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

[Phoenix Raptor]

I always speculated on the idea of having a primarily "deformed" X-Men team, partly based on Marrow's reaction to Storm confining her to the school grounds in X-Men 71. Obviously, it would be set now instead of then, but I think it could spiral from a difference of opinion between Nightcrawler and either Scott or Ororo about whether the "obvious" mutants should stay out of the public eye.

So everyone's based in the same place initially, but then this idealogical split takes place and Kurt takes his team (who all back him because of their various physical mutations or deformities) "on the road."

There's no schism as such - just a difference of opinion and a desire to prove themselves. Team would be roughly as follows:

Nightcrawler
Marrow
Chamber
Lifeguard
Hellion (due to loss of appendages)
Pixie
Anole
Rockslide

I think you'd have some pretty interesting dynamics within that group, especially between Kurt and Marrow (one loves to kill, the other abhors it). I wouldn't want to turn Sarah into a Logan-substitute or anything like that though... just both of them trying to convince the other that their viewpoint has validity.

You'd have the likes of Hellion, Anole and Rockslide seeing Sarah's POV more, whereas Chamber and Pixie (due to either their nature or former team affiliation) trying to adopt Kurt's viewpoint.

First villain(s)? Either the Sapien League or the Purifiers. People that see such "obvious" mutants and simply want them dead, and have strength of numbers behind them. Do the team try to find a non-lethal resolution, especially due to them so blatantly being mutants? Or do they simply end the threat in the fastest and most permanent way...?

[Wind Rider]

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.

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.

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.[/QUOTE]

Like these posts and excellent team line ups

[philosopop]

Considering what we have now, I'd ...

1. make the terrigen mists kill the mutants that are too powerful, and too weird-looking (maybe the mists could react more mortally with larger mutations)
2. the leftover mutants would be less powerful, and less conspicuous, making them an almost-human passing kind of situation
3. that would actually augment the paranoia of baseline humans and would avoid the obviousness of ''mutant monsters'' as an easy reason to hate mutants
4. conspiracies and secret cabals abound
5. action is less panavision, and more tense..... more street level than not.

[dark phoenix]

1. Do what Bendis said he was going to do and redeem Scott Summers.
2. Send the O5 back to whence they came.
3. Restore the sense of family the books used to have
4. Bring back adult Jean Grey with no future ties to The Phoenix (let that damn bird rest forever)
5. Come up with some new good villains (I don't think we've gotten any in years outside of possibly The Children of the Vault).
6. Stop redeeming the existing X-Men villains. Almost every classic villain has been reformed and joined the team (Mags, Emma, Apocalypse, Mystique).

[protege]

Use Tempus to reset everything back to Claremont's era. That should do it...

Which means we'd never get the freaky weird xmen that turned me off from the books in the first place, but also we'd never get the young xmen.

[Bl00dwerK]

That's an all-star squad, right there. Who in their right mind would screw with that?!

[Darkgreed]

1. Rebuild their rogue gallery, have villains with reason to do the things that they do.
2. have the X-men sit down and talk all the stuff they need to talk about out in the open.
3. have a really graduation for the young X-Men. they are there to be X-Men so make a book about it.
4. I'm not bringing anybody back from the dead. their dead, life goes on. it makes a better story that way.
5. not all X-Men should be teachers, lets be real about this. they are the worst teaches you can think of, only a hand make the cut, and that is not enough for a school that big. so i will make a cast of just teachers. which will not be apart of any other team, they will be teachers.
6. solve this T-Mist problem. it make no sense and its been done to death.
7. the O5 go back and the X-men universe reboots, which starts my run. this is the only time mutants who were dead before can come back. Xavier, Jean, Wolverine, Thunderbird, cukoos sisters. one shot deal. then the killing can began. lol

[protege]

G

Considering what we have now, I'd ...

1. make the terrigen mists kill the mutants that are too powerful, and too weird-looking (maybe the mists could react more mortally with larger mutations)
2. the leftover mutants would be less powerful, and less conspicuous, making them an almost-human passing kind of situation
3. that would actually augment the paranoia of baseline humans and would avoid the obviousness of ''mutant monsters'' as an easy reason to hate mutants
4. conspiracies and secret cabals abound
5. action is less panavision, and more tense..... more street level than not.

Hmmmm. I'd almost like that idea, but i'm almost certain at least a couple if mutants i like would be killed off for being "too powerful."

[protege]

1. Do what Bendis said he was going to do and redeem Scott Summers.
2. Send the O5 back to whence they came.
3. Restore the sense of family the books used to have
4. Bring back adult Jean Grey with no future ties to The Phoenix (let that damn bird rest forever)
5. Come up with some new good villains (I don't think we've gotten any in years outside of possibly The Children of the Vault).
6. Stop redeeming the existing X-Men villains. Almost every classic villain has been reformed and joined the team (Mags, Emma, Apocalypse, Mystique).

Don't touch sebastian shaw!

[jazzflower92]

Let the schism be over because its getting tiresome.

Get Scott and Jean back together because the reason why they broke up was bull.

Stop killing off all the younger students like flies. Its just kind of getting disturbing how nonchalantly writers like killing off teenage characters and the way a lot of the Academy students were killed off was overkill.

Make Pietro and Wanda related to Magneto again because this new explanation is stupid.

I want a storyline about there being a illegitimate daughter of Graydon Creed around who is in the custody of people trying to revive the Weapon X project. This girl would have the ability of Animal Morphing and the ability to speak to any animal. She would be rescued by the X-Men and take into their care. However, Mystique would be interested in having her first grandchild under her wing and wishes to obtain her but the other X-Men will not have it.

Actually show some progress with mutants being accepted into society. Make them feel like an actual minority group. Have it be like any other minorities some people will distrust them but on the other hand there are those who view them as people deserving of rights. Not to mention lets again focus on mutant subculture.

[5cents]

1. Do what Bendis said he was going to do and redeem Scott Summers.
2. Send the O5 back to whence they came.
3. Restore the sense of family the books used to have
4. Bring back adult Jean Grey with no future ties to The Phoenix (let that damn bird rest forever)
5. Come up with some new good villains (I don't think we've gotten any in years outside of possibly The Children of the Vault).
6. Stop redeeming the existing X-Men villains. Almost every classic villain has been reformed and joined the team (Mags, Emma, Apocalypse, Mystique).

Yes I agree

[Fokken]

FACTOR,

Can I just swoon here a moment? MY GAWD.

Your proposals are THE SEX.

So hawt. So on. So now. GREAT IDEAS!

[Factor]

hahaha I'm a guy but thanks
I had a lot of fun coming up with the teams and concepts, so I'm glad others like them as well

[Fokken]

hahaha I'm a guy but thanks
I had a lot of fun coming up with the teams and concepts, so I'm glad others like them as well

No no no, that was a typo, I totally know you're a dude.
I meant to say "Here" rather than "her" and then I went and typed too many heres. I'm a mess apparently.

My blunders. They're great. Your teams. Particularly from an aesthetic standpoint.

[Wiccan]

"Scott and Jean should also keep the fact that they are mutants secret" You're talking about the teens? I don't see them taking care of a school, but is kinda impossible that the adults Scott and Jean would be able to pretend to be humans after all he did and after she made like a lot of public speechs about the school and mutant rights.