#oh and magneto too I guess

[1ambullshit]

I swear to god, if Remy isn’t back in the next two episodes I will do violence.

[velvet4510]

Is it just me or is Jean Grey’s entire characterization and storyline in the XMCU unbelievably sexist? I’m just so appalled by it. I have no idea if this is a hot take - I’m brand new to these films, and am totally unfamiliar with the comics - but I really can’t see this as anything other than misogynistic writing.

Between the idea that “woman can’t control her own power” and “woman who two guys are fighting over” … both of those are such dated and regressive concepts but for Jean Grey to embody BOTH of them … and literally NOTHING else? She has ZERO character development outside of these two traits. We don’t explore her friendships with Storm or Rogue or any of the other female mutants. We don’t explore her feelings toward humans, if she entirely agrees with Xavier or if she’s ever curious about Magneto’s view. We don’t get any understanding of her own wants and needs. She ONLY exists to cause pain to all the male characters.

We’re supposed to sob at the end of X2 because all the men are sad. But we are given no reason to care about her for who she is as an individual - only for her ability to make men sad.

Then after it turns out she’s alive in TLS, she goes full-on villain. No psychological complexity, no moral struggles. Just villain. Oh, no, too much power for woman!! Woman can’t possibly control a force like this!! Man must kill her - must kill the love of his life, oh, no, what a tragedy!!! There’s no hope for her; the only way is to kill her.

Then after her death, she is not framed by the narrative in memory as a great X-Man, or as a fallen hero. She is framed as the lost love of a man who she didn’t even love in return. The power that she couldn’t control caused her to kill the man she really did love - Scott - but all the remaining films frame her as no more than the source of Logan’s torment and manpain.

Even when she returns at the end of DOFP, the joy comes from Logan finally getting a second chance at resuming his rivalry with Scott over her.

I haven’t even seen Apocalypse or DP - and I don’t want to - but I already know that those films only make the exact same mistakes all over again!

I guess I should blame the comics for coming up with this BS in the first place, but the movies didn’t even try to improve upon it.

Jean Grey is the most poorly written female superhero film character I’ve ever seen.

[rei-ismyname]

Is Magneto mistaken or am I taking this too literally?

Ambassador Magneto has a lot to say in House of X, especially to humans on the subject of violence.

All his dreams are coming true and he's not shy about expressing his feelings on the matter. At the Jerusalem habitat the other ambassadors (who are all intelligence plants) claim to be wary of military advantage Krakoa and the gates provide.

Let's fact check Magneto there. 'There has never been a mutant war.'

What's this then? It doesn't sound very good at first glance but can it be considered a mutant war? It's basically Magneto himself unleashing an EMP and making demands of the UN. A mutant sanctuary - one they gave him too - Genosha. Terrorist act? Yeah defs. War? I'd say no.

What else? Oh yeah, that time Magneto conquered Santo Marco, a fictional South American country. Spoilers for a comic from 1963.

Okay so shelling is bad, definitely a warlike action, though it's later said there were no casualties at all, mainly thanks to Mastermind's illusions. Still, really bad optics there dude. The fake soldiers are straight up goose-stepping. This is drawn by Jack Kirby too, who definitely had strong feelings about that kind of thing - not something he'd portray unintentionally.

You'll note Mags having pseudo telepathy at this point, mainly bc Stan Lee had no idea how magnetism works.

Let's be honest, there's a big Nazi vibe to this occupation. This is in X-Men #4 in 1963, over a decade before Mags was retconned into a Jewish holocaust survivor. I'm honestly not a big fan of the original X-Men run and I can see why it got cancelled. Magneto was their greatest foe, but he was a pretty one dimension Doctor DOOM expy with none of the pathos, willpower or consistent ideology Claremont would reinvigorate him with. Anyway, sensing defeat, Magneto arms a nuke to blow the whole country up. Yikes.

It's actually Quicksilver who solves that problem, deciding he's not okay with nuking a few million people. It's the start of his face turn proper, with only Wanda's 'debt' to Mags keeping her there, and therefore Quicksilver as well.

See? Not cool, Mags. Not cool. When it's all said and done though, his occupation of Santo Marco is very brief and news doesn't get out. I assume Chuck had something to do with that. Though the country refuses to accept Krakoa for 'ideological reasons' nearly 60 years later, so maybe not. I'm going to say it definitely counts as 'conquering their land and making slaves of their people ' though.

Honestly, Magneto has died a lot since then, had amnesia and barely aged in 70 years so maybe he doesn't remember. One could argue that the spirit of what he's saying is correct - Magneto the individual did a lot of supervillain shit but there hasn't been a unification of mutants who then warred upon humans. Indeed, the opposite is true. Most mutant conflicts that could be called a war were defensive after these events.

None of the 'ambassadors' took issue with past events or his record, instead focusing on future hypotheticals. Someone should tell them that if mutants united in world conquest they'd likely be very successful and humans wouldn't know until it was too late. Technically Magneto has been tried for his acts before an international court, and acquitted because he'd been turned into a baby and was considered a different person. Yes, really.

The conversation pivots to the emissaries being there in bad faith, with slick concealing a gun. (Not that it would be very useful.)

Magneto demonstrates why that's the case and doesn't budge on his position. I guess we could say Magneto was (technically) right, in this specific circumstance. A show of force is certainly needed to make them take Krakoa seriously. It's only fitting then that Mags acts as the stick to make the carrot more palatable. I've still got room for one more pic so here's the X-Men enjoying post-training birthday cake, cut by Cyclops and his POWER BEAM. The X-Men's first birthday as a group.

Note the contrast in vibes around the Brotherhood of EEEVIL Mutants' dinner table, with petty bickering, Mastermind being a creep (the X-Men have that too tho NGL,) and a very impressive tower of mashed potato. Good to know Toad has poor table manners and that Pietro is willing to punch on over it. Not to be mean, but Wanda's headgear looks super silly. Oh well, it was the sixties!

[liquidorcard]

Think you can take a look on this video on villains like Magneto? To say she misses the point is an understatement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YouOhoCDVkw&pp=ygUUbGlseSBvcmNoYXJkIG1hZ25ldG8%3D

Oh fuck I saw the thumbnail of this video manifest a few times and I avoided watching it because I knew it was going to make me mad.

I'm going to do this one as a "real time reaction." Unlike the Harley video, I'm going in blind. Might edit a bit after I'm done writing it all out, but.

Lily Commits Elder Gay Mutant Abuse, feat. "Eldritch Lily" (Part 1)

[Part 2] [Part 3]

Get ready DILF fuckers. We 'bout to go to war for our beloved magnet man.

-0:30: Lily rambles about dumb bullshit to do with tropes, and fandom, and inventing problems. . . Oh my god, why.

So like, right at the beginning here she's just . . . Making noise? Waisting oxygen? I THINK what she's trying to say is people like tropes . . . And that's illegal if it isn't the tropes she likes . . . I don't . . . Lily.

She's using way too many words to say, in essence, I presume, Magneto is dumb, "fanboys" just like him because they like "sympathetic villians." But her rational here is a degree of reductive it makes it almost impossible to respond to. Lily is arguing against a theoretical hivemind of a strawman from another dimension - totally divorced from the one the rest of us live in.

I may hazard a guess that I, conceptually, as someone who both likes sympathetic antagonists and likes Magneto, am from Lily's point of view a part of this "fandom" hivemind she's hallucinating.

I don't know what to say to that other than, no Lily. No. That's not why I like Magneto. I am much more likely to enjoy sympathetic antagonists, as that is my personal taste. I am less likely to enjoy mustache twirling cartoon villans, for as it were, that is not my personal taste. But that is not the beginning and the end of my preferences. Bby grill, I don't know what to tell yah.

Also, a "sympathetic villian/antagonist" isn't really so much a trope as it is a description. I understand why like, TV tropes and for other cataloging purposes the definition of "trope" gets stretched a bit-- however. It's like calling "first person limited" a trope.

-1:21: Lily's "favorite villains,"

I try not to roast Lily on her just strictly expressing her personal taste (when she's not trying to argue her personal taste is superior), but considering the topic of the video-- I gotta laugh. Lily's examples for villains she likes is that one fucker from Kingdom Hearts who's only notable trait compared to the rest of the antagonists is him not being an evil twink (or Pete, or Maleficent) and the Lich King.

I have played at least most of the Kingdom Hearts games. I played WoW when Wrath came out. I played the Warcraft games where he was originally introduced as Arthas.

I guess I can see in a very superficial way why Lily identifies with Fabio Night's King maybe . . . Hot Topic Heidelberg though, I'm at a loss. I can't even remember his name, and I don't care to look it up.

-1:30: "Sympathetic villains are a double edged sword [ . . . ] you can only make them so sympathetic before their status as a villain starts to be questioned."

Might as well bring this up now-- Lily is currently engaging with one of my all-time pet peeves with media discussion: calling all antagonists "villains."

I try to be careful as to when I correct people on this. I don't like nitpicking the language people use. If their meaning is getting across just fine, what ever. I don't want to make them feel stupid for confusing to very similar concepts. Sometimes, my brain shits out too, and I use a suitable substitute even if it's not exactly the right word for the thing I'm trying to refer to. Everyone does it sometimes.

However, villains and anotagonists aren't the same thing. The exact definition as to what makes a character a true "villain" is very subjective-- more often than not vibes based. Where as an antagonist is very concretely the protagonist's foil and/or a source of external conflict. A villain is more defined by the framing, an antagonist is identified by their utility in a narrative. You can have protagonists who are arguably villains and antagonists who are arguably heroes as well. Stories where there isn't enough moral framing and judgment either way, so the protagonist and the antagonist can't really be described as heros or villains. Before we get into discussing whether or not Magneto is truly a "villain" or not, I have to point out Lily's confusing those two concepts. I'm going to surmise the majority of her arguments in this video could have been dismissed if she understood the difference.

So, yes, if you make a villain too sympathetic, they're no longer a villain . . . They're just the antagonist.

I also need to preface all this by saying that Magneto is a particularly complicated case in this regard. He's been around as the "Malcom X" analog in the very messy civil rights allegory of the mutants since the 1960s. He has, in a lot of ways, mirrored the very challenging feelings people have had towards more aggressive and violent forms of activism.

I don't think iterations of Magneto where the narrative condemns his methods outright are wholly invalid-- though I have personally soured towards them. That doesn't align with my perception of what Magento represents. And on a narrative perspective, I think it's always more interesting when the moral question as to whether the X-Men/Charles's position is correct or the BoM/Erik's position is correct is left as ambiguous as possible for the audience to decide for themselves. I think both forms of activism Charles and Erik represent are equally flawed as they are important. Fighting for civil rights is a thing of chaos historically, and there's no real clear "right answer" in most circumstances. A lot of messy incoherence of effort and resistance that slowly over time collectively move the dial-- often in a round-about way.

It also doesn't help that most non-comic reader's perceptions of Magneto are so heavily colored by the movies. As much as the ever effervescent Sir Ian Mekellen elevates that version of the character with his outstanding performance. . . That Magneto is a much messier bitch than his comic counterpart. Much less calculated and considerate in his violence. Same thing overall by the Michael Fassbender version, though he's characterized a little better.

I feel it's pretty safe to assume Lily's going to be arguing mostly against her vague memory of Fox movies while confidently being wrong about the comic version being the same.

Oh my god we're fucking 2 minutes in.

1:52: "It's a very dated metaphor for racism in the 60s, and the film are a very dated metaphor for LGBT youth in the 2000s."

Sorry, we're nitpicking Lily's word choices again. She's getting allegory and metaphor confused. The X-Men are intended as an allegory-- traditionally. Not always, but traditionally.

And as a blanket statement I'm sort of in agreement with her . . . But also not really. Again, the X-Men have been around for so long there's a diverse range in the ways the civil rights analog has been handled. I think typically the mutants are at their best when they are being treated more as a metaphor than an allegory, and for no real specific civil rights issue. Something more organic to the Marvel universe itself the audience can take away from as a meditation in a none-direct one-to-one.

My favorite X-Men Rogue is a character I deeply identify with on multiple layers personally as a queer person, a survivor of abuse, someone who's had struggles with both platonic and romantic intimacy. There's a lot of ways someone could connect with her that aren't direct translations of who she is in canon.

Also, the 2000s Fox movies was not the first time the X-Men were interpreted as a queer allegory instead of a racial one. I can't tell you when the first time was, if there is an official "first time" as POC and LGBTQ+ rights issues have overlapped quite a few times-- but the Legacy Virus was quite literally mutant AIDS. Unambiguously.

I'll sort of agree with Lily, just a little, as a treat here-- a fair bit of X-Men shit is real dated.

-2:32: "Now while Magneto was around since the 60s, this wasn't an established part of his character until about 1980s. 10 years after the man who created him Jack Kurby left Marvel."

UM, ACTUALLY.

Magneto wasn't always a holocaust survivor-- that is true. Quickly googling it, that element of Magneto's backstory was first established in Uncanny X-Men in 1981. Some part of me feels like it was at least hinted at earlier, but let's just call that about right. It doesn't really matter.

This quote from Jack Kurby is so ubiquitous I knew I could find it just by going to Magneto's Wikipedia page:

"I saw my villains not as villains. I knew villains had to come from somewhere and they came from people. My villains were people that developed problems." -- Jack Kurby, Jack Kurby Collector #22

Not a surprise but, this tells me Lily is not familiar with Kurby's work as a whole.

And guess what, this wasn't the quote I was looking for, but it was right underneath, and the source checks out:

"[Stan Lee] did not think of Magneto as a bad guy. He just wanted to strike back at the people who were so bigoted and racist...he was trying to defend the mutants, and because society was not treating them fairly he was going to teach society a lesson. He was a danger of course...but I never thought of him as a villain." --Marvel Spotlight: Uncanny X-Men 500 Issues Celebration, pp. 5-7

You're now arguing against BOTH Magneto's daddies, Lillian.

3:16: " 'You're just one bad day away from being me' - Erik Killmonger, probably"

Oh haha yes Lily so funny you put the Punisher line but said it was Killmonger, that's so funny--

EXCEPT THAT QUOTE IS A REFERENCE TO THE JOKER'S FAMOUS MONOLOG IN THE KILLING JOKE. LILY NOT AGAIN WITH THIS, OH MY GOD, YOU'RE GOING TO ACTUALLY KILL ME. JUST ADMIT YOU HAVE NOT READ A FUCKING COMIC EVER.

3:28: "Where even though Magneto has long since stopped being a Villian in the comics. . ."

According to Lily's definition of "villain," that is not true. As in, he's still mostly used as an antagonist. And he was arguably never really a villain, he's just become less villianized, evolving with our cultural perception of activism-- but I'll give Lily this one.

3:30: " . . . in film adaptations, he's still a holocaust survivor, and still the bad guy for no reason."

LILY ARE WE TALKING ABOUT THE FUCKING COMICS OR THE MOVIES!? I take issue with how Erik is characterized in the movies too, especially in the Bryan Singer (fuck him btw, he's a predator, look it up) movies. BUT YOU'RE ALL OVER THE PLACE HERE LILY, GOD DAMN. Is Magneto as a concept bad, or do you not like the FoX-men movies, which is it!?

3:49: [The prelude to the Kevin Bacon coin murder from First Class.]

Lily, people criticized the choice to make Charles argue with Erik here and how it's framed when this movie came out. Who are you arguing with?

With the themes of the movie they tried to play the angle of Charles' more privileged life giving him the luxury of the pacifist position that Erik does not have. I really like this in concept, this has been explored before in other X-Men media, but they fumbled the bag here with the framing. There's some issues with the cinematic language used. I don't blame people for getting the impression you're supposed to wholly side with ol' Chuck here, even if the text implies otherwise. I agree with her that this is a problem with mainstream films overall havin' a hard time kicking bad habits from the Hays Code.

But that's not really the argument She's making. I don't know if Lily knows what argument she's making.

God forgive me I am at the four minute mark and this post is already this long. Okay, I'm gunna have to split this up into 2 or 3 posts. I'll add the various links to each part as I finish them to each post. Lily gishgallops this fucking badly. . . Stay tuned for part 2.

[gerec]

Hey! Are there any Xavierine hurt/comfort fics that you would recommend?

(I guess the ones with hurt!Logan are pretty rare, but either is fine.)

Thank you 🙏🏻

Oh boy, Anon, I'm so happy to get an ask for Xavierine fic recs!!! Here are some excellent hurt/comfort fics for you to enjoy (I've also added a couple of my own on the list!):

Insomnia by Rellanka

Charles had never made that confession to anyone before. People already regarded his telepathy with distaste and suspicion; if he was lucky, they were willing to trust him to use it only when necessary. He had never let anyone else know how invasive their own mind was.

Or: Charles's telepathy is more difficult to deal with than you think. He just wants to sleep.

Keep On Walking by Nevcolleil

"I want this while I can still have it," Charles says, sounding clear-headed enough.

Something in his voice stops Logan's breath. Logan swallows. "You can't have-" 

"I am capable of having sex without the serum," Charles tells him and doesn't look away. "But I'm not talking about my paralysis."

Cellulose Acetate by bocje_ce_ustu

At first it is terrifying and, in a way, heartbreakingly beautiful, not unlike watching a star dying in fast forward.

Daylight by orphan_account

"What do you want, Logan?" Charles attempts to sound hostile, but his voice trembles instead.

Logan doesn't know either. But he knows that Charles is much more than the sum of his insecurities.

Diamond in the rough by flightinflame

After escaping from Stryker's captivity, the only place Logan has to go is to the school, but he doesn't know what will be waiting for him there.

Surfacing by Lynds

Logan is pulled from the Potomac by Hank and Charles, just after the battle with Magneto. He's not the only one who feels like he's drowning.

Looking for the Good by DestielsDestiny

Logan wasn’t in love with Charles. Until he suddenly kind of was. Always had been. Logan feels this is the time to point out that time travel is rather confusing.

Sick by saraid

Even Logan's healing factor can be overwhelmed.

The Choices We Make by Gerec

Soulmate AU: The minute he meets Erik, Charles is positive he's found his soulmate. When Erik's name fails to appear on his body, he's confused, but dismisses it as being too faint to see yet or some other quirk that happens occasionally. Time goes on and he still can't find Erik's name, through the beach, through Kennedy, through Vietnam, even though he looks every day, then every week, then only every so often.

Then as he's showering to pull himself together and go to break Erik out of the Pentagon and he sees the dark letters on the inside of his wrist: LOGAN.

Time for Home by Gerec 

Post XMA, Charles and Jean bring Logan back to the School.

Eden Found by Gerec (chapter 2)

Missing scenes from the movie Logan. Canon compliant unless stated otherwise.

[zinthelost]

The Wellness-Check

So after being drug into this ship entirely against my will, I've finally wrote something after 2 years. I guess it's working out for me, then. So here's a ficlet or a vignette or a wip, I dunno. There is a longer story attached to this in this in my head, but I thought this scene would make a good stand alone. (There's no AO3 entry for this.)

This fic pretends that TDP didn't happen cus that's the world I choose to live in. So the timeline is still progressing to the future we saw in DoFP.

-

“Professor?” Jubilee called as she knocked on his door.

“I don’t think we should bothering him. Either of them,” Kurt put in from the back of the small group in the hallway. “Dr. McCoy said not to-”

“We’re not kids anymore Kurt,” Scott cut in. “Hank might think we are but we’re instructors now. Someone should check on the Professor. Someone other than Magneto. Who might be injured too, right? After that, whatever. That was serious.”

“And the Professor has me completely blocked from his rooms,” Jean added in. “He’s never been so firm about his shields with me.”

“Professor?” Jubilee called again and a projection of the Professor appeared standing beside the door.

“Thank you, Ms Lee. I heard you the first time and I assure you all I am fine, as is Mr. Lehnsherr. You should be focusing on your own classes right now. After last night’s unpleasantness, normalcy will be good for the children. Only my own classes need canceled.”

“If you're fine then why cancel at all? And why not actually come to the door?” Scott asked and turned to glare at the door, as if daring it to open.

“Because I am occupied at the moment and there is no need for me to come to the door,” he replied simply and made to wave them off. “I made my announcement about my classes and I’m telling you now. I’m fine. Go about your day. Thank you for your concern.”

“If you’re hurt from that-”

“I am not, Ms. Gray.”

“It’s just that you’re being really cagey and-” Jubilee started but stopped as footsteps could be heard approaching the other side of the door.

“Well, this is one way to solve the problem…” Charles mumbled, looking exasperated.

The self-appointed wellness-check team stepped back as the door swung open to show... Magneto. In his boxer briefs and nothing else. He positioned himself firmly in the doorway, leaning against it casually. In one motion he effectively blocked them and laid claim to the rooms within and their contents. “How many times does it need to be stated? He’s occupied. And I intend for him to be so for the foreseeable future. Or until we’re both hungry,” he added with a shark's grin. 

“As I said,” Xavier repeated before letting his projection blink out. “Everything is fine.”

“Fine? Just fine?” Magneto asked slyly over his shoulder as he closed the door. “Not the word I’d use,” he growled playfully.

“Erik!” they distantly heard the Professor laughingly admonish through the door as Magneto’s footsteps stalked away back into the rooms.

The small cluster at the door stood there a moment. And a moment more. Before Kurt said weakly. “Oh mein Gott…”

“Well!” Jubilee added with an evil, joyous grin.

“...That would explain the shielding against me.” Jean said as they finally started back down the hallway.

“Hey, Scott. Remember way back when we were all so surprised that the Professor welcomed Magneto to stay at the school for a bit right after that crap with Nurr?” Jubilee chirped.

“Please don’t…”

“And we did not understand why he was so pleased to have him stay here for the Genosha talks?” Kurt tossed in.

Scott groaned.

“And then when he showed up to stay and help with the school and the Professor let him have free reign and we thought that was a stretch given the whole ‘dropped a stadium around the white house’ incident? But her just never left and the Professor was so happy to have him around?” Jean added, knocking in that last nail.

“I think we know why now.” Jubilee said in a sing-song voice, absolutely giddy with this new gossip.

Scott “we’re not kids anymore” Summers just covered his head, making the noise of a dying animal.

“And did you see him?!” she continued, ignoring her suffering teammate. “He’s like fifty, right?”

“I didn’t know a fifty year old guy could look like that. That was…” Jean agreed.

“Totally.”

“Oh come on!” Scott chimed in, breaking free of his torment in the face of this injustice. “He wasn’t that- I mean, he’s old.”

“And tight.” Jubilee couldn’t be deterred. “No wonder all those international incidents could be so easily forgiven. Well done, Professor. That’s a score.”

“This was such a mistake. Why do I ever listen to you all?” Kurt said as they stepped into the kitchen. “We’re back Dr. McCoy and-”

“Oh my God, McCoy! You would not believe what… we just…” even Jubilee’s happy announcement of juicy gossip dwindled out to nothing as they entered the room. At the island Dr. McCoy was quite focused on pouring himself a very tall glass of gin. At 10 am. 

“Um…” 

He said nothing nor acknowledged them as he screwed the cap on and set the bottle down. He then grabbed his glass and turned to leave with it but appeared to think better before turning back to snatch the bottle as well. Both in hand, he walked out without a word.

Jubilee leaned towards the others and loudly “whispered” to the others, “I think he knows.”

“Knows what?” Peter asked zipping in to the fridge and then popping back into vision here and there as he assembled a few sandwiches. 

“The Professor is getting it with Magneto!” Jubilee announced, all her enthusiasm returned.

Shockingly, Peter actually stood still for two whole seconds at that news before shaking his head. “Nope. That’s enough of that conversation.” And then he was gone with his sandwiches, though the bread and everything else was abandoned in his wake.

“Oh not cool… What, is it our job to clean this up? Jerk.”

[spottheantisemitism]

"what if the X-men were black?" is a racist, antisemitic and anti-intersectional screed that 2013 tumblr fell in love with

Published in 2013 this made rounds of OG tumblr and made Bobby of Pencilscratchins draw all her Jewish X-men characters as brown.

Erik because he has Romani heritage (which is realistic and based and accurate to some comics).

Anon go kick rocks with your colorism! YOU read holocaust testimonies!

Also fun fact Nazi Germany did not understand black and brown the way Americans do so it was based on ethnicity and not color, a brown Jew and a pale white passing Jew were seen as one and the same to the Nazis

Guess which article she linked

It's this one!

But said Kitty was Latine because "the quintessential X-girl of the 70s shouldn't be white"

Kitty already is a queer woman of color because she's Jewish. Jews are POC. Bobby what the hell? Are you implying she's only coded non-white because she's Jewish or Mutant? what the hell?!

(BTW Bobby left Tumblr around Covid but if you send her hate asks because of this essay you'll end up on spot-the-antisemitism blocklist for harrasment)

Where did she get this "Jews are white and should be race lifted?" stuff? Why from Orion!

Top paragraph is fine!

antisemitism is written the gentile way that supports a racist eugenicist, off to a bad start.

Sexism is not covered? OH explain Storm's arcs of misogynoir or Jean's and Maddy's arc of going insane because she has the power of a god but is forced to be housewife and marry her sweetheart and have kids

Ableism is not explored? I'm sorry what about XAVIER'S ENTIRE ARC OF ABLIEST SELF HATRED AND OVERCOMING IT IN THE PREQUELS? The first class all being rich talented codedly disabled kids going to a prep school for the gifted. Disabled people really liking non human passing characters like Nightcrawler (and hating Xavier since he's too assimilationist to many). I'm sorry why do people fall for such blatant lies? the mentor of the X-men is literally canonically disabled and Orion has the GALL to claim ableism is not explored.

_ Genosha is half fall of south Africa Apartheid and half the establishment of the state of Israel hence why the metaphor is so messy and problematic

_ Yes that number is deliberately "like the holocaust but worse" because Morrison likes their holocaust appopriation

_ Why didn't you mention it's an allegory for Gay conversion therapy torture because Bryan Singer is gay?

_ Yes Legacy Virus is Mutant Aids good job on your media literacy finally kicking in Orion

It's racism AND antisemitism but your "antisemtism doesn't exist in america" ass doesn't get that

I do hate "mutie" as slur and the way Kitty thinks it's comparable to antisemtic and anti-black slurs and USES them to make a point, so yeah something Orion and I agree on.

The sequence used is of Stevie Hunter the human ally character who like Xavier started teaching after she became disabled. She IS used as prop here to say Kitty is right in calling her the n-word (Claremont is racist sometimes).

But Orion can't tell her apart from Storm. Buddy if you can't tell the ONLY two black women in this comic apart, you're the racist.

OK they're both props but it proves you never actually read the comics or you can't tell fictional black women apart neither of which is a good look

(Cole also points out the Kitty and Magneto are not White but Jewish he is dogpiled and called a fake fan for this (see below))

Keep Shyminksy out of your mouth you racist fake fan

OH NO! I hate this!

So you decided to go with the colorist idea that the man is darker and the innocent girl in need of protecting is lighter. Gross colorism worthy of a Hollywood action movie where the black guy dies

"Local black man can't related to white disabled teens facing ableism and makes it about racism so he can relate to it" is giving gamergate chud energy to me

If you can't see why a Russian man is almost killed by a mob of xenophobic red blooded Americans and HAVE to make this about anti-black racism that's on you and your misunderstanding of the way Russians were hated during the cold war.

Oh you are race swapping x-men while shitting on Psylocke who the result of basically the same idea? How hypocritical

Dwayne McDuffe does have a point but your quote does not utilize his point in any way.

Then DON'T raceswap Wolverine if he becomes the angry black man. Think before you can X-men racism and tokenism WORSE with your race-swapping

NO THEY DON'T strawman rejected

Ah yes! Magneto, famously a very white man whose childhood was full of white privilege/ Sarcasm

One of the co-authors of the website has the gall to double down on calling Magneto white:

"as a REAL fan you're fake fan, antisemitism doesn't exist and Holocaust survivor Jews are white" - this racist defending his token black friend's racist screed because some guy called Cole DARED call Orion on his bullshit

*"I didn't like that the X-men were about white passing and invislbe disability so I made about anti black racism" also "judiasm is just a religion" canard

**Again leave Shyminksy and Morrison's good takes alone

***Yeah you get Luke Cage, that's how you get the racism of bad Luke Cage comics. You ain't inventing the racist wheel here

Orion I hate your take, I hate your misunderstanding of antisemitism and ableism that makes the two main factions tick, I hate your self centerness, I hate your racist and antisemitic co-writer making excuses for you and I REALLY hate that this did to the 2013 X-fandom what Lily Orchard did to the 2019 Steven Universe fandom and we can still see people using your bullshit arguments today

Oh and Cole? thank you for your service you're the real hero of this story, hated and feared for daring to call out the establishment

[yallemagne]

Season 4!!! Of X-Men: TAS!! This season was FUN. I've been taking notes while watching, that's probably apparent, it leads to more bullet points.

Episode 1: The Juggernaut Returns

SCOTT AND LOGAN WERE VISITING MORPH!!!!! <3333

“We’re saving Juggernaut’s sorry life. And don’t bother telling me you don’t like it.” “I don’t like it >:((.”

Charles trying to dig through Cain’s trauma, getting his own trauma instead and wondering “dog, why do I let this mf live, he sucks”

Chuck: “Don’t tell me to forgive my brother.” Storm: “I was literally just telling you to let him die, man.”

Cain literally knows why his father neglected him, he knows his father was a piece of shit after nothing but money… but he still scapegoats his brother. Dog. At least he doesn't beat Chuck's ass after the man saves his life. I guess.

Episode 2: A Deal With The Devil

Me: “Who’s the Devil in this scenario? Omega Red or whoever’s thawing him?” The people thawing him: *have American accents* Me: “Ah. Them.”

Dog… how you gonna be this stupid. FIRST OFF the Russian government just THREW HIM IN THE SNOW??? WhAT?? You had him in a locked up facility before!! And then the dumbass American government is like “not even the Soviet Union could handle Omega Red… get me my ice pick we’re diggin him up”. 

Omega Red: *makes fun of Wolverine’s PTSD* Me: “oh no a new problematic fav”

“I’ve been promised my humanity, Wolverine, something you above all others should be able to appreciate.” This hoe is so petty, I.. uhhhh...

Wolverine: *starting shit* Storm: “You dumbass, I’m about to have a panic attack.”

“Well, whattaya know, they oughta use this tub in one of those battery ads with the rabbit.”

The Way Omega Red Pronounces Colonel.

“What was I saying about not needing these lungs?”

Wolverine’s lines in this episode are only matched by Omega’s. Speaking of—

“My country created many great weapons but never had the will to use them! Is it not a great sadness, Storm? To be created, never to be used?” “Weapons do not have feelings.” “Oh, if only that were true.” WHY ARE YOU MAKING ME FEEL THINGS ABOUT OMEGA RED. 

And now he’s just. Down there. He’ll come back. Some other idiot country will fish him up and say “you gotta do this for us, but don’t you betray us, okay?”

Episode 3 & 4: Sanctuary

The US delegate blaming the Russians for the disappearances of engineers in space and the Russian delegate asking “DID WE STEAL OUR ENGINEERS TOO?? DICKHEAD??”

“The mutant race will no longer be managed, Mr. Delegate.” YASS QUEEEN tell him Magnus, tell him. 

Magneto HAS RECEIPTS. Uh wait… girl where did you get all this footage. Hahah using video of the X-Men like “LOOK AT ALL THEY HAVE DONE! MY STEP-CHILDREN!”

Apocalypse watching the broadcast on television. SINISTER WATCHING THE BROADCAST ON TELEVISION. Oh hey Mjnari, nice to see you.

Like okay dog, we can say Magneto is right about a lot of things, but KIDNAPPING MUTANT WORKERS and taking them to a centralized location where they will obviously be targeted even more harshly because there are no non mutants present? That’s bad. Like yeah a good lot of mutants went willingly but before that, many… didn’t… and were kept there. 

The haters protesting Asteroid M: “go home, muties, get out of here” …uh yeah dipshit. That’s literally what they’re doing. 

“You coming back, Cajun?” “Promise, chere.”

Cortez is sus. 

Amelia: “How dare you not want to live your entire life closeted? How dare you fight for the rights of the oppressed? You’re making good, unobtrusive mutants look bad!!” 

“So then Gambit become the first X-Man in orbit.”

ROGUE TEARING APART THE SHIP TO FIND GAMBIT!!!

I wanna put a bullet in Cortez’s head, he’s annoying… nah fr, he’s a fucking op. He’s a plant, there is no explanation for his stupidity other than that he wants to ensure the genocide of mutantkind himself.

“He wouldn’t have wanted a memorial, so I will keep this brief.” That explains why he didn’t have a funeral in ’97.

“The Earth’s magnetic field has healed me as a mother nourishes her son.” Dog that line is wiiiiild y'all driving me mad.

“Gambit!? COME IN YOU LOWLIFE SWAMP RAT!!” “Chére, it almost sound like you miss me.” “Remy! When I get my hands on you…” Romy fans are EATING with this one. 

Off topic... but we literally have an acknowledgment that Magneto wouldn't want a funeral but we're shown them having one. WHY WERE WE NEVER SHOWN MORpH'S FUNERAL??

Episode 5: Xavier Remembers

I love when I call shit. The attack at the start of the episode seemed suspicious and I was like “hmm, maybe this isn’t real. Maybe this is trauma.” And then the Sentinel head blew off and showed Evil Xavier’s face and I was like I KNEW IT. 

Chuck: “Mother! I never thought I’d ever see you again! Though, I don’t recall you being in bluescale...”

Is the void a harsh punishment for stealing? Sure. But that’s what the Shadow King gets for messing around with children.

Love that Jean and Xavier beat his ass with the power of teamwork. Xavier literally saves Jean from being trapped in the Astral Plane with a hug. 

Jean’s consciousness returns to her body and Scott is holding her bridal style, lol babygirl how long were you standing with her in your arms? Cute. 

Episode 6: Courage

“Eight hundred million on robots and the phones don’t work.” I hear ya.

A factory gets robbed by Sentinels and the report is that they think mutants did it. THEY’RE FUCKING COVERING IT UP. THAT’S THE ONLY EXPLANATION I WILL TOLERATE. Like, you’re telling me none of the witnesses mentioned the giant purple and red robots? Well, I say they did and their testimonies never got to news outlets because the government killed them to cover it up. And they aren’t even in charge of the Sentinels at this point! They’ve gone rogue! “We’re investigating, we think a mutant did it” with the fucking SENTINeL TRACKS??? It’s obviously like… they want to cover up how badly the government failed for even considering the Sentinel project by blaming the mutants who inevitably gotta clean up this whole mess. 

MORPH!!!! :DDD ALWAYS WITH THE JOKES!!! They soothe me, their presence heals me, I love them, I wanna kiss their forehead.

So Morph and Wolverine go to investigate and on the way they’re just glancing at each other like “would it be bad to make out on Morph's first mission back”

Logan wanting to evacuate as soon as possible because of sentinels :,0

“I-I froze, Logan.” “Oh, Morph.” OOOOH MORPH

GyrICK and TRASH are gay married (derogatory). This episode… this just reaffirms me asking what the FUCK about Trask and Gyrich reviving their Sentinels. What were they fucking thinking?

OMEGA RED, SASQUATCH, MIMIC, LONGSHOT, Morph really likes turning into Omega Red, huh? Morph is the MVP here, I love them.

NOOO MORPH!!! NOOOOOOOOO DON’T GOOOO

Episode 7: Secrets, Not Long Buried

I love it when Scott gets to be a cunt to people. He’s really super fun when he gets snippy. 

My biggest frustration here was really just that the villains were soooo childish. They behaved like playground bullies. But I guess that could be a parallel to the bullies at the start of the episode. Scott is just infinitely bulliable.

I appreciate that the town didn’t actually fall for Solarr’s nonsense, they were just waiting for the right moment to strike. It would have felt so stupid if they actually believed the guy and would have been too reminiscent of the bullshit with Cortez. 

Episode 8: Nightcrawler

“Man doesn’t break a sweat against Apocalypse or Magneto. So- so what nails him? A pine tree.”

I really love how Nightcrawler is written. It would be so easy to depict him just as blindly faithful, but he has layers. He has flaws he acknowledges that make him more sympathetic to those who wrong him, but his sympathy does not prevent him from feeling anger or bitterness, it just makes it easier for him to overcome those negative emotions.

Logan taking Kurt's words to heart :,0

I like that like Kurt's faith is treated with respect and so is Logan and Remy's lack of faith. It's totally understandable why they don't believe in God. Logan can't believe that there's a God that loves unconditionally with all the terrible shit he's witnessed and been put through. And Remy believes in chance, not some divine plan... but moreso Remy struggles with the idea of redemption.

Do we really never get an explanation for why that one monk tried to murder Gambit? Like roll back roll back WHY.

Episode 9 & 10: One Man’s Worth

Seeing the Age of Apocalypse crew was real fun. Also MORPH MORPH MORPH ONSCREEN CAMEO.

LOGAN AND ORORO ARE MARRIED <3333 I hate that the show tries to enforce the idea that they can only be together in the AoA timeline. Bullshit. They’re literally on a date in present day, don’t TEASE ME. 

I really like that they acknowledge that Logan doesn’t want to carry through with it for fear he and Storm will never be together, but it doesn’t make him betray the team, he continues on for the good of the future :,0. 

Does anyone else notice that they blatantly whitewashed Shard in the reboot?? Like they didn’t just lighten her already fairly light skin, they made her look like a white woman in '97, it’s so fucking weird. I wish I could say it was just weird lighting, but they whitewash so many other characters in the new series, it honestly puts me off. 

Episode 11 & 12: Proteus

Kevin’s innocence :,0 this, folks, is why you don’t hide from your kids that their father isn’t worth shit. Explain as early as you can in terms they can understand that their father is a no-good, deadbeat son of a bitch. 

Rogue feels for Kevin because her father was an ass too. 

Logan freezing up!!! AHHHHH. Rip that he was able to accept and account for Morph having trauma that caused them to freeze, but he won’t give himself that same grace.

The ending, for Proteus, doesn't really feel satisfactory bc you know Joe is just gonna go right back to being a shitty deadbeat after this. I would have liked it better if the lesson Kevin learned was that blood ties aren't guaranteed, that sometimes you choose your family.

Episode 13: Family Ties

Xavier not reacting when finding out that Magneto harmed Wolverine to get past security. And then sending Wolverine to play bodyguard for Magneto.

Magneto: "I gotta go do this thing. Do NOT interfere." Xavier: "Why did you break into my house if you didn't want me to interfere??? You inconsistent hoe."

The reference to Dr. Moreau was stellar. 

The conflict in this episode really pales in comparison to just the reveal of Pietro and Wanda’s parentage. Like I don’t care about this Moreau guy at all and I was paying so little attention I didn’t even catch how they defeated him.

Episode 14: Bloodlines

YOOOOO You got me acting crazy here. World’s most awkward family reunion.

Kurt is just. So good. I like that they don’t have him say a line like “I’ve already forgiven you” nah, he’ll pray for the strength to forgive. 

Mystique laments how being a shapeshifter means she is an outcast even among mutants because no one can trust who she is, which is a potent moment but… well telepaths are a thing… and you’ve literally hooked up with Sabretooth, who can sniff you out. I think people mostly distrust you because you are a liar and backstabber. 

I appreciate that the FoH won’t take Graydon back, he’s a little shit, and I think they should isolate him so hard that he give in to accepting his roots.

THEY DROP HIM OFF AT SABRETOOTH’S HOUSE. Look, I do not condone corporal punishment… but in this case, I am soooo for Sabretooth beating up his son.

Episode 15: Lotus and the Steel

Awww Jubilee going after Logan <333 I’m happy that she wasn’t like taken hostage or anything, wasn’t forced to be a burden on the plot

I’m pissed that Logan had to kiss that woman. Let this man meet a woman without having a romantic entanglement with her for fucks sake.

Episode 16: Weapon X, Lies, and Video Tape

THEY MANUFACTURED THEIR TRAUMA??? DOG. That’s motherfucking wild, but I suppose you could say it was foreshadowed. They switch between showing Sabretooth in and out of costume attacking Silver Fox and Wolverine. I thought it was just the first was a dreams reinterpretation and the second was the real deal, but then they played the memory again and Sabretooth was costumed again.

Also it’s wild that the majority of the memories that the team were given were to create distrust in Sabretooth, they fuckin used him as a scapegoat. AND THEY GAVE HIM DADDY ISSUES. Some absolutely wild shit, this was a ride. 

I thought at first that Silverfox and Maverick wanted revenge on these two for leaving them behind and I was groaning a bit at that, but then it wasn’t that, it went five layers deeper, and it was revealed that that didn’t even happen. 

THEIR NAMES CARVED INTO THE TREE.

Episode 17: Have Yourself A Morlock Little Christmas

Everyone’s giving Storm shit for not prioritizing the Morlocks when they could literally just call. They’ve established that there’s an emergency line they could call.

Making a big deal of Storm relinquishing responsibility to Callisto… you already did that in the episode you became the Morlocks’ leader, you declared her the de facto leader. Also it’s not much of an honour to be told “these people are your responsibility” when you were already taking care of them. 

Jubilee shows amazing older sister potential giving attention to Mariana when all this is going down.

Jean and Gambit fighting over cooking was wiiiild. Jean was gonna kill him for wanting to season the meat.

Episode 18, 19, 20, 21: Beyond Good and Evil

“I’m not malevolent. I simply am.” I mean… nah you’re pretty evil, Apocalypse. It’s honestly really petty. 

I love that all it takes is Cable telling him that they’ll keep fighting to throw Apocalypse into a midlife crisis. 

I finally figured out why Sinister kidnaps only Jean anymore, Scott’s beams fucking fry him. 

I suspected that this would probably be the weakest part of the season since it’s a 4-parter… the Shi’ar showed up and I was like “there goes my enjoyment”… and then they had no bearing on the plot and all was well!

Mystique, as Shard: "LOOK OUT PSYLOCKE THAT'S MYSTIQUE! a SHAPESHIFTER!!!" Logan, who smells her, Psylocke, a telepath, and Shard, herself: "Do I look stupid to you?"

“How nice to see you, Logan, all tied up and nowhere to go.” Homosexual? Gay? Gambit, that's queer?

“Too bad we lost Sabretooth” I was like “y’all don’t care about him” but then I remembered he is Mystique’s baby daddy. I need the backstory on that big time. 

Poor Bishop, forced to be useless until the very end of the episode.

ALL THE TELEPATHS WRECKING APOCALYPSE'S SHIT!!

I love every time Scott and Jean reunite they share a kiss <333

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

[cheesecakeluvrs]

🚨Spoilers for episode 5 of X-men’97🚨

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT HUUUHHUUHH I KNEW IT WAS GOING TO BE A GAMBIT EPISODE BECAUSE OF THE TITLE BUT WHAT IS HAPPENING what too much that’s for sure. Jean? Logan? Scott? Erik? Cable?!Rogue?!? GAMBIT?!?! I’m tweaking so bad I can’t. Well first off I loved the episode but I’m also going a little insane. IS HE DEAD?!? He can’t be dead, that just can’t happen, wake up Gambit. Is sacrifice was awesome but after all the Rogue and Gambit stuff that happened this episode? Wellll they did say that they were just going to be friends because MAGNETO WANTS TO GET MARRIED but erm it was still clear that after the dance with her and Magneto that she does NOT have feelings for him and is rather just torn because she has feelings for Gambit but can only touch Erik. AUGAHAHS AND THAT SPEECH SHE GAVE?!? Well it wasn’t really a speech but the conversation between her and Gambit, that was crazy. Nightcrawler being my man and helping us Rogue and Gambit shippers out but it’s sad we didn’t get much of her and Nightcrawler. Okay okayyyy so at least we’re not getting Rogue and Magneto because of the end of the dance “some things are deeper than skin” AUSFHAHEYGAHAGGAHAYGSHAJ Erik, hate to be like this, but it lowkey feels like he’s manipulating Rogue due to the fact that she can only touch him and he’s using that to get her to himself. Alsoooo I guess he’s just given up on his dead wife lol and I never thought he loved her I just kinda thought he was using the sexy 20 somethin yo because she hawt and all but I guess we’re jumping straight to the L word lol. AUSFHAHSGA Remy please don’t be goneeee, you can’t be, you can’t just do that, I mean we already got Xavier (well kinda) at least he has his spirit with em and is in space with his space soulmate or whatever. Erm oh yeah Erik might also be dead butttt…. That’s not really what I’m worried about. LOGAN AND JEAN WHAT ATE YOU DOING, I look away from my happy little married couple for 3 minutes and they’re off doing this, then the minute I look back to Rogue and Gambit HES DEAD. They goin craaazy right now and I don’t know how to handle it. I’m shaking, screaming, tweaking and all of the above. Okay let’s get the list of things we can celebrate about

-Rogue definitely doesn’t have feelings for Magneto (nice nice haha)

-Rogue has feelings for Gambit but is just very conflicted because she can’t touch him (TOO BAD HES DEAD)

-And lastly this is the Marvel universe and death is never the end soooo (but even if he is dead that’s a pretty sick way to go)

I guess I’ll just be going crazy until the next episode. If you guys have any thoughts or theories please share because without new thoughts of hope my mind will explode

[multi-fandoms-posts]

Trouble maker

X Men Masterlist

It is a dark, rainy night when Y/N suddenly appears in the field. With a soft *pop*, she materializes right next to Charles and Erik, in the middle of their mission. Charles spins around, his eyes widening as he sees her.

“Y/N?” he asks, surprised, his voice gentle but concerned. “What are you doing here?”

Erik raises an eyebrow but keeps a hand hovering slightly in the air, ready to use his powers. “Did you get lost, or did you intentionally come here to spoil our fun?” His voice is as deep as ever, laced with that ironic undertone.

Y/N grins and steps closer, water dripping from her clothes. “Fun? Did you really think I’d let you go off without me?” She leans in slightly, letting her fingers playfully glide over Charles’s arm. “What kind of mission would it be without me?”

Charles’s face remains serious, but his lips twitch slightly. “I just didn’t want to put you in danger.” His gaze softens as he looks at Y/N.

Y/N sighs dramatically, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him closer. “You and your eternal caution,” she whispers before kissing him on the lips. The kiss is slow and intense, the tension between them immediately palpable.

Erik, observing this, smirks. “Really? In the middle of the mission?” he asks, crossing his arms.

Y/N pulls away from Charles, turns to Erik, and smirks. “Maybe you shouldn’t complain so much. You could be next.” She teleports directly in front of Erik, grabs his jacket, and pulls him down towards her. “Or what do you think, Magneto?” she whispers seductively and presses her lips against his.

Erik hesitates for a moment before returning the kiss, his hands firmly resting on her hips. But after a moment, he pulls away and grins. “That could be distracting,” he murmurs, though there’s a hint of amusement in his voice.

“Maybe,” Y/N says, her eyes sparkling with delight. “But you like it when I distract you, don’t you?” She lightly trails her fingers over his chest before pulling back.

Charles clears his throat, trying to regain control of the situation. “Let’s focus. We have a job to do.”

Y/N takes a step back, tossing her wet hair over her shoulder. “So, what’s the plan, you two tactical geniuses? Let me guess: Erik causes chaos, and you, Charles, sneak into people’s minds?”

Charles nods, his eyes serious. “Erik distracts the guards, I penetrate their thoughts. You, Y/N, can teleport us into the more difficult areas. We need to get this done quickly and efficiently.”

Y/N clicks her tongue. “How boring. Where’s the fun in that?” She grins widely and playfully teleports around the two of them. “I could make this so much more interesting.”

Erik watches her, his eyes dark and intense. “If you cause too much trouble, you’ll be the one who gets punished.”

Y/N blinks innocently and teleports directly into his arms. “Oh, please,” she murmurs, lightly stroking his jawline. “Will you promise me that?”

Erik narrows his eyes but says nothing. Instead, he gently pushes her away while Charles sighs. “Focus, Y/N,” he warns, though there’s a faint smile in his voice.

---

They enter the building, and immediately spring into action. Erik raises his hand and hurls a massive metal plate at the guards before they can react. Y/N teleports between them, skillfully kicking a guard to the ground and winking at Erik. “See? I can cause a bit of chaos too.”

Charles stands still for a moment, closing his eyes. “There are more in the next room. Be ready.”

Y/N teleports to Charles and plants a quick kiss on his cheek. “Don’t worry, darling. I’m keeping an eye on you.” Then she teleports back next to Erik and whispers in his ear, “And you too, Magneto.”

Erik gives a slight grin and raises his hands defensively. “Always with the temptation. But first, the mission.”

---

In the central room, they finally reach the weapon, a menacing machine surrounded by a shimmering barrier. Erik tries to manipulate the metal structure, but the barrier is stronger than expected.

“It looks like I could use some help here,” he murmurs.

Y/N steps closer and examines the barrier. “Can you crack it, Charles?”

Charles closes his eyes, his face tense with concentration. “Maybe… It’s complicated. Give me a moment.”

Y/N teleports behind the barrier while Charles tries to weaken the energy mentally. She looks at Erik, who is watching her, and grins. “Ready to save my life, Magneto?”

Erik snorts. “Isn’t that more my job?” He raises his hand as the barrier flickers.

Y/N teleports into the barrier, grabs the device, and destroys it with a precise blow. The apparatus explodes, and the energy barrier dissipates in a shower of sparks.

She teleports back to Charles and Erik just as the building around them begins to shake slightly. “Done,” she pants and leans casually against Erik.

Charles takes a deep breath, his forehead sweaty, but he smiles. “You saved us once again.”

Y/N winks at him. “Of course. What would you two do without me?”

Erik steps closer, placing a hand on her hip and looking at her intently. “Well done, Trouble maker,” he says, his voice deep and quiet.

Y/N laughs softly, one hand on Erik’s chest, the other stroking Charles’s arm. “Alright, boys. If you’re so grateful… how about you make it up to me?” Her eyes sparkle challengingly.

Charles tilts his head slightly and pulls Y/N closer. “I think we’ll find a way to show you how grateful we are,” he says, his voice gentle and earnest.

Erik grins wider, his eyes dark with desire. “But be sure, love … you’ll need rest afterward.”

Y/N’s smile widens, and she teleports between the two of them, her arms loosely draped over their shoulders. “I’m curious how long you will last.”

With one last mischievous grin, she lets herself be drawn deeper into the darkness by the two men, ready for her own special mission.

[xxplastic-cubexx]

erik will genuinely jump at any chance he can to steal charles' last name and be so catty about it i know this for a fact WHAT is his deal

[Magneto (2011)]

[lunarspiral1127]

X-Men 97 episode 6 *SPOILERS*

Shi'ar Empire/Space

Honestly, I wasn't expecting to see them and get an update on Xavier in this episode cause I thought this was gonna be the full Lifedeath conclusion, so more focus on Storm. But, I think it's nice to see how he's doing.

This is the first time we see Deathbird AKA Lilandra's sister in the X-Men animated series, and I like her look.

Gladiator is such a stoic bad@$$. Ngl, after seeing him fight after so long, Superman popped into my head. I think it was the powerset he displayed.

Ronan and the Kree! I wasn't expecting to see them cause we never had the Kree mentioned or shown in the previous show, so this was a nice surprise. Aldo, it's so refreshing to see Ronan the Accuser in his more comic- accurate outfit. Cause, I've only recently seen him and the Kree in their MCU outfits, so seeing the classics was nice.

Noticed Vulcan during the beginning....kinda awkward cause he's Scott's other brother. Dunno if they'll do anything with that, but then again, they didn't do much with Havok in the previous show.

It's good to see Xavier healthy again, but why hasn't he checked up on the X-Men during that year? Why didn't he let them know that he's okay? Is it because of that black hole?

Didn't know Xavier was interested in being Lilandra's....pet....psychics be kinky.

Xavier talking about Magnus....oh god, when he finds out what happened to him....

Man, even in space, mutants can't catch a break! Xavier gonna be emperor along with Lilandra, and these sunsofbeeches hate it cause he's Terran AND a mutant. Like, can the mutants EVER get anything nice?!

Xavier was willing to forgo his memories on Earth and of his friends and family. Just to be with Lilandra....god dammit, this show really is a soap opera.

Xavier educating the Shi'ar council, Deathbird, Gladiator, and even Lilandra on their system and why it's bad was pretty funny. Dude was going back to being a teacher. And, I thought he was succeeding until....

The vision. Now, he knows what happened to Genosha, and he gotta go back. Good, cause they need him more than ever. I just wish it didn't have to break him and Lilandra up. Like, can we have a good relationship that doesn't end in a breakup, death, or have way too much drama, please?!?!

GAMBIT!!! 😭 It still hurts! But, the vision could also be foreshadowing that he'll become Death of the Four Horsemen. And Magneto wasn't there, so does that mean he survived?!

Storm, Forge, and the Adversary

Storm called Forge "my love". She was mad at him earlier, but I guess despite the anger, she loves him too and understood that he tried to help her despite what he did.

The Adversary is spooky. I didn't get how they appeared, but from what the show says, the demon appears to feed on the self-loathing, so they sensed Forge AND Storm and came to them.

Storm's fear of tight spaces comes into play. The Adversary used her fear against her which almost worked. First time Forge was able to banish the demon, despite being poisoned, and the second time, Storm overcame her fears and doubts and got her powers back.

Oh yeah, MISTRESS OF THE ELEMENTS IS BACK!!! 🤩 She even got her iconic black outfit with the tiara! I'll miss her classic white outfit, though. And she got her long hair back! No offense to the mohawk.

Shoutout to @stormandforge for talking about how she got her powers back cause I was so confused and sleep-deprived. What makes the most sense was the machine Forge used worked. It's just that she had some kind of mental/psychological block going on with her powers and had to overcome it to reactivate them. Kinda like how Peter lost his powers in Spider-Man 2. As for how she got her outfit, well, Storm, in the very first episode in the previous show, used her lightning to change outfits. So, I chopped it off to that. Yeah, lightning doesn't work like that, but she looks beautiful! The hair was actually what I was most confused about cause she had a mohawk, and suddenly, her hair got long again? I thought some parts of her head was shaved. So how did her change? Same way as the outfit?

Forge is cured, so fingers crossed these two will be together and not end poorly and messy as it did in the comics. Please, I just need one good relationship in this freaking show that isn't gonna end in tragedy.

And she knows about Genosha. God, I really hope she doesn't get survivors guilt over this. But, we need her and Xavier more than ever with what's to come.

The rest

Y'know, it was one thing for Trask to be involved with the massacre, but Mr. Sinister? I wasn't expecting that. I thought it was the FoH or Apocalypse or maybe Nimrod. Either way, I'm mad now that I know who's responsible cause how dare them kill Gambit, Magneto, Leech and the others, and hurt Nightcrawler and Rogue! I really hope that they find a way to finish him off for good and make it hurt like hell!

NIGHTCRAWLER GOT TO BE PART OF THE INTRO!!! 🤩 Does that mean he's gonna be finally part of the X-Men? Will we ever get him using his swords? Cause they keep teasing that!

I just wish it wasn't at the expense of Magneto and Gambit's intros. Man, I was bracing myself, and they had to do that and the recap! UGH, IT STILL HURTS! 😭

The episodes have really alternated with multiple storylines in this show. The previous one usually focuses on one story at a time.

So, that's pretty much it. Good episode. One more episode left until even more trauma will be inflicted on us cause 8-10 are gonna be a doozy.

[baradorable]

The Grand Unifying Prodigy Theory

So the new NYX issue raises a lot of questions. Some things just don't fully add up if you think about it, or are too convoluted.

If the goal of befriending Kamala was to sacrifice her, why bother spending time befriending her? Just direct her to Times Square at the right time.

What's the deal with the quiet assassinations?

Why did Hellion suddenly get nerfed during the fight with Prodigy?

How could Prodigy beat Hellion with a grappling hook?

Prodigy spent the book thinking about the false dichotomy of Magneto vs Xavier, but at the end says that mutant culture is the X-Men? He says it belongs to "all of us," but then the X-Men line throws it all off.

But here's how it all comes together: Prodigy is in on it, and he's the mastermind behind it all.

What We """Know"""

So the Quiet Council's plan seemed to be: make big scenes and use the chaos to quietly kill some government officials. Then, they lure Ms. Marvel into a confrontation with the Krakoan, in which she loses and gets brutalized on TV, so people can witness what happens to those who try to get in the Council's way. Prodigy messed things up by getting involved. He defeated the Krakoan and got him arrested.

From the outs, it looks like Prodigy doesn't fit anywhere. In fact, having him involved ruined their plans. So how could he be in cahoots with them?

If you look at it from the perspective that he's involved, suddenly the plan makes more sense. Little gaps start to get filled in. Now all we need to do it fill in the gaps his involvement creates.

Prodigy here is notable for three things: his role at the university, him stopping the Krakoan, and his perspective on mutant culture.

Prodigy vs the Krakoan: Julian Forgot His Powers (And So Did Prodigy)

And yes, I know I shouldn't capitalize all words in a title. But I think it looks nicer. I'm going by vibes.

Okay, so let's analyze the fight and go over how it makes no sense.

Realistically, Prodigy could defeat the Krakoan. With his brain, he can glean Julian's strategies and work around them. He also knows of one of Julian's biggest weakness: violent women sound. He could throw some flashbangs and make enough noise to break Julian's concentration. Without his telekinesis, Julian is at a major disadvantage. Prodigy can solo most people when it comes to physical combat.

But instead of actually using strategy, Prodigy's plan is to... dodge attacks and then get a lucky shot in. Yeah, he could get in Julian's head and learn where his next attacks will be, but this whole strategy predates on Hellion not just grabbing him in mid-air, or putting him in a bubble, or flying faster than Prodigy can move, or creating a bubble around himself, or just... hovering a few feet higher, out of Prodigy's range. Hell, Prodigy's plan would sink if Hellion took hostages, or just flew up to the news helicopter, climbed in and took a nap.

Both of them could have easily ended the fight in a few seconds. Instead, it's a long, drawn-out, dramatic fight. All because both of them forgot to use the full extent of their powers.

It only makes sense if one or both of them were holding back. Otherwise, both characters randomly became idiots for the plot to work. And we know Hellion's not dumb, because he's already involved with the Quiet Council's secret, multi-step plans. Plans that include deception and creating big scenes to hide their true motives.

Why didn't Prodigy come in with a plan? I guess he only made do with that he had, so no flashbangs or firecrackers. Sure. Maybe he couldn't use the full extent of his powers. But why would Hellion let Prodigy win? Because he could use the full extent of his powers.

Conclusion: Hellion wanted Prodigy to win.

This is Entertainment

And after all, why wouldn't Hellion crush Prodigy like he did Kamala? It would only emphasize his statement. Oh, but speaking of Kamala, notice how she punched him into a truck on one page, but then got decimated on the next page?

Hellion could have crushed Kamala easily. But he was stalling for time until the cameras arrived. The whole point of the fight was to make a show of it.

It's a similar case with Prodigy. He could have ended things quickly and without much of a fight. But that wouldn't be a good show now, would it?

If Julian was already nerfing himself for one match, who's to say he wasn't doing it for the other match? If he was purposely making a show out of one match, who's to say he wasn't purposely making a show out of the other?

Let's go back to the assassinations real quick. We know Hellion's been causing a ruckus in public, lifting trains and throwing them at his stalker. But he's never shown killing anyone on-screen, and the only confirmed deaths are select targets in the city government.

In fact, this suggests that his only victims are the government officials. And remember: he could have killed that train full of people in issue 1. But he let them live, because he never wanted to kill them. All of the Krakoan's plans have been about making big shows, while hiding his true motives.

So here we have the Krakoan purposely limiting himself in order to draw things out and make a spectacle. With that in mind, it makes sense why he went easy on David: the goal was never to kill David, even if he was getting in his way. He had other plans.

Conclusion: Hellion let Prodigy win in order to hide or progress another, less obvious plan.

The Grappling Hook

Prodigy's grappling hook makes no sense. When you have a grappling hook, you have to stop, climb up, disconnect it, fling it to another location and - assuming you didn't miss and have to start over again - make sure it's secure before he can swing around and start the whole process over. The point of grappling hooks is that you can't swing around and dodge things like Spider-Man.

Yet here Prodigy was, swinging around like Spider-Man and dodging attacks.

But now go into this fight with our assumptions from earlier. If the fight was staged and David needed to win, then we can explain the grappling hook defying physics.

Maybe Hellion was manipulating the grappling hook? Making sure it always landed and stayed still, so Prodigy could easily swing around and do his impressive feats of agility.

After all, the fight wouldn't be a big spectacle of Prodigy had to stop every three seconds to set up his grappling hook. The fight would end very quickly if Hellion just attacked the location of the hook and sent Prodigy falling to his death.

This could easily just be the grappling hook reflecting the green light from Hellion's energy attacks. OR it could be a green aura surrounding it as Hellion subtly manipulates it. But it's probably just reflected green light. But what if it isn't?

Remember: the fight had some big explosions. Those could have been used to distract people and mask the mistakes in the fight.

But for this to work, it would mean that Prodigy would need to be in on the plan. Otherwise, how would he know that Julian would play fair? How would he be able to swing around and dodge attacks? How would he even move around?

Conclusion: Hellion was actively enabling Prodigy during the fight, AND Prodigy was in on the plan.

Why did Prodigy throw a rock at Hellion's head?

Just for fun.

The Kamala Factor

Hellion was never going to kill Kamala. He doesn't like killing. And even if he's behind the assassinations, the book made it clear that he was only targeting bad people, and everything else was for show. Both David and Kamala explicitly stated that Julian isn't a psychopath. He wouldn't kill an innocent person, much less a mutant.

Now here's the kicker: Hellion makes a video game reference to Kamala. Hellion plays video games, but he doesn't just casually drop references like he did here. He's not a quippy character in combat. And he just so happens to use it on the one hero who would get and appreciate the reference.

It was a secret message. He knew she'd get the reference. He was subtly showing her that he was playing around, not being 100% serious. That he wasn't the monster he was portraying himself to be.

She was never in any real danger of dying.

But let's circle back to Prodigy. He was watching the fight with his flatscan boyfriend at home. When he saw Kamala was in danger, he ran to her location and got there just in time. How convenient, he just happened to live close to the location of the attack. It's almost as if the attack location was chosen with this in mind, to ensure Prodigy arrived on time, without doing anything to contradict his previous "I'm staying out of this" stance.

Now it makes sense why Kamala was selected as the target for this convoluted plan. Prodigy would only get involved if his student was in danger.

It was all a set-up. Kamala was so focused on Sophie betraying her, that she didn't even notice Prodigy was in on it. David is in on the plan - only instead of setting Kamala up, he and the others are trying to make Prodigy look like the good guy. To get Kamala on his side.

But this would only make sense if he knew about the Quiet Council's plan and was actively working with them.

Conclusion: He knew about the Quiet Council's plan and was actively working with them. Also, his plan involved saving Kamala and defeating Hellion, so he could get Kamala on his side and follow his beliefs.

But speaking of his beliefs...

Mutant Culture is the X-Men

Okay, so Prodigy's heroic speech to Hellion has him say: "We're the custodians now. Mutant culture isn't Krakoa. Mutant culture is the X-Men."

Which is weird, because the last issue was about the Morlocks/Arakki and their culture. And most mutants aren't the X-Men, even if they're a driving force for things. That's like saying American culture isn't America or its history, American culture is the Kardashians.

I get what he probably means: the people who are there now, the diaspora, the heroes and villains, the mutants who continue on. Every mutant is the spirit of mutant culture. Their identity is not defined by their nation, but its people. But why, specifically, say X-Men? It's dumb and, say it with me, makes no sense.

Look at his narration throughout the issue. He criticizes the false dichotomy of good vs evil, Charles vs Xavier, us vs them.

Further, he's been actively keeping mutant culture alive by educating people about Krakoan culture.

Here's the kicker: David expressed dissatisfaction with the city's government at the start of the issue.

Oh, curious. Hellion was specifically targeting the city government with his attacks.

With this in mind, and the assumption that David and Julian were purposely putting on a show, now it all makes sense: he's trying to publicly distance himself from the bad guys, but he actually agrees with them on some level. And they have a common enemy.

In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the attacks on the officials were Prodigy's plan in the first place. Think about it: would Julian even know all the intricacies of New York's local politics, enough to know who, where and when to target? Would the Cuckoos care enough to learn, when they could just mind-control all the Council members into having a public orgy to get them all fired?

Conclusion: Prodigy is a bullshitter.

My theory is that he falls somewhere in the middle of the Xavier-Magneto spectrum. The Quiet Council is going too far with their command and conquer ideas. But Xavier's dream of co-existence is too flawed. So go for a middle ground: co-existence, but taking steps to ensure the humans don't mess it up.

But Prodigy Got Arrested?

Yes. If this was all part of the plan, he still threw away a good career and risked being sent to prison. He loses the influence he had as a professor to educate the masses and keep Krakoa alive.

But think about it: he lose everything because he chose to do the right thing and stop a bad guy. He's making himself out to be a martyr who's being unfairly punished for the system. Something he knew would happen, because he told Kamala about the risks of him getting involved earlier in the issue.

If he lost his job? Mutants will see him as a hero and rally to his cause, while Kamala will respect him more. If he kept his job? Sweet, tenure and the opportunity to keep spreading the good word of Krakoa.

Or, alternate theory: what if this was just Plan B?

Because Prodigy's flatscan boyfriend was watching the drama on TV, and he was wondering why no other heroes were showing up. Weird detail to mention. Usually heroes don't show up in another series outside of crossover or a plot point. That's just how comics work. So why call attention to it?

Maybe a hero was supposed to show up and get involved, and they were going to be Hellion's opponent. They show up, defeat Hellion, and he gets arrested. No loses their jobs, no one gets hurt. Except for Kamala but whatever. She'll be okay. Since no hero showed up, Prodigy had to step in and get involved to keep the plan going.

Prodigy wanted to keep the job, but he was willing to sacrifice it for Plan B, to ensure everything went smoothly. It was a worthy sacrifice.

Of course, Hellion goes to Graymalkin either way. And that's right where he needs to be. He could be their man on the inside, keeping tight until the Council or X-Men launch their strike on Graymalkin. With his help, they can free all the mutants who are being unfairly held captive.

The martyr angle is cool when you look at the cover for #7, coming in a few months.

He's been drawn in the style of those murals people paint. You know the ones. Where people are killed unfairly, so they're memorialized and honored by people who they've inspired. I think there's a word for it, but Googling with a vague, largely biased, possibly misinterpreted sentence is hard. But you guys know what I mean. It's like that Lionheart mural in Robyn Hood? For the 3 people who watched that show. Mostly to laugh at how bad it is. But still.

But this is just my segue into my next point: speculating about Synch.

NYX #7

"I've seen what you're building, Prodigy. And I don't think you have any idea how dangerous it is. Ms. Marvel trusts you, but you're helping her perpetuate a lie. Sophie trusts you, but you're absolving her of her crimes. Wolverine trusts you, but you're asking her to indulge her violence. Anole trusts you, but he's the only one of you holding to the old ways. So I'll make this easy. I'll do it in a language we both understand. My name is Synch. And I challenge you to a battle to the death. I challenge you to the CIRCLE PERILOUS."

The solicits are written from Synch's perspective, and he's calling out Prodigy. And this message makes a lot of sense when you consider everything we've talked about.

Ms. Marvel trusts you, but you're helping her perpetuate a lie.

He's manipulating her, and she's going along with him. She's perpetuating his lies, because she's unknowingly supporting him while ignorant of his false flag operations and schemes.

Sophie trusts you, but you're absolving her of her crimes.

Sophie is in on the plan, and Prodigy is justifying all their actions. We saw how bad she felt about betraying Kamala, but knew she had to do bad things for the greater good. Prodigy gets to be the boss and direct her, so none of these bad things are really her fault: she was simply told to do them, because it was the only way to help mutants.

Wolverine trusts you, but you're asking her to indulge her violence.

This is curious. Back in issue 2, he at least wasn't aware of her stuff with Local or Mojo. But if she's in on the plan, maybe he was just surprised to see her doing things unrelated to their mission.

What's her role? If she's indulging in violence, maybe she's the one who's assassinating people during Hellion's attacks? After all, how can he single out one person during all that chaos, and manage to kill them and only them, each and every time.

I got the idea from Dewyatt. While everyone's distracted, Laura is sneaking in and killing the politicians. And if you want some extra drama for fun: since Hellion would be against her being used to kill, the Cuckoos wipe his memory of her involvement. Laura is against the violation of autonomy, but maybe she accepts it because she doesn't want Hellion to become a killer? Stopping him from killing, just like he stopped her from killing in the past.

Anole trusts you, but he's the only one of you holding to the old ways.

The old ways. We know Anole's ways are the ways of the Morlocks/Krakoans/Arakki. And while he's living in the sewers, he also wants them to walk on the surface openly, and without fear.

Prodigy agrees with those views. Maybe Anole trusts in Prodigy's plans?

Empath

Where does Empath fit in? He clearly didn't expect Prodigy to come in, and he was angry when he won. So he must not be in on the plan. So why is he there?

In this issue, one of the Cuckoos says how suspicious they'd look if someone from the outside saw that they were working with Empath. They don't seem to like him. Another Cuckoo elaborates that he's working with them. Either way, they clearly don't have much respect for him, and are other-ing him from the plan.

I'm not sure where he fits in. But if Prodigy is the mastermind, he's merely a pawn in a much bigger game. He thinks he's the puppeteer, but he doesn't even notice the strings coming out of his own back.

Conclusion

Prodigy is the mastermind behind the Quiet Council and its machinations. He's purposely staging big scenes to secretly assassinate bad people, but not actually hurting any innocent people. He's trying to manipulate Ms. Marvel and condition her to his less-than-ideal, but non-genocidal plan. He staged a fight with Hellion, so the latter could get arrested and be their man on the inside. In the end, Prodigy is trying to be the best mix of all previous factions, which he believes will ultimately guide mutants towards progress.

Will this be canon? No, absolutely not. This theory is complete nonsense. But I'm not going to let the truth get in the way of a good story.

[dracaelus]

CHERIK FIC RECS

Angst (multiple levels of angst)

too close to the sun, by joshriku: 3, 683 words, charles pov, canon compliant to Jean Grey #1 (2023) (i think it's better to read the issue first, but it's not really necessary)

Jean Grey erases Magneto's mind - or so she thinks. When Charles finds his body, he brings it back to the mansion, and begins the arduous task of putting Erik's mind together. Of course, when it comes to Erik and persevering, it's always a lot more effective than he expects.

To Breathe Again (Impossibilities Remix), by Unforgotten: Erik's pov from the original movies timeline. The old men are old!!! It's a 3,879 words oneshot and it's beautiful

After Liberty Island, you think you must have burned that bridge at last. After Alkali Lake, you're even more certain. What once seemed so easy is now an impossibility, and the dream that once plagued you no longer comes.

Then Charles dies and you know: Going home was never truly impossible until now.

This is not easily described by a single genre methinks

superposition, by borninsideatornado: The racer car driver au! This one has some angst yes, but it didn't feel right to put it in the angst category bc there's so much more to it! This story is about healing. It's also about racing cars. And it's also a romance ! Charles and Erik have an amazing dynamic, but then so does Erik and Emma, Erik and Pietro (the father and son are father and son'ing!) and the entire team tbh. Really fun to read!

erik is a race car driver coming off the worst year of his life. charles xavier may be his last hope.

Time to Grow, by zarah5: 20K oneshot, Charles pov. Fluffy fix-it

In which you'll find chess dates which aren't dates (or maybe Charles is wrong about that). -- Based on First Class, this turns (slightly) AU during the beach scene.

Comedy

Fathers and sons, by M_Leigh: 6K oneshot, Hank pov. So fucking funny

“I have an – interest – in Peter Maximoff,” Erik said, somewhat grudgingly, glaring. “A – familial – interest –”

Everybody stared at him.

“In that – mutantkind is one – large – family –” Erik said valiantly, if pathetically.

“Oh, shit,” Alex said. “No way. No way.”

i guess i should say thanks or some shit: au but they do have powers, 17K oneshot, charles pov

believe it or not, charles has a well-thought-out moral philosophy. he doesn’t follow it. but he has thought it out. alternatively: charles and erik douche it up in amsterdam

Frosted hearts, by aesc & palalife: 29K oneshot, multipov, the main focus is cherik, and it comes with art!

Emma Frost has 99 problems, but a date ain't one. Specifically, she has no time to play the dating game--which is fine with her, because she'd much rather run it instead. From a set of sleek, silver and white offices on Fifth Avenue and with her trusty, stylish, and silent partner Janos Quested, Emma has built Frosted Hearts into New York City's premiere dating service, built on the principle that money, and a sufficiently rigorous psionic scan, can, in fact, buy you love.

Somewhere in Frosted Hearts's server is one Charles Xavier, genius and geneticist, with the kind of nicely-starched good looks that sell well on brochures for New England prep schools. He's also a telepath who's decided to give up pursuing serious relationships and instead spend his thirties doing what he should have done as a teenager: have a lot of sex with random people. Fortunately for him, Erik Lehnsherr, metallokinetic and engineering executive, has absolutely no time in his heart or his schedule for anything more serious than... well, absolutely nothing romantic at all.

[angelfirstclass]

Damn, I guess I was a Magneto apologist. Is it me or did the writers make me do it?

Ok, Ok I wrote a rant about how I was disappointed in the X-men and was seemingly Team Magneto, but I have come to realize that it was a step too far if it is leading to planet wide destruction and poles reversing and nuclear fallout and etc etc. If it's THAT extreme, then yes I walk back my blank support of Magneto, but I am still on Magneto's side as to feeling he was right and wondering where the line in the sand is.

Also, me having these feelings is the writers fault- they made Magneto sympathetic and wrote the story line to specifically get people to be on the fence with Magneto and not have him be a cut and dried bad guy. He adopts the X-men, walks Xavier's path at times unwillingly, and was even tempered even during the trial or after Storm lost her powers. He might have been able to be reasoned after Genosha, too, but being kidnapped, tortured, and his fellow mutants threatened by Prime Sentinels was too much.

In the X-men movies, Magneto is less sympathetic because he hurts innocent humans and sometimes neutral and innocent mutants as well in the name of his cause. In the first movie, he almost kills Rogue in the name of Mutant supremacy. It's despicable. That's where the X-men draw the line and are justified in being against him. Even knowing his past and the reasons for the way he is, readers and the audience can not condone him choosing violence. But in this version, it's different- the writers chose to make Magneto an anti-hero and set up his eventual choice as either inevitable or even justified. The previous episode had a character claim "Magneto was right" and made many viewers feel that way, too.

In this version, Magnus is not a monster. He may have doomed the planet, but he offers the X-men sanctuary and a choice. Where I find myself disappointed in the X-men is the way they don't lead a search party to find Magneto before the Sentinel/EMP incident, don't offer any gratitude to being saved by Magneto from the Sentinels, and instantly goes into attack mode. Like I realize what he did was wrong, but as a team member you would think there would be some misgivings or hesitation based on friendship and respect, but no it's immediately Oh, yeah I knew you were awful the entire time and good riddance.

I am waiting to see the next episode and the finale and hope there are things in there to make things make sense, but right now I'm just confused. I realize the world is complex and has grey areas, but I honestly would have been more satisfied if Magneto was a straight up bad guy and met his end or if Bastion was the only bad guy and though they didn't agree on everything worked as a team. This story line currently is one where Magneto is not bad nor good, is meant to be somewhat sympathetic, but in the end if I have it correctly completely extreme and genocidal. It breaks up the X-men and causes a schism when they need to be strong together and is morally confusing for the viewer. Not sure one episode is enough to tie everything together, but I shall wait and see.

[zinthelost]

Everything And Nothing You Wanted

I have a story roaming around my head about this and it being why Erik quit being Magneto between dofp and xma. Cus something had to have happened right? For him to walk away? What was his post-divorce rock bottom that made him just say fuck it? Cus it wasn't prison. That dramatic bastard walked out of prison and promptly dropped a stadium around the White House. So what did it?

Let's say Mystique runs into him post dofp. And she's pissed cus he tried to kill her. After everything. After all their time working together and history. But she also still wants him and she's frustrated at not getting what she wants. Ever! And why shouldn't she get him? She's looking for a fuck, not true love.

So she comes on to him in some safe house and "No, Raven. Honestly, you're still on about this? No."

And she's had enough about being told no so she slides the metaphorical knife in. She shifts into Charles as he looked in XMFC, soft and clean and perfect, and smirks at him. "Maybe you'd prefer something a little different?" Cus she has eyes. She saw how Erik looked at Charles.

Erik goes rigid at the sight of "him" and snarls at her to take that form off but she's unimpressed. She knows what he wants and why shouldn't he indulge, she asks. Of course Charles knew he wanted him. Erik knows that, right? Little wonder he hates Charles so much after being denied again and again, deemed not good enough for even a quick screw.

Erik grits his teeth. "Let it go, Raven. Fine! I wanted him. Congratulations! But he owes me nothing simply because I wanted him. And why would I fucking hate Charles for being straight?" he snaps at her, turning to leave (cus he can't take her doing this while looking/sounding like Charles) but she/he laughs caustically at that.

"You think Charles is straight?" And Erik is frozen in his tracks, hand on the door knob as she/he continues. "Oh God no. I saw him bring home so many men and women when he was in college. Charming Charles cut a wide swath."

"He's a telepath, Erik. He doesn't care about the 'wrapping', just the contents. If someone's mind, someone's soul was good enough he'd haul them home in an instant. No questions asked."

"Charles" goes on, twisting the blade. "But you? Making eyes at him over that damn chessboard every night? He knew you were on offer and he just wasn't buying. But I guess that's understandable given all your ugly bits? Can't imagine saint Charles would want a killer. The thought probably made his skin crawl."

And here Erik snaps: rage, self-hatred, and heartbreak tangling up and exploding. Grabbing him/her and throwing him/her against the wall, he shoves a thigh between his legs and has his mouth in a punishing kiss.

And it's everything he wanted, and it's nothing he wanted, because this isn't how it was supposed to be. It was supposed to be soft and loving in Charles' quiet home, not this tearing rageful thing, all teeth and nails and bruises.

He takes him hard against the wall and on the shitty bed. And it isn't Charles. No bit of this feels like Charles. His silk-soft thoughts don't brush Erik's mind, he can't feel the unintentional sparks of emotion Charles would always emit when he got too excited about something. There's no laughter. No light. But he'd have never had him anyway. Charles was right to refuse him, despite his lies about him being worth more than violence. Clearly they were lies.

He'd have never wanted his bloodied hands on him. 'There's so much more to you...' but not enough more to me, right, Charles? Not enough.

Afterwards Erik grabs his clothes, cursing her for goading him, exposing him, and tries not to vomit till he's out of her earshot.