Polaris for almost her entire character history.
During the Claremont era, she was treated like a punching bag that had no depth beyond being Havok's girlfriend. Most writers since then act like she has nothing to offer besides being Havok's girlfriend, and never bother to look at what she was meant to be when she was created and what actually fits. Because of that, Marvel's repeatedly taken things away from Lorna and acted like they never happened to reduce her to the pitiful perception they have of her. Things she's had ignored or taken from her:
- Second woman to join the X-Men
- More of a feminist personality than other women at the time she was created
- Complex struggle on whether to align with Xavier and Magneto philosophies
- The fact she's existed since 1968, before many characters created after her
- History with Jean Grey and Iceman in particular, back to their O5 days
- Lorna having survived the Genoshan genocide, and having been seen as its sovereign princess in its final moments
- Just in general, that she's done anything in her entire life that wasn't X-Factor
In the past decade, certain people at Marvel with tons of nostalgia for the 90s are very insistent on acting like Lorna didn't exist until 90s X-Factor, and like being Havok's girlfriend is all she's ever done in the franchise. They're basically a modern day Dick Giordano, who looked at Supergirl purely through the lens of "what does she add to Superman," felt she added nothing, and decided to kill her off.
You can see the impact and evidence up to present. Marvel people were apparently surprised that Lorna won the X-Men vote, only had her in half the run, and didn't even have her on the cover for the single issue that put a lot of focus on her.
But what's most damning to me about Marvel is their quiet yet total erasure of Lorna being a genocide survivor. We constantly get to see characters who weren't even anywhere near Genosha talk about the genocide, yet it's over 15 years now and Marvel acts like Lorna doesn't even know what Genosha was. It's incredibly obvious that they're doing it because they don't have a single shred of respect for Polaris and what that event meant for the character, and they prize their oh so precious nostalgia for things they liked 30 years ago over what's actually relevant and appropriate today.
I can also be reached on BlueSky and Tumblr. Avatar by kahlart.
Ghosts of Genosha minicomic focused on Polaris, written by me and drawn by Fin_NoMore.
Polaris 50th anniversary minicomic written by me and drawn by Mlad!
Gallery of Polaris commissions (without NSFW or minicomics)
Over the past 20 years, at least, there are no characters who have been treated worse than Banshee.
Maybe this topic needs to be reversed. Which character hasn't been handled badly over the years?
Kwannon has been handled well since she got her body back.
Maybe Jean Grey ? But she's been dead a lot.
Of the major characters I would maybe say Cable, but I'm pretty sure tons of people disagreed with Teen Cable. The rest of the character's story has been pretty good with no real low point.
Iceman has not been treated that badly, maybe a bit redundant and inconsequential but nothing really bad.
Magneto has been pretty consistently great, except also that one time where it was him but not him but him (Morrison's Magneto was pretty much the thing I disliked the most, although they were trying to make a point. But they took too much of the Ultimate/Movie version).
...
Well it's hard to be a major character and not be missused at some point, isn't it ?
Last edited by Nicoclaws; 09-23-2022 at 04:29 AM.
Betsy Captain Britain. She was a better Captain Britain in 1986 than she is now. Return Brian to Captain Britain and Betsy to her lavender costume.
Changeling. So much potential. He could become 616 “Morph” and keep his minor telepathic and telekinetic abilities.
Mimic. This character need to overcome his mental handicaps and join a team.
El Aguila. Mostly treated as a joke character. This guy can channel bio electricity through metal, usually a sword. This swordsmaster could use a costume upgrade and name change (Conduit). He could make for a great X-man if written properly.
TO KNOW HER IS TO FEAR HER: JESSICA DREW THE SPIDER-WOMAN
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MISSING:
Synch's Aura
Northstar and Aurora's shiny hair
Spider-Woman’s cowl costume
Well, partly he was afraid of spies easily getting onto Krakoa since everybody and their dog seems to want to destroy it, but yeah, that was really classicist. At least the other characters mentioned in this thread are still heroes for the most part, but for 10 years now Hank, once one of the most compassionate of the X-Men, has devolved from amoral asshole to vile amoral asshole. Any writer that tried to put him back to his previous heroic character has it immediately reversed by the next writer. I don't know if it's that most writer coming onto x-books hate Hank or just don't know how to write him.
Husk. She has so much potencial, but she is underused. She is a cameo character. In HoX, when she was part of that shortlived X-men roster (that only last one issue) i was excited, but she was only there for a few panels and killed off panel.
Gen X characters did not get what they deserved. They are doing something amazing with Synch and Monet has presence. Thats it. But the one that should complain the most is Skin.
But I love Husk and they are not doing any justice to the character.
A cuestionable membership in Aaron X-men, the moustrosity they did to her in Wolverine and the X-men, and a secondary mutation that is just a mood change (What a Joke).
I liked her when Rogue form a team to fight Proteus.
7d3cd19712a4e7acb99d0d0d5db64c67--marvel-characters-xmen.jpg
Last edited by Hephoenix; 09-23-2022 at 07:11 AM.
Really, ANY X-Men character who has been around since the mid 90's or earlier; most of them have been very badly written out of character and INCONSISTENT character wise for the past 20-25 years...
I wonder if people feel the same way about Magneto, who has been neutered by having his power levels gradually weakened and being portrayed as a "hero" and a member of the X-Men for about 10-15 years straight now. Such a lazy, terrible thing to do with the franchise's greatest, most recognizable villain. It would be like toning the Joker down and making him a member of the Bat Family for 10-15 years.
Last edited by Uncanny Mutie; 09-24-2022 at 08:19 AM.
Imma throw out the freebie
The entire human race for never being allowed to develop and actively made worse by the writers so they can push the races war angle as hard and as fast as they could.
The human ally is all forgotten with Moira death and then character assassination. Very important role.
Well the elder New Mutants are training the students. But also... is there a school? The actual structure of building Krakoa could be interesting except everything grows on trees.... sigh...
We have to be reading different X-Titles because Emma is constantly being teased as turning. And even her villainy is less problematic than Wolverines heroism.
I was trying to do too much and not doing any of it as well as I could. But I've had a change of mind... though not everyone shall enjoy it. I will.
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