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bamfdaddio · 3 years ago

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X-Men Abridged - New Mutants 1983

The New Mutants, the YA branch of the X-Men, are the next generation: they have to learn to control their powers and to integrate into a world that hates and fears them. As their first official spin-off, the New Mutants are a part of the X-Men’s long, tangled history. Want to unravel this tapestry? Then read the Abridged X-Men!

(New Mutants 1 - 10) - by Chris Claremont and Bob McLeod, Sal Buscema

It took only ten issues for Degrassi Mutant High to devolve into a Road to El Dorado-pastiche set in Ancient Rome. (New Mutants 10)

I have a deep, deep fondness for the New Mutants. I love these characters and I love the return-to-roots vibe they bring to the X-Men. But holy damn do the wheels go off this plot real quick. (I kind of remember this being better? Or more cohesive?) What starts as typical teen plots (but with powers!) quickly branches off into weird side storylines/backdoor pilots for mutant motorcycle gangs and bizarre adventures with lost Roman civilizations in the Amazon. Look, I’m grateful for Selene, but wow. Claremont really did just throw darts at a list of plots he wanted to do and picked the one it landed on, didn’t he?

Of course, the charm of the New Mutants is not the big plots, per se. It’s more about these characters, their coming-of-age-but-with-powers and their interpersonal relations. Mutant kids are fun and Claremont has a really good handle on sketching this first batch of New Mutants, showing the easy camaraderie that they have. The following scene, where Stevie cuts Xi’an’s hair, could be straight from any YA novel:

Stevie, I hope you didn´t suggest that Xi´an change her hair unprompted. I know you´re competing with Xavier for ´best teacher of the year´ so the bar isn't high, but girl. No. (New Mutants 1)

To reiterate, we’ve got the following as a part of this cast:

Psyche, Danielle Moonstar. Angry, angry girl who can pull your worst memory from your brain. Big Katniss Everdeen vibes.

Cannonball, Sam Guthrie. Aw shucks boyo with big ears. Can blast off like a, well, you get the idea.

Wolfsbane, Rahne Sinclair. Repressed Scottish girl who’s basically a lycanthrope who can shift at will.

Sunspot, Roberto daCosta. One of my first mutant crushes. Little hothead who is literally powered by the sun.

Karma, Xi’an Coy Manh. Precious telepath who doesn’t deserve what’s coming to her.

Professor Xavier, man with a dream of mutant integration desperately trying to avoid raising another group of child soldiers. Currently not quite himself.

Stevie Hunter, dance teacher, human, ancillary cast member of the X-Men and foil to Xavier. Apparently just likes kids? Can’t relate.

While this ostensibly an ensemble book, the first year has a more crystallized protagonist than, say, the X-Men. Refreshingly, this role doesn’t fall to Cannonball: instead, Dani Moonstar claims the stage. She’s the one who’s got the least grip on her powers, explosively so: sometimes, she accidentally lashes out or conjures telepathic images of somebody’s innermost fears or desires. The narrative slowly grooms her to be the leader and she’s the first one who gets her own subplot (more on that later). She’s also the most openly rebellious against Charles Xavier, customizing her own outfit and showing naked defiance.

Leave it to an angry teenager to weaponize the fact that you can read their minds. (New Mutants 4)

It’s not actually that odd for Dani not to trust Xavier: for the first few issues, Xavier is still wrapped up in the X-Men Brood-plot and he is actually incubating an alien Brood-queen, who is influencing his actions. While Xavier does want to raise these new mutants and do better than he did for the X-Men (who are currently presumed lost in space and/or dead, depending on the issue), the Brood Queen may have nudged him into it as well, because she has plans for this band of youngsters.

Brood!Xavier lets the New Mutants run the gauntlet in the Danger Room and one by one, the Room bests them. When it’s Dani’s turn, she has this sense that the room will kill her – she might be picking up the Brood Queen’s hostility there – and she flees. Rahne comes to console her but she can’t convince Dani to tag along to the mall with her and the rest of the New Mutants.

At the mall, they surprisingly do not run into Jubilation Lee.

I wonder how many of the 20+ people in that war room are wondering if the government money is best spent keeping track of a bunch of teens who are so uncool that they don’t even know Blondie or the Sex Pistols. (New Mutants 2)

Despite stalking these newbies and, not, say, the myriad of other dangerous mutants running around, Gyrich has no intentions to use the sentinels Project Wideawake is building against children. Fortunately, he has invited the delightful Sebastian Shaw into his corner, who can always be depended upon to move the plot forward. Shaw, who unbeknownst to Gyrich is a mutant, actually wants the New Mutants to grow so paranoid and mistrustful of humans that, when the Hellfire Club takes Xavier off the board, they will come running towards them.

Predictably, the Sentinels get deployed. Funnily enough, Shaw apparently doesn’t really entertain the thought that these Sentinels will actually pose any threat to our intrepid new Mutants, because he’s basically using them as glorified scare tactics.

The mall gets trashed, the New Mutants live. Woo! (Stevie Hunter continually wonders what the fuck she is doing there, which is fair.)

Back at the mansion, Dani tries the Danger Room on her own and actually succeeds, before she is attacked by… A BROOD? (I am so goddamn sick of the Brood.)

The Brood lets her go, only to attack all the New Mutants again a few days later. It’s all very chaotic and weird, but it ends like this:

So, did anyone ever try making clothes out of Brood-silk? Would it be a durable fabric made of never-ending plot threads? (New Mutants 3)

This particular Brood Queen is dispatched when the New Mutants knock Danielle Moonstar out: apparently, her powers made her own fear real (probably influenced by the Brood Queen, which is why the Brood has Xavier’s mind powers… or something. I don’t know.)

The X-Men then defeat the Brood Queen that’s taken over Xavier in their own flagship. I’d complain about the lack of denouement in this title, but I think I’m finally done with the Brood! For now. I think they return when I get to the 90’s, but if I ever get there, I’m sure I’m over this brood fatigue.

I hope.

Before we get embroiled in weirdness again, we get a nice, grounded adventure where the New Mutants try to figure out who’s leaving Stevie Hunter threatening phone calls. (It’s one of her students who’s in love with her and can’t express that crush in any sort of healthy way.) It’s a very monster-of-the-week kind of episode that might veer a little too close to a PSA, but it still works. I’d love there to be more of this and less of the romp and circumstance, but alas.

Also, we get this joyous Cannonball moment out of it:

I am just so in love with his big ears. I wish they’d kept this character trait in modern art. (New Mutants 4)

Next up: a backdoor pilot for Team America, a group of bikers who, together, can summon the Black Rider, a supernaturally gifted motorcyclist. See, the New Mutants attend a Team America showcase at a derby… fair…thing, but it is ruined! By an explosion! The cause is the Viper (Lady in Green) and the Silver Samurai (Wolverine’s almost-brother-in-law), who want to flush out the Black Rider. And lo, he appears! When the rider is overpowered by the Samurai, he unmasks them and it´s… Dani Moonstar?!

Viper yoinks her away, but soon realizes that Danielle is superzoz and knows nothing of motorcycles. So no Black Rider for Viper. Viper then uses her as a hostage to make Team America do her dirty work for her: the team will steal all of Fort Knox’s money.

Viper, I love you, but that’s an abysmal plan. Also, wouldn’t it be easier to extort some Hell’s Angels if you really really want to use bikers?

Back at the derby, Xavier figures out that Team America are mutants who can together project a Black Rider-gestalt on someone. This means that the five of them share a mutant power and together, they can Power Ranger someone into being a super-duper Harley Davidson driver.

How does that… How would that mutant power ever even emerge? One power split fiveways? I know that’s what happened to the Cuckoos and the Beaubier twins (sort of), but at least they are twins and/or clones.

Anyway, Xavier decides to help Team America and sends the New Mutants home, hoping to be a good teacher and keep them out of harm’s way. He once again shows a whopping insight into the teenage brain, because of course the New Mutants do the opposite of that: they vow to recover Dani because the Professor obviously doesn't care about them.

Following Karma’s lead, they decide to pump her evil uncle for information. It does not go well.

Not to be that guy, but you can just… not keep that promise, Xi’an. You could literally walk your uncle into a police station and have him confess a couple of sins. Seriously. You don’t need to sell your soul to the devil. Xi’an? Hello? (New Mutants 6)

You’d expect:

This plot to go somewhere.

What we get:

Karma gets seemingly killed in an off-screen explosion caused by an angry Viper after the New Mutants spring Danielle from the former AIM-facility.

(AIM is like the guild of super-evil scientists hell-bent on taking over the world, but not super-evil enough to make it on their own.)

Like Karma getting in bed with her evil uncle plot, the whole Team America-thing also goes nowhere, so I’m just going to ignore them, since they did not save Dani, nor will they be appearing again. (Yay!) Viper and the Silver Samurai fuck off to the X-Men, where they ruin Wolverine’s wedding. (Aw.)

The New Mutants, the X-Men and Xavier search for (the remains of?) Xi’an for a week, but find nothing. Since Xavier felt a malevolent but familiar telepathic entity spring free during that explosion (spoiler: it’s the Shadow King), he worries and sends the New Mutants away to keep them out of harm’s way. (We just did this plot! It just ran over Karma! Ohmygod!)

The New Mutants, understandably steamed that their new paternal figure keeps sending them away, accompany Roberto’s mum on an archeological expedition into the Amazon. Roberto’s dad, who’s in league with the Hellfire Club now and who does not get along with his ex-wife, has a vested interest in the same area, so he wants to sabotage the expedition. It’s all very Succession.

River boat cruise time! Claremont mines the setting for all its worth: heatstrokes, piranhas and an attack by natives, oh my! The boat crew takes one of the assailants hostage. Then one of the crew sabotages the mission on the orders of Shaw and Emmanuel daCosta. The boat goes down in the rapids and the disguise of the native Amazonian is swept away: she is apparently a blonde girl who speaks English. Her name is Amara and I scrap my entire paragraph on colonialism ‘cause I don’t know, guys, I just don’t know.

The river sweeps away Roberto’s mom, but before the New Mutants can help her, they’re arrested by a bunch of legionnaires in the name of Imperial Rome.

Like I said, throwing darts at a list of genres and seeing where it lands.

I would complain about it more, but this plot features Sam and Roberto as shirtless, oiled up gladiators, so at least my slash sensibilities are appeased.

This New Rome is a nest of vipers. Some of the populations are descendants of Old Rome who are in favor of a republic, others are Incas who want a proper kingdom. Amara is the daughter of a senator who’s embroiled in political games. His enemy is an upstart with kingly designs called Marcus Gallio, who is married to… Selene. (One of the saving graces of this story.)

The New Mutants are tossed into a dungeon and the following day, the boys are made to fight into an arena (while drugged into a rage) while the girls wait on Gallio and look on (while drugged into a daze).

This stretch of the New Mutants is like that movie 2012: too much nonsensical plot crammed into its runtime, but the action scenes are great. (New Mutants 9)

After the boys are knocked out, Gallio orders them killed. Rahne, who is apparently crushing on Sam (who is crushing on Amara, which explains why Rahne does not care much for Amara), realizes Sam is about to be killed, so she wolves out to intervene. Her telepathic bond with Dani snaps Dani awake, who summons the form of Xavier to bring everybody to their senses.

The crowd goes bananas, thinking these freaks are allied with someone called the black priestess (I wonder who that could be), but then senator Gallio proclaims Wolfsbane the descendant of the wolf who suckled Romulus.

It’s funny how all the tropes in this story – political intrigue, human sacrifice, mistaking mortals for gods – are the same that build about every story involving the Aztincatecs. (Seriously. Look just look at The Road to El Dorado.) Did Claremont start out with Incas, before realizing that was too cliché, so he repurposed it as New Rome? Eh, whatever.

Anyway, they are saved from slavery, but are now much more wary. Dani, once again taking the lead, sneaks out at night to do some investigating, but she is seized. She wakes up next to Amara and another girl.

New Mutants: *is the kiddy spin-off of the X-Men* Also New Mutants: *has a lot of straight up horror and a higher body count* (New Mutants 10)

Back at the domus, Rahne confesses to Roberto that she prefers being a wolf over being a girl, because being a wolf is less complicated. Girl, same. I’d rather be a well-fed European housecat than a human, especially after the event that was the year 2021. Anyway, then an assassin comes to shoot Roberto! And the assassin is (allegedly) sent by Senator Amara’s Dad! Treachery!

Sam and Roberto come to help arrest Amara’s dad, ensuring that he is not ‘accidentally’ speared to death by Gallio’s men. They agree that something smells plain ole fishy in New Rome!

Back at the volcano, Dani tries to stop Selene from sacrificing Amara by using her powers and Selene realizes they are “of the same blood”. While Selene gleefully chews the scenery and somewhere, Cruella and Yzma applaud her, Dani thinks Selene’s a monster. (No wonder mankind hates mutants, if we are all like that.) Selene tosses Amara into the volcano and we ramp up right to the cliffhanger.

Amara endears herself to me by taking a page right out of Animated Series!Storm’s speech book. (New Mutants 10)

It’s been a while since we had a straight up power-hungry mutant as a villain, but you could do worse than a psychic vampire like Selene who drains young girls of their youth. It even kind of makes sense that she’s this extra: she’s been a big fish in this small pond for a while now. Humans are cattle to her. More of Selene, please!

What’s the rest of my wishlist for the second year? A quick end to this storyline, a slightly more coherent overarching plot and maybe… some Hellions?!

Best new character: Selene! (All the other New Mutants were conceived one year hence.)

What to read: New Mutants 1, 2, 4, 9 & 10.

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littleabriel-blog · 3 years ago

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My Problem with Loki

Loki is a character beloved by many people. He has been for a decade now, although some people who read comics before the Marvel Cinematic Universe was a thing were fans of him long before the first Thor came out. Over the years since his appearance in that movie the character has gone through a lot of changes, evolving from a villain to an anti-hero both in the MCU and in the comics, the latter even killing off his original incarnation to reincarnate him in a younger body resembling Tom Hiddleston in the hopes that the comics could capitalize on his popularity in order to sell more books. That move, unfortunately, did not bear fruit, with Loki’s solo series being canceled after only five issues. However, Loki remained popular in the movies, so much so that when he was killed off in Infinity War, people were pissed.

As a result of his enduring popularity, Kevin Feige and company decided to give Loki his own solo series on Disney+ when the decision was made to create a string of MCU tie-in shows to supplement the movies, and boost subscription numbers to Disney’s new streaming service. Fans of the character rejoiced. Finally, our favorite character was going to be in the spotlight, and not be merely a supporting character for Thor and hopefully not a butt monkey for the Avengers like he was in the third act of the movie of the same name. WandaVision and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier had previously had well-received and successful debuts on that same platform, and it was hoped that Loki would do the same. Loki turned out to be the most successful of the Disney+ MCU shows that have come out so far, scoring highest in the ratings. As of this writing, it holds a 93% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and an 8.5 on IMDb.

Those numbers, however, don’t reflect the entire audience and there were a lot of people who were not altogether happy with the product we received. Many people who had been hardcore fans of Loki since Tom Hiddleston first put on the horned helmet were not pleased, myself included.

The show wasn’t all bad. It did set up the multiverse, introduced Kang, introduced Mobius. The special effects were outstanding, a lot of the gags were hilarious, and we did get some character development from Loki before the spotlight fell away from him and he became all about panting after the real main character...more on that in a few.

So many things, however, were wrong.

If you liked the show, thought it was perfect, and were a fan of the romance, that’s perfectly fine. There is no such thing as a wrong opinion on a work of fiction. Everyone has their interpretations, everyone has their likes and dislikes, and there is nothing wrong with liking the show. There is also nothing wrong with not liking the show. This is a concept that people on both sides of the debate fail to understand, and I have witnessed flame wars, harassment from individuals on both sides, harassment of creators on social media from both sides, and various bits of biphobia, homophobia, transphobia, and other assorted types of phobias on display. I have seen people accuse people who have different opinions on the show than them of “not being a true Loki fan” and stating that people who have certain interpretations of the character don’t “truly know Loki”.

I’m not here to do that, and I assure you, if you liked the show, that’s fine. You’re allowed to. I’m allowed to not like it, and I’m allowed to explained why I didn’t like it just as you’re allowed to explain why you did. As long as both of us are being respectful, expressing an opinion is good. There is expressing an opinion and offering constructive criticism, however, and then there is namecalling, trolling, and having a tantrum and accusing someone of being “aggressive” when they don’t share the same opinion you do.

There is a huge difference between saying “I find the character of Sylvie to be problematic, and here is why” and “I think fans of Sylvie are sick and need therapy”, and people need to learn the difference between the two. Unfortunately, you have people who have become very protective of their favorite characters and tend to take any criticism leveled at said characters personally. It’s basically “You don’t like them? Well then you don’t like me, and since you don’t like me, I don’t like you.” Which is, frankly, a dangerous mentality to have. We are talking about fictional characters, not real people, and there is no need to jump to the defense of someone who does not exist. It is those people who tend to demonstrate that they have unstable personalities and immaturity, and they are the ones I have started blocking on Twitter because, being an adult woman, I don’t have the patience to deal with immature nonsense like that.

So, if you read this and then decide you want to hunt me down to give me a piece of your mind, tell me that I’m not a “true” fan of Loki, and accuse me of whatever, don’t bother. This piece isn’t here for that. It’s here because I wanted to compile my thoughts and feelings in a way that would better for me to articulate. It’s more or less a venting mechanism, purely for my benefit. If someone else gets something out of it, fine. If the creators of the show happen to see it, which is very unlikely because A) I’m not exactly going to push it onto them on their social media to get them to read it and B) they already get bombarded with tons of opinions on the show on a daily basis and aren’t going to care about one more voice added to the mix, even one who has basically compiled a novel, then alright.

And it is a novel, because I have a lot to say about Loki. I have been a huge fan of the character since long before Tom Hiddleston began playing him. My first encounter with Marvel’s Loki came in the form of the X-Men comics, specifically The Asgardian Wars run. It’s available in trade, and you should check it out. I read that run when I was around 10 years old, and I enjoyed Loki as the bad guy in the two stories that make up the collection. The first has him creating a special wish fountain that has a monkey’s paw effect in that it imbues mortals with special gifts and powers, and has the potential to make Earth a better place, but at the cost of killing every magical person and being on Earth. The X-Men and Alpha Flight find out about this after a plane piloted by the wife of one of the X-Men happens to crash in the general location the fountain is located. The two teams go to investigate, Shaman and Snowbird who are both magical beings begin dying, it’s discovered Loki created the fountain in order to score brownie points with The Ones Who Sit Above In Shadow (a pantheon of deities who are basically the Gods to the Asgardians), and after a lengthy battle Loki is defeated, he shuts down the fountain under pressure from The Ones, and slinks back to Asgard with tail between his legs.

In the second story, set after the heroes of Earth had helped Asgard defeat Surtur, Loki’s attention is caught by Storm, who at the time was depowered. He kidnaps her and brings her to Asgard intending to use her to replace Thor as the Goddess of the Storm, and use her as a pawn to, what else, conquer Asgard and seize the throne.

I really enjoyed Loki then, and felt sorry that he never appeared in any other X-Men story, not even in an issue of the New Mutants, and that team boasted an actual Valkyrie (Danielle Moonstar) as one of its members. I was a kid at the time and read pretty much exclusively X-Men since those were the books my father purchased for me. I never felt right about asking him for other books since we were a family with money struggles and I didn’t want to be more of a burden by requesting Thor or Avengers comics--that, and I just didn’t find Thor or the Avengers all that interesting at the time, a sentiment shared by a lot of people until the first Iron Man made us actually care about Tony Stark. I wouldn’t have an opportunity to start reading more comics featuring Loki until I was an adult and able to visit comic book stores on my own. I read several runs that featured him as a character, including Ragnarok, the Broxton, OK run where Loki first appeared as a woman, Dark Reign, and finally Siege. I also went back and read Walt Simonson’s legendary run on The Mighty Thor, which I highly recommend.

Suffice it to say, I’ve been a fan of the character for a long time, and in fact when Tom Hiddleston was cast in the role for Thor, I remember thinking that he was too young. But then I figured it was Hollywood, of course they’re going to deage Loki so that he appears closer in age to his adopted brother in contrast to the comics pre-Siege where Loki was often drawn to look like he was as old as Odin and therefore could be Thor’s uncle or even father as opposed to brother.

Over the years I grew to enjoy the MCU’s version of the character, enjoy Tom Hiddleston in the role, and like most other people was greatly saddened by his death in Infinity War. Like other fans, I looked forward to his solo series and had high hopes for it. Hopes that were, unfortunately, dashed.

It Was Rushed

In the MCU, it took Loki years to go from troubled young god, to villain, to ambivalent ally, to anti-hero, to hero. Literally, years. Months had passed between the end of Thor and the beginning of Avengers during which Loki endured who-knows-what at the hands of Thanos. We don’t know exactly what still. The Loki series didn’t answer that, I guess because they didn’t want to devote precious screentime to an interesting backstory for what was supposed to be the main character when they could focus on something else instead. That something else will be elaborated on.

In Episode 1, Loki is still the villain from Avengers, something he would have remained as into The Dark World. It would take him being in Asgard’s prisons for a year and then him accidentally getting his adopted mother Frigga killed in order for him to begin to do a heel-face turn. From this, we can clearly see that a transition from ax-crazy bad guy to anti-hero is not going to happen overnight. For this person I shall call Ragnarok Loki, it was a process that took time. He suffered a complete mental breakdown while in Asgard’s prison, a fragile emotional state that was compounded by the anger and massive guilt he felt at Frigga’s death.

Even after that, he still hadn’t completely abandoned his villainous ways. At the end of The Dark World we find out that after faking his supposed death earlier in the movie, Loki has assumed Odin’s form and taken his place on Asgard’s throne. In Ragnarok, Loki is still sitting on the throne in Odin’s form, and shows no indication at all that he feels any remorse for giving his adopted father amnesia, stripping away his magic, and abandoning him on Earth to whatever fate he might meet. Loki remains a selfish bastard throughout Ragnarok until the third act, after Thor had treated him to a taste of his own medicine by sticking a taser on him and then giving him a speech about becoming predictable and complacent.

Loki’s arc was one that spanned four movies and six years, since in-universe there were a couple of years between The Dark World and Ragnarok. That meant that his character development took actual time and was realistic. It was one of the things that drew people to the character, the fact that he had a very relatable and believable redemption arc.

Compare that to Episode 1. In less than a day he goes from being the Loki that we saw in Avengers, batshit crazy, selfish, callous, and untrusting, to making personal confessions to a man he had just met only a couple hours previously and agreeing to help the organization that had arrested, stripped, imprisoned, tried, and almost executed him.

What?

I will give the show this: In Episode 2, he shows that he’s still up to his old tricks when he feeds Mobius and the agents all that horsecrap about how a Loki works in the Ren Faire tent, and then revealing that he plans to take over the TVA when he confronts his variant in the futuristic Wal-Mart. The weeping confession to Mobius, that I can’t really get over. How do you go from haughty, arrogant, and “trust is for children and dogs”, to “I don’t enjoy hurting people” in just a couple of hours? The show never indicated that it was a manipulation tactic on Loki’s part. Instead, we were basically told to believe that they became friends just that fast. That emotionally stunted and closed-off Loki made a connection with another person in a matter of hours. Makes sense. Don’t get me wrong, I like Mobius and feel he makes a good foil for Loki. I hope to see more of him in the future. I just have a tough time finding their friendship all that believable.

This would not be the only relationship in the show that happened too fast that we were forced to just buy, which leads me to Sylvie.

She’s the variant that the TVA had been hunting, that Mobius recruited Loki to help capture. And while I normally hate it when people ascribe a certain label onto a new female character because reasons (ones that are usually misogynistic), I think it fits rather well in Sylvie’s case.

Enter The Mary Sue

Mary Sue is a term that gets thrown around a lot. To sum up the meaning in very simple terms, it refers to a character who is too perfect to be believable. Mary Sues are often author-self inserts in fiction, they’re usually the love interest for at least one male hero and it’s usually the male hero the author will admit to having a crush on, their scenes usually are presented much more descriptively than those of the other characters, the story will revolve around them often at the expense of the development and plots for the other characters of the story, and they’re presented as beautiful, powerful, intelligent, beautiful, special, strong, beautiful, and desirable. Yes, beautiful is on the list more than once, and it’s deliberate.

The term comes from an old Star Trek parody fanfic, and while it is usually applied to original characters in fan fiction, the term has been used to describe characters in canon media as well. Some examples of characters who have been described as Mary Sues would include Bella from the Twilight books, Felicity from the show Arrow, Jaenelle Angelline from Anne Bishop’s The Black Jewel novels, Sookie Stackhouse from True Blood, Rey from the last Star Wars trilogy, and Jean Grey from the X-Men comics. Note I do not necessarily agree that those characters are Mary Sues, I have merely heard these characters referred to as Mary Sues, and when I look at them objectively I can kind of see where the accusations come from. Some other terms that can apply are Creator’s Pet and of course Author Self-Insert. Not all Mary Sues are Author Self-Inserts, but a lot of them are. Also, not all characters who can be labeled Mary Sues are female, though they often are. The male version of a Mary Sue is called a Marty Stu, and a couple of characters I’ve seen get ascribed that label include Harry Potter, Daemon Sadi from Anne Bishop’s The Black Jewel novels, Edward from Twilight, and Red Hulk from Marvel Comics. Even Batman and Wolverine haven’t been immune from the Marty Stu stamp, although you can argue that it does apply in their cases especially depending on who’s writing them. Sometimes it is painfully obvious they are author self-inserts...the aforementioned Bella is a good example. Others, you can only speculate on. And while there are theories going around that Sylvie is someone’s self-insert, we don’t have definitive proof of that.

There are good arguments, however, for her being labeled a Mary Sue and Creator’s Pet.

First are her powers. In the show we are told that Sylvie taught herself magic, especially her ability to “enchant”, the power to get into the minds of others and manipulate them. The fact that she taught herself would indicate that her education and skill in using magic should be lacking, right? She should not be as good as, say, someone who learned magic from his foster mother who herself was taught by Asgardian witches?

Yet in the show, Sylvie not only runs circles around Loki magically wise, she even teaches him a few tricks. This is startlingly in contrast to the comics. Loki’s Sylvie is partially based on the character Sylvie Lushton from the Young Avengers, a bad guy who was once a normal girl whom Loki imbued with powers before his death at the hands of the Sentry during the events of 2010’s Siege storyline. In the comics, Loki not only gave Sylvie her powers, but he was the one who taught her how to use them. Now, of course things in the MCU are not going to follow the way things are in the comics. MCU Loki is nowhere near as old as comics Loki and has so far not demonstrated the ability to give other beings powers. And MCU Sylvie is a composite of Sylvie Lushton and Lady Loki, which is also problematic, but we’ll get to that.

But the point is that Sylvie had no training. Her magic is some improvised slapped-together stuff that at best she picked up here and there and at worst she just pulled out of her ass. Now, knowing that, we’re supposed to buy that she can mop the floor magically wise with someone who was formally trained by a sorceress? And that furthermore, she can school him as well?

To make up for her lack of experience and knowledge, Loki is nerfed. Power wise and intellectually wise, he is nerfed. In Thor and Avengers Loki is smart, well-spoken, and a master manipulator. At one point he is able to turn all of the Avengers against one another, and while his magic has never been anywhere near the level it was at in the comics pre-Siege (after his resurrection, he was powered down and is currently nowhere near the powerhouse he had been prior to 2011) he was able to pull off some impressive displays of skill nonetheless. Shape shifting, illusion casting, it was a good repertoire.

In Episode 3, however...well, he does use teleportation to some impressive affect during his fight with Sylvie, but he still doesn’t get the upperhand. And he should. Loki is a better trained fighter, better trained in sorcery, and realistically should have at the least managed to incapacitate his variant. He doesn’t however, because the moment he meets Sylvie his IQ drops about 20 points. He falls easily for her tricks, makes laughable plans, gets drunk and draws too much attention when he knows that is a bad idea, and manages to get them both stuck on a moon that will soon be dust courtesy of the rogue planet about to crash into it. Loki has made some blunders in the various MCU movies he’s been in, mostly due to his own arrogance and tendency to underestimate his foes, but he’s not that stupid. In fact, in The Dark World he screams at Thor and calls him an idiot for drawing attention to themselves by hijacking an elven ship and crashing into every column and statue within a fifty-foot radius.

Where exactly is that smart, calculating, more careful Loki we know from the films? He’s been transformed and dumbed down, in an attempt to prop Sylvie up. It’s a tired trope, making the male character a dumbass in order to make the female character look good. Well, I should say male-presenting and female-presenting characters in this case, but their supposed gender fluidity really is not represented well and it’s completely contradicted later on, but we’ll get to that.

Anyway, making the male character stupid in order to make the female character look better by comparison is not empowering. It’s insulting. It implies that women are not smart or capable enough to meet men on equal footing, that the only way we can shine is not by virtue of our own strengths, but merely by making us look better than the men.

She doesn’t just outshine Loki intellectually and power wise, she outshines him period. The show from Episode 3 on becomes about Sylvie. She is the show’s main focus, and Loki? He’s relegated to the role of supporting character in the series that’s named after him. Supporting character, and love interest. From Episode 3 on, the show might as well be called Sylvie.

Now, some people will say that since Sylvie is a Loki, the show was indeed focusing on Loki. The problem is, the show is very inconsistent as to whether or not Sylvie really is a Loki or a different person entirely. I will explain more later, but the writers seem to change Sylvie’s identity to suit whatever narrative they want to present to the audience, including the pre-Pixar Disney romance they foist upon us.

The Romance, and why some find it gross

One major characteristic of the Mary Sue is that she always draws the romantic and sexual interest of the main male character, who may or may not be a Marty Stu himself. Oftentimes he’s not, and Loki does not fit the criteria of a Marty Stu by any stretch of the imagination. These romances always happen fast with little to no buildup. There is no what writers of romance call “slow burn”, it’s just throw Mary at the male character, hook them up, and get the audience to buy it. Basically, it’s reminiscent of the romance stories in the Classical Era Disney animated films. Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella all fall madly in love with their princes within minutes of meeting them. There’s no getting to know each other, there is no preamble, there is no slow courtship, no real drama to speak of. It’s basically Love At First Sight or True Love. This trend continues even into the Disney Renaissance. In The Little Mermaid, Ariel is willing to make a deal with a witch to give up her fins for a prince she hasn’t even spoken to yet. He doesn’t even know she exists, and she leaves her home and family behind, gives up her voice, all for a mere shot at hooking up with him.

That’s not love, that’s lust. That’s hormones overruling your brain, and it’s an insulting trope, one that feminists have railed against for years. Disney has made a little progress. The movie Frozen took the mickey out of the Love At First Sight/True Love trope with the song “Love Is An Open Door” and the prince Anna wanting to marry turning out to be a major sleazebag who just wants to use her, but we still only have three Disney princesses (Elsa, Moana, and Merida) who have never had love interests and two (Anna and Rapunzel) whose love stories come close to being slow burns, out of 12 official Princesses. There’s still a long way to go, and boy is there a major step backwards in Loki.

In Episode 3, Loki fights Sylvie and they end up on Lamentis 1. Sylvie spends a good portion of the time insulting and trying to kill Loki, and Loki finds himself having to defend himself from her. That changes once they get on the train going to the Arc. After sneaking aboard the train using a disguise and a flimsy story, the two Lokis sit in a booth, where Loki proceeds to drink champagne. It is then that, out of nowhere, the conversation shifts from how Sylvie learned her powers to the topic of love.

Why? Why would you bring that up in conversation with someone who was doing her best to kill you a couple hours prior?

Then Loki makes things worse by asking Sylvie if she has a beau waiting for her. Why? It doesn’t make sense. The two of you are at each other’s throats, she’s done her best to kill you, neither of you trusts the other, and, completely out of left field, you decide to basically ask “So...are you single?”

Now, enemies to lovers is a trope that can work when done right. Typically, it’s a very subtle, slow progression that the audience witnesses over time in a novel, movie or television series. Weeks and even months will go by in the narrative during which the two people go from wanting each other dead to developing feelings for one another. There’s usually a “will they, won’t they period” that lasts for some time that’s full of teases and flirting before the couple does hook up and gives the audience the resolution. Done in this way, enemies to lovers can work.

This...this is not the right way to do enemies to lovers. Within a couple of hours Loki and Sylvie go from hatred and doing their damnedest to stabbing one another in the backs, to having a connection that causes a nexus event?

By the way, that nexus event makes no sense. In Episode 2, it is established that it is impossible to create a nexus event in an apocalypse. It is why Sylvie was able to avoid capture by the TVA for so long. In fact, just minutes prior to the two of them almost dying in Episode 4, Sylvie flat-out says that she figured out that she needed to hide in apocalypses because she discovered she didn’t create a nexus event when she hid in them.

Now the two of them are able to create a nexus event in the midst of an apocalypse? Why? Their “connection” isn’t going to lead to any consequences...they were about to die. No one else need never have known about the “moment” the two of them shared. It’s very confusing and the only purpose it really serves is to paint Loki and Sylvie as soulmates, which doesn’t make sense in the context of the show. The concept of soulmates is that for every person, there is someone out there they are predestined to be with. Loki is a show that, at the core of it, is about rejecting predestination and embracing free will. In that context, the idea of soulmates is ludicrous and contradictory to the message that we make our own destiny. This is why True Love is unrealistic, and I hate to break it to you romantics out there, but Love At First sight does not exist.

Infatuation At First Sight exists, but that is not Love, no matter what your hormones are telling you. Love takes time to evolve, and it takes work to maintain. It sure as hell doesn’t happen after less than 12 hours of knowing each other, during which a huge chunk of time was devoted to trying to manipulate, outsmart, and murder the person you’re supposedly in love with. No one falls in love in less than 12 hours, period, unless it’s a Classical Era Disney animated movie. They basically turned Loki into a big Disney Romance trope. I have a very hard time buying that Loki, who we have established is emotionally stunted and closed off, would form a love connection in just a few hours, especially with someone who was doing her best to murder him in that timespan.

That is not the only reason this relationship is problematic. The term “Selfcest” has been thrown around, and a lot of defenders of this particular ship claim that the term was very recently made up in social media for the sole purpose of badmouthing this particular romance. That is not the case. Selfcest is a term that has existed among fiction writers for years, it’s just that more people have recently become aware of it thanks to this show. The trope has been used and referred to in various works of fiction, especially in fantasy and science fiction where cloning, alternative universes, and magic occur. A lot of the insults I get from people who can’t stand that I don’t like the romance basically go along the lines of saying selfcest doesn’t exist. No, it doesn’t...in reality. But this isn’t reality, is it? It’s fiction. It’s a fictional world where such a thing could be possible, and even in works where it’s not possible it’s often alluded to.

In A Song Of Ice And Fire, we have the infamous twincest relationship going on between Cersei and Jamie Lannister, and it is heavily implied that sleeping with her brother is the closest that Cersei can get to banging herself and that is why she does it. Jamie is basically everything she feels she should have been and was denied due to being born a woman. In fact, in later books when he reunites with her after having been away from King’s Landing for over a year, during which time he’s grown a beard and shaved his head, Cersei no longer finds him as attractive since they no longer look as much alike.

And with advances in cloning, selfcest might be possible in the future. We already have sex robots, and people with money are capable of making those robots look like themselves. There is nothing stopping them from doing it.

Knowing all of this, the argument of “selfcest doesn’t exist!” falls flat. And it especially falls flat when you’re referring to a fictional universe where a large purple man once killed off half the population of said universe with a snap of his fingers, where scientists turn into giant green monsters, the Norse gods not only exist but regularly interact with people on Earth, and there’s such a thing as a Sorcerer Supreme.

As I have said, the show has been rather inconsistent in stating what exactly Sylvie’s identity is. One moment, we are told Sylvie is a Loki and that she and Loki are the same person. Mobius says it, Kang says it multiple times, Judge Renslayer says it, the director and the writers state it in interviews. But then in the next breath, they contradict it by saying that she’s not a Loki, she’s Sylvie and a different person.

You can’t have it both ways. Which is it? Either she’s a Loki, or she’s not. The narrative is very confusing and it changes depending on how they want us to see Sylvie, especially in relation to her romance with Loki. It’s so much easier to avoid the selfcest/incest accusations when you can say they are different people. But then they say they’re the same person. Make up your minds!

Since the show first established that Sylvie is a Loki, I’m going with that. Especially since we saw a bit of her backstory. She grew up in Asgard as a member of the royal family, which means she had Odin as a father, Frigga as mother, and Thor as brother. She may or may not have the same DNA as Loki. We never got confirmation either way, and there are people who argue that they don’t to which I have to ask: How do you know? The show never tells us! “Oh, well, there’s Alligator Loki, are you going to say he has the same DNA as well?” Well, we are never told how exactly Alligator Loki came to be. Is he actually an alligator, or is he Loki who somehow got permanently stuck when he shapeshifted? People tend to forget that he can do that. Ragnarok established that he can turn into a snake, and a deleted scene actually had the childhood story go that Loki turned into a rug to cover a hole in the ground and then dumped Thor into it. There is the scene where Doctor Strange drops Loki through a portal, and Thor is left poking at a business card, and it is clear that for a moment he thinks that Loki turned into that. We know Loki can shapeshift, so Alligator Loki can very well have the same DNA. We just don’t know, because the show never explains it for the same reason the show cut out the scenes with Throg fighting Loki...to devote more screentime to Sylki.

Even if they don’t have the same DNA, it’s still established that they are the same person, they have the same family, they’re both the God/dess of Mischief, and even Sylvie herself acknowledges that she is a Loki despite the fact that she changed her name. So selfcest very much applies here, and a good argument can be made that selfcest is the ultimate in incest...after all, there isn’t anyone else you’re more related to than yourself. It is very understandable, therefore, that a lot of people would be very, very uncomfortable with such a relationship. Having the same DNA would merely be the icing on the very gross cake.

Furthermore, just because selfcest does not exist in reality does not mean someone can’t find the concept distasteful. “It’s not real!” “It’s just fiction!” Yes, and people are allowed to have their own feelings and opinions on fiction. If they find the idea of selfcest hard to stomach, that’s their prerogative and you really have no right to tell them they are wrong for feeling that way. They should not have to justify to anyone why they feel that way either. No one owes you an explanation for why they find real world incest or cannibalism distasteful, so they don’t owe you an explanation for this.

“Well, of course Loki would fall for himself...he’s a narcissist!” Is he though? Is he really? Having dealt with my fair share of narcissists in my life, I have to wonder if the fans who say that, along with the writers, know what a narcissist really is.

Is Loki a narcissist?

Bringing up Cersei Lannister again, the novels she appears in establishes that she is an extreme narcissist. She sleeps with her twin brother because it’s the closest she can come to sleeping with herself, and she desires to do that because she is a narcissist. A narcissist is someone whose personality is defined by an inflated sense of self-importance, troubled relationships, lack of empathy for others, and an excessive deep-seated need for attention and admiration. It’s a very simplistic definition, and there are plenty of YouTube videos devoted to delving into narcissists into more depth, as well as videos on how to cope with the aftermath of abuse at the hands of narcissists. Narcissists are so devoted to themselves that they ignore the needs and the feelings of those in their lives, which often results in abusive behavior. There are entire support groups that exist for victims of narcissists.

At first glance, one can see why some might consider Loki a narcissist. He does engage in some pretty selfish behavior, he goes to great lengths to get attention, his relationships to his family are indeed fraught with drama, and he seems to have a pretty overinflated ego. He even goes so far as to write a play featuring himself as the central character, and build a giant golden statue of himself after taking over Asgard in the guise of Odin. But really, is his ego truly that big? Or he is overcompensating for his self-hatred and self-disgust?

Loki suffered quite the emotional blow when he found out his true heritage, a revelation that shook him to his very core. Of course, his relationship with his father suffered as a result...the man lied to him for his entire life. Their relationship really was not that great even before that since Odin found it easier to relate to Thor, who was more like him in personality, than to Loki, who was more cerebral and quieter. Loki’s relationship to Frigga fared much better. He’s quick to forgive her involvement in covering up the truth about his parentage, and it is obvious that they are close. Even his relationship with Thor prior to the events of the movie is not all that bad, the two brothers are affectionate and playful, and when Loki interrupts Thor’s coronation, it’s not just for the sake of creating trouble, but to postpone Thor taking the crown for another little while because he is not fit to rule. At the time Thor had yet to go through his character development arc on Earth and he was still an overly arrogant, bloodthirsty, elitist douchebag, so Loki really had a good point.

A true narcissist would have done what Loki did just for the sake of making life difficult for Thor. Also, he would have done it because he wanted the throne. Loki states repeatedly that he never wanted to rule. A true narcissist would have been all smiles about taking the throne instead of being reluctant about it as Loki was when Frigga handed him Gungnir.

Throughout the films, and in the first episode of the series, we see that Loki does indeed love his family and is capable of feeling guilt over the things that he does to them, intentionally or not. Narcissists typically don’t feel remorse. As far as they are concerned, they are perfect and can do no wrong, so they have nothing to feel bad about. If they hurt you, it’s because you deserved it. You shouldn’t have provoked their ire.

Loki feels bad for getting Frigga killed, and then later on Odin. Then he is in tears when Odin dies, and later at the mere thought of never seeing Thor again when the two brothers talk in an elevator on Sakaar. Those are not the actions of someone who is incapable of loving anyone but himself, as I’ve seen so many people claim about him. And the fact that he sacrificed himself to save his brother also kind of kills the whole “narcissist” narrative.

In Episode 1, Loki breaks down and confesses to Mobius that he doesn’t like hurting people. He does it because it’s part of the façade, and admits that he sees himself as weak. A few episodes later, he admits to a memory illusion Sif that he craves attention “because I’m a narcissist” and admits to being afraid of being alone. That is far more self-reflection than a typical narcissist is capable of in my experience. As I said, narcissists tend to think they are perfect. A true narcissist would never admit to having any flaws, and sure as hell would never admit that they are a narcissist. As far as the true narcissist is concerned, if you find them flawed in any way, that’s on you. The narcissist has no need for self-reflection because they honestly see nothing wrong with themselves, and believe that they don’t need to change...it’s everyone else who does.

A good real-life example from my past is a former friend I’ll call D. D was a self-proclaimed brat who was quite proud of the fact that she could be difficult to be in a relationship with and tended to go through men like tissue paper. She was demanding, self-centered, extremely jealous, manipulative, and prone to wild mood swings. She could and did go from zero to insane at the drop of a hat. In the time I knew her, she left a string of burnt guys behind, and according to her it was because they just weren’t man enough to handle her. She also left behind a string of broken former friends, to the point where there really needed to be a support group for former friends of D who suddenly had her turn them into Public Enemy Number 1 when they either started taking attention away from D, or...well, that was it really. As I said, she was a very jealous person and had a chronic need to be the center of attention, especially if there were men around. Anyway, instead of working on herself to become less self-involved, self-absorbed, and more empathetic, she double downed on her abrasiveness and constant need for attention until she finally wore the poor man down and he either ghosted her or outright dumped her. She never broke up with them, preferring to keep them around for as long as they were willing in order to toy with them as a cat does with a mouse. I tried to talk to her about her horrible behavior, but instead of taking my constructive criticism and maybe using it to make some needed changes, she completely turned on me and did her best to make my life hell until I finally cut her out of it. I learned two things: Narcissists don’t want help because they don’t feel they need it and they are never going to change as a result, and never, ever try to confront a narcissist. It’ll only end badly.

A more famous example? Former US President Donald Trump. I won’t get into that, because really all you need to do is perform a quick Google search to see what all he’s done and witness his narcissism on full display. But really, place him side by side with Loki. Do you see any similarities at all? Maybe on the surface, but when you go deeper...no. Loki is not a narcissist. He’s capable of deep self-reflection, owns his faults, is capable of loving others, and feels remorse. I would argue that anyone who says he is a narcissist, either does not know the character, or hasn’t ever actually dealt with a narcissist in real life, to which I can only say: Lucky you.

I honestly would argue that calling Loki a narcissist is actually doing a disservice to victims of abuse from actual narcissists.

What about Sylvie? Well, in contrast to Loki who does show remorse while Mobius is playing that “This Is Your Life” reel for him, Sylvie shows no remorse or regret. She knows that the TVA agents she kills are as much victims as she is. They are innocent variants who were kidnapped from Earth and forced to work for the TVA after having their memories wiped. She knows this, yet the first time we see her she burns a bunch of TVA agents alive, and she just stands there watching as they scream in agony. In the next episode she says right out that she’s “having some fun” while possessing the body of C-90 and murdering more agents. She is not at all sorry about doing what she did, and we’re supposed to be understanding since she was kidnapped as a child. Okay, but the entire TVA didn’t do that. The agents she kills didn’t personally kidnap her. The only one we see who was directly involved in that is Renslayer. Sylvie “did what she had to do”, fine. But she doesn’t feel bad about it, at all. The flashback to her as a child takes great pains to try to show us what a good person she is when she cries out “Help him!” as another prisoner is being beaten, but I guess she grew out of it.

We don’t know if Sylvie has any other narcissistic traits besides lack of remorse because, well, the show really doesn’t do much to show her personality. Other than killing people, trying to kill Loki, and then flirting with Loki, we just don’t really see much to her. It’s another trait of a Mary Sue. Mary Sues often have bland, one-dimensional personalities. After all, their only purpose is usually to serve as love interests for one or more male characters. Mary Sues break the “show, don’t tell” rule by having the other characters verbally inform us about their traits, usually while singing their praises, but we don’t actually see those traits in the Mary Sue herself.

Loki calls Sylvie “amazing”, but how amazing is she, really? She kills people she knows are victims, she endangers the timeline just to sneak into the TVA, and then she kills Kang despite knowing that there is a very good chance that doing so could unleash something far, far worse than him. Then again, it doesn’t have to make sense when you’re pushing an unwanted and unasked for romance on an audience who was expecting a scifi show, not a romance.

I have spoken in a few places about this. Romance is fine, but in a show that blatantly places itself in the scifi genre, it really should only be the background, not center stage. When I expressed this opinion, I got accused of being dismissive of an essential part of the human experience. Well, first of all, congratulations: You just invalidated the existence of people on the asexual and aromantic spectrums, not to mention people who are celibate by choice. Second, that is why we have the romance genre. To tell stories centered around romance. I like romance, I read romance novels, and I sometimes write romantic fiction. But there are some places where it just is not appropriate.

There are people who say that adding romance makes things more interesting. Nope, in those cases it’s just a smokescreen, something used to hide plot holes and distract us from just how empty the story really is. Writers like to say that if you need a romance to make things more interesting, then you really don’t have much of a story in the first place. And sadly, Loki does have some plot holes. The nexus event on Lamentis is a good example, and the romance is definitely used to distract us from that. People were so focused on “oh wow, they’re having a moment, they’re soulmates!” that they didn’t think “waitaminute...didn’t they say that nexus events can’t occur in apocalypses?”

We really did not need a romance in Loki. Period. It was unnecessary, it was distracting, a lot of people found it disturbing, and it actively hurt a marginalized group.

Loki Is A Queer Icon!...maybe

I am not going to say that the relationship between Loki and Sylvie is not a bisexual one. A bisexual relationship is a bisexual relationship regardless of whether or not the person the bisexual person is with is the opposite sex. Saying otherwise is biphobic. Biphobic people in both the straight and the queer communities have been excluding bisexual people who happen to be in opposite sex relationships for years because apparently one stops being bisexual once they get into a relationship with someone of the opposite sex. This is horseshit. I’ve been in relationships with CIS men, did I stop being attracted to other men, women, nonbinary, genderfluid, agender, and other genderqueer people? No. No, I didn’t, because while I was entangled, I was not dead. Heterosexual people don’t stop being attracted to other members of the opposite sex when they are in relationships, it’s no different with queer people.

So, stop saying that Loki and Sylvie are not a bisexual relationship. You’re not doing us any favors at all, and in fact you’re only helping the biphobes who want to kick us out of Pride and other queer spaces for daring to date members of the opposite sex.

I will address the “Bit of both” line however. In Episode 3, Loki has that response to Sylvie’s questioning about whether there had been any would-be princesses or princes in his life. Again, a conversation that comes out of nowhere. She stated outright that she didn’t trust him, clearly wanted him dead, and now she’s asking if he’s single. Whatever.

Anyway, people went nuts when Loki answered “A bit of both”. It was confirmation that Loki was bisexual, it was celebrated on social media...and it is really biphobic and Kate Herron, who is bisexual herself, really should have known better.

Biphobic people have long tried to sow division between the bi and trans communities (unsurprisingly, biphobia and transphobia tend to go hand-in-hand) by saying that the concept of being bisexual is transphobic. “Bi” means two, ergo bisexual people are only attracted to two genders, specifically CIS men and CIS women. It never occurs to anyone that the “two genders” a bisexual person could be attracted to could be, say, women (and yes, I include trans women in that, since they are in fact women, get over it) and non-binary people, or agender and gender-fluid people, it’s always CIS men and CIS women. This despite the fact that the definition of bisexual has been “attraction to more than one gender” since long before the Bisexual Manifesto was put out in 1990.

Some people have tried to remedy this by adopting the moniker of “pansexual” instead, which A) is basically reinforcing what biphobes are saying about bisexuals and creating even more division and B) doesn’t just mean “attraction to trans people as well, I’m not transphobic, I promise!” “Pansexual” is not interchangeable with “bisexual”. Pansexual is attraction to all genders. Bisexual means attraction to more than one gender, but not necessarily to all genders. You can have a bisexual person, for instance, who is attracted to all genders except for men. If you are attracted to more than one gender, but not to all genders, you are bisexual, and labeling yourself pansexual is lying and basically caving in to the biphobes.

I’m not trying to police what people call themselves...if you want to use the two terms interchangeably, if you want to call yourself bisexual, or pansexual, it’s fine. But just evaluate the reasons why. Are you calling yourself pansexual because you really think you can be, or are you just calling yourself that out of fear of being labeled transphobic? The latter, in my opinion, is not a really good reason, and it only helps deliver the biphobic message that bisexual people are transphobic.

So, by saying “a bit of both”, Loki is really helping to reinforce that biphobic assertion that bisexual people are attracted just to CIS men and CIS women. It’s disappointing, but it is Disney so I suppose that is the best we can expect for now. It just shows that Disney really has a long way to go.

What’s more problematic is the supposed genderfluid representation. Now, I am a CIS woman. As such, I feel unqualified to really say that the representation is shitty and fluidphobic. However, if I’m not qualified to say that it is, then Kate Herron and the writers are unqualified to say that it isn’t. Rule of thumb: If members of a marginalized group are telling you that you did a poor job of representing them and that you are being transphobic or fluidphobic, instead of ignoring and dismissing their concerns like a good portion of the population already does, it’s a really good idea to listen to what they are saying and learn how you can do better.

There have been some genderfluid and trans people who expressed that they liked the show, and good for them. But I have seen a lot of very valid criticisms and concerns from genderfluid and trans people about the representation on the show, and I think they really should be listened to. Kate, you and I are queer, but we are still CIS women. Ergo, we have no say in whether or not the way you attempted to present Loki’s gender fluidity is transphobic. If genderfluid people say it’s fluidphobic or trans people say it’s transphobic, then it is indeed fluidphobic/transphobic. To say otherwise is gaslighting a marginalized community who already faces gaslighting on a daily basis.

I will touch on a couple of things.

First, in Episode 5, Loki asks a bunch of his variants if they have ever encountered a female version of themselves, a question that is met with varying levels of incredulousness and even disgust. If Loki was truly genderfluid, this question wouldn’t have been asked. Genderfluid means the person shifts genders along the spectrum. Loki does this in the comics. Comicbook Loki switches between masculine and feminine presenting on the drop of a dime, especially in his current incarnation. Loki in the MCU we are told is also genderfluid, and should also be able to hop along the gender spectrum on a whim. There should not be a “female variant” therefore, since they are all the same gender. There could be a female presenting variant, but that is not the same thing. They would still be all genderfluid in that case. Also, Sylvie’s nexus event would not have been “being born the Goddess of Mischief”. Okay, the show never actually says that is the nexus event that led to her being arrested, but it heavily implies it. If Sylvie is a Loki, and as a Loki is genderfluid, her being the “Goddess” of Mischief should never have been an issue since they can change genders anyway.

Second, making Lady Loki a separate person is problematic. A lot of genderfluid people felt that this move invalidated their identity by basically showing that the same person cannot indeed be different genders along the spectrum. I don’t feel I’m totally qualified to really get into this. I will just say that if you’re going to write a genderfluid character, maybe at least get an actual genderfluid person to advise in the writing room.

Third, there is a transphobic movement called trans exclusionary radical feminism. You might have heard of it. Unfortunately, it is a very widespread movement that has done a lot of harm to the trans community, successfully blocking funding to organizations that help trans people, blocking laws that would benefit trans people, and the movement includes celebrities like Graham Linehan and JK Rowling.

One of the weapons they like to use against trans women is the concept of “autogynephilia”. It is basically the sexual fetish of becoming aroused from thinking of oneself as a woman. Many, many of these transphobic “feminists” love to say that trans women are merely men who have this particular sexual fetish.

It’s bullshit of course. Maybe there is a small segment of the male population that has that fetish, but trans women are not included in that. For trans women, things like dressing as women, changing their names, having state and federal issued IDs that say they are female, and being able to use the restrooms and change rooms that match the gender they actually are as opposed to the one they were assigned at birth is not a matter of sexual arousal. It’s a matter of making their external realities match their internal ones. It’s a matter of validation of their identities as women. Sexual gratification has nothing to do with it.

Now, Loki is not trans, but genderfluid people do tend to fall under the trans umbrella. We have Loki, a supposedly genderfluid individual and masculine presenting, falling head over heels in love with a feminine presenting version of himself. Maybe it’s just me, but it just seems like a form of autogynephilia to me.

Way to go, Kate...you just gave the TERFs more ammo.

One more note: At one point, Kate tweeted a list of the different Loki emojis, and “jokingly” included #FiretruckLoki with an emoji of a firetruck. Kate, you do realize that a “joke” transphobes love to harp on is that they can identify as an attack helicopter, right?

It’s his way of learning self-love!

That is not how you learn self-love.

First, the people who are making this argument often contradict themselves by then saying that Sylvie is a different person. Again, make up your minds. Either Sylvie is the same person as Loki, or she’s not. You can’t have it both ways, and you can’t continue to change the narrative to fit whatever it is you want to shove down the audience’s throats.

Second, romantic love and self-love are two different things entirely. Loki isn’t feeling self-love with Sylvie, he’s feeling romantic love. That’s not learning self-love. That's narcissism, and it’s character regression in his case. He’s supposed to be evolving past being a self-centered, egotistical shitweasel, and falling in love with a variant of himself makes him, as Mobius put it, “a seismic narcissist”. It’s not character development.

Third, this argument tends to come in the same breath as saying that Loki is a narcissist so of course he would fall for a variant of himself. If Loki is a narcissist though, why would he need to learn self-love? Narcissists already love themselves, that is the very definition of the word. If Loki needs to learn self-love, that would imply that he actually hates himself, which is the opposite of narcissism. Again, the writers and the fans who make these arguments when they feel the need to defend this relationship need to make up their minds. Either he’s a narcissist and therefore already loves himself too much, or he hates himself and needs to learn to love himself. It’s once again changing the narrative to fill a plothole.

Fourth, the whole learning self-love and trust narrative is completely thrown out the window in Episode 6 when Sylvie decides to toy with Loki’s emotions, using his feelings for her against him by kissing him as a distraction so she could grab Kang’s temp pad and toss Loki back to the TVA. To Sylvie, her revenge was more important than the bond she had with him. The move basically set Loki’s progress back several steps. What little progress he made anyway.

TL:DR, is there hope for Season 2?

Whew, this went on for a while, didn’t it? Told you I had a lot to say.

As I have said, if you liked the first season of Loki and think I am completely full of shit, that’s fine and it’s your prerogative. More power to you.

But, and this is a huge but, that does not give you the right to harass and bully people who did not like it.

I have witnessed horrible things from both sides of the now split Loki fandom on social media. Harassment and even death threats towards the creators. Telling people who don’t like the Loki and Sylvie relationship that they need to drink bleach. Homophobic attacks. Gatekeeping.

There’s constructive criticism and sharing your opinions, and then there is...this.

Both sides need to chill.

Anyway.

Even though Kate Herron has left the show, Michael Waldron is still the showrunner and as such I am not altogether optimistic for Season 2. I would like to see more emphasis on Loki himself for that season. Yes, it’s a novel thought, wanting a show that is called Loki to actually be about Loki, but here we are.

I would like to see actual character development in Loki rather than the old “true love transforms bad boy and conquers all” trope. There is a reason Disney has started to abandon that trope in their animated movies. They’ve been getting dragged about it for decades.

If Sylvie must return, there needs to be some actual consistency surrounding her character. The show needs to decide if she is a Loki or not and stick with whichever one they decide. And seriously, no more romance. Frankly, after what she pulled in Episode 6, I will be severely disappointed if the writers have Loki crawling back to her. That would make him pathetic, and Loki deserves better.

Really, Loki does not need a romance, period. He’s too emotionally immature, he has a lot of character growth to go through, and a romance would do nothing but be a distraction and an impediment to that growth. Anyone who got married too young can confirm that it is important to learn more about yourself and figure yourself out before you even think of getting involved with another person, who should not be your whole world. The Loki and Sylvie romance was reminding me of Classic Disney in another not-good way in that the two of them, especially on Loki’s side, were starting to revolve around one another and that does not make for a healthy relationship. Again, turning Loki into a Disney Prince (or, seeing as how he’s supposed to be genderfluid, Princess). Stop it.

Again, the romance was a smokescreen. It was a distraction from just how thin the plot was. Please, for the love of G-d, give more focus to the actual plot.

Do some research and talk to some psychologists for healthy ways Loki can “learn self-love" and develop as a character. If Ragnarok Loki can do it without relying on a romance with a variant with himself, then surely TVA Loki can pull it off.

Speaking of talking to people, listen to the concerns of the trans and genderfluid fans. Listen, talk to them, maybe get a couple in the writer’s room. CIS people should not write genderfluid people, and this season is a good example of why.

Please remember that Loki is not an idiot. Yes, he has pulled some fast ones and hasn’t been the greatest planner, but he is not downright stupid like he was in season 1.

And...really that’s all I have. As I have said, this thesis really wasn’t about making suggestions to the creators because I seriously doubt they will ever even see this. This was more less me screaming into the void, venting because I was that upset about what I saw as character assassination happening to one of my favorite characters. Keeping all of this in was proving to be bad for my blood pressure.

I am attached to the character, have been for years. Loki is just one character in the MCU who I love, who I want to see done right. I had been looking forward to his solo series for a very long time, and the disappointment I felt was something that I just couldn’t keep in. I kept my mouth shut when they killed off Tony Stark for no reason other than that Ronnie Downey, Jr. didn't want to renew his contract. I didn’t say anything at the Russo Brothers’ “happy ending” for Steve Rogers, even though I feel it made no sense and is a massive plot hole.

What they did to Loki, however...I couldn’t keep silent.

#loki series negativity #anti sylki

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chibi-reviews-things · 4 years ago

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I had the pleasure of watching this little cinematic gem the other night. In the age of Covid, it’s been weird trying to find movies that would have readily been available months ago. I’m going to approach this with the least amount of bias possible, but upfront, I’ve hated how Fox has handled the X-franchise and very much look forward to Marvel managing the property again. This movie also includes one of my favorite X-men and so this movie already has an uphill battle.

The good first, the movie does more with less when it comes to just about every other X film to date. It looks clean, special effects are fairly limited but the third act brawl at least looks cinematic as compared to the unbelievably goofy third act of X-men: Apocalypse. It also has some decent performances, specifically from Maisie Williams (Rahne) and Anya Taylor-Joy (Illyana). The entire cast suffers from a script that has literally no substance. Blu Hunt plays Native American, Danielle Moonstar, who wakes from a terrible dream in the opening of the film and finds her father dragging her from their home as the wind roars and unexplained explosions fill the choppy editing. Her father stuffs her in a hollowed-out tree, telling her not to stay put shortly before he is killed and Dani passes out.

She wakes in a medical facility of some kind, bound to her bed, locked in a room, and overseen by the seemingly kind and caring Dr. Reyes (Alice Braga). From there we learn this is a facility that attempts to assist mutants who are coming into their powers for the first time before they’re moved to “somewhere” else. She’s introduced to the other patients/inmates, the bitchy Illyana, the soft-spoken Rahne, the drawl Sam (Charlie Heaton), and the rich kid Roberto (Henry Zaga). They’re all being kept her to better understand their powers in preparation for moving on and into the general populace without being a threat to themselves, other mutants, and humanity in general.

But here is where things fall apart thematically and contradiction after contradiction start to play out plotwise. The facility is oddly analog when it comes to its security. Basic locks, no “anti-mutant power” collars, and an overall dilapidated building make up the grounds the kids find themselves in. The only real security appears to be Dr. Reyes who, spoilers, is a mutant herself and her power alone seems to keep these young, scared, anti-establishment, egotistical young people in check. When Illyana snidely jokes, “I’m the most powerful mutant here,” she’s not wrong and it cripples the entire film. Nothing demonstrated in this movie accounts for how Illyana is prevented from doing absolutely anything she wants. And so the movie swings lazily back and forth between a semi “thriller” and an absent and hollow John Hughes film as it plods along to its semi satisfactory conclusion.

For people who haven’t spent their lives reading the exploits of these characters, this will a perfectly passable, if pandering, film. It has moments that shine here and there but anyone who knows even the general backstories of these characters will be frustrated. My husband was bothered to no end that one of his favorite characters, Celia Reyes, is not only a villain but a complete 180 from her comic book origins in her personality and almost paladin like nature from the comics. The movie also, for no apparent reason, just has liberties with the source material. Lockheed, for example, appears in this film attached to a character that has no reason to have Lockheed at their side unless you dig deep into their origin. Sam Guthrie’s personal trauma is at complete odds with his families important history to the X-men, and worse yet not only is his power only shown to full visual effect once in the entire film, but it’s also done so as a laugh, and then it doesn’t even stick to the basic premise of the power. Roberto has exactly no character development in the film and is reduced to “I have intimacy problems because I catch on fire when I get excited”, yet for a long time Roberto was often the heart and soul of The New Mutants alongside Dani.

Anyway, I’m nerding out now. Watch it, don’t watch it, whatever. Compared to things like the third X-men film, and Apocalypse, it’s actually a decent film. Still, it’s the final nail in Fox’s poorly managed governing of the X-license after the first X-men movie sort of birthed the new comic book movie genre. This film had extensive production issues, delayed again and again, and even in the end they still managed to misspell The New Mutant’s creator’s name, Bob McLeod, in the running credits. It just goes to show that the intention was never to adapt some of the wonderful stories that were told through the years in the books, it was just Fox trying to figure out how they could keep the X-license in their pocket.

6/10

#The New Mutants #x-men #movie review #comic books #Fox Studios #Marvel #maisie williams #anya-taylor joy

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obscureobsidianreblogs · 4 years ago

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X-Men Characters Ranking (I) The Worst

These characters aren’t what I would call the worst in the sense that I hate them and I don’t want to see them ever again, because I don’t dislike them as much as I hate how writers have treated them, many of them being basically anything other than plot devices and never having a chance to become better characters. I don’t think there’s no hope for them, only that I haven’t seen them getting chances to prove me there is.

Thunderbird/John Proudstar

This character is a joke in the worst sense of the word, basically being known as “Guy who died and unlike the rest didn’t come back”. It has reached a point Joanthan Hickman needed to create an explanation in-universe to why the hell this is the case!!! The fact all of this happens to the first native american member of the team is unfortunate. Thank God John’s own brother James, Forge and especially Danielle Moonstar came soon after to fix that.

Slipstream/Davis Cameron

I don’t want to sound mean, I really don’t want to, but I really, really, really don’t care about this character. How’s possible for a legend like Chris Claremont, who created so many memorable characters, create one so devoid of any interesting quality? If you want a X-Men male character who’s a surfer, just go with Havok in X-Men Evolution. Her sister Heather is a slightly better case, mostly thanks to the revelation that she’s actually part of Shi’ar royalty and we see her dealing with her body changing while she discovers her inheritance.

Joseph

Initially introduced as a possibly rejuvenated Magneto who decided to undo Magneto’s wrongdoings, what could have been the perfect opportunity to develop the character of Magneto was quickly wasted when writers at the time thought It would be more interesting to make him the third party in a love triangle involving Rogue and Remy. The revelation he was actually just Magneto’s clon and his death proved how much they regretted creating him.

Feral/Maria Callasantos

Maria’s backstory on paper could be a perfect way to create a compelling character: abused since her childhood, and killed her stepfather to protect her sister. Unfortunately Feral was created by Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld, who were more interested in action and fights than in writing compelling characters, and in Maria’s case it really shows. Her perpetual hostility towards her teammates quickly made her unlikeable, and soon after she was written out of the team. But while characters like Shatterstar have become fan favorites thanks to the works of writers like Peter David Feral has remained a character no writer has bothered to do anything with her, except depower her after the House of M event to later made Sabretooth kill her.

Maggott/Japheth

None of the characters that joined the X-Men after the events in Operation Zero Tolerance became universal fan-favorites, but while Marrow and Cecilia Reyes have managed to still pop-up here and there occasionally, Maggott quickly became the fandom’s punching bag, being an usual entry in the “worst mutants/powers” lists and soon after his debut became killed. In a concentration camp, just so his death could be anymore fucked-up. Yikes.

Omega Sentinel/Karima Shapandar

The idea of a biosentinel who still retains her humanity and which she uses to fight against her programming to team-up with mutants and become their friend instead of hunting them down is pretty compelling. Despite that Karima has become a punchline for her tendency to be a character who tends to get possessed or brainwashed too much in a franchise and a genre where character being possessed or brainwashed has become commonplace. It seemed like that cycle was finally going to finish after Brian Wood decided to published an all female team on his X-Men run and decided to make Karima turned back into a human but stay with her mutant friends, but all of that got thrown away when Jonathan Hickman took over, make her a biosentinel again and because he really wants to push the narrative of us vs them he made her team-up with the evil human organization who wants to wipe out mutants, because he says so. Thanks Johnny.

Lifeguard/Heather Cameron

Like I already said above Heather is a slightly more interesting character than her brother Davis, especially after the reveal of her Shi’ar ancestry and her transformation to a much more alien appearance. Although I must admit I initially dislike the character for completely petty reasons. More specifically, the fact she was introduced and paired up with Neal Shaara when Psylocke’s death was still recent, because Neal was sentimentally involved with her at the time. Shipping tends to do those things.

Stacy X/Miranda Leevald

The accusation of female characters being created just to eye-candy is one that I think gets thrown around in excess lately, but in the case of Stacy X it’s pretty much the perfect textbook example. She’s introduced as a prostitute, wears revealing clothing, her powers cause orgasms, flirts with a lot of her male teammates, and let’s not forget that infamous time Chuck Austen thought it would be a good idea to write her saying she was going to watch porn after getting in an argument. Classy. The worst part is that her example was so obvious that she never became really popular among fans, and the writers quickly got rid of her in the most unceremonious way possible, depowering her in the aftermath of House of M, without bothering to even give her the opportunity to be a better character. However, I think there’s still hope for her. In the recent Domino Annual Gail Simone gave her a heartbreaking moment in which Miranda had the opportunity to express how she dealt with her power’s loss and how it affected her.

Sunfire/Shiro Yoshida

I really want to like Shiro, I really do, the issue where he was introduced is still one of my favorites from the Neal Adams and Roy Thomas run. But it’s so obvious writers don’t know what else to do with him except remind people that he doesn’t like teamwork over and over again, feeling like an excuse to include him as little as possible. Also this is a much more shallow reason to dislike him, but I really think he needs an urgent redesign to get rid of that horrible mask.

Thunderbird/Neal Shaara

His backstory, about discovering a new secret biosentinel program that took advantage of India’s most disadvantaged population while looking for his missing brother, is actually one of my favorites on any X-Men character, being emotionally compelling with some social critic sprinkled over it. Unfortunately once he joined the team the most he did was get romantically involved with female teammates, first with Psylocke, a reason I’m sure a lot of fans at the time hated him because she was with Archangel, although tbh it never bothered me that much, and then with Lifeguard. The fact that after Karima Shapandar, the character that got turned into a biosentinel while helping him look for his brother, joined the X-Men no one single writer bothered to make him meet her again despite it was confirmed he retained his powers after House of M shows how little interest writers were in him. Ouch.

Revanche/Kwannon

Although it seems like now with Fallen Angels and Hellions they are trying to make her a much more interesting character, there’s still the fact the character was created an introduced just to have a revealing twist about Psylocke’s body swap, and after the writers realised they didn’t know what to do with her and neither they wanted to fix that, they took the easy way and got rid of her making her contract the Legacy Virus so she could die and they could keep Psylocke being a sexy purple-haired ninja.

Vulcan/Gabriel Summers

I don’t think X-Men: Deadly Genesis is the unholy abomination many fans think it is, but even I admit they make Gabriel a character really hard to like. To begin with he’s supposed to be the third Summers brother, a mystery in the franchise that was introduced back in the 90s but that never got a satisfactory resolution, only a bunch of clues that lead nowhere and red herrings, in the main timeline at least, Claremont wrote in X-Men: The End the twist the third Summers brother was Remy all along. Anyways, so Gabriel is not only supposed to be the answer to a question fans didn’t care anymore at the time, but he was also part of a retcon, one related to a part as iconic to the X-Men cannon as it is the Giant Size X-Men published in 1975 and whose main point in the story was to show a dark secret Xavier hided to the rest of the X-Men (Still handled better than the bs Bendis wrote during the Original Sin event). But Gabriel, instead of first acting as confused as the rest of the X-Men team after they discover his existence, to later discover the truth of what happened, with him too enraged to listen to reasons and start to attack everyone wether what happened to him was their fault or not, Remender wrote Gabriel as a douchebag from the beginning, kidnapping Scott and Rachel and just being plain awful, especially to the one who was actually his niece. And then there’s the whole becoming the new Shi’ar emperor storyline that I couldn’t care less… Let’s see what Hickman does with him, although my hopes are not exactly high.

#x-men #x-men comics #marvel #marvel comics #x-men characters #mutants

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keyofjetwolf · 5 years ago

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Fuck, canon, kill: X-Evo edition. Rogue is given Capt Marvel's Powers like the 80s show, they'd made Jean a teacher and Orora Monroe a student so Wolverine could have all his glorious Jean angst and Storm wasn't so sidelined, and Danielle actually joins the XMen in the last season and there's so much more gay subtext!

WELL I GUESS I GET TO WRITE ALL THIS OUT AGAIN

Hello hello! We are playing a rousing game of Fuck, Canon, Kill! today to entertain @docholligay as she is laid up after surgery. Your prompts solicited and welcome!

Oh man, I do love me some X-Men Evolution HRRRN

Fuck: The age swap between Jean and Ororo. I also hated to see Storm so sidelined, and I think having her as one of the kids would bring so many great opportunities. I mean hell, just her powers alone. When she gets all emotional, the weather reflects her mood. AND SHE’S A TEENAGE GIRL. Which would be the most mortifying for her, to have it all out on display like that, but simultaneously, who among us lady-identifying folks at that age wouldn’t have, in our Senshi hearts, been “YES I AM SAD AND THE WORLD IS DARK AND THUNDEROUS AND CRYING THE TEARS OF MY SOOOOULLLL”, I mean come on.

I’d drop the Wolverine/Jean romantic garbage though, which is perhaps no surprise to anyone. I’d love to see them as friends and peers, though, trying to raise this gaggle of baby mutants. Jean has good mom energy, it’d suit her. I think, too, there’d be some interesting parallels with Jean and Logan as these super powerful adult mutants who still have to struggle sometimes with who they are and what they can do. That it’s not always easy, but it’s worth pushing back against your base impulses for the life you choose and the person you want to be.

Canon: DANI MOONSTAR IS IN THE SERIES AND SHE’S GAY AND SHE’S GAY WITH KITTY WHO IS ALSO GAY WHY WASN’T THIS ALREADY CANON

Kill: Perhaps surprisingly, I’d kill Evo Rogue with Ms. Marvel’s powers, which would have been a surprise to Jet Wolf who balked at the idea when Evolution was first announced. But it really was the right choice. The creators (who CLEARLY loved Rogue) didn’t want who she IS to get lost in all the badass stuff she can DO. By taking Rogue down to her actual power set, we’re also stripping away the false protection those things gave her for so long, that she’s too strong and fast and tough to be hurt by anything at all ever, least of all herself. I absolutely love Evo Rogue, I love how raw she’s allowed to be, and I love how the series not only didn’t shy away from her darker turns, but ACTIVELY PURSUED THEM. I’ll forever curse that we didn’t get to fully follow the path they’d spent so much time building for us.

SO YEAH TANGENTS. Kill Evo Rogue with Ms. Marvel powers. She was badass enough without them.

AND NOW I WANT TO GO REWATCH EVO THANKS FURY

#entertain recovering holligay day #fuck canon kill jet wolf edition #if this gets eaten again i will scream #though at least i've copied it out this time #anyway FUN FACT in the final montage of the final episode of evo it looks like rogue DOES have carol's powers #making me think they were going to go there at some point #GOD DAMMIT UNIVERSE YOU KILLED THE SHOW BEFORE ITS TIME #thoughtfulfuri #ask a jet wolf

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weirdsciencecomics · 4 years ago

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Check out these marvelous titles and so much more. To snag any of these comics, trades, or volumes for your Kindle through Amazon, simply click on the name of the highlighted/underlined series below. Enjoy and God Bless!

WOLVERINE: BLACK, WHITE, AND BLOOD

GERRY DUGGAN, DECLAN SHALVEY, MATTHEW ROSENBERG [W]

ADAM KUBERT, DECLAN SHALVEY, JOSHUA CASSARA (A)

Cover by ADAM KUBERT

VARIANT COVER BY ADAM KUBERT

VARIANT COVER BY RON GARNEY

VARIANT COVER BY TONY DANIEL

VARIANT COVER BY GEORGE PEREZ

TOP MARVEL TALENT SINK THEIR CLAWS INTO ALL-NEW

WOLVERINE TALES AND THEY’RE BLOODIER THAN EVER!

LOGAN. PATCH. WEAPON X. WOLVERINE. The mysterious mutant has gone by many names and lived many different lives. Now, experience ALL-NEW untold tales of the best there is through the lens of an all-star cast of creators, in the unadulterated black and white format (with a healthy splash of blood red all over)!

Return to the Weapon X program with Gerry Duggan and Adam Kubert, and a new revelation from Wolverine’s shattered memories. Join Matthew Rosenberg and Joshua Cassara on an explosive deep-cover spy mission from Wolverine’s association with NICK FURY. Head into the wilds with writer/artist Declan Shalvey as Logan finds himself in the crossfire of a deadly trap! This is the one you’ve been waiting for, bub.

40 PGS./Parental Advisory …$4.99

X-MEN #14

JONATHAN HICKMAN [W] • MAHMUD ASRAR & Leinil Francis Yu (A)

Cover by Leinil Francis Yu

VARIANT COVER BY ALEXANDER LOZANO

The Lovers. A Garden. A chasm of secrets.

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

MARAUDERS #14

GERRY DUGGAN & BENJAMIN PERCY [W] • STEFANO CASELLI (A) • Cover by RUSSELL DAUTERMAN

VARIANT COVER BY CULLY HAMNER

A toast. A dance. A dinner served: Part I

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

MARAUDERS #15

GERRY DUGGAN & BENJAMIN PERCY [W] • STEFANO CASELLI (A) • Cover by RUSSELL DAUTERMAN

VARIANT COVER BY DOALY

A toast. A dance. A dinner served: Part II

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

EXCALIBUR #14

TINI HOWARD [W] • PHIL NOTO (A) • Cover by MAHMUD ASRAR

VARIANT COVER BY JESUS SAIZ

Two swords. Two cups. Two must answer.

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

WOLVERINE #7

BENJAMIN PERCY & GERRY DUGGAN [W] • JOSHUA CASSARA (A) • Cover by ADAM KUBERT

variant cover by KEVIN NOWLAN

WOLVERINE PHOENIX VARIANT COVER BY RUSSELL DAUTERMAN

Endurance. Survival. The true lesson of pain.

32 PGS./Parental Advisory …$3.99

X-FORCE #14

BENJAMIN PERCY & GERRY DUGGAN [W] • JOSHUA CASSARA (A)

Cover by Dustin weaver

VARIANT COVER BY JUAN FERREYRA

Chivalry gives way to fury. A knight must kneel.

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

HELLIONS #6

ZEB WELLS [W] • CARMEN CARNERO (A) • Cover by STEPHEN SEGOVIA

Variant cover by INHYUK LEE

Chaos. Deceit. A hero returns.

32 PGS./Parental Advisory …$3.99

CABLE #6

GERRY DUGGAN [W] • PHIL NOTO (A/C)

VARIANT COVER BY STEVE SKROCE

A son. The stars. A Fool and his bravery.

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

X-MEN #15

JONATHAN HICKMAN [W] • MAHMUD ASRAR (A) • Cover by LEINIL FRANCIS YU

VARIANT COVER BY PEACH MOMOKO

A great division. Bitter victories. Bitterer hearts.

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

EXCALIBUR #15

TINI HOWARD [W] • MAHMUD ASRAR (A/C)

VARIANT COVER BY IBAN COELLO

CONNECTING VARIANT COVER BY PEPE LARRAZ (1 OF 2)

A game abandoned, but a great gamble remains.

A Tower answers.

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

X OF SWORDS: DESTRUCTION #1

JONATHAN HICKMAN & TINI HOWARD [W] • Pepe Larraz (A/C)

DESIGN VARIANT COVER BY PEPE LARRAZ

VARIANT COVER BY LEINIL FRANCIS YU

VARIANT COVER BY RYAN STEGMAN

CONNECTING VARIANT COVER BY PEPE LARRAZ (2 OF 2)

VARIANT COVER BY TBA

The wheel of fortune turns. The unfortunate fall.

A sword against the darkness.

48 PGS./ONE-SHOT/Rated T+ …$4.99

ETERNALS #1

KIERON GILLEN [W] • ESAD Ribić (A/C)

VARIANT COVER BY ALEX ROSS

VARIANT COVER BY PEACH MOMOKO

VARIANT COVER BY ALAN DAVIS

VARIANT COVER BY ART ADAMS

VARIANT COVER BY MAHMUD ASRAR

VARIANT COVER BY JEN BARTEL

VARIANT COVER BY BOSSLOGIC

VARIANT COVER BY RUSSELL DAUTERMAN

VARIANT COVER BY DAVE JOHNSON

VARIANT COVER BY JEFF JOHNSON

VARIANT COVER BY MIKE DEL MUNDO

VARIANT COVER BY JENNY FRISON

VARIANT COVER BY RIAN GONZALES

VARIANT COVER BY INHYUK LEE

VARIANT COVER BY J. SCOTT CAMPBELL

VIRGIN VARIANT COVER BY J. SCOTT CAMPBELL

HIDDEN GEM VARIANT COVER BY JOHN ROMITA, JR.

HIDDEN GEM VARIANT COVER BY JACK KIRBY

HIDDEN GEM VARIANT COVER BY BRIAN PELLETIER

VARIANT COVER BY JOE QUESADA

VARIANT COVER BY KHARY RANDOLPH

DESIGN VARIANT COVER BY ESAD RIBIC

LAUNCH VARIANT COVER BY HUMBERTO RAMOS

PREMIERE VARIANT COVER BY ESAD RIBIC

VARIANT COVER BY WALT SIMONSON

VARIANT COVER BY RON LIM

VARIANT COVER BY OTTO SCHMIDT

VARIANT COVER BY SUPERLOG

HEADSHOT VARIANT COVER BY TODD NAUCK

VARIANT COVER BY GREG LAND

VARIANT COVER BY TAKASHI OKAZAKI

VARIANT COVER BY DAN PANOSIAN

VARIANT COVER BY SKOTTIE YOUNG

VARIANT COVER BY LEINIL FRANCIS YU

VARIANT COVER BY FRANK CHO

BLANK VARIANT COVER AND KIRBY CRACKLE VARIANT COVER ALSO AVAILABLE

NEVER DIE. NEVER WIN. ETERNALS.

What’s the point of an eternal battle?

For millions of years, one hundred Eternals have roamed the Earth, secret protectors of humanity. Without them, we’d be smears between the teeth of the demon-like Deviants. Their war has waged for all time, echoing in our myths and nightmares.

But today, Eternals face something new: change. Can they – or anyone on Earth – survive their discovery?

From the thought provoking minds of Kieron Gillen (The Wicked + The Divine, Uncanny X-Men, Thor) and Esad Ribić (Secret Wars, King Thor) comes a new vision of the classic Marvel mythology!

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

WARHAMMER 40,000: MARNEUS CALGAR #2 (OF 5)

KIERON GILLEN [W] • JACEN BURROWS (A) • Cover by JAMES STOKOE

Variant Cover by JACEN BURROWS

DESCENT INTO CHAOS!

• The untold origin of MARNEUS CALGAR continues as a startling discovery is made on the moon of NOVA THULIUM!

• But will the young Marneus face his first triumph…or a soul-shattering loss?

• A shocking revelation in the history of the legendary Chapter Master of the Ultramarines that will forever change what you thought you knew!

32 PGS./Parental Advisory …$4.99

MARVEL’S VOICES: INDIGENOUS VOICES #1

JEFFREY VEREGGE, REBECCA ROANHORSE, DARCIE LITTLE BADGER & STEPHEN GRAHAM JONES [W]

JEFFREY VEREGGE, WESHOYOT ALVITRE, KYLE CHARLES & DAVID CUTLER (A)

Cover by JIM TERRY

DANI MOONSTAR NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE TRIBUTE VARIANT COVER BY JEFFREY VEREGGE

Variant cover by DAVID MACK

Variant cover by AFUA RICHARDSON

MARVEL CELEBRATES INDIGENOUS HISTORY WITH A STAR-STUDDED SPECIAL!

Today’s hottest Native American and Indigenous talent make their Marvel Comics debuts with a collection of super-charged stories as Marvel celebrates National Native American Heritage Month! Celebrated writer and artist Jeffrey Veregge explores the legacy of Marvel’s incredible cast of Indigenous characters! Hugo, Nebula, and Locus-award winning Black/Ohkay Owingeh writer Rebecca Roanhorse and Tongva artist Weshoyot Alvitre tell an Echo tale like none you’ve heard before. Geoscientist and Lipan Apache writer Darcie Little Badger joins acclaimed Whitefish Lake First Nation artist Kyle Charles for a Dani Moonstar story that’s out of this world! And Bram Stoker-winning horror writer Stephen Graham Jones of the Blackfeet Nation teams up with Qalipu Mi’kmaq First Nation artist David Cutler to revisit one of the darkest spots of X-Men history!

40 PGS./ONE-SHOT/RATED T+ …$4.99

MARVEL’S VOICES #1 (NEW PRINTING)

Vita Ayala, Brian Stelfreeze, James Monroe Iglehart, Geoffrey Thorne,

Method Man, Charlamagna Tha God, Roxane Gay & more! [W]

Khary Randolph, Brian Stelfreeze, Alitha A. Martinez, Sanford Greene,

Bernard Chang, Luciano Vecchio, Natacha Bustos and more! (A)

COVER BY Khary Randolph

Marvel’s Voices reveals the world outside your window with a super-powered new printing! Featuring stories from some of the world’s biggest stars – from all walks of entertainment! This is the world outside your window – and a can’t-miss issue!

40 PGS./ONE-SHOT/RATED T+ …$4.99

IRON MAN #3

CHRISTOPHER CANTWELL [W] • CAFU (A/C) • Cover by ALEX ROSS

IRON MAN NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE TRIBUTE VARIANT COVER BY JEFFREY VEREGGE

Tony Stark is getting tired of apologizing for being himself, especially when as Iron Man he’s more powerful than most any other human being on Earth. As he wears himself out trying to do everything he can to be a force of good in the world, he’s beginning to chafe at the idea that he really owes anybody anything. Is it too much to ask for a thank you? He’s trying to keep his head down and his ego in check, but when KORVAC reveals himself as the puppet master behind Stark’s latest investment, Tony will at least have somewhere to channel his anger and frustration… That is, if he survives the conflict at all.

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #52

NICK SPENCER [W] • PATRICK GLEASON (A/C)

HEADSHOT VARIANT COVER BY TODD NAUCK

SPIDER-MAN NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE TRIBUTE VARIANT COVER BY JEFFREY VEREGGE

LAST REMAINS CONTINUES!

• Kindred shows Spider-Man his true power, and Spidey sees how much trouble he’s in.

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #52.LR

NICK SPENCER & MATTHEW ROSENBERG [W] • FEDERICO VICENTINI (A)

Cover by MARCELO FERREIRA

Variant Cover by Marco Checchetto

LAST REMAINS TIE-IN!

• Doctor Strange is now bound to this Kindred problem and he recruits someone to help.

• Even with Strange and his recruit, the Order of the Web will be lucky if they survive!

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #53

NICK SPENCER [W] • PATRICK GLEASON (A/C)

Variant Cover by HUMBERTO RAMOS

MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN: MILES MORALES VARIANT COVER BY TIM TSANG

LAST REMAINS CONTINUES!

• If you think you’ve seen a brutal Spider-Man fight before, you are wrong.

• Do not miss this issue.

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #53.LR

MATTHEW ROSENBERG & NICK SPENCER [W] • FEDERICO VICENTINI (A)

Cover by MARCELO FERREIRA

Variant Cover by Khoi Pham

MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN: MILES MORALES VARIANT COVER BY JASON HICKEY

LAST REMAINS TIE-IN!

• Another classic Spider-Man villain gets pulled into the most soul-shaking Spider-Man story ever. You won’t believe what you read, and it will break your heart.

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

SPIDER-WOMAN #6

KARLA PACHECO [W] • PERE PéREZ (A)

Cover by JUNGGEUN YOON

Variant cover by EMA LUPACCHINO

HEADSHOT VARIANT COVER BY TODD NAUCK

ROAD TRIP…TO SPACE!

• After learning some startling secrets about her family, Jess goes on a mission to find the one person who might know more…the High Evolutionary!

• But to do that, she’s going to have to go into space. And to do that, she’s going to need her good friend…

• CAPTAIN MARVEL TEAM-UP TIME!!!

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

U.S.AGENT #1 (OF 5)

Christopher Priest [W] • Stefano Landini (A) • Cover by Marco Checchetto

VARIANT COVER BY Toni Infante

VARIANT COVER BY DECLAN SHALVEY

VARIANT COVER BY PATCH ZIRCHER

CHRISTOPHER PRIEST & STEFANO LANDINI BRING BACK THE SUPER-SOLDIER YOU LOVE TO HATE!

“American Zealot” Chapter 1 of 5: John Walker, the former Super Patriot, has been stripped of his official USAgent status and is now operating as an independent government contractor protecting government covert interests. His latest protection detail draws him into a conflict between a small town and the corporate giant trying to destroy it. John acquires a new partner and new enemy along the way while being haunted by ghosts from his past and confronting challenges to his future.

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

MILES MORALES: SPIDER-MAN #20

SALADIN AHMED [W] • MARCELO FERREIRA (A)

Cover by JAVIER GARRÓN

Variant Cover by TAURIN CLARKE

• The penultimate chapter in the ULTIMATUM SAGA!

• Ultimatum’s master plan is in motion and it’s way bigger than you expect. Nearly everyone in Miles’ orbit and beyond is affected and needs to get in on the battle.

• And if this issue is the battle, next is the war!!!

32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99

CAPTAIN AMERICA #25

TA-NEHISI COATES [W] • LEONARD KIRK (A) • Cover by ALEX ROSS

VARIANT COVER BY SKOTTIE YOUNG

CAPTAIN AMERICA PHOENIX VARIANT COVER BY SALVADOR LAROCA

CAPTAIN AMERICA NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE TRIBUTE VARIANT COVER BY JEFFREY VEREGGE

To rescue the Daughters of Liberty trapped in Madripoor, Captain America and his closest allies marshal their forces – but waiting in the wings for them is the reborn Red Skull! Plus, the debut of the all-new Agent 13!

PLUS: A second celebratory story by Michael Cho!

40 PGS./Rated T+ …$4.99

RISE OF ULTRAMAN #3 (OF 5)

KYLE HIGGINS & MAT GROOM [W] • FRANCESCO MANNA (A)

Cover by JORGE MOLINA

Variant cover by KIM JACINTO

PHOTO VARIANT COVER ALSO AVAILABLE

Overrun by Kaiju and pinned behind enemy lines, Kiki could really use the help of the newly merged Ultraman — but what went wrong with the merging process, and how will that impact our hero?

With that to deal with, Shin must also decide whom to trust — the benevolent-seeming but deeply secretive USP or the bitter whistleblower Dr. Yamamoto… And a wrong choice could cost him everything he holds dear!

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

WIDOWMAKERS: RED GUARDIAN AND YELENA BELOVA #1

DEVIN GRAYSON [W] • Michele Bandini (A) Cover by MIKE MCKONE

VARIANT COVER BY INHYUK LEE –

VARIANT COVER BY JUNGGEUN YOON –

MCU VARIANT COVER BY CHRIS SAMNEE

BLACK WIDOW NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE

TRIBUTE VARIANT COVER BY JEFFREY VEREGGE

Devin Grayson, one of the creators of Yelena Belova — the Red Room recruit who once nearly killed Natasha Romanoff — returns with a brand–new story drawn by rising star Michele Bandini! Yelena has spent years trying to figure out who she is. Once she thought the Black Widow mantle was her destiny, but fate had other plans. Now the past is catching up with her — and with Alexi Shostakov, a.k.a. the Red Guardian! Alexi has worn many titles, including husband to Natasha, but while the Widow played her avenging games, the Red Guardian waited in the shadows. Now a new day is dawning — and this time, no one will stand in his way.

40 PGS./ONE–SHOT/ Rated T …$4.99

TASKMASTER #1 (of 5)

JED MACKAY [W]• ALESSANDRO VITTI (A)

Cover by VALERIO GIANGIORDANO

Variant Cover by NICK BRADSHAW –

VARIANT COVER BY MIKE HENDERSON –

TASKMASTER HAS MURDERED MARIA HILL!

Or at least that’s what the whole world thinks. Now the greatest spies in the business are hunting him down and won’t stop until Taskmaster is dead or clears his own name! Follow JED MACKAY (BLACK CAT) and ALESSANDRO VITTI (SECRET WARRIORS) on a globe–spanning adventure that will send ripples through every corner of the Marvel Universe’s espionage community!

32 PGS ./Rated T+ …$3.99

BLACK WIDOW #3

KELLY THOMPSON [W] • ELENA CASAGRANDE (A) • Cover by ADAM HUGHES

Variant cover by ANNIE WU

MCU VARIANT COVER BY PATRICK BROWN

WHITE…WIDOW?!

Nobody who knows Natasha Romanoff would have imagined THIS when hearing the words “White Widow,” but nothing about this new Nat is what anyone could have imagined. It’s no surprise that she’s looking sublime in white, but who’s the lucky groom? And is this a match for love…or death?

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

JUGGERNAUT #3 (OF 5)

FABIAN NICIEZA [W] • RON GARNEY (A)

Cover by GEOFF SHAW

JUGGERNAUT ON TRIAL!

It’s no secret Juggernaut has been on the wrong side of the law in the past… but can even justice stop him? Or will he tear down the system?

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

SAVAGE AVENGERS #14

GERRY DUGGAN [W] • Patch Zircher (A)

Cover by VALERIO GIANGIORDANO

VARIANT COVER BY MARCO CHECCHETTO

Conan leads a team of Savage Avengers against an Asgardian dragon in a quest for treasure. Get out your twenty-sided dice and roll to attack with Conan, Magik and new Savage recruits the Black Knight and Juggernaut!

32 PGS./Parental Advisory …$3.99

MARVEL #2 (of 6)

ALEX ROSS, DAN BRERETON, STEVE DARNALL, PAOLO RIVERA & ERIC POWELL [W]

ALEX ROSS, ERIC POWELL, PAOLO RIVERA & DAN BRERETON (A) • Cover by ALEX ROSS

Variant Cover by DAN BRERETON

Another artist extravaganza overseen by the master; Alex Ross! In this issue, the X–Men old and new grapple with the swelling of their ranks in a story by Dan Brereton, the Thing, Spider–Man and Doctor Doom contend for the most coveted object on the planet in a tale by Eric Powell, and the Vision pushes himself to the limit in order to save a life in an adventure by Paolo Rivera! All wrapped in a framing sequence painted by Alex and scripted by Steve Darnall!

40 PGS./Rated T …$4.99

WEREWOLF BY NIGHT #2 (OF 4)

TABOO & BENJAMIN JACKENDOFF [W] SCOT EATON (A)

Cover by Mike McKone

VARIANT COVER BY GERARDO ZAFFINO

NIGHT OF THE CREEPS!

• Jake’s attempt to get to the bottom of his company’s questionable practices leads to an all-out monster brawl!

• As Werewolf by Night gets in over his head, Red Wolf and the law are getting closer!

• With Jake’s entire life in chaos, the only way out may be to fully embrace the secret history of the Werewolf by Night!

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

HELLSTROM: MARVEL TALES #1

Written by GARY FRIEDRICH, JOHN WARNER, RICHARD HOWELL & RAFAEL NIEVES

Penciled by TOM SUTTON, JIM MOONEY,

RICHARD HOWELL & MICHAEL BAIR

Cover by INHYUK LEE

VIRGIN Cover by INHYUK LEE – MAR201016

Daimon Hellstrom, the Son of Satan himself, burns his way into your brain as we celebrate the legacy of the House of Ideas with MARVEL TALES! This anthology series shines a spotlight on fan-favorite characters, features timeless stories and highlights some of Marvel’s most impressive talent from the past eight decades. First, the Son of Satan makes his daring debut as a tormented exorcist in GHOST RIDER (1973) #1! Next, Daimon enters his father’s domain and faces an unholy family reunion in SON OF SATAN #1! A marriage made in heaven takes center stage as Daimon and his then-wife, Patsy Walker, star in MARVEL FANFARE (1982) #59! And there’ll be hell to pay when Daimon, now an occult investigator, comes face-to-face with his own demonic doppelganger in HELLSTORM: PRINCE OF LIES #1!

88 PGS./Rated T+ …$7.99

SHANG-CHI #3 (OF 5)

GENE YANG [W] • DIKE RUAN & PHILIP TAN (A) • Cover by PHILIP TAN

Variant Cover by KRIS ANKA

SHANG-CHI PHOENIX VARIANT COVER BY DAVID NAKAYAMA

DEADLY FAMILY REUNION!

• Shang-Chi gets to know the family he never knew he had…

• But which of his siblings can he trust, and which are trying to kill him?

• Plus, witness the horrifying origin of Shang-Chi’s father!

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

AVENGERS #57 FACSIMILE EDITION

Written by ROY THOMAS

Penciled by JOHN BUSCEMA

Cover by JOHN BUSCEMA

Behold…the Vision!

The Avengers meet one of their deadliest enemies — and greatest allies — in an unforgettable story from the legendary creative team of Roy Thomas and John Buscema! It begins as the Wasp is terrorized in her apartment by “some sort of unearthly Vision” — and soon the synthezoid who can alter his density from ghostlike to diamond hard is making light work of Giant-Man, Hawkeye and Black Panther! He’s been sent by Ultron to destroy the Avengers, but can an artificial man find the strength to turn against his maker? One of the most stalwart assemblers Earth’s Mightiest Heroes have ever known makes his debut right here, and the team will never be the same. It’s one of the all-time great Marvel comic books, boldly re-presented in its original form, ads and all! Reprinting AVENGERS (1963) #57.

32 PGS./All Ages …$3.99

X-MEN #4 FACSIMILE EDITION

Written by STAN LEE

Penciled by JACK KIRBY

Cover by JACK KIRBY

INTRODUCING THE SCARLET WITCH!

Magneto returns to battle the X-Men, and he’s brought the new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants! Courtesy of the boundless imaginations of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch enter the Marvel Universe alongside enduring mutant menaces Toad and Mastermind! As Magneto and Professor X clash on the astral plane, the Brotherhood overruns and conquers the small nation of Santo Marco in the name of mutant supremacy, and the stage is set for a dramatic showdown with the X-Men! A rivalry for the ages begins here, and Wanda and Pietro Maximoff start their incredible journey from villainy to their ultimate destiny in the mighty Avengers! It’s one of the all-time great Marvel comic books, boldly re-presented in its original form, ads and all! Reprinting X-MEN (1963) #4.

32 PGS./All Ages…$3.99

AVENGERS #38

JASON AARON [W] • ED McGUINNESS (A/C)

BLACK PANTHER PHOENIX VARIANT COVER BY AARON KUDER

BLACK PANTHER NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE TRIBUTE VARIANT COVER BY JEFFREY VEREGGE

EXIT THE AGE OF KHONSHU. ENTER THE PHOENIX.

The Avengers have saved Earth from the god of the Moon, but the return of a certain planet-burning cosmic firebird isn’t going to give them much time to catch their breath. Plus: The devil may be dead, but the threat of Mephisto lingers on, with a legacy interwoven in heretofore untold chapters of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

AVENGERS: MARVELS SNAPSHOTS #1

BARBARA RANDALL KESEL with KURT BUSIEK [W]

STAZ JOHNSON (A) • Cover by ALEX ROSS

VARIANT COVER BY Staz Johnson

HIDDEN GEM VARIANT COVER BY GEORGE PEREZ

The Marvel Snapshot tour through Marvel history takes a romantic — and destructive — turn during the Michelinie/Byrne/Pérez Avengers era! Take one rookie cop, add one new-to-the-city emergency medical technician, and make their meet-cute a devastating battle between the Avengers and a giant, rampaging robot! What comes next? Only Barbara Randall Kesel (Hawk & Dove, Ultragirl) and Staz Johnson (New X-Men, Robin) can tell you. Featuring Iron Man, the Beast, Wonder Man, Count Nefaria and more.

40 PGS./One–Shot/Rated T+ …$4.99

CHAMPIONS #2

EVE L. EWING [W] • SIMONE DI MEO (A) • Cover by TONI INFANTE

VARIANT COVER BY MEGHAN HETRICK

• When clashing protests over the teen vigilante ban break out across Chicago, the Champions risk their freedom to protect the young protestors from overzealous C.R.A.D.L.E. agents — but Chicago’s own hometown hero, Ironheart, is nowhere to be seen.

• Where is Riri Williams? Why has she abandoned the Champions? And could it have anything to do with the mole in their ranks…?

32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99

MAESTRO #4 (of 5)

PETER DAVID [W] • GERMÁN PERALTA (A) • Cover by DALE KEOWN

VARIANT COVER BY Ryan Ottley

GIVE ME YOUR BEST APOCALYPSE!

The Hulk’s enemy — Hercules?! — gets the upper hand, but not for long. Rick Jones attempts to intervene…but it’s no longer clear whose side he should be on. Don’t miss a pivotal moment as the Maestro’s plans fall into place! Can the being we know as the Hulk survive? Does he want to?

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

POWER PACK #1 (of 5)

RYAN NORTH [W] • NICO LEON (A) • Cover by RYAN STEGMAN

Variant cover by NICO LEON

Variant cover by EDUARD PETROVICH

HIDDEN GEM VARIANT COVER BY JUNE BRIGMAN

MARVEL ZOMBIES VARIANT COVER BY BILLY MARTIN

Power Pack is back! Katie, Julie, Jack and Alex Power have been super-heroing since they were learning to tie their own shoes. It’s been ages since they fought side by side as a family, but a special occasion — and an old grudge — is about to put the gang back together. There’s just one teeny tiny hiccup: a brand–new law restricting underage super heroes! But surely, if the fate of all New York City is at stake, the powers that be will make an exception? Keep your fingers crossed as the Power siblings fight for their right to save the world!

32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99

IMMORTAL HULK #40

AL EWING [W] • JOE BENNETT (A) • Cover by ALEX ROSS

SHE-HULK PHOENIX VARIANT COVER BY TAURIN CLARKE

HULK NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE TRIBUTE VARIANT COVER BY JEFFREY VEREGGE

SPOILER VARIANT COVER BY SKOTTIE YOUNG

• So here’s the skinny: Hulk’s lower than he ever was. He’s stuck in an iron hotel built just for him, and there’s a new Sasquatch guarding the door.

• If he gets through him – and the rest of Gamma Flight – all he wins is an airlock to open space. It’s a rigged game, with no way to win…

• …only JOE FIXIT never learned how to lose.

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

THOR #9

DONNY CATES [W] • NIC KLEIN (A) • Cover by OLIVIER COIPEL

VARIANT COVER BY GREG HILDEBRANDT

VALKYRIE PHOENIX VARIANT COVER BY JENNY FRISON

THOR NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE TRIBUTE VARIANT COVER BY JEFFREY VEREGGE

VARIANT COVER BY ED MCGUINNESS

VARIANT COVER BY NIC KLEIN

THE RETURN OF DONALD BLAKE!

The “Prey” arc starts here! Once upon a time, a mortal man bore within him the spirit of a god. With a crack of his cane upon the ground, the Mighty Thor would appear! But it’s been years since the King of Asgard required his human ward. Where has the good doctor been all this time – and what does his reappearance mean for the God of Thunder? Donny Cates and Nic Klein journey into a mystery left unsolved since 1962!

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

SYMBIOTE SPIDER-MAN: KING IN BLACK #1 (OF 5)

Peter David [W] • GREG LAND (A/C)

VARIANT COVER BY GEOFF SHAW

VARIANT COVER BY KHARY RANDOLPH

VARIANT COVER BY SUPERLOG

VARIANT COVER BY ALEX SAVIUK

BLACK BLANK VARIANT COVER ALSO AVAILABLE

Knull, the KING IN BLACK, has set his sights on Earth – but as avid Marvelites already know, his hand has been at work at the edge of the Marvel Universe for years! IN THIS SERIES, witness one of Knull’s earliest attempts at birthing life from the darkness of non-creation! From superstar creators PETER DAVID and GREG LAND comes a titanic tie-in tale to this year’s winter epic KING IN BLACK!

40 PGS. /Rated T+ …$4.99

VENOM #30

DONNY CATES [W] • LUKE ROSS (A) • Cover by GEOFF SHAW

VARIANT COVER BY AARON KUDER

VARIANT COVER BY RYAN STEGMAN

SKETCH VARIANT COVER BY RYAN STEGMAN

THIS IS IT!

The face-melting finale to VENOM BEYOND, by Donny Cates and special guest illustrator LUKE ROSS! Trapped at the mercy of the dangerous new foe called CODEX, Eddie Brock will have to make an impossible choice!

32 PGS. /Rated T+ …$3.99

STRANGE ACADEMY #5

SKOTTIE YOUNG [W] • HUMBERTO RAMOS (A/C)

REMOTE LEARNING VARIANT COVER BY Humberto Ramos

CHARACTER SPOTLIGHT VARIANT COVER by ARTHUR ADAMS

• The founding of the Strange Academy came with some gigantic risks. So far the students and teachers haven’t felt the sting of those risks. That changes this issue.

• Something horrible is bubbling up in the bayous outside New Orleans and the students of Strange Academy are going to have to wade in and uncover an evil that they are not ready to handle.

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

CAPTAIN MARVEL #23

KELLY THOMPSON [W] • LEE GARBETT (A) • Cover by JORGE MOLINA

VARIANT COVER BY Russell Dauterman

MEET THE VILLAIN OF THE CENTURY!

The future is here — and haunting Captain Marvel! New York City is in chaos, and all her strongest allies are gone. But the enemy has only grown stronger with time. The child of [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] makes Carol Danvers’ life a living hell…and you’re gonna love every second of it.

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

FANTASTIC FOUR: ANTITHESIS #4 (of 4)

MARK WAID [W] • NEAL ADAMS (A/C)

Variant cover by RUSSELL DAUTERMAN

Reed Richards has made the ultimate sacrifice to save the cosmos from both Antithesis and Galactus, dooming himself to a life among the stars! Meet Mr. Galactic!

32 PGS./Rated T …$4.99

FANTASTIC FOUR #26

DAN SLOTT [W] • R.B. SILVA (A) • Cover by MARK BROOKS

NAMOR PHOENIX VARIANT COVER BY KRIS ANKA

A powerful portal to everywhere, THE FOREVER GATE has been ripped open — and beings from countless realities are pouring through, threatening to overwhelm Manhattan…and then the rest of the world! The Fantastic Four have to close it — except one being stands in their way… MISTER FANTASTIC?!

All this and the return of Fantastic Four friends and foes! And one old flame…

32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99

MAGNIFICENT MS. MARVEL #16

SALADIN AHMED [W] • Minkyu Jung (A)

Cover by EDUARD PETROVICH

• AMULET RETURNS – just in time for C.R.A.D.L.E. and Dum Dum Dugan to crack down on the teen heroes of Jersey City!

• An arcane horror threatens everything Amulet and Ms. Marvel hold dear – but can they do anything to stop it when they could be arrested at any moment?

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #8

AL EWING [W] • Marcio Takara (A) • Cover by RAFAEL ALBUQUERQUE

• At the diplomatic conference to decide the future of space, there’s been a murder most foul – and one of the delegates is responsible!

• It’s up to Ranger Rocket to save Marvel Boy from execution, solve the mystery and find the real killer – while a ticking bomb counts down to zero!

• Can things get worse? It’s GUARDIANS. Things always get worse.

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

DEADPOOL #8

KELLY THOMPSON [W] GERARDO SANDOVAL (A)

Cover by CHRIS BACHALO

SCANDAL! BETRAYAL! GOO!

• Elsa lied, and Deadpool died!

• Well, not yet. But he might! Which, given that this is Deadpool, means it must be a pretty spectacular lie.

• What is the ACTUAL truth of the Bloodstone curse? And what does it have to do with a dimension full of hideous goo? Don’t wear your nice clothes when reading this one – IT’S GONNA GET MESSY.

32 PGS./Parental Advisory …$3.99

FALCON & WINTER SOLDIER #5 (of 5)

DEREK LANDY [W] • FEDERICO VICENTINI (A)

Cover by DAN MORA

Variant by KHOI PHAM

A diner, somewhere in Nevada. Inside, a battle rages, as Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes do their very best to take down the Natural, the most gifted killer to emerge in years. Outside, another battle rages — this time between the two people vying to become the next Hydra Supreme. It’s the bullet-riddled, window-smashing, table-breaking conclusion to the action-paced series, and it’s going out in style…

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

DAREDEVIL #24

CHIP ZDARSKY [W] • Mike Hawthorne (A) • COVER BY MARCO CHECCHETTO

THE VERDICT ON DAREDEVIL!

BACK IN RED, but for how long? As Hell’s Kitchen still reels from the chaos unleashed upon its streets by the Stromwyns, its citizens are looking for someone to hold accountable.

MEANWHILE, hizzoner Mayor Wilson Fisk, now a hero in the eyes of his citizens, sets his sights on a new venture – with a dangerous ally at his side.

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

DOCTOR DOOM #9

CHRISTOPHER CANTWELL [W] • SALVADOR LARROCA (A/C)

PHoeNIX VARIANT COVER BY Declan Shalvey

After growing the Latverian empire through bloodshed, Doom turns his attention to the potential apocalypse that is the black hole in Earth’s orbit, as he’s the only brilliant scientific mind left that has any chance of preventing catastrophe. But in the wake of all he’s been through, Victor grapples with a profound change of heart…one he dare not show his enemies, else they see his weakness as opportunity!

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

CONAN THE BARBARIAN #16

JIM ZUB [W] • ROGÊ ANTÔNIO (A) • Cover by E.M. GIST

Variant cover by Cary Nord – MAR201063

THE REVENGE OF CONAN!

• The true nature of the Great Crucible is revealed!

• CONAN has angered the leadership of Uttara Kuru, but he will not be crushed by their punishment so easily!

• The dramatic conclusion to “Into the Crucible” and the start of Conan’s next quest!

32 PGS./Parental Advisory …$3.99

STAR WARS #8

CHARLES SOULE [W] • RAMON ROSANAS (A)

Cover by CARLO PAGULAYAN

Variant Cover by MICHAEL GOLDEN

ACTION FIGURE VARIANT BY JOHN TYLER CHRISTOPHER

Empire Strikes Back Variant COVER by CHRIS SPROUSE

TO ESCAPE THE EMPIRE’S TRAP, THE REBELS SPRING ONE OF THEIR OWN!

• What’s behind COMMANDER ZAHRA’s quest for revenge against LEIA ORGANA? The powerful, dark answer revealed this issue!

• And the REBEL’S Fourth and Seventh Divisions will pay the price for Zahra’s revenge.

• See LUKE SKYWALKER, WEDGE ANTILLES and SHARA BEY battle against an onslaught of TIE fighters in the greatest dog fight of the series.

32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99

STAR WARS: DARTH VADER #7

GREG PAK [W] • RAFFAELE IENCO (A) • Cover by DANIEL ACUNA

EMPIRE STRIKES BACK VARIANT COVER BY CHRIS SPOUSE

PAIN LEADS TO ANGER AND ANGER LEADS

TO AN ELEMENT FROM EPISODE IV!

• As DARTH VADER battered and broken by the EMPEROR as punishment for his rebellion,

drags himself across the blasted surface of MUSTAFAR with vengeance on his mind!

• But can he survive the onslaught of a certain mysterious SITH ASSASSIN?

• And how will his world change when he learns his enemy’s GREATEST SECRET?!!

32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99

STAR WARS: BOUNTY HUNTERS #7

ETHAN SACKS [W] • PAOLO VILLANELLI (A)

Cover by LEE BERMEJO

Empire Strikes Back Variant COVER by CHRIS SPROUSE

ACTION FIGURE VARIANT COVER BY JOHN TYLER CHRISTOPHER

NO ONE CAN ESCAPE THE FINDSMEN!

• A badly wounded VALANCE reunites with a long lost love on a secret Rebel base… but trouble is right on his heels.

• ZUCKUSS AND 4-LOM, the deadliest bounty hunting duo in the galaxy are closing in, ready to take out their quarry dead or alive! And they brought an army of Clone War-era Battle Droids with them!

• Valance is trapped and if he wants to escape alive he’ll have to make the toughest decision of his entire life.

32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99

STAR WARS: DOCTOR APHRA #6

ALYSSA WONG [W] • RAY-ANTHONY HEIGHT (A)

Cover by LEINIL FRANCIS YU

VARIANT COVER BY TBA

APHRA HAS A NEW WORST ENEMY – THE VILLAINOUS DOMINA TAGGE RETURNS!

• Someone sinister has put a price on DOCTOR APHRA’s head… and it’s none other than DOMINA TAGGE!

• Now Aphra’s running for her life, trying to shake every bounty hunter on her tail.

• But one of those is SANA STARROS… and for Sana, it’s personal!

• Aphra can’t out-think Domina or outrun Sana…what choice does she have left?!

32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99

And finally, if you’re looking for something else to read, check out my Amazon Online Comic Shop by clicking HERE. Thank you all for the read and continued support. Stay safe and stay healthy.

Check out our other Reviews HERE

Check out our other Previews HERE

November 2020 Marvel Comic Solicits- #MARVEL #marvelcomics #comics #comicbooks #news #mcu #art #info #NCBD #comicbooknews #previews #reviews #avengers #fantasticfour #ironman #thor #hulk #xmen #hoxpox #houseofx #powersofx #dawnofx #marauders #excalibur #wolverine #xforce #xofswords #spiderman #amazingspiderman #immortalhulk #incrediblehulk #hulk #starwars #darthvader #conan #daredevil #gotg #venom #november #solicits Check out these marvelous titles and so much more. To snag any of these comics, trades, or volumes for your Kindle through Amazon, simply click on the name of the highlighted/underlined series below.

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exwinddancer-blog · 6 years ago

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✕ — ISN’T THAT SOFIA MANTEGA WANDERING THE STREETS OF NEW YORK? CIVILIANS KNOW THEM AS WIND DANCER AND SEE THEM AS A CIVILIAN. AS FAR AS I KNOW, THE 23 YEAR OLD STANDS ALONE AND ARE RUMOURED TO BE PRETTY PASSIONATE & HESITANT. ( MARIA GABRIELA DE FARIA / FEMALE/ SHE/HER )

tiff here, back at it again at krispy kreme! so i told myself i wasn’t gonna take up anymore kiddos but i’ve had this one stuck in my head for months now so here she is! she’s the best and i just want people to get to know her better so we can get some damn #justiceforsofia !!

— sofia mantega- barrett (crossed out because screw that guy) was born in caracas, venezuela. but after her mother was tragically killed in some riots she was sent to live with the father who didn’t even know she existed because no one else wanted to take care of her due to her mutant abilities.

— her father, walter barrett, was reluctant to take her in however because he was rich and powerful, being the owner of a major chain of supermarkets, so appearances were everything to him. he agreed to take care of her under 3 conditions: that she would learn english before school started, that she get good grades, and that she wouldn’t ever use her mutant powers again.

— for months people steered clear of her for being different; she was new, and she had an accent, and kids were rude. the only friend she had made in that time was her father’s assistant, derek. after almost half a year of putting herself through that she decided she had enough and walked into one of her dad’s supermarkets and used her powers, letting out strong gusts of wind throughout the store and essentially wrecking everything inside. of course she was arrested because she was then seen as a dangerous mutant but honestly sofia preferred it to having to pretend to be something she wasn’t anymore.

— the plan was to send her ass packing back to venezuela as her father just couldn’t deal with having a known mutant as a daughter. but before he could send her back danielle moonstar (mirage) of the x-men showed up and offered to take her in at xavier’s institute, where she would later become her mentor.

— there she became part of a new class of young mutants and joined the second incarnation of the new mutants where she earned her alias, wind dancer.

— while everyone wanted david alleyne (prodigy) to be the squad leader he refused to take up the role and instead passed it over to the enthusiastic sofia. but it was soon clear that taking the lead was bringing out the worst in her. so she decided that the best thing would be for both her and prodigy to be co-leaders.

— emma frost, being headmistress at the time, had these squads at the institute competing to see who was the best. the clear frontrunners were the new mutants and the hellions, lead by julian keller. the whole rivalry basically caused a lot of tension and flirting, mostly on his part, between the two since they were both leaders of their respective teams and both had really strong opinions. they basically started dating.

— then m day happened. 91% (give or take) of the mutant population was depowered. sofia happened to be one of the thousands of mutants that lost her abilities that day. after this day emma basically went YEET and kicked out anyone from the institute who no longer had powers. she was far from reluctant to leave though since she felt unwanted by her friends and even more so from the guy she liked and used to call her beautiful.

— since then sofia moved to new york and started working as a waitress to make ends meet. (there was a whole story about her joining the new warriors and fighting against the whole registration thing. but i’m not so much into that story so i’m just gonna say she’s been doing vigilante stuff with a rando anti registration group and this is why she’s around now again.)

— also because since we’ve last seen her everyone’s slowly gotten their powers back and yet we still haven’t heard back from ya girl (cause marvel? making good use of any of their characters other than the avengers lately??) i’m gonna say her powers recently came back, but she’s keeping it on the down low. civilian my a$$.

#73:intro #this is long af #but i just have a lot of feelings about my bbgirl!!!#and she has such a good history #just wish marvel would recognize that

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phantom-le6 · 4 years ago

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Film Review - The New Mutants

I’d originally been planning to go right into my backlog of TV series after my last film review, but instead I’ve opted to delay that slightly in favour of reviewing two further additions to my film collection. First up is the final film of Fox’s era of Marvel cinematic production, and to date the only cinematic adaptation of a spin-off group from my favourite Marvel heroes in terms of comics lore. This is my take on The New Mutants…

Plot (adapted from Wikipedia):

Danielle "Dani" Moonstar, a young Cheyenne Native American, escapes the destruction of her reservation during an apparent tornado. During the chaos, Dani's father, William, hides her before an unseen entity kills him, leaving her the only survivor. After being knocked unconscious, Dani awakens in a hospital run by Dr. Cecilia Reyes. Reyes comforts Dani, telling her she is a mutant, and advises her to remain in the hospital until she learns what her abilities are and controls them.

Dani is introduced to four other teenagers; Samuel "Sam" Guthrie, Illyana Rasputin, Roberto "Bobby" da Costa and Rahne Sinclair. Reyes has brought each of them to the hospital after they have all suffered tragedy; Sam brought down a whole mine on his father and coworkers, Roberto burned his girlfriend to death, Rahne escaped her religiously strict village after being branded as a witch, and Illyana was haunted by her past of child slavery and abuse, which manifests itself as otherworldly beings called the "Smiling Men". All of them possess mutant abilities; Roberto can manipulate solar energy, Sam can fly at jet speed, Illyana has inter-dimensional teleportation powers (as well as being a sorceress), and Rahne's lycanthropy allows her to turn into a wolf. Reyes herself is a powerful mutant who keeps her patients from leaving the facility by surrounding it with unbreakable force fields.

Collectively, the five of them believe that they are being trained to join the X-Men, hence the strict supervision, as well as Reyes reminding them that they are considered dangerous and should not leave until they have mastered their abilities. Dani immediately befriends Rahne, with the two eventually forming a romantic relationship, while Illyana continues to antagonize Dani. When Dani fights back, she discovers that Illyana's only friend is a hand puppet of a purple dragon who she calls Lockheed. Soon, the group all begin to have horrifying visions of their past tragedies, one of which results in Rahne getting branded in the neck. Illyana deduces that the visions are the result of Dani's powers manifesting; she has the ability to physically manifest illusions based on a person's psyche. Reyes consults her employers, the Essex Corporation, who instruct her to collect Dani's DNA and have her euthanized.

As Reyes takes her away, Dani's panic causes her power to spiral out of control. Illyana and Sam are attacked by manifestations of the Smiling Men while Roberto tries to break through the barrier, which has shrunken down. Dani uses her powers to learn of Reyes's true intentions before Rahne arrives in half-wolf form and mauls Reyes, forcing her to flee. The five regroup and realize that, in order to escape, they have to kill Reyes to deprive the force fields of their power source. They find her and Reyes traps them, revealing that she was training them to be killers for Essex. Before she can kill Dani, the Demon Bear, which is Dani's own fear manifested and the true cause of her reservation's destruction, arrives and kills Reyes.

Illyana summons her powers to jump between "limbo" and recruits a real-life version of Lockheed to take on the Demon Bear. Eventually, Sam and Roberto join the fight, overcoming their insecurities in the process. Rahne tries to reach through to an unconscious Dani until she is forced to fight the Demon Bear alone. Dani is visited by her father's spirit, who encourages her to face her fear. Dani awakens and confronts Demon Bear, calming and thus dissipating it. As day breaks, the group learns that the force fields are down and they leave the facility to find the nearest town.

Review:

As people who have read my reviews and other articles back when Facebook notes were still around, last year in the run-up to this film’s intended release of April 2020, I posted a fun little run-down of how all the X-Men’s various spin-off groups were created in back in the 1980’s. First and foremost among these groups were the New Mutants, who I have read a lot about not only through the X-Men comics of this era, but also through the earliest issues of the New Mutants’ own series in the anthologies of the Marvel Epic collection. As such, I was really excited to finally get to see this film when it came out early this month on Blu-ray.

That being said, I was also a little wary; Fox’s treatment of the X-Men and their various associates has been frequently hit-and-miss, with Deadpool being the only film to date that I’ve given top marks to. In addition, the much-raved about Logan showed us that Fox had little respect for the characters, basing the plot-premise of mutants being eradicated via GM crops on the idea that a then-active Xavier or Magneto would do nothing, when X-Men: The Last Stand had shown they would be far less ignorant or inactive in the face of any anti-mutant bio-chemical shenanigans. Combine that with years of anglocised Xavier and Magneto alongside Americanised versions of non-US characters, and you have to admit, Fox just has a really, really lousy track record for adaptational quality or film-to-film consistency with their main Marvel earners as was.

How, then, does this film directed and co-written by Josh Boone, stack up? Well at first watch pretty well. The film is a revised origin film for the group that draws heavily on the Demon Bear Saga, a three-issue story arc that spanned issues 18-20 (August-October 1984) of the New Mutants comic in its original form. The original was written by Chris Claremont in the midst of his definitive writing run on the X-Men, and was drawn by artist Bill Sienkiewicz. The latter gives this film his blessing in behind-the-scenes materials on the Blu-ray, including an interview with Boone that forms the director’s commentary.

It’s not hard to see why Sienkiewicz is ok with the film, because having read the comics I can see this film as being a very faithful adaptation of the source material while still being its own story. The film is very much a horror film, though initially it has more of a thriller aspect that keeps it distinct from other superhero horror films like the Blade trilogy or Sony’s horror-comedy Venom. It’s also very much a coming-of-age story, which taps into what the New Mutants comics were about. Despite the team having X-Men trainee uniforms at times back in the comics, the team was meant to be just students learning to use their powers, leaving the world-saving and evil mutants-battling to the X-Men, a dynamic that has been reflected in most of Fox’s X-Men films to date.

In terms of characters, casting and performance, I’d say the film lands very well in most areas. As there are so relatively few characters to go at, I’ll tackle them here as bullet points;

Danielle “Dani” Moonstar (played by Blu Hunt). Dani is the focal character for this story, and actress Blu Hunt does very well to bring the character to life. The manifestation of her powers is handled quite differently from the comics, but it works well within the story and gives us a very unique take on the classic idea of a mutant discovering their power for the first time. Normally it’s either a very rapid progression or we just see the character with full awareness of what their power is, whereas here Dani isn’t aware and the film essentially shows her trying to work out what her power is, then how to control it.

Rahne Sinclair (played by Maisie Williams). After Moira MacTaggert was Americanised in the X-Men prequel films, becoming a CIA agent rather than a Scottish scientist, I was afraid that her ward Rahne (pronounced Rain) would follow a similar course. Instead, Maisie Williams pulls off a great modernised version of this young Scottish werewolf-like mutant, including the strict and abusive conservative Christian upbringing and subsequent abuse that is an integral part of her comic-verse incarnation. The film also translates the telepathic bond between Dani and Rahne from the comics, and its subsequent deep friendship, into a same-sex romance that is very much a natural extension of source material.

Samuel “Sam” Guthrie (played by Charlie Heaton). Much like Williams, Heaton is shifting his accent to play the role of Sam Guthrie, who in the comics hails from Kentucky coal country. The performance is brilliant, and while some fans may struggle to understand why Sam has one arm in a cast when his power of ‘blasting’ is supposed to render him invulnerable, the film works in an idea of guilt-based self-abuse which, much like the Dani-Rahne relationship, is an extension of a comic-based element. In the comics, Sam is very hard on himself and holds himself to an almost impossibly high standard in all areas, but often falls short in the area of his mutant powers. For someone like that, the kind of incident Sam is struggling to deal with in the film could have a very negative effect on his mental health.

Illyana Rasputin (played by Anna Taylor-Joy). The kid sister of Colossus, Anna Taylor-Joy sadly doesn’t get to make any hints about her character knowing one of the X-Men by blood. Her backstory gets somewhat revised in order for it to work within a relatively self-contained film; in the comics, Illyana was drawn into the realm of Limbo at about six or seven years old, but due to a time-difference between there and Earth and a slip-up in the X-Men saving her, she ended up coming back to Earth at age 13, possessing powers of sorcery as well as a mutant teleporting power tied into the Limbo dimension. The film retains Illyana’s power set, however, and even borrows the dragon Lockheed who was originally the ‘pet’/friend of Kitty Pryde, Illyana’s best friend and room-mate in the comics. Thankfully, Taylor-Joy also uses a Russian accent in keeping with her character, so we’re not getting any repeats on the Daniel Cudmore Americanised performance here.

Roberto “Bobby” DaCosta (Played by Henry Zaga). Character-wise, Zaga does well as the New Mutant who was code-named Sunspot in the comics, and while the more pyrokinetic version of his powers seen in the Days of Future Past film incarnation of the character show up, so does his true comic power of solar-powered strength. The film also claims Bobby is from Brazil in keeping with the comics, but Zaga’s accent never sounds even remotely Latin American to me, despite him being a Brazilian actor, and even worse Zaga is a white-wash on the character. Readers of the comics will know Roberto is of mixed race, having a white mother and a black father, so Zaga is a very poor casting choice, especially given the diversity-driven nature of Marvel’s mutant character base.

Dr Cecilia Reyes (Played by Alice Braga). Of the two Brazilian cast members, Braga is the only one who sounds like she’s from a Latin American country, and that’s annoying because she shouldn’t. Dr Cecilia Reyes is American; more importantly, she was drawn in the comics as having dark skin to suggest a mixed-race background similar to Roberto’s (based on her initial appearance in Operation: Zero Tolerance, which I’ve also read), and her general attitude and depiction in source material would seem to suggest an upbringing somewhere in America. Also, Reyes’ force-field powers are centred around herself in the source material, presumably to avoid any suggestion of her being a diversity’s sake rip-off of Susan Richards of the Fantastic Four, and she is a frequent ally or member of the X-Men. This makes her position as an eventual antagonist in this film a poor misuse of her character, one akin to the infamous misuse of the Mandarin in the MCU’s Iron Man 3.

Given all of this, I’m inclined to see The New Mutants as yet another Fox-made Marvel film that falls short of greatness because key details were changed that didn’t need to be. Had I been the one to do this film, I’d have hired an actor that could look like Roberto from the comics, and would have hired an accent coach to help him if he couldn’t do a Brazilian accent. Next, I’d have kept Dr Cecilia Reyes out of the film and used Madelyn Pryor, a character from the comics who would have served that part of the story better on the basis of the source material, and would have cast a suitable actress for that role.

Finally, I’d have worked in at least a nod to the sibling relationship between Illyana and Colossus during the film, used newly shot footage for the part where stock footage from Logan was used, and I’d have done a very brief mid-credits or end credits scene where the X-Men (prequel Xavier, Storm and Nightcrawler with Deadpool-style Colossus and Jackman’s Wolverine) would have touched down in the path of the New Mutants in the Blackbird. Zero dialogue; just the touch down, the X-Men coming out and Illyana running to give her big bro a hug, done. Final score for what we did get, though, is 8 out of 10. Could well have been less, but the appearance of a comic-accurate Lockheed in the third act? That is a major plus all by itself.

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