Mutant Legacy Heroes

[marhawkman]

Marvel has become to stuck in the now to ever do more. Legacy characters need you to move forwards.

[WeaponX]

I don't like the concept of 'legacy' characters. It's lazy. Let DC do that. Or the Avengers. X-Men are each their own unique manifestations of the X-gene. Each one can forge their own path. Even within so many similar powersets(like psionics, or ferals, etc.) they each carve out their own niche.

Thank you! Have some creativity.

[yogaflame]

Marvel has become to stuck in the now to ever do more. Legacy characters need you to move forwards.

Move forward by reaching back and stealing what worked before?

Creatively bankrupt.

[marhawkman]

Move forward by reaching back and stealing what worked before?

Creatively bankrupt.

MC2 was the closest Marvel ever did to proper legacy characters..... and everything was new in some way.

[H-E-D]

I mean, the modern age of Marvel Comics was founded on the Fantastic Four, starring a legacy character (Human Torch).

But the difference between most of the examples presented and mutants are the identities are tied to equipment. Stuff that can be literally passed on. If you can lift the hammer, you have the power of Thor. If you use Pym Particles, you can be Ant-Man. Cap's shield. Spidey's webshooters. Gamma radiation.

Mutant powers being an innate and individual thing makes it less intuitive. Which is why you mostly see it happen with biological heirs. In regards to Magik and Amanda Sefton, that's another equipment-based situation with the Soul Sword. We've had a few different Juggernauts because the Ruby Gem of Cytorrak is transferrable.

[jddoyle]

Does Emma and cuckoos counts?

But in general mutants are born, not created like the legacies you mentioned.

[Nicoclaws]

Let's all remember GeNext and move on.

[berserkerclaw]

I don't think Mutants should have Legecy characters which is why X23 as Wolverine doesn't serve a purpose anymore now that Logan isn't Dead. In NYX she should just be Laura Kinney

[sunofdarkchild]

The X-Men don't have a good track record with legacy characters. Rachel was supposed to be the legacy Phoenix character, but that happened at the exact moment Jean was brought back, which played a big part in the eventual sidelining of Rachel and Bishop replacing her as the main 'mutant from a terrible future where sentinels took over' character. She suffered the same fate Wally West, Kyle Rayner, and Linda Danvers suffered when the dead silver age versions of Flash, Green Lantern, and Supergirl were brought back.

Making Amanda Magik remains incomprehensible, as Kitty was the only natural legacy character for Illyana, Amanda had nothing to do with Illyana or Limbo until they started making really terrible retcons to shoehorn her in, the retcons were completely disrespectful to Illyana, defeating the entire purpose of having a legacy character, and there was nowhere for Amanda to go once she had the role since it was such a terrible fit for her. Becoming Magik killed Amanda as a character and is the reason she has been so absent since her Magik miniseries ended. While there have been problems with the way Illyana was written in her giving up Limbo to Madelyn in 2022, Maddie works much better as a pseudo-legacy character ruling Limbo than Amanda ever did since she actually has a history with Limbo that defines her character and doesn't need to pretend to be Illyana or steal from Illyana to fit a square peg in a round hole like they did with Amanda.

Warpath started out as a legacy character for his brother Thunderbird before making his own identity some years later. He's probably one of the better examples of an X-Men legacy character, and it helped that the OG Thunderbird had such a short run and was the 1 character no one would ever think to bring back until Krakoa, when he was brought back to prove that literally everyone could be brought back now.


There are a few characters that have the same name as older characters but aren't legacy characters. Cannonball and Jubilee are the first that come to mind, and the original Jubilee even had basically the same powers. But the originals are too obscure for them to be legacy characters.


In general, there seem to be more legacy villain characters, Mastermind, Pyro, Hellfire Club, the Brotherhood, etc. Magneto has Joseph as well as characters who like to wear his helmet to show their devotion to his brand of extremism.

[salarta]

When discussing the idea of legacy or protege characters, a clear distinction needs to be made that characters being "legacy"/protege characters of other characters does not mean they are of the same peer group.

Polaris is Magneto's daughter. Magneto and Xavier are of the same peer group. The O5 X-Men are often perceived informally as Xavier's "children." As such, members of the O5 and Lorna are of the same peer group. Rachel may be a "legacy"/protege character descended from Jean Grey, but that Lorna and Rachel are "legacy"/protege characters to other characters does not make them part of the same peer group. Or to put it another way, if we consider Lorna and Rachel to be of the same peer group, then Jean and Rachel are of the same peer group too.

This distinction is necessary because Marvel comics had multiple moments during the Krakoa period of mistakenly thinking of Lorna as a peer of Rachel and X-23 but not a peer of Jean, Iceman, etc. The handling of Lorna around Rachel on 2020s X-Factor said as much. It wasn't until Lorna won the X-Men vote that she started getting properly depicted again as someone who is a peer of Jean.

Within the examples given in the thread starter post, for further example, War Machine and Iron Heart may have come out of the Iron Man mythos, but War Machine is not Iron Heart's peer. You wouldn't see the two together and think they're part of the same age group.

The concept of legacy or protege characters is an interesting one with a lot of potential - so long as the unique circumstances for each character are taken into account. War Machine and Iron Heart can certainly talk about their common connections with Tony Stark. Lorna and Rachel can talk about Jean, or about burdens of being expected to be like a more famous parent. It's when you expect War Machine and Iron Heart or Lorna and Rachel to start acting like they could be high school sweethearts that things get to be a problem.

[whitecrown]

Making Amanda Magik remains incomprehensible, as Kitty was the only natural legacy character for Illyana, Amanda had nothing to do with Illyana or Limbo until they started making really terrible retcons to shoehorn her in, the retcons were completely disrespectful to Illyana, defeating the entire purpose of having a legacy character, and there was nowhere for Amanda to go once she had the role since it was such a terrible fit for her. Becoming Magik killed Amanda as a character and is the reason she has been so absent since her Magik miniseries ended. While there have been problems with the way Illyana was written in her giving up Limbo to Madelyn in 2022, Maddie works much better as a pseudo-legacy character ruling Limbo than Amanda ever did since she actually has a history with Limbo that defines her character and doesn't need to pretend to be Illyana or steal from Illyana to fit a square peg in a round hole like they did with Amanda.
.

This is what I was thinking, Illyana's natural successor here was really Kitty as whenever she was down, it was Kitty who could manifest the Soulsword. Similarly, Illyana is usually the character depicted with Lockheed after Kitty (as the New Mutants movie demonstrated), so Kitty and Illyana both sorta maintain each other's legacies.

Amanda was better off with the Daytripper.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

I don't like the concept of 'legacy' characters. It's lazy. Let DC do that. Or the Avengers. X-Men are each their own unique manifestations of the X-gene. Each one can forge their own path. Even within so many similar powersets(like psionics, or ferals, etc.) they each carve out their own niche.

Marvel could find a way to do both. Following in another hero's footsteps doesnt mean you have to be a copy.

[marhawkman]

Marvel could find a way to do both. Following in another hero's footsteps doesnt mean you have to be a copy.

Like with Spider-Girl. She's Spider-man's daughter.

Which is the way Daken relates to Wolverine.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Like with Spider-Girl. She's Spider-man's daughter.

Which is the way Daken relates to Wolverine.

Sure but since mutant powers can be random, i dont feel like the kids always have to have their parents abilities.

i was thinking more like Blindspot, Daredevil's apprentice in the Soule/Garney run or Ms. Marvel.

Legacies have the danger of feeling like diminishing returns. X-men and Inhumans avoid that because their powersets can be more randomized.

I rather have the legacy aspect be expressed through the relationships than the powers.

Bruce Banner trying to help someone with Earthquake powers would be more intetesting than another hulk.

[marhawkman]

Sure but since mutant powers can be random, i dont feel like the kids always have to have their parents abilities.

i was thinking more like Blindspot, Daredevil's apprentice in the Soule/Garney run or Ms. Marvel.

Legacies have the danger of feeling like diminishing returns. X-men and Inhumans avoid that because their powersets can be more randomized.

I rather have the legacy aspect be expressed through the relationships than the powers.

Bruce Banner trying to help someone with Earthquake powers would be more intetesting than another hulk.

Variant powers can make it super fun.

Wild-Thing in MC2 was amusing since she somehow has psionic claws. But is otherwise very kid-Wolverine.