Why haven't any of the Black Male X-men caught on other than Bishop?

[JudicatorPrime]

Well now. I’ll roll up my sleeves for some theoretical story development. What you describe IS interesting, but potentially walks us into OP territory.

Even under the old interpretation of his powers Synch had the potential to be OP. It would have been quite easy for him to get into range of Phoenix, or even someone like the Silver Surfer or Thor. Or maybe the Watcher drops by and Ev's aura starts synching up nigh-omnipotent Delta Rays. Writers made up a number of excuses for why he couldn't be powerful. We're just looking at the same condition set with a different (better) outcome in mind. Yes, Ev could be OP, but looking around the current landscape, he wouldn't be alone in that. Most of Marvel's characters now are OP in some way or another.

But if it really bothered folks, I can think of a few ways to limit Synch, not the least of which being his own personal preference. Once you come up with a power combination that you liked, that you were comfortable with using 99% of the time, one that worked for a variety of situations, and one that didn't scare the bejeezus out of you or threaten the world with instantaneous destruction, would you change it? I know I wouldn't.

Combine telepathy with pyrokinesis and Everett makes heads explode.

Imagine the fun you could have sitting around with the creative team spit-balling new and creative synergies. You could probably make a really good game of it.

[Beetle]

Prodigy has been repowered? the last I knew he has been in young avengers related series but he isnt a mutant again

He's not repowered yet afaik. But back during the Original Sin event he was held hostage by the Hood and forced created a knockoff Cerebro device to gather as much of the secrets that the Watcher's eye revealed. Terabytes of data full of secrets of the universe, but Prodigy encrypted it and now he's the only one with access to the information.

[Marvell2100]

100% agreed! Far as Bishop, or Synch's powerset being an a shackle for as writing them as being written to prominence in X-Men, that theory is pure isht! Wolverine has such a bland and many times over duplicated powerset. There are dupes that even have claws like him now. No, the special thing about him is the personality, and that is solely on the writers and editors plan and simple. Synch for example has almost an identical set of traits as Cyclops with the addition of a more pleasant demeanor. You telling me that all of a sudden that people who are paid professionals can't imagine what confident, strong leader looks like minus the stoicism???

You get it. People keep thinking that the powers are the things that are holding Black mutants back.

It's not. Unimaginative writers are the problem. See how easily they turned Bishop into one of the X-Mens' greatest villains with his "reactive" powers?

Why is it so hard to make him one of the greatest X-Men?

[Havok83]

You get it. People keep thinking that the powers are the things that are holding Black mutants back.

It's not. Unimaginative writers are the problem. See how easily they turned Bishop into one of the X-Mens' greatest villains with his "reactive" powers?

Why is it so hard to make him one of the greatest X-Men?

Id hardly call Bishop one of the greatest villians. He was one of the worst and an absolute nuisance that entire era. The writing for him was horrible and as a villian he did not work. I think most would agree that it was one of the worst, if not the worst heel changes among the X-men because it wasnt a part of some great character development arc that felt true to the character. He was merely a plot device to move the story from point A to B and he was unceremoniously dumped for years with no plan for how to proceed with him

[skyvolt2000]

he's also the black male character on the team. but there's no longer a team. Everett's strengths are what make him hard to use. he comes without drama, for the most part. he's just a good dude who happens to be black and able to duplicate/optimally use the powers of other mutants in his vicinity. now if he were able to retain those powers is some kind of mental archive, i could see a writer wanting to play with that. but don't kid yourself. with mutants, they very much are their power set. the rarer the power or visual, the more likely they are to get page time. Ev's problem is that his power is the very opposite of rare. by design, he's copying whomever is already in the story.

Everyone can have the same powers but it will always vary in HOW they use them.

The issue with many POC is their potential is NEVER explored.

Example
There are folks who say why do you need Static when you got Black Lightning. Static can do things that Black Lightning CAN NOT.

Static can fly on whatever he wants as shown in his first comic book and parts of his cartoon.
Static has a taser punch.
Static can reattached cut off body parts as shown in New 52.
Static was powerful enough to charge DC/Milestone's version of the Ultimate Nullifer to take down a "GOD". See in Worlds Collide 1993 series with Superman, Steel & Superboy.
Static's power can vary when solar flares happen as shown on his cartoon show.
Funny what you can learn when you have a 53 solo issues (2 series & 1 mini) and 4 years of a cartoon show. If he was in Marvel-he's a younger Magneto.


Synch & Prodigy are dangerous. Guys who can take your powers and memories and use they against you?
Go get Storm, Flint of the Inhumans, Luke Cage, Miles, Thunderball, Brother Voodoo, Cardiac, Black Panther, Shuri, Doras, Nightwatch, Blade, Spider-Punk, Prowler 1 & 2, Moon Girl, Riri, Midnight Fire, Tag, Monet, Deathlok, Fuse, Sil, Cloak, Alex Wilder, Vibraxas, Night Thrasher, a resurrected Mettle, Monica, Eli Bradley, Rocket Racer, Blue Marvel and Falcon.

That would be the Legion of Doom. Who could take over the world. A TRUE comic book nerd who knows all these guys powers and skills can make a strong case.
A story that will never be told because Marvel has to pander to trolls who would throw a FIT about it. Never mind logic says you can make a case for it.
Wakanda took on the Skrulls. How did that work out?

[Marvell2100]

Id hardly call Bishop one of the greatest villians. He was one of the worst and an absolute nuisance that entire era. The writing for him was horrible and as a villian he did not work. I think most would agree that it was one of the worst, if not the worst heel changes among the X-men because it wasnt a part of some great character development arc that felt true to the character. He was merely a plot device to move the story from point A to B and he was unceremoniously dumped for years with no plan for how to proceed with him

Greatest, worst whatever. He killed Xavier and was getting top billing. He had a whole storyline dedicated to him.

I didn't like it one bit and called it character assassination. But he got more press for being a villain than he ever did for anything he did that was heroic.

[Huntsman Spider]

Everyone can have the same powers but it will always vary in HOW they use them.

The issue with many POC is their potential is NEVER explored.

Example
There are folks who say why do you need Static when you got Black Lightning. Static can do things that Black Lightning CAN NOT.

Static can fly on whatever he wants as shown in his first comic book and parts of his cartoon.
Static has a taser punch.
Static can reattached cut off body parts as shown in New 52.
Static was powerful enough to charge DC/Milestone's version of the Ultimate Nullifer to take down a "GOD". See in Worlds Collide 1993 series with Superman, Steel & Superboy.
Static's power can vary when solar flares happen as shown on his cartoon show.
Funny what you can learn when you have a 53 solo issues (2 series & 1 mini) and 4 years of a cartoon show. If he was in Marvel-he's a younger Magneto.


Synch & Prodigy are dangerous. Guys who can take your powers and memories and use they against you?
Go get Storm, Flint of the Inhumans, Luke Cage, Miles, Thunderball, Brother Voodoo, Cardiac, Black Panther, Shuri, Doras, Nightwatch, Blade, Spider-Punk, Prowler 1 & 2, Moon Girl, Riri, Midnight Fire, Tag, Monet, Deathlok, Fuse, Sil, Cloak, Alex Wilder, Vibraxas, Night Thrasher, a resurrected Mettle, Monica, Eli Bradley, Rocket Racer, Blue Marvel and Falcon.

That would be the Legion of Doom. Who could take over the world. A TRUE comic book nerd who knows all these guys powers and skills can make a strong case.
A story that will never be told because Marvel has to pander to trolls who would throw a FIT about it. Never mind logic says you can make a case for it.
Wakanda took on the Skrulls. How did that work out?

Funny enough, Spider-Punk and the original Prowler are the same guy from different universes, and even so, Spider-Punk's whole thing is rebellion against an oppressive system headed by a sociopathic billionaire businessman turned president of the United States. His second solo appearance even gloriously takes the piss out of corporate commodification, appropriation, and repackaging of rebellion into something "safe" for consumption, as embodied by a version of Kang the Conqueror instead called "Kang the Conglomerator." Extremely timely, relevant commentary if someone had the testicular and intestinal fortitude to make Spider-Punk an ongoing or even a limited series, but like you said, it's all about corporate profits and pissing off a certain all-important demographic too much would cut too deep into that.

[Havok83]

Greatest, worst whatever. He killed Xavier and was getting top billing. He had a whole storyline dedicated to him.

I didn't like it one bit and called it character assassination. But he got more press for being a villain than he ever did for anything he did that was heroic.

That was nothing to be proud of. Id have rather he had been in limbo throughout the Messiah Trilogy than to have had what happened with him happen. H

[Huntsman Spider]

That was nothing to be proud of. Id have rather he had been in limbo throughout the Messiah Trilogy than to have had what happened with him happen. H

Same. It says something pretty disturbing about the nature of ongoing comics narratives that a character assassination that resulted in billions upon billions of lives being snuffed out across the timestream can be walked off like it was just a fleeting bad mood, let alone that it was approved or sanctioned at the highest levels of editorial in the first place.

[Paleo_Rage]

If Prodigy ever gets some love..

I need them to focus on his abilities not to mimic knowledge but to transfer or block people from accessing their knowledge. Prodigy should be in black ops unit as the swiss army knife(the medic, hacker, know it all) with Gambit(the leader), Blink(transport), Warparth (the tank), Risque (demolition and crowd control), Blink (transport and melee fighter), and Martinique Jason ( telepath/switchboard) with Mercury and Cipher working as infiltration.

[CRaymond]

I’d Synch up Infectia, Alchemy, Wolverine and Darwin and give all combat mutants a healing factor.

[Killerbee911]

If Prodigy ever gets some love..

I need them to focus on his abilities not to mimic knowledge but to transfer or block people from accessing their knowledge. Prodigy should be in black ops unit as the swiss army knife(the medic, hacker, know it all) with Gambit(the leader), Blink(transport), Warparth (the tank), Risque (demolition and crowd control), Blink (transport and melee fighter), and Martinique Jason ( telepath/switchboard) with Mercury and Cipher working as infiltration.

I think black ops right idea but a team might not be right the way to go all the time, since mutants have a nation and has an CIA now. The X-men can have Jame Bond style solo agents who do "impossible missions"( which makes for easy solo books idea) and Prodigy is the perfect candidate for solo infiltration/problem solving agent. I can't be convinced that a bi sexual seducing men and women while being MacGyver/ Jason Bourne mixed type spy on missions in Marvel world wouldn't do good as solo.

[Sutekh]

If Prodigy ever gets some love..
I need them to focus on his abilities not to mimic knowledge but to transfer or block people from accessing their knowledge.

Ooh, I did not know that was an option! If so, that could be awesome. "Oh, it's a nut with a gun. And now he doesn't remember how the safety works..." "Hey, it's Magneto. Too bad he's completely forgotten everything he ever knew about the properties of magnetism, or how to control his power, and he's just got metal **** flying at him out of control like crazy, and has no idea how to turn it off!"

[Michael Watkins]

too late now. but i feel like they missed a golden opportunity to reveal "night thrasher" as David Alleyne in Grevioux's New Warrior series. they were dealing exclusively with depowered mutants anyways. it would have been one way to give David an agenda/mission. he needed it more than Bandit (who worked better as a heel imo). him and Sophia proving that they are more than their mutancy could have been fun.

[Michael Watkins]

You get it. People keep thinking that the powers are the things that are holding Black mutants back.

It's not. Unimaginative writers are the problem. See how easily they turned Bishop into one of the X-Mens' greatest villains with his "reactive" powers?

Why is it so hard to make him one of the greatest X-Men?

i'd argue that he is one of the greatest X-Men. him being a villain was the first time that he was integral to a story. he was the character to follow during the Age of Apocalypse, for instance. he's a character that is pretty much always doing his own thing instead of waiting for Cyclops or Professor X to give him orders. i don't even know that he's considered to be "black" any more. but he's a popular character.