#(I say that like I'm not team “magneto was right”)

[oldbooxie]

Can we talk about how secret invasion is literally x-men first class sixty years in the future but with no Nazis and with a few more aliens

[ichorai]

snow spider ; miguel o'hara.

pairing ; miguel o'hara x spider!reader (gender-neutral)

synopsis ; you were the ice to his fire—and miguel was burning for you.

words ; 4.4k

themes ; fluff, slight angst

warnings / includes ; set before the events of atsv, descriptions of injury/violence, cursing, a bit suggestive, mentions/appearances of other spidey characters, ben being a dramatic idiot, peter & may being adorable, cameos of magneto and doc ock, miguel is down so bad, can you guys tell i'm also in an asoiaf phase ? (winter is coming !!)

a/n ; there will be a part two set during the events of atsv !!

main masterlist.

You were Miguel’s seventeenth recruit. The first of your name. The first that wasn’t a Peter Parker, or a Jessica Drew, or a Ben Reilly. 

When Miguel dropped into your universe, one rife with crime and tragedy, stricken by a never-ending winter, he fell into a large pile of snow. 

“Damn it,” he whispered through chattering teeth, brushing off the frigid frost clinging to his suit and glancing around the iced-over city. There were sparse few people littering the streets, hovering over trash-fires and clutching rumbling stomachs. This was certainly a stark contrast to Nueva York—the universe looked dead, almost. A ghost town, frozen over into nothing but a glacial artifact.

Before Miguel could start forward to look for the Spider of the universe, a sticky web shot out from seemingly nowhere, binding his hands together. Ah. It seemed that you’d found him before he could find you.

“You’re not from here. I can’t smell the winter on you,” a voice echoed, saturated with curiosity, edged with caution. A second later, you materialized in front of him, clad in a white suit, sharp silver lines running over your form. On your chest was a spider, a pale snowflake engraved into its abdomen. Miguel stared at you with wide eyes. “Who are you?”

A beat of silence. 

“Your universe is cold,” was all he could think of saying, still caught off-guard. 

You took a step back. “My universe…?”

After clearing his throat, he shook himself out of his reverie. “My name is Miguel O’Hara. I’m from a different universe. I’m here to recruit you into my team to help keep the multiverse from collapsing.”

You shifted, muscles still tense. “How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

Lifting his wrists, Miguel twisted a hand and used his sharp claws to cut himself free of the sticky bonds. “Let me show you.”

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Miguel wasn’t supposed to like you this much. You were just meant to be another recruit for the Spider Society… maybe a close work companion, or a trusted friend at best. 

But as he watched you dart in and out of visibility, your suit only but flashes of white and silver, he couldn’t help but marvel at how easy it was to work with you. How much he genuinely enjoyed working with you, spending time with you, listening to you laugh at his stiff quips. And he really thought he was being subtle about it, but Jessica had already picked up on Miguel’s keen interest in you, always teasing him about having a crush on another Spider.

It wasn’t a crush, though. No, Miguel just really liked your work ethic.

Right?

“Heads up!” you yelled, swinging forward and using the momentum to kick an incoming car barreling right in his direction. The metal doors caved in beneath the power of your strike, veering to the left just in time to miss him. 

The two of you were taking down another anomaly that’d cropped up, one of the several dozens in only the past week. This anomaly, however, wasn’t the regular neighborhood villain they’d usually get, but instead an omega-level mutant: Magneto. 

Shards of metal rained down around you, but you were quick to deflect by thwipping out large, sticky webs to catch them before they could impale you. 

“This guy manipulates metal, Miguel!” you yelled. “Cuffs won’t work on him!” 

Another large metal pole rocketed straight for you, but Miguel dove towards you, yanking you out of the way.

“Thanks!” you told him, a bit too wound up to notice his large hands tightly wound around your midriff. “Can you distract him for me?”

Nodding wordlessly, Miguel shot out several glowing, synthetic webs in quick succession to momentarily blind Magneto. You used his shoulder to launch yourself upward, turning invisible in mid-air. 

Before the man could realize what was happening, you yanked his protective helmet off, landing a calculated strike to the back of his head. Immediately, all the bits of metal floating in the air came plummeting to the ground, and Magneto went limp in your hold. You swung down to the ground, coming back into view. 

“You’re gonna have to alert one of the Spiders that we need a metal-free cage for him,” you told Miguel, a bit breathless. 

Okay, a lot breathless. There was a sharp sting on your side—a broken piece of metal must have grazed you during the fight.

Miguel wound an arm around you to help you walk, concern festering within his chest at the sight of crimson staining your once-pristine white suit, his other hand dragging an unconscious Magneto by the scruff of his collar. With a tap of the watch, a portal opened up, flashing a multitude of bright oranges and purples. 

Back in his universe, Miguel was quick to hand Magneto over to a few Peters, telling them to be careful not to get any metal near him. You pulled off your mask and squeezed Miguel’s bicep in gratitude when he shifted his hold on you, ensuring that you wouldn’t put any weight on your injured side. Even exhausted, you were beautiful. Miguel remembered the first time he saw you without your mask: the entirety of his linguistic vernacular went flying out the window and he was left embarrassingly spluttering out a long string of incoherent sentences. You were patient with him, beaming wide and nodding emphatically, even though none of what he said had made sense. 

Yeah, alright, fine. Miguel had a crush. It really wasn’t a big deal (it was a very big deal). He’d be damned if he’d ever admit it to Jessica, though—that woman would never let him live it down.

Several Spiders waved hello to the two of you as you hobbled by, and you could only give them a winded half-smile in return. Some of them asked if you were alright, noticing the blood on your suit, but you reassured their worries away, “I’m fine. Miguel’s got me.”

A rush of protectiveness fell over him, and he clutched onto you all the tighter, hurrying to make his way back to the base. There were a few Spiders hanging around the control panels, chattering amongst themselves, and Miguel gave them a quick scan to make sure things were going smoothly since his departure. Once everything seemed to be in order, he finally tugged you into a more secluded room, helping you sit on a table as he grabbed the first aid kit. 

“Sorry,” he murmured, ripping off his mask as well. His dark hair was disheveled, sharp brown eyes softening with guilt. “I got distracted during the fight.”

“Hey, it happens,” you replied warmly, fingers lifting to pat his cheek. The feeling of your cold skin pressed up against the blistering heat emanating from his cheeks made a shiver dance up his spine. “We’re alive, and we got the anomaly. Everything’s fine.” 

“But you’re hurt.”

“I’ll heal.”

With careful, fleeting touches, Miguel drew back the ripped fabric of your suit to inspect the gash in your side. He cleaned away as much blood as he could, murmuring gruff apologies every time you flinched. The guilt worsened when he began deftly stitching up your wound—it didn’t go past his notice when your face twisted with the pain, and you bit your lip in a fruitless attempt to keep the sharp agony at bay.

“You did good out there, Y/N,” he said, desperate to distract you. “What was it like being the Spider in your universe?”

You spared him a loose grin, appreciating his attempts to keep you entertained. 

“Tiring,” you admitted, fingers digging into his shoulders when he began another stitch. “I mean, I’m sure you’ve heard the same story a million times by now. I was a scientist, trying to find a way to reverse the never-ending winter. I was bitten by a radioactive winter-spider… the only kind of spider left after our world iced over. I, uhm… I lost my uncle. My mom, shortly after. She was captain of the police force.” 

There was a long pause. It was obvious that you weren’t too keen on divulging all the details just yet. Your eyes watered with the memory, a glimmering film of tears warbling over your lower lashes, and Miguel gently patted your knee in understanding, silently reassuring you that you didn’t have to tell him everything.

You drew in a deep breath. “I realized I had powers—I had all the abilities of a spider, and I could turn invisible, and withstand the cold much more than before. I was known as the Snow Spider. A lot of people died from the frost. I couldn’t save them. I tried to help as much as I could, but it was just never enough. And then… I met you.” A smile graced your expression, one that sparked life into Miguel’s heart. “I moved from just helping my city, to helping the entire multiverse.”

Before you knew it, Miguel was tying off the last stitch, biting the thread short with his sharp fangs once he was done. You murmured a sincere thanks, placing your palm flat against his chest, feeling the quick thrum of his heart slamming against his ribcage.

If you noticed how his pulse seemed to kick up a notch with your ministrations, you didn’t say anything. For that, Miguel was grateful.

“There you go. That’s a brief summary of my life story. It’s only fair if you tell me yours.”

The man met your gaze, irises dark and warring with conflict.

“What’s there to say? I got powers, just like you. I lost people, just like you. I built the Spider Society… and then I met you.” The last bit was said as he nudged you gently, and he offered you a tentative smile, though it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

Hesitant, you lifted your hand, softly grazing your knuckles against his cheek. Icy was your touch, but it felt nice—almost addicting. He found himself leaning against your hand, shutting his eyes as he exhaled.

“You’re a mystery, Miguel,” you murmured, leaning forward to press a chaste kiss to his cheek as thanks for patching you up, before sliding off the table to stride away. Miguel watched you go with a lump in his throat. “Luckily for you, I like mysteries.”

“How long has that been a thing? I haven’t noticed because I’ve been too busy thinking about my… miserable past,” sighed Ben, coming to stand beside Jessica, the two of them watching Miguel follow after you like a lost puppy, face uncharacteristically mellowed with an undeniable lovesick expression. 

“It’s not a thing,” she replied with an amused scoff. “Not yet, at least.”

You halted what you were doing and turned around to grin at Miguel. “Look, I stitched my suit back together. It’s good as new!” 

His dark, molten eyes gleamed with affection. “It looks great.” He caught sight of your web-shooters, fixed against the base of your hand. “I still can’t believe you need those.”

“Well, I can’t believe you have spinnerets embedded into your skin. I can’t tell if I’m more grossed out or curious to know more,” you shot back, taking his hand to inspect his wrist with narrowed eyes. “What other kind of powers do you have?”

With a roguish grin, he bared his teeth, sharp fangs drawing out. 

“I can never get over those. They’re kinda intimidating, but in a cool way.” Before you could stop yourself, you tacked on, “And really fucking hot.”

Heat crawled up his neck. He stared blankly at you. “They’re poisonous.”

Still, you smiled at him, all sweet and flustered. “Hm. It’s a shame, really. I definitely would’ve asked you to bite me if not for the venom.” Neither of you were quite sure if you were joking or not.

Miguel was certain he was going to combust into flames. “I can still bite you without injecting the poison into your system. It’s a voluntary response.”

To his surprise, you burst into a fit of laughter. Gods, he was absolutely smitten with that sound. The way your nose wrinkled, the side of your eyes creased, the shaking of your shoulders as you chuckled… it was all too much for Miguel.

“Don’t tempt me with a good time,” you warned.

“Oh, I can do much more than just tempt,” said the man in front of you, making your laughter taper away into silence. 

You studied him for a moment longer. Before you could say anything, both of your watches beeped simultaneously. With one more amused huff, you patted his shoulder, brushing past him and pulling your mask over your face. “Come on, mister. Anomalies to catch, universes to save… we can continue this conversation later.”

The months pass by in a blur. 

You were wrangling back another Doc Ock anomaly, having webbed up all his metal tentacles, easily tossing him into a temporary laser cage with a sweet smile. The villain was spitting obscenities, going on and on about the power of the sun in his grasp, how you’d ruined everything for him. 

“You’ll pay for this!” he yelled, slamming his fist against the glowing barrier. 

“Sorry, Doc,” you said with a mild grin. “I’ve met around a dozen of you, and so far, you were the most compliant. That makes you my favorite!”

You saluted him with a wink, before turning on your heel and striding away. It wasn’t long before Miguel found you, falling into step with your stride.

“Look at you, taking on anomalies all on your own,” he murmured lowly, nudging your side with his elbow. “Good job.”

With a scoff, you pulled off your mask, regarding him with an expectant gaze as you leaned forward, so close that your nose nearly brushed against his. He could feel the cold frost of your breath blow over the heated planes of his cheeks. “Well, then, Mr. O’Hara, wouldn’t I deserve a reward?”

The vampire-spider only flushed at your words, mouth falling open and shut as he struggled with a rebuttal. 

Your laugh, soft and tinkering, made his heart nearly seize within his chest. Still chuckling, you shoved away from him, saying that you had to get back to your universe to make sure everything was still in order there.

As you made your way out of the room, using your watch to portal through to your wintry hellscape, Jessica appeared out of nowhere beside him, one hand on her heavily pregnant belly, and the other cocked upon her hip. 

“God, you really can’t be more obvious, can you?” she asked.

Miguel spared her a glance, snapping out of his reverie and standing up straighter. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Everyone knows you’re in love with the Snow Spider. And don’t you deny it—I know a liar when I see one.” She watched Miguel frown, but didn’t bother protesting her claim. “Yeah. That’s what I thought. Tell them, you big grump. Y/N deserves to know.”

Before he could reply, Jessica was already hastening away, yelling over her shoulder that she had to go to the bathroom because the damn baby was kicking against her bladder again.

Jealousy was not an emotion Miguel was well acquainted with. Ever since he witnessed an entire universe crumbling away in front of him, he was careful not to get too attached to anything. To anyone.

But he did. He grew attached to Jessica, who was his most trusted friend, always giving him the best advice and always available to lend him a helping hand. Though he’d never admit it, Miguel was also rather fond of Ben and his obnoxious penchant for his dramatic tragedies. And, most obvious of all, he was undoubtedly very close to his best soldier, Lego Peter.

Then there was you.

It infuriated him—the way you’d smile around him, give him the most fleeting of touches, always pleasantly cold, leaving prickly goosebumps in your wake. You would offer him an affectionate nudge and a myriad of teasing compliments that made his stomach want to fold in upon itself. But Miguel tried not to think too much of it: you were a generally kind person, with many of the Spiders in the society taking a certain liking to you. It didn’t go past his notice that you’d caught more than a few romantic eyes. Every time a Peter or a Ben would openly flirt with you, he could feel himself bristling, bile rising within his throat.

Again, Miguel wasn’t used to feeling jealous. He wanted to be the one cooking dinner for you, holding you in his arms, kissing you, touching you—

To his relief, you never paid them much mind, often politely declining with a poorly-forged excuse of having to return to your universe.

It was nearly a year since you’d first met Miguel when you were at Headquarters, holding a babbling Mayday as she crawled all over you. You laughed when she climbed up onto your shoulders, slipping down into your hands with a gleeful coo, blue eyes bright and wide. With gentle hands, you brushed her messy ginger hair away from her face. 

“She doesn’t look like you, huh?” you asked Peter B. Parker. “She must be a carbon copy of her momma.”

“A good thing,” admitted the man beside you, muffling a yawn as he dug the heels of his palms into his sleep-deprived eyes, adorned with dark bags. “Wouldn’t want her taking after her old man, now would I?”

“Why not?” you asked, amusedly watching when May shot out a web from her tiny shooters, swinging away to clumsily scale a nearby wall. “I think you’re very handsome. Trust me, the sleep-deprived look is very trendy right now. In my universe, at least. Nobody can really sleep well with the never-ending cold we got going there.”

Peter gave you a loose smile. “You know what, you’re right. Dad bods are making a comeback. By the way, did I tell you about my coin collection—”

Before Peter could finish what he was saying, your watch beeped noisily, and Ben’s slumped hologram appeared over your wrist. “Y/N, I’m glad you’re here,” he said. You had to hold your tongue not to retort that he was the one that’d called you. “I need you to come comfort me and hold onto my strong, muscular arms as I tell you about my gruesome past.” The pale image of Ben flickered as he flexed his biceps. 

You rolled your eyes to the side. Ben had become a close friend during your time with the Spider Society, nearly inseparable after you’d saved his life from an Electro anomaly once. That man was quite the emotional one, he was.

“I’ll be there, just give me a minute.” 

“Bring me one of those Spider-burgers, will you? Extra ketchup and no p—”

You tapped at your watch and his hologram disappeared before he could finish his request. With a mild wince, you glanced at Peter. “You wanna come with me and listen to Ben dramatically mope for an hour? I’ll treat you and May to Spider-burgers, because it looks like I’ll have to stop by there, anyway.”

“I would, I really would, but I gotta put May down for a nap,” he said with a sympathetic slant of his lips. As if on cue, the baby fell back into Peter’s arms, yawning widely. Bouncing her up and down, Peter absent-mindedly remarked, “Make sure Miguel doesn’t catch you being all sweet with Ben. That guy is crazy about you. Hah, he’d lose his marbles!” 

You blinked.

“What?”

Peter froze, realizing what he’d just said.

“What?” he parroted.

“No, uh, what did you say, about Miguel being…”

“Nothing! Huh? I didn’t say anything.”

“Yes, you did. I heard you. Peter, what are you saying? Miguel is—?” 

Sheepish, Peter scratched the back of his head. “Oh, wow, would you look at the time!” Peter pulled down the sleeve of his pink bathrobe to mimic looking at the watch. He hastily stepped away. “I have to go. I didn’t say anything. Bye! I’d love a Spider-burger with you another time! Bye! See you later!”

You watched in bewilderment when the older man swung away with his baby in his hands, muttering out a long string of panicked curses under his breath.

Miguel was crazy about you?

After a few seconds of deliberating your next move, you shot out a web and swung away, heading to Miguel’s private office, where you knew he would be buried in figuring out a solution to the influx of new anomalies. Surely Ben would be alright with you showing up a bit late (he wouldn’t, but you had more pressing matters at hand).

“Hey, Miguel,” you greeted with a soft voice, slipping inside after knocking twice. “Hope I’m not catching you at a bad time.”

The man offered you a warm grin. “Never a bad time with you. What’s going on?”

“Well, I just… I had a rather interesting talk with Peter B,” you started, striding across the office until you stood just in front of his desk, with Miguel on the other side.

He tilted his head. “Was it about that collection of coins he lost to an anomaly? He needs to get over that.”

“I—what? The poor guy lost his coin collection? He’d been working on that for years!” Shaking your head, you mindfully got back on track. “Well, no, that’s not what we talked about.”

Dark eyes narrowing, Miguel crossed his arms, deadpanning, “What did he tell you?”

There was a rather mischievous hue to your expression that Miguel misliked. Slow and deliberate, you stepped around the desk, fingers dragging along the smooth top. You stood so close to him that your chest was only a hair’s breadth from his—if he were to take too deep a breath, the two of you would be touching by now.

“Hm… Peter accidentally let slip that you have feelings for me. Is that true, Miguel?” The way his name rolled off your tongue nearly made him choke as his brain short-circuited. 

“I… I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, echoing the exact thing he had said to Jess a month ago. 

You studied him, gaze dragging from his stiff face, to his tense stature, and back up again. It may have been a trick of light, but Miguel could swear he saw your eyes linger on his lips. 

With a hum, you leaned even closer. He could hear your heart thrumming now, a steady, strong beat—which completely juxtaposed against his own rapid pulse, drumming loud within his ears. Up this close, he could smell your perfume, see the flecks of color within your pretty eyes, notice the way your lips quirked up with a sweet smile. Even whilst teasing him, you made sure that you weren’t overstepping any bounds, giving him ample time to step away if need be.

“Oh,” you said, feigning confusion. Your hand rested upon his clavicle, nails lightly dragging down his neck. A sharp thrill struck down Miguel’s spine at the sensation. You were barely touching him, for God’s sake! “So you wouldn’t mind if I… go ask Ben out for dinner?”

A beat of silence. Miguel’s brows knitted together.

The next words were susurrated as you dipped forward to nudge your nose along his neck, pressing a cold whisper of a kiss along the underside of his jaw. “Or if I… I don’t know… if I invite him to stay at my place for the night?” 

Of course, there was no real weight to your words. Ben was simply a good friend, but damn if you didn’t enjoy the way Miguel’s eyes twitched.

Finally snapping, a low growl rumbled within his chest, his hands shooting out to grab your waist. You were cold to the touch, the ice to his fire, as his fingers curled over your back, shoving you up against the wall behind his desk. As if on instinct, your hands came to clutch at his broad shoulders.

You smiled, wide and triumphant. You’d finally broke him. 

“I’m going to kiss you now,” he gruffed, staring deep into your eyes to make sure you were alright with this. The last thing he wanted to do was make you uncomfortable. From your gleeful expression, Miguel could see that you were just the opposite. 

“Oka—mmph!” 

His lips slanted over yours, warm and rough, yet cold and soft at the same time. It was a kiss of starkly juxtaposing contrasts, heavy with months and months of unspoken yearning. His large nose brushed against your cheek, angling his face to kiss you harder—deeper. 

When one of your hands slithered up the back of his neck to tug at the roots of his dark hair, he sighed against your mouth, breaking the kiss to lean his forehead over yours.

“He was right,” said Miguel.

“Who was?”

“Peter. I do have feelings for you.”

You kissed the corner of his mouth, nudging your nose against his sharp cheekbone. “Really? I would’ve never guessed.” He surged forward to kiss you again, relishing in the way you just about melted into his touch. “If it wasn’t obvious already, I really like you, too.”

At your admission, Miguel beamed, loose and hesitant. “You still planning on asking Ben out to dinner and having him stay over at your place, then?”

You tapped a finger onto your chin, pretending to have a good, long think about it. “Give me a good reason to stay, and I won’t.” At Miguel’s slightly crestfallen expression, you patted his cheek, quick to say, “God, Miguel, I was just kidding. Ben and I are good friends. You and I, however… I wouldn’t exactly call you a friend—”

His lips met yours again, stealing the rest of your words from you. 

When you smiled into the kiss, he smiled back. It was a bit too early for love, sure, but Miguel already knew he was in too deep to back out.

He was falling in love with you. 

The thought terrified him to no end, but he merely kissed you harder, and clutched you all the closer to him.

[unluckiestmember]

can I request headcanons of x-men 97 team x reader who is an absolute sweatheart and is just the cutest thing to exist.

Coming right up!

X-Men '97 X Sweetheart! Reader

Characters: Nathan Summers/Cable, Scott Summers/Cyclops, Remy LeBeau/Gambit, Jean Gray, Jubilee, Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto, Morph, Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler, Rogue and Logan/Wolverine.

Warning: Mild Cursing, but overall SFW.

A/N: Can I please get someone to remind me to actually post when I'm supposed to? Anyone? XD

Cable

“Time to get to work, keep up!… You want me to carry you? Heh, say less.”

Oh Nathan, Nathan, Nathan. He tries his best to be as tough and straight to business like his old man. Always a man to try and change the future and fight for the people with a straight face. But as soon as you’re around him, your sunshine energy radiates onto him. You make the freedom fighter have a need to impress you on the field when he’s not showering you in love outside of missions.

What really drew you to him was just how careful you were with his body. How you complimented his eye and stroked his robotic arm with so much care. It has made him really adore the end of the days where particular expeditions took a lot of energy out of you two, resulting in cuddles and sweet nothings. He never understood the whole concept of loving someone like his dad loved his mom, but after meeting you, he finally understood what they had was sacred. What you two had was sacred. Nathan has lost a lot in his life, but he’ll be damned if he loses you.

Cyclops

“Are you alright?! You’re not hurt, are you? I’m not overexaggerating- I’m worrying the right amount!”

Scott can be a pain in the neck during missions. He’s always one to bark out orders and keep a level head on missions as the leader of the X-Men. And if there’s one order that’s always on the top of his list, it’s making sure you are safe. He’s by all means not an overprotective or possessive lover, but he makes it a daily part of his life to always check on his beloved. Whenever you are just being yourself, you can find him staring at you, taking in your cute energy and reciprocating it with his own cute antics like kissing your cheek or giving you gifts when you least expect it.

Are the team a bit jealous of you having Scott’s favoritism? A bit. But hey, they’d rather someone like you have the best of Scott than the worst. Even if that also includes his defensive nature of you along with his jealous antics. He means well. You know it, sometimes you just have to remind him. Whether it be with a simple talk or a passionate kiss. Face it, you keep the leader of the X-Men grounded.

Gambit

“Ah, just the person I was looking for. Is it just me or are you getting more breathtaking every day, mon cher?"

When it comes to you, Remy is bound to flirt twenty four seven just to see that nice shade of pink color on your cute little cheeks. And if he cant succeed in that, he’s bound to have you smitten with his physical hold of your waist or his sincere compliments. He’s quite a charmer, anyone knows that, but with you, he adds another flare to himself; A sweet lover.

Gambit will always make it abundantly clear that you are the cutest person he’s ever met and how he can wager the perfect future with you by his side. Expect this man to shower you with surprise trips away from the mansion, a fresh breakfast almost everyday and a little card show if you are ever upset, because if there’s one thing he hates more than anything, it’s you being upset. You are the only one that can make Gambit so emotional because he just loves you so so much. And if you ever forget, he doesn’t mind reminding his raison de vivre.”

Jean Gray

“I wish you could see what was in my mind… Maybe then you’d realize how much you mean to me, my love.”

When it comes to Jean, you’ve basically hit the jackpot on one of the most open and loving girlfriends you could ever ask for. You aren’t just a sweetheart, you are her sweetheart. She always touches you like a porcelain doll, staring into your eyes with so much affection of her own and giggling whenever you hug or hold her, prompting her to hold you or hug you back just as tightly. On missions, she is in the zone, but as soon as they are over, she’s heading straight to you to check if you are injured. And if you’re not? Expect this woman to shower you in so many compliments and love that you might just drown from the cuteness.

Jean isn’t just your protector, but also your best friend, always free to try anything you want to try and do what you want to do.Dare she say, you might be the love of her life. Screw being lovers, she wants to be a married couple. But as much as that gets her excited, she’ll take her time for you, because she knows whether it takes her whole life or a single day, she doesn’t mind waiting for the fateful day.

Jubilee

“That was awesome! Did you see me out there- Did you?! Let me let you in on a secret; That last one was for you~!”

Because of how young she is and her lack of a love life, Jubilee is still pretty new to the whole dating and falling in love thing. But when she met you, she knew she was bound to fall in love with someone so positive and full of life. An embodiment of a firework if she said so herself. She always drags you around town with her to hangout at arcades or spend time in the mall grabbing lunch and doing cute couple things.

She cares about you enough to ask other X-Men members advice on how to treat you or show you how much you mean to her. It honestly impresses and shocks the team how this troublemaker tries her best to make you feel like the luckiest person in the world dating her. If she’s not showing her love for you through domestic activities, then look outside your window at night. You are bound to find Jubilee sending you love with her fireworks bound to make you giggle and smile. Which is always delightful because when you are filled with so much happiness, so is she.

Magneto

“What we have is stronger than any magnetic pull I’m capable of. It’s terrifying. But also magnificent.”

If you ever wanted to be treated like royalty, Magneto is the man for you. Erik treats you like you are a precious flower that could be destroyed by the mutant hating world around you. Because of this, he is so careful with you, yet not overbearing. If you want to hang out outside or simply hang out with him, he doesn’t mind as long as no one looks at you the wrong way or touches you with ill intent. Because if they do?… Let’s just say Magneto can do a lot with his powers.

When he’s not making sure you’re safe, he is awestruck at your innocence and your positive outlook on life. At first, he actually found your vision of the world to be immature, untrue and above all stupid. But the more he’s spent time with you, you’ve seem to have melted his cold heart a bit. Does he still think humanity is the scum of the Earth and nothing can change? Yes. But with you by his side, showing him what love, understanding and acceptance can be, maybe, just maybe, he can see where you’re coming from.

Morph

“Why the long face, babe? I can do a mean Magneto impression that’s sure to make you smile… Haha! There’s my love!”

Around people, Morph treats you almost like one of the guys, in a figurative sense. They don't treat you any differently from the rest of his friends and family within the team. But behind closed doors or when you two are alone, all bets are off. They are melting at your sweet nature and so quick to try to make you laugh, smile or get physical with them. Man, do they love when you get physical with him- They adore it!

But what they really loves is how caring and protecting of them you are. They've told you about their past, their run in with Mister Sinister and their time away from the team. And no matter how many nightmares or moments of body dysmorphia he experiences, they love how you are always there to pick up their loose pieces and put them back together with your gentle touch and gentler words. Because of this, they're always there to return the favor and comfort you as well when you are at your lowest. You are their best friend sorry Logan and their beloved and they wouldn’t want it any other way.

Nightcrawler

“Liebe meines Lebens. You never cease to take my breath away.”

Kurt is a pretty romantic person, especially when it comes to you. He showers you endlessly in love, rubbing his nose against yours, showering your face in kisses and becoming putty when you hold him, even if it’s just by his arm! He cherishes moments where the both of you hang out, especially by gardens where he makes cute flower crowns with you. Though just any moments with you are the highlight of his day. On missions, you two synergize perfectly well with the blue mutant complimenting you on your moves and takedowns of foes.

Kurt is an expert at physical touch for a love language, but he’s just as amazing with his words, especially with the nicknames he’s given you. He’ll make sure everyone knows that you are his Schatz, Herz, bessere Hälfte, and of course, Liebe meines Lebens. To you, he’s a lot like a little puppy; Full of energy and always waiting for your attention and affection given to him. The team thinks you two are cute even if they find it a bit annoying that Nightcrawler is always teleporting you two all over the place. It’s not too bad though since the sound of your mixing laughter is enough to make everyone’s hearts soar happily.

Rouge

“Hey, Sugar! I missed you so much today! Now come here, I at least want a hug!”

Rogue is super careful of you. You are just too precious to her and she doesn’t want to hurt or break you with her powers. So she makes sure you both have ways of showing one another how much you love each other, especially herself. Outside of soft hugs, she tries her best to give you a hand covered kiss. Though she can be super cheesy and exchange indirect kisses with rocks, feed you while chuckling at how adorably you stare at her like she hung the stars above. She’ll even have you both set up for dinner plans and fly you around in the sky if you ever want to destress from work as a X-Man.

You both have a cute relationship, even if there are moments where Rogue wonders if she deserves you or if she will ever be enough for you due to her destructive powers and the possibility she will never be able to touch you. These revelations have led to emotional nights, but the promise you make to touch her and make her the happiest woman in the world always makes Rogue realize that she is beyond lucky to have you. You make her want to find a way to touch you no matter what. And mark her words, she will.

Wolverine

“Woah, little pup. I was just gone for a few hours, you act like I went to war or something! Aw, screw it, come here.”

Logan has fallen in love with many men and women during his years of living. But damn has he never met anyone quite like you! When he met you, he thought your whole sweetheart shtick was fake, no offense. He thought it was some trick used to get people to lower their guards around you so you can get the upper hand on them. But when he found out you really were the sweet soul everyone hyped you up to be, he slowly but surely fell for you. He fell for how you spoke to him with such understanding and patience. The way you touched him was with the utmost care when you took care of him and helped him clean blood from your adventures with him that got out of hand.

Logan fights for many people, but for you he will kill anyone that hurts you or makes you cry. Your smile lights up his whole life, your laugh pushes him to be stronger to preserve it and your touch makes him feel alive in a world that always knocks him down. If it’s not the X-Men, Wolverine usually fights for himself and only himself. But now that he has you to lose, he fights for the both of you and a future where you both can live a peaceful life you’re both proud of.

If you got any requests for X-Men '97, Blue Eye Samurai, and or Arcane, send them my way!

Likes and retweets are always appreciated! I love you all, stay hydrated and have a good day! <3

[santrrl]

Logan Howlett with Metalhead!reader, face piercings, tattoos, dark clothes - the whole get up.

i need grumpy x sunshine too, like reader actually being a cute little thing :')

L.H X METAL!HEAD READER

Author says; Thank you so much for your request!! I love doing them,l so this is gonna be the first of a few hopefully !<3 I LOVE this idea, and thus this is gonna be so fun to write !! HEHEHEHEH

The first and second part are split between bullet points, and then the actual story so i hope i got this right!! I'm so sorry if I didn't as i have only seen few x-men and dp+w, so i apologise if it's not good!!

BULLETS :

-Once he meets you at first he physically stops. Like, physically, shuts down for a moment.

-Bro was born in 1832, and somehow, this was his first time seeing so much piercings in so many...visible places. He was fine with ears, as long as it wasn't too bad, but more than three? He's gonna shake his head like a dad and shrug it off.

-At first he would probably think you're some emo, hormonal meanie, so when he finally takes a jab at you, he stops dead AGAIN. You? You wearing layer after layer of black n white are more energetic than he thought? What?

-at some point during your years of knowing each other, of course youre gonna be in his contacts. He never saw ':3' before, but..you learn something new every day.

-The first time he sees so many tats on one limb, he doesn't know whether to be amazed or turned on. So he opted for both.

-"Hey, you okay?" He'd smell the freshness of your new tats, and always find a way to let them be a excuse for him to talk to you.

-You look so....different, so mean, yet, you're so nice? He couldn't understand it. He loved being mean to the people that deserved it, why you felt bad and guilty? Over his head. But the pure fact you looked like a meanie, but weren't? God he wanted to destroy you.

FIC; (Kinda? Im so sorry if its bad, not correlating to the above)

"Welcome to Charles Xavier's school for gifted youngsters. I am Charles, by the way." The man in front of you would grin, opening the doors to the busy entrance. Some students were walking, others chatting and others were showing off their mutations.

"This is where you'll be spending, ah, the majority of your time." Charles grinned, snatching a paper plane out of the air. "Easy, Rodger." He smiled at the boy, who flushed red. As quickly as he turned red, he also turned as white as your eye shadow. And blush. And everything else that you had on that was white currently.

He quickly scurried off, whispering to his friends. "They'll get used to you in time. They think you're cool." Charles chuckled. As you made your way through the tour of the school, you eventually landed back to where you had started. "Any questions?" Charles asked innocently.

"I got one. The fuck Casper the ghost doin' here?" A gruff voice perked up, as I looked behind Charles. The man coming down the stairs practically had a halo on him with the way he had descended the staircase, white wife beater stained from God only knows what.

"Logan." Charles warned. "This is Logan, Logan, this is our newest addition." He introduced. "Keep this one away from magneto, all those piercings." He grimaced. "Oh, my god hi! I've seen so much of you! You're so cool my family adores you so much-"

Logan was confused. He didn't know what to be more confused about, the fact you looked so mean but were sweet, or the fact your rambling went on for eighteen minutes. He wasn't mad about it though. If anything it was...pleasant?

After a few days at the mansion, seeing what you could do, you ironically became quick friends with the rugged man. Even people who had never seen him smile were asking you what it was like. The press had deemed you two - 'Bumblebee team.' Mainly due to your black attire, and his majority yellow view.

And also because it sounded like grumble and hee, implying his grumpy nature and your happy outlook. The media seemed to love you more than hate you however, the nickname ghost, and vampire among others being thrown around, alongside your chosen name.

It only took a few months before the man found himself being more attached. Demanding he be with you on missions, protecting you at all cost, it only took so much in him to not flip you under him when he saw how truly tatted up you were, when after a fight majority of your costume had ripped.

He even went to such lengths as waiting for you every morning to walk you to breakfast, lunch, whatever. "Bub can't the makeup wait?'' He'd sigh, before turning around, already knowing he wasn't winning this fight as your music played in the background, drowning out the sound of a shoe hitting him.

Eventually, he got so fed up of waiting at one point, he just leaned over your desk, and wiped your lips with his thumb, before kissing you and walking away, obviously making you follow. "Just a way to make you hurry up." He'd laugh. LIES.

Those kisses eventually led to heated makeouts, and safe to say, you'd be fixing your makeup more than a few times a day.

IM SO SORRY IF ITS BAD LEMME KNOW AND ILL REWRITE <33

[rei-ismyname]

X-Men #6 FROM THE ASHES

Last issue is starting to make a lot more sense - I think Jed McKay might have strong feelings about the Morrison era. Spoilers, obviously.

Hi Xorn! Hi Magneto! Good to have you join us. It's nice to see Magneto is progressive, polite and welcoming. It's still an ideological regression from where he was at in X-Men Red/RoM/Uncanny X-Men #700, but I guess he's mostly scenery in this comic sadly. As a fellow disabled burden on society I empathize with him, but I'd like to see him still be a character of focus. Otherwise, why put him in the book? It's a shame his moment makes Xorn look like a fool - is that really his first question? Dude is a fucking monk and these people are right there.

He's wearing his Morrison/Quitely uniform too, which is not a great comparison to be drawing imo. He was last seen hanging out with his brother and Legion in Way of X, but I suppose this is as good a place as any for him to be now. Hopefully we see more of him.

Look how much Quentin has grown since Riot at Xavier's. Or maybe he's depressed. Either way he's definitely looking sharp. Idie notices one of the protesters throwing up the M.

People want Beast to solve their problems but he doesn't have the same experience and knowledge as old Beast, not that X-FORCE Beast did any of that. It's a character beat, but one we've seen before. Maybe he'll learn magic again! Magik is still very defeatist it seems, and perhaps her determination is waning. Can't say I blame her.

Quiche is dope but jokes about it aren't. Not this millennium. The Glob/Quentin dynamic is another Morrison callback. Don't worry, there's plenty more this issue 🙄. One pitfall with light-hearted quippy nostalgia is it undermines serious events happening next to it and gives mood whiplash. Somehow Idie knows Ilyana is communicating secretly with her brother. It doesn't come up again. Based on how McKay has been seeding beats we'll find out in issue #10.

Okay, so we know Magik is smart and now Idie does too. It'd be nice if more of this team started acting like friends - maybe this is the start of something beautiful. I can't say I buy Magik undermining Cyclops on a whim but she lays out the dilemma then puts Idie in charge.

They walk into the trap by putting Cobb Sr to sleep. Idie's secret is pretty cute and an effective 'cost of magic' shorthand. I am wary that it refers to nostalgia about a time that was already hyper nostalgia, but I'm getting used to it. We get to see the Cobb family dynamic, utterly predictable.

I enjoy everything on this page.

- Cyclops and Psylocke sparring

- Expanding on Hank and Mags' budding relationship with reference to their history.

- Building on Beast's fear of becoming a monster again.

- Magneto being emotionally supportive.

No new information here, though I love a jab at Fabian Cortez. This is more of a reference than anything else, though it's good to see some self awareness from Max. Although, Cortez showed a lot of growth on Krakoa.

This is a nice moment too. This version of Hank was a massive horn dog. Not saying that's where it's going but he's gregarious and it does make sense to have him be welcoming to another non-passing mutant. Glob too, though he comes off as massive dork. We still don't know much about Jen or Ben which makes it hard to get invested. If they do stick around they'd be inflating a cast that's already being covered unevenly.

Okay, Piper is here and Scott isn't pleased. Idie would have a point but it would have taken 2 minutes to talk about it. Yeah she asked for help and came willingly but as Scott says she's a minor. Her home life looks miserable and tracks closely enough to many queer experiences, but society unfortunately says children are property. It sucks, but she needs support. Nobody wins when her mother calls the cops. Is this about Piper or Idie here? I would love to see Idie being the moral core of the team but this just makes her look naive and impulsive - which is at odds with her 15+ years of characterisation. She was in jail last year!

Piper reveals that the 'Wild Sentinel' was after her and the Iron Night was her 'fault.' It's left on a cliffhanger but let's hope this doesn't torch the X-Men's relationship with Merle, Alaska.

The Morrison thing - Psychic rescue, Quentin and Glob, scientists making mutants, Cassandra Nova, Xorn is still in his uniform from the time, wild sentinel mention (which is super bizarre and out of place.) It's a lot and I'm probably missing stuff. My question is who this is for? New readers will just be confused. Morrison super fans are more likely to roll their eyes, judging by responses to last issue.

Overall this issue was pretty good. It progressed the plot, gave us time with the 3 characters who'd been ghosts, introduced new information and setup conflict with the town for next issue. I really wish the creative team would get their batting average a little higher in terms of solid issues. 33.3% is low enough in the abstract to make me drop the book - and this is one of the better ones. I know we can do better than this and it disappoints me how aggressively mid the X-books are right now.

I'm starting to recognise the formula they're working off, with information dribbling out at a snail's pace to the point that any issue becomes skippable then ending on a cliffhanger that's rarely paid off quickly. Uncanny has the same issue, which makes me think it's an editorial problem. Hell, solicits usually give more information than issues do. I'm not talking about tropes, I'm talking about the narrative tricks that allow them to publish issues that move at a glacial pace and use nostalgia to disguise the characters not being developed. One can hope :)

[yallemagne]

Every time I see someone say that Remy was a terrible man whore in TAS and so he has no right to feel hurt when Rogue nearly leaves him in '97 I'm like... when? With whom?

Like?? There was that one time that he almost got married, but he was under duress. Not only was Bella Donna threatening to kill his brother, she put some control ring on him. That's an abusive situation! The only other case I think you could argue (and you would be wrong to) is that one time? On Asteroid M? When Rogue came in to save Gambit and said "of course you'd be running with another woman!" because... he was literally running down a hall with Amelia because they had teamed up to take down Cortez. Nothing romantic there. Rogue was teasing.

Am I just stupid? Am I just bad at reading flirtation? Because, other than Rogue, he doesn't flirt much with other women. I mean... he and Logan have some homoerotic back-and-forths. Is that it? Is Wolverine the Other Woman?

Okay, I just remembered: he did flirt once with a shopkeeper in the first episode, so I suppose he has had more explicitly flirtatious interactions, and I just didn't note them because they never had plot relevance, but is that any different from Rogue playfully flirting with other men? 'Cuz she does! She flirts a lot, but it's not meant to be taken seriously. Rogue just has a flirtatious personality, as does Remy.

I think a few instances of flirting with other people from a couple who both have flirtatious personalities is NOT on the same level as Rogue considering leaving Remy to be Magneto's queen. I understand why she considered it! I fully understand the motivation behind it! I hold no grudge against her! ...I did cheer when she ultimately decided not to.

Some playful flirting that's not meant to go anywhere isn't the same as straight-up leaving. Which Rogue has done once before! In Love In Vain, the Brood uses her childhood sweetheart to lure her in. She wanted to run away with Cody in that episode! Her reason? She tells Remy when he's trying to take her on a date to cheer her up that even a swamp rat deserves a girl he can kiss.

I'm not saying Rogue nearly leaving twice makes her a bad person. She's had a shitty past, and it's easier to fall in with people from that past than to let herself be happy with a new man who is open and honest (and kinda obnoxious) about how head-over-heels he is for her. The vilification of Rogue by some people in the fandom is really nauseating and clearly motivated by misogyny, but the response to it being "actually Gambit is a terrible two-timing whore, so good riddance" is no better. You're acting the damn same.

And like the same people who think Gambit is a terrible partner to Rogue also say "oh, Rogue and Gambit were NEVER together, so Rogue wasn't "cheating" with Magneto" at varying degrees like pointing out they were never Official (true) to claiming Rogue never reciprocated Gambit's feelings (blatantly false)... then how are you saying Gambit is a cheater?

I just think about this because something that has been a breath of fresh air for me about this ship that they haven't had a lot of infidelity scares? It would be such easy drama to have Remy flirt with someone else and Rogue beat the shit out of him for it, but that never happened in TAS or '97. So, I don't understand why people insist that is their dynamic.

If anyone tries to cite comic instances - leave. That obviously does not apply here, do not be purposely obtuse.

[s10127470]

My X-Men Hot Takes

As I'm sure many of you who have been following me have seen, I'm a pretty big fan of The X-Men.

However, I do have some reservations with them.

And with their ongoing resurgence in mainstream popularity, I've decided to share my hot takes/unpopular opinions I have on the team.

Admittedly, I have some takes that are pretty commonly agreed by a majority of X-Men fans.

But still, I have a lot that would probably piss a lot of them off.

So without further ado, let's get started.

-Mutants have become less interesting/The X-Men have WAY too many characters.

This is basically a two-in-one, but I decided to do them together since they essentially connect with each other.

Mutants have just become a lot less interesting due to the writers keeping them largely huddled together in recent years.

What made mutants so cool was that they were widespread and that not all of them were connected to the X-Men.

Which just made the world feel a lot bigger and fleshed-out.

But over the last few decades, Marvel has developed this mindset that EVERY mutant needs to be connected to the X-Men.

Hell, it was the reason for arguably the worse thing to happen to the team.

This unfortunately has led to the issue of the X-Men just having.....way too many characters.

Like, remember when there were spin-off teams?

X-Factor? The New Mutants? X-Force? Excalibur?

Even though those teams are still around, they have the issue of being too connected to the X-Men now.

And this need to have all mutants to be connected to The X-Men, has lead to another major issue with mutants....

-Retconning mutant heritages.

Over the last decade, Marvel has infamously went out of their way to retcon the mutant heritage of several mutant characters who weren't all that connected to the X-Men.

The most infamous examples being in the case of The Maximoff Twins and Franklin Richards, the latter of which was the most notable example of a mutant that's not connected to the X-Men.

Once again, this makes the world feel somewhat smaller and makes the mutants a lot less interesting.

-For the Love of GOD! Stop with the romance/relationship drama!

Romance/relationship drama is one of the hardest parts of writing.

Largely because it's rarely ever done particularly well and often become incredibly annoying and usually makes the people involved look pretty bad.

Usually since it relies on stuff like cheating, infidelity, unfaithfulness, etc.

Which anyone with more than two brain cells would know isn't a good thing...

It's even worse when they try to make these actions actually come off as good and acceptable.

Which like....

But anyway, since the X-Men are essentially glorified soap operas, you better believe they have romance drama!

It's one of the best/worst examples of this I've seen in media.

They have it all!

Cheating. Unfaithfulness. Infidelity.

And since we're talking about the X-Men, we can't forget about their staple....

Love. Triangles.

Seriously, nobody in the X-Men are all that faithful to each other....

Except for Gambit weirdly enough.

But anyway, please just keep these guys in actual fucking stable relationships.

I cannot take ANOTHER FUCKING love triangle....

-The treatment of Magneto.

I like Magneto, but even I have to admit I cannot stand how he's been treated in recent years.

Over the last few decades, there's been a lot of favoritism towards him.

And I'm not gonna sugarcoat it, it's borderline dick-riding.

Like, if we're had to make a list of the most dick-roded characters in the fiction.

Magneto would be at least in the top 5 alongside Bakugo, Severus Snape and even The Joker.

A lot of this comes from people believing that his mindset and actions were actually justified.

Leading to the infamous phrase that was founded by incel Quinten Quire....

*sigh*

"Magneto was right."

As you could tell, I'm hate this phrase.

For two reasons.

It's been ran into the goddamn ground. Like, I've frequently check out the X-Men subreddit, and I swear, I still seen people saying that Magento was right. Even on Twitter, I see this! Which, after seeing it and hearing it so much and so often, you can't help but just go....

2. It's led to this habit of writers constantly painting Magneto as this savior who's always in the right and that his mindset and methods are truly the way to go for the sake of mutantkind. This also led to the effect of trying to make him seem like he was always secretly a good guy. Even retconning events from the earliest X-Men stories such as him stealing missiles from the base and saying that he was actually doing this so that the X-Men actually had an enemy to fight. Like, prior to all this, Magento was depicted as being a villain. Even when the legendary Chris Claremont took over and gave him more depth and made him a sympathetic villain, he was still depicted as being kind of a terrible person who has done legitimately terrible things. What really made Magneto such as great villain was that he was a tragic one as well. Not just because of his backstory, but because of the fact that he became the very thing he hated: a bigot who wants to subjugate an entire group of people, no matter what. But in a way, I know this is gonna sound insane, Magneto is even worse than the Nazis! They were trying to subjugate a group of people, he's trying to subjugate an entire species! They needed an army and forces to do all that, he doesn't. Magneto is literally a one-man army. Now don't get me wrong, they're both REALLY bad. But remember, Magneto is literally threatening like, half the life on the planet. And although him finally becoming a good guy was the way to go, I'm still not a fan of it. Largely because he never really gets a redemption arc. We never see him actually show any regrets towards his past actions, or realize that he was wrong. Because they did, then he wouldn't be right. And GOD FORBID Magneto could be wrong about anything. I'm sorry man, but you're never gonna be him....

-The mutant metaphor has become a bit of a problem.

Now this gonna be a real controversial one.

The mutant metaphor, while obviously well intentioned, is not exactly good....

99% of X-Men fans reading this:

When you really think about it, it doesn't really make much sense.

For starters, there's the obvious aspect about how most super-powered beings in the Marvel Universe tend to get a pass, but there's just no exceptions with the mutants.

Despite the fact that to the eyes of the average civilian, most of them could qualified as a mutant.

There's also the fact that having the mutants being a stand-in for minorities is kinda awkward given that most of the core members (not all of them mind you) are primarily white....and American.

I do think them being a stand-in for social outcasts does work, but even that's kind of an issue given that many of the core X-Men are incredibly and conveniently attractive.

Like, don't you dare even try to deny it!

I've seen you people simp for these guys!

So have I!

But the reason I say the mutant metaphor is problem is because there seems to be this mindset that this is all the X-Men are good for.

Just being an allegory, and nothing else.

And in all honesty, that's just incredibly restrictive from a writing standpoint.

Heck, if any of you've read my X-Men fanfic series, "X-Men: The Mutation", you'd probably noticed that the mutant metaphor, while there, isn't as present as most other adaptations, or even fanfics of the X-Men.

And that was because I wanted to focus on other aspects of the team and didn't want them to just be a walking allegory.

-The Fox X-Men films are not that good.

While the reception of these films seem to be mixed nowadays, I've never really cared for these films.

Since I'm among the group of people who actually look at adaptations as, well, adaptations, as such, the X-Men films are quite pitiful.

The films never captured the appeal of The X-Men.

That being The X-Men themselves!

Like, The X-Men are literally an afterthought in their own film franchise.

Largely thanks to Fox constantly focusing on one member solely and hardly anyone else.

First it was with Wolverine, and then it was with Mystique.

There's also the fact that they hardly pulled from source material, largely because they were embarrassed by it.

Like, they were not being subtle about that at all.

Do I need to even play that line again?

The only films in that franchise I would consider good would be the Deadpool films.

Because....

They were actually good

They wore the comics on their shelves rather than being embarrassed by it

They were the most disconnected from the X-Men films

Speaking of which, this franchise is infamous for its absolute clustefuck of a continuity.

You know things are not that good when they can't even keep a consistent timeline.

-The characterization of Cyclops.

Just like with Magneto, I really like Cyclops, but I'm not a fan of how he's been written for nearly 20 years.

Yeah, I'm not exactly big on Revolutionary Cyclops.

Apart from the fact that he emerged during the X-Men's roughest era, there's also the fact it's had quite the effect on any discourses surrounding the character.

Fans seem to believe that Cyclops can only be portrayed as a revolutionary in all forms of media.

Literally nothing else.

Hell, it's so bad that people are already begging for '97 Cyclops to become a revolutionary!

Look, I get that Cyclops wasn't too many people's favorite, specifically during the early years.

And the Claremont era didn't exactly do him too many favors since he would be slowly phased out along with the rest of the original X-Men.

But I feel like he really came into his own during the 90s.

Plus, '97 and Evolution Cyclops showed that Cyclops doesn't have to be a revolutionary in order to be a. engaging and interesting character.

There's also a few more issues that's arose from his characterization.

The last near 20 years have really highlighted Cyclops' skills, to show why he's the leader of The X-Men.

I get that you want to show that he is a competent fighter and leader.

However, it's gotten to the point where fans seem to believe that Cyclops can beat anyone in general, no matter how crazy powerful they are, with his ridiculous amount of plans and back-up plans.

Starting to sound familiar?

There's also that fact that fans and even the majority of X-Men writers seem to believe that Cyclops always has to suffer just to be interesting.

Essentially, he suffers the same exact problem as another major Marvel character.

And just like what people have said about him, Cyclops constantly suffering has gotten incredibly repetitive and stale.

You can only do it so much before it starts to become boring and tiring.

And lastly, him being the leader of all mutantkind and the one to unite them all....

I don't like this.

He should be ONE of the leaders, but not THE leader.

Is there literally no one else that could co-lead?

Also, with him being the leader and unifier of mutantkind.....

I wouldn't say it's white saviorism or a Messiah thing, but it does feel somewhat adjacent to that.

I kinda feel like all this was done as a form of compensation for how much of a punk the character has been portrayed as in just about every major X-Men adaptation of the last near quarter century.

Bar a few exceptions....

-COLOSSUS IS NOT A PEDOPHILE!

So over the last few months, some fans have discovered about the infamous age gap between Colossus and Shadowcat during their early years with the X-Men.

Colossus was like 19 at the time, while Kitty was 13 to 14.

Which, for anyone that isn't asking to be on a list, isn't good.

However, people have taken to claim that Colossus is actually a pedophile.

But here's the thing people seem to forget.

He was written by John Bryne.....

For anyone who doesn't know, Bryne is infamous among comics for his habit of pairing underage girls with grown men.

He did this with Mr. Fantastic and The Invisible Woman, revealing the latter met the former when she was 12 years old and he was in college.

He had Superman kiss a 14-year old on the lips.

And perhaps most infamously of all, having Peter Parker lock lips with Mattie Franklin, a 15-year old.

While he himself was not only in his mid-20 around this time, but also still a MARRIED MAN.

(Fun Fact: This was one of the earliest attempts of Marvel trying to get rid of Mary Jane for.....obvious reasons)

(Also, I hate this panel with every fiber of my being. And I typically I don't like to wish death upon people, but I'm making an exception. Bryne needs to get drug out into the street and shot, because I'm starting to think he may possibly be the EDP445 of comic writers. Like, you can not write this shit and not expect people to notice a pattern and raise a few eyebrows)

But besides that, it seems that since the 2000s, they've quietly retconned all this (for obvious reasons) to have Colossus and Shadowcat be much closer in age.

The Summers Family Tree has become a problem.

Just about everyone knows that the Summers family tree is an absolute mess.

Like, there's only so many alternate reality children, alternate future children, and clones that you have before it seems to become old and tiresome.

There's also Mister Sinister's famous obsession with them.

Like dude, I understand that they're powerful.

But like, are just not any other powerful mutants you could be obsessed with.

What about Storm?

Iceman?

Hell, what about Magneto and his kids?

The treatment of Xavier.

This is basically the opposite of how Magneto's been treated.

Whereas Magneto's been depicted as a secret hero, Xavier's been depicted as a secret villain.

I get that Xavier is not perfect, but the dude has been so villainized over the last 20+ years and revealed to have done a lot bad things, he might as well be called Satan.

And frankly, it's become tired.

Like, how many times have they done the "Xavier has done something terrible" shtick now?

The most recent was in The Fall of X.

At this rate, why is he even still here?

Since he's apparently never done anything good for anyone, he should just leave already!

There's also the fact that apparently his dream was always bad and never what mutantkind needed.

And to that I must say.....

While he may have not approached it in the best way, his goal was far more noble and frankly, what mutants really needed.

Showing that humans and mutants can peacefully co-exist with each other.

Maybe not all of them, but still, being able to show that it is possible.

And in general, this would be a future where everyone wins.

Whereas Magneto's, wouldn't.

This would be the most obvious in the case of the humans.

But even for the mutants, there would be a bit of an asterisk for them.

Magneto has proven he's not as accepting towards all mutants as he lets on.

Like remember Toad?

He fucking hated him and treated him like shit!

The X-Men and their relationship with the much greater Marvel Universe needs to change.

To wrap this all up, we'll be talking about a big one.

Ever since the 2010s, the X-Men comics have become infamous how they characterize other major heroes of the Marvel Universe.

That being.....not in a flattering light.

Most of these guys are portrayed incredibly poorly, not acting like themselves at all.

The only exception to this is Spider-Man.

But then again, he gets written with more respect in every other title than his own.

This is obviously done in order to make the X-Men look good.

Plus it's pretty apparent there's a great bias towards them.

But however, I think this has the opposite effect.

All it does it make the X-Men look like egotistical, self-serving assholes who would gladly screw people over (no matter how disastrous) if it meant they got to survive/thrive.

"Yeah! I love seeing my favorite heroes being portrayed as selfish cowards!"

There's also this....

These panels are from the X-Men relaunch, and they've been quite infamous for....obvious reasons.

And apart from that, it just makes the X-Men also look like self-victimizing douches.

Basically saying that they're the only ones suffering, and that nobody else in the entire damn world knows what it means to struggle.

And as you can tell, they'll usually say it to people of color.

You remember that panel from Ultimate Spider-Man when Spidey cursed out the X-Men and called them out on their bullshit?

Yeah, can we get that for these versions?

They really deserve it.

Also, I recently saw a comment that said that X-Men comics are the only place where white writers can fulfill their fantasies of yelling at people of color and then cry about how THEY'RE oppressed.

And after seeing these panels, I wholeheartedly agree.

Well that's all I have for now.

These were some grievances I've been having with the X-Men for a while now, and I wanted to finally get them out.

I really hope that anyone who reads is able to respond to this in a civil manner and possibly not call me a racial slur.

But I guess we'll have to wait and find out.

I have a few more of these, but these were the ones I could only do for now.

And I'm planning do something similar to this for undoubtedly the biggest Marvel character of them all.

But until then, I'll see you guys around.

[thorias]

Since season 2 looks to be so jam-packed with stuff, I thought it would be fun to try to break down the episodes using the stories continuing from season 1 and the spoilery bits we learned from D23 and... yeah, there's a lot here.

I'm just making educated guesses right now, but I could easily see this happening in the show.

2x01 - Ancient Egypt. 'Rise of Apocalypse' adaptation. The team helps En Sabah Nur defeat Rama-Tut and Rogue makes her Faustian deal with him to get Remy resurrected. Bishop shows up at the end to collect everyone.

2x02 - The Future. 'Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix' adaptation. Scott and Jean spend some time raising teenage Nathan and are warned of the horrors that would be unleashed upon the world if Apocalypse were to ever rise to power. Bishop and the others show up at the end and the X-men return to the present.

2x03 - Present day. Bottle episode focusing on Forge's makeshift team, presumably consisting of some combination of Cable, Havok, Polaris, Iceman, Colossus, Archangel, Shadowcat and Emma Frost. They deal with the continuing fallout of Genosha/Asteroid M/the EMP and the ensuing chaos as Graydon Creed is poised to win the presidential election. Apocalypse begins positioning his chess pieces. The new Four Horsemen (let's say Deathbit, Madelyne/Pestilence, Shaw/War and Dazzler/Famine) make their first appearance and give the team a thrashing. The X-men return from the past/future at the end.

2x04 - The X-men are reunited, get caught up on everything they missed while they were gone and find Jubilee wherever she is. Magneto attempts to mend fences with Lorna, but it goes horribly since he did after all try to wipe out all life on Earth while she was, ya' know, on Earth. She doesn't forgive him, but convinces him to turn himself over to the authorities and answer for his crimes. Mags' second trial goes much worse for him than the first one did and he's thrown in a plastic prison like in X2; the last we see of him for a while (probably wishful thinking on my part, but you never know). Rogue leaves to search for Deathbit.

2x05 - Rogue confronts Deathbit. It goes horribly. She tries to absorb the Death persona out of him like she once did for Archangel, but Apocalypse has accounted for her powers this time and Deathbit is immune to them now. She's forced to fight him, shocked by Deathbit's ferocity and resentment toward her and not yet understanding what she needs to do to break Apocalypse's hold on Remy. The battle ends in a stalemate. Rogue is left confused and heartbroken as Deathbit escapes.

2x06 - Wolverine spotlight. Logan travels to Japan, searching for a way to get his adamantium back (I don't like this happening so soon, but we can assume from the D23 sneak peek that it'll probably go this way). He seeks out Lady Deathstrike since her father created the adamantium bonding process and has to fight Sabretooth for it.

2x07 - Nightcrawler spotlight. With the election looming, Kurt confronts his half-brother Graydon. It goes horribly. Mystique reveals herself, having infiltrated Graydon's campaign months earlier. Kurt tries to make peace with his family, but neither of them are interested in peace. The episode ends with Mystique assassinating Graydon and her continued allegiance to Apocalypse is revealed. She then takes Graydon's form and replaces him, meaning Apocalypse would control the White House if Mystique/Creed wins the election.

2x08, 9 & 10 - On the eve of the election, Apocalypse makes his move, committing acts of terrorism, giving Mystique/Creed more ammunition for the anti-mutant campaign Creed was running on, which Apocalypse has been secretly fomenting in order to provoke a human/mutant war. Xavier aides Rogue as she faces Deathbit again, allowing her to confront Remy on the psychic plane. He recreates the gala scene from 'Remember It' in Deathbit's mind, so Rogue can undue that little blunder by dancing with Remy this time and finally confessing her true feelings. Remy learns that Rogue had chosen him, not Magneto, and that she really does love Remy, which gives him the motivation to fight off the Deathbit persona. Meanwhile, the X-men battle the remaining Horsemen and Apocalypse. They're losing badly until a re-adamantiumed Wolverine, Xavier and Rogue, with Gambit, now free of Apocalypse's influence, arrive to turn the tide. Poccy is defeated, and with his machinations revealed, the public is swayed and President Kelly is re-elected.

Afterward, Gambit is back with the team, though he's left with trauma and PTSD from his death and resurrection. Xavier and the X-men are lauded as heroes in the media, so public perception is back on their side and things are looking up for a change... but unbeknownst to everyone, something is not right with Xavier as we get our first hint of Onslaught for season 3.

I think this accounts for every storyline we've confirmed so far, (or most of them at least) but that's just the stuff we've heard about. Who knows what else they've got in store for us that they haven't revealed yet. I'm crossing my fingers that we get longer episodes in s2 because they're definitely going to need more time to cover all this.

[honey-minded-hivemind]

X Men Evolution Yandere Wanda, Magneto and Quicksilver with Quicksilver's future child from the future who inherited her father's speed ability but is faster then him

Hi Anonymous! Let's call you 🌼 Anon! I like the way you think! So, we can give thia a try:

They were used to the impossible. The strange. The odd and terrifying.

This was new.

"Daddy!" shouted a small child, who in a blur was crashed into Pietro, happily hugging his leg. "Daddy! Why are you young? Oh, hi Auntie Wanda! Hi Grandad!"

He wasn't sure what was wrong with this kid... That is, until they suddenly zoomed over to Wanda, then to his father, barely a fuzzy streak, and leaving dust in their wake. And it suddenly clicked.

Oh sweet heaven.

This was somehow his kid.

Wasn't it?

But- but how?! He'd never even dated anyone yet, let alone done the deed!

His suspicions are confirmed when his father has some of his followers run different DNA tests, all of which turn out positive. So, yep. The little bolter is his kid. Just his luck.

They even confirmed as much, saying they're from about ten years from the current year, saying how they were running one minute, and then they ended up outside the old home the Brotherhood were currently staying in.

They ended up staying with them, for the time being. Having a tot trailing after you isn't fun and games, especially in a house full of loud, rowdy teenagers. Or when said tot is faster than the speed of sound and curious, poking their nose into every little thing that intrigues them.

But... they do like him. And they don't think of him as anything but great, even when he tries to avoid them. Which is pretty hard, as surprise! They're actually FASTER than him. HIM!

He grows protective once someone tries to kidnap them. Zooming over before the out-of-place adult can snatch them and run, he grabs them faster, running until they're miles away, hidden in one of his father's various bases.

"Kid, what the h*ck?! You've gotta be more careful!" he shouts, only to be met with a crying child.

"Um... Hey, uh... It's- It's okay. Please, please stop crying-" he pleads. He never meant to make them cry, but he- he worried, okay?! He got scared! He... he could have... lost them. And that sobers his thoughts.

Okay. He needs to be more attentive. More caring. And maybe keep a harness on his kid, so at least if they run off, he's dragged with them.

He didn't think Wanda would be interested in them. He didn't even think she liked kids! Yeah, guess how wrong he was on that-

"Who is my adorable nibling? Next time you're daddy loses you, you auntie is going to curse him," she croons, hugging his sleepy child as they watch the television, some cartoon about sea creatures and a pineapple. "Isn't that right, Pietro?"

"Erm- y-yes, Wanda. Now give me back my kid!" he says, thus kicking off the small battle over his child, who slept through the entire thing.

They only team up when their father steps in.

"I want to see my grandchild, Pietro. Now, where are they?"

"Theh aren't here right now. They went out with Wanda," he responds, trying to keep calm. He knew his old man would show up eventually, but he wasn't about to have his father take his kid! That was HIS kid! He could handle sharing them with Wanda, even having the other Brotherhood guys near them (they were excited to be uncles), but his father was NOT stealing his little angel!

"Pietro, I'm bac- Father. I see you visited," Wanda remarks darkly, holding Reader in her arms, who in turn is holding a stuffed cat in their tiny arms.

"Ah, Wanda. May you please hand me my grandchild? It is time they come with me," Magneto says, holding his hand out.

"NO!" the twins shout at the same time. And suddenly the room burst into chaos.

Pietro speeds past Wanda, who pushes Reader into his arms, then rushes off, heading over to the X-Men's mansion, while Wanda deals with their father. It doesn't take her long to send Toad over with the news she nearly crushed their father to death, who escaped at the last minute, swearing he'd find Reader another day and have Grandfather-Grandchild bonding with them. The two shuddered at the thought. He'd likely teach his kid/her nibling how to conquer the world. Well... they'd probably help, if their little angel wanted to do it. But not now! They're, like, five! That's too young for world domination!

So, until their father is calmed down enough to not immediately wage war on the human race, and hasn't committed recent war crimes... Their little angel is staying right here, with THEM. All they can hope for is that the Professor doesn't help their father. No one ever knows when those two might form a truce...

[angelfirstclass]

Magneto: A Villain playing Dressup or Reformed Tortured Soul?

This is going to be hard one for me because I don't want to be too negative about Magneto because I think in X-men 97 he isn't the villain, but upon rewatching the show I think this question is viable. I may be accused of being a Romy shipper and Charles apologist, but I'm not really. I like Magneto in the show and he says some of the best lines in the show. But sometimes he says and does things that are kind of assholey am I right?

To start off with, the way that he introduces himself and announces that he's the heir to Xavier's mansion and the X-men. Did he really have to barge into Xavier's office and confront the team as they were bonding together playing basketball? He is so smug in that scene which is something I like about Magneto, his Alpha male strength and directness. It's hot and works when I'm writing Magneto fan fiction, but it is a tad presumptuous. His first reactions from everyone on the team is anger and suspicion and then he wonders why he's not getting a warm reception. He could have been normal and called or rang the doorbell or something, but it wouldn't have been as dramatic or as Magneto to come barging in.

The way that he says My X-men at the end of episode 1 is kind of smug and sinister is not? Maybe it's just the writers wanting tension out of that moment and having the readers shocked by Magneto, a known X-enemy inheriting everything, because at that moment we don't know if Magneto is going to be a good leader or not.

Then we see Magneto in action and he's playing the good guy. He saves a child from a busted ride and the Morlocks from the Friends of Humanity. It is shocking to the X-men but also shocking to humankind because of Magneto's past crimes. He enters leading the X-men tamping down his evil past and his more destructive methods of getting back at anti-mutant groups, but he is still Magneto with all his arrogance and his confidence and his strength of belief in himself.

Something that I actually love is the line that he toes the line between trying to be a good X-man and his feelings about humanity. He has seen so much that he is formed by those traumas and pain which cannot be so easily let go of. When he talks of not harming the Friends of Humanity members, the sneer when he says "sapiens" is pure gold. This Magneto is a tempered Magneto and we have to appreciate how far he's come. If it wasn't for his love of Charles Xavier he would be 1000 times worse.

It could be argued that other people might have made better leaders of the X-men, but for this season's storyline having Magneto play the leader was brilliant. He was just enough of an asshole to make the whole thing interesting and made the twist at the end more believable because he never really lost himself completely. You saw moments of him being potentially selfish, arrogant, cruel throughout the season which made him an interesting, complex character.

"My intentions here was not to cause drama or discord." Lol! Says the man in the cape and big M on his costume and the one who barged into the mansion without notice. Yeah, sure, Jan. He yielded to the UN, but not until after he proves how powerful he could be. A note to point out his that Wolverine talks about people being upset over all the things Magneto has done and "can't say I blame them" for being upset and I take this seriously. So currently he's trying to reform, but in this universe and timeline, Magneto has done some awful things.

The trial scene is really amazing. There are some great lines in it. The speech is probably the most compelling reason to want to trust Magneto. He is a great public speaker and he speaks of his past, how the oppressed become oppressors and that loving or being different will cause you to be punished. He is speaking Xavier's words and attempting to walk his past, but he must also acknowledge his past and the consequences of them. This is where I get confused or conflicted as I don't know if Magneto went too far or just enough or is justified or crazy. I don't know and I don't think it's something that the writers even know- like that is the crux of the show itself.

His sardonic wit is the best! "Oh to play by the rules and still they come for you." Yes. It's all going sideways and Magneto is not panicked in the least. He may be a lot of things, but dumb is not one of them. He saw this all coming and knew it was a matter of time that the extremists broke through and the judges would be deemed traitors of the race. It's like a part of him wanted things to get extreme, so the X-men would get to be on his side and see that humanity is not to be trusted and making nice doesn't work.

When asks if this is the high roads destination and essentially kidnaps all the judges, viewers are justified in thinking he might have snapped and gone back to his evil ways. We are surprised to see that he is walking Xavier's path and applaud him for that. He eventually lets the people go and asks them to not let him let them down and that's so poignant because we see just in episode 2 what Magneto is capable of and what he could do if he wasn't walking Xavier's path.

Magneto did a pretty good job of leading the team from episode 3 to 5, he is concerned about Jean, Scott, and Nathan and coordinates the team. He fights clone Jean or Madelyn and she taunts him with the line about a villain playing dress up as a hero. I think that line is so apt with Magneto because I think that his character arc is at the heart of the storyline. I wrote once saying that his relationship with Xavier was the thesis of the story and I also believe that Magneto's belief of Xavier's ideals and his own is also a pivotal part of the story. Madelyn had the power to delve into the psyche of each mutant and find their weak spots, so it proves here that Erik is self conscious of seeming to play the hero and most likely doubts his own commitment to Xavier's cause.

Then we go to Genosha in episode 5, where Magneto is king, literally. There are posters and statues of him everywhere and this all was his dream. Magneto is a savvy politician and understands making grand speeches or doing publicity stunts. Even other mutants at Genosha understand that he is the handsome face of Mutant kind and especially after joining the X-men and following moderation is liked by moderate mutants as well as humans. Even when he speaks to the group, he acknowledges that this was all Charles' dream and he didn't believe that it would happen. He is asked to be king and then he asks Rogue to be his queen. Episode 5, I think is tragically the peak of when Erik is believing Xavier's dream and thinking that peace is possible and happiness is possible for him as well. He is letting down his guard, accepting the King position, declaring his love for Rogue, trying to walk Xavier's path, be a good X-man, and etc. We know what happens next tragically however.

Everything he believed gets snatched and beaten out of him in Genosha. He tried to walk Xavier's path and it did not work out for him. He was already scarred, but this time was too much. He was kidnapped, tortured, and saw many deaths. He was already toeing the line before and felt justified in a way for committing crimes and atrocities and Genosha set him back to that way of thinking.

When we see him later, trying to persuade X-men to join him, EMPing the planet, attacking members of the X-men trying to stop him, he is traumatized and reacting poorly to Genosha. I don't justify his behavior, but I understand it. This is an Omega level mutant that has a track history of hurting humans for hurting mutants, so when a massacre hits it is not surprising that the mutant in question flexes his powers and gets angry.

What I don't know and am still on the fence about is how dedicated he truly was to Xavier's cause. Was he really a believer and dedicated to being a X-man or did it just take one incident for him to return to his ways? Also, how far is too far? Who is allowed to seek revenge or retribution? And to what extent? It is these questions that I think are so fascinating and I'm glad I don't know. These questions about Magneto are what made the show so interesting and complex and wants to make me see Season 2.

[spaceorphan18]

The Rogue and Gambit Project: A New Beginning (X-Men #1-3)

The true beginning of Rogue and Gambit's story really comes with the new and somewhat iconic era of X-Men. X-Men: The Animated Series drew its inspiration from the relaunch designs, and for someone who grew up with this era, it feels nostalgic as well as historic. Rogue looks and sounds like the character I grew up with. Gambit being crucial to the line up and no longer an afterthought feels pivotal. I feel like we've finally arrived.

And while I know this era isn't void of problems -- believe me, I know... I kind of enjoy this early Rogue and Gambit dynamic. It's fun and flirty and has a little bit of an edge to it. And the angst. So. Much. Delicious. Angst.

The funny part is... there really isn't a whole lot of it in these first few issues. Things don't really heat up until issue #4. Not only that, I'm gonna have to bring up Rogneto again... I'm so sorry, guys. Blame Chris Claremont.

Alright, let's dig in...

X-Men #1

Rogue in her now iconic new uniform -- this is going to be a standard for quite awhile. Get ready to see this pose a lot - Jim Lee, and artists after him, really like to do the whole one leg up, one fist out thing. Anyway, despite the fact that I (shockingly) don't like that much yellow on her - she's so pretty. I've always loved this era's hair.

Anyway, you want plot details you say?? This is Chris Claremont's last hurrah on his initial, epic 17 year run with the X-Men. And of course you can expect two things -- space shenanigans and coming full circle with Magneto as the villain. The crux of it is about Magneto possibly being a threat, despite the fact that he wants to be left alone, and of course, the X-Men get sucked into the drama.

X-Men #1

Gambit's redesign - which uses his initial costuming but man does he look so much better. He looks 'cool' in the way that all the X-Men look cool in this era. The dude can pull off the color fuchsia. That isn't easy to do. I do like, however, in color theory that the pinks and purples of Gambit goes well with the greens of Rogue's coloring. But more to the point - Gambit is pretty now, which is what we're all really here for. ;)

Anyway - because this is a relaunch, after our initial Magneto based prologue, we get a (re-)introduction to the entire team in one of my absolute favorite sequences of X-Men comics. The teams will eventually be divided into two groups; the Blue Team -- Cyclops, Beast, Rogue, Gambit, Wolverine, Psylocke, and Jubilee and the Gold Team -- Storm, Jean Grey, Iceman, Angel, Forge, and Colossus, but for now, they're one happy family doing a classic danger room sequence as designed by Charles Xavier.

X-Men #1

The whole sequence is really pretty awesome, but it leads to one of my favorite comic book moments -- where Gambit just goes for it and kisses Jean. It's a fake, robot Jean, but it's a bold move. And leads to Cyclops wanting to drop a truck on him. It's such a classic moment and I love it.

X-Men #1

Our first Rogue and Gambit panel happens right after Wolverine wins the whole training sequence (because of course he does). (Also - Claremont can't quite resist and we get a final 'bang, you dead' moment.) Meanwhile, Rogue and Gambit still haven't spoken to each other - but at least they know the other one exists. Progress, right?

X-Men #1

I really need to take a moment and appreciate the fact that most of the time during this era, when Gambit isn't in his uniform, he's running around half naked.

X-Men #1

Ug, alright, let's talk about Magneto again. This whole arc is about Magneto kind of having an existential crisis (which, you know, happens when they need to reset you to villain again). And, unfortunately, we'll get a few of these moments scattered throughout these issues of Rogue trying to talk sense and reason into him due to their 'spark' in the Savage Land. I get that someone should be a reasonable voice -- especially when the rest of the X-Men are attacking the guy before any kind of provocation. But I'm still rolling my eyes that it's Rogue. Notice he calls her 'child' during this? He'll do that throughout. Eesh.

Magneto claims that he has no beef with them and offers them all safe haven on his floating asteroid base -- Asteroid M. And guess who doesn't join him? That's right - Rogue at least has enough sense to stick with the family she knows and cares about over a possible, not really fling. Btw - I hadn't mentioned it back when I was talking about the Savage Land, but there was nothing to suggest Magneto can actually touch her. (I think that might be an Age of Apocalypse thing?)

Also, in case you think any of this sounds familiar - pretty sure X-Men '97 drew heavily from this arc for their Season 1.

X-Men #1

The first time either of them mentions the other one, and it's Gambit being sassy about whether or not Rogue should be a considered a lady. I kind of love it, actually. And love that Beast is like -- oooh, you're playing with fire on that one.

X-Men #2

They're getting more on panel togetherness! Granted it's group shots and they're taking down Magneto, but I'm taking all the scraps!

X-Men #2

Alright, well as much as I'm not a fan of the Rogue/Magneto dynamic, I'm still going to be fair and talk about it. Because it is part of Rogue's development. The key thing here though is that Rogue isn't going to compromise her values and beliefs because she may feel something for Magneto. And this will continue to ring through always through the comics. Of course, how nice of Magneto to swat her away like an annoying fly. Romance for the ages, guys.

X-Men #2

More on panel time! They're really going for all the group shots these days - probably to milk sales. But I mean, Rogue and Gambit look good just standing next to each other, so who am I to complain?

So, back to the plot... Magneto is getting pissy because the world governments are seeing him as a threat. He kidnaps Moira MacTaggart and berates her and blames her for all of his issues (because, you know, she messed with his genetics after he was de-aged, in an attempt to make him /not/ a villain). It was... a whole thing don't worry about it.

Anyway, he has Moira (somehow) brainwash the Blue Team into joining Magneto's side. Because they can't otherwise be convinced. Which, oh my gosh - what's with all the brainwashing lately?? Of course, this means it's Gold Team to the rescue...

X-Men #3

I'm going to try to document every time they're on the same cover. Also, it isn't X-Men unless there's at least an X vs X brawl every other month.

X-Men #3

Another group shot with Magneto in between them?? What can this mean??? Actually, nothing, I think it's just a coincidence. But - I really like the art here.

But.. you guys! YOU GUYS! We get our first real Romy moment in this issue! Granted - they're still brainwashed! But it's another first! Here we go...

X-Men #3

So, they're all hanging out on Asteroid M, taking it easy because - apparently that's what you do when you're a brainwashed Magneto fan. I love that Cyclops is still in his full uniform while Gambit has managed to strip down to his undies. I'm sure we can all tell who is the real fun one of the group.

You know what I like about this exchange, though? Gambit was casually complementing her diving skills and Rogue is the one who decides to get flirty about it. Of course, Gambit's going to push it further - see how far she wants to really go, and that'll cause her to run -- a dynamic that we're going to see a ton of as we go through all of this early stuff.

But for all that Gambit's going to push - it's not completely unwarranted or completely out of nowhere. Yeah, he gets flirty with the ladies on principal. Yeah, he went for kissing (fake robot) Jean unprompted because he thought he could. I won't defend some of the ickier aspects of these comics.

But... I'm fascinated by the idea of - what if she could touch? Would it still be a game to him? Would she have let it continue? Would they just have had a little fling right off the bat? Are her powers what really pushes them to have a deeper relationship than what they might have had? Just all the thoughts I'm throwing out there.

I also like that, that little moment of humor, where she knocks him into the pool, is so genuine it shakes her out of her mind control.

I also like that Gambit's genuine concern for her stops his playfulness.

It's such a tease of some great stuff coming up, and I am here for it.

X-Men #3

And that's really all we get guys. The Gold Team shows up to save the day but not before some X-Men fighting amongst each other. Magneto monologues for a while. Charles tries to get him to see reason. The people of Earth try to nuke Asteroid M and everyone gets outta there while Magneto decides to go down with the proverbial ship.

X-Men #3

This is in the closing moments of the issue - and I'm putting it here because it is Rogue talking about Magneto again -- but kind of seeing reason and how their ideologies do not work. She's trying to get Xavier to see this, and it's funny that Xavier is having a very hard time trying to let his old 'friend' go. Rogue, however, is fine. Maybe there had been a small, romantic spark of being caught up in close quarters in a shared moment. But that was all it was.

There is more to a longer lasting romance than fleeting moments due to circumstances. ;)

The X-Men take off leaving Magneto and his real followers to their fates. Of course... we know that it's never the real end of Magneto. Asteroid M may blow up, but he'll be fine.

However, I'll take a moment say that it's a poetic ending. Chris Claremont closes it out with a sort of goodbye. His tenure on X-Men is now complete, and we've fully stepped into a bright, new era!

X-Men #4 is gonna bring it. Let's do it! ;)

[positivelybeastly]

X-Men #3

Again, late, but who cares? Let's do this.

Fuckin' Vanisher. For the second villain the X-Men ever faced, he really has never been anything more than just a mercenary twit.

That being said, I do appreciate his presence as a furthering of the general vibe of post-Krakoa Earth - mutants are on the run and scrabbling to find stability wherever they can find it, whether that be X-Men, X-Factor or, in Vanisher's case, O*N*E. Some are pickier than others, it would seem.

Ohhhhh my god, Hank. Hank. HANK.

Ahoy hoy? You Alexander Graham Bell Montgomery Burns loving bastard. I love it. Such a goober.

I do also appreciate that Hank's response here works because, even though we can assume that he knows vaguely who these people are - he's probably been reading the X-Men files to catch up on what he's missed, which, depending on when they were last updated, might mean he's reading his own observations on everyone else - he does not know how stubborn those four individuals are.

Half of them, Remy and Jubilee, he's never even met before, which is a wild concept, but true, nonetheless.

I do also like how easily Scott's fallen back into the habit of having Hank as his best friend. Like, I love Scott's friendships with a lot of the X-Men, they're all very unique dynamics, but I've made my case before that Hank was, at least up until 2009, Scott's very best friend, based on how much more free and able to talk about anything Scott was with him, and I feel like it's being born out here.

Even Illyana, who probably became closest to Scott after that point during the revolutionary era, never had the same emotionally intimate conversations that Hank and Scott could have during New or Astonishing X-Men. Among the O5, Scott's detachment and analytical side gelled with Hank's intelligence and social acumen in ways that Warren's easy going confidence and Bobby's immaturity simply couldn't.

Even back in the very original run, Hank is understanding of Scott's psychological make-up in ways that the others aren't, and you can really see that Scott allowed Hank to pull him along to being a little more open and free with his emotions, while being safe in the knowledge that Hank wouldn't try to force him out of his comfort zones. There was absolute, complete trust between them.

Was. And, seemingly, is again!

But yeah, you can really see it on display here. I don't know that Scott would be this willing to be this visibly frustrated and annoyed with Rogue's X-Men with, say, Kwannon or Max, but he can be with Hank, because Hank is gonna roll with him and work with him. I missed this dynamic.

God, this conversation fucks. I'm so glad that Idie is being given the space and the time and the freedom to be fucking furious with Magneto here, because she has every right to be. Her relationship with the X-Men and killing and death is so historically fraught, so full of judgement and learning and ideology, that I completely buy her frustration and fury and lack of patience for Max's hypocrisy.

When the teams for the From the Ashes books were being announced, I remember a lot of people analysing the team make-ups and thinking, ooh, I wonder if they'll touch on this, if they'll touch on that - all the canon deep cuts, all the conversations that should happen, the dynamics that should exist.

And because Jed MacKay is gonna Jed MacKay everywhere, all of those deep cuts and conversations and dynamics are present. It just. Pleases me, immensely. He's even intimated that Hank might have his time displaced memories, which would awesome to explore, since his time in the future with his older self has never really been brought up again, unlike Bobby and Scott. So much potential . . .

Lundqvist having to just sit there and take it is so good. I also appreciate the clarification of a bit of the world state that was going on in Fall of X, even if it is a . . . very disturbing and unfortunately realistic answer. Like, Christ, it doesn't surprise me to hear that the US just let Orchis do what they wanted, but it still just. Woof.

The demonstration of emotional control and the rattling off of the damage done to Scott in the wake of the Hellfire Gala is excellent foreshadowing, too.

I do love how fast and loose psychic connection allows you to be with team scenes in X-books. Literal info-dumps and fast-acting stratagem crafting on the fly - this is absolutely a team that Scott hand picked, because even without him around, they perform like, well.

Magic.

Also loving that Cain and Illyana continue to be bash siblings in the best way possible. Even if they don't get the same character focus that Hank, Scott and Idie have been getting thus far (still too early to say), if they come out of this with a fun dynamic, then I'll call this run a win for them both.

Beautiful.

I do love the continuing interconnectivity between the books - even though they're all separated geographically, people are aware of the changes in status quo, what everyone's doing, what their angles are, and it feels like a cohesive world. This was one of the better parts of Krakoa (and one of the more glaring flaws of X-Force/Wolverine), so I'm glad to see that the writers are clearly talking to each other a lot.

Also, ow, Scott, did you have to do Alex like that?

(I like unpopular X-Men, so, yeah, I have a soft spot for Alex Summers. Enough of a soft spot that I think that Scott is playing dismissive because it means that Alex isn't considered an easily exploited way to get at Scott, which keeps him safe. Scott has to play the lone wolf, no weaknesses, thinking five steps ahead leader man, and that means quite a lot of posturing. Hence the final line.)

Goes hard, tbh. I remember people being worried that Idie was going to get the short end of the stick, going into this series, just because she wasn't front and centre on a lot of the promotional material.

I don't think people have much to be worried about.

And then we come to the stinger, arguably the most interesting part of the issue - and the part that makes the most sense to me.

Now, I hate a certain contingent of Scott Summers fans. I hate the fans that act like he's some kind of alpha chad turbo mutant general boss man who gets all the hot telepaths and he's always right, because the amount of projection involved in that 'look at this introverted guy, he became a total badass that everyone respects' concept of Scott is off the charts, but also because it's just. Less interesting.

Scott Summers has fucking garbage mental health. Always has done. How could he not? His childhood was a literal nightmare. His surviving parent is a deadbeat asshole. He's lived from trauma to trauma since he was 15 years old. He was never taught proper coping techniques, never given the help he needed by Professor Xavier to help him live a life outside of the X-Men - which is why he's always come back to them. Which is why he's always there.

Because he has nowhere else to be. If he isn't an X-Man, he's nothing.

And now? Now, it's gotten to be bad enough that he's having panic/anxiety attacks. Because of course it has! His eyes got sewn shut! His wife got murdered! He's been through it!

This is one of those stingers that catches you off guard for a second, and then anyone with a brain goes, oh yeah, nah, that actually makes total and complete sense, of course Scott Summers would have panic attacks, the guy has some of the most insecure psychology you'll see outside of a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders!

Absolutely fascinated to see where this goes, honestly. It's not often you get to see a 60 year old comic book character in a new light, and the idea that MacKay is really going to dive into Scott's trauma, into who he is now and who he's always been, into the man that people have made him, is just fascinating.

Issue #2 was good, but it did feel very much like filler. This, though. This is way more in line with issue #1, and it has me genuinely excited to see what comes next.

Just, uh. If we could get more than three panels of Hank, two of which have him unconscious on the floor, that'd be great, thank you. I need new icons, ya dig?

[rei-ismyname]

X-MEN #7 From The Ashes

Possibly the biggest downside to the circular, repetitive nature of X-Men comics is that real life is awful enough. Jettisoning the hope of the Krakoan age for the misery porn of From The Ashes feels kinda callous and depressing in a world where there are multiple ongoing genocides and the USA just said yes to fascism again. Nevertheless, join me in some light escapism - a little Magneto goes a long way. Spoilers for X-Men #7.

I've also been spelling Jed Mackay's name wrong. Sorry

Running throughout this issue is Magneto's flashback to The Iron Night. The 'this is Logan behaviour' exchange from the previews has been all over my dash and it's great to get more of this dynamic. It's fantastic to see someone in universe say it out loud - Logan is a whiny little bitch, often a hypocrite, and can be blind to his immortality privilege. Scott knows that better than anyone - his wife's boyfriend throws a tanty like no other. They love him, but it's another reason why he's not the best Wolverine. I hope 'Logan behaviour' sticks around in the fandom.

This is Logan behaviour, Idie

I appreciate the informal nature of the Piper discussion. For one, you don't want to scare the kid or make her feel unwelcome. Idie said that she 'couldn't wait for you (Cyclops) and Magneto' re: Idie - having Psylocke be the one to spell it out for her is effective. The X-Men IS a team and the stakes are incredibly high. Besides, as Beast said in my first screenshot they have a Cerebro. This test could have been done from afar without the risk, and it's implied that it was.

I'm enjoying seeing Idie behaving compassionately, but it looks like she's got some serious anger and mistrust of authority (both justified) from Krakoa. It's great she's getting this kind of character focus and I hope it's followed up on. So many threads and beats have been setup that are likely to be disrupted by the Raid on Graymalkin event kicking off next week, but I'll reserve my judgement on that for when this first arc is concluded.

This is Logan behaviour, wild sentinel.

Gotta love Max and Scott's friendship being shown as they drink crappy beers and bask in Magneto rhetoric. I don't want to question the expert, but is this sentinel Wild or wild? It's clearly not an ORCHIS Iron Man model, but Wild Sentinel has a very specific meaning.

Okay, clearly Wild. It's not attacking either of them, though. Kind of Cyclops to spell out the Star Trek Borg adaptive schtick they've got going on. This is the action scene of the issue, the mandated violence.

I don't mean that entirely pejoratively either. I'm just as susceptible to the Magneto and Cyclops power fantasy as the next person, though it's a bit of a dirty trick to wait until issue 7 to show it.

This is NOT Logan behaviour, Magneto.

Sigh. I love your sense of drama Magneto. Play to the crowd, old man. I hope your monologue doesn't become ironic. Oh wait, we already know it has. This could have been a clever moment.

Uh oh, looks like his knees are weak and arms are heavy. Vomit on his sweater already...

So we see the moment Mags' powers start to shit the bed, right after a Wild Sentinel attack. I'd be suspecting Cassandra Nova's involvement just off these two data points tbh. Which idiot resurrected her anyway?

Oh, fuck off. Logan behaviour, Mackay.

R-LDS sounds like horse shit to me. Scott says 'we don't know that for sure' so how does this speculative condition have an acronym already? Mags is speaking as if it's a fact, but he doesn't even have the same body The Five resurrected. Maybe he has Umari-Key-Waiting Room-Brashear Portal Syndrome. Obviously he's scared but this feels like an idiot ball moment, and a cynical jab at Krakoa. The Five was something they got right, even with Sinister in the mix. The implications would be insane. 16 million Genoshans were resurrected, 250k Krakoans (give or take), a whole bunch of vulnerable human children via The Phoenix Foundation, Captain America, and 1000 fucking years of Sinisterized clones etc that had nothing of the sort.

No, there's way too many data points that apply to Magneto alone to make seriously considering The Five's resurrections as the source of patient zero's malady. It would be scientifically irresponsible to get to the point of naming it and then an acronym for that. Mags is good enough at science to know this, and Beast is too. I'm no scientist, but it manifested during a fight with a Wild Sentinel. I assume they have better resources than the Marvel wiki I'm using, but that robot/Cassandra Nova is my prime suspect - the lady they know for certain to be involved in ongoing genetic fuckery - activating X-Genes. Though not Piper Cobb...

Or yes Piper Cobb? Smash cut cliffhangers aside, this would be a great time to retcon Homo Sapiens Superior right the fuck out of existence. It's never made sense, and not just the 'Superior' part. Again, I'm not a scientist but I'm certain that's not how phylogeny works. They're mutated humans, but I don't live in 616 which canonically operates on impossible physics, so idk. My fingers are crossed but my expectations are nil.

That is Logan behaviour, masked kidnapper

Okay, we'd known from solicits that Beast would be getting beat down in captivity at Graymalkin. I had speculated he'd give himself up to get inside, but the ol' bag over the head works too. I dig his outfit.

X-Men #7 is worth reading IMO, and it's one of the better ones based off Magneto content alone. Last issue I wrote that the formula was becoming easier to spot, and I stand by that. A handful of character moments, some new information about one of the ongoing mysteries but it piles more questions on top of half answers and speculation. For example, we get to see Scott and Max fight a sentinel and be friends. There's new information there but a LOT more questions. The characters are at the point of absurd speculation which raises tension but doesn't make them look very competent. To kick off the event 'Raid on Graymalkin' they went with a final page bag over the head instead of any choice and comic book events notoriously derail everything so friends can argue and punch each other.

All that said, it's only *just* acceptable in my opinion - and that's the best I can say for the rest of the line too. We know that there's been ongoing issues with writers simply not knowing major Krakoan plot points, though they probably have the excuse that they were writing before FOTHOX/ROTPOX ended. Surely there's someone in charge of overseeing all this, like Hickman was as Head of X. *Looks at the credits* Tom Brevoort - Conductor of X... That's a fancy way to say 'line editor/hatchet man.' I'll stop there and save it for the From The Ashes piece I'm doing, but spoilers: I'm not impressed with how this guy keeps failing upwards.

What did you think? Thanks for reading.

[yallemagne]

So I finished the first season of X-Men: The Animated Series of course. Highlights?

Episode 1 & 2: Night of the Sentinels

Jubilee's father really fuckin sold her out huh? And holy shit the fucking sentinels. Dog, why did you MAKE THEM SO BIG. I had expected like that they started small and got bigger ones when the X-Men were revealed, but no, without even alerting the nation that they were making these robots, they sent a giant ass robot into a mall to capture one teenager.

Me pointing out "huh Morph is getting a lot of moments here, I like it" followed by them immediately dying. Like damn. They really did that. No wonder the creators backed out of having Thunderbird be in Morph's role, that would have just been insulting. Especially since he probably wouldn't have been brought back.

"Tell Cyclops... I made him a convertible."

Cyclops refuses to apologize for leaving without Morph and Beast but instead offers Logan an opportunity for revenge. It's so them. These petty bastards.

Episode 3: Enter Magneto

Beast... you're so silly. So, Beast refuses a rescue by Magneto (he's imprisoned) because "I'm awaiting a fair trial that will prove my innocence"... girl. You are a giant blue man. So, yeah, another case where Magneto was right.

Sabretooth is such a fake-ass bitch, I love it. So, he shows up at the trial causing a ruckus and gets injured and the X-Men take him in and start treating him like their pathetic little meow meow. This couldn't possibly go wrong.

"Come on, they're gonna kill him!" "Good." *turns around* "WHAT?"

"He's a threat." "He was near death." "Not near enough."

They just keep giving Wolverine all the best lines.

Episode 4: Deadly Reunions

Sabretooth, my poor little meow meow... all you did was a few itty bitty kitty murders... That's what Charles is saying at the start of this episode.

Xavier truly does try to get to the root of Sabretooth's anger with some super therapy, but alas, Sabretooth is just That Bitch. We do know that a competent telepath can temper his anger though, just look at Birdy.

They leave Jubilee alone with him acknowledging full well "this man is more dangerous than Wolverine... have fun babysitting!" He's restrained in a chair growling "let me at 'em" as Senator Kelly is being racist on TV and Jubilee very kindly turns it off and he's like "sowwy I'm twying to be a good boy... 😿" So of course Jubilee sees his restraints are hurting his wrists and releases him to help. Hahahaha. Oh girl.

If this were a show being produced today, I could totally see Sabretooth being accepted by the X-Men because "daww look he's angry just like you Wolverine" being drawn out into a longer arc where he actually gains their trust so it creates a genuine rift in the team... but also maybe he's not that patient for a scheme like that.

(also I know the show probably isn't going with the continuity that they're blood-related, but Wolverine telling them Sabretooth is nothing but trouble and getting hit with "but he's just like you 🥺" is very brother-coded okay?? Anyone who has a terrible older brother can relate.)

"Alright you egg-sucking piece of gutter trash. You always liked pushing around people smaller than you. WELL, I'M SMALLER! TRY PUSHING ME!!" << that's some little brother dialogue.

(… Morph would have listened to Wolverine about Sabretooth. Morph knows the Deep Lore.)

Episode 5: Captive Hearts

Callisto saw Cyclops and immediately said "I'm gonna make him my trophy husband", and while that is a valid reaction, no means no, hun.

They literally establish Storm as the Morlock's future Moses basically with her promising to come back for them when the time is right and they feel safe to breech the surface. And then they gave Magneto that role in '97. Ugh. He has the nerve to say Xavier just left them down there when it was in fact Storm that respected their right to self-determination.

Episode 6: Cold Vengeance

I love every time I see Sabretooth, he's just so silly-looking. No wonder everyone else imprinted on him like "hehe silly orange kitty" he's so BIG. He's incredibly top-heavy, just look at his bazongas.

We got through this with no sacrifice of Inuit life but a sombre sentiment that they'll be abandoning the old ways rather than rebuilding their homes.

Episode 7: Slave Island

Jubilee and Gambit have a nice little dynamic. He's the first person Jubilee used her powers to protect and she does it multiple times. I imagine he's like her cool older brother with street smarts.

No wonder Gambit was suspicious of Genosha in '97. Can't really trust that all is well when the foundation of that place was quite literally built with slavery.

This just makes Magneto's "tsk tsk Charles didn't use his wealth and resources to ship a load of UNWILLING Morlocks to Genosha for their own good" comment in '97 all the more frustrating. Man can be a dumbass.

Anyway--- CABLE CABLE CABLE. My silly little big boy.

Episode 8: The Unstoppable Juggernaut

Juggernaut is such a funny guy. I feel like usually, the big guys don't get to be the wise-cracking type, so this piece of shit was fun to watch.

Also just love Colossus, he's perfect.

Episode 9: The Cure

It's hard to feel bad for Warren when he's literally rich and funding a project that can be easily weaponized to hurt mutants. Sure, he was tricked and wasn't actually funding his "cure", but it would have been awful even if he got what he wanted. Just wear one of those collars for the rest of your life, jackass.

HOW IS NO ONE CHECKING IN ON THIS RESEARCH?? This experimentation on human beings is taking place with no government interference???

Pyro and Avalanche are fucking don't even try to convince me otherwise. Pyro, I don't care where you are from, I'm gonna be so weird about you calling every man you meet “darling”.

Episode 10: Come the Apocalypse

The public will see literally any villain and be like "A RENEGADE MUTANT!!" Like yeah sure I think Apocalypse technically is a mutant?? But like they really just profile all criminals as mutants.

Again, not sorry for you, rich boy.

Poor Rogue, having to absorb all these men's damage.

Episode 11 & 12: Days of Future Past

Bishop is a fucking traitor holy shit. Sure he gets better but damn. Girly was really like "The face-eating jaguars would never eat my face." and then was immediately told he was no longer needed.

"Someone... or something has come back through the time portal." "CHECK PLEASE! TIME PORTAL?"

"You kids better behave yourselves; I'm staying behind to babysit."

"Okay, ROUND BOY. Let's dance."

Wolverine has all the best lines.

Wonder why Mystique specifically chose to impersonate Gambit for the assassination. Perhaps he seemed the most likely? Perhaps a grudge against him for his relationship with Rogue?

Episode 13: The Final Decision

I'm so fucking disappointed that the fate of mutantkind lies in the hands of Senator Kelly because, dog, I wanna shoot him.

When you make a giant racist robot factory and even the giant racist robot factory is smart enough to recognize that mutant rights are human rights and so it resolves to protect humanity by replacing it with robots. Fucking dumbasses.

Honestly makes you wonder what the fuck Trask thought he was doing coming back in the new series. He knew that starting up another Master Mold would inevitably lead to the robots replacing politicians' brains with computers and he DID IT AGAIN ANYWAY.

Seeing Chuck and Magnus working together always warms my heart. And then they go right back to being enemies.

That Mister Sinister teaser at the end was... I'm not gonna say it.

[s10127470]

My Wolverine and the X-Men Rewrite (Part 1)

I'm sure many of you are familiar of Wolverine and the X-Men, as it was the last major animated series based on Marvel's merry band of mutants before X-Men '97 came out....

And before Marvel entered their infamous "anti-mutant" phase of the 2010s.

(If you don't count the X-Men Anime, which was a mini-series.)

Premiering back in 2009 on the somehow still-existing Nicktoons Network, the series is about the X-Men disbanding after a mysterious explosion results in the destruction of the Institute and the disappearance of Charles Xavier and Jean Grey.

About a year later, the team ended up reuniting for two major reasons.

The MRD (short for the Mutant Response Division), a government-supported organization created for the detainment and subsequent registration of existing mutants, begin capturing mutants from all over the country. Not only that, but they’ve even taken humans as prisoners as well just for helping mutants.

Charles Xavier, who the team find out is actually alive but in a coma resting on Magneto’s island nation of Genosha. Xavier is able telepathically communicate with the team from, in the words of Squidward….

Essentially, the explosion resulted in Xavier’s psyche being flung 20 years into the future. And Xavier himself won’t be awakened from his coma until those 20 years pass. Meanwhile, in the future, Xavier is awake, but finds himself constantly trying to survive as the future he’s in is absolute shit.

Being a loose adaption of Days of Future Past, the future Xavier’s in is one where the Sentinels have conquered the world after a war that broke out between the Master Mold program and Genosha.

In the end, nobody won.

As in this future, humanity has essentially been wiped out and mutants are on the verge of extinction, being placed in concentration camps.

But there is some hope....

Xavier in the future has formed a new X-Men team as it’s revealed that all of the original team are now dead. This new team consists of the likes of Bishop (who’s was one of the many mutants unfortunate enough to be born into this life instead of being a police officer from the distant future), an older Domino (whose present self is an enemy of the X-Men as she’s a member of the Brotherhood), and Marrow (who isn’t a member of the Morlocks).

Since Xavier is able to communicate with his past X-Men, he wants them to ensure that this future never happens.

So now, the reunited X-Men must face on the MRD, stop whatever plans Magneto has up his sleeves this time, and prevent the dark future from happening.

And all with Wolverine being the leader.

Yep! Wolverine is the leader of the X-Men as of right now as Cyclops is not doing so well….at all.

But in addition to those two, the rest of the X-Men consists of Storm, Beast, Nightcrawler, Iceman, Shadowcat, Angel, Forge, and newcomer Emma Frost.

WAXTM is notable things for two things.

It was also shortest-lived of the shows, only lasting 1 season of 26 episodes, which ran through the year of 2009, from January 23rd to November 29th.

This would be the sort-of beginning of an all-new shared animated universe known as the Yostverse, which consisted of the Hulk vs. Films, Thor: Tales of Asgard, and most notably, The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. The reason I say sort-of beginning because one of the shows that’s supposedly a part of this universe is The Spectacular Spider-Man, which came out almost a year before this show did. But that’s a discussion in itself.

Ever since its cancellation, WAXTM has gained a following and has become one of the many animated shows that got cancelled too soon and has led thousands of fans clamoring for a revival.

And to this day, people consider the show an underrated gem.

But I'm gonna have to come out and say it.....

Wolverine and the X-Men is not exactly a good show....

It's not bad by any means, but does have a lot of flaws.

And while it did do some things right, it wasn't quite to the extent of X-Men Evolution and especially X-Men: The Animated Series.

So today I want to discuss how I would rewrite the show. Keeping what worked about the show and either strengthen or removing what didn't.

And for this rewrite, be prepared to expect changes in characterizations, looks and even voices!

For the first part of this rewrite, we'll be covering the first three episodes of the show, Hindsight: Parts 1, 2 and 3.

And for this version of the show, all 3 of episodes would premiering on the exact same night: January 23rd, 2009.

Essentially, Wolverine and the X-Men's premiere in this AU would be a full-on TV movie!

This would be similar to what Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends did as when they first premiered, they had the first three episodes packed into a TV movie.

And one last thing, I would like to credit synergysilhouette as my main inspiration for this post, as he also shared his own idea on rewrite Wolverine and the X-Men as well.

So with that being said, let's get this party started!

First thing we need to get out of way that this show would not be called "Wolverine and the X-Men".

As that title is undoubtedly emblematic of the show's greatest flaw: the focus on Wolverine.

It's pretty obvious that the original series was riding on the coattails of the X-Men films, which Wolverine was not only the most popular character of, but the essentially the main character (and the only one that really mattered, much to the detriment of basically everyone else.).

Made more obvious with the fact that it premiered just four months before his long anticipated solo film.

Yeah, we all know how well that turned out....

Apparently, when WAXTM was first conceived, it was initially meant to be solo cartoon for Wolverine.

At least in the eyes of the executives...

But to the directors and producers, this was meant to be another X-Men cartoon.

In the end, the two sides essentially came to a compromise: the show would have the X-Men as its main cast, but Wolverine would be the focal character of the show.

Everyone has already said it before, but it does bare repeating.

The X-Men are suppose to be an ensemble. It shouldn't focus on just one character and essentially make everyone else irrelevant.

For this rewrite, the show's name would be changed to "X-Men Destiny", which I feel like fits perfectly with the premise of the series.

Next we come to the tone and style. This was another area where the influence from the films is quite obvious.

Just like the FOX films, Wolverine and the X-Men is notably more serious and gloomy than most other X-Men media, even the comics at some points.

It's somewhat melodramatic and there's rarely ever a sense of levity or humor to lighten things up

I'm admittedly not a fan of this style. I understand the X-Men are a little more serious when compared to other characters of the Marvel universe, but I don't think they need to be this overly serious.

I feel like the core of the X-Men, in spite of the all bullshit they deal with, they still persevere and keep their heads up no matter what.

So for this version of the show, the tone will be a little more light-hearted.

There will actually be humor present and some characters will be the resident comic reliefs.

But don't worry, the show will still take itself seriously when it needs to.

But another area the show would see change in is the art-style.

For this version of the show, the character designs would be done by ZyalahDoodles.

She’s an artist here on Tumblr who has done some redraws and redesigns for WAXTM.

I really like her style. It strikes that balance between being similar to the original art style while still being somewhat different. And if anything, it’s actually an improvement over the original style, especially when look at characters like Quicksilver. 

Like Jesus Christ, he was hideous in the original!

I know he’s suppose to be Magneto’s son, but you didn’t need to make him look as old as him too! 

Like Zyalah’s Quicksilver can actually get it.

If you want to check out more of her art, here’s the link to her page below.

Next we come to the roster.

Overall, it's largely the same as in the original except we would see the addition of one more character.

And that's none other than the steel-skinned gentle giant himself, Colossus!

Not only because he's one of my favorite X-Men, it's also because he's honestly kind of deserves it.

For those who don't know, despite only appearing in the prologue of the first episode, Colossus was weirdly in a lot of promotional material and merchandising for the show.

Apparently he was suppose to return to the X-Men following the explosion, but the producers decided not to do that and just save him for the planned season 2.

I'm guessing that the promotional material and merchandising started production during the early development of the show and before everything got finalized.

And thus, it's why a lot of this stuff still shows Colossus as a main character.

It's similar to what happened with The Simpsons, as during its early years, a lot of merchandising featured Bart famously wearing a blue shirt instead of his trademark red shirt.

But now that we got our roster out of the way, let's talk about the characters.

Specifically, their voices, appearances and ages.

In terms of voices, just about everyone still have their respective VAs in this version....except for two of the X-Men.

Those two being Iceman and Rogue.

Iceman would be voiced by Jason Marsden, replacing Yuri Lowenthal.

But don't worry, Yuri would be still in this version of the show, but as a different character (who we'll get to shortly).

And Rogue would be voiced by Melissa Disney, replacing Kieren van den Blink.

As for appearances, synergysilhouette brought up how a little wonky the builds of the characters were.

Like some of the males had buff upper bodies but surprisingly thin torsos and legs, and the females were pretty paper thin.

Like, we're talking almost VivziePop thin, specifically in the leg area.

The only part of them that wasn't thin were their chests....

Who designed these girls? Greg Land?

So yeah, in this version of the show would fix some of those designs.

Particularly putting a little more meat on the females.

I guess you could say I made them....

But for the builds of the X-Men.

Wolverine has a stocky and muscular build.

Cyclops is lean but athletic.

Emma Frost has an hourglass figure with a more top-heavy build.

Storm also has an hourglass figure, with an all-around build.

Beast...basically looks the same as he does in the original show.

So does Nightcrawler, Angel, Colossus, Iceman, Shadowcat and Forge (expect he'll actually have tanned skin)

And Rogue has a similar build to Storm.

Apart from the builds, the X-Men look largely the same as in the original show.

Though Cyclops and Rogue would definitely be getting a serious hairdo.

Since let's be real, their haircuts were pretty awful in the original show, especially Rogue's.

Cyclops' new hair would look just how it does in Zyalah's piece I showed earlier, and Rogue would have much longer hair.

As for heights, the X-Men are pretty accurate to those from the comics.

Yes, and that does include Wolverine.

However, there is one exception to this and that's with Beast.

I've always felt that Beast definitely should be a much taller character than he actually is.

(He's canonically 5'11)

But despite that, in the more recent comics, he's always shown as being bigger than most of the other X-Men.

So here, Beast is like 6'5.

As for their outfits...

Wolverine, Storm, Emma, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Angel, Rogue and Forge would be wearing the exact same outfits they did in the original show.

Beast as well, but he would also be sporting goggles this time.

(He just looks so right with them).

Iceman would wearing a modified version of his outfit from the show.

It would have a light blue and dark blue color scheme, short pant-legs and no shoes.

Shadowcat would be wearing her outfit from the Astonishing X-Men run.

And Cyclops, well....

This what he'll be wearing.

If you collected any Marvel merchandising during the 2000s, you've most definitely seen this look before.

It's kind of like an combination between his 90s outfit and his Astonishing outfit.

And in all honesty, it's really cool looking.

But weirdly enough, he's never wore this any iteration outside of the merchandising.

So I figured.....

Finally, we come to the ages of the X-Men.

I'm reason I'm bringing this up is because of the episode, Breakdown.

In that episode, we take a look into Cyclops' past, and just like in the comics, the X-Men originally started off with the original five.

And we can clearly see that they're teenagers.

But this becomes an issue when take Iceman into account.

In the second episode when Wolverine and Beast come to recruit him, the latter mentions to his parents that Iceman is now 18.

Which would mean that three years have past since the X-Men formed.

And since the estimated age difference between the original five is that Beast is older than Cyclops, Jean and Angel by 2 years and Iceman is younger than them by 2 years, that would mean that Cyclops, Jean Angel are around 19-20 and Beast is around 21-22.

And yeah, there's is no way in hell that's the case.

I could definitely see them being in their 20s, but like mid-to-late 20s.

Definitely not early 20s!

Here, it would be established that the X-Men have been around for about 8 years, including after the explosion.

As for the ages of the team.

We all know Wolverine is old as hell!

Cyclops, Jean and Angel are 24.

Emma is 29.

Storm is 26.

Beast is 27.

Nightcrawler is 22.

Colossus, Rogue and Forge are 20.

And Iceman and Shadowcat are 18.

Now that we got that out of the way, let's go ahead and talk about the episodes themselves!

Hindsight: Part 1

This episode is largely the same, but there would be a few changes.

-All of the X-Men would be present in the prologue. Iceman would training in The Danger Room with Shadowcat, Colossus and Nightcrawler, Forge would be working on a new device while ignoring the cries for help from the four after getting trapped, and Angel would be seen spending them with Storm.

-We would get the establishment of where everyone else is once Wolverine and Beast reunite. Cyclops has living in a rundown apartment by himself, Storm moved back to her village in Kenya, Angel has been working at his father's company, Iceman and Shadowcat moved back in with their parents, Colossus moved back to his family's farm in Russia, and nobody's heard from Nightcrawler or Rogue. As for Beast, he's been hanging at what's left of the mansion with Forge, working together to see what caused the explosion in the first place.

-Speaking of Forge, he would be helping out Wolverine and Beast with their break-in. And also, and more importantly, Forge's characterization is much different. Here, he's basically like Sokka and Velma, being the team's resident tech-genius and total smartass.

-Pyro wouldn't be one of the mutants freed when Wolverine, Beast and Forge free the prisoners. Instead, his place would be taken by Jubilee (voiced by Janice Kawaye). She would end up staying with the X-Men, kick-starting one of the storylines for this series. As for her characterization, it's pretty accurate to how she is in the comics. In terms of overall physical appearance and age: she's about 15, has a slightly petite build, black hair in a bob-cut style, pink lips, brown eyes, stands at 5'1, and wears a modified version of her classic 90s outfit. It's largely the same, except with a navel-bearing shirt, fingerless gloves and sneakers.

Hindsight: Part 2

Once again, largely the same with a few changes.

-The Brotherhood has two new additions from the original version in the form of Pyro and Gambit. Yep! Gambit is a member of Brotherhood in this version of the show, as it would set up his eventual turnover to the X-Men and his romance with Rogue. And in typical Gambit fashion, he'll definitely be laying his Cajun charm on Rogue immediately. As their voices, all of them remain the same except for Quicksilver, Toad and Pyro. Quicksilver would be voiced by Yuri Lowenthal (I told you we would be coming back to him!), Toad would be voiced by Danny Cooksey, and Pyro would be voiced by John Kassir. Also, Toad will be British. Yeah, remember when he used to have a British accent?

-Cyclops' characterization. One of the biggest flaws of the original show was how Cyclops was characterized. In the original, he was intolerant, depressed grub. I get that he's grieving over the loss of Jean, but man. It's hard for us to feel sorry for the guy when he's constantly being angry and angsty. He may've not been done as dirty when compared to the Fox films, but this version of the character isn't too far behind. But here, Cyclops is will actually remain as the leader of the team, and his big story of the season (apart from the obvious) is him grappling with whether or not he still has what it takes to be leader again. And along with that, he isn't gonna nearly as angry and angsty as he was in the original. However, he will still be grieving and his depression will be shown in a way where we actually sympathize with him. This would be first shown when Wolverine tries to recruit him and after blasting him out of his room. And although he starts off looking down at Wolverine angry at first, but once he leaves, his expression eventually turns into one of regret.

Hindsight: Part 3

Just like with the last two, it's mostly the same with one notable exception.

-When the X-Men meet Emma for the first time, their reactions are a little different. Angel isn't smitten by her at all, as he already has a special somebody (i.e. Storm). But Iceman still is. But he's not the only one. The other would be Shadowcat. Yep! In this show, Shadowcat and Iceman are both, in the words of NSYNC....

Well that's all I have for now.

Let me know what you guys think about this rewrite. And if you could, give me some ideas on how the rest of the series should play out!

But anyway, I'm gonna go play some X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse....

Peace out, yo.

[wellnoe]

i’m not sure if you’ve read the "cyclops was right" era but if you have, how do you think jean would have reacted to that if she were alive? how do you think she would grapple with moments where scott (and even ororo) decides that killing is the better option?

my reading in this era is EXTREMELY sporadic, but that's the question isn't it!!

if we are going to focus on that last question: first i will say jean is not unilaterally anti-murder. she has tried to kill people before (while not phoenix!) right. but those situations have generally been very emotional. by which i mean, i think jean tends to be okay with retributive murder and not preventative murder. both scott and ororo tend to a sort of pragmatism a lot of the time, imo. or are at least open to that view.

that said! jean will go against her stated morals for people and ideals she cares about, not just ignoring but abetting stuff she believes is wrong. i'm thinking here of when she and charles 'take' magneto's mind and make him relive his worst memories. she protests! she's explicitly there to keep an eye on things! but she does it anyway. which to me speaks to a real latitude jean affords the people she cares about. and its worth saying that jean has never really had a cyclops-style fall out with charles. even with all the horrible stuff she's found out about him, the horrible stuff they've done together, she's stood by him.

in terms of the general 'cyclops was right' era: i think jean often tends to act as a mediator for scott, by which i mean she softens his frustration with xavier and xavier's philosophy, when it crops up (this actually happens in the same issue i referenced earlier). she is pretty tied up in and tied to xavier specifically. this is a big contrast with emma! like i think scott having a radical turn while jean is alive is pretty different from scott's evolution in x-men canon.

so with all that said. i think it basically depends where scott and jean are at socially in this scenario. like this is post-psychic affair. in my head i could see a fun scenario where jean's invested too much in their relationship to leave over this. or, counter to that, where she's invested too much politically in maintaining the team after their relationship ends to really get up in arms about it in any public way. this is all assuming that scott and jean haven't already deeply divided the x-men via their split, in which case a lot of these ideas are kind of moot.