What do you view Scott and Emma's relationship?

[PyroFN]

Is there a romantic relationship that is really explored during this era?

Eh. Not really. Any I mention here will amount to basically, “barely explored at all”:

Gambit and Rogue have both had moments on-going from Excalibur to X-Men, even while apart from each other. I don’t think it was that intentional, since they are mostly short moments and not drawn out arcs, but because writers like using them so much, they are inadvertently given more characterization than most in this era, which says a lot more about the romance of this era than it does about Gambit and Rogue.

X-23 and Synch is new, so Duggan has been diving into that, ever since Hickman introduced it.

Percy has been carrying the dynamic of Jean and Logan on his back the entire time where no one else is even looking at the throuple for anything. Hickman focused on the family aspect, I.e. Scott and the kids. Duggan has been focusing on individual character moments. (Not arcs, but moments)

Same goes for Quentin and Phoebe. Percy is carrying that dynamic moreso for the same reason he is carrying Jean and Logan. For the character development of the male love interest, Aka Quentin and Wolverine. Since they are the main characters of the team, I can’t fault him too much, but you can’t really say much about the couples if we mostly are getting the male perspective. It’s very telling that we barely get Jean’s feelings regarding Logan from X Lives of Wolverine after so many years of Percy handling those two characters. We still don’t have a full picture of Phoebe’s perspective now.

Kid Cable and Esme are my favorite new pairing, but it was short-lived. I don’t know. They are two kids having fun, while growing up way too quickly for their own good. So, as far as being explored, it’s bare bones, yet because it’s young love, it kind of gets a pass for showing teens just having fun, which is how I personally think of teen romance dynamics.

Daken’s dynamic with Aurora and Somnus has oddly enough been the most intentionally done romance for both love interest. Leah completely changed Daken’s personality to do it, but it still counts, I suppose. Somnus was done in a short span of time, but you kind of get the point in the comic it’s introduced in and are seeing how that factors in his actions and treatment to Daken. So, as far as fully exploring couples, Daken and those two are probably the best, which still does not really compare to past writers writing of characters, but if we are comparing to the entire era now, it’s the best from my standpoint.

[PyroFN]

Lovers still feels applicable, even if not explicitly shown. It’s mostly based on the hints given near the beginning. With that in mind though, they have not gotten any real focus.

It’s kind of a shame and a blessing because Emma get’s to focus on many other aspects of her character without Scott. Granted, it’s been like that since AvX or already, but Emma was pretty background in those eras. Because she is the favorite of the X-Writers, she keeps being used. It’s incredible.

The down-side though is that we don’t get to see more vulnerable aspects of Emma as often as we would like. Don’t get me wrong, she still gets good meaty moments in other aspects, but because her character is so strong-willed most of the time, the majority is from her icy and calculating exterior, with her more emotional moments being sparced in-between.

[Rev9]

Perfunctory

[Godzilla2099]

When they were together? Definitely Love

At first I was against them getting together but Wheadon's Astonishing X-Men really made me like this couple. He nailed the good boy hooking up with bad girl. But their relationship really evolved and both added to each other character's growth. Scott was faced with the toughest decisions a leader had to make post M-Day. If it wasn't for Emma, Scott wouldn't have been able to succeed and while being with Scott, Emma branded her spot as a hero where nobody questions her motives. Their relation went through major tests, and overall I thought they endured it well.

I love Jean but I viewed Jean and Scott much like Clark and Lana. High School Sweethearts. But with Emma? She's more the Lois Lane.

Currently? I have no idea. If anything they at least respect each other.

[DarkMagnus]

When they were together? Definitely Love

I love Jean but I viewed Jean and Scott much like Clark and Lana. High School Sweethearts. But with Emma? She's more the Lois Lane.

Currently? I have no idea. If anything they at least respect each other.

X2

Emma and Scott grew up together as characters for some part of the public Emma "made" Scott a man with al the decimation - Messiax Trilogy stuff.

And then comes AVX until Death of X...

[Kitty&Piotr<3]

I view it as something interesting that has been thrown away in an attempt by people with bad taste to make things like they were when they were kids. More importantly, the relationship's dissolution renders Jean trapped in the aforementioned nostalgia.

[Gray Lensman]

Currently, I see Scott and Emma as close confidants who still have some affection towards each other, with anything more being implied but never said by the writers.

While they were still together, they were a pair who ended up together for all the wrong reasons but stayed together for the right ones - as they realized they had found something they never expected to.

And finally, it also seems to be incredibly reliable flame bait for a certain segment of the fan base.

[Warlioncomics]

Scott & Emma seem to be more friends than a couple which is good
Their relationship was a mess from the beginning
she was his therapist & one of the people responsible for the trauma he endured (dark Phoenix saga) , he realized that what was happening was wrong & left her (pre-here comes tomorrow & Jean changing that)
Their relationship continued but it wasn’t really what developed them as characters, what developed them was leading the mutants during a rough era (which started with house of M and continued after their breakup in AvX)

Besides she can’t be his number 1 priority when the person he loves the most is around
The only character in Marvel who had the person she loves even tho she’s not the love of his life was Mary Jane & what helped her is Gwen being dead and she’s always gonna stay dead (maybe get resurrected or cloned for an arc but will end up in the coffin again as it’s a status quo)
Jean is not a side character , so she’ll never stay dead & thereby Emma is never gonna be Scott’s no.1 girl
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[Jackraow21]

When they were together? Definitely Love

At first I was against them getting together but Wheadon's Astonishing X-Men really made me like this couple. He nailed the good boy hooking up with bad girl. But their relationship really evolved and both added to each other character's growth. Scott was faced with the toughest decisions a leader had to make post M-Day. If it wasn't for Emma, Scott wouldn't have been able to succeed while being with Scott, Emma branded her spot as a hero where nobody questions her motives. Their relation went through major tests, and overall I thought they endured it well.

I love Jean but I viewed Jean and Scott much like Clark and Lana. High School Sweethearts. But with Emma? She's more the Lois Lane.

This is how I see it as well, and why I prefer Scott with Emma and just being great friends with Jean at this point.

[emfrst]

I don't think we can define the relationship in term of normal coupling labels. It is not like Jean prefer Logan over Scott, or Scott preferring Jean over Emma. If anything, Jean and Scott is the enter of an open marriage: Jean and Logan are definitely lover, Scott and Logan are implied to be tangled with each other, Scott and Emma is certainly a thing, Jean and Emma are friendly. Yet, Emma and Logan are not bound to be faithful.

This is what mutant free love means. Jean is allowed to be polyamorous, Scott is allowed to be too. Jean's love is more domestic to Scott, so they play house and included Logan into the passionate circle. Emma's love is cooler headed to Scott, in which they each respect each other's boundary, but can still intimate with each other things they go through as leaders of of a new nation, Krakoa.

[Kitty&Piotr<3]

This is how I see it as well, and why I prefer Scott with Emma and just being great friends with Jean at this point.

I feel like this would be the most honest, truest to the entire character histories, and most creatively fertile direction to take things.

[Mercury]

I feel like this would be the most honest, truest to the entire character histories, and most creatively fertile direction to take things.

I've chosen not to comment in this thread up until now because, although I certainly cannot be categorized as a great defender of Jean and Scott's marriage, I don't have anything positive to say about Scott and Emma's pairing either. (Regarding Jean, I want her to be single for a spell, although, admittedly, I do like how Duggan has written her and Scott as a couple. He writes them as two people who know each other so well and have been through so much, that they have neither the time nor inclination for drama or frivolous and, frankly, would-be-forced romantic exchanges. He writes them as best friends, which, of course, they are, but has also given them their tender loving moments.)

That being said, "the most honest" direction to take Emma and Scott's relationship would be to acknowledge what she did to him during his time-displacement as a teenager, which affected him profoundly. With the Iceman miniseries, Vecchio has indicated that perhaps the writers are going to start leaning into the O5's time-displacement era, which I think is a good thing for each of those characters, who all underwent significant growth and developments as individuals, friends, and in Jean and Scott's case, a couple.

[Mercury]

[Mercury]

[Kitty&Piotr<3]

I enjoyed that mustache-twirling they gave Emma as comedy and as an example of what can happen to a female when used for a writer's main guy insert. I prefer to have Emma as a shield for Jean in that respect.
And then it the moments when they aren't absolutely dumping on Emma, she and Scott can be their most honest and life-like selves.

Jean and Scott lovey-dovey panels are all well and good Disney's Once Upon A Time content, but I wouldn't call them honest given Maddie, let alone Maddie and Emma. They don't ring true in full context of X-history, but only if we ignore certain major events.

It would be wrong of me to say that the harder or more messy or less sugary thing is always the truest or best thing, but I think "sometimes people change and move in different directions" is a poignant truism that I don't think the X-Men should shy away from, given all that has happened. I wouldn't just break up all comics couples for the sake of over-representing harshness and change, but these characters were primed to do away with false saccharinity for the first time decades ago, and two or three times over again since then. IMO.