Was Claremont planning on having Mystique killed off for real?

[Dum Dum Dugan]

In Uncanny #266 Mystique appears to let a mind controlled Valerie Cooper shoot her.



Then in the Muir Island Saga it’s revealed that Valerie shot herself instead, and Mystique took her place.

Does anyone know if Mystique faking her death was part of Claremont’s original plan, or one of the changes made after he left the books?

[LordAllMIghty]

Maybe but she would later return 20 or 30 issues.

[whitecrown]

Does anyone know if Mystique faking her death was part of Claremont’s original plan, or one of the changes made after he left the books?

This was always part of his plans. Tessa being a spy for Xavier would also have been revealed by the end of the Muir Island Saga, circa UXM #300, when Shadow King would have defeated the entire Hellfire Club and proven to be their real lord but failed to account for Tessa's real allegiance.

[JJS]

Doesn’t matter.

Bob Harris destroyed the X-Men by not backing Claremont.

The franchise has been almost exclusively shite for 30 years because of one clown.

[whitecrown]

Doesn’t matter.

Bob Harris destroyed the X-Men by not backing Claremont.

The franchise has been almost exclusively shite for 30 years because of one clown.

Agreed. Canon and continuity was eradicated from that moment onward. There's a reason the X-Men plummeted in popularity by the 2000s when the good will of Claremont's seminal run had been lost years after his departure. Both the X-Men and comics in general never reached those heights again.

[Frobisher]

This was always part of his plans. Tessa being a spy for Xavier would also have been revealed by the end of the Muir Island Saga, circa UXM #300, when Shadow King would have defeated the entire Hellfire Club and proven to be their real lord but failed to account for Tessa's real allegiance.

Dammit, why must Lord Claremont’s plans always sound so much better than what we got after he jumped ship mid-Muir Island? (Including when he came back and did disappointing versions of most of them)

[Uncanny X-Man]

One day we will cross over into another reality where Claremont never left the X-books and continued through the decades writing Uncanny and X-Men, with Lee, Portacio, Romita Jr, Kubert, Pacheco and Madureira on art!

[Technopriest]

One day we will cross over into another reality where Claremont never left the X-books and continued through the decades writing Uncanny and X-Men, with Lee, Portacio, Romita Jr, Kubert, Pacheco and Madureira on art!

I mean, it was either Lee or Claremont, so I don't think that we would have gotten more Lee issues had Claremont stayed (I would have preferred that, although I understand the choice Harras made based on sales). The issue was always that neither Harras nor Marvel expected Lee to jump ship (he pretty much starts to phone it in after the Omega Red issues) which pretty much left them scrambling for replacement on both art and writing (they even brought Byrne back to script over Lee and Portacio for a spell).

[Uncanny X-Man]

I mean, it was either Lee or Claremont, so I don't think that we would have gotten more Lee issues had Claremont stayed (I would have preferred that, although I understand the choice Harras made based on sales). The issue was always that neither Harras nor Marvel expected Lee to jump ship (he pretty much starts to phone it in after the Omega Red issues) which pretty much left them scrambling for replacement on both art and writing (they even brought Byrne back to script over Lee and Portacio for a spell.

It's hard to speculate about what could have been, but I always got the impression that Harras favouring one creator over another was a deal-breaker for Claremont but not so much for Lee. Worst-case scenario, Harras could have shifted Lee onto his own X-book that he could write and draw if he was really feeling that urge, same as Liefeld. Best-case scenario, we would have had the Dark Wolverine Saga and everything else we know Claremont was planning up to around Uncanny #300 drawn by Jim Lee and Whilce Portacio and then every other amazing artist who followed

[Technopriest]

It's hard to speculate about what could have been, but I always got the impression that Harras favouring one creator over another was a deal-breaker for Claremont but not so much for Lee. Worst-case scenario, Harras could have shifted Lee onto his own X-book that he could write and draw if he was really feeling that urge, same as Liefeld. Best-case scenario, we would have had the Dark Wolverine Saga and everything else we know Claremont was planning up to around Uncanny #300 drawn by Jim Lee and Whilce Portacio and then every other amazing artist who followed

No, it was a deal-breaker for Lee as well. Lee grew up a fan of the Claremont - Cockrum but especially the Claremont - Byrne era, and he basically wanted to do the greatest hits with his run in X-men (if you look at the "Things to come" pin up in X-men 1, you can see it is all the classic X-men villains till that point, the HFC, the Sentinels, the Brotherhood, Magneto back to his villain role). By that point Claremont had moved the franchise away from all that and had no interest in doing it. Best case scenario Lee does X-men on his own, and Claremont continues Uncanny with Portacio, but now in a secondary role as clearly Lee's title would be the main driving force of the franchise, and Lee's decisions would have clashed and interfered with what Claremont had planned. Of course Lee would leave for Image regardless, so one could argue that Claremont could have bid his time and be back in the driving seat, although I have a feeling that Harras would have brought Lobdell in regardless.

[shooshoomanjoe]

One day we will cross over into another reality where Claremont never left the X-books and continued through the decades writing Uncanny and X-Men, with Lee, Portacio, Romita Jr, Kubert, Pacheco and Madureira on art!

And Liefeld. Mustn't forget any of the greats.

[Uncanny X-Man]

And Liefeld. Mustn't forget any of the greats.

Liefeld only ever did one issue of Uncanny X-Men though, he was never really associated with Claremont or the main X-Men books. His Uncanny X-Men #245 was a fun parody of DC's Invasion.