Omertà appreciation thread

[x-man]

Paulie Provenzano, everyone's favorite Italian American stereotype who joined the team for eve of destruction. Homophobic, misogynistic this guy over here. He wanted to use his invulnerability to become a made man, but opted to join the Xmen instead because it gave him the opportunity to see Jean Grey in uniform.

[x-man]

200px-Paul_Provenzano_(Earth-616)_from_X-Men_Earth's_Mutant_Heroes_Vol_1_1.jpg180px-Paulie_Provenzano_(Earth-616)_001.jpg180px-Paulie_Provenzano_(Earth-616)_001.jpg This guy over here

[Sutekh]

Loved his interactions with Northstar. A story about a gay character finding his place in the world kind of feels flat if every single person he works with is editorially mandated to have absolutely no reaction at all.

Paulie being a one-shot and not a 'name' character meant that he could say the sorts of unenlightened or outrageous or inappropriate things that Cyclops or Captain America would never be allowed to say, much like USAgent used to, in West Coast Avengers, or Guy Gardner, in Justice League International. (Or Strong Guy's less-than-perfect reaction to Rictor/Shatterstar, in PAD's X-Factor.)

Plus, great power. Loved it on Diamond Lil. Loved it on Laurel Kent (over at that other company). Mutants with one power, instead of an entire set of them, covering all their offense/defense/transport/utility/communications needs, feel more like 'working class heroes' who have to work twice as hard, and come up with creative solutions (such as the Fastball Special) to compensate for not having a ranged attack or movement power for every occasion.

[Undoniel]

Loved his interactions with Northstar. A story about a gay character finding his place in the world kind of feels flat if every single person he works with is editorially mandated to have absolutely no reaction at all.

[...]

Mutants with one power, instead of an entire set of them, covering all their offense/defense/transport/utility/communications needs, feel more like 'working class heroes' who have to work twice as hard, and come up with creative solutions (such as the Fastball Special) to compensate for not having a ranged attack or movement power for every occasion.

True that.

Stupide guy, great character, sad death. There was way more mutants to be killed off in Neverland, and some who were killed who could have been more useful alive.

[Trident]

I was interested in him when he first sprang up but he really just disappeared. It would have been nice if he and the other new characters stuck around for a little longer after that arc ended.

He had a very interesting background and powers making it a shame that the character was essentially thrown away. It was also interesting to see the a hero who wasn't automatically accepting. I think his perspective and character growth towards acceptance (or possibly never accepting) would have been really interesting to read about. Especially with a cast of X-Men.

[Sutekh]

He was an interesting twist on some of the other X-Men. If you rated offense and defense on a scale of 1 to 10, there are plenty of X-Men who are a 10+ on offense, like Cyclops, Havok or Storm, and have absolutely no defensive utility (or, in the case of Storm, could use fogs or winds defensively, but rarely seem to bother).

But 'Omerta' is a 10 on defense, and has no real offense, unless he picks up a gun, or someone uses him as a club.** (Making him sort of like Luke Cage, who has Hercules or Hulk class toughness, but is half as strong as Tigra, making him a great partner for Iron Fist, who is a '10' on offense, but nothing special defensively, as they balance each other perfectly, as if by design!)

** And that would be a hilarious scene. Some super-strong mutant saying, "Oh hey, you're invulnerable, right?" and then yoinking him up by his ankle and using him as an indestructible 180 lb. club. Or, to call back to his spotty relationship with Northstar, Jean-Paul hoisting him up and accelerating him to five times the speed of sound and letting go, so that Paulie hits the target installation like an orbital bombardment!

[errant]

Oh for crying out loud

[Tomppa]

Damn this character had potential. It really was interesting to see a character that was actually a bit unique and original. He wasn't just some student who developed powers but a young man who got released from military service due to being a mutant and once he found out he was a mutant he din't want to become a superhero but he also didn't want to live a completely ordinary live, he wanted to be a mobster! Having an aspiring mobster with invulnerability but barely any superstrength as an X-Man would have been nice. And he was actually homophobic womanizer so he could have been an interesting addition to X-Men who don't really have that types of jerks or assholes in their ranks. Might have lead to some engaging reading and banter if he was given more spotlight.