House of X - Which Characters Have Lost Out?

[DetectiveStrange]

House of X, along with Giant Size #1 and New X-Men #114, is one of the greatest things to ever happen to the X-books imo. Most characters have been very well served, with many interesting stories and angles coming out of it.

That being said, who would you say has lost out during this era? My answer would be Colossus - between the implied action he took in the X-Force book (though not certain), and just an overall lack of character development, he's been ill served in this era imo. There hasn't been a new or exciting angle with him - he's not vital to the line or the book, it seems.

Beast has also been handled in a way that I'm not crazy about, but I understand this much more, given what was going on with the character before all this.

Any thoughts?

[jwatson]

Gambit. I never thought i would find Gambit so bland. The most interesting gambit scene for me since the start of HOX is thinking how cute him and rictor looked together with the jubilee baby in one panel.

[Big Joe]

Banshee.

The entire premise of the entire new direction was Moira, so obviously one of the most important characters was bound to be Banshee wasn't it? But he's been wallpaper and cannon fodder throughout the entire run so far.

[Silver Fang]

So far Monet, who has cameos from time to time & spent 1 book unconscious the entire time. HOPEFULLY with X-Corp, she will actually consistently do something. Giant Size Storm was her only good showing, imo. lol

Sabretooth was finally destroyed beyond repair & throw in the trash. Even a supposed world-class writer couldn't do anything good with him. I miss Bunn & Inversions more & more whenever I think about it. lol

Gambit doesn't seem to have done much. Just kinda eh.

But honestly, a lot of characters are severely lacking compared to the few in the grand scheme who have had good arcs already. Apocalypse got more development & devotion than most of the X-Men. lol But he was in need of restoring since he's a character who's been ruined over the years.

[Wolverine12]

I would tend to agree with the OP that Colossus has mostly faded into obscurity. If the question is which character has changed for the worst I think Beast wins that title. He hasn’t been a character I found myself really rooting for since Astonishing X-Men by Whedon.

[bearman]

Yes, Astonishing was Hank’s last decent showing. Not sure where the writers are taking him...he seems less and less...salvageable. That being said, I also envisioned a big role for Banshee in a Moira- centered world... but Moira isn’t even in it.
I hope Banshee’s on the flagship title team. I hope Moira will seem more like her old self...a steady, human ally of mutants.

[Kitty&Piotr<3]

Jean, Gambit, Rogue are not at the heights they have seen in the past.

Storm is getting lip-service at least, so I will hold judgement there.

Nightcrawler hasn't had his due, but he has a book coming.


It's mainly been Jean and R&G, though Jean has had some good moments in X-Force.

[Captain Nash]

Rogue, Gambit, Jubilee and (dare I even say it) Betsy Braddock. Aside from Rogue absorbing Apocalypse's powers for a bit, and Jubilee only by way of Shogo, Rogue, Gambit and Jubilee have absolutely been written as unmemorable as possible. They could have been replaced with any other character and, with the two exceptions I mentioned, it wouldn't have made a difference. Psylocke (Betsy version in either body)used to be my favorite character, but even with being the focal character of Excalibur, I never have seen her written so dully and bland. How does that even happen - if you are using a character as the main character in a book, they should be interesting. And she was....until this era. No wonder I dropped Excalibur - the lineup looked stellar, the writing was anything but.

As far as characters who have lost out because of very little appearances, (Arch)angel, Banshee and Monet. Which is surprising because Monet had a decent showing in the HOX/POX actual mini series. DoX came along and she's done little outside of the GSXM: Storm issue.

Mystique is also a bit head-scratching. Hickman really played up the potential for her role in HOX/POX. and he's likely playing the long game with her and I suspect will have her be crucial to how this whole era ends, but outside of her council appearances she's done little to nothing. Granted being on the QC is something in of itself but I kind of expected more. Excepting Exodus and Nightcrawler (and he's getting book that will revolve around him), who have at least had some non council exposure, everyone else on that council has had a fairly large role in events that were not just about the council.

But of all of these, for the reasons I mentioned, Betsy Braddock has lost the most. An uninteresting focal point is worse than being part of a side cast or being limited in appearances.

[Master of Sound]

I think of the characters I consider A-list these 3 were most neglected: Archangel, Colossus and Nightcrawler, as all 3 barely got any focus at all. Good thing is that Kurt and Warren will get major focus in Way of X and X-Corp soon.

The Gambit, Rogue, Jubilee, Iceman, Sunspot are now more background characters, which can use some improvement.

The good thing is that some characters that were barely used are now getting the time to shine, like Pyro, Black Tom, Wild Child, Grey Crow, Callisto and Northstar.

[Frobisher]

Dazzler has missed out the most, as almost certainly the single highest profile X-Man to be reduced to cameo appearances. Then maybe Banshee, though he has a history of getting sidelined shortly after a problematic story about his castle being haunted by Leprecauns or whatever.

[Purplevit]

Gambit got hit the worst. Then Rogue, Jubs, Bishop and Iceman.

[Uncanny X-Man]

Rogue, Gambit, Jubilee and (dare I even say it) Betsy Braddock. Aside from Rogue absorbing Apocalypse's powers for a bit, and Jubilee only by way of Shogo, Rogue, Gambit and Jubilee have absolutely been written as unmemorable as possible. They could have been replaced with any other character and, with the two exceptions I mentioned, it wouldn't have made a difference. Psylocke (Betsy version in either body)used to be my favorite character, but even with being the focal character of Excalibur, I never have seen her written so dully and bland. How does that even happen - if you are using a character as the main character in a book, they should be interesting. And she was....until this era. No wonder I dropped Excalibur - the lineup looked stellar, the writing was anything but.

As far as characters who have lost out because of very little appearances, (Arch)angel, Banshee and Monet. Which is surprising because Monet had a decent showing in the HOX/POX actual mini series. DoX came along and she's done little outside of the GSXM: Storm issue.

Mystique is also a bit head-scratching. Hickman really played up the potential for her role in HOX/POX. and he's likely playing the long game with her and I suspect will have her be crucial to how this whole era ends, but outside of her council appearances she's done little to nothing. Granted being on the QC is something in of itself but I kind of expected more. Excepting Exodus and Nightcrawler (and he's getting book that will revolve around him), who have at least had some non council exposure, everyone else on that council has had a fairly large role in events that were not just about the council.

But of all of these, for the reasons I mentioned, Betsy Braddock has lost the most. An uninteresting focal point is worse than being part of a side cast or being limited in appearances.

Sadly, I have to agree here that Betsy really got the short straw with the current era due to lacklustre writing on Excalibur. Her ascending to the Captain Britain role could and should have been a glorious story arc for her, whereas now she's been turned into an almost insufferable character. Rogue has also not been serviced well by Howard's pen. No irreparable damage has been done to either mind you, and it's certainly nothing that can't be fixed by some good writing.

[Triniking1234]

X-23 got one bad book then left.

[dkrook]

Same drum....same beat! Pick any black male mutant, and they're a candidate for this list.

[Frobisher]

I think we can all with certainty agree that the most stiffed mutant in this era is the one whose appreciation thread we personally have the most posts in.