Quote Originally Posted by Killerbee911 View Post
I mostly agree with you except for Jean Grey, who stays dead too long for me consider her core. I think is more like

Core 1.Wolverine, Storm, Cyclops
Core 2. Jean, Beast,Kitty, Magneto, Nightcrawler, Rogue, Iceman,Xavier
really close Bishop, Asian Betsy, Angel, Gambit, Colossus, Cable **Magik

They are 3 X-men who are clearly slightly important than rest but isn't important enough because of nature of the franchise to need have all three of them around. It is really hard to do a team that feels offical without someone from Core 1 but if you stick enough people from Core 2 and the "really close group" you can get away it for a little while but the big X-men formula that works normally at least 1 out of 3 of Core 1 and depending how much you use from Core 1,determines how much you use from the next group.

And my controversial opinion is that Magik is now A-list X-man, She does the berserker loose canon Wolverine thing very well and writers have recognized that and have been using her to the fullest.
This is the biggest problem with the X-men. The X-men should not have a core set of characters. ANY X-MEN SHOULD BE ABLE TO BE THE CORE! You know what I defend? Ultimatum for killing every major X-men character and forcing the books to explore new direction (a run written by Hickman btw) they should Bench every X-men made before 2000 and just try some experimental stuff with new leaders instead of all this navel gasing! THEY BROUGHT MORIA BACK!