Originally Posted by
rf2044
Things have been a little slow around here, so here's a question / conversation starter for the group: Dani has been a staple in Marvel comics for four decades. She disappeared for a bit in the 90s, but otherwise has been a mainstay in various X-books, so she's got a long, illustrious history.
My question is -- if you could change anything from her backstory, what would it be?
There are two options that pop for me. The first is her path as a Valkyrie. It's made for some cool plot elements over the years, but it also led to her departure from the New Mutants [back in volume 1], and it has been used so sporadically that at times it's felt more like a gimmick than a core element for her. Plus her Valkyrie abilities seem to come and go, depending on who's writing -- so it's been used haphazardly. There's also a strange aspect of it when seen through the lens of her indigenous background -- is her core identity as an X-bad ass or as a Valkyrie? Now, don't get me wrong -- there have been some cool plots, and it gave her character a multi-layered dimension / some of her best costumes, but I wonder what Claremont was thinking when he originally set her down this path.
The second is having her depowered in the M-Day event. She was just getting her second wind as a featured character during her time as a teacher at the Xavier School in NM volume 2 and New X-Men, but when she lost her powers she was kicked out by Emma Frost and basically kicked to the curb, which sent her into a second exodus of not being prominently featured. It did give her a cool arc in NM volume 3, where she had to prove that she still belonged on the team despite not having powers.
But if I had to vote, I think I'd pick #2.