What would you do if you were the X-Men writer?

[The Fury]

why can't you have both? we used to have both.

Imagine if comics were only about big world ending things? How dull would that be?


... wait, Avengers recently. Romances and soap opera stuff is great in comics, we just like a bit of fistycuffs in the middle of it all.


What I'd do, kill everyone (not just X-men) and do a Deux Ex Machina refresh and point out how none of the infighting between heroes matter. End result would be very 90s. Sure it was a bad era for writing but heroes were heroes.

EDIT: Also, bring Xavier back as soon as possible and retcon some of things people thought he did wrong.

[datugu]

Start by establishing some consistent rules on how the general public perceives mutants. For starters:
*People distrust ALL superpowered people because of mutant fear. No favoritism because someone got mutated by cosmic rays or a radioactive spider. It's all or nothing.

I love this idea...

[bladeofdarkness]

give the Academy X characters their own series, using Prodigy, Hellion, Surge, Armor, Pixie, Elixer, Rockslide, Anole and Mercury.

these kids had to go through M-day, and now, they find themselves again in the same situation. they should not take it well at all.

have them react to the whole "mist" thing by having a massive falling out with the adult X-men, and set out to find a solution for it themselves. find Elixer, and have him cure it, only to realize that as long as the mists are around, its impossible to cure mutantkind completely (you get cured of the effects, only to get infected again moments later). also make it clear that completely neutralizing the mists would require a global effort, taking trillions of dollars, and millions of man hours - meaning every nation on earth would have to take part in the effort.

then, realizing that humanity would never willingly do that just to help cure mutantkind, have them go on a mission to force humanity to help them, whether they want to or not. (which would put them in conflict with the X-men, Avengers and Inhumans).
make the whole story a commentary, about how we live in a shitty world. and how only way to make people willing to become involved in other people's problems, is to make it their problem as well.

If we're stuck with this stupid "killer mist" thing, we should at least get some decent stories about what people do when placed in a hopeless situation.

[jawbreaker]

a proper 616 Gen X reunion...

[rutog98]

1) Put the Kibosh on all Phoenix Force stories for a very long time. Its tired already.
2) Restore Storm to her former glory and then some!
3) Make Magneto a villain again and give him a credible team where he can actually pose a threat to the X-Men: Magneto, Emma Frost (she was far more awesome as a villain), Juggernaut, Mystique, Kleinstock Brothers (Sven and Harlan)
4) Give the X-Men tougher villain teams to fight. For instance, make the Inner Circle tougher by putting on that team Bogan as the Lord Imperial, Selene as the Black Queen, Saul as the Black King, Gideon as the White King, Candra as the White Queen, Crule as the Black Knight, Absalom as the White Bishop
5) 7 X-titles should be sufficient:

Storm solo title
Wolverine solo title
Gambit solo title
Uncanny X-Men: Storm, Gambit, Colossus, Sage, Shadowcat, AOA Morph (he can be brought to this reality), Nightcrawler
X-Force: Wolverine, Psylocke (telepathic ninja Betsy, none of this TK business), Cannonball, Bishop, Syrn, Meltdown, Warpath
X-Factor: Havok, Polaris, Forge, Iceman, Magma, Beast, Multiple Man
Generation X: Cyclops and Jean as headmaster/headmistress respectively and create 7-8 students. To make this title different from the original GenX title, I would have the students attending a regular school with regular kids while keeping the fact they are mutants a secret. Scott and Jean should also keep the fact that they are mutants secret. I would show them attending classes with regular kids, dating regular kids while training in secrecy and dealing with threats to the school and the surrounding community.

[Ben Grimm]

My pitches:

Four FantastiX: Cerebro detects the presence of mutants in the Negative Zone, as well as their need for immediate assistance. The Fantastic Four are away on a mission, and their portal to the Zone can only be activated by testing the Four's talents. The X-Men send a squad consisting of Colossus (the Thing's strength), Firestar (the Human Torch's fire), Beast (Mr Fantastic's intelligence) and Armor (the Invisible Woman's force field)). Their combined talents activate the portal and off they go to explore new mutant civilizations and boldly go where no mutant has gone before.

Age of Xavier: Legion's daughter from the future goes back in time and kills Magneto. Without such a famous mutant terrorist around, the world is able to accept mutantkind and let mutant culture evolve unimpeded and unregulated. It turns out to be a terrible, terrible mistake, as Charles Xavier's dream gets out of control, the world thrown into war and chaos, humankind about to go extinct. As mutants have killed, captured or otherwise deactivated the non-mutant superheroes, it falls to Sebastian Shaw to lead a team constiting of Destiny, Proteus, Vanisher, Juggernaut and Rogue, who fight to restore order to a self-destructing world. But is world peace Shaw's true motive or does he have other purposes in mind?

[protege]

My pitches:

Four FantastiX: Cerebro detects the presence of mutants in the Negative Zone, as well as their need for immediate assistance. The Fantastic Four are away on a mission, and their portal to the Zone can only be activated by testing the Four's talents. The X-Men send a squad consisting of Colossus (the Thing's strength), Firestar (the Human Torch's fire), Beast (Mr Fantastic's intelligence) and Armor (the Invisible Woman's force field)). Their combined talents activate the portal and off they go to explore new mutant civilizations and boldly go where no mutant has gone before.

Age of Xavier: Legion's daughter from the future goes back in time and kills Magneto. Without such a famous mutant terrorist around, the world is able to accept mutantkind and let mutant culture evolve unimpeded and unregulated. It turns out to be a terrible, terrible mistake, as Charles Xavier's dream gets out of control, the world thrown into war and chaos, humankind about to go extinct. As mutants have killed, captured or otherwise deactivated the non-mutant superheroes, it falls to Sebastian Shaw to lead a team constiting of Destiny, Proteus, Vanisher, Juggernaut and Rogue, who fight to restore order to a self-destructing world. But is world peace Shaw's true motive or does he have other purposes in mind?

Geez, you just can't let the mutants be happy, can you?

[protege]

give the Academy X characters their own series, using Prodigy, Hellion, Surge, Armor, Pixie, Elixer, Rockslide, Anole and Mercury.

these kids had to go through M-day, and now, they find themselves again in the same situation. they should not take it well at all.

have them react to the whole "mist" thing by having a massive falling out with the adult X-men, and set out to find a solution for it themselves. find Elixer, and have him cure it, only to realize that as long as the mists are around, its impossible to cure mutantkind completely (you get cured of the effects, only to get infected again moments later). also make it clear that completely neutralizing the mists would require a global effort, taking trillions of dollars, and millions of man hours - meaning every nation on earth would have to take part in the effort.

then, realizing that humanity would never willingly do that just to help cure mutantkind, have them go on a mission to force humanity to help them, whether they want to or not. (which would put them in conflict with the X-men, Avengers and Inhumans).
make the whole story a commentary, about how we live in a shitty world. and how only way to make people willing to become involved in other people's problems, is to make it their problem as well.

If we're stuck with this stupid "killer mist" thing, we should at least get some decent stories about what people do when placed in a hopeless situation.

You left out Dust, and gentle.

[bladeofdarkness]

You left out Dust, and gentle.

Gentle's a pacifist, and Dust's pretty close to to it as well. I'm not sure either would fit in with the premise. but other then that, sure, might as well throw them in.

[GDC3]

Pull an Image founder. Quit, start my own indie book that borrows elements from the best part of the mythos and run with my own version.

[Myetche]

Another thing: Make Mystique a respectable villain again. No more trying to turn her into Marvel's Joker, the kind of villain who kills everybody in sight for no reason and always gets away with it. Give her back some of her self-restraint and personal pride, like in her old solo series when she had to play nice with Xavier and actually did a good job with doing some good.

[Factor]

Reposting something I made for another thread:

My idea would be to somehow simplify things. Have only one main X-men team and push ancilliary X-teams like X-force and X-factor by giving them good rosters and hooks.
Each team would have its own unique roster, mission statement and base of operations. I'd avoid too much overlap and crossovers, but would keep the sense of a shared universe by having characters guest star in other books from time to time.

Overall direction of the franchise:
The Jean Grey School has been attacked one last time, causing the X-men to close the school as they realize the mansion isn't a safe place for the young mutants to live.
Meanwhile, the 05 return to their timeline and Old Cyclops is framed for a major terrorist attack and anti-mutant hysteria increases even more.
In this scenario, each team finds its own way of dealing with the crisis.

The main teams would be:

THE X-MEN



This book would focus on the family aspect of the X-men. Cyclops, one of their own is in trouble, so the team puts aside their differences so they can work together and keep Xavier's dream alive.
They'd be based on the mansion's underground complex and would get help from Jubilee, who'd stay at the mansion and coordinate missions.


ASTONISHING X-FACTOR



Angel (back to his old self) and Iceman decide to return to San Francisco and reestablish X-factor as a mutant super-hero team. The team would be trying to improve mutantkind's public image by acting as real heroes.


UNCANNY X-FORCE



X-force would be the counterbalance to the new X-factor. They'd continue working in secret, trying to deal permanently with threats to mutantkind.
They'd be based on the old Australian Outback HQ of the X-men.

[Factor]

X-MEN: LEGACY



With the JGS closed, Emma Frost decides to reopen the Massachusetts Academy and continue training the next generation herself. She'd get help from a junior team of X-men who'd fight to protect the school help recruit new students.
The team would be co-lead by Quentin Quire and Armor.

NEW MUTANTS



Not every mutant can be saved by joining the school. With that in mind, Dani Moonstar gathers a team willing to travel the globe to protect mutants in need. They'd work alongside the Mutants Sans Frontières and would use the former headquarters of the X-Corporation as bases of operation.

ALL-NEW EXILES



To save realities where mutants are close to extinction, Sage and Bishop bring together a new team of Exiles. They'd be joined by Blink, Longshot, Kymera, Ultimate Kitty Pryde and an AU version of Betsy Braddock as Captain Britain.

[Sardorim]

Scott, Rachel, Emma and the such aren't dead. They just aren't being featured.

Instead we have Deadpool everywhere.

[Iron Fist]

Scott, Rachel, Emma and the such aren't dead. They just aren't being featured.

Instead we have Deadpool everywhere.

We know Scott is in Uncanny Inhumans.