#AND THE UNCANNY TEAM IS GONNA BE IN STORM 3........

[remysrogue]

my fave x-men (rogue, gambit, storm and nightcrawler) are all in the best two books in the from the ashes launch so far (uncanny and storm) and god i love that for me

[brw]

3 and 13

3) screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

So I have a lot of bad takes screenshotted because I like to bother my loved ones with them so here are a few;

"Scarlet Witch should be an X-Men book and also the Avengers are an X-Men book because Storm is there I guess". Like is Englehart Avengers an X-Men book because Beast was there? Is that what you're telling me? What??

"The Cassidy's don't know what the Bible is". Girl they're from Mayo. Home to Knock. Which is one of the most famous Catholic sites in the world, with other a million pilgrims coming to visit it every year. It's like a Catholic Disneyland there (I've been). They sell little versions of like every saint in about 50 shops down the main street. Banshee and Tom absolutely know the saints because they're Irish Catholic and they live in fucking Mayo.

"The Fantastic Four are liberals and centrists because they don't like Krakoa". Not gonna get too deep in this one because I'm gonna be MEAN and it probably deserves its own post but man. Ben Grimm was literally right when he said they were just building another Genosha, shut the fuck up.

"Avengers need their token muties on the team" okay first mutants aren't real so that isn't a real concern, two the second ever Avengers lineup was 50% mutant. Beast is a notable member who actively went out of his way to join. Angelica Jones, Dazzler, Namor, Logan, Sunspot, Cannonball, and that's not even going through every member of the Uncanny Avengers like Rogue and Havok and Psylocke and Monet and Cable and Sunfire. Mutants have always been a part of the Avengers and I think if you're that attached to a 10 year old event written by Brian Michael Bendis it is deeply embarrassing for you.

13) worst blorboficiation

Already answered this one twice but fuck it, going with Wanda. I've mentioned it before and I get why it's important for Wanda to be in a healthy space right now, I just also like it when she's messy. Anyway, a lot of people ignore the parts of her and Pietro's dynamic that are messy when it isn't making fun of that one issue of 2015 Scarlet Witch, and it annoys me because she does really love Crystal and I don't like how fans will just ignore that part of her dynamic with Pietro. Like she is on Crystal's side in that arc. I honestly think she probably thinks Pietro deserved it 😭 I'm not saying she's right for that but she is repeatedly shown caring for Crystal and defending Crystal and I think that's a really important part of the tension between her and Pietro. Let Wanda be messy!

[nutcrawler]

X-Men 2024, or, what the fuck should I read this year?

As someone that wasted the last week catching up on all current X-titles, here's the long short on which books are nice

Uncanny X-Men

The first one I read because it has my boy Kurt, with Rogue, Gambit, and Wolverine, traveling a bit and hanging out in Louisiana until the plot comes to get them with 4 new younger mutants being hunted.

Exceptional X-Men

This is the slice of life book. Kitty Pryde is a bartender in Chicago, while she balances trying not to fuck up her wlw dates twice in a row with rescuing every baby mutant that she crosses paths with. Pretty gay, I like it, it has good writing.

Adjectiveless X-Men, aka X-Men

The Scott Summers Show, I would actually recommend this one above Uncanny, as it seems to be the "true" book the x-events are moving around. Scott & Co. living in Alaska, Beast is back and trying to cure Magneto, Glob and Quentin are here too. If you are only gonna keep up with one book, this one wouldn't be a bad pick.

NYX

Or, the Young Mutants Pride book. The Kamala Khan/Laura Kinney book. Pretty focused on the "community" aspect of mutants, issue #3 has a scene that really highlights this with regards to where you belong, what you hide, etc. So pretty gay like Exceptional, a Morlock even mentions scalie fetishists. I don't really like X-23 but she's good with Kamala in this book.

X-Factor

Reality show mutants with a side of "you can't work for our oppressors." Leans pretty comedic when not focusing on mutant oppression and the question of integration. Oh yeah btw all these books are wearing their politics on the sleeves, some more than others though.

X-Force

Forge made a device that tells him where shit is gonna hit the fan, and he's assembled a team to keep shit together, and if they do their job right, nobody will know. Clearly building to something, so the action focus is a little dull for me, but the couple writing between Captain Britain and Askani is nice. Forge is hiding something because he refuses to take off his psi-shield.

Sentinels

The edgy book, people dressed like sentinels and hunting down mutants. The letters page at the end of issue #1 was explicit about how they are pulling the energy of Robocop and Starship Troopers, so if you like fascy tacti-cool stuff, this is the one. Not hating btw I love Verhoeven, I saw some posts on 4chan about how this book is triggering the libs but that's just cope.

The solo focused books:

Dazzler

Mutant and proud, and on tour! That's it, there's only been one issue. Includes an entire mutant pride song called Out and Proud. Didn't particularly enjoy this one.

Storm

Wanting to begin her political career, but starts with the harsh truth that a local nuclear disaster was the fault of a mutant instead of negligent engineers. She also gave herself a megadose of rads and has hours to live. Also only 1 issue out right now, but decent.

Phoenix

Jean Grey, space cop (except she helps people). Has a very strong "actions and consequences" theme. Phoenix's history is constantly brought up Jean works to rehabilitate her reputation. Also some kind of fatherhood theme going on, Jean inadvertently gets an alien girl's dad killed which is slowly working its way around to be a problem for Jean again; Jean also run's into her father in law, who brings her to some Asgardian zombies, it's a whole thing. Not too bad imo, but as the "cosmic book" it's kinda all over the place.

Wolverine

Absolutely unhinged, my boy Kurt gets shot in the fucking face first issue. But it was to motivate Logan to be a good boy, so seal of approval.

oh there is also From the Ashes Infinity Comic that is p good, a sort of anthology where every 3-4 issues is a different story, I actually really liked it despite the Infinity Comic format

So that's the first 6 months of post-Krakoa, p good so far, will keep reading for sure.

Mystique #1 comes out in a few days which I'm kinda hype for, she finally got married to Destiny last year so Marvel's premier lesbian couple is thriving.

So long true believers, and remember:

[gaknar]

Review: Claremont’s Final Chapter

Well this is it. This is the last review I’m going to write for this blog. It covers the last chunk of Chris Claremont’s original run on Uncanny X-Men, along with the crossovers and spinoffs that accompany it. I was thinking that this was going to be a lot more comics, because I completely forgot that I already wrote a review covering the big three X-Men crossovers from the 1980s (Mutant Massacre, Fall of the Mutants, and Inferno). How does that happen? How do I just completely forget that I did bunch of work on a review that’s barely two years old? I’ll tell ya how. Early onset Alzheimer’s. Or maybe I’m busy and not as focused on this blog as I used to be. Nowadays it’s all I can do to keep my queue from emptying out while doing one post a day. I’m a shadow of my former hilarious self. But I still want to tie a bow on what I’ve been doing here for the past seven years, and I guess that’s kind of what this is. I set out with a goal, to read every X-Men comic ever written. How that was to be defined, I didn’t know, but at the very least it was going to include everything up to the end of Claremont’s big run, which I have now accomplished. I’m anxious to keep reading, but I think I’m done writing for now, and maybe indefinitely. I dunno. I haven’t decided yet and I don’t want to speak in absolutes. Only a Sith speaks in absolutes.

I mean how am I gonna be reading this and not be sprinting to my blog to shit post about it. It’s just not possible. I can’t call my mom and troll. “Yeah ma and then they did that shit where they smash the cake in each other’s faces and I puked all over everything! No ma, this was in a comic! A comic!”

For posterity sake, this reading and review cover the following:

Uncanny X-Men #244-279 New Mutants #74-100 X-Factor #40-70 Excalibur #8-25 X-Force #1-4 X-Men Volume 2 #1-3 Days of Future Present Crossover Kings of Pain Crossover 

This collection of comics is the most nostalgic for me. I didn’t start collecting Uncanny X-Men until around issue #250. I was a late comer. I had already missed the best stuff. But the X-Men were still at the top of their game, and this particular run represents the exact set of comics that captivated me as a child. I’m biased toward them. This is generally considered to be the weakest part of Chris Claremont’s 17 year long run, but I cannot find the objectivity to agree with this statement. And during this reading, where I actually got to read everything that lead up to this point in time for the X-Men instead of being cluelessly dropped into the middle of it and not even knowing how to pronounce a lot of the characters names, I found these stories to be even more enjoyable.

When I was a kid, I thought Psylocke was pronounced Pisey-locke. I thought Rogue was Roe-goo. One of my older brother’s friends heard me saying that shit and he laughed his ass off at me.

Tell me what’s wrong with this story. The X-Men have become legends, both in story and in real world pop culture, but then their team is decimated. Storm is killed. Colossus, Rogue, Psylocke, Havok, and Dazzler are consumed by Siege Perilous. Wolverine is captured and broken by an alliance of villains he personally carved into cyborgs during his previous adventures. And Longshot is . . . well nobody remembers what happened to Longshot. And with growing threats rising from all over the world, it’s left to the X-Men’s fourth string, students, and attendants to continue the fight. This was a dire time for the comic, and I think for many it deviated too far from what they had grown comfortable with. These characters were real for a lot of people, and they had been scattered, their family destroyed. There was a sense of tragedy and trauma. A great loss of safety and security for characters that were written so intimately they felt like close friends you visited once a month. But I loved it. These were my first X-Men stories. I was only beginning to form my bonds with these characters, and that process was aided by the narrative drive to see them reunited. For a kid in the 4th grade, this was Shakespearian.

And then Jim Lee came along and ruins everything.

No I didn’t cover the swimsuit issue. I mean, this is it. Here, I’m covering it. Look, Logan’s a never nude. 

I mean, how can I say that. I actively concede that Jim Lee is the best X-Men artist. And that comes after years of maintaining this blog and meticulously reading every X-Men comic that was released, and falling in love with the work of Barry Windsor Smith.

Bill Sienkiewicz

Paul Smith.

Marc Silvestri.

And John Byrne was ok I guess.

In my opinion, as much as I love all those other artists, none of them can touch Jim Lee’s work on X-Men. They are all phenomenally gifted, but Jim Lee was somehow transcendent on a whole other level. And when his talent swirled with the particular aesthetic of the Uncanny X-Men, magic happened. Something new came into existence that permanently imprinted itself onto our pop culture. 

From the characters themselves to crazy alien space-tech, you just can’t beat Jim Lee.

How is it then, that these were the comics, the last issues of Claremont’s run, that killed my interest in the series when I was younger? Claremont was still writing the scripts, but it was clear that something catastrophic had happened behind the scenes. Something was terribly broken. And as much as I wanted to assume that it was all in my head, that there couldn’t have been any hurt feelings because Claremont would return some day, and he would even go on to work with Jim Lee again on other projects, I’m pretty sure that’s not the case. I just watched the Comics In Focus documentary about Chris Claremont, and he tearfully describes his feelings at the time as being “betrayed.” You can feel that in the writing, and it does not make for good entertainment. The final few issues of this run are conflicted and strained, and tedious in their pacing. So unlike the effortless storytelling the series had become known for.

Reading these comics again all these years later brings back memories of why I quit collecting in the first place. By the very end of Chris Claremont’s run, after his narrative plans had been derailed by Jim Lee and their editors, the Uncanny X-Men weren’t stunning anymore. They didn’t stick in my brain and leave me awake at night with a mind full of wonder. They only left me with apathy. This is in contrast to how I felt when I first started reading the series and every issue was a revelation. But I can distinctly remember attempting to read X-Force #1 a second time, searching for some hook to keep me engaged, and there was nothing there. It was an empty, shallow experience that made me question whether I had outgrown the hobby. X-Men Volume 2 reinforced those concerns.

“The writer.” He can’t even be bothered to invoke his name. I’m just going to transcribe this part of the documentary and make some observations. “Comics were boring. Even Marc Silvestri, he’ll admit, he got bored.” This motherfucker thinks the X-Men were just dull as shit until he came along and saved the whole fucking thing. JFC. “Marc had already done the book for like, four or five years. And, but it’s not a job you, you don’t leave that job. It’s the best-selling comic.” This motherfucker thinks THE BEST SELLING COMIC, THE COMIC MORE PEOPLE WERE READING THAN ANY OTHER COMIC IN EXISTENCE was boring until he came along and saved the whole fucking thing. “And the writer had been on it for 15 years. You don’t think he’s burned out?” No Rob, it’s clear he wasn’t burnt out, and you deprived us of another 3-5 years of amazing comics. “It was like hey, the X-Men girls go shopping.” Hey I liked that issue. “In the next issue, the guys go to the mall.” That didn’t even happen! You drew that god damned book and you can’t even remember what it was about!! “And you’re like, this isn’t the X-Men I grew up loving! Where’s Magneto, where’s the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants!? Where’s the stuff that’s gonna psyche me out?” Oh, like fucking Strife and Strobe and Thumbellina? Did that shit psyche you out Rob??

I have given up on X-Men three different times in my life. The first was in 1992, a direct result of the conflict that arose between Claremont and these idiot artists who would stick around for less than a year for abandoning the franchise completely, leaving it in shambles. Looking back at my collection, I made it to issue #7 of X-Men Volume 2 and I was done. The buildup to Onslaught brought me back in 1996, in particular the famous cover proclaiming someone had stopped the Juggernaut which I found in a back issue bin. But I did not last long, only seeing that storyline through and losing interest again by the time Heroes Reborn got underway and it was clear that the clowns in charge didn’t actually have any interesting story ideas past the initial Onslaught concept. Finally, in 2001 it was the one-two punch of Grant Morrison’s new X-Men and Claremont’s own X-Treme X-Men that brought me back one more time. And this time I stuck with it for a good 10 years before a combination of Brian Michael Bendis and Marvel’s agenda to bury the X-Men killed my interest in modern X-Men comics to this day. 

I could not stand the idea of the original teenage X-Men becoming the main characters again. There was no blander, more basic concept in my opinion. Other than that shit Rob Liefeld came up with in X-Force.

Despite this on again off again relationship, the X-Men have always been with me. I have always wanted to stay engaged with what was going on in their lives. And that led to the creation of this blog. I wanted to start reading again, but the only way to do that was to start at the beginning and go from there. And I’ve loved reading almost every comic I read for this blog. Analyzing and summarizing each issue allowed me to recreate the experience of reading these comics as a kid, when I read each comic 5 or 6 times through the course of the month as I anticipated the release of the next and finally moved on. That reading pace is very hard to emulate in the age of collected editions, where we might instead read several issues in a single sitting and never look back again. It’s a completely different experience.

But going forward, I don’t think it’s going to be so important. I’m not going to want to linger on Scott Lobdell’s writing, or Rob Liefeld’s garbage artwork. I’m not going to want to struggle to think of something interesting to say about comics I’m apathetic toward. I’m going to keep reading, but I don’t know to what extent, if any, I’ll comment on them here.

Again, I don’t know how I’m going to be reading this shit and not need someone to talk to about it. So don’t completely give up on me. 

I recently read through Sandman for the first time, in tandem with reading X-Men comics for this blog. It was obviously very good, but it was also very dense and challenging, and it took forever since I was splitting my comic book time with blog tasks. Then I finally read the deluxe volumes of Saga I’ve owned for years but haven’t had time to read. Compared to Sandman they were a light, breezy walk through a sunny, petal soaked field. It made me excited to read some more of the independent books I've collected over the years. Oh and there’s also these.

I’m way overdue here. I bought all these books and have yet to crack any them open. But every single day they call to me. But of course I can’t start with these. I’m going to read Hickman’s Fantastic Four first, and then his Avengers, and then Secret Wars, and THEN I’ll read these. The time has come for me to start reading modern X-Men again.

In case you can’t tell, this review is also serving as a retrospective for this blog in general. Sorry to spring that on you. I really, really appreciate those who read along with me, corrected my mistakes, offered better insights than I could come up with, and explained the shit that went straight over my head. It wasn’t like reading these comics in a vacuum like I did when I was a kid. It was like being part of an awesomely nerdy reading group. I appreciated every single like and comment you made, and those who stuck with me for an extended period. I saw every engagement you made, even if that wasn’t obvious. I don’t know if this will be my last post, but this is it for now. Thanks everyone.

[comicreadingorder]

Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont Reading Order

With each list made I felt better about trying harder ones, but this was still the most intimidating comic reading list there is. It encompasses so many years, titles, minis, GNs and characters that I didn’t know what to bother with and what not to, or where they led. It took me a long time and a lot of mixing and matching of other lists to find a basic framework that I could then nudge as I read it.

This is an attempt at presenting the entire mutantsphere as it evolves. When New Mutants/X-Factor/Excalibur start I add what you need to know to introduce them - things that you would’ve known about if you were reading at the time of release just because of the climate or through osmosis. That said, I only mention the basics for setting up the title before returning to UXM, rather than integrating them all. Because of that not everything is by Claremont, but I’d say at least 80% is, and if I included anything that isn’t then there's a reason.

I chose to start with Classic X-Men, a reprint comic published in the late 80s to catch people up. Each issue has some corrections and cleaning up of panels or dialogue, plus a new short story (usually by Claremont) taking place around the time of each issue. I read these instead of the original issues because of the extras and benefit of hindsight.

Bold=important parts of the main story Italics=optional (with explanations)

Classic X-Men 1

Giant-Size Uncanny X-Men 1 -- Even though Classic 1 is supposed to be a modified reprint, it skips a lot of stuff in here, so I think both portray a more complete picture. Not gonna lie, it’s pretty messy reading both of these back to back cause Classic rewrites like 2/3 of the story, but that kind of big overhaul and confusion is only for the first issue.

Classic 2-13 (UXM 94-105)

UXM 106 -- Wasn’t in the Classic run because it wasn’t part of the “main” story but it’s a fun one shot.

Classic 14-16 (UXM 107-109)

UXM 110 -- A fill-in story that also wasn’t included in Classic, which is a crime because it’s the first time they played baseball!

Classic 17-30 (UXM 111-124)

UXM Annual 3

Classic 31-44 (UXM 125-138)

Bizarre Adventures 27

Phoenix The Untold Story -- Sort of a high-end “what if” issue that contains round table transcripts of the creators and editorial team, plus artwork of how they came to the conclusion of the story, and other possibilities along the way.

UXM Annual 4

Classic 45 (UXM 139) -- The end of the reprints adding new content. They continue on but without bonus stuff.

UXM 140

Marvel Team-Up (V1) 100 -- Introduces a future new mutant plus a short backup story about the first meeting between Storm and Black Panther as children. Written by Claremont.

UXM 141-149

Avengers Annual 10

UXM 150

UXM Annual 5

Marvel Fanfare (V1) 1-4

UXM 151-153

Uncanny X-Men and the Teen Titans -- Out of continuity crossover written by Claremont. Takes place around this time but can be read anytime after the Dark Phoenix Saga.

Marvel Treasury Edition 26, 27 -- The short backups near the end of each issue.

UXM 154-166

The New Mutants Graphic Novel -- Introduces the new students.

New Mutants 1-3 -- Leads into 167 better than just the graphic novel.

UXM 167

UXM Annual 6

UXM Special Edition (1983) — Reprint of giant-size 1 but includes a new kitty Pryde backup story.

X-Men: God Loves; Man Kills -- Wasn’t meant to be canon but future writers retcon it in.

UXM 168-171

Wolverine (V1) 1-4 -- Relevant to the main story.

UXM 172-175

UXM Annual 7

Magik 1-4 -- Shows how Illyana grew up and what she went through.

UXM 176-180

NM 15, 16 -- These (and later 17) follow Kitty’s journey with the NM while the rest of the X-Men are on Warworld in SW.

Secret Wars One 1-12 -- If you’ve read this before or don’t want to read the whole thing you don’t have to, but you should at least skim it for the X-Men bits, as the Colossus parts are particularly relevant. Magneto and Prof X also refer back to it sometimes.

UXM 181, 182

NM 17

UXM 183-188

Kitty Pryde & Wolverine 1-6

UXM 189-192

UXM Annual 8

Firestar 1, 2 -- Introduction to the character from the Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends cartoon into comics canon. It takes place over years which is why I cut UXM 193 in between.

UXM 193

Firestar 3, 4

X-Men and Alpha Flight 1-2 -- Muddy continuity things prevent it from clearly being put anywhere. Apparently the explanation is that it takes places between the middle and end of a single issue... Becomes relevant later.

UXM 194

Nightcrawler (V1) 1-4 -- Cockrum writes and draws Nightcrawler fucking around for four issues. Gets the briefest of acknowledgements later.

Power Pack (V1) 12, UXM 195

Secret Wars Two 1

UXM 196-198

Longshot 1-6 -- Introduces Longshot, Spiral, Mojo and Mojoworld.

UXM 199

NM Special Edition 1 (1985), UXM Annual 9

UXM 200, 201

X-Men: Heroes for Hope -- Special charity issue by every big name writer/artist at the time. Self-contained.

UXM 202-206

Avengers 263, Fantastic Four 286, X-Factor 1 -- These show how the Original 5 X-Men members come back together to form X-Factor. Can be read anywhere between 202 and 210, I just stuck them here for an attempt at pacing.

Marvel Fanfare 33 -- Doesn’t fit super well anywhere because this issue was meant as a video game tie-in. Other lists put it after annual 11 but that’s publication order and definitely doesn’t fit there.

NM Annual 2, UXM Annual 10

UXM 207-209

Mutant Massacre

UXM 210, X-Factor 9, UXM 211, XF 10, NM 46, Thor 373, Power Pack 27, UXM 212, Thor 374, XF 11, UXM 213 -- NM adds some backdrop -- like creating a medical area -- to the events but doesn’t progress the main story.

UXM 214-219

Fantastic Four vs The X-Men 1-4

X-Men vs Avengers 1-4 -- Provides closure to the story in 200.

UXM Annual 11

Fall of the Mutants

I dropped some titles you’ll see in other lists like Daredevil and New Mutants because they either add nothing or have their own, unrelated story that really just keeps you from the main title longer. Everything italicized is related to X-Factor, which also tells its own story but has some links to UXM which carry over into Inferno. It’s broken up with UXM issues for impact and spoilers. If you don’t care about X-Factor you can skip all that and just read 220-227.

XF 18-23, UXM 220-224, Incredible Hulk 340, XF 24, 25, PP 35, UXM 225-227, Captain America 339, XF 26, FF 312 -- Hulk is mostly a transition issue between 224 to 225, Power Pack just shows an extended version of a fight, Cap closes a loose end, Fantastic Four is an epilogue.

UXM 228-231

Excalibur Special Edition (1988) -- Alternate title “Excalibur: The Sword is Drawn.” This shows what happens to the leftover X-Men members who weren’t around for FotM and ties up their loose ends before launching Excalibur.  

Marvel Comics Presents 1-10, Wolverine (V2) 1-8, 10 -- These take place over the months between 227 and 232. They’re just Wolverine solo stories I included because there are a couple easter eggs that distinctly place them during this time and because Claremont wrote them.

UXM Annual 12

UXM 232-238

Inferno

UXM 239, X-Terminators 1-3, XF 36, UXM 240-241, NM 71, XT 4, NM 72-73, XF 37, UXM 242, XF 38, UXM 243, XF 39

UXM 244, 245

UXM Annual 13 -- Atlantis Attacks tie-in that’s pretty confusing if you’re not following the whole event. Jubilee backup that shows what happens to her between 244 and her next appearance. The Jubilee story is kinda worth it.

Havok and Wolverine: Meltdown 1-4 — I didn’t add this originally because it’s disappointing and self-contained but eventually it’s mentioned again, years after these lists end, in X-factor 112.

UXM 246-267

Days of Future Present: FF Annual 23, NM Annual 6, XF Annual 5, UXM Annual 14

UXM 268, 269

X-Tinction Agenda: UXM 270, NM 95, XF 60, UXM 271, NM 96, XF 61, UXM 272, NM 97, XF 62

UXM 273-274

Kings of Pain: NM Annual 7, New Warriors Annual 1, UXM Annual 15, X-Factor Annual 6 -- Story across annuals about NW and X-Force with backups about Freedom Force. Totally skippable unless you’re reading those. Put here for breathing room between it and the Muir Isle saga.

UXM 275-277

Muir Isle Saga: UXM 278-279, XF 69, UXM 280, XF 70

X-Men (V2) 1-3

For some epilogue stories, see also

X-Men (V2) 4-11 -- Jim Lee stuck around on pencils through 11. And while I have opinions about his effect on the series, he drew the hell out of the book.

Weapon X (Marvel Comics Presents 72-84) — Barry Windsor-Smith tells the original story revealing Logan’s transformation and escape from Weapon X.

X-Men/Spider-Man -- A series of one-shots about crossovers between the team and SM across their careers. It’s fine by itself but excels at finding points in each title’s continuity to unite them. Like 4 issues of fun references and interactions.

X-Men: Grand Design -- A truncated retelling of the X-Men’s years from the start up to Claremont’s exodus, including most future retcons. It might seem weird to suggest a retelling of stories you just read but this is done so well while seamlessly including retcons and making small adjustments with the benefit of hindsight that it is itself a great reading experience. Sort of like when you watch a movie series after finishing the books to compare.

X-Men Forever: Alpha, 1-20, Annual 1, 21-24, Giant-Size 1, XMF 2: 1-16 -- This was an ongoing that Claremont started in 2009, picking up from X-Men #3 to tell the stories he’d had planned as if nothing happened afterwards, which he does for some (like pairing kitty with gambit) while others he just kills off because he decides he’d rather add some stuff he couldn’t have done back then. It’s still fun to see all the rumored plotlines and hints coming to fruition. Or being somewhat confirmed. The story itself isn’t satisfying, but at least it’s interesting. Alpha reprints those 3 issues from 1991 but also has a short story bridging the gap between it and issue 1. You should read it before starting the first issue because they didn’t even include that in the trade. After 24 it then has a giant-size one shot and reboots into X-Men Forever 2, which lasts up to 16.

I’ll occasionally add some stuff so if you didn’t catch something last time it might not have been there! Like the X-Men Forever entry, which I read almost 7 months ago but didn’t decide to put in until now.

[traincat]

not to be dumb on main, but I’ve only rly seen the mcu and not read many comics and I was wondering if you could tell me the reasons you ship spideytorch? Esp bc it’s spideytorch week

I can do that, especially in light of it being Spideytorch week. (I can even tie it into the first two days of @spideytorchweek‘s themes because I’m brilliant like that.)  If you’re coming from a mostly MCU background, what you need to know about Spider-Man comics is that, by in large, they’re a very different animal, especially in terms of Peter’s personality and supporting cast. Unlike in the MCU, he doesn’t have a best friend in high school – there is a Ned Leeds in comics, but he’s a reporter for the Bugle who functions as Peter’s rival for the affections of his first girlfriend, Bugle secretary Betty Brant, and Peter wouldn’t meet Harry Osborn or become friends with Flash Thompson until he entered college. If Peter does have a male friend he’s close to during this point, for the relative value of “friend”, it’s Johnny Storm.

Peter and Johnny first meet in the very first issue of Amazing Spider-Man. This is partially because the Fantastic Four’s brief appearance in the issue were used promote this new superhero book. One thing you have to understand at this point is that the Fantastic Four were wildly popular at their debut, and featuring them in the first solo Spider-Man story was a surefire way to get people to pick up the book. What this ending up cementing was a long and storied in-universe connection between Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four. Peter’s served as an Avenger in 616, but he’s family to the Fantastic Four. 

Not that Peter and Johnny got along at first.

(Amazing Spider-Man #1)

(Amazing Spider-Man #8)

(Strange Tales Annual #2) There was some pretty extreme pigtail pulling going on at first from Peter towards Johnny.

This is one of the premier friendships – developing at this point as it is – in Marvel comics. It basically predates all of the other big ones: Captain America and Iron Man, Luke Cage and Danny Rand, any other big Spider-Man friendship. This came first. There’s a lot of reasons for that – team ups between the Human Torch, who at this point was big enough to have his own run on Strange Tales in addition to the Fantastic Four, and Spider-Man, an instant hit with fans, was good for the sales on both books, and the relationship made sense and was organic because both characters were teenagers who were the same age, who had gained powers in fantastic accidents, and who both had personalities suited to a banter-filled rapport filled with fun bickering.

In spite or maybe because of that early bickering, though, it quickly becomes apparent that Johnny really respects and admires Spider-Man:

(Amazing Spider-Man #18)

Peter Parker, on the other hand, who Johnny’s at the time girlfriend Dorrie Evans thinks is just so polite and gentlemanly? Peter Parker, Johnny doesn’t like so much at this point.

(Amazing Spider-Man #21) And here we have the beginning of our identity porn, practically a staple when it comes to superhero ships. This kind of dynamic between Johnny and Spider-Man/Peter Parker would continue up until Peter revealed his identity to Johnny in the middle of a crisis, having to silently trust him to understand:

(Spider-Man/Human Torch #5)

So you’ve got this amazingly long history, and from the beginning the shippy tropes are piling on – Johnny saying he could understand if his girlfriend fell for Spider-Man, Peter and Johnny having their own special meeting place, and then there’s the fact that Johnny gets kidnapped to use as bait for Spider-Man:

(Amazing Spider-Man #19)

Fast forward a bit. After the death of Gwen Stacy, who Peter was very much in love with and who he was seriously talking about marriage with, Peter unsurprisingly falls into a dark mood. One of the bright spots for him? Building the Spider-Mobile, which he’d been hired by an automotive company to drive, with Johnny:

(ASM #130)

In an updated version of this story in Spider-Man/Human Torch #3 (they even had their own team up comic!), Peter speaks to Gwen’s ghost-slash-memory, and says that when he’s with Johnny he feels like he’s “her” Peter again, the best version of himself:

“And for the first time in a long time, it doesn’t feel like I’m putting on act, or going through the motions. Suddenly, I’m Spidey again. No, I’m Peter again. Your Peter.” Considering Peter was head over heels in love with Gwen and planned to spend the rest of his life with her, that’s one hell of a romantic statement.

Couple this with the fact that, in and out of the mask, Johnny’s consistently one of the best people at calming Peter down and making him take a step back. That might not sound too impressive if you’re not familiar with comics Peter, but in comics, when he’s angry and upset, he has a tendency to verbally lash out at people he loves and isolate himself. It’s generally not a good idea to get in the middle of one of his fights, either – think like inserting yourself into the fight when your dog’s trying to fight another dog. Your dog might love you, but there’s still a very good chance you’re gonna get bit. Johnny’s success record here is unmatched.

(ASM #591)

(Amazing Spider-Man (2015) #5)

Then there’s the fact that Peter clearly feels protective of Johnny. (Though, to be fair, 616 Peter feels very protective about everyone he loves.) When Johnny lost his powers and was on a self-destructive bender, Peter teamed up with Johnny’s other best friend, Wyatt Wingfoot, to snap him out of it:

(Fantastic Four v5 #12) Look at that hand on Johnny’s stomach, steadying him on the building’s ledge. Also look how pretty Johnny is – the real question is, why isn’t he shipped more?

Peter also spent served as Johnny’s personal taxi afterwards:

(Fantastic Four #642)

When the Red Skull recently possessed Johnny and failed to make Johnny hurt his teammates, he taunted Peter by threatening to kill Johnny in front of him, a threat to which Peter violently reacted:

(Uncanny Avengers #20)

So there you have your hurt/comfort, the second trope at play here. (Also, Johnny is a champion damsel of the Marvel universe. I once tried to average out how much he faints and came out with something like 1 out of every 3 issues in the early Fantastic Four days. If you like your hurt/comfort, Johnny Storm is right here, collapsing all the time and getting kidnapped by giant gorillas at least three, one time of which – Amazing Spider-Man Annual #4 – Peter has to save him.)

There’s a million other factors that play into “reasons why I ship them” here – they canonically consider themselves family. They have an established tradition to meet up every Christmas morning at the Statue of Liberty. When Johnny died (he got better) he left a video will instructing that his place on the team be left to Peter and saying that “we all love you”:

(ASM #657)

They lived together when Johnny was recovered alive for a short period of time, during which Johnny cooked Peter breakfast in nothing but his underwear and a saucy apron, yes, really:

(FF #17 – there are word bubbles here in the finished issue, but they just distract from the rest of this, honestly.) And when Johnny’s family disappeared and Peter found himself unexpectedly a millionaire (long story), he bought the Baxter Building to keep it safe for Johnny. They’ve mentioned having movie nights in canon. Whether or not anyone ships them, it’s hard to deny in canon that they love each other, and that they have a bond forged over decades and decades worth of canon. They’re incredibly close, to the point where, when Peter’s identity was wiped from the minds of just about everyone on the planet, Johnny was one of the few people (along with Felicia Hardy, Peter’s ex-girlfriend) who knew that he used to know who Spider-Man was, and the loss of that knowledge hurt him deeply. They’ve fought together, they’ve saved each other lives, they’ve celebrated holidays together, and they’ve propped each other when the other needed it. It’s a ship with so much history it’s honestly hard to sum them up quickly or efficiently – honestly, they have more history and more reasons to ship them than, I would say, at least 80% of other popular ships and I mean ships in general, not just Marvel ships. It’s pretty amazing to have a relationship in canon that has endured the test of so many years and still remained incredibly relevant to each character. If you’re interested in checking out some more comics featuring them, I have a big long in depth reclist here!

Also, Johnny once slept naked in Peter’s bed:

(Civil War II: Amazing Spider-Man #1)

Just platonic best friend things. You’re welcome.

[doctorofmagic]

Hello! Do you have a recommended reading list for Magik? I’ve read pretty much all the Doctor Strange comics (a current list of which I found on his FANDOM wiki page, as opposed to the list you found—which I’ve already used, but found that I liked this one better). While I could just find the Magik list on the Wiki, I’d prefer something that includes her highlights, and not literally every appearance ever. (1/3)

Greetings and thanks for sharing so many thoughts, anon!

For your first question: I’m so happy you’re interested in Magik! Of course, I have a guide for her, especifically with her highlights. I’m not sure about the order because, ugh, chronology. But I guess that’s it. Here we go:

- Uncanny X-Men v1 #145-160. Her first appearance and how Belasco took her from the X-men.- Magik #1-4 (minisseries). Her time in Limbo.- New Mutants v1 #14-21 and #68-73. Illyana escapes Limbo and becomes part of the team. There’s also Inferno arc, which is very important.- Uncanny X-Men v1 #299-303. She is infected by the legacy virus.- New X-Men v2 #38-41. Illyana comes back to life thanks to House of M, but she lacks her soul.- X-Infernus #1-4. Her journey to get her soul back.- New Mutants v3 #17-21. Illyana and her team fight the forces of Limbo.- New Mutants Truth or Death #1-3. She meets her lost brother Mikhail for the first time.- Extraordinary X-men v1. She’s Storm’s right-hand and takes the school to Limbo in order to protect them from a virus.- Black Vortex (cross-over). The X-men and the Guardians of the Galaxy discover a powerful source of cosmic power.- Uncanny X-Men Trades (v3/ Marvel NOW). Cyclops’ revolution, my personal favorite.- Avengers vs X-men. The two teams fight for control over the Force Phoenix.- Avengers vs X-men: Consequences.- A + X #11. Thor and Illyana team-up. If you check issues #9, #15 and #18, you can find Doc as well.- Inhumans vs X-men: both groups are fighting for survival due to the terrigen mist cloud that is spreading all over the globe.- New Mutants: Dead Souls #1-6. Illyana investigates supernatural events.- Uncanny X-men v5 #11-?. She’s currently working with Cyclops once more.Extra: What If? Magik Became Sorcerer Supreme. Another favorite one where Stephen adopts Illyana and teaches her magic.

I believe this is pretty much her essential story arcs.

Now, about your second ask. Oh, I think I haven’t finished Infamous Iron Man because I don’t quite recall this conversation between them. I was reading it, though. Maybe I just forgot to finish it haha, it happens a lot when you’re reading so many titles at once. I should have a chart or something like that. Thank you for notifying me, I’m a fan of both doctors and gonna check it again <3

Finally… Yes, I remember his appearance in JJ! I guess I just forgot to use it on that post about Stephen’s tiredness. Thank you for reminding me of those! Also, thank you for adding your thoughts, it was very helpful!

[thecomicsnexus]

UNCANNY X-MEN #118-119 FEBRUARY - MARCH 1979 BY CHRIS CLAREMONT, JOHN BYRNE, TERRY AUSTIN, RIC VILLAMONTE AND GLYNIS WEIN

SYNOPSIS (FROM MARVEL FANDOM)

The X-Men arrive in Japan aboard the ship Jinguchi Maru, where they find that the city Agarashima is ablaze by a great firestorm caused by an unnatural earthquake. Coming to the mainland, Wolverine reads a local newspaper to learn about the series of strange and unnatural attacks. With a clear disaster on their hands, Scott suggests that they find their old ally, Sunfire and see what they can do to help while at the same time contacting Professor X and letting him know that they are alive. This would seem to be almost too late, as at that very moment, the Professor is aboard a Shi'ar ship back to Lilandra's world, having decided to leave Earth because he would believe the X-Men to be dead.

While in Japan, the X-Men sneak into the Yashida estate and are surrounded by soldiers and Sunfire who order them to surrender. The tense confrontation is halted when Misty Knight shows up and tells Sunfire that the Prime Minister wants to get the X-Men's help. With Cyclops before the Prime Minister, Sunfire demands in Japanese that the Prime Minister allow him to deal with the crisis alone and not allow the American detectives Misty Knight and Colleen Wing or the X-Men interfere. Despite his angry demands, the Prime Minister does not change his decision much to the chagrin of Sunfire. Not understanding the conversation, Cyclops decides to find a phone so that he can call and tell the Professor that they're still alive and tell him that Jean and Hank are dead[3] and still can't believe that Jean is really gone. As he walks away, Colleen thinks about how attractive Cyclops is. When Misty is done calling in on her boyfriend Iron Fist, who can't come to help because he's on a case with Power Man, Cyclops calls the mansion to find that the phone has been disconnected and wonders what could have happened to the Professor. When Cyclops tells Banshee that they need to check back on the mansion, he's told that Colleen is looking for him.

Elsewhere in the house, Wolverine comes across young Mariko Yashida, although the gentle woman is at first frightened by Wolverine's sudden interruption of her meditation she is eased by the fact he is able to speak fluent Japanese and knows much about their culture. The two begin to bond when suddenly the palace is struck by another seeming earthquake. In reality, the house is being attacked by an army of men dressed in Mandroid armor. While the Mandroids manage to knock out Sunfire, the X-Men take them out with relative ease, smashing their armor and preventing their escape.

In the aftermath of the battle, a hologram of the Mandroid's leader appears, he introduces himself as Moses Magnum and demand that the government of Japan name him the ruler of the country in the next 24 hours or he will use his Magnum Force to sink the island of Japan.

Moses Magnum has issued an ultimatum to the government of Japan: Turn the country over to him, or he will use his Magnum Force to sink the entire country. With the 24 hour period to turn over power to him running short, the Prime Minister of Japan has asked the visiting X-Men to help stop him from destroying the country. After briefing the X-Men and Sunfire on Magnum's past the group splits into two teams to try and stop Magnum's operation that is located within the Kuril Islands. While Storm, and Banshee attack from the air (with Nightcrawler teleporting into the base solo), Cyclops, Colossus, Wolverine and Sunfire burrow their way to the island from under ground.

When Cyclops and the others burst through the floor, Colossus is attacked by Magnum who surprises them with his newly acquired super-human strength. Although the group does well against Magnum, the tide of battle is turned to the villains advantage as he calls in his minions in new Mark II Mandroid Armor. Outmatched, Cyclops orders Sunfire to get Storm and Banshee and have them join the battle. As the battle rages, Magnum flees the scene to activate his laser weapon to sink Japan. When Banshee sees the villain flee, he flies outside of the base and pushes his sonic scream to the limit blocking Moses Magnum's weapon, destroying the base as the other X-Men flee.

As they wait for Misty Knight and Colleen Wing to rescue them by plane, the X-Men realize that Banshee has tapped out his mutant powers saving the entire country and may not be able to use his powers again. Ten days of recovery later, Banshee is released from a hospital and returns to the Yashida house and finds that the other X-Men have put up a Christmas tree to celebrate both Christmas and Banshee's release. While the others celebrate, Wolverine wanders off to spend more time with Lady Mariko, while Colossus deals with the loneliness of being away from his family during the holidays.

While in Scotland, Jean Grey exists a train and is welcome by Alex, Lorna, Jamie Madrox and Moira MacTaggert. The group plan on showing Jean around all the sights before returning to Muir Island to celebrate the holidays. Unknown to them, the bitter boat owner Angus MacWhirter has come to the island to get revenge against MacTaggert for the damage done to one of his hovercrafts during the X-Men's battle against Magneto. However before he can do anything he is confronted by an unseen being.

REVIEW

The “you never asked” dialogue between Cyclops and Wolverine is very famous. Every now and then I think about it. It’s a strange answer.

Everything except for the big fights is pretty interesting. For some reason I have problems keeping my concentration in long fights with too many dialogues and text boxes.

I wonder what’s it’s gonna take for Cyclops and Misty to mention Jean. It’s the only thing they have in common, and neither of the two mentions her. I know the X-Men are busy, but I think this is the second time in Claremont’s run that two characters do not move the plot by just talking.

I give the story a score of 8

[dailydamnation]

Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to compile a Best of Magik trade for Marvel. Which stories do you choose, and why?

🗡️🗡️🗡️

Funny you should ask...

I’ve actually spent quite a bit of time thinking about this, but it’s hard to decide on criteria. Like, what to do about long-running stories? Team stories that Illyana has a good but still limited role in? Do you go for rarities that wouldn’t be included with regular runs of Uncanny or New Mutants? Alternate versions, y/n? How big is this collection?

Honestly, I would straight-up buy a collection of the specific scenes of Illyana’s appearances in Uncanny during the roommate era, but that doesn’t seem feasible.

Because I’m already collecting stuff like the Epic Collections of the X-line, my personal preference would be for a collection focusing on what I might not get there, with some indispensable greats thrown in but avoiding single parts of longer arcs, like:

Either the Magik: Storm & Illyana miniseries or Uncany X-Men #160, depending on space

New Mutants #14 for her intro to the team

Mystic Arcana: Magik 

The Illyana solo story from Marvel Super-Heroes Spring Special, because where else is it gonna be collected?

The Illyana and Warlock story from Marvel Fanfare #55

New Mutants #63 for the solo story

Uncanny X-Men #231 for the sibling bonding

Uncanny X-Men vol.3 Annual #1, maybe?

Uncanny X-Men vol.3 #33 because you know I gotta

What If... Magik

Assorted pin-ups, variant covers, trading card art

That leaves a pretty big gap around her return, but the Wells and Gillen runs are hard to pick single issues out of, haven’t figured a solution for that yet. Dead Souls is too new to include (then so is the What If, but as a stand-alone, eh, we can keep it in).

[onlyrogue-a]

4 & 3

What is something that was never addressed at all in the canon material that you have independently developed for your muse?

The thing that springs to mind for me immediately isn’t exactly never addressed but it’s not really explored and it’s Rogue’s life with Mystique and Destiny and her time in the brotherhood. 

Like it’s not even clear when she was taken in exactly or when things like putting Cody in a coma happen. The miniseries about her origins was pretty subpar in some ways like adding in some unnecessary things like her parents’ commune's failed attempt to use Native American mysticism to reach the Far Banks and all the shit tied to that which I hate. I honestly ignore a lot of that part of her origin or make it hazy/unclear or something even she probably doesn’t know mainly because she was very young at the time so she wouldn’t remember it well or be able to give a good account of it. But they never really spend any time with you know, the family that actually raised her.

I’m still working through a lot of the kinks about the details but I’ve basically had to come up with like, how they handled her formal education, how they got her trained for entering the brotherhood, when she started as a member of it. How they tackled raising a daughter while working on clandestine plots, who was allowed to know about her etc etc etc. I generally err to the side that she was homeschooled, especially post-Cody for largely safety reasons and that she was in martial arts classes or something and then later was personally taught by Mystique/a person(s) of Mystique’s choice. And that she started with the Brotherhood when she was at least 16 meaning she was an active member for at least a year before we meet her in comics but likely a little more.

Have you made any outright changes to the canon material in order to write your muse the way you wanted (entire scenes you chose to omit, chapters you say never existed, things you assume were never said, etc.)?

YUP things like Antarctica are VERY different (read: still super shitty but now not because of bad writing) and things like her condemning Magneto for killing the Red Skull just Do Not Happen. In fact her whole time as an avenger and her current status on that team is something I’m still debating heavily and are gonna get reworked between me and @no1asshole because like.....there’s some cool things in Uncanny Avengers..........but either of them being one is.......problematiqué to say the least. I also edit some of her major relationships because like, Marvel is acting like some shit didn’t happen or they cool now (cough Carol and Storm cough) or didn’t get nearly enough development for what it was ( Charles and Magneto). I also ignore like pretty much the whole period where Rogue and Remy had relationship troubles post X-Treme X-Men and Mystique tries to catfish Remy because that was horseshit, they’d literally just had the strongest period their relationship to date in cali like fuck off with this shit.

[giogio-golden]

Elite Four!Au

Lance’s Team

Salamance (Mega), Lapras, Alolan Raichu, Miltank, Ambipom, Kingra

~Lance is the goofiest most laid-back trainer you’ve ever laid eyes on ~He’s super friendly and flirty and loves to complement the trainers that challenge him ~But once he’s in battle, holy shit you’re in for a wild ride ~Lance’s pokemon are relentless, they will destroy your team and have a great time doing so ~But once he’s beaten you he’ll deliver an adorable compliment then send you on your way ~Challengers who lose to Lance leave the room in a daze, yet have a strange new confidence about them ~He’s most often seen supporting Pidge in their battles, since very few people even beat Pidge in order to move on and battle him ~Pidge’s reuniclus has hit him many times with focus blast when he interrupts Pidge’s battles ~Lance will also participate in contests just for fun; his pokemon are in tip top physical condition and look gorgeous on stage ~Lance will walk out of the contest hall with a second place ribbon smiling wide and offering to sign autographs ~He won’t admit it but he’s never actually won a contest and sometimes it really gets to him ~Lance really misses his hometown, so he’ll go there to visit with Hunk and do mini tournaments with the newbie trainers to teach them the basics of battling ~he also grew up training and taking on gyms with Hunk; after they met Pidge they decided to form a triple battle team, but found that the three worked better as individual trainers supporting each other ~his specialty is having the most entertaining and visually stunning battles you’ve ever seen ~His ace is his Kingra that he calls his “sharpshooter” ~several things that have been said to lance by the rest of the elite four “lance I swear one day you’re gonna blind someone with all that glitter” “look, just because you can teach your miltank to do a flip doesn’t mean you should” “I swear if your ambipom slaps my ass one more time I’m kicking you out” ~Lance loves training in the rain or in the ocean; he’s often seen running around victory road in the rain with his team members close behind ~people run into him in the middle of the water, floating on Lapras and drinking lemonade, completely unaware of the world around him ~in order to join the elite four, Shiro put Lance in a tag team duo with Keith, so that their teamwork skills would improve ~they’ve been rivals ever since, and occasionally will team up to battle and/or capture legendary pokemon ~they’ve surprisingly never succeeded in this task

Kingdra ~gets the nickname “sharpshooter” because of it’s uncanny ability to hit its target every single time ~it once went against a frosslass in a hail storm with max double teams and the ability snow cloak; it never missed a hit ~Lance’s most serious pokemon, always the first to yell at him for being too rowdy ~also Lance’s most elegant pokemon, he’s used in in competitions since it was a horsea

Salamence ~Lance’s powerhouse pokemon and the most feared when it comes to challengers ~a suprisingly goofy pokemon, it always smirks and flies in unnecessary patterns before landing attacks ~Lance loves flying on salamence in the rain, they both get soaked but they have the time of their lives ~Lance nicknamed salamence “boomerang” because it looks like one when it mega evolves

Lapras ~Lance’s first pokemon and absolute best friend ~he uses Lapras the most when training with beginner trainers because it’s friendly and doesn’t mind holding back to let the inexperienced kids win ~the two love to float along in a river or the ocean together, taking naps and splashing around ~Lapras is also Lance’s favorite to use in tag teams because it loves working with other pokemon ~it also blows away the competition in contests, but is just as upset as Lance is about never winning first place

Alolan Raichu ~another big star in contests ~Lance tried to teach it to surf on water but kept getting shocked because Raichu got so excited ~Raichu is super giggly, and laughs all the time during battles, sometimes sending everyone in the room into a fit of laughter ~Lance has won battles purely because the other trainer couldn’t stop laughing with Raichu ~Lance was so suprised when his pikachu turned into an alolan raichu since he was new to the whole alolan form thing, but he makes sure Raichu knows he loves it no matter what

Ambipom ~Lance’s right-hand man....get it?...because it has two right hands.... ~flirts so much with other pokemon even Lance tells it to calm the fuck down ~the pokemon Lance leads with; uses a quick combo of fake out, thief and then u-turn to surprise challengers right from the start ~gives the best high fives??? honestly??? ~learned finger guns and peace signs from Lance, uses them more than any move it’s used in battle

Miltank ~y’all already know it’s nicknamed Kaltenecker ~a huge clumsy baby, Lance loves her so much???? ~slow but powerful, Lance depends on her as a last-resort to take care of heavy hitters ~he’s defeated 3 pokemon in a row with just miltank ~people always compare her to Whitney’s miltank, Lance says she’s much much nicer ~gives the best hugs with the dopiest smile; instantly cheers up anyone who encounters her

Pidge | Keith | Hunk | Shiro

[maswartz]

I know I’ve posted this a lot but with the news of how the MCU is gonna handle the FF I’m bringing it back

The Fantastic Four

This is my idea for how Marvel can do a Fantastic Four movie series if they ever get the rights back from FOX. And yes I know a lot of people are in love with the whole “set in the 60s” idea but I’m not.

Reed Richards- A young entrepreneur who made a fortune on multiple patents allowing him to indulge in many scientific curiosities. He holds degrees in multiple fields of science. The press has dubbed him Mr. Fantastic. (think Elon Musk meets Bill Gates meets Steve Jobs) After the accident he gains the ability to stretch his body to incredible lengths Susan Richards- An expert computer programmer and hacker she’s able to sneak into any network. Her programming software is used in all of the FF’s hardware. The accident gave her the power to create invisible force fields as well as cloak herself and others from sight. She calls herself the Invisible Woman as a result. Johnny Storm- A stuntman and experienced pyrotechnics expert he lives to chase the thrill. When his sister invited him on the trip he leaped at the chance. The accident gave him the ability to create intense heat and cover himself in flames. He declared that he was the Human Torch from now on. Ben Grimm- A test pilot who went to college with Reed and has kept in touch ever since. He volunteered to pilot the test flight but suggested that Reed either address the shielding or postpone until the storm passed. The accident mutated him into a rock covered Thing giving him increased stamina and strength. Before battle he recites the motto of the Yancy Street Gang “It’s Clobbering Time!”

Marvel’s Fantastic Four

Reed Richards creates a spaceship in the hopes of making spaceflight available to the public however during the test flight a cosmic storm strikes the earth. The cosmic radiation mutates Reed, his wife Susan, her brother Johnny, and the pilot Ben giving them strange powers. However they were not the only ones effected. Bolts of cosmic power strike all across the world (setting up future heroes and villains). One such bolt strikes a mountain sending cosmic radiation throughout it. A man named Harvey Elder was mining in the mountain when the bolt hit causing a cave in. However the energy mutated him and the life within the soil around him. He became the Mole Man and commanded an army of mutated worms, insects, and moles to do his evil bidding. Fighting him was the first test of the Fantastic Four!

Marvel’s Fantastic Four: The U-Foes

About a year after the cosmic storm hit Earth, Simon Ultrecht head of U-Forces a rival of Reed’s is contacted by a mysterious benefactor who managed to obtain a sample of the cosmic energy. Driven by greed Simon exposed himself and three others creating the U-Foes. The Fantastic Four must prevent these superpowered threats from wrecking havoc.

Marvel’s Fantastic Four: Doom

Little did the Fantastic Four know that the mysterious benefactor was watching them, studying them, analyzing their strengths and weaknesses until he had the knowledge he needed to strike. Victor Von Doom has returned to get his long awaited revenge against Reed Richards!

Marvel’s Fantastic Four: Galactus

Months after the battle against Doom a strange object enters Earth’s atmosphere, a silver man on a silver board. The Silver Surfer declares that Galactus is coming and that none can stop him from consuming the world. It’s up to the Fantastic Four to find a way to stop the Devourer of Worlds from destroying the Earth.

The X-Men

The basic premise is that in the MCU mutants only began to emerge in the last 20 years or so, two groups have formed to protect mutants though their methods vary greatly. The X-men protect humanity and mutantkind alike from themselves and each other while the Brotherhood of Mutants attacks humanity for their crimes against mutants. Each group has valid points but their conflicting goals leads to conflict.

The Uncanny X-Men

An international conference on Mutants is held that the Brotherhood seeks to disrupt while the X-men seek to protect it. As a result mutants are revealed to the world at large

X-men vs Brotherhood of Mutants

Charles Xavier- Professor X - Psychic founder of the X-men, dreams of a world where humanity and mutantkind exist as one. Due to an accident he lost the use of his legs

Max Eisenhardt- Magneto - Master of magnetism, survivor of the holocaust he vows mutantkind will not suffer the same fate.

Former friends and allies, the falling out between the two lead to the formation of the separate groups

Scott Summers- Cyclops - Due to a childhood injury he is unable to turn his eye beams off, only a special visor can block their power.

Gunther Bain- Unus the Untouchable - A former wrestler he discovered his ability to create force fields during a match costing him his career. His shields are one of the few things that can block Cyclops’s beams

Hank McCoy- Beast - Born with enhanced physical strength Hank is a genius as well, however he has begun to mutate further growing blue fur and claws.

Mortimer Toynbee- Toad - A street urchin most of his life, he has enhanced agility and a prehensile tongue as well as the ability to cling to walls.

Warren Worthington III- Angel - A wealthy playboy he hid his wings for most of his life, but with the X-men he can soar free.

Irene Adler- Destiny-  Though she is blind she has the ability to see the future, including any possible moves her enemies make.

Bobby Drake- Iceman - A young prankster who can create and manipulate ice and frost.

St. John Allerdyce- Pyro - A man who wants to see the world burn with the power to manipulate flame and fire

Jean Grey- Marvel Girl - Able to read minds and move objects with telekinesis Jean is the newest member of the X-men but there may be more to her powers than she realizes.

Jason Wyngarde-Mastermind - A man able to reach into the minds of others and create realistic illusions of whatever he finds within their memories.

X-Men 2: Night of the Sentinels

After Mutants were revealed to the world the Sentinel project was begun in secret to combat the more violent mutants. However the project was hijacked by a bigoted politician to use against all mutants, the X-men and the Brotherhood must join forces to protect them all. A post credit scene reveals that the school has begun to admit new students.

X-men 3: Mutant Island

Professor X detects a powerful mutant on a remote island, however once the team arrives they discover the island itself is the mutant. Only Cyclops manages to return home and warns the Professor. Using his powers Professor X summons aid from around the world.