Has anyone been truly happy with how an X-Men character has been written is the past couple of years? It seems a lot of characters have been mentioned. But we are a small sample and opinions due vary greatly. Personally I think Magneto seems to be in a sweet spot recently.
Oh, it’s Banshee. By far.
Beast has taken quite a beating, too.
Umm what? They threw out Emma's worried about controlling her dark side when she joined the X-Men?, That was a central theme to several storylines in the 00s with Emma overcoming it New X-men, Torn, Watsong, Dark Reign.
Hell even the sexism displayed in IvX that Emma lost her way because her anchor/Scott died
The way she treats everyone? Emma has had a more realistic build in relations with characters over 30 years. Particularly in Duggans Marauders. But Kitty/Emma, Storm/Emma, even Rogue /Emma have a lot of building since the 00s same for all the original New Mutants. More so then on again off again Magneto
Last edited by ExodusCloak; 09-23-2022 at 07:10 PM.
Colossus.
Been a tough 3 decades in the most part.
Well, he certainly hasn’t had it the worst so I’m not saying that, but of course you know I’m gonna say Cable is a character who has been handled badly in more recent years. Or at least not nearly as well as he could’ve been…
- First of all, it feels like writers have struggled with what to do with him ever since the Messiah Trilogy (Messiah Complex-Messiah War-Second Coming) ended. Since that period, in 2010 when Second Coming ended with Cable seemingly dead, the only real bright spots for him have been the X-Sanction mini and Si Spurrier’s X-Force run. The latter of which was a much better executed concept of what Percy’s going for, with X-Force as the mutant world’s CIA with Cable as its Nick Fury. That was an awesome and underrated run IMO.
- The best periods for Cable IMO were the early years, when he was still mysterious (see X-Tinction Agenda and X-Cutioner’s Song, Cable: Blood & Metal and some of his early solo run) but also the late 90s when Casey and Ladronn made him an intrinsic part of the broader Marvel U and a superhero in his own right, much like Wolverine. In other words, he was a satellite X-man and popped in and out of X-Force, but also had solo adventures where he’d travel to locales like Genosha or Wakanda and run into other Marvel heroes and villains. He was still a “man on a mission” but that mission was broader than just taking out Apocalypse. It was to ensure the future never ends up like his, and just make it better for everyone. A clear goal, and truly the goal of all superheroes. In other words, he wasn’t burdened with unnecessary baggage and the fact that he was raised in the future/is a time traveler was just part of his origin but it didn’t define the character nor did all of his exploits revolve around time travel.
- The Soldier X run built off of the Casey/Ladronn run which better established Nathan as a solo Marvel character in his own right, not just an X-men satellite character/book, but took it in a darker and edgier direction. Then came Carey’s run on adjectiveless X-men with Rogue’s “Supernovas” team, which was awesome! And, of course, that led into the Messiah Trilogy referenced above where they gave him the new mission of raising Hope in the future until she was old enough to return to the present to restart the mutant gene.
- So… having said all that, since 2010 it feels like they’ve leaned too hard into him as a time traveler and “defender of the timeline” or some stupid shit like that, because these current writers felt like he needed yet another dedicated mission… I suppose to replace his original one which was preventing Apocalype and the High Lords ascension or whatever, and then to replace his later mission of raising the mutant messiah. They leaned hard into that in his relaunch in the 2017 Robinson/Pacheco series, which was short-lived, as well as even Hopeless’ ‘Cable & X-Force’ run which saw him having visions of future events that he had to stop to preserve the timeline. Then came Extermination in 2018 where his younger self came back and terminated the OG version, sending the time-displaced O5 back to the past while he himself stayed here in the present breaking his own rules… the stupidest shit ever. And that teen version stuck around until 2021 when thankfully Duggan brought the OG version back and Ewing reintroduced him in Cable: Reloaded and used him in SWORD and now X-men Red.
- That catches us up. Now… how would I better use Cable? Well, Ewing is doing a darn fine job in XMR right now, but that book has so much going on and so many characters that I’d give the man a second book to allow him to spread his cast out and do more with them in both books. Honestly, I’d give him X-Force, or maybe do a new X-Terminators book after this current mini with Dazzler, Boomer and Jubilee ends. In fact, he could merge the characters from Cable’s new X-Terminators team introduced in Cable: Reloaded with some of the characters from X-men Red and maybe even the group from the current X-Terminators series. Why not? I’d read an X-Terminators series starring Cable, Thunderbird, Manifold, Wolverine (Laura), Dazzler, Boomer and Jubilee. In fact, that could be quite rad if done right IMO.
- But, most importantly, I wouldn’t give Cable yet another dedicated mission. He’s been to the future… lots of futures. And he’s jumped around in the past too and done lots of shady stuff in the 20th century. So if you’re going to explore anything, explore that more. Not his future timeline stuff which has been done to death. Make him the X-men’s version of Nick Fury, doing the dirty work and the sneaky spy stuff on behalf of mutantkind, and don’t overcomplicate it. What’s his motivation? To fight for a better tomorrow. Just like all these superheroes. That’s enough. Leave the T-O virus raging out of control stuff in the past too. It’s not that interesting and has been done to death.
My $.02 anyway.
Last edited by Jackraow21; 09-24-2022 at 08:25 AM.
“Not as good as I once was… but I’m as good, once, as I ever was.”
More like $1.50 and I enjoyed reading it. Thank you! I always liked Cable but you've made me like him even more over the past few months.
And to answer the thread question: Doop. No one can get his voice right.
"Danielle... I intend to do something rash and violent." - Betsy Braddock
Krakoa, Arakko, and Otherworld forever!