How would changing the sex or race, or both, of an X-character change *them*?

[Spiderfan001]

Most characrters it won't because when they were created it was a non factor. Like Storm, BP, ususally when characters of color are taken into account those things come to the forefront and matter like Storm is the daughter of an african princess and an african american photojournalist. That is integral to her character and as such can't really be race bent but then you have Jean or Rogue, rogue in particular being a southern belle, it really doesn't matter as much as she could be a decatur southern belle. Or even cylcops there is nothing in his history that implies or connects to being specifically caucasian. So it really does depend on the character but in 90% of the instances their ethnicity just doesn't play a part in white characters and it was taken for granted because it was the norm.

edit: i do find it weird this is a topic now that it can happen in the other direction but never seemed to be a issue when white hollywood has been race bending forever to "tell a story"

Agreed.But if you change race then their race will play a role in their character.
I(POC if that's important to anyone) don't find stories based on Race or gender as appealing as just normal hero comics.Not to say they shouldn't be a part of it, but they are too weak to carry the story as the driving force.

I find myself enjoying stories w/ White males/females as compared to POC character and/or LGBTQ characters for the fact that I read comics as a form of escapism and if those issues are the driving force behind the comics then they aren't compelling.Not to be mistaken with their inclusion in a plot, that's cool.If it's the entire plot then it's not compelling.

Does that make sense?Also I'm only speaking for myself her and not saying that this is how they should do things.

[PyroFN]

If Cyclops was a female, it would change the dynamic between Cyclops and Wolverine and the relationship between Cyclops and Jean would be very controversial for the time. Now it might not be as bad of a problem.

Agreed.

Same can be said if Jean was a man instead. In fact, in my opinion, it probably would impact that relationship moreso based on the fact that writers would probably hide behind Logan as a beard for either Female Cyclops or Jean. There is no way around Scott and Logan falling in love the Male Jean beyond calling it just a very, very close friendship. At least until we get to the modern day when those things become less taboo.

Knowing the times though, Scott’s dynamic with everyone else though would change. Female Scott probably wouldn’t be the leader. She probably would end up a love interest to the other members and would probably have the same connection to Jean as Jean has to Lorna or Storm.

[jwatson]

You can make her South African and certainly change her race to white. As PyroFN pointed out, just think of this as an exercise.

Be my guest. I look forward to that twitter Storm. The problem is one side inherently had an advantage and then bent to give themselves more so it's really not an all things equal situation. Personally the messy side of me would love to see them try to be honest. But even beyond that i wasn't taking the exercise too seriously just pointing out there is a difference and white Hollywood has been race bending with no problems for a long time until it hit white characters.

[Gripstir]

If Beast was a girl he would have an entirely different kind of fan base

[Mercury]

Imagine: Cyclops, Beast, Angel, and Iceman are all women, with Jean being the only male. lol!

[jwatson]

Agreed.But if you change race then their race will play a role in their character.
I(POC if that's important to anyone) don't find stories based on Race or gender as appealing as just normal hero comics.Not to say they shouldn't be a part of it, but they are too weak to carry the story as the driving force.

I find myself enjoying stories w/ White males/females as compared to POC character and/or LGBTQ characters for the fact that I read comics as a form of escapism and if those issues are the driving force behind the comics then they aren't compelling.Not to be mistaken with their inclusion in a plot, that's cool.If it's the entire plot then it's not compelling.

Does that make sense?Also I'm only speaking for myself her and not saying that this is how they should do things.

I don't either. I would much rather someone that looks lke me in a book that someone trying to capture the "culture" unless they have a black writer on staff to help or followed a few black people. i mean if you are tryign to give that kind of perspective. Like i'm black and have never seen a slave movie, i've read about that stuff so for the life of me i don't get why oprah only cares about slave movies or tyler perry messy movies but neither have tried to make a black super hero. Makes me think theres money to be made in selling slavery by the affluental black. But that's just me. I mean in a perfect world maybe it touched a few white people but how many slave movies can one make.

[PyroFN]

Yeah, all of that, but also maintaining, as much as possible, the fundamentals of their history. For example, imagine if the original five X-Men were all people of color, i.e., Black, Latino, Native American, etc., but still within the context of the early-1960s. That could make for a compelling story.

Hmm…..I think Charles Xavier being a person of race might have raise some eyebrows.

Storm’s race obviously plays a role in who she is. Same goes for Sunfire and Dani.

People like Nightcrawler though would have no issue with race or gender in my opinion, except for the charming exclamations Claremont would do to try to remind us that this man is German. His fur is blue, so skin color will be an issue for him no matter his ethnicity.

Colossus would kind of raise eyebrows with a gender change for the traditional standards of feminist back then, but there wouldn’t really be issue beyond if we went the Kitty Pryde and female Colossus but, which is unlikely at the time Colossus was made. Ethnicity/color change would not really impact his character, though we’d lose some of the same charm that is done with Kurt.

It’s all a case by case scenario, really with each character that one can go on about.

[Mercury]

Storm’s race obviously plays a role in who she is. Same goes for Sunfire and Dani.

The same argument can be made for every character, though. I mean, where and when does one draw the line?

The purpose of this exercise is to discover what would change about a character if we changed their race and/or sex. Let's just go with it and see.

So, Storm becomes a white South African man who has been worshipped as a god by natives for years. Maybe he can even have a secret identity. The possibilities are endless.

Jean becomes a black man during the 1960s who, after joining the X-Men, is pushed by his parents to pursue a more traditional higher education.

Emma becomes a black man, too, born to affluence and a toxic family.

The possibilities are endless, of course, if we don't get mired in our attachments to these characters.

[jwatson]

The same argument can be made for every character, though. I mean, where and when does one draw the line?

The purpose of this exercise is to discover what would change about a character if we changed their race and/or sex. Let's just go with it and see.

So, Storm becomes a white South African man who has been worshipped as a god by natives for years. Maybe he can even have a secret identity. The possibilities are endless.

Jean becomes a black man during the 1960s who, after joining the X-Men, is pushed by his parents to pursue a more traditional higher education.

Emma becomes a black man, too, born to affluence and a toxic family.

The possibilities are endless, of course, if we don't get mired in our attachments to these characters.

So you suggest storm become a white man worshipped my local african natives for years. OMG i can't tell you the gasp of a laugh i let out at this. how many white african tribes are there linked to the dawn of time.(ororo is linked to the balboa priestesses that are a real tribe of priestesses.) I know people want it to work for everyone but it doesn't. OMG just imagine the storm that would be created by a white male storm with a bunch of african natives worshipping him. lol.

[Mercury]

So you suggest storm become a white man worshipped my local african natives for years. OMG i can't tell you the gasp of a laugh i let out at this. how many white african tribes are there linked to the dawn of time.(ororo is linked to the balboa priestesses that are a real tribe of priestesses.) I know people want it to work for everyone but it doesn't. OMG just imagine the storm that would be created by a white male storm with a bunch of african natives worshipping him. lol.

They would worship him not because of the color of his skin but because of his power, lol.

[jwatson]

They would worship him not because of the color of his skin but because of his power, lol.

You can't even type that with a straight face. LMFAO. lol. i didn't know i needed that today.

[Mercury]

Thinking about Jean as a black man during the 1960s is prompting me to imagine some amazing scenes. Imagine not being able to easily block out the hate and racism directed at you either physically or mentally. Damn.

[Mercury]

You can't even type that with a straight face. LMFAO. lol. i didn't know i needed that today.

I am not saying it would be totally palatable, but it making her a white man (or woman, for that matter) isn't beyond the realm of possibility, unless, of course, as I pointed out above, you're allowing yourself to become mired in your attachment to the character.

[jwatson]

I am not saying it would be totally palatable, but it making her a white man (or woman, for that matter) isn't beyond the realm of possibility, unless, of course, as I pointed out above, you're allowing yourself to become mired in your attachment to the character.

Not at all please point me to the white african american male that is her father and the ancient tribe of white people that were african royals that were her mother and i promise you got me sold. lol Unlike most Claremont linked ororo well and even had her ancestors show up to enforce the history. ONe of her ancestors is from Ashake of MEroe, that's on panel facts.

edit: you would have to completely rewrite storm history and that of her soreceror supreme ancestors to make it work. and her father and his ancestors.

[Mercury]

edit: you would have to completely rewrite storm history and that of her soreceror supreme ancestors to make it work. and her father and his ancestors.

If you think deeply enough about it, you would have to rewrite the history of a majority of characters whose races are changed.