Bishop: The Last X-Man Appreciation 2020

[Havok83]

I don't care about the superhero community, I'm talking fans. And they shouldn't have trashed his character like that in the first place.

Cyclops was trashed by fans. He used to be someone that was beloved but he became a very divisive figure

[Marvell2100]

Cyclops was trashed by fans. He used to be someone that was beloved but he became a very divisive figure

Compared to Bishop it was a walk in the park for Cyclops. Bishop wasn't a divisive figure, you'd have to have people be on your side

Bishop got done wrong.

[Anthony Shaw]

https://www.cbr.com/method-man-bisho...-wu-tang-clan/

Method Man from Wu-Tang cosplaying as Bishop.

I'm giving Method Man's Bishop cosplay a definitive thumbs up.

[superjosh]

I'm def on the side that Bishop's character was destroyed. He was portrayed as a homicidal villain, whereas Cyclops was the misguided hero trope. SOME fans might have trashed Cyke, but the writers never made him irredeemable. It was very much a "he's being a jerk now" type situation that we all knew would blow over, even if not immediately. And this does have to do with what Havok83 is saying in that Cyclops is a "lead" character. Writers will rarely have permission from editorial to make permanent changes that will completely overhaul a major character.

Unfortunately, Bishop is a lower echelon character and the same rules don't apply. Writers are definitely allowed to do drastic things with below-A-list characters once in a while. Somehow that horrible Bishop development in the Messiah storyline made it to press. Having said that, it's hard to argue that it wasn't complete character assassination.

[dkrook]

I don't care about the superhero community, I'm talking fans. And they shouldn't have trashed his character like that in the first place.

Too true bro! X-Men writers could have picked so many other morally ambiguous mutants, and straight out villains to pursue hope and Cable. We all know that Cyclops has been around so long that he had narrative capital to go bad, and then swing right back and be accepted as a hero again. The difference between Cyclops written bad, and Bishop written bad is infinitesimal. Cyclops is the reflection of the men that write him and because of that relatability they will, with care walk him through everything being intentional to bring him back to a better place than his start. Bishop was shoehorned into a bad fit, then they meandered for a while, then left him in filth. Picked him up, dusted off and put him back in play in the most half-hearted way. That's where he's at now languishing on Marauders.

[superjosh]

too true bro! X-men writers could have picked so many other morally ambiguous mutants, and straight out villains to pursue hope and cable. We all know that cyclops has been around so long that he had narrative capital to go bad, and then swing right back and be accepted as a hero again. The difference between cyclops written bad, and bishop written bad is infinitesimal. cyclops is the reflection of the men that write him and because of that relatability they will, with care walk him through everything being intentional to bring him back to a better place than his start. Bishop was shoehorned into a bad fit, then they meandered for a while, then left him in filth. Picked him up, dusted off and put him back in play in the most half-hearted way. that's where he's at now languishing on marauders.

FACTS period

[Anthony Shaw]

Ding, Ding! At the end of the day, he was used as a mechanism for Hope and Cable's development, and nothing more. My only hope for Bishop is when the X-Men go to the big screen. They almost have no choice cause he is the only black male mutant that has any kind of presence or weight and Hollywood gotta fill that quota, lol! Hopefully they will go with the current struggle dreads and leave the Sho'nuff perm at the crib.

I agree, totally.

[superjosh]

I agree, totally.

I honestly hope they have the balls to just eschew what so-called "superfans" think and change a bunch of white characters to BIPOC. As a lifelong fan, I shamefully used to be the type that was like "I don't mind if they make Johnny Storm black" but then deep down want my X-Men to look like the comics. But I'm over that now.

Sony should have picked Miles Morales instead of a THIRD franchise with Peter Parker (and only 3 years after the previous franchise!!).

I've waited too long for representation to arrive and it's just not happening. The superhero movie universe still plays by the "as long as the leads are white" rule (unless it's a movie specifically about non-whites). If race is not important to a character's back story, then f*ck it.

[Agent Z]

Cyclops was trashed by fans. He used to be someone that was beloved but he became a very divisive figure

I remember Cyclops being seen as the most boring member of the X-Men prior to the 2000s. He's always had a large or at least vocal hatedom.

[Killerbee911]

How did Cyclops get a pass?

Writers go out of their way to redeem/repair after problematic runs or at worse try to explain Cyclops actions which a character like Bishop didn't get the very story that Cyclops was brought back in, The writer went out of his way to make Cyclops go my past actions where wrong or something to that effect basically ignore the Rightclops era. You are not completely wrong about Bishop being a smaller character as comparison to Cyclops the X-men poster child as reasoning why he might not have gotten character repair.

But Bishop wasn't a "minor" character until Second Coming he was consistent used character part of the rotation and even more he had more mini series than Nightcrawler, Beast, Angel, and bunch of other X-men many fans think as X-men mainstays or core characters. You can do a check but about roughly every 2 to 4 years since Bishop has been around he has gotten small miniseries or extended miniseries. And that streak continue after he was brought back with Prisoner X. Bishop has been more of an assets to franchise than most characters and pretty annoying for him to be brought back with no attempt to repair the mess and they had an easy out with demon bear. And writers never would have never missed that chance with Cyclops.

Since Cyclops is being mention it reminds of something I have said in another thread one of the most annoying thing about Bishop treatment is that Bishop was gone in the period where Xavier,Cyclops and Wolverine was gone and the X-men could used a prominent male lead. And the one thing missing from Bishop resume and one of the thing hold him back from being bigger is leading the X-men and without those characters mention he would mostly likely have prominent role as leader or at worse field leader. Bishop wasn't this small character with no potential, he was character on cusp on breaking into A-list zone. And one of things holding back is he has the same character archetype as Cyclops. Think about it



Both for known wearing a yellow and blue standard Xmen suits, Both are tactical minded, Both are boyscout clean cut types, Both shoot out concussive red blasts, Both have hook up with Jean Grey(sorry I couldn't resist). Now I am not saying Cyclops is the reason for Bishop being held back by writers I mean some writer could have easily made him a leader they are plenty of X-books BUT Bishop imo is best suited to do the some of the same things that Cyclops does so it is understandable why he hasn't taken off when one of roles he is best suited for is held by a character with more popularity. This is not problem exclusive to Bishop I think characters like Moonstar, Cannonball,Sunspot or Gentle, Pixie, Prodigy have this issue as well. So in addition to character assassination Bishop was off the board in period of time where he could have possible done good and be establish as bigger part of the X-men lore.

[Anthony Shaw]

I honestly hope they have the balls to just eschew what so-called "superfans" think and change a bunch of white characters to BIPOC. As a lifelong fan, I shamefully used to be the type that was like "I don't mind if they make Johnny Storm black" but then deep down want my X-Men to look like the comics. But I'm over that now.

Sony should have picked Miles Morales instead of a THIRD franchise with Peter Parker (and only 3 years after the previous franchise!!).

I've waited too long for representation to arrive and it's just not happening. The superhero movie universe still plays by the "as long as the leads are white" rule (unless it's a movie specifically about non-whites). If race is not important to a character's back story, then f*ck it.

I heard one rumor that the X-Men film might include John Proudstar, and Sunfire in the cast (to go along with Storm). I hope that is the direction MCU X-Men goes in before eventually introducing Bishop.

My fear of race-bending is that actual POC characters from the source material won't get used.

[Anthony Shaw]

I'm not sure if this is the place to post, but I'm curious to see how many mutants of Arakko are of African descent.

[Agent Z]

I can only imagine what would have happened to Bishop if he'd had a story where he cheated on his girlfriend or wife.

Probably best not to think about.

I'm not sure if this is the place to post, but I'm curious to see how many mutants of Arakko are of African descent.

I think this thread is the best place to ask.

https://community.cbr.com/showthread...The-MU/page263

[From The Shadows]

I totally enjoyed Lodbell's run on Uncanny.

I felt that Bishop, Gambit, Rogue, & Beast was an odd, but fun pairing.

I actually liked the pairing of Bishop & DB. She was his Catwoman, imo. I thought they made an interesting team, until she betrayed him.

However, once she hooked up with Vulcan, I never looked back.

Lobdell's run on Uncanny I think is underrated. Stated this enough. You can't get worse than betrayal, then Vulcan. Deathbird was kind of a witch so I guess it shouldn't be a surprise.

They need to drop that too.

Lol, ok. :- )

[superjosh]

I can only imagine what would have happened to Bishop if he'd had a story where he cheated on his girlfriend or wife.

Probably best not to think about.

As if he would ever even get a real love interest. I can barely think of POC x-characters that have had meaningful romantic relationships established for them besides Storm. Storm was introduced in 1975 and didn't have a real love interest until Lifedeath almost a decade later. Her contemporaries... Wolverine, Banshee, Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Kitty all had romances right away.

Sunfire, Moonstar, Karma, Sunspot, Jubliee, Bishop, Monet, Cecilia... where's the Jean to their Scott? The Alex to their Lorna? The Rogue to their Gambit. Dazzler/Longshot, Kitty/Piotr. Beast has Trish Tilby. Warren has Candy, Charlotte (finally some diversity!), Betsy (complicated). Nightcrawler/Amanda Sefton. Scott was never single after the Dark Phoenix Saga. Emma got into a love triangle the second she joined up in New X-Men.