What to do With a Problem Like...

[Harpsikord]

Being good I don't disagree, just this idea that Cyclops needs to go away because they are so much better than him.

Oh in that case, yeah, I agree with you. I don't know that any of the leader characters are better than any of the other leader characters... except for Logan in a situation that isn't X-Force.

[Omega Alpha]

In that case:

ICEMAN. Potentially one of Marvel's most archetypal hero properties. Where all flying bricks resemble Superman in some way, all ice-powered protagonists reference Iceman's use of magical ice constructs. If that equity wasn't impressive enough, he is possibly the oldest, and highest profile gay male superhero in the world. All that, and he's still only tangential to the most powerful comic book franchise of the last century, a book that embraces and emboldens the marginalized population. Despite all that amazing positioning, Iceman solo books are poorly handled and subsequently poorly received.
What could and should be done to highlight Iceman either in X-Men properties or other Marvel properties?

The problem is that, the coming out of the closet aside, the 2000's weren't all that good for him- he was used for lame love quadrangles (Polaris, Havok and Nurse Annie) then even Carey had that non-sense with Mystique, then all he did was whine about Scott over and over (even Sina Grace did the former).

They should empathize the aspects people like about him and the ones that have more potential (he's funny, but he's an original X-men with lots of experience and very powerful; the fact he's gay opens lots of story possibilities), and less like he was a rookie that is only there to crack jokes and whine.

Oh in that case, yeah, I agree with you. I don't know that any of the leader characters are better than any of the other leader characters... except for Logan in a situation that isn't X-Force.

But Havok is objectively the worst.

What to do With a Problem Like... Polaris!

Don't act surprised. You knew I was a snake when you let me in.

I would give her a solo, mini or oneshot. Lean toward solo or mini. I'm not saying this just because as a huge fan of her I'd love for her to get one (though that should be obvious). I'm saying it because I'm increasingly convinced Marvel doesn't know what the hell they're doing.

Here's what I'm thinking. Marvel has a problem. They don't see Lorna. When they look at her, all they see is a prop/punching bag/trophy to be used and abused as needed for the benefit of other (usually male, usually Havok) characters. Every time they do this, they cut away something important to the character because it's "not relevant" or it's inconvenient to the only goal they care about of putting the other character(s) on a pedestal.

A solo or mini would go a long way to fixing this problem. Because it would be devoted to Lorna, they would be all but forced to put some real thought into her for once. You can't make a book titled Wolverine and make it only about how much he loves Cyclops, after all. Simultaneously, a dedicated solo or mini would give an opening to revive essential elements of her character that have been ignored for far too long (e.g. surviving the Genoshan genocide), and delve into things that otherwise would never get covered (e.g. who were her foster parents and why did Lorna feel she needed to dye her hair?).

Of course, as I've said before, I'd keep Havok the hell away from her in this. Marvel would feel compelled to make it all about him, which would make the solo/mini/oneshot worthless for its needed purpose.

Speaking more broadly. Even if a solo/mini/oneshot never happened, the big fix for Lorna would come from acknowledging and using her history that Marvel's ignored for too long. She should've been directly involved in Axis because of how Red Skull exploited Genosha's dead. She should've spent some meaningful time with Iceman following his reveal due to their history.

A solo won't sell. I'd simply use her away from Magneto and Havok in a team book.

[The tall man]

Wolverine Needs to be dialed back A LOT He'd have his solo and ONE team book, which will not be his book in disguise. Then he will only have 1 or 2 issue guest appearances in other books IF HE MUST be in them. Secondly his wild seed will be kept under control. NO MORE Kids introduced into his story, and finding a way to get rid of the ones we now have -aside from X-23. His healing factor needs to decrease considerably. Take it back to healing from minor wounds, maybe even some bigger. Bot no regrowing from a single cell or healing in 2 sec.

Monet Keeping her black would be good enough. Also keeping her flaws in check. Imo, PAD exaggerated her negative traits to the point she seemed like a parody sometimes. Making her snobby & bitchy, but keep enough vulnerability about her like GenX rather than going too far & making her hateful Thankfully, imo, only PAD has taken it that far. But it's something i'd monitor.

Wolverine is perfectly fine as is, no need to be dialed back or changed. Why must he stop appearing in various books if the writers choose to include him for the story they want to tell? Logan is popular and has connections all across the MU, it makes perfect sense that he would have guess appearances in other titles or have minis and one shots. The just released Blade and Cap team up books are a great example of utilizing Logan outside of the X-men. It took nothing away from any x-man and Logan's connection to both was used in a organic way. Or do you think some other character would have been a better option (Creed or Laura perhaps)? Logan takes nothing away from any other x-character and no one is forced to buy/read these various Wolverine stories. As far as healing factors go Logan's is not even at the top of that. Both Deadpool and X-23 are known to have more potent healing factors and look at the Immortal Hulk. In recent Uncanny issues Wolverine has taken a beating with no super charged healing to speak of. So no, there is no problem with Wolverine, just some folks that don't like him for various reasons. Thankfully he has his fans that like and support him.

[spirit2011]

Erase Emma Frost from the X-men's story, she wasn't worth killing Jean again. It was for nothing Jean is back and Emma a villain again, an entire decade without Jean for nothing.

I think the franchise would be far better if not for years of fanboyism for Emma. That was a huge mistake they made

[KangMiRae]

I hope Emma Frost never leaves the X-Men. Make her the face. Replace Jean, lol.

[spirit2011]

I hope Emma Frost never leaves the X-Men. Make her the face. Replace Jean, lol.

It already happened 2004-2012

[KangMiRae]

It already happened 2004-2012

Hopefully Hickman starts it again 2019-forever.

[davetvs]

The God of runs, Morrison's, proves the franchise is better when they're both featured players.

[spirit2011]

Hopefully Hickman starts it again 2019-forever.

If Hickman knows what good to the franchise: no

The God of runs, Morrison's, proves the franchise is better when they're both featured players.

I don't agree with Morrison

[Silver Fang]

A long one, but just gonna copy & paste from last time someone asked me.

How to fix a problem like Creed.

As a Villain
If he's gonna become a legit A-list villain, like Magneto, then he's got to branch off. Have more ambition than stalking Logan. Long as he's mostly seen as "Wolverine's stalker", he's always gonna be used as a gimmick. Like Dr. Draken from Kim Possible. The worst case we see of this is Wolverine MAX where Sabretooth came off like a jilted boyfriend who was still lusting for Logan. Or The Logan Legacy where he's dressing other man as Wolverine, dreaming about him, and worried he wont find anyone better. MY GOD! That was horrible!!!!

Tormenting Wolveine should remain an occasional hobby he gets sick kicks from and is actually good at. But don't turn it into an obsession and his reason for life. Even in the 90's, he had a life & even some pals to hang with when he wasn't fighting with Logan.

Jason Aaron was going in the right direction having him become a Crime lord in Asian where he also took over The Hand organization. He was moving from henchman level to boss level. But then Bendis came along, made him Mystique's sidekick and that was the end of that.

He needs to be depicted as a threat. Don't have heroes responding to him in an exasperated manner. Take him back to when he was feared, not seen as an annoyance. And like in the past stories, if he has to lose, have him take someone with him. In the past, Creed lost battles, but not without making his foes lose something too. If you come into contact with Creed, you need to leave with something other than mild irritation to show for it. Example, he got taken down in Maverck's mini, but not without putting a telephath in a coma when he turned her own mind-screw against her. He needs to stay with one writer who can clean him up, and the X-office needs to crank down on making sure subsequent writers respect the character work. Don't just reset him for the benefit of whatever story the next person wants to tell.

Graydon was brought back in Weapon X. Obviously he'll be a villain. But since Sabretooth is the one who saved him from Hell, he could be responsible for finding Sabretooth & boosting him again as payback for saving him. He gave Sabretooth his first strength enhancement back in the 90's mini series. Wolverine stays getting power-ups. He's got hot claws now. So give Sabretooth some enhancements too and depict their fights as more competitive. Or better yet, make Sabretooth the stronger enemy who Wolverine may have to use some tactics to defeat, rather than taking him out in 5 sec, panels, or pages.

Anti-Hero
This would take more time than Marvel is willing to give. With all their relaunches, constantly shuffling character to different writers, and not making writers keep consistency, it seems they don't care about development -so much as they care about events & whatever they think is the next big thing.

Sabretooth would need to stay with one writer to do the story. Bunn said he had long plans for Sabretooth & wasn't in a hurry to revert him. But again, he lost the character.

I think the inversion could be used as an opening to have Sabretooth working with others for more altruistic purposes, and show him developing bonds with others & getting in touch with the humanity he's tried so hard to suppress or ignore. Then take Bunn's approach, when he felt it starting to wear off in Uncanny, he decided to try & be something different. Something other than the lie his inverted self was, but something other than the monster he real self was. So as it wears off, have him determined to organically change now that he's experienced some of the positives Logan has in more full form. But won't be easy given he's been evil for around 142 years. But continuing from there with the spell wearing off, and Creed struggling to do better on his own or struggling on what he wants at all, without the magic crutch.

And have Monet try to help him. Bunn would've made them a couple had he not lost the characters. He confirmed last year that they had feelings for each other when he says they had a torturous love. So Monet battling her dark side with Emplate's influence & Creed battling his dark side as well would've made for interesting & possibly some dark developments as they try to stay connected & motivated to face their demons together

It would be a loooooong tale, but something like that could put Creed over the edge to being a solid anti-hero. Plus, it helps that it would be of his own effort, rather than just staying inverted by a spell forever. It works for Angel, but it'd be more authentic if Creed was organically changed. And it'd still be more development than Exiles Creed got. lol

It still could've worked when Creed was crazy & ran into the Saskatchewan woods. Monet wondered where he was. I could see her finding him (or him finding her if he can recall her scent in that state) and her being the one to care for him while he's out of his mind. Is he reverted & evil? Is he reverted & confused? Or, is he still inverted? The second option would be best because it gives more to work with on how he responds to everything he can remember about his experiences the last few years, his feelings for Monet, and how she's tried to help him. Could create a nice start.

Sadly with Marvel's track record, that was flushed down the toilet to go back to making him a bland Mystique-henchmen, as we see from Hickman,

So I don't see him doing the character any justice either. As a villain or hero. If I am wrong, I will gladly admit that & retract me pre-judgement of Hickman. But I am confident that I am not wrong given the 16-year track record & these unimpressive panels. lol

[Ulfhammer]

Get Scott out of the X-Books. Form a new team or club or whatever. Start fresh. Create his own vision, not just perpetuating the power struggle between Charles and Eric. Scott needs to find out who he actually is and between Sinister, Charles, Eric, Jean and Emma I don't think he's ever really done anything that was entirely his own idea. Clearly the X-Office is clueless with what to do with him. Temporarily license his book rights to some tiny publisher for a nickel who actually wants this guy in their books for something other than a whipping boy. And keep him the hell away from any telepaths for at least five years.

[Harpsikord]

What to do with a problem like... Emma Frost.

Let's be honest, Emma Frost hasn't exactly been well written since Bendis left the X-Books. Yes, you read that right: Bendis. The few times that she's been written well have been in guest appearances by writers of other titles or one-off appearances by writers that were able to partially establish new status quos for her, but then lose access to the character overall... and as a result, Emma Frost as a character has been very confused. Who is Emma Frost these days? Is she a hero? Is she a villain? Somewhere in between? Honestly, I don't think that anyone knows. So, to start... I would define Emma's morality, and make her what is effectively an anti-hero.

I would also have her operate her own X-Men. Nothing affiliated with Scott, Logan, Jean, or Ororo - she would be the rival team, but still a team of heroes, still a team of X-Men, and one that is ultimately recognized by her so-called competition. Her team would be the one that would be willing to do whatever it takes in order to help mutantkind, and establish their foothold in the world as heroes. Ultimately, they're still doing good, and they still have a public face, but they'd be the ones that get down to the nitty gritty more than the typical X-Men do. And, like I said, Emma would be in charge as a proactive leader, the funder, and etc. And it would all be based out of Frost House in Snow Valley.

And importantly, she wouldn't be crazy. She'd be the Emma that we all know and love and that we got up until she went insane during Death Of X. She'd be stable and she would be powerful, and competent in more ways than one.

[Omega Alpha]

Create his own vision, not just perpetuating the power struggle between Charles and Eric.

Heh...that's EXACTLY what was done with him post-Messiah Complex. He had a vision that was more aggressive and realistic than Xavier, but more pacifistic than Magneto's and without his supremacist elements. Then came Aaron and a change of editors in the X-office, who decided they wanted things to go back to status quo of Xavier vs Magneto, but putting Cyclops in the Magneto role, of being the VILLAIN and WRONG.

[Ulfhammer]

The God of runs, Morrison's, proves the franchise is better when they're both featured players.

God of runs huh...

I'm not sure that came out right.

[spirit2011]

What to do with a problem like... Emma Frost.

Let's be honest, Emma Frost hasn't exactly been well written since Bendis left the X-Books. Yes, you read that right: Bendis. The few times that she's been written well have been in guest appearances by writers of other titles or one-off appearances by writers that were able to partially establish new status quos for her, but then lose access to the character overall... and as a result, Emma Frost as a character has been very confused. Who is Emma Frost these days? Is she a hero? Is she a villain? Somewhere in between? Honestly, I don't think that anyone knows. So, to start... I would define Emma's morality, and make her what is effectively an anti-hero.

I would also have her operate her own X-Men. Nothing affiliated with Scott, Logan, Jean, or Ororo - she would be the rival team, but still a team of heroes, still a team of X-Men, and one that is ultimately recognized by her so-called competition. Her team would be the one that would be willing to do whatever it takes in order to help mutantkind, and establish their foothold in the world as heroes. Ultimately, they're still doing good, and they still have a public face, but they'd be the ones that get down to the nitty gritty more than the typical X-Men do. And, like I said, Emma would be in charge as a proactive leader, the funder, and etc. And it would all be based out of Frost House in Snow Valley.

And importantly, she wouldn't be crazy. She'd be the Emma that we all know and love and that we got up until she went insane during Death Of X. She'd be stable and she would be powerful, and competent in more ways than one.

Emma should have a black ops spionage team. that fits more her than superheroics