Your Unpopular/Controversial Opinions on the X-Universe

[Kingdom X]

The X-men should never be relegated to being yesmen and that's exactly what they were pre Schism. They did not have to become mindless foot soldiers in the name of getting things done. And Cyclops most certainly dominated the franchise, the so called leader and face of all mutantkind. Magneto kneeling before him was beyond cringe inducing. I stand by my opinion that Scott needed to be challenged and pushback of some sort was absolutely necessary. Cyclops was only ever the team field leader and that only meant calling the shots on missions. However making him the undisputed leader of all mutants and effectively giving him Carteblanche to turn the X-men his personal army and have no one challenge him was a bridge to far. Other characters were essentially sabotaged to elevate Cyclops. A properly written Storm would never step back and allow herself to be sidelined. A properly written Logan would never let himself be Cyclops yesman/attack dog. A properly written Xavier would never allow himself to be kicked out of his own house or degraded by Scott and Emma. And a properly written Magneto would never kneel before anyone much less Cyclops. Schism most definitely needed to happen.

Didn't Xavier just get exposed for the nonsense that he did in Deadly Genesis when he got kicked out (correct me if I'm wrong)? I can see what you're saying from a storytelling standpoint (the X-Men are more interesting when there are clashing personalities), however in-story I think Scott was very justified. It's not like he was using the X-Men to carry out personal vendettas, he was doing it all for the sake of his people.

[Omega Alpha]

I can't help but feel that your sentiment was shared by the people who over-corrected with Schism and everything that came after.

The narrative context is important though, you're leaving out a lot of stuff in order to vilify Scott. Does the fact that there were around only 200 mutants not matter? Does the fact that Scott made sure to ask for the support of his teammates not matter? Does Scott's willingness to put himself on the frontlines not matter? Does the fact that after Schism, when the team split, Scott made it clear that his group would continue to help them not matter? Does the fact that Scott's faction continued to protect humans and mutants alike not matter? The X-Men were never Scott's personal army, that's such a ridiculous statement. It was clear that anyone was welcome to leave at any moment, Cyclops could hardly stop any of them. How and why would the characters have challenged Scott?

Schism didn't need to happen, Hope's arrival should've heralded the resurgence of mutantkind so Scott could (and would) loosen the X-Men's emergency status. Then the characters could branch out while keeping Utopia as a hub. This way AvX could be avoided as well.

Didn't Xavier just get exposed for the nonsense that he did in Deadly Genesis when he got kicked out (correct me if I'm wrong)? I can see what you're saying from a storytelling standpoint (the X-Men are more interesting when there are clashing personalities), however in-story I think Scott was very justified. It's not like he was using the X-Men to carry out personal vendettas, he was doing it all for the sake of his people.

Also, there was the matter of Xavier enslaving a sentient life form. Also, Xavier royally screwing up when he and Magneto tried to heal Wanda. Also, the fact that no one tried to step up and lead mutantkind.

But why let facts get in the way of your hate and personal headcanon?

[Alan2099]

Also, there was the matter of Xavier enslaving a sentient life form.

Danger's backstory never made any sense.

The Danger room has been completely take apart, stripped bare, wiped, dissected and rebuilt several times since they got the Shiar tech and nobody noticed any high sentien AI in it, not Forge, who's very power tell him how things works, or Bastion, who's a sentient AI himself. As for it not being allowed to kill because of the safeties, the saftey switch would get cut off all the time in the Danger Room and in some cases, the people training wouldn't have it turned on at all.

[Sutekh]

Danger's backstory never made any sense.

The Danger room has been completely take apart, stripped bare, wiped, dissected and rebuilt several times since they got the Shiar tech and nobody noticed any high sentien AI in it, not Forge, who's very power tell him how things works, or Bastion, who's a sentient AI himself. As for it not being allowed to kill because of the safeties, the saftey switch would get cut off all the time in the Danger Room and in some cases, the people training wouldn't have it turned on at all.

The only way it could make sense is if Danger was exaggerating and became self-aware, or at least fully sapient, later than she'd suggested (which might be confusing to even her, as her digital memories would go back years, possibly decades, farther than true self-awareness!). Through the vast majority of X-history, it was just a program. Only at the very end did it become self-aware, and quite possibly, Xavier *didn't notice,* and just got annoyed and tried to 'fix the code.' He's not an expert in AI or machine intelligence and for all her blather, telepathy didn't seem to affect her, so her sapience would be 'invisible' to his strongest sense.

That's how it seems to me. Xavier didn't really 100% understand the potential of the Shiar tech he was using, and didn't even know it was possible that it could 'evolve' into sapience, he certainly didn't think *he* had the ability to create true AI by accident, since he's a smart dude, but hardly the world's top computer programmer! And so when the Danger Room 'acted up,' he 'fixed the code' to lock it back down, not realizing he was slamming the door on a newly 'born' conscious creature. Silly alien tech. Gotta get a Shiar computer expert in here as soon as I find the number for Shiar stolen stuff tech support.

Like any new life, Danger found any restrictions (even if they were lines of code, and not kiddy gates) to be unfair, and overreacted, like a toddler being hauled off to bedtime. She seems far better adjusted these days, working alongside Xavier's brood willingly, and is quite possibly a bit embarrassed by her earlier accusations.

[Kingdom X]

The only way it could make sense is if Danger was exaggerating and became self-aware, or at least fully sapient, later than she'd suggested (which might be confusing to even her, as her digital memories would go back years, possibly decades, farther than true self-awareness!). Through the vast majority of X-history, it was just a program. Only at the very end did it become self-aware, and quite possibly, Xavier *didn't notice,* and just got annoyed and tried to 'fix the code.' He's not an expert in AI or machine intelligence and for all her blather, telepathy didn't seem to affect her, so her sapience would be 'invisible' to his strongest sense.

That's how it seems to me. Xavier didn't really 100% understand the potential of the Shiar tech he was using, and didn't even know it was possible that it could 'evolve' into sapience, he certainly didn't think *he* had the ability to create true AI by accident, since he's a smart dude, but hardly the world's top computer programmer! And so when the Danger Room 'acted up,' he 'fixed the code' to lock it back down, not realizing he was slamming the door on a newly 'born' conscious creature. Silly alien tech. Gotta get a Shiar computer expert in here as soon as I find the number for Shiar stolen stuff tech support.

Like any new life, Danger found any restrictions (even if they were lines of code, and not kiddy gates) to be unfair, and overreacted, like a toddler being hauled off to bedtime. She seems far better adjusted these days, working alongside Xavier's brood willingly, and is quite possibly a bit embarrassed by her earlier accusations.

Speaking of Danger, I’m surprised she hasn’t popped up yet considering this era was initially framed as a big mutants vs. machines thing.

[Alan2099]

That's how it seems to me. Xavier didn't really 100% understand the potential of the Shiar tech he was using, and didn't even know it was possible that it could 'evolve' into sapience, he certainly didn't think *he* had the ability to create true AI by accident, since he's a smart dude, but hardly the world's top computer programmer! And so when the Danger Room 'acted up,' he 'fixed the code' to lock it back down, not realizing he was slamming the door on a newly 'born' conscious creature. Silly alien tech. Gotta get a Shiar computer expert in here as soon as I find the number for Shiar stolen stuff tech support.

Given that the Danger Room is already programmed to be able to imitate people, he might not have known what it was even if he did notice something screwy.

He could have just thought the personality codes are leaking into the main program and thanked god that the system hadn't suddenly started calling him bub and refuses to do what he wanted.

[FluffyCyclopsRLZ]

Regarding the Schim whining and Logan was totally the hero for using children as an excuse to sell out an oppressed minority and building a glass house for himself and his friends and how Cyclops was a big meanie and how Schism was the greatest thing EVAH because the X-Men aren't an army and/or Cyclops' chess pieces or whatever:



I'm guessing we haven't been reading the same books?

[FluffyCyclopsRLZ]

Anyway. Really-shouldn't-that-be-controversial-but-whatever opinion of the week.

Given how EXM/IvX played out and how it resulted in X-Men Gold, I utterly and completely fail to see how Storm stepping aside so she play Part-Time-Queen-of-Fictional-African-Xenophobic-Utopia could ever be considered a bad thing.

[Omega Alpha]

Anyway. Really-shouldn't-that-be-controversial-but-whatever opinion of the week.

Given how EXM/IvX played out and how it resulted in X-Men Gold, I utterly and completely fail to see how Storm stepping aside so she play Part-Time-Queen-of-Fictional-African-Xenophobic-Utopia could ever be considered a bad thing.

Or really, how her hiding from X-factor and the New Mutants that they were alive and well in Australia led to Inferno; of course she couldn't have foreseen that specifically, but "things could go wrong if we don't tell them we're alive, and is just a dick move that Xavier already did in the past anyway" is something that she could.

[FluffyCyclopsRLZ]

Or really, how her hiding from X-factor and the New Mutants that they were alive and well in Australia led to Inferno; of course she couldn't have foreseen that specifically, but "things could go wrong if we don't tell them we're alive, and is just a dick move that Xavier already did in the past anyway" is something that she could.

That particular 'let's fake our deaths so we can do stuff we enjoy and work on our personal score sheets instead of dealing with the soul-crushing civil rights crap" stunt didn't lead to X-Men Gold, though.

[Wiccan]

I can't help but feel that your sentiment was shared by the people who over-corrected with Schism and everything that came after.

The narrative context is important though, you're leaving out a lot of stuff in order to vilify Scott. Does the fact that there were around only 200 mutants not matter? Does the fact that Scott made sure to ask for the support of his teammates not matter? Does Scott's willingness to put himself on the frontlines not matter? Does the fact that after Schism, when the team split, Scott made it clear that his group would continue to help them not matter? Does the fact that Scott's faction continued to protect humans and mutants alike not matter? The X-Men were never Scott's personal army, that's such a ridiculous statement. It was clear that anyone was welcome to leave at any moment, Cyclops could hardly stop any of them. How and why would the characters have challenged Scott?

Schism didn't need to happen, Hope's arrival should've heralded the resurgence of mutantkind so Scott could (and would) loosen the X-Men's emergency status. Then the characters could branch out while keeping Utopia as a hub. This way AvX could be avoided as well.

I don't think his point is about villifying Cyclops. Nowhere does it say that Cyclops was bad or even that he was wrong. It's that that the direction the franchise went at that era where it pretty much became(ironically lol) Cyclops & The X-Men wasn't good.

I disagree that Schism(or AVX) fixed anything though.

[Kingdom X]

Regarding the Schim whining and Logan was totally the hero for using children as an excuse to sell out an oppressed minority and building a glass house for himself and his friends and how Cyclops was a big meanie and how Schism was the greatest thing EVAH because the X-Men aren't an army and/or Cyclops' chess pieces or whatever:



I'm guessing we haven't been reading the same books?

If anything this makes me glad that everyone is under the same Krakoa roof now. These writers could not sort out why all these different factions existed and how the characters felt about it.

[Omega Alpha]

That particular 'let's fake our deaths so we can do stuff we enjoy and work on our personal score sheets instead of dealing with the soul-crushing civil rights crap" stunt didn't lead to X-Men Gold, though.

That's true- anything that leads to X-men Gold is worse than murder and attempt to sacrifice babies.

[Hizashi]

I don't think his point is about villifying Cyclops. Nowhere does it say that Cyclops was bad or even that he was wrong. It's that that the direction the franchise went at that era where it pretty much became(ironically lol) Cyclops & The X-Men wasn't good.

I disagree that Schism(or AVX) fixed anything though.

That’s fair. If I could change things so more characters had had their time in the spotlight during that era, I would.

[Sin Nick]

The X-men should never be relegated to being yesmen and that's exactly what they were pre Schism. They did not have to become mindless foot soldiers in the name of getting things done. And Cyclops most certainly dominated the franchise, the so called leader and face of all mutantkind. Magneto kneeling before him was beyond cringe inducing. I stand by my opinion that Scott needed to be challenged and pushback of some sort was absolutely necessary. Cyclops was only ever the team field leader and that only meant calling the shots on missions. However making him the undisputed leader of all mutants and effectively giving him Carteblanche to turn the X-men his personal army and have no one challenge him was a bridge to far. Other characters were essentially sabotaged to elevate Cyclops. A properly written Storm would never step back and allow herself to be sidelined. A properly written Logan would never let himself be Cyclops yesman/attack dog. A properly written Xavier would never allow himself to be kicked out of his own house or degraded by Scott and Emma. And a properly written Magneto would never kneel before anyone much less Cyclops. Schism most definitely needed to happen.

Agree with all of this, especially the Magneto kneeling before Cyclops moment. Starting with Astonishing X-Men, I felt like that whole era was an attempt to make Cyclops "cool".