Alexander Summers: Havok Appreciation 2021

[EmeraldGladiator]

What version of Alex do you guys like the most? I am sure no one is a fan of this insane inverted version. I also never cared for the self doubt the unsure of being in his brother's shadow version of Alex either. As much as I was happy to see Alex lead David's X-Factor, I never got a feeling David had a feel for Alex's voice. I love the iconic Doc Samson issue where David shows you what makes the characters tick all of them except Alex. As much as Alex became my favorite X-Man during the Outback run, I didn't love the scared to use his powers because they were so deadly aspect. I loved him in Mutant X because he was out of Scott's shadow. This might be not be a favorite of most but I liked the head of the Brotherhood Alex. He was more anti-hero than true villain and was really undercover to contain the Black Beast. I liked his mindset, he didn't give a crap about Cyclops or what people thought of him, he was more drawn to Magneto's mindset than Xavier's. That Alex would really work in the Hellions, he could lead the Hellions and make them a major force in the X-universe. Alex and Scott have the Summers gene, Scott is known as a tactician, I always thought Alex leads more instinctually which might make some think seat of his pants but it is more than that. I guess that makes Alex more Hal Jordan and Scott more Sinestro, or maybe Alex is more Goku and Scott is more Piccalo or Vegeta (which is weird because I like both of them more than Goku, yet love Alex and don't care for Scott (mostly because of Maddy)). People follow Scott because they know he has an excel spreadsheet full of contingency plans in battle, people follow Alex because of something more intangible but no less real.

[plasmaintights]

Over the years I've been interested in the versions of Havok that involved him having to make decisions on his own & not being typecast as the hothead younger brother of Cyclops, which is probably always an issue that any writer has to deal with in taking him on as a character. Mutant-X and Outback era worked well for me, though the submission to Maddie seems, in retrospect, like a soap opera sort of breakdown. The version of him as a reluctant hero who wanted to be a geologist and have a private life is actually interesting to me, but the constant mind-control narratives really seemed to over-accumulate across the years. I liked the Brubaker version in space, and where that seemed to go -- he could have come back to earth with a ton of galactic/leadership experience and been taken in a different direction, or he could have been joined up with other cosmic characters in a longer term way -- pre-movies guardians of the galaxy! -- and that could have been great. But his return was stalled and then his experience reduced to... nothing to ever talk about again!

I thought the Remender version could have worked but the "call me alex" moment was a badly played and overwritten projection that nullified the interest RR seemed to actually have in the character. The inverted Alex was really piecemeal -- but, and I say this somewhat surprised at my own admission, I think Bendis had a feel for him -- the couple of issues where he had younger and older Cyclops interact with Alex were done well, I thought. The totally inverted X-men Blue version with Emma and Bastion sucked -- I just didn't buy that at all. He'd been established as morally conflicted by the inversion, but it was a really inconsistent portrayal -- the Havok who let Black Bolt go during ivx was not the same character as the one capable of cruelty in x-men blue, etc. All that said, I'm interested in the Hellions version, because it seems like Wells is taking him seriously as a character who has really been fucked with in the head repeatedly. Maybe that will go somewhere more complex and surprising... that's what I think Alex/Havok needs, but that could probably be said about most of these characters....

[EmeraldGladiator]

Wow Plasma really cool insight on the character, enjoyed the post, I agree the X-Men Blue stuff sucked. I really loved Kingbreaker. War of Kings, Emperor Vulcan Alex as well. None of the self doubt just a driven leader. I didn't really see the Maddy Alex Outback thing as so much of a submission but as two characters that are a LOT a like in that they hang in the X-Men universe but are constantly compared to and not compared favorably to other characters in the family. They both get how that feels, to walk in to a room and see people light up and then "oh I thought you were Jean" or "when they said Summers I was hoping it was Scott" kind of feel. Alex knew Maddy needed to feel put first by somebody and he was determined to do that no matter the consequence. He may be the one X-Man that prefers her to Jean but that is just my take on it.

[Havok83]

I really liked the Rosenberg version from Astonishing X-men trying to recover from the Inversion and be a hero again. He was fun, had a personality and felt relatable in a way that Alex really hadnt been in quite some time

[EmeraldGladiator]

The insecure with little brother issues Alex has to go. I like the Alex that has his way, understands his brother but acknowledges they are two different types of dudes and there is nothing wrong with that. Alex being anti-establishment (ala the Quiet Council) would be an interesting enough way of differentiating his team motivations from the Councils.

[LoganAlpha30X33]

Marvel won't let Alex grow out of the younger brother phase sadly, though perhaps they could end up with Alex being right about the council being corrupt in many ways, though sadly he wouldn't get credit for pointing that out...

[Havok83]

Thats not really a part of his narrative and hasnt been in decades

[EmeraldGladiator]

he hasn't had a consistent narrative in a bit and that's the problem. I was excited about the opportunity when Alex was on that X-Men team with the recently resurrected Cyclops but he never really had a 'voice'. The inverted crap and even his characterization in Hellions has been inconsistent to say the least.

[Havok83]

he hasn't had a consistent narrative in a bit and that's the problem. I was excited about the opportunity when Alex was on that X-Men team with the recently resurrected Cyclops but he never really had a 'voice'. The inverted crap and even his characterization in Hellions has been inconsistent to say the least.

maybe but the whole feud/insecurities/animosity etc...due to being Scott's brother isnt a consistent one for him and really not something thats been an issue since he was brainwashed in Xtinction Agenda and later undercover with the Brotherhood, both back in the 90s. He and Scott have however consistently had a good relationship, especially in the current era. Alex living in his shadow isnt something thats plaguing him or what the writers are emphasizing

[juan678]

https://twitter.com/alkcomics/status...79893751730176

[LoganAlpha30X33]

I've always loved them together, big shock to everyone I know, also love that their powers are connected as well, that like she can amplify his powers or something along those lines...

[EmeraldGladiator]

I've always loved them together, big shock to everyone I know, also love that their powers are connected as well, that like she can amplify his powers or something along those lines...

I am a more of a Alex Maddy guy but I always liked Alex and Lorna too, but some of the Lorna-stans hate her with Alex, though I am not sure why

[LoganAlpha30X33]

It's because they think that everything bad that's ever happened to Lorna is all Alex's fault, and that he's the reason that she's not at the tops of the list amongst the X-ladies...though they've been apart for the last several years and those fans are still not happy but continue to bash Alex every chance that they get, and only want Lorna as little more than a female carbon copy of Magneto who blindly obeys him and never disagrees with anything that he says or does and only wants to be the bestest daughter to him that she can be...

[EmeraldGladiator]

Once Alex gets his head on straight and Maddy is resurrected and on the team, I would love a visit from "Scotty" Summers the alternate universe's child of Alex and Maddy Pryor, that 616 Alex met when he was transported to their universe. I would think that "Scotty" would be the last thing Sinister would want. He wanted a combination of Scott and Jean, which is how he got Cable. However he probably wouldn't want Alex and Maddy who are the wilder less controllable versions of what Scott and Jean bring to the table so he would work to have that combination never see the light of day, but he wasn't able to in the Mutant X verse. Thus giving Maddy a chance to get her maternal on that she never got to with Cable or Stryfe. It would also be interesting to see how pseudo fatherhood would change Alex.

[LoganAlpha30X33]

I always was surprised that they never had Alex and Lorna have a kid, the child of the Summers line and Magneto's line...could be very powerful...