The Madelyne Pryor/Anodyne/Goblin Queen Appreciation Thread 2022

[seccruz]

I've wanted to see Maddie vs Illyana since Inferno. I hope it's great and furthers Maddie as a character, not a plot device.

OMG! SAME! Inferno could have been so much better if it was a Yana vs Maddie affair.

[Koriand'r]

If Madelyne got control of Limbo she'd also get the Soulsword and what would happen to Illyana when the physical embodiment of her magic is in someone else's hand?

[seccruz]

75960609471402551_4b63318a-c443-4d4a-975a-7b50bc74b9f9_1024x.jpg
It's Maddie vs Yana, and they came with friends... art by Philip Tan. https://unknowncomicbooks.com/collec...60609471402551

[WallStreeter]

If Madelyne got control of Limbo she'd also get the Soulsword and what would happen to Illyana when the physical embodiment of her magic is in someone else's hand?

You don’t necessarily need the souls word to rule Limbo. After she killed Belasco Darkchilde ruled Limbo while the souls word was hidden in Nightcrawler. After Darkchilde got her soulsword back and went back to Limbo, even with the soulsword Witchfore defeated Illyana because she had the Belasco medallion with 60 percent of Illyana’s soul.

[Hypestyle]

I miss regular non villain madelyne.

was there any particular reason why Sinister chose that name?

[K7P5V]

I miss regular non villain madelyne.

Kinda miss her, as well. She was quite interesting in those days (IMHO):







All things considered, I'm fine with how she is at the moment.

[Micabe]

Why are Maddie's eyes blue?

[rcaguy]

If Madelyne got control of Limbo she'd also get the Soulsword and what would happen to Illyana when the physical embodiment of her magic is in someone else's hand?

The Soulsword is Illyana's since it's actually a part of her. Plain and simple. It's basically the equivalent of a Harry Potter wand. It really has nothing to do with Limbo. Doubt anyone else could actually weild it unless Illyana wills it like she did with Karma.

[rcaguy]

If Madelyne got control of Limbo she'd also get the Soulsword and what would happen to Illyana when the physical embodiment of her magic is in someone else's hand?

If it's like most swords of the type it would kill the person who wasn't it's owner(Madelyne),unless the owner (Illyana) had made some kind of excecption for others

[K7P5V]

Doubt anyone else could actually weild it unless Illyana wills it like she did with Karma.

I know, right?! But, don't forget other wielders such like Kitty Pryde & Dr. Doom

[nx01a]

Goblin Queen by Phil Jimenez

was there any particular reason why Sinister chose that name?

Sinister said it was because she had a 'prior' existence as Jean.
IRL... Claremont named her after British singer Madelaine Edith "Maddy" Prior.

[BobbysWorld]

Overall I wasn't a huge fan of the whole Axis/Inverted Heroes and Villains storyline from a few years back, but given that Maddy was around pretty close to that same time period in X-Men Blue, I always was disappointed they didn't make her a part of that event.

Like imagine if just after meeting her as the Goblyn Queen and fighting her influence over Hank, and with this after all the horror stories/cautionary tales the timelost 05 heard from others about Maddy and her history and past conflicts with many X-Men.....then the inversion thing happens and Maddy turns from the Goblyn Queen back into who she'd been as Anodyne, complete with the healing powers she'd had then. Hammering home for them how complicated all of this was and how nobody had just one side to them, and that there was much more to Maddy than just what they'd been told, and that everyone else remembered or seemed to care about whenever the subject of her came up. Maybe throw in a storyline where Anodyne Maddy still is aware of everything she'd done as the Goblyn Queen and once they all realize this Inversion effect is going to wear off, Maddy doesn't want to go back to that, she wants to stay the way she is now and the 05 commit to helping her from getting reverted because each of them end up with their own reasons for wanting to help this Maddy have a chance to choose who she wants to be when so much of her life has been defined by others trying to choose for her.

I just think something like that could have had a lot of potential.

Anyway, on a completely different topic....I know a lot of people want to see Maddy have a chance to grow beyond just partaking in the same endless cycles she's stuck in with the Summers family, Jean, and Limbo-related things, since she never seems to get to break out of any of those cycles or do much unrelated to the usual handful of characters or concepts.

Personally, I'm still hoping for something like her moving to Arakko after this Limbo arc ends and trying to make a fresh start for herself among a planet full of jaded mutant warriors whose own lives and history have ton of crossover with demons and hell dimensions. She wouldn't stand out among them the same way she would on Krakoa, where everyone she meets runs the chance of just comparing her to Jean or reminding her of her history, be less likely to see her as her own person or give her a chance even if they'd never met her before just because they'd heard so much about her or view her as like, the knock-off version of the original. Or at least, that wouldn't be unreasonable for Maddy to pessimistically assume that's how most on Krakoa would view her. Plus even on that island, most of its citizens aren't as familiar with magic or demons or the go-to aspects of her power that Maddy tends to PREFER to draw on rather than relying on her mutant gifts, because even if she might be distrusted by others for her Limbo connections, I see Maddy as taking more 'pride' in her magic than her mutant powers because they feel to her like something she sought out, earned, that nobody can accuse her of it not being hers because Jean had it first...that sorta thing.

But on Arakko, all of these things are likely to work in Maddy's favor rather than be drawbacks. Arakkii are familiar with demons, magic, its nothing new or all that different to them. Many Arakii are even descended from Amenthi demons, hybrids of mutants and demons Annihilation bred together to make superior warriors, and nothing we've seen suggests that half or part demon Arakkii are viewed as any less mutant than any 'full' non-demonic mutant of their race. There doesn't seem to be any kind of stigma or class system that inherently biases them against demon-associated members of their people, given that some of the Arakkii's ruling council like Tarn are literally mutant-demon hybrids themselves. Not to mention they had no problem working with Summoners, who were mutants who drew additional power from summoning demons to do their bidding, that sorta thing. By all indications, the Arakkii preoccupation with war, survival, and conflict against a worthy foe seems to add up to a society that definitely has a lot of questionable social Darwinist tendencies, but ironically ALSO results in a flip side of things where they're less likely to hold someone's differences against them than 'normal' societies tend to. What matters to the Arakkii is: can you fight? Can you be trusted to fight alongside them, both in terms of honor and competence? If in conflict with you, can you be trusted to put up a good fight, be a worthy challenge that forces them to push themselves or level up to survive said conflict or defeat you?

From what we've seen so far, it seems if the answers to those questions are yes, in Arakkii eyes.....you're cool. You can hang with them. You're in. Its that simple, with the other stuff just not mattering as much to them. Question their priorities, sure, lol, but like....they're not inconsistent about what those priorities seem to be.

All of which adds up, IMO, to making Arakko kinda Maddy's personal promised land. Finally here's a place where she can fit in just by being herself. Where her past or her origins won't be held against her, aren't even likely to be KNOWN to most of the five million-large population she can thrive in, and even if and when it does become known, they're still not likely to shun her for it. Where the literal deals with devils she's made aren't going to be brought up as marks against her but rather just accepted and understood by people as being understandable and worth it because most would understand WHY she'd made those deals, why she'd decided they were worth making, what she sought from them....and most Arakki seem inclined to be like yeah, you definitely got your money's worth from those deals, they seem well thought out and worth it, look at you, you're the fucking Goblyn Queen, you're powerful, you're feared, you're respected.....we're not seeing the issue here, why is this bad.

Arakko's a place where and a people amongst whom Maddy can potentially thrive and belong in ways she hasn't since before she found out her true origins. What becomes of her there, in that society, would have nothing to do with Sinister, Summers brothers, Jean Grey or anyone other than Maddy and her actions and choices alone. Which honestly is all I think she really wants at this point, and the reason she isolates herself most of the time is because she's despaired of ever really finding that, being understood as just wanting and deserving what most people take for granted:

A life that's hers alone and a right to chart her own course without being judged for the lengths she'll go to get these things, when most people doing the judging have never HAD to fight for their personhood and to justify their own existence in the way Maddy's had to for most of her life.

But I do think that's what drives most of Maddy's actions at her core, as well as the fact that she's LONELY, in my opinion, because before the reveal of how she came to be, before the original Inferno, she was never someone who SOUGHT OUT isolation, never wanted to be estranged from humanity and people as a whole....she's only stayed away from most people throughout most of her history since Inferno as a defense against being misunderstood or looked down on. She thinks she'd be expected or asked to apologize for most of the things she's done in the name of just trying to be her own person, discover who that is, MAKE something of herself that's wholly removed of the people who made her and why....and that's not something Maddy's willing to do, even if it means spending most of her life with no one but demons and regrets as her only company. So she's stuck, with her wants incompatible with what she's not willing to give up or second-guess in order to have them....and this eternal stagnation of being locked into a status quo that doesn't fully serve her but without a clear idea of how to move past it in a way that's not counter-productive to the parts of her existence and identity that DO still serve her....creates this kinda constant internal friction that keeps the flames of her resentment and anger at the whole damn world burning hot and furious.

But Arakko's not that world. Arakko's another world entirely, a world that was hand-created by mutants to be a fresh start for warrior mutants who were essentially cast into Hell in a distant past themselves....and who returned to the world of their original birth after their war was finally over just to find out that the world had moved on without them and no longer really had a place for them there....even though they were there first, predating most of the people who would confidently argue to them that this world belongs to them and not the Arakkii who only left it in the first place to protect it from Amenth. The symbolism of moving to Arakko, a promised land of tabula rasas and new beginnings no matter who you are or what you've done, as long as you're strong enough to carve out a place for yourself in its landscape.....is I think something that Maddy can appreciate in ways few other mutants can, and a chance for her to maybe even find some of the happiness she's convinced herself she'll never truly have again.

[rcaguy]

I know, right?! But, don't forget other wielders such like Kitty Pryde & Dr. Doom

Question is, is that thing the sword Illyana created from her lifeforce or something else?

[sunofdarkchild]

The soul sword hasn't been restricted to just Illyana and Kitty since the original Inferno when S'ym stole it from her. Since then anyone and everyone has been able to wield it, regardless of what Illyana wanted. For a time when it was embedded in Muir Island only Kitty could pull it out the way only Arthur could draw Excalibur, but once it was out anyone could take it from her and wield it. It's been wielded by S'ym, Dr. Doom, Darkoth, Amanda Sefton, Margali Szardos. Belasco, Nightcrawler, the Project Purgatory soldiers, and the World Eater. The current canon is that while anyone can pick it up and swing it around, it doesn't reveal its true power for anyone but Illyana because it's a part of her, so it wouldn't be as powerful a weapon in Dr. Doom or Belasco's hands as in Illyana's.

[Peace]

Claremont was inspire to the film VERTIGO from Alfred Hitchcock, for madelyne and a little bit to plot line.
On Italy "la donna che visse due volte" (the woman to lives two time) she named Madeleine and the male actor "scottie" it's a good thriller and remember a quote to Claremont many years ago on this.
800px-Vertigomovie.jpg