X-Men Year Three: Team for Fall of X

[MentalManipulator]

Honestly for year three I know we get a lot of shiet for "forced diveristy" but I want a diverse X-Men but Cyclops is always my leader in a book that X-Men is supposed to be:


Cyclops
Jean Grey
Captain Betsy Braddock
Psylocke (Kwannon) Asian rep
Mercury/Anole LGBT rep and also are not passing for human
Magma/Wind Dancer Latina rep
Blink afro-asian rep
M/Frenzy/Tempo

Seeing your female heavy team made me think that Emma would support an all female team for her mandate:

Jean Grey
Storm
Rogue
Blink
Captain Betsy
Tempo
Kwannon

[gonnagiveittoya]

Were like two issues into the new team, why are we already talking about the next one

[MentalManipulator]

Were like two issues into the new team, why are we already talking about the next one

yeah...I'm not feeling this year's line-up very much.

[ARkadelphia]

Jean
Synch
Armor
Firestar
Gentle
Forge
Sunspot

[Wolverine12]

I Dont want Krakoa to fall.

I Hope "Fall of X" means Xavier instead of Krakoa.

Maybe forming a elect goverment like those Latveria never had?

Anyway my Team of X Men for President Frost.

Rogue (Co-Leader)
Gambit (Co-leader)
Wolverine (Laura)
Magneto (Lorna)
Cable
Sunfire
Magik
Psylocke (Kwanon)

I really like the idea of Lorna taking the Magneto mantle until his eventual return.

My team would be

Cyke (Co-Leader)
Logan (Co-Leader)
Jean (DPS)
Rogue (Tank)
Psylocke (Stealth)
Storm (Goddess)
Iceman (Margaritas)

[BobbysWorld]

Since this is supposed to be the Fall of X team, where allegedly Krakoa's greatest threats are taking the fight to them and presumably there's internal strife to contend with as well, I wouldn't have any of the major players who already have key political roles in other books on the team....that means Storm and Cable are still front and center in X-Men Red, Kate, Colossus, Kurt, etc are all involved in the Quiet Council drama, etc.

Similarly, I wouldn't have Scott or Illyana on the team as I'd have the War Captains JUST focused on their duties as Krakoa's primary defense and military leadership in a time of obvious crisis, and I'd specifically lean into the four different spheres of defense/expertise they each could embody:

1) Bishop, the Captain Commander, is overall man-in-charge and specifically takes point on all threats stemming from time travel. Y'know, like....Nimrod and Omega Sentinel.
2) Cyclops takes point on all extraterrestrial threats, due to his long history and experience with the Shi'ar, living in outer space with his dad when his younger self was in the present, etc. Meaning he heads up all defense and opposition to any role the Phalanx/Dominions might possibly play in Fall of X.
3) Kwannon takes point on all terrestrial-based threats, like Orchis' personnel and other various anti-mutant groups or individuals.
4) Magik takes point on all occult threats as well as looks for magical solutions, tactics and allies with which to fight Krakoa's heavily technology-reliant enemies at this time.

Which for the seven person X-Men team, leaves Jean and Synch as the two members fulfilling OP's requirements that either they or Scott stay on....and I'd also keep Bobby on, and fill out the final four slots with Monet, Hijack (David Bond, from Bendis' run), Sway (from Moira's Deadly Genesis class), and lastly Alisa Tager, aka Cipher.

There's a method to my madness:

Sway I'm adding because I think its dumb that even after all this time, and with the Waiting Room making it possible to bring her back, STILL nobody has tapped the massive story potential of Petra and Sway, the last two 'lost' X-Men of a largely forgotten generation. But not only am I a sucker for time powers and think she has a lot to offer power-wise, I just think any story that's presumably tied to the climax of the Orchis plot absolutely deserves to have at least ONE of Moira's class of forgotten/murdered students there to confront her at the end.

Sway: So let me get this straight, you have nine lifetimes of experience, a lot of them WITH Krakoa, the very place where we were sent to our deaths, and yet there was NOTHING you could have done differently with all that? Cool. Awesome. No seriously, that's great. I'm holding zero grudges right now. Hey quick question, teacher who is mortally terrified of her existence ending and also apparently familiar with how black holes can be threats even to massive machine Dominions like the Phalanx....what do you think could happen if we were to combine my time powers with Jean's telekinesis and Bobby's energy-negation? Anyone order some localized singularities for a final dramatic showdown with you and your AI entourage?

Cipher I'm adding to represent the youth contingent, because I think she's a vastly underrated character with insane story potential considering her powers basically make her THE ultimate stealth/infiltration expert. Like she can go invisible AND intangible AND even mask her presence from psychic detection. If there's a mutant in existence who can evade even Nimrod and Omega Sentinel and sneak in and out of even Orchis' most heavily guarded installations, its her.

David Bond aka Hijack I'm adding because I think the team with a high chance of going head-to-head with Orchis, Nimrod, Omega Sentinel, etc, needs not just a tech expert per se, but a technopath who can manipulate technology and machinery DIRECTLY. Someone like Hijack, Wiz Kid, Paradigm, Black Box, Tin Man or Trinary could wage direct, personal psychic assault on the consciousnesses of Moira X, Nimrod and Omega Sentinel in the same way telepaths like Jean can attack organic consciousnesses, or even take temporary control of them the way Karma can hijack biological beings. Maybe none of them are powerful enough to assume control of someone like Nimrod on their own, but if they were plugged into a circuit that let them draw directly on the massive reservoirs of power that omegas like Jean and Bobby have at their disposal.....yeah, I think a technopath like Hijack could be MIGHTY useful against mutantkind's AI enemies.

And after all, that's the other thing a technopath like one of the ones I listed brings to the team....Ewing's S.W.O.R.D. run used Wiz Kid to establish the precedent that technopaths in the Krakoan Age are able to treat the circuits formed of mutant synergy as a kind of technology they can manipulate in all kinds of ways. Essentially, mutant technopaths can use their powers to mentally tweak the ways mutant powers combine in order to create gestalt effects that normally wouldn't be possible. Like Wiz Kid was able to link six different teleporters together in order to use their cumulative power to fuel one massive teleport...when without him, those six teleporters could stand side-by-side but they still would have no way of combining their powers, they'd just be stuck using their powers one at a time, at their usual limit or range.

So normally, there's nothing about the way Bobby's powers work that would let him plug into a circuit with another mutant and let that mutant just the vast well of power Bobby has to draw on, to fuel that other mutant's ability instead.....but with a technopath like Hijack on hand, that technopath COULD tweak the 'circuitry' in order to just hook Bobby up as a battery attached to another mutant's gift.

I picked Hijack for this just out of personal preference, and I think he could be a good character to give a visibility boost as there's been weirdly few high-profile Latino mutants over the past several decades outside of Sunspot, Wind Dancer, Rictor and CeCe Reyes, but again, any of those technopaths could work here. Also, I just like him because he's kinda a snarky ******* who's like, I am too intimidated by the veteran members of the team to actually go rogue on anything, but by god am I gonna bitch about stuff.

Anyway, aside from a technopath being a good choice for a team that's bound to go up against Nimrod and Moira X, that ability to tweak mutant circuits is key to the last member's inclusion on the team:

Monet.

See, Monet's a great addition to ANY line-up just on her own strengths as a character, sure. She's a genius, a telepath, and has flight, super-strength, speed, stamina, invulnerability and super-senses to boot. She's absolutely stacked, power-wise.

But beyond that, if Fall of X is gonna be the no-holds barred, end of the line battle for the fate of Krakoa against its biggest enemies.....you want your entire team stacked in every way it possibly can be. And that's where Monet - when combined with her old boyfriend Synch...REALLY has potential to change the game here....because her oldest stories always suggested a REASON for why she's so absolutely stacked, power-wise. With the implication being that Monet really only ever had ONE mutant power, and that was the ability to shape herself to match her own image of what she imagined perfection to be.

Quite literally, Monet's power is to be her perfect self. All those other abilities on her laundry list of powers? Are really just symptoms of her true mutant power. They're the add-ons her power gave her in order to REACH that tier.

And unlike Hope's power to optimize mutant abilities...Monet's power, in theory, applies to every aspect of herself. It optimizes her body, her mind, her everything.

Now, imagine Ev synching with Monet not to duplicate just her strength or her flight....but to share her power to self-perfect himself across the board.

NOW have Hijack apply his technopathy to THAT circuit, and tweak it so Ev's synchronicity aura is a transmitter instead of just a receiver. So he doesn't just SHARE the powers of mutants around him, but in a circuit with Monet and Hijack, can BROADCAST that shared power, to other mutants around him. Aka the rest of the team.

Basically....imagine for a climactic battle, Ev, Monet and Hijack can additionally link Jean, Bobby, Sway and Cipher into a loop of optimized perfection, for every aspect of themselves. Aggressively amping their stats across the board, not just their powers, but their intelligence, how fast and how well they process stuff mentally, their senses, their stamina, their reflexes, their strength, etc, etc.

If you can only send seven mutants in for the final showdown with perfectly optimized AI machine intelligences with futuristic technology and lifetimes of experience?

THAT'S the lineup I'm sending in. Psychic and elemental omega powerhouses, a technopath that can take on those AIs on multiple levels, a stealth and infiltration prodigy that can't be detected and can't be kept out, a time manipulator with a personal grudge against a being whose greatest fear is being stuck in time loops/cycles that she can't break free of, a power-sharer who in the right scenarios could share powers as well as just replicate them, and a mutant whose power was to self-evolve herself to her apex self.....and who with the right help can be a catalyst for the rest of their team's temporary self-evolutions as well.

Jean, Iceman, Hijack, Cipher, Sway, Synch and Monet.

[Alex_Of_X]

Since this is supposed to be the Fall of X team, where allegedly Krakoa's greatest threats are taking the fight to them and presumably there's internal strife to contend with as well, I wouldn't have any of the major players who already have key political roles in other books on the team....that means Storm and Cable are still front and center in X-Men Red, Kate, Colossus, Kurt, etc are all involved in the Quiet Council drama, etc.

Similarly, I wouldn't have Scott or Illyana on the team as I'd have the War Captains JUST focused on their duties as Krakoa's primary defense and military leadership in a time of obvious crisis, and I'd specifically lean into the four different spheres of defense/expertise they each could embody:

1) Bishop, the Captain Commander, is overall man-in-charge and specifically takes point on all threats stemming from time travel. Y'know, like....Nimrod and Omega Sentinel.
2) Cyclops takes point on all extraterrestrial threats, due to his long history and experience with the Shi'ar, living in outer space with his dad when his younger self was in the present, etc. Meaning he heads up all defense and opposition to any role the Phalanx/Dominions might possibly play in Fall of X.
3) Kwannon takes point on all terrestrial-based threats, like Orchis' personnel and other various anti-mutant groups or individuals.
4) Magik takes point on all occult threats as well as looks for magical solutions, tactics and allies with which to fight Krakoa's heavily technology-reliant enemies at this time.

Which for the seven person X-Men team, leaves Jean and Synch as the two members fulfilling OP's requirements that either they or Scott stay on....and I'd also keep Bobby on, and fill out the final four slots with Monet, Hijack (David Bond, from Bendis' run), Sway (from Moira's Deadly Genesis class), and lastly Alisa Tager, aka Cipher.

There's a method to my madness:

Sway I'm adding because I think its dumb that even after all this time, and with the Waiting Room making it possible to bring her back, STILL nobody has tapped the massive story potential of Petra and Sway, the last two 'lost' X-Men of a largely forgotten generation. But not only am I a sucker for time powers and think she has a lot to offer power-wise, I just think any story that's presumably tied to the climax of the Orchis plot absolutely deserves to have at least ONE of Moira's class of forgotten/murdered students there to confront her at the end.

Sway: So let me get this straight, you have nine lifetimes of experience, a lot of them WITH Krakoa, the very place where we were sent to our deaths, and yet there was NOTHING you could have done differently with all that? Cool. Awesome. No seriously, that's great. I'm holding zero grudges right now. Hey quick question, teacher who is mortally terrified of her existence ending and also apparently familiar with how black holes can be threats even to massive machine Dominions like the Phalanx....what do you think could happen if we were to combine my time powers with Jean's telekinesis and Bobby's energy-negation? Anyone order some localized singularities for a final dramatic showdown with you and your AI entourage?

Cipher I'm adding to represent the youth contingent, because I think she's a vastly underrated character with insane story potential considering her powers basically make her THE ultimate stealth/infiltration expert. Like she can go invisible AND intangible AND even mask her presence from psychic detection. If there's a mutant in existence who can evade even Nimrod and Omega Sentinel and sneak in and out of even Orchis' most heavily guarded installations, its her.

David Bond aka Hijack I'm adding because I think the team with a high chance of going head-to-head with Orchis, Nimrod, Omega Sentinel, etc, needs not just a tech expert per se, but a technopath who can manipulate technology and machinery DIRECTLY. Someone like Hijack, Wiz Kid, Paradigm, Black Box, Tin Man or Trinary could wage direct, personal psychic assault on the consciousnesses of Moira X, Nimrod and Omega Sentinel in the same way telepaths like Jean can attack organic consciousnesses, or even take temporary control of them the way Karma can hijack biological beings. Maybe none of them are powerful enough to assume control of someone like Nimrod on their own, but if they were plugged into a circuit that let them draw directly on the massive reservoirs of power that omegas like Jean and Bobby have at their disposal.....yeah, I think a technopath like Hijack could be MIGHTY useful against mutantkind's AI enemies.

And after all, that's the other thing a technopath like one of the ones I listed brings to the team....Ewing's S.W.O.R.D. run used Wiz Kid to establish the precedent that technopaths in the Krakoan Age are able to treat the circuits formed of mutant synergy as a kind of technology they can manipulate in all kinds of ways. Essentially, mutant technopaths can use their powers to mentally tweak the ways mutant powers combine in order to create gestalt effects that normally wouldn't be possible. Like Wiz Kid was able to link six different teleporters together in order to use their cumulative power to fuel one massive teleport...when without him, those six teleporters could stand side-by-side but they still would have no way of combining their powers, they'd just be stuck using their powers one at a time, at their usual limit or range.

So normally, there's nothing about the way Bobby's powers work that would let him plug into a circuit with another mutant and let that mutant just the vast well of power Bobby has to draw on, to fuel that other mutant's ability instead.....but with a technopath like Hijack on hand, that technopath COULD tweak the 'circuitry' in order to just hook Bobby up as a battery attached to another mutant's gift.

I picked Hijack for this just out of personal preference, and I think he could be a good character to give a visibility boost as there's been weirdly few high-profile Latino mutants over the past several decades outside of Sunspot, Wind Dancer, Rictor and CeCe Reyes, but again, any of those technopaths could work here. Also, I just like him because he's kinda a snarky ******* who's like, I am too intimidated by the veteran members of the team to actually go rogue on anything, but by god am I gonna bitch about stuff.

Anyway, aside from a technopath being a good choice for a team that's bound to go up against Nimrod and Moira X, that ability to tweak mutant circuits is key to the last member's inclusion on the team:

Monet.

See, Monet's a great addition to ANY line-up just on her own strengths as a character, sure. She's a genius, a telepath, and has flight, super-strength, speed, stamina, invulnerability and super-senses to boot. She's absolutely stacked, power-wise.

But beyond that, if Fall of X is gonna be the no-holds barred, end of the line battle for the fate of Krakoa against its biggest enemies.....you want your entire team stacked in every way it possibly can be. And that's where Monet - when combined with her old boyfriend Synch...REALLY has potential to change the game here....because her oldest stories always suggested a REASON for why she's so absolutely stacked, power-wise. With the implication being that Monet really only ever had ONE mutant power, and that was the ability to shape herself to match her own image of what she imagined perfection to be.

Quite literally, Monet's power is to be her perfect self. All those other abilities on her laundry list of powers? Are really just symptoms of her true mutant power. They're the add-ons her power gave her in order to REACH that tier.

And unlike Hope's power to optimize mutant abilities...Monet's power, in theory, applies to every aspect of herself. It optimizes her body, her mind, her everything.

Now, imagine Ev synching with Monet not to duplicate just her strength or her flight....but to share her power to self-perfect himself across the board.

NOW have Hijack apply his technopathy to THAT circuit, and tweak it so Ev's synchronicity aura is a transmitter instead of just a receiver. So he doesn't just SHARE the powers of mutants around him, but in a circuit with Monet and Hijack, can BROADCAST that shared power, to other mutants around him. Aka the rest of the team.

Basically....imagine for a climactic battle, Ev, Monet and Hijack can additionally link Jean, Bobby, Sway and Cipher into a loop of optimized perfection, for every aspect of themselves. Aggressively amping their stats across the board, not just their powers, but their intelligence, how fast and how well they process stuff mentally, their senses, their stamina, their reflexes, their strength, etc, etc.

If you can only send seven mutants in for the final showdown with perfectly optimized AI machine intelligences with futuristic technology and lifetimes of experience?

THAT'S the lineup I'm sending in. Psychic and elemental omega powerhouses, a technopath that can take on those AIs on multiple levels, a stealth and infiltration prodigy that can't be detected and can't be kept out, a time manipulator with a personal grudge against a being whose greatest fear is being stuck in time loops/cycles that she can't break free of, a power-sharer who in the right scenarios could share powers as well as just replicate them, and a mutant whose power was to self-evolve herself to her apex self.....and who with the right help can be a catalyst for the rest of their team's temporary self-evolutions as well.

Jean, Iceman, Hijack, Cipher, Sway, Synch and Monet.

I love it! Hijack is a really, really inspired choice

[OBrianTallent]

Cyclops
Jean
Dazzler
Blink
M
Neil Shaara
Synch

[Swamp Thing 2099]

Cyclops
Jean Grey
Synch
Kwannon
Marrow
Armor
Legion

Alternatively:
Cable
Synch
Ricochet
Frenzy
Greycrow
Manifold
Callisto

[Whim]

so I think you want a strong team power wise but also one that has links and can work closely with the Avengers and other teams

Cyclops - still the leader
Phoenix/Jean - they go together and she's important
Namor -
Quicksilver - could use Wanda here too but don't really want both. Pietro has been snubbed for too long. just make them mutants again.
Exodus - it's good to have a former villain and another powerhouse
Darkstar - Russia has an interest in Krakoa and she's criminally underused
Penance/Monet - kind of a jack of all trades and pretty useful in her own right

I'd want a bigger roster. Warren would be fun to include. have Wanda? keep Firestar? maybe even bring in Justice? let's see some mutants that aren't always X-related. Maybe even Sabra. more international flavor.

if that's our "Blue" or extinction team we could have a "Gold" team as well

Storm
Iceman
Justice
Archangel
Sunspot
Firestar
Siena Blaze

[Fokken]

I love it! Hijack is a really, really inspired choice

Why did I think Hijack was of Asian descent this entire time? He's Latino??

[Sutekh]

David Bond aka Hijack I'm adding because I think the team with a high chance of going head-to-head with Orchis, Nimrod, Omega Sentinel, etc, needs not just a tech expert per se, but a technopath who can manipulate technology and machinery DIRECTLY. Someone like Hijack, Wiz Kid, Paradigm, Black Box, Tin Man or Trinary could wage direct, personal psychic assault on the consciousnesses of Moira X, Nimrod and Omega Sentinel in the same way telepaths like Jean can attack organic consciousnesses, or even take temporary control of them the way Karma can hijack biological beings. Maybe none of them are powerful enough to assume control of someone like Nimrod on their own, but if they were plugged into a circuit that let them draw directly on the massive reservoirs of power that omegas like Jean and Bobby have at their disposal.....yeah, I think a technopath like Hijack could be MIGHTY useful against mutantkind's AI enemies.

So much good stuff here, well thought out and fun. But good gosh, you just whipped out three cyberkinetic/technopaths I'd never even heard of, with Paradigm, Black Box and Tin Man (*and* I'd totally forgotten Hijack!).

But feel free to add Network (Sarah Vale) and Milan (an Acolyte whose name I don't know) to the list for your mutant cybernetic circuit thoughts.

Ah, turns out 'Black Box' was a new name for 'Comcast,' a mutant I already knew about. So I'm not completely out-of-touch.

[Fokken]

Jean, Iceman, Hijack, Cipher, Sway, Synch and Monet.

Absolutely swooning for this group. Diversity WIN. Sick power combos. Great personal investments. Love every inch of it.

[CGAR]

Why did I think Hijack was of Asian descent this entire time? He's Latino??

I though he was too.

[BobbysWorld]

So much good stuff here, well thought out and fun. But good gosh, you just whipped out three cyberkinetic/technopaths I'd never even heard of, with Paradigm, Black Box and Tin Man (*and* I'd totally forgotten Hijack!).

But feel free to add Network (Sarah Vale) and Milan (an Acolyte whose name I don't know) to the list for your mutant cybernetic circuit thoughts.

Ah, turns out 'Black Box' was a new name for 'Comcast,' a mutant I already knew about. So I'm not completely out-of-touch.

Paradigm is actually one of the biggest missed opportunities of the current era for me, in terms of minor established characters who are perfectly positioned for a glow-up with just a little attention. Like, with all the focus Hickman seeded around the Phalanx/Dominions.....its worth noting that Paradigm is a mutant from Hong Kong who was abducted by a shadowy organization as a child, due specifically to how powerful a technopath he was....and then deliberately infected with Phalanx-derived TO virus. And unlike how the TO virus is confined to just Cable's arm most of the time, it fully took over Paradigm's whole body.

Course, because of how the Phalanx struggles to assimilate mutants, they couldn't fully assimilate him into their collective, so it was left up in the air whether or not the Phalanx was BEHIND the experiment on Paradigm, in order to see if they could use the TO virus to control/manipulate him WITHOUT assimilating him....OR whether it was human scientists behind the experiment in order to see how a mutant technopath interacted with the Phalanx/TO virus, and how much autonomy he retained, whether or not his technopathy gave him greater control over the virus than other mutants, or left him more vulnerable to it, etc. Eventually, Paradigm escaped and fell in with King Bedlam's Hellions and the implication was he had no particular associations with the Phalanx over-all, so he SEEMED fully autonomous, but he was definitely....altered in personality by the virus and very robotic and clinical in his approach to organic life and even his own teammates.

The last we saw Paradigm, he was just a head that was being used by a mad scientist as like, his security/doorkey to protect his secret lab, and Cyclops (with obvious remorse) destroyed him with an optic blast to get in and stop the bad guy's like, doomsday biological warfare device or whatever, while apologizing to Paradigm for having failed him and other mutants with similar fates. And this was only a couple years pre-Krakoa, so I maintain he would have been at the top of Scott's personal list of 'mutants we owe a second chance to/need to do better by' for resurrection prospects, AND there's the tiny little detail that a resurrected Paradigm would be COMPLETELY free of the TO virus....but with full memory/awareness of what it was like being infected by it, how he'd interacted with it, its vulnerabilities and ways he (and other technopaths) are vulnerable to it. Soooo....given the looming threat of the Phalanx, and the work Ewing's doing with Cable and his own TO virus in SWORD/X-Men Red.....just saying, Paradigm would have been a perfect addition to either of those books, as even with Wiz Kid and Cable there he offers a very unique perspective and narrative possibilities.

Anyway, just saying, he's a really interesting character with a lot of potential and now I'm musing that maybe I'll make another Missed Opportunities thread but specifically for people to bitch about characters whose powers WOULD make them very useful in the current era or specific stories, since like people have noted a lot of places...that theme does tend to recur in threads, lololol.

(Like ngl I almost included Threnody on my team list here, because I'm like rawr that she had SUCH a perfect opportunity to be a story MVP during Judgment Day. Her name gets dropped in threads a lot as an alternative or substitute to one of the Five, buuuuuut I think its been vastly overlooked, how ELSE she could be used in the current books. The biggest drawback to using Threnody, story-wise, is that her abilities rely on death being fairly everpresent in order to keep her fueled and empowered. How powerful and versatile she is as a mutant is directly dependent on how much death she's surrounded by, hence why she tends to be limited to popping up in stories or eras where a lot of death is happening all the time....like at the height of the Legacy Virus. Buuuuuut as much as we talk about mutant immortality and death no longer having meaning....technically speaking, death and rebirth are a CONSTANT part of the X-books nowadays. And for Threnody, all that ambient death energy is a regular 24/7 supercharge. All I'm saying is during Judgment Day? When omega level mutants like Exodus were dying a couple times an issue and taking down god-like and skyscraper-sized Eternals like the Hex with them? Think how much death energy THAT had to be constantly pumping out into the air....and what somebody like Threnody could do with all of that at her disposal).