Alex Summers: Havok Appreciation 2024 Cry Havok 4 the Nexus being Goblin Prince

[GoingGreen]

This thread is so much nicer to X-Factor than the Polaris thread... many in there don't seem to like anything between her first appearance and Chuck Austen. But given what X-Factor did for Havok and Polaris in the 90s, especially in the beginning, I still adore it. Thanks for posting the love, y'all.

[LoganAlpha30X33]

Well many of the Lorna fans here blame Alex for everything bad that's ever happened to Lorna in their eyes and could only cause her more trouble in the future. They often have an extremely narrow view of how they want her to be portrayed, greatly a female Magneto, where violence and mutant rights is all they want her to be about.

I want Alex and Lorna together but I've never wanted her as just his girlfriend or any kind of housewife. Lorna was a good counter to Alex and could be again for the betterment of both. Alex is not as tactical as Scott but he has the emotions that Scott lacks. Scott is rigid and Alex is flexible in leadership. Magneto is more an extremist but Lorna had her limits that she'd admit when she was wrong, and actually change and grow.

Alex needs a leadership role away from both Scott and Maddy, who needs a new change herself away from only being the Goblin Queen of sorts.

[Thirteen]

It was funny for a little bit in the Outback era it was said Alex couldn't use his power on anything that wasn't highly invulnerable like Colossus, Juggernaut or the Hulk, or Cyke because he was immune, without killing them. I wasn't quite sure why the retcon because it was done away with latter on. Oh Alex can still be deadly but he has enough control to blast without killing.

I vaguely remember the back and forth on the Havok's blast as deadly force factor. I don't know if it was suggested in the writing or if this is just my No-Prize head canon from the time. Alex had a connection to Ahmet Abdol the Living Pharaoh/Monolith/Planet with their mutual absorption of ambient Cosmic Rays. With Abdol being removed from the playing field, the level of cosmic rays going to Havok escalated to the point where he found himself with his blasts becoming lethal levels of the Outback Era. During that period the heir to the Living Pharaoh, his niece Leila O'Toole (way to whitewash that legacy, btw) ascended becoming the villain Plasma. Alex's power levels were down to non-lethal levels by the time he made it to PAD's first X-FACTOR run. My Fanboy mind strung that together as a reason for the power level stabilizing being that he was sharing the cosmic rays with someone again...
Would be interesting to see Leila again as an antagonist for Alex...

[kcekada]

Quesada didn't draw enough issues I wanted more, Stoman being primary artist initially was weird since it was so unlike Lee/Portachio/Liefeld/Silvestri who were drawing the other X-books at the time.

Stroman was a weird choice. I didn't mind his art, but I could see where others didn't like it. I though Quesda was pretty good, but was not a fan of that gold/red costume worn by Lorna. In fact, I never cared for any of the X-Factor looks after the original 5 left.

[kcekada]

It was funny for a little bit in the Outback era it was said Alex couldn't use his power on anything that wasn't highly invulnerable like Colossus, Juggernaut or the Hulk, or Cyke because he was immune, without killing them. I wasn't quite sure why the retcon because it was done away with latter on. Oh Alex can still be deadly but he has enough control to blast without killing.

That is probably because his power is highly destructive and would instantly burn, if not, incinerate any regular person. Archie Goodwin once wrote a story for Incredible Hulk #150 showing Havok's powers could be used a force -- but that was contradicted in the Office Handbook of the Marvel Universe. He is actually discharging/creating/propelling plasma.

[Thirteen]

Official Handbook Havok Appreciation...


Updated to...


...and then later...

[Thirteen]

...and then many moons later...
(minority opinion: this costume isn't the worst thing ever but highly dependent on artist and streamlining of design)





"Dominance"...oh, Mr. Summers...subtitle the Timebroker's image as "Anatomy of a Submissive (see Pryor, Madelyne)"

[WarrensForgottenMemoryLoss]

To be fair, that was the Alex from Earth 1298 speaking about dominance, and that prick cheated on his Maddy. So I can buy him being the "macho" type.

Tho, is it really showing your dominance to kill literal kids. (He might have been referring to the Exiles, I don't remember the exact scene. Still. )

[WarrensForgottenMemoryLoss]

Unrelated, but who do you think Alex would pick to his own team his needed. I personnaly thinks he fits better as the moral center than the actual lead if he is good at strategy, but hey. Summers are put in leader positions.

For me, I would really enjoy if Alex reflected on his many, many team changes and moments of being brainwashed into evil or part of a redemption team by mixing up a lot of people he knew over the years for a 616 version of the six from Mutant X. Maybe Ever for the team's telepath, Warpath for the strong guy archetype.

Perhaps a human/mutate to show the times Alex wasn't a fan of Karkoa/Utopia/the mutant underground. (I honestly think Havok and Chasm could have had a good dynamic if Ben stayed longer at the ambassy). Fatale seems to not have minded the betrayal much when they met again in Dark X-Men.

Madelyne is busy with Limbo so maybe Alex would just ask her to be support, like back in Outbreak? Or she can be a full member. Wasp he might take for a mission to fight Kang and get Kathy back. Or maybe bring Dazzler back for the Outbreak reference? Her and Havok usually get along great.

Maybe get a reavers to show how Alex really believes in redemption and make contacts with the weirdest people, but that would probably be a strech and make double with Warpath. Oh, maybe Alex realizes Empath feels bad for the ending of Hellions and accept him while trying to make Julian's empathy levels grow? But Empath would need to have distinct use as a teamate from Ever. ��

Okay, so I think I would go Alex, Warpath, Ever, Fatale, Madelyne and a non-mutant to be determined.

[shooshoomanjoe]

Poor Alex is the victim of ugly costumes.

[LoganAlpha30X33]

Not sure, outside of Lorna, who Alex would count as his close friends...last time he formed a team most of the X-world turned their backs on him or said no...

[WarrensForgottenMemoryLoss]

Warpath ended that specific arc commenting he was ready to follow Alex anywhere? So that's promising at least.

But fair. Alex really isn't trusted by most. Gambit did NOT want the newbie alone with the Goblyn Quenn and her boy-toy.

[GoingGreen]

Well many of the Lorna fans here blame Alex for everything bad that's ever happened to Lorna in their eyes and could only cause her more trouble in the future. They often have an extremely narrow view of how they want her to be portrayed, greatly a female Magneto, where violence and mutant rights is all they want her to be about.

I want Alex and Lorna together but I've never wanted her as just his girlfriend or any kind of housewife. Lorna was a good counter to Alex and could be again for the betterment of both. Alex is not as tactical as Scott but he has the emotions that Scott lacks. Scott is rigid and Alex is flexible in leadership. Magneto is more an extremist but Lorna had her limits that she'd admit when she was wrong, and actually change and grow.

Alex needs a leadership role away from both Scott and Maddy, who needs a new change herself away from only being the Goblin Queen of sorts.

Well, it's a bit bigger than blaming Alex for everything, hah, but I hear you. In the Polaris thread, I'm openly harsh against Havok for reasons I won't get into here, and I don't want them together at all, however I'll always have a big soft spot for Havok.

A lot of the kids in the Polaris thread only come with the perspective of post-Genosha / Austen Era Polaris. It's hard for them to appreciate how amazing X-Factor was for both of these characters at the time. Havok had been treated quite a bit better than Polaris, but even he'd suffered some tough calls. X-Factor was a wild breath of fresh air for both of them, and did wonders for their IPs. I think it went on a little too long, and eventually made it difficult for their relationships to build with old colleagues, but those early years were vital for the characters to get some proper development.

If you read the end first, you don't get to appreciate the journey.

[Havok83]

Alex hasnt exactly proven to be trustworthy. He's done alot of questionable things including reverting to villiany a few times

1. Betrayed X-Factor and went on to join the Brotherhood in the 90s
2. Inverted during AXIS
3. Teamed up with Bastion, Miss Sinister and released Mothervine on the world
4. Was placed on Hellions bc he started to lose it and tried to kill a human
5. Got resurrected by dark magic in Dark X-men.

Alot of this was in recent years. He really needs a stint where he gets to be normal and relatively happy. He gets dumped on too often

[LoganAlpha30X33]

But wasn't that him going undercover with the brotherhood, like Dani did similarly, the inverted bit wasn't his fault and most of the X-Men just ignored him and didn't show any interest in him during that time, leaving him inverted for years. What X-person hasn't killed a human, so Alex is far from alone in that. Being resurrected isn't a crime, Lorna and the others have been resurrected as well.