Henry10X-Men Forever: The Current Status
February 19th 2009 06:45
As I mentioned last week, Marvel announced at the NY con that Chris Claremont was returning to the X-Men with X-Men Forever, a title in which he's being allowed to rewind things back to 1991 (when he quit the titles) and continue his X-Men story from where he left off. Obviously it's not going to be in regular Marvel continuity, but I have to say that I'm more jazzed about this title than the supposedly 'real' ones. And since I'm so excited about, I thought it would be fun to run through where the X-Men were at the point that this title picks up.
We'll start with the big team: The X-Men. Having just returned from space with Professor X, the X-Men have reformed as a functioning team for the first time in a while. Since their return they've defeated the Shadow King, rebuilt the mansion (which had been lying in ruins for several years) and welcomed the original X-Men back into their ranks. With about thirteen X-Men, there were two rosters: a Blue Team and a Gold Team. The roster of the Blue Team is Cyclops, Beast, Wolverine, Psylocke, Gambit, and Rogue. The Gold Team's roster is Storm, Jean Grey, Iceman, Archangel, and Colossus. In addition, we have a supporting cast in the mansion that's made up of Professor X, Banshee and Forge. And presumably Jubilee is around somewhere as well. The first mission that this team had was against Magneto, who had retreated to Asteroid M with a whole lot of nuclear missiles. During the battle that ensued, Magneto was betrayed by his acolyte Fabian Cortez, and died.
Anyway, that huge line up of characters came about mostly because there were two X-Men books at the time. With just one book to deal with, Claremont seems to be moving back to a single roster pretty quickly. From the promo pieces that have already been released, it seems that the team will be: Professor X, Storm, Cyclops, Rogue, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde, Beast, Jean Grey, Gambit and Sabretooth, with a government liaison in Nick Fury. It's a strange line-up given the status quo at the time, but I'm going to try and come up with some theories as to why it might come about as I run through the characters and the issues they'd been dealing with.
Professor X: Charles has been out in space for a good 5 years worth of comics, so he doesn't have a lot of ongoing plots at this moment. The main change that he's just undergone is that his legs were recently broken again by the Shadow King (he had previously been able to walk for a number of years). So he has being back in a wheelchair to deal with, and I suppose the death of Magneto would shake him up as well. Not to mention that he's in charge of the X-Men for the first time in ages.
Cyclops: Cyclops just came of a long stint in X-Factor, and recently sent his son into the future to save him. In regular continuity we know that the kid returns as Cable, but here that whole story could be different. It's also interesting to note that X-Factor (as in the original X-Men) were big celebrities. That was forgotten when they rejoined the X-Men, but I'd love it if Claremont remembered that. It should also be noted that Cyclops and Storm are on the same team, and they've traditionally butted heads over leadership before. That could be an ongoing concern…
Beast: Not a cat! Yes, it's going to be good old ape-Beast, my favourite iteration of the character for certain. Other than that, he's just had an ambiguous break-up with Trish Tilby. He may also be stronger than usual, as during X-Factor he had been powered up a lot. That's another thing that was quietly forgotten, but there's no reason for Claremont not to go with it.
Archangel: He still has blue skin and metallic wings, and is still struggling with his darker side. There's also a relationship with cop Charlotte Jones that he's involved in. But he's not in the core cast, so perhaps his control issues lead to him leaving the team for some self-exploration?
Iceman: Iceman didn't have much going on, besides a relationship with Opal Tanaka. Claremont has a habit of ignoring Iceman, and unsurprisingly he's not in the core cast. Maybe he decides to get serious with Opal?
Jean Grey: Marvel Girl or Phoenix, whatever you want to call her. She's in the team, looking very Phoenix-like in the promo art. And there had been a few hints about her growing power at the time, particularly when she regained her telepathy. I expect Claremont to delve into the Phoenix stuff. It'll be a lot less confusing with just one writer. Oh, and she's alive, which is more than can be said for regular continuity.
Wolverine: Wolvie's not in the team, but given the stuff he'd been going through that's not surprising. His healing factor had been failing, and he was becoming a shadow of his former self. Then there had been an attempt at brainwashing by the Hand which had failed, but left him seeing images of Carol Danvers and Nick Fury everywhere. And then in his own book he'd just found out that most of his memories were false… You can see why he might want to take a holiday. I could see Logan being used as a character who is off having his own adventures, and popping in occasionally to help out.
And then there's Claremont's original plan for the character, which was to have Logan re-brainwashed as a Hand assassin and become a major villain for two years. If he goes ahead with that we have a pretty neat explanation of why he wouldn't be on the team.
Oh, and his healing factor will be at a manageable level. If this guy gets incinerated, he's going to stay incinerated.
Sabretooth: Which leads me to Sabretooth, who's an interesting addition. To this point he'd been little more than a psychotic killer, and certainly not the sort of guy the X-Men would want on the team. But he can be controlled with 'The Glow', a thing telepaths can do that stops his killing urges. And perhaps if Wolverine's a villain, the X-Men feel that they need Sabretooth to combat him?
Claremont's original plan was for Sabretooth to be Wolverine's father, which could still be valid here.
Colossus: Before rejoining the X-Men recently, Colossus had been an amnesiac living in Soho as a painter, and involved in a relationship with Callisto. He's not in the team, so I figure that's the life he'll return to.
Nightcrawler: He's been a member of Excalibur for a long time, formed when the X-Men were presumed dead. But now that they're back, there's no reason for him not to rejoin. Alas, my Excalibur knowledge is patchy, so I don't really know what's going on with Kurt at this time. But he's never been a priest, and his father isn't some devil-mutant guy. It's more likely that Claremont will go with his original idea of Mystique and Destiny as Kurt's parents, especially since Marvel are much more open to the whole gay angle these days. It'll just be good old classic swashbuckling Nightcrawler, which is always awesome.
Kitty Pryde: Along with Nightcrawler she's been in Excalibur, and will probably return for the same reasons he does. Claremont's had lots of ideas for her since his return, and I expect him to run with them. Is she the next Saturnyne? Is her natural state still to be intangible?
Storm: Storm has been leading the team for umpteen years by this point, and is in a relationship with Forge. Other then that there's not a lot that springs to mind, but it's Claremont, you know he'll find a way to put Storm front and centre.
Rogue: The most significant thing that Rogue might be dealing with here is that she recently got rid of the Carol Danvers persona in her head, so it's possible that she'll be quite different than usual. Also, she's not necessarily going to fall in love with Gambit, and that's a big plus.
Gambit: Speaking of Gambit, this guy is a total mystery now. He's only been around for about 12 issues, and nothing is known about him. Claremont's plan was for him to be an agent for Mr. Sinister, which is a possible direction. But I'd take a good bet that he'll end up vastly different from how he is in regular continuity.
Psylocke: She was just turned Asian recently, and brainwashed by the Hand. There had been some rumbling about whether she could still be trusted, so maybe she'll end up as a Hand assassin. Or maybe she's off having adventures with Wolverine.
Jubilee: Jubilee had been Wolverine's sidekick for a while, and I expect her to remain so if he's not a villain. That would be neat, if Wolvie, Psylocke and Jubilee are all off have side-adventures together. Oh, and whenever Claremont wrote Jubilee she was undetectable to most kinds of sensors. I expect him to pick that back up.
Banshee: Had no plots ongoing, and will probably leave with Moira to help her through her recent trauma with Magneto.
Forge: He's in a relationship with Storm, but Destiny had prophesied that he'd eventually end up with Mystique. Otherwise, he didn't have much going on either, and his story was really finished when the Adversary was dealt with. Still, Claremont's the only person who knows how to write the guy well…
X-Factor: Currently that team works for the government under Val Cooper, and consists of Havok, Polaris, Multiple Man, Wolfsbane, Quicksilver and Strong Guy/Guido. This is something else that Claremont could change at a whim, but these are traditionally characters that Claremont has had at the sidelines.
X-Force: The former New Mutants, now led by Cable. There are a lot of characters here that I expect Claremont to grab eventually, particularly Cannonball and Sunspot. Cable's another interesting character now, because at this point there was very little established about him. We knew he was from the future, and that he looked exactly like Stryfe, and that he was a cybernetic mercenary. The rest is up for grabs.
And now, some villains! It must be kept in mind that Claremont has outright said that he won't be using the traditional villains, except for the Sentinels. That's a bad move for this book, I think – surely the fanbase for this book wants to see the old villains as done by Claremont? It's a nostalgia piece, really, and can't benefit from trying not to be one. But anyway, it's not likely any of these guys will appear in major roles. I'll cover them nonetheless.
Magneto: Just died, and according to Claremont he will stay that way. In fact, he's declared that anyone who is dead in this title won't ever come back, which is pretty awesome.
The Shadow King: He was just defeated, but Claremont's original plans called for him to around for a while longer. It's also obvious from his later work that he has more ideas for the character, so I'd expect him to show up again.
The Hellfire Club: The X-Men have been allied with them, so I don't expect them to be major villains. But Emma Frost will probably remain unredeemed, and the Hellions won't be dead.
Sinister: Will Claremont revert this guy to his original conception of a hundred-year-old guy trapped in the body of a ten-year-old? I hope so. He also had a cool story idea that involved Sinister taking over the school, and I hope he uses it here.
Apocalypse: This guy was never really a Claremont villain, and he was just seemingly killed on the moon. Not likely to appear, I think.
The Reavers: Now these guys need to be addressed pretty soon. They're still active, and when last seen had driven the X-Men through the Siege Perilous, crucified Wolverine, and assaulted Muir Island. An arc dealing with these guys should be on the cards pretty early.
Well, that's all the speculation that I have in me. Needless to say, Claremont has a lot of things to build on, and now he has the freedom to do it without interference from editorial and other writers. I'm jazzed to see what new directions he's going to take things, but I also hope he doesn't forget the old stuff – the appeal of this title for me is in seeing how he would have wrapped up all of these plots and loose ends. I'll have to wait until May to find out!
We'll start with the big team: The X-Men. Having just returned from space with Professor X, the X-Men have reformed as a functioning team for the first time in a while. Since their return they've defeated the Shadow King, rebuilt the mansion (which had been lying in ruins for several years) and welcomed the original X-Men back into their ranks. With about thirteen X-Men, there were two rosters: a Blue Team and a Gold Team. The roster of the Blue Team is Cyclops, Beast, Wolverine, Psylocke, Gambit, and Rogue. The Gold Team's roster is Storm, Jean Grey, Iceman, Archangel, and Colossus. In addition, we have a supporting cast in the mansion that's made up of Professor X, Banshee and Forge. And presumably Jubilee is around somewhere as well. The first mission that this team had was against Magneto, who had retreated to Asteroid M with a whole lot of nuclear missiles. During the battle that ensued, Magneto was betrayed by his acolyte Fabian Cortez, and died.
Anyway, that huge line up of characters came about mostly because there were two X-Men books at the time. With just one book to deal with, Claremont seems to be moving back to a single roster pretty quickly. From the promo pieces that have already been released, it seems that the team will be: Professor X, Storm, Cyclops, Rogue, Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde, Beast, Jean Grey, Gambit and Sabretooth, with a government liaison in Nick Fury. It's a strange line-up given the status quo at the time, but I'm going to try and come up with some theories as to why it might come about as I run through the characters and the issues they'd been dealing with.
Professor X: Charles has been out in space for a good 5 years worth of comics, so he doesn't have a lot of ongoing plots at this moment. The main change that he's just undergone is that his legs were recently broken again by the Shadow King (he had previously been able to walk for a number of years). So he has being back in a wheelchair to deal with, and I suppose the death of Magneto would shake him up as well. Not to mention that he's in charge of the X-Men for the first time in ages.
Cyclops: Cyclops just came of a long stint in X-Factor, and recently sent his son into the future to save him. In regular continuity we know that the kid returns as Cable, but here that whole story could be different. It's also interesting to note that X-Factor (as in the original X-Men) were big celebrities. That was forgotten when they rejoined the X-Men, but I'd love it if Claremont remembered that. It should also be noted that Cyclops and Storm are on the same team, and they've traditionally butted heads over leadership before. That could be an ongoing concern…
Beast: Not a cat! Yes, it's going to be good old ape-Beast, my favourite iteration of the character for certain. Other than that, he's just had an ambiguous break-up with Trish Tilby. He may also be stronger than usual, as during X-Factor he had been powered up a lot. That's another thing that was quietly forgotten, but there's no reason for Claremont not to go with it.
Archangel: He still has blue skin and metallic wings, and is still struggling with his darker side. There's also a relationship with cop Charlotte Jones that he's involved in. But he's not in the core cast, so perhaps his control issues lead to him leaving the team for some self-exploration?
Iceman: Iceman didn't have much going on, besides a relationship with Opal Tanaka. Claremont has a habit of ignoring Iceman, and unsurprisingly he's not in the core cast. Maybe he decides to get serious with Opal?
Jean Grey: Marvel Girl or Phoenix, whatever you want to call her. She's in the team, looking very Phoenix-like in the promo art. And there had been a few hints about her growing power at the time, particularly when she regained her telepathy. I expect Claremont to delve into the Phoenix stuff. It'll be a lot less confusing with just one writer. Oh, and she's alive, which is more than can be said for regular continuity.
Wolverine: Wolvie's not in the team, but given the stuff he'd been going through that's not surprising. His healing factor had been failing, and he was becoming a shadow of his former self. Then there had been an attempt at brainwashing by the Hand which had failed, but left him seeing images of Carol Danvers and Nick Fury everywhere. And then in his own book he'd just found out that most of his memories were false… You can see why he might want to take a holiday. I could see Logan being used as a character who is off having his own adventures, and popping in occasionally to help out.
And then there's Claremont's original plan for the character, which was to have Logan re-brainwashed as a Hand assassin and become a major villain for two years. If he goes ahead with that we have a pretty neat explanation of why he wouldn't be on the team.
Oh, and his healing factor will be at a manageable level. If this guy gets incinerated, he's going to stay incinerated.
Sabretooth: Which leads me to Sabretooth, who's an interesting addition. To this point he'd been little more than a psychotic killer, and certainly not the sort of guy the X-Men would want on the team. But he can be controlled with 'The Glow', a thing telepaths can do that stops his killing urges. And perhaps if Wolverine's a villain, the X-Men feel that they need Sabretooth to combat him?
Claremont's original plan was for Sabretooth to be Wolverine's father, which could still be valid here.
Colossus: Before rejoining the X-Men recently, Colossus had been an amnesiac living in Soho as a painter, and involved in a relationship with Callisto. He's not in the team, so I figure that's the life he'll return to.
Nightcrawler: He's been a member of Excalibur for a long time, formed when the X-Men were presumed dead. But now that they're back, there's no reason for him not to rejoin. Alas, my Excalibur knowledge is patchy, so I don't really know what's going on with Kurt at this time. But he's never been a priest, and his father isn't some devil-mutant guy. It's more likely that Claremont will go with his original idea of Mystique and Destiny as Kurt's parents, especially since Marvel are much more open to the whole gay angle these days. It'll just be good old classic swashbuckling Nightcrawler, which is always awesome.
Kitty Pryde: Along with Nightcrawler she's been in Excalibur, and will probably return for the same reasons he does. Claremont's had lots of ideas for her since his return, and I expect him to run with them. Is she the next Saturnyne? Is her natural state still to be intangible?
Storm: Storm has been leading the team for umpteen years by this point, and is in a relationship with Forge. Other then that there's not a lot that springs to mind, but it's Claremont, you know he'll find a way to put Storm front and centre.
Rogue: The most significant thing that Rogue might be dealing with here is that she recently got rid of the Carol Danvers persona in her head, so it's possible that she'll be quite different than usual. Also, she's not necessarily going to fall in love with Gambit, and that's a big plus.
Gambit: Speaking of Gambit, this guy is a total mystery now. He's only been around for about 12 issues, and nothing is known about him. Claremont's plan was for him to be an agent for Mr. Sinister, which is a possible direction. But I'd take a good bet that he'll end up vastly different from how he is in regular continuity.
Psylocke: She was just turned Asian recently, and brainwashed by the Hand. There had been some rumbling about whether she could still be trusted, so maybe she'll end up as a Hand assassin. Or maybe she's off having adventures with Wolverine.
Jubilee: Jubilee had been Wolverine's sidekick for a while, and I expect her to remain so if he's not a villain. That would be neat, if Wolvie, Psylocke and Jubilee are all off have side-adventures together. Oh, and whenever Claremont wrote Jubilee she was undetectable to most kinds of sensors. I expect him to pick that back up.
Banshee: Had no plots ongoing, and will probably leave with Moira to help her through her recent trauma with Magneto.
Forge: He's in a relationship with Storm, but Destiny had prophesied that he'd eventually end up with Mystique. Otherwise, he didn't have much going on either, and his story was really finished when the Adversary was dealt with. Still, Claremont's the only person who knows how to write the guy well…
X-Factor: Currently that team works for the government under Val Cooper, and consists of Havok, Polaris, Multiple Man, Wolfsbane, Quicksilver and Strong Guy/Guido. This is something else that Claremont could change at a whim, but these are traditionally characters that Claremont has had at the sidelines.
X-Force: The former New Mutants, now led by Cable. There are a lot of characters here that I expect Claremont to grab eventually, particularly Cannonball and Sunspot. Cable's another interesting character now, because at this point there was very little established about him. We knew he was from the future, and that he looked exactly like Stryfe, and that he was a cybernetic mercenary. The rest is up for grabs.
And now, some villains! It must be kept in mind that Claremont has outright said that he won't be using the traditional villains, except for the Sentinels. That's a bad move for this book, I think – surely the fanbase for this book wants to see the old villains as done by Claremont? It's a nostalgia piece, really, and can't benefit from trying not to be one. But anyway, it's not likely any of these guys will appear in major roles. I'll cover them nonetheless.
Magneto: Just died, and according to Claremont he will stay that way. In fact, he's declared that anyone who is dead in this title won't ever come back, which is pretty awesome.
The Shadow King: He was just defeated, but Claremont's original plans called for him to around for a while longer. It's also obvious from his later work that he has more ideas for the character, so I'd expect him to show up again.
The Hellfire Club: The X-Men have been allied with them, so I don't expect them to be major villains. But Emma Frost will probably remain unredeemed, and the Hellions won't be dead.
Sinister: Will Claremont revert this guy to his original conception of a hundred-year-old guy trapped in the body of a ten-year-old? I hope so. He also had a cool story idea that involved Sinister taking over the school, and I hope he uses it here.
Apocalypse: This guy was never really a Claremont villain, and he was just seemingly killed on the moon. Not likely to appear, I think.
The Reavers: Now these guys need to be addressed pretty soon. They're still active, and when last seen had driven the X-Men through the Siege Perilous, crucified Wolverine, and assaulted Muir Island. An arc dealing with these guys should be on the cards pretty early.
Well, that's all the speculation that I have in me. Needless to say, Claremont has a lot of things to build on, and now he has the freedom to do it without interference from editorial and other writers. I'm jazzed to see what new directions he's going to take things, but I also hope he doesn't forget the old stuff – the appeal of this title for me is in seeing how he would have wrapped up all of these plots and loose ends. I'll have to wait until May to find out!
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