The Complex

[WeaponX]

I believe in the Complex, because I think there's no disputing that orders came down to stop the X-Men cartoons, merchandising, etc. Marvel-dot-com also focuses more on the movie verse characters and other non-X-MEN franchises. But I firmly believe--and I could be wrong--that the EinC and Marvel editors and writers have tried bravely to keep the X-MEN comics going, and keep them a part of the MU. I guess we fans will never know the truth of it, but I imagine there have been some discussions about cancelling the comics and sending the mutants off to a separate world or universe. I think Marvel publishing has tried their best to keep the X-MEN going, given the politics of Disney/Marvel and the circumstances. It's probably not easy being a mutant fan whether you're a reader, an editor, or a writer. I also think the new books starring teen Jean and Iceman along with the new Laura Wolverine are good signs that publishing is trying to attract younger readers, which means they want X-MEN to continue and flourish into the future.

What I'm afraid of now is, a retread of 1990s X-MEN instead of moving forward with new ideas and new stories. I used to be afraid there wouldn't be any X-MEN at all. But I'm relieved by the announcements for 2017 in that regard. I just don't want to read about Saint Xavier and bwhahaha eeevvvilll Magneto and Jean as chief wheelchair pusher and Cyke as Jean and Xavier's shadow, etc. But we'll have to wait and see how all these Inhuman and X-MEN crossovers and limited series play out.

In the meantime, I really want some new X-MEN wall calendars for 2017. I miss those. There are occasional X-Men action figures, or rumors of them, and some apparel. But no more wall calendars.

I teach kids. All the kids who pick up comics are Batman, Superman, Wolverine, Spider-Man, Cap, Hulk, and Ironman fans. Have yet to find a kid interested in X-23 or any of these new moving forward characters. There are a few Miles fans. But kids couldn't care less about these new characters they want the established long standing heroes.

[uebersoldat]

I believe in the Complex, because I think there's no disputing that orders came down to stop the X-Men cartoons, merchandising, etc. Marvel-dot-com also focuses more on the movie verse characters and other non-X-MEN franchises. But I firmly believe--and I could be wrong--that the EinC and Marvel editors and writers have tried bravely to keep the X-MEN comics going, and keep them a part of the MU. I guess we fans will never know the truth of it, but I imagine there have been some discussions about cancelling the comics and sending the mutants off to a separate world or universe. I think Marvel publishing has tried their best to keep the X-MEN going, given the politics of Disney/Marvel and the circumstances. It's probably not easy being a mutant fan whether you're a reader, an editor, or a writer. I also think the new books starring teen Jean and Iceman along with the new Laura Wolverine are good signs that publishing is trying to attract younger readers, which means they want X-MEN to continue and flourish into the future.

What I'm afraid of now is, a retread of 1990s X-MEN instead of moving forward with new ideas and new stories. I used to be afraid there wouldn't be any X-MEN at all. But I'm relieved by the announcements for 2017 in that regard. I just don't want to read about Saint Xavier and bwhahaha eeevvvilll Magneto and Jean as chief wheelchair pusher and Cyke as Jean and Xavier's shadow, etc. But we'll have to wait and see how all these Inhuman and X-MEN crossovers and limited series play out.

In the meantime, I really want some new X-MEN wall calendars for 2017. I miss those. There are occasional X-Men action figures, or rumors of them, and some apparel. But no more wall calendars.

You had me there for a minute with your first paragraph, but I think your opinion of the X-Men that pretty well put them on the map and made them Marvel's biggest property is a little on the fringe. I'd give my right hand to have those X-Men back. The 'new' directions have left a lot to be desired. The characters are nothing like they used to be back in the 80's and 90's. They don't resonate with a good many fans and especially with a lot of fans that grew up with those X-Men.

[somacula]

You had me there for a minute with your first paragraph, but I think your opinion of the X-Men that pretty well put them on the map and made them Marvel's biggest property is a little on the fringe. I'd give my right hand to have those X-Men back. The 'new' directions have left a lot to be desired. The characters are nothing like they used to be back in the 80's and 90's. They don't resonate with a good many fans and especially with a lot of fans that grew up with those X-Men.

I think it depends on the character... Look at mi avatar and see what I mean ... Yeah a lot of characters are greatly changed but those changes haven't been always negative... I'm fine with trying to recapture the 90's but there's the issue that the X men gotta frow and evolve, I don't wanna ditch good character growth (Cyclops) to get back an older version that's not as interesting as the modern one... I think Cyke is one of the few characters that has gotten better than his 90's version

[MarvelMaster616]

I teach kids. All the kids who pick up comics are Batman, Superman, Wolverine, Spider-Man, Cap, Hulk, and Ironman fans. Have yet to find a kid interested in X-23 or any of these new moving forward characters. There are a few Miles fans. But kids couldn't care less about these new characters they want the established long standing heroes.

That's an interesting observation. I can't help but wonder just how much Marvel's recent diversity push is affecting new fans. When I was a kid, I got introduced to comics largely from cartoons and those really shaped my tastes for Marvel and DC alike. Kids today don't just have cartoons. They have the whole MCU and to date, the MCU doesn't have Riri Williams, Miles Morales, Amadeus Cho, or X-23 (until next year, that is). They still maintain the classic lineup. That leads me to wonder whether Marvel is trying to play the long game. They want a new generation of fans to see these characters in the same light as the originals. I really don't think that's possible, given the history that the originals have. Marvel has tried to replace these characters before and they've never been able to sustain it. Steve Rogers eventually came back to take his mantle. Tony Stark comes back to become Iron Man. I get why Marvel wants a big diversity push, but can it work in the long run? That remains to be seen.

[Xelossik]

MarvelMaster616:

has tried to replace these characters before and they've never been able to sustain it.

They want to create new characters. They don't want to lose older characters.

[Jackraow21]

That's an interesting observation. I can't help but wonder just how much Marvel's recent diversity push is affecting new fans. When I was a kid, I got introduced to comics largely from cartoons and those really shaped my tastes for Marvel and DC alike. Kids today don't just have cartoons. They have the whole MCU and to date, the MCU doesn't have Riri Williams, Miles Morales, Amadeus Cho, or X-23 (until next year, that is). They still maintain the classic lineup. That leads me to wonder whether Marvel is trying to play the long game. They want a new generation of fans to see these characters in the same light as the originals. I really don't think that's possible, given the history that the originals have. Marvel has tried to replace these characters before and they've never been able to sustain it. Steve Rogers eventually came back to take his mantle. Tony Stark comes back to become Iron Man. I get why Marvel wants a big diversity push, but can it work in the long run? That remains to be seen.

My kids' favorites?

- Daughter, aged 9 likes Captain Marvel and All New Wolverine (X-23). Also a Hope Summers fan (because I used to read her the Cable series about his raising her in the future when she was little) and thinks Spider-Gwen looks cool but knows nothing about her.

- Son, aged 7 likes Captain America (Rogers), Deadpool, Totally Awesome Hulk (Cho) and Miles Morales Spidey. He likes Parker too, but prefers Miles these days. Closer to his age and he likes his costume better.

Both are also big Teen Titans fans from the cartoon, and she likes Starfire while his fave is Beast Boy. He also likes Cyborg.

Bottom line, though, they do like many of these new versions of the older characters. Mainly because they're younger and it seems they can identify with them more. Both my kids are white, but race really doesn't play any factor in their choice of characters (and I love that). Age is more of a factor. And obviously my son likes funny, irreverent characters (Deadpool, Spider-man, Beast Boy).

Cartoons and films and other mass media (games, merchandise) seem to have more of an impact on which characters kids like than the comics do. Unless their dads read and buy them comics, like I do. And since none of the newer replacements are really featured in mass media, I'd argue that most little girls out there don't know that Wolverine is a female now (for example). If they really wanted these characters to take off, they should push them via cartoons and merch. With the older versions popping in on the show and acting as mentor types to them, to show the continuity and the torches being passed.

They could do a Champions cartoon with the characters from that book easily, and I bet it'd be huge if done in that cartoony, funny Teen Titans Go style. With Miles, Cho, Kamala, Viv Vision, Kid Nova, and throw in Wolverine (Laura) instead of a confusing time-displaced teen Cyclops. With guest appearances by the adult versions and other long-standing adult Marvel characters like Peter Parker Spidey, She-Hulk, Captain Marvel, both Captains America, Vision and Old Man Logan (in fact, they could do a whole episode around how Logan basically came back from a horrible future, and that's why he passed the mantle to Laura).

It could be a huge smash and would really get these characters out there for the younger demographic, which I assume is the whole idea by doing it in the comics in the first place.

[Jumbo]

My nephew (11 years) does not read comics. But he likes cartoons about Spiderman (Parker) and The Avengers. He is also a big fan of Marvel movies and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Unfortunately, he is completely indifferent to any mutants, even Wolverine.

[somacula]

You know they'd just put cyclops as a teen and don't explain his backstory but expect people to know him... Kind of like Robin in teen titans, the Tyke loosely explains his life prior champions and eventually we get to see the X men? Because with Cyclops you get to see the whole X men eventually instead of just Logan if Marvel really wants to promote them you don't use a solo character but a team character?

Anyways, there are some X men ads in the cbr website, yeah lml

[Jackraow21]

Throw in Cyclops too and maybe Riri as Ironheart as well. Why not? Scott can just be a little older than the rest, but still on the younger side. To avoid the whole time displaced younger version deal. Could be kind of cool to make him team leader even, though that may be asking a lot of Marvel to make an X-man the leader of this team in a mass media cartoon...

Probably won't happen, but I think if Marvel really wants these younger legacy characters to ever get a following with kids, a cartoon is a must.

[Child of the Atom]

http://collider.com/x-men-movies-com...ris-claremont/

Not sure if this is new.

[xhx23x]

So bringing this up here cause it might become relevant with the recent apparent thawing of the cold war between Fox/Disney:

Marvel.com: Will players be able to finally slam shut the dimensional rift in this event, or could we see more terrors come through in the future?

Allen Warner: Anything is possible, but if players are able to help the Avengers and heroic sorcerers succeed, I think we'll be done with dimensional rifts for now. As you can guess, that doesn't mean that everyone is safe. A conqueror will emerge from the timefog. Monsters will be unleashed. An embittered robot will start a revolution. A new school will make its presence known, and challenge Avengers Academy's status as the greatest institution for heroes with powers. And that's just a small sample of what's coming.

A while back I posted about one of the voice cast members being credited with voicing Professor X, so this might mean the X-Men will finally return to a video game:

https://twitter.com/volobos/status/713042401162493952

There's also this which might mean that at the very least we could see Dazzler:

Marvel.com: Can you give us any hints on what’s coming next for the Avengers Academy students and faculty once Kaecilius is dealt with?

Allen Warner: There have been clues about a known enemy of Asgard who finally got his hands on one of the most powerful artifacts in the universe just in time for winter. A legendary warrior will try to stop him, calling on her most powerful friends and allies to form A Force strong enough to save the world.

course this is all speculation so far.

http://marvel.com/news/video_games/2...engers_academy

[Psi-Lord]

‘Inhumans’ Movie “Will Happen For Sure”, Could Happen in Phase 4 Says Kevin Feige

“If Film Rights Were Owned By Marvel, The X-Men Would Probably Still Be The Paramount Book In The Canon” – Chris Claremont Talks Shop At NYCC

[somacula]

‘Inhumans’ Movie “Will Happen For Sure”, Could Happen in Phase 4 Says Kevin Feige

“If Film Rights Were Owned By Marvel, The X-Men Would Probably Still Be The Paramount Book In The Canon” – Chris Claremont Talks Shop At NYCC

Inhumans was Ike Perlmutter pet project, they dumped it after they disbanded the Marvel creative committee and kicked Ike and pals, thus inhumans went into wait list

[MarvelMaster616]

http://collider.com/x-men-movies-com...ris-claremont/

Not sure if this is new.

I think he's right. I've met Chris Claremont. He's not the kind to get excessively conspiratorial. He's very smart, very insightful, and very understanding. I think he sees what we're seeing. He sees Marvel taking advantage of the incentives that movie rights offer. They don't have the film rights to the X-men so they just don't have the incentive to give them the same push they do with the Avengers. That's perfectly valid and we've seen that manifest for the last couple years now. I also think he's right in that if Marvel/Disney owned the film rights to X-men, they would be much more prominent than they are now. X-men was one of Marvel's most reliable sellers for years. They would've had far more incentive to promote them if there were Marvel-produced movies involved.

Now I'm not sure if he's aware about the recent shake-ups with Marvel Studio. Claremont is still employed by Marvel, but he's employed by Marvel Entertainment and not Marvel Studios. Those are separate entities now. That changes the incentives considerably. And keep in mind, this happened at NYCC. That was before the ResurrXion lineup was launched. I'd be very interested to hear what he has to say about the X-men now. With Legion on the horizon and another X-men TV show scheduled as well, he'll be seeing what we're seeing. He's in a better position to know the implications than the rest of us, but only time will tell just how they manifest.

[MarvelMaster616]

‘Inhumans’ Movie “Will Happen For Sure”, Could Happen in Phase 4 Says Kevin Feige

He's probably telling the truth. Even if a Racist Xenophobic Slave-Owner movie was championed by Isaac Pearlmutter, that doesn't mean that Feige threw it away as soon as he broke free of Marvel Entertainment. It may be one of those franchises he wants to keep in his back pocket once the contracts are up for the current crop of actors. After Infinity War, the Avengers movies will be entering a pretty uncertain territory. How do you move these franchises forward when actors like Chris Evans and RDJ aren't able to do it anymore? Marvel showed they can make an obscure franchise like Guardians of the Galaxy succeed. Until proven otherwise, I'm going to assume they can make any franchise succeed, including the Racist Xenophobic Slave-Owners.