world. "Creepy *******" is a massive understatement.

Leah Williams has mentioned on tumblr that she intentionally picked some characters that were famously anti-fascist and anti-authoritarian to be the X-Man’s horny police. Especially because it just shows how much the 616 X-Men aren’t in control of their lives while their “new” versions are put under different circumstances and living entirely new lives. Plus, when Northstar gets his memories back, he’s gonna kick Nate’s ass.

Living for this moment, ngl.

I think what this series shows is that we readers have enough faith in the comics to tolerate some weird stuff. They need to be more adventurous and just give us some faith that we're going to be able to deal with it.

Amen. Along those lines, I hope it also shows the readership isn't afraid to be presented with some concepts that make us think a bit. One of the aspects about AoXM that makes it so deliciously unsettling is how close to the bone some of these ideas hit.

[Anduinel]

Aren't most of them probably in there for having sex? Wouldn't it be, like, Sex Addict Prison? Or Horny Jail?

God, I love this theme.

I adore that on the one hand, we're having the writers discuss their goals in exploring the futility of ideal societies, the dangers of assimilation and cultural homogeny, and suppression of self wrt to this event.

And on the other hand, those same writers:

[Rosebunse]

I adore that on the one hand, we're having the writers discuss their goals in exploring the futility of ideal societies, the dangers of assimilation and cultural homogeny, and suppression of self wrt to this event.

And on the other hand, those same writers:

This is the beauty of this event: the X-Office is treating us like adults by giving us these uncomfortable and creepy stories that are also wonderfully thought provoking and clearly well put together.

But it is also so much fun to have the Horny Police and the Apocalypse sex cult.

What an amazing time to be alive and reading X-Men comics.

[Anduinel]

Bamfing this in from a discussion elsewhere, where someone was wondering how sibling relationships even exist in Nate's utopia.

The way I think it works in AoXM is that people have their memories of canon up to a point (albeit tampered with by Nate), and now they believe that society has reformed and is moving past the (in Nate’s view) selfish chaos of personal attachments. So there would still be families - in that there are still people around who were born to parents, have siblings, remember that sex is a thing, etc - but those relationships are a distasteful remnant of the old age and are supposed to be downplayed as much as possible until they eventually die out. Or else Nate or Dept X mind-wipe you and/or excommunicate you from society.

Which means Nate's X-Men, for the most part, are themselves relics of a time he'd like society to move past. I wonder how long it would take him to supplant them with pod-grown mutants if this universe were to have a longer run.

[xhx23x]

Bamfing this in from a discussion elsewhere, where someone was wondering how sibling relationships even exist in Nate's utopia.

The way I think it works in AoXM is that people have their memories of canon up to a point (albeit tampered with by Nate), and now they believe that society has reformed and is moving past the (in Nate’s view) selfish chaos of personal attachments. So there would still be families - in that there are still people around who were born to parents, have siblings, remember that sex is a thing, etc - but those relationships are a distasteful remnant of the old age and are supposed to be downplayed as much as possible until they eventually die out. Or else Nate or Dept X mind-wipe you and/or excommunicate you from society.

Which means Nate's X-Men, for the most part, are themselves relics of a time he'd like society to move past. I wonder how long it would take him to supplant them with pod-grown mutants if this universe were to have a longer run.

I do wonder if we'll get Nate's actual reason for this? and why he didn't just leave one Cuckoo standing? or split the extermination twins?

Honestly seems like he just left himself a vulnerability in his system by not allowing people to just bang Jean... I mean, just bang in general.

[greyspawn]

I do wonder if we'll get Nate's actual reason for this? and why he didn't just leave one Cuckoo standing? or split the extermination twins?

Honestly seems like he just left himself a vulnerability in his system by not allowing people to just bang Jean... I mean, just bang in general.

I don't believe the twins are real. They are Nate spying on GLOB. I think in each book there are mutants that are not real but are Nate using his powers to spy on each group.

[Maestroneto]

Apocalypse and the X-Tracts #2 variant by peach MoMoKo:

[Anduinel]

Some more info on the whole sibling discussion. It seems like the Cuckoos are a special case, with Nate prioritizing their mutancy over his desire for a world of isolation:

Q: Does Northstar remember Aurora? And if so, does that mean she's 'dead' in this reality?

Williams: He doesn’t–not yet, anyway. She’s not dead though, he just has no memory of her. “All love is forbidden love” covers way more than romance, so most people have had their familial memories taken from them as well. (Department X gets away with…holding onto quite a bit of stuff, but there’s a reason for that.) In Marvelous X-men you see Laura dealing with her memory of Gabby starting to resurface, and she even pops her claws and gets angry at Nate right before Nate takes it from her again.

McGuire: The only real exception to the “we take your family, too” is the Cuckoos, because they don’t function when separated. And I’m honestly surprised and delighted that I was able to get away with dealing with that.

Williams: It totally makes sense tho! Like, AoX is all about celebrating and uplifting mutant ability so if someone’s mutatism ties them to another mutant…he’d probably have to make an exception. It’s why having the Cuckoos in AoX is so great.