What The Inhumans Could Have Been

[donpricetag]

When the Inhumans began getting a push from Marvel over the X-Men, I wasn’t all the concerned. Not at first. The X-Men are the X-Men and the Inhumans are the Inhumans, right? What’s there to be concerned about? My hopes went even higher as All New Inhumans is announced and written by one of my favorite writers, James Asmus, no less. Sounds interesting. Fast forward to the debut of ANI#1 and I was left dumbfounded. While the book itself was written very well and illustrated beautifully… this wasn’t the book I expected. I had to check the cover a couple times to make sure there wasn’t an “X” disguised somewhere on it. Of course there wasn’t. The premise and concept was undoubtedly more X-Men than anything the Inhumans had produced in the past. A group of jet-flying super heroes out to protect their kind from oppression, hate, and violence?

The Inhumans and the Royal Family aren’t freedom fighters. I understand why it would have to be adjusted due to the results of the t-mist bomb, come on, at least try to disguise it. When I think of the Inhumans I think of political intrigue, power hungry monarchs, classic royalty versus the will of the people, bloodline feuds and a court of interesting characters all following age old tradition of treachery and honor. Sounds more Game of Thrones than X-Men to me. And that’s what I was hoping for modern day Game of Thrones on a hyper sci-fi landscape. I was hoping to Black Bolt and Medusa struggling to manage a kingdom that exponentially expanding faster than anyone had ever thought possible. A royal line trying to maintain ranks while newly empowered despots on Earth dig in and begin creating their seats of power, but without the centuries of experience and rules to govern them, essentially developing their own organizations. Possibly even seeing one of their own leaving the family/court to join the fray on Earth and form his/her own base. These new Inhumans or NuHumans begin to create their own culture and crowning their own leaders, or most likely falling in line with their own home governments. All the while the Royal Family fighting their age old inner-wars of succession and challenges to the crown, as well as dealing the many world governments on the verge of treating the NuHumans as nothing more as new strains of mutant. That is what I was expecting… Not so much X-Men Lite, going places that were tread 50 years ago. Not too late Marvel.

What and where were you hoping Marvel was going to take the franchise?

[jmc247]

War of Kings was everything great about the Inhumans. High level political intrigue, royal marriage, large scale war, deep questions. This all could have happened with the Inhumans returned to Earth and it could have been supplemented by rebuilding Genosha and you could have had high level political intrigue between the various Marvel sub-franchises.

There were good ideas on outlines on how to move forward last decade by various Marvel writers and they could have been built towards such ideas, but some got greedy and decided they should wholesale cut off the mutants from the rest of the Marvel universe and replace the concept entirely.

[Noek]

I think a book about a team protecting Inhumans+(Nuhumans) could work but it needed to be more like DnA GotG like a military unit, ANI last arc should have been what the story should have focused on the undiscovered Inhuman tribes, with some Nuhuman protection.

[Wiccan]

Honestly, just have a book for the Royal Family and one of the Nuhumans, kinda like Royals and SW, but a bit more like Uncanny Inhumans instead, and with the royal family on earth. The royal family can continue to have their whole "Game of Thrones" premise(the current one is more like space opera) and the Nuhumans are the more "X-Men like" team. I think that after Ressurxion, Marvel has already stopped with the whole "Inhumans as replacement to X-Men" thing anyway, on the comics at least.

[donpricetag]

Honestly, just have a book for the Royal Family and one of the Nuhumans, kinda like Royals and SW, but a bit more like Uncanny Inhumans instead, and with the royal family on earth. The royal family can continue to have their whole "Game of Thrones" premise(the current one is more like space opera) and the Nuhumans are the more "X-Men like" team. I think that after Ressurxion, Marvel has already stopped with the whole "Inhumans as replacement to X-Men" thing anyway, on the comics at least.

Yeah I think so too. Its why I'm hoping it's not too late for them to right the ship. It's kind of the same hope I had for the ABC show too but thats not looking too hot either.

[Michael Watkins]

I'm not sure that they belong in the Marvel Universe. or, at the very least, I don't think that they are helped by being part of the universe. it's something that is often said about the mutants/X-Men. but I think it more applies to the Inhumans. they kind of need to be surrounded by plain old humans who haven't had much exposure to superfolk.

[Iron Fist]

I'm not sure that they belong in the Marvel Universe. or, at the very least, I don't think that they are helped by being part of the universe. it's something that is often said about the mutants/X-Men. but I think it more applies to the Inhumans. they kind of need to be surrounded by plain old humans who haven't had much exposure to superfolk.

I don't think this is true.

The Inhumans publicly are pretty accepted and they do a lot of things to be seen positively by the media and the general public. it's why when people turn into Inhumans they're worried they've become mutants because mutants are gross.

It's one thing the Inhumans have done way better than the X-Men, the idea mutants would be hated and feared after all the X-Men have accomplished and with all the other super being in the world is ridiculous and out of character. The Inhumans being shown to be tolerated and accepted is much more realistic. But take away the oppressed minority allegory from the X-Men and what do you have? Not a lot, or not a lot with Marvel's current editorial who aren't capable of being able to try and evolve that concept anymore. I miss Utopia.

[Michael Watkins]

I don't think this is true.

The Inhumans publicly are pretty accepted and they do a lot of things to be seen positively by the media and the general public. it's why when people turn into Inhumans they're worried they've become mutants because mutants are gross.

mutants being perceived as gross is why they work and the Inhumans don't. the Inhumans are not underdogs. being inhuman is just the latest less creative way of getting powers.

[stingray]

Honestly, just have a book for the Royal Family and one of the Nuhumans, kinda like Royals and SW, but a bit more like Uncanny Inhumans instead, and with the royal family on earth. The royal family can continue to have their whole "Game of Thrones" premise(the current one is more like space opera) and the Nuhumans are the more "X-Men like" team. I think that after Ressurxion, Marvel has already stopped with the whole "Inhumans as replacement to X-Men" thing anyway, on the comics at least.

This. 100 per cent. I'm a huge fan of the Royal Family since way back in the FF, Amazing Adventures days, but can't stand the NuHumans. That's why I didn't bother with the Inhumans books for the past few years. When The Royals was announced a while ago, I was thrilled we finally got the book I'd wanted all along, only to discover that half the Royals weren't even in the book. Disappointing. I'm going to pick up "Once and Future Kings" to get my Royal Family fix, but I want something with them set in the present day as well.

[Iron Fist]

mutants being perceived as gross is why they work and the Inhumans don't. the Inhumans are not underdogs. being inhuman is just the latest less creative way of getting powers.

Wrong.

The idea a person born with powers is gross but people like the fantastic four or the avengers who got their powers from exposure to something, aren't gross, just doesn't work. It's faulty logic.

Theres no sense in the public hating mutants but loving the avengers, no one cares THAT much about where powers come from.

It just shows how outdated the mutants hated and feared concept is.

[Michael Watkins]

Wrong.

The idea a person born with powers is gross but people like the fantastic four or the avengers who got their powers from exposure to something, aren't gross, just doesn't work. It's faulty logic.

wrong. Reed was a celebrity prior to gaining powers. Sue and Johnny are about as stereotypically all-American as it gets. and Ben isn't treated as a gross monster because he is part of their unit. he wouldn't have lasted long on his own. and duhhh, bigotry isn't logical.

[Valamist]

I do think it is a shame that the Inhumans where kinda ripped from there place in MU as solitary, strange aliens, and forced to basically become more typical 'superheros' banner. I think its also fair to say that the Inhumans where kinda pushed into slots that the X-Men would normally hold (Mostly the 'AH! I am suddenly different! People hate me! Oh look, a place to call home with people like myself! Yay!" idea) and while Its not wrong for them to explore such things, I think it was horrifically handled during the lead up and event that was IvX.

I am a little behind on Royals, but that is more the type of book I like to see coming from the Inhumans. That said, I would not be opposed to a book following Iso and her Nuhumans... I still think it would be interesting if they did a 'civil war' type story, with the Nuhumans fighting against the ideals/old ways of the Royal Family...

Wrong.

The idea a person born with powers is gross but people like the fantastic four or the avengers who got their powers from exposure to something, aren't gross, just doesn't work. It's faulty logic.

Theres no sense in the public hating mutants but loving the avengers, no one cares THAT much about where powers come from.

It just shows how outdated the mutants hated and feared concept is.

To be fair... I think the MU public are idiots. They always seem to be easily manipulated, cheerful of things like the death of Bruce Banner and Captain Marvel's per-crime indicative.

I do think it was odd how, pre-IvX, The X-Men where shown to be more hated now then ever, thanks to M-Pox, but the Inhumans seemed to more or less be welcomed by the public with almost open arms. They could done a lot more with examining the relations between the mutants & Inhumans in the public eye at that time...

[Thor-Ul]

Wrong.

The idea a person born with powers is gross but people like the fantastic four or the avengers who got their powers from exposure to something, aren't gross, just doesn't work. It's faulty logic.

Theres no sense in the public hating mutants but loving the avengers, no one cares THAT much about where powers come from.

It just shows how outdated the mutants hated and feared concept is.

That is one of the contradictions of the why the X-men are hated and the Avengers are praised. But they are conventions on the Marvel universe and not something to be analyzed too much because then you can find it is ilogical.
The justification I read about it was than the Avengers, FF and others characters are normal people who received powers by accident, but mutants as they are born and are here to replace the humans and that idea can be pretty much unsettling. Also remember than from time to time all superheroes had suffered public disapproval.

Back on track with the OP, I think than Inhumans could have a new cast of characters if they had just stayed with the idea of the other secret inhumans cities and had avoided all the terrigen mutant killing clouds plot. Simple as that.

[The Cool Thatguy]

Wrong.

The idea a person born with powers is gross but people like the fantastic four or the avengers who got their powers from exposure to something, aren't gross, just doesn't work. It's faulty logic.

Theres no sense in the public hating mutants but loving the avengers, no one cares THAT much about where powers come from.

It just shows how outdated the mutants hated and feared concept is.

I've never seen much logic to racism, honestly.

But that said, I've had little trouble seeing it.

Mutants luck into getting their powers, into being the next stage of evolution. They're automatically better than humanity, based on the average layman's understanding of science.

Cap? Iron Man? Thor? They capture the imagination. They're the football players, the baseball players we want to be. We see in them who we want to be.

Mutants are who we (the general public) are. We see in them our own weaknesses and flaws.

And in all fairness, Marvel's been pretty consistent with the relationships between mutants and superhumans. When the Sentinals are flying, they come for the X-Men first.

Then they come for the Avengers.

As it relates to the Inhumans, I thought a fascination with an alien culture doesn't break disbelief too much. At least in America, if a culture isn't caveman level degraded, they're wise and foreign.

[TakoM]

I've never seen much logic to racism, honestly.

But that said, I've had little trouble seeing it.

Mutants luck into getting their powers, into being the next stage of evolution. They're automatically better than humanity, based on the average layman's understanding of science.

Cap? Iron Man? Thor? They capture the imagination. They're the football players, the baseball players we want to be. We see in them who we want to be.

Mutants are who we (the general public) are. We see in them our own weaknesses and flaws.

And in all fairness, Marvel's been pretty consistent with the relationships between mutants and superhumans. When the Sentinals are flying, they come for the X-Men first.

Then they come for the Avengers.

As it relates to the Inhumans, I thought a fascination with an alien culture doesn't break disbelief too much. At least in America, if a culture isn't caveman level degraded, they're wise and foreign.

Alien culture ? Alien genes ? Not really they genes were genetically manipulated by the Kree in the comics I supposed this is again retconed .

Anyway I think the public panic when the X-Men first got public in the comic is long a thing which is outdated because of the things guys guys said but also when I go with the original time-line most of the superpowers which human variants have or can have are based on the genetic manipulation of the Celestials of the human gene(which the Kree later accessed) which is basically in all human in the Marvel Comic Universe.

The panic which originally spread was connect to a paranoid question : Could your neighbor be a mutant? The answer is more : You could be a variety of things

Like you said a lot of people wouldn't listen the X-Men wouldn't get short of racist enemies.