Wolverine and uuhhhhh Cable?!?!?!?

[taozen]

Looking at the X-Men franchise and its published books, you understand that why Wolverine gets a solo series. In fact he gets and deserves multiple series. He is in the top 3 most popular Marvel characters. And who is the other X-Men character that gets a solo series? Cable?!?!?
Would you say that Cable the second most popular X-Men character? Or does he just fit that Wolverine mold of gritty old White male character? Then the question is why does Cable get series after series? Who would you say is the second most popular X-Men character?

[Cruelrain]

Wolverine and then Deadpool if we count him as a character from the x-men franchise.

[taozen]

Wolverine and then Deadpool if we count him as a character from the x-men franchise.

I think Deadpool is the most popular character that Marvel created since Wolverine but Cable has an ongoing series. So is Cable 3rd if you count Deadpool? I wasn't not really counting Deadpool.

[Riv86672]

To me the question is, who besides Wolvie can support a solo series?
Lots of the X characters can field a short term mini series, but something that can go for years?
You need a character that’s been fleshed out well, w. a rich and varied backstory that won’t rely (exclusively) on their connection to the team to yield story ideas. Someone w. a strong personality and who’s well known and liked by fans who may not be familiar w. each and every member of the team.

To me the answer is Storm and she’s way overdue.

[Havok83]

Cable is probably my second favorite X-men, but no he most definitely is not among the most popular X-man. There are several A-listers that trump him like Cyclops, Storm, Jean,

[Cruelrain]

I think Deadpool is the most popular character that Marvel created since Wolverine but Cable has an ongoing series. So is Cable 3rd if you count Deadpool? I wasn't not really counting Deadpool.

Well since you're asking about popularity and solo series, Wolverine and Deadpool are the only x-men characters that i can think that have successfully launched their own solo comic book series and hold their own stories and books without resorting in teambooks.

[ipanema45]

Rogue and Nightcrawler I would say are quite popular?

[Jackraow21]

Cable is probably my second favorite X-men, but no he most definitely is not among the most popular X-man. There are several A-listers that trump him like Cyclops, Storm, Jean,

He used to be. Back in the 90s his popularity was up there with Logan and Deadpool. The character has been mismanaged badly since then in my view. Waaay too many trips to the well of depowering, repowering, killing and resurrecting the guy. And now this latest stint involving replacing him with a teen version... because that’s always an exciting new direction for an established character. :eye roll:

The character has the potential to be A-list again in the right hands. He’s interesting enough. Probably would be helpful to jettison some of his baggage, though. Like time travel. Let’s put that aside for now. Assume he’s here to stay, back in the era of his birth. And clones. No more Stryfe, X-man or other bullshit alt versions. Just the real deal. In the here and now.

I might even go further and jettison the T-O virus too. Make him whole, though not ridiculously overpowered like X-man or Stryfe, and lean into the Jedi-like Askani warrior aspect. I was actually interested in seeing that direction play out after Hope made him whole at the end of X-Sanction. Unfortunately it didn’t last. Instead they gave him a gimp left arm and a big ass weird looking cybernetic prosthetic. And then Spurrier chopped his arm off again. Guy just can’t catch a break.

[taozen]

To me the question is, who besides Wolvie can support a solo series?
Lots of the X characters can field a short term mini series, but something that can go for years?
You need a character that’s been fleshed out well, w. a rich and varied backstory that won’t rely (exclusively) on their connection to the team to yield story ideas. Someone w. a strong personality and who’s well known and liked by fans who may not be familiar w. each and every member of the team.

To me the answer is Storm and she’s way overdue.

So is Cable the 3rd most popular X-Men character? That is my question since he has had numerous series over the past 20 years. Is he the only one that is popular enough besides Logan and Pool to support a lengthy ongoing?

[Mutant 77]

I'm glad that Gambit is not popular like before.

[cranger]

It is kind of not what you are seeing, if you think about it. Cable gets a solo because he works much better as a solo character, not as a member of the X-Men. Since X-Men is a team book, measuring the popularity of a X-Men character would probably be measured by how often they show up and how much of a role they get, in the team books themselves.

[stormphoenix]

To me the question is, who besides Wolvie can support a solo series?
Lots of the X characters can field a short term mini series, but something that can go for years?
You need a character that’s been fleshed out well, w. a rich and varied backstory that won’t rely (exclusively) on their connection to the team to yield story ideas. Someone w. a strong personality and who’s well known and liked by fans who may not be familiar w. each and every member of the team.

To me the answer is Storm and she’s way overdue.

Yeah, I agree.

[PlotDevice]

To me the answer is Storm and she’s way overdue.

As much as I like Storm she has had solo runs before and they were not resounding hits. It was less than 5 years ago.

[Havok83]

As much as I like Storm she has had solo runs before and they were not resounding hits. It was less than 5 years ago.

IMO most of her solo material is not interesting. She works best within the confines of a team

[Kusanagi]

I think the big problem for the most x-men characters, isn't so much their popularity, but justifying what they're doing away from the X-Men and making it interesting.

From an In Character perspective for most X-men their entire lives are centered on Mutant issues/X-men, so even if you gave them a solo it wouldn't be that different from a team book.

Of the three (four if we're counting Deadpool) characters that do okay in solos (Wolverine, Cable, X23) they're all loners (or were loners) with outside lives/missions/purposes from the teams they were on. Characters like Storm, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Jean etc. don't really have that, or at least not to the point where it can support a book past a few issues.