Yeah,
Utopia/
X-Force was possibly his best era ever I fear, competing only with
X-Factor (to each fan to decide which era they consider superior/like the best).
I don't see such a golden (or even a lesser-golden) era to ever return for him unless Marvel decided to bring back the O5 together (and ever there, you still can get
All-New XM/X-Men Blue, in which he was a little more than wallpaper). Not with authors being more interested in mutants with more cool powers (or "more appeasing" traits). Authors are entitled to their favourite and to pick characters they like or feel compelled to, mind me (there's nothing worst than an author who is forced to write/use a character they don't like or have nothing to say about!), but I have these feelings that as years go by, and the more the same rooster continues to get attention, the more the other characters stay on the bench with no hope to be picked up.
[Ok, Politically-correct filter off.]
Let me start by saying I don't like to use the term "woke", especially as it now means everything and its contrary, so I seldom use it. But I think here the term fits.
Warren is everything a "woke" author might want to avoid: he's male, white, cis and
awfully rich. This on top of not being an Omega. While Warren might be "attractive" for an artist, he's not that much interesting from an author's point of view, when they can pick from literally dozens of other characters with flight
plus other powers, and who might also belong to a minority. So you get the same result in a fight/in the plot, but you also win some "representation points", which never hurts.
When a new team is built, either by choice or per mandate, it's required to be (what's the right term? Mixed?). There are other white male characters that get priority over Warren, and even if an author might be "well, I could fit Angel too in here, why not?", they would get to a point where they would have to back down because they need a woman or a POC instead, else their team will be accused of being too white and not representative(?) enough.
[Politically-correct filter on]
I also fear Warren is still suffering from
The Dark Angel Saga: that story was so beautiful and impactful, that he isn't allowed to move forward. And even when people have an idea to work with another facet of Warren (see Tiny Howard), they still are held down by the unresolved, repetitive relationship between Warren and the Archangel persona.
(
X-Corp had other things on its plate, other reasons for why it failed, but that's not the point I'm trying to make ATM).
Not to say I dislike this trope of his, actually. But I can see why authors wouldn't be interested in picking Warren up, if all Warren offers is
that and there's little else to work with. Especially if any other of Warren's facets are already represented by more beloved or more famous characters. You don't pick Warren for his businessman/rich/CEO person facet, you already have Emma for that (and there's also Sunspot). You don't pick him for his "killing machine" facet, there's Wolverine (and others). You don't pick him to be a mutant face in politics and PR-things, you have Storm or Emma or Jean or others. You don't pick him to be a leader of a new (black-ops/not the upcoming Forge's) X-Force, there's Cable or Bishop and others. You don't pick him to be a leader for any team (I think he has everything to be a good one) because there's a list of at least 15 characters who are waiting for that same role and will get precedence over him. You don't even pick him for the contest of "Who Wants to Be Apocalypse's Next Heir" for...
reasons (and, anyway, I agree with those here on the boards who wish it's Cable to "win").
I think the position and role he had in
X-Corp was what could be best suited for him (provided he kept the Archangel aspect). But that lasted so little, and X-Corp has been handed over to Sunspot's and will likely stay in his control.
So.
Meh.
[OT]
Back then, I think around 1998, I read only the
FF: Reborn/Return (it was collected in a book format by an Italian editor - I lent the book to my friend and he never gave it back ç_ç). I remember I liked it (I love middle to late 90s artists). I picked it up now because I want to see how far Marvel went to change the canon backstory of these characters/teams, as I'm toying with an idea of an Onslaught Remixed, in which it is the mutants who have to sacrifice themselves so it's them who are preserved in a new pocket dimension.
So far I'm appreciating. I've just finished the crossover between the titles.
To be fair, I'm not that much hard to please, when I read comics. ^^"
[/OT]