#senator kelly

[beforetimes]

what's irritating about jean's character in the original trilogy is that when she's first introduced through her interaction with senator kelly in x-man (2000), she's very clearly depicted as an intelligent and capable woman. it's very easy to assume that she's the de facto face of the school because she went as a spokesperson for mutants despite charles also being in the crowd.

so to take this character we become acclimated to independent of her relationship with other characters and to suddenly switch-up to have her become a plaything for scott and logan to fight over is very jarring. and i'm not trying to say that i thought she could only be discussed in the context of her relationship with logan and scott but outside of that initial scene where she's speaking up for her fellow mutants, there's very little care given to her as a character.

in x-men (2000), 90% of her dialogue feels like it's solely dedicated to this flirting game going on between her and logan. she barely feels like a character and exists solely to be a roadblock or the 'sexy lamp' archetype in the movie. we just barely see her at all. i feel one scene where her presence would've made sense and built up more of her character would be where storm goes to speak to senator kelly so he's not alone when he dies. since we're introduced to kelly through an argument with jean, wouldn't it be a full circle moment to go back to him conversing with her before accepting his death and they both make peace with each other? i just feel they really wasted her character in this first film.

i feel like in x2 (2003) they became somewhat aware of the criticism (i'm assuming as much at least) because she exists as a person outside of the context of her relationship with logan and scott. but even then it's very little and the most we learn about her is she's conflicted/having trouble concerning her powers and wants scott.

now, at the end she has her moment of nobel sacrifice where she knows the only way she can save everyone is by dying herself. and it feels like an incredibly shoehorned in last-minute decision to get her out of the way as well as having something to point at to say 'see, she has more depth here! would a shallow character do this?' which like, if executed right could have given her more depth. but at this moment in time the only reason we're sad about jean dying is because logan and scott are sad. not because we lost a particularly fleshed out character.

even at the end of x2 where charles gives this speech and declares she made a choice to save everyone at her own expense in the attempt to add some posthumous value to her character in the series, 'her choice' is immediately co-opted by logan to centre around the two male love interests again. i don't understand this insistence that jean grey can not exist as a character without having her tied back to logan and scott in every aspect again and again and again.

x-men the last stand (2006) is the worst of the trio for her character. boiling her down to this character who kills scott, tries to manipulate logan with sex, has a dark alter ego, and kills the man who raised her feels like a blatant attempt to just entirely ruin her character to make people who might have even liked her a bit just hate her. which sounds cartoonishly evil but is genuinely the impression i got sometimes. she swung from this character who existed only as a love-interest to this seductress-type character where she tries to satiate lust or something like that through logan after killing her long time lover. and she needs to be 'put out of her misery', cycling between this evil sexual version of herself and this innocent sad person that's appealing to logan to fix everything for her.

x2 ended with her dying for everyone. the last stand has her asking logan why he would die for everyone, directly contradicting her final statement in the last movie. it's like jean doesn't even mean anything to the writers anymore. she's a love interest. she's a sacrificial lamb. she's an evil seductress with no remorse. she's only evil because of an alter ego and otherwise she's still pure and innocent. like what the fuck is going on.

she dies begging to be saved. she gets put down like a dog after logan says he loves her. and that's all we get. just ridiculous. the original trilogy treats her character like absolute garbage.

at least in the days of future past-verse she's allowed to be a character. she's snarky and has a developed camaraderie with someone other than her love interest. her powers are displayed more before immediately spiralling into her being destructive and we get an emotional connection with her built up. she feels like an actual character. dark phoenix was still awful but we at least get a more complex version of this arc which is something she takes control of.

by the time we get to dark phoenix and jean sacrifices herself again it feels much more earned. she has quite literally no other choice but to stop herself and she isn't left to herself to spiral out of control. she doesn't need someone to come in and kill her to put her out of her misery because she is a character who is repressed and angry with good reason and has people who love her more than just romantically. she has a connection with these people, a reason to save them and to give herself up rather than having to ask someone to do it for her.

like, whatever man. it's five in the morning and i was thinking about this and just got so frustrated. the original trilogy was so deeply committed to making her the shallowest character they could manage. maybe in a misguided attempt for her to act as an audience stand in with logan and/or scott? i don't know. i wish we got to know the intelligent woman we got introduced to in the beginning of the first x-men movie instead of whatever plot device she became.

[deadpresidents]

do you think the democratic nominee will end up being kamala for sure and if it is who do you think will be her vp and who would you choose if it was up to you?

I received about 90 (that's not an exaggeration) different versions of these questions yesterday, but like I said, I wanted to give President Biden's remarkable act of political courage and patriotism some room to breathe and be appreciated in the hours after he stepped aside on Sunday. Now we can get down to business, however.

First of all, I'm pretty confident that Kamala Harris is going to be the Democratic nominee for President. I think the Democratic National Convention is going to be an open convention in that President Biden will release his delegates to support another candidate on the first ballot of the convention, but considering how quickly most leading Democrats coalesced around Kamala on Sunday, I think there's a very good chance that she'll be nominated on the first ballot anyway. Nearly all of the candidates who had been talked about as potential challengers for the nomination against Vice President Harris endorsed her as the Presidential nominee almost immediately. I think most Democrats have felt that the campaign has been chaotic enough in the wake of the debate debacle and ensuing questions about whether or not President Biden would drop out of the race and feel that it's in the best interests of the party to not have a potentially messy battle for the nomination in next few weeks before the convention in Chicago. I was actually (pleasantly) surprised in how quickly the leading Democrats across the ideological spectrum of the party unified behind Kamala in just a matter of hours. Most of the people mentioned as potential candidates in an open convention didn't even seem to dip their toes in the water after President Biden dropped out of the race, and I think that type of unity is a very strong signal that the party is going to be in a good place by the time the convention kicks off in Chicago in a little less than a month.

As for running mates for Kamala Harris, I still think her best bet would probably be a moderate/centrist Governor from either a battleground state or a red state where that Governor has demonstrated an ability to win statewide elections in a place that Democrats don't usually win and haven't carried in recent Presidential elections. Here is what my shortlist would be for Vice Presidential nominees alongside Kamala Harris: •Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania: This has been the name mentioned by nearly everybody in the past few days, and it makes a lot of sense. Shapiro is a popular Governor in a tremendously important battleground state. He's only been Governor for less than two years, but he's one of the fastest rising stars in the Democratic Party. •Governor Andy Beshear of Kentucky: One of the most popular Governors in the nation, and a two-term Governor (he also won a statewide race as Attorney General) in an otherwise solid red state (Bill Clinton is the only Democrat who has carried Kentucky since 1980) with a Republican supermajority in their state legislature. •Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg: Another one of the Democratic Party's young rising stars. Like Beshear, Buttigieg would help symbolize the long-awaited generational shift in Democratic leadership. A Harris-Buttigieg ticket would excite the progressive base of the party and energize voters in a way that North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper or Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker could not. •Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona: Kelly checks pretty much all of the boxes for a running mate that balances the ticket. He's a moderate Democrat from a battleground state who could appeal to voters in the center. He's not only a military veteran with significant combat experience, but he was an astronaut. He knows the dangers of the current climate of political extremism because he's married to former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords who was nearly killed in an assassination attempt. I'd just be very hesitant in risking losing a safe Senate seat in a state where it's very difficult for Democrats to win, especially when the margin for majority control of the Senate is razor-thin.

But if I was personally asked to choose Kamala Harris's running mate, who would I pick?

•Admiral William H. McRaven: Anybody who has been following me for a while knows that I've spent over 10 years suggesting and promoting my belief that retired Admiral William McRaven is the type of candidate for President or Vice President who could truly reach voters from both sides of the aisle and possibly change the current trajectory of American politics by being an Eisenhower-like figure. McRaven is well-respected by political leaders across the ideological spectrum, and has a resume that no politician can deny being impressed by (except, of course, for Donald Trump). A former Navy SEAL with 40+ years of combat experience and the longtime Special Operations commander, McRaven just happened to plan and implement the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. McRaven also oversaw the capture of Saddam Hussein, the mission that killed Saddam's vicious sons Uday and Qusay, the rescue of Captain Richard Phillips from Somali pirates, and scores of other missions that we'll probably never hear about. McRaven literally wrote the book on Special Operations warfare. I think McRaven would open the door to voters that might otherwise stay home in November and, in my opinion, a Harris-McRaven ticket would be borderline impossible for Trump-Vance to defeat.

[verycoolpersonyes]

we’re so cooked 😭🙏💔

[nerds-yearbook]

The Dark Phoenix was introduced in The Uncanny X-Men 134# as Jean Grey was made the Black Queen by the Hellfire Club. It had a cover date of June, 1980. She was created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne. ("Too Late, the Heroes!", The Uncanny X-Men 134#, Marvel Comic Event)

[scottxlogan]

[ariel-seagull-wings]

@a-roguish-gambit @knivxsanddespair

Robert Kelly: I've a girl back home who's unlike any other.

Morph: Yet the only girl who'd love him is his mother...

[sneakymystique]

Did you know Senator Kelly had a mutant daughter in the X-Men movies? She showed up in the promotional film The Mutant Watch and started stretching uncontrollably after Kelly had given an anti-mutant speech.

I'm going to explore her story in my upcoming fanfic A Life in the Day looking at how Mystique put Kelly's family back together while fighting anti-mutant initiatives in Washington.

[funnypages]

So in the X-Men ‘92 series, Robert Kelly, the President of the United States, wears a cape. This is never commented on. We have to bring this trend into real life. We must have presidents wearing capes!

[lehoodcollector]

Preview of X-Men 97 EP. 09!

[doctorslippery]

(via X-men Rogues Gallery 11x17 Fine Art Print - Etsy)

Really only two who I can’t identify, and one of them, I’ve seen before. I’m going to look it up, but that would be cheating, so I’m not including that post-post lookup. The woman next to Pyro, over Sabertooth’s shoulder in the purple mask, I know I’ve seen her before and i should remember her name, but I don’t. The other is the woman standing between Sebastian Shaw and Donald Pierce, who I just realized is Selene. So there’s only one I can’t identify. ... ... ...I know way too much about the X-Men considering that it wasn’t ever really my favorite comic book. Was always more an Avengers and JLA comic reader...even FF before X.

I take it back. There is another character I can’t identify. Over Stryker’s shoulder, the woman in the hood with the headband and the hoop earrings. 

So, I spoke too soon. There are still two people I can’t ID in this group shot. Helluva nice one. If you like it go to Etsy and buy yourself a copy. 

[x-mencomics]

The Uncanny X-Men #181 - Tokyo Story

After the events of "Secret Wars."

Tokyo

The X-Men are teleported back to earth along with a giant dragon! They're in Japan. Again. It's been a week since they were transported off earth by the Beyonder.

The Professor tells Rogue to fly straight back to the mansion and check on Kitty. Rogue says Storm is in charge and asks if that's what she wants. Storm agrees with the Professor. The rest of the team must ensure the dragon they're partially at fault for releasing does no harm in Japan. Rogue takes off. Wolverine thinks to himself that the Professor shouldn't be overstepping Storm's leadership. The Professor thinks to himself that he shouldn't be trying to lead, but after being on the sidelines for so long, he can't help himself.

In the Japanese government's war room, the military responds to the dragon sighting with planes and tanks. The military reports that the X-Men are in pursuit of the dragon as well. Mariko is in this war room with her cousin, who ranks highly in the Japanese military and is also a member of clan Yashida (see issue #172 for more info). Mariko thinks that Wolverine must be with the X-Men.

Meanwhile, the dragon is destroying buildings all over Tokyo. The X-Men attempt to save civilians: Colossus punches huge chunks of falling buildings, while Storm blows them away with wind. Nightcrawler teleports people to safety. Storm asks the Professor to try to create a psi-link with the dragon and calm it down, and he tries, but it backfires. The dragon believes the Professor is trying to attack, and throws the top of a building down. Sunfire, a former X-Man WAYYY back in issues #94 and 118, appears and tries to help stop the dragon with his nuclear plasma bolt powers. Then the military shows up and starts launching missiles at the dragon. It's intense in Tokyo!

Tahiti

Scott appears out of nowhere and returns to Tahiti where Madelyne is extremely confused but also extremely happy that Scott is back (the Beyonder teleported Scott off earth to fight with the X-Men in the Secret Wars). After the initial shock wears off Madelyne is very upset that Scott disappeared for a week. He apologizes profusely and they make up.

Tokyo

Intense doesn't even describe the chaos on the streets and in the skies of Tokyo. Buildings are collapsing, tanks are flying around in the wind produced by the dragon's flapping wings.

The Professor is buried in rubble and he can't feel his legs. He's terrified that he's lost the ability to walk so soon. Colossus helps the Professor, while Wolverine rescues a mother and daughter. The mother dies and Wolverine vows to raise the daughter, Amiko, as his own child.

Storm falls from the sky in the wind, and Sunfire attempts to catch her but the dragon crashes into them and they hit the ground. The dragon prepares to attack them, but...

Lockheed appears and blows fire onto the dragon. It simply stops it's attack and flies away. Lockheed chases after it. Suddenly, in the Japanese war room, there are two blips on the screen (Lockheed and the giant dragon), then there's a massive discharge of energy that registers on the screen and then both dragons are gone.

In the aftermath, Wolverine says he will track down Amiko's real family, or raise her himself as he promised. Mariko watches the X-Men on TV and wonders if Wolverine still loves her. She is also shocked to see Xavier walking. Lockheed rejoins the team and Colossus asks the Professor to read his mind to learn what happened to the giant dragon, but the Professor says Lockheed's mind is truly alien, and perhaps only Kitty can understand him.

Washington, D.C.

Senator Kelly argues with the President about the danger of mutants. Kelly says he knows of a half-dozen mutants with power sufficient to ravage the world. The President argues that what Kelly is proposing will only make things worse, that it isn't far removed from legalized slavery, and he vows to do everything possible to stop him. Kelly says the President is making a mistake and slams a bill down on the President's desk.

[originalleftist]

This is key.

We don't need to get 60 Senate seats (pretty much impossible, at least this go around) to get legislation past the filibuster.

We just need to get 50 for filibuster reform.

[mamacurio]

A few more of Kelly from X-men

[dadsinsuits]

Mark Kelly

[snakesanderson]

the highs and lows of sens hockey

[still-searching-for-something]

Rewatching the X-Men films and hearing Erik Lehnsherr talking about how mutants need to fight back and the humans can’t be trusted not to oppress and genocide mutantkind got me like