Inhumans vs. X-Men: Anatomy of a Failed (and Dumb) Rivalry - A mini-Documentary

[Killerbee911]

So I am going to touch on imo the two inevitable annoying things that pops up from talking about this topic

1. X-men fans OMG Marvel was trying to kill off the X-men

Marvel was changing the primary power system in the universe by default the lazy way to give people powers in Marvel was mutants. Since Marvel didn't have the rights to use mutants in movie world they made a decision to use Inhumans as default lazy power system which people saw as trying to kill out "the X-men". The X-men aka 50 to 100 characters who actually matter was never in any danger. What was in danger was stuff like Somnus , Generation Hope , Justice, Squirrel Girl, Molly Hayes, Firestar, etc being not mutants. It was a shame that bunch of X-men fans get worked up to what in reality amounts to which group of new characters are going to be ignored by Marvel aka Nuhumans or young mutants. Also I hate that some X-men fans irrationally lash out against the Inhumans instead of Marvel proper but that said X-men franchise was never in any real danger.

2. Inhuman fans OMG X-fans caused Marvel to kill the Inhumans

Inhumans died out mostly because of mediocre books and the fact Royal family sucks, Okay just kidding the royal family doesn't suck but Royal family is devoid of real star power that can sell a book. So what happens when you make average and bad books with mostly characters who can't carry them to decent sales. They get cancel. I read all the Inhumans books during that period and I actually like most of the stuff but being honest it was just okay at best when you look at as a person who does have an interest in it succeeding . Should they still be at least a single book around? Yes. You can't tell us Inhumans can't hold a single book when you tried to push a gazillion books but fans acting like sabotage and not quality was the biggest issue is this big lie they seem to tell themselves.

Those are two things that make this topic hard to talk about both fanbase at time seem fixate on carrying on these imo bad talking points when they are more interesting things to question about this period. I know someone is going to put on their cape and go "no no blank thing was real" yes they are some real stupid decisions where made in that period but imo the malice against these franchises was never as bad some fans think imo.

Anyways any X-men fan who was bitter about that period should feel sympathy for Inhumans fans because beyond their franchise being actually dead they have to see Hickman execute a pitch for the X-men that would have worked maybe just as well for the Inhumans. A Isolationist nation appearing on earth who is trying to bring all its citizens home to their strange living island nation while there is intriguing infighting from different factions for leadership of the nation with portals to Mars and Blue side of the moon. Do you know how salty as Inhuman fan you have to be seeing a working Inhumans run happening at Marvel. I mean I am not this huge Inhuman fan but as hard Marvel pushed the Inhumans there was never a clear coherent plan for the future like how this run of the X-men has nor all of the story hooks to keep telling stories for years. Anyways can Marvel please bring an Inhuman book so I can go Inhuman thread without seeing their version of "The Complex".

[Uncanny X-Man]

I didn't know where else on this board to put this. To the mods, I apologize in advance if I missed something. But this is something I really wanted to share.

I've been working on my YouTube channel for a while now. And I've made quite a few videos about X-Men. But this is one I've been working on for quite a while now. It's my first real attempt at a mini-documentary. It covers the saga of the Inhumans/X-Men rivalry that played out in the mid-2010s. Having been on this Board during those dark times, I haven't forgotten how frustrating it was with how it played out. But he saga behind this rivalry is actually a better story than anything we saw in the comics. I decided to explore that. And I did my best to capture it all within this video. I hope my fellow X-Men fans, and even some Inhumans fans, can appreciate it.

I really enjoyed this, well done MarvelMaster616!

[Uncanny X-Man]

So I am going to touch on imo two inevitable annoying things pops from talking about this topic

1. X-men fans OMG Marvel was trying to kill off the X-men

Marvel was changing the primary power system in the universe by default the lazy way to give people powers in Marvel was mutants. Since Marvel didn't have the rights to use mutants in movie world they made a decision to use Inhumans as default lazy power system which people saw as trying to kill out "the X-men". The X-men aka 50 to 100 characters who actually matter was never in any danger. What was in danger was stuff like Somnus , Generation Hope , Justice, Squirrel Girl, Molly Hayes, Firestar, etc being not mutants. It was a shame that bunch of X-men fans get worked up to what in reality amounts to which group of new characters are going to be ignored by Marvel aka Nuhumans or young mutants. Also I hate that some X-men fans irrationally lash out against the Inhumans instead of Marvel proper but that said X-men franchise was never in any real danger

You don't realize how untrue that is. I was working in the licensing industry at the time and Disney was actually discouraging their own Category Managers (the people who talk to companies making say apparel or toys or videogames) from licensing out X-Men IP, suggesting Avengers or Guardians characters instead. If say someone approached Disney about doing t-shirts with Wolverine or Storm, the first step was to steer them towards Black Panther or Hawkeye or Gamora instead. Mutants weren't outright banned from licensing like the Fantastic Four, but they were massively downplayed in favour of characters fully owned by Disney.

The comics are totally inconsequential, stuff like Inhumans vs X-Men was just Marvel playing with their very niche fanbase to increase interest in the Inhumans property which never really got off the ground despite Marvel throwing in their best efforts (if you launch a new series with Joe Madureira and Steve McNiven, it's clear you mean business)

But had the Inhumans show not tanked so badly and, most importantly, had Disney not acquired Fox and thus gained the X-Men's rights... the X-Men would obviously still exist as a comicbook however with a massively lower budget to hire creative teams and zero merchandise support, and continuing on with the trainwreck (from a commercial standpoint at the very least) that was Fox's handling of the movie properties.

[cam18]

I don't think Inhumans ever had what it takes to ever ursurp the X-Men no matter how hard marvel pushed outside of Black Bolt and maybe Crystal the others didn't really move the needle. them really pushing the Avengers even harder and since every hero can be part of that group a la Uncanny Avengers, All members of the FF4 being apart of the Avengers at one time, etc that was the real problem to me at least especially the with the MCU Avenger hype behind them.....I remember when MVC infinite came out and ppl asked about the lack of X-Men and ppl were told fans might not even remember them....ironic given the series started as an X-Men game only.

[king of hybrids]

I think it’s clear Ike had been looking for an off-brand superhuman equivalent to the mutants for a while (remember when the different Vampire breeds and the AI post-AoU were meant to be Big Things?)

Unfortunately for the Inhumans, Hickman had brought them back to minor prominence (and increase in their mythos) at the worst possible time for them. Someone in corporate read a cliff notes version and decided they’d do a not!mutant push and staple the Inhumans on for “legitimacy”

Instead of doing the smart things and cashing in on GoT (back when it was good) they drove off Fraction (who had a plan beyond diet!mutants) and put in Soule, who was pretty obvious in for paycheque

Speaking for the Inhuman fans, we are glad for Kamala, Quake etc; but we will never forgive Ike squandering the Inhumans one chance on a lazily done tax write off flop and for pitting us against the X-Men.

[Castle]

Can everyone just take a minute of silence to feel bad for the real genuine Inhumans fans, who got unfairly dragged into X-MEN vs Inhumans comic crap fight because Ike Perlmutter was mad that Fox would not just give the rights back to Marvel.

Personally I never took the Inhumans vs X-MEN stuff seriously, I just stood aside and let Marvel indirectly destroy the Inhumans when their main plan was to destroy X-MEN.LOL

Lol, yes, after the tv show failed, marvel threw the inhumans under the biggest bus they could find.

Yes, the Inhumans TV show was what broke the Carmel's back. Also X-MEN had two tv shows coming out so the rivalry extended to TV. I admit that while there were some on the extreme side of X-Men that were using FOX Gifted to trash ABC Inhumans without any objective fair criticism. Gifted was just the better done show and as for Inhumans, there was just a much ado about noting to save or say about it.



Although I find all of this ironic now because people think The Eternals are just another version of the Inhumans and the same people think X-Men will be born out of the Eternals.

[Castle]

Maevel trying to tarnish the X-Men brand because they don't have to film rights had to be one of the pettiest moves in all of comic book history. It literally did nothing but alienate readers. If Disney hadn't bought the film rights back from Fox I highly doubt Hickman would be in charge of the X line right now.

Honestly I always felt it was a blessing in disguise that Marvel tried to tarnish X-MEN because as you can see, fans and pop culture did not let that happen. they stood up to marvel and were not having it.

Also just from a comic professional mythologically view point, how did Marvel think they were going to replace Inhumans with X-MEN. X-MEN arguably has the biggest stand alone comic book universe ever created and I am taken into account the Batman, Spiderman and Superman universe. There are just so many mutants even at random and teams and places. How did they want to start erasing that? LMAO. I don't know who was advising marvel with comic publishing at that time, but they should have told them it will be poor judgement.

Also the film rights issue was a bigger blessing because in that time period. Fox made 3 of their best films with DOFP, Deadpool and Logan and what made this even more of blessing is that , this are movies Marvel can't even do, they were way above their Disney formula so it gave XMEN on films a better coverage to stay afloat in another medium even if their comics were taken a beat down because Marvel had power over their comics.

Looking back now, I am glad everything that happened around time, happened. X -MEN has tried and tested and the IP has stood the test of time. we fans just waited for Marvel and Disney to learn that truth.

[Castle]

double-doubled post.

[RamaBird]

I liked the Inhumans up until they were presented as the heroes and the mutants/minorities as the bad ones. Yeah, let's portray the group of elitists royals as the victims and let's present the mutants who are being wiped out as the bad guys.

To me, it reminded me too much of the this world where the elite can cause as much death and destruction as they want and get away with it, but minorities are "bad" for defending themselves.

I do like dark and villainous characters, and I would've liked the Inhumans more had they not been portrayed as victims in the genocide they were causing. Hey, if that minority hadn't been so rude and had complied with me being superior to them, he'd still be alive!

[Pumpkin King]

I think it’s clear Ike had been looking for an off-brand superhuman equivalent to the mutants for a while (remember when the different Vampire breeds and the AI post-AoU were meant to be Big Things?)

Unfortunately for the Inhumans, Hickman had brought them back to minor prominence (and increase in their mythos) at the worst possible time for them. Someone in corporate read a cliff notes version and decided they’d do a not!mutant push and staple the Inhumans on for “legitimacy”

Instead of doing the smart things and cashing in on GoT (back when it was good) they drove off Fraction (who had a plan beyond diet!mutants) and put in Soule, who was pretty obvious in for paycheque

Speaking for the Inhuman fans, we are glad for Kamala, Quake etc; but we will never forgive Ike squandering the Inhumans one chance on a lazily done tax write off flop and for pitting us against the X-Men.

LOL, seriously. I though Soule told some decent stories, but I really want to know what Fraction had planned.

To me, the TV show was the biggest disappointment. Marvel puts all this work into pushing the Inhumans, giving them multiple books and putting them into events, then puts out this rushed, hastily slapped together show. It would already be hard to sell the Inhumans to mainstream audiences, they are a weird society that keeps actual slaves, but they hobbled them completely with the lack of effort put into that show.

That and Death of Inhumans, which pointlessly killed off mostly minor characters and only a few big names (Triton and Maximus, who will probably come back eventually) for a mediocre story. They should have just let the Inhumans fade out after Royals, which was a genuinely fun and interesting space adventure that expanded the Inhumans mythos. Just let them sit on the backburner for awhile, and we can assume that they are doing their own thing.

[Anduinel]

To me, the TV show was the biggest disappointment. Marvel puts all this work into pushing the Inhumans, giving them multiple books and putting them into events, then puts out this rushed, hastily slapped together show. It would already be hard to sell the Inhumans to mainstream audiences, they are a weird society that keeps actual slaves, but they hobbled them completely with the lack of effort put into that show.

Yeah, iirc, they were the victims of a dick-waving contest. The Inhumans weren't a concept that could really be pulled off on a TV budget, but Perlmutter went up against Feige on an Inhumans movie, and ultimately got himself kicked out of Marvel Studios. And so he pursued the concept with the TV division and (per reputation) quick and on the cheap. It was all stubbornness - quality of the product was, unfortunately, never a consideration.

[Rang10]

LOL, seriously. I though Soule told some decent stories, but I really want to know what Fraction had planned.

To me, the TV show was the biggest disappointment. Marvel puts all this work into pushing the Inhumans, giving them multiple books and putting them into events, then puts out this rushed, hastily slapped together show. It would already be hard to sell the Inhumans to mainstream audiences, they are a weird society that keeps actual slaves, but they hobbled them completely with the lack of effort put into that show.

That and Death of Inhumans, which pointlessly killed off mostly minor characters and only a few big names (Triton and Maximus, who will probably come back eventually) for a mediocre story. They should have just let the Inhumans fade out after Royals, which was a genuinely fun and interesting space adventure that expanded the Inhumans mythos. Just let them sit on the backburner for awhile, and we can assume that they are doing their own thing.

Inhumans was perlmutter's idea, that is why the TV show flopped. he put the worse showrunner possible with a poor budget.
Feige didn't wanted the movie. it really came from top to bottom and I think editors/writers weren't prepared to do a good job.

[Castle]

LOL, seriously. I though Soule told some decent stories, but I really want to know what Fraction had planned.

To me, the TV show was the biggest disappointment. Marvel puts all this work into pushing the Inhumans, giving them multiple books and putting them into events, then puts out this rushed, hastily slapped together show. It would already be hard to sell the Inhumans to mainstream audiences, they are a weird society that keeps actual slaves, but they hobbled them completely with the lack of effort put into that show.

That and Death of Inhumans, which pointlessly killed off mostly minor characters and only a few big names (Triton and Maximus, who will probably come back eventually) for a mediocre story. They should have just let the Inhumans fade out after Royals, which was a genuinely fun and interesting space adventure that expanded the Inhumans mythos. Just let them sit on the backburner for awhile, and we can assume that they are doing their own thing.

I don't even know why they got a tv show. marvel should have given them movies the same way they gave their other IPs whose films right they still had.

The TV Show was so random and came out of nowhere and they put it on ABC, a channel that could barely make Agents of SHIELD a great show.

[Uncanny X-Man]

Inhumans was perlmutter's idea, that is why the TV show flopped. he put the worse showrunner possible with a poor budget.
Feige didn't wanted the movie. it really came from top to bottom and I think editors/writers weren't prepared to do a good job.

I think it's really telling that Feige himself, who greenlit movies about talking racoons and walking trees, thought the Inhumans were too much of a risk even by Marvel's standards. I'm extremely curious how they're going to handle Kamala Khan's origin in the Ms. Marvel show, aside from the usual fake rumours sites I've yet to see any indication there's any Inhumans involvement.

[loke13]

I think it's really telling that Feige himself, who greenlit movies about talking racoons and walking trees, thought the Inhumans were too much of a risk even by Marvel's standards. I'm extremely curious how they're going to handle Kamala Khan's origin in the Ms. Marvel show, aside from the usual fake rumours sites I've yet to see any indication there's any Inhumans involvement.

Imo that's just another reason why Kevin feige was the best choice for the MCU. The funny part about it is I feel like Kevin feige you would have greenlit and Inhumans movie but Ike was just very adamant on trying to make the Inhumans the next X-Men. Especially with that terrigen mist adaption in Agents of Shield that literally never got referenced once in any of the movies.

I feel like the Eternals was a lot closer concept wise to what Kevin feige wanted out of the Inhumans.