- Adorkable:
- A teenaged Cyclops with none of the jerkassery associated with his older self. If he didn't already qualify for this, his hugs certainly make him do.
- X-23, of all people, has a moment when she gets into a fight while on a date with Warren, and gives a particularly adorable sheepish grin
◊ when he reminds her against using her claws. Seeing her acting like a typical teenage girl curious what a boy likes about her also qualifies.
- Alternate Character Interpretation: Teen Jean Grey is a jerkass brat who abuses her newly-acquired telepathic powers or merely a flawed teenager reacting to an awful situation in believable ways?
- Ass Pull:
- So everyone from the Future Brotherhood except for Raze is now suddenly innocent and just mind-controlled by Kid-Xavier? Even Xorna-Jean? Eh. Hell, in the last issue of the Battle of the Atom crossover, we clearly see that Xavier was trying to calm Xornita down when she went psycho. It's later called into question on what Xorn really is, but needless to say, this is not the cleanest of retcons.
- The fight between the the X-Men (O5, Kitty and Wolverine) and Mystique's new Brotherhood (Mystique, Sabretooth and Mastermind) and Hydra (Madame Hydra and Silver Samurai). While it's possible that they could've beaten the Brotherhood, how easily the X-Men won is really stretching it. For one, Creed seems to have lost all his competence, not even landing a single blow. Similarly, Madame Hydra becomes a joke, unable to do anything of notice and being completely reliant on guns, when she is actually pretty damn badass. And Mystique does nothing the entire fight, and even gets kicked in the face by a flustered Jean who she had the jump on. And none of them has any mental defenses at all, apparently.
- Iceman's gay reveal comes off as an asspull to many readers.
- X-23 and Angel entering a relationship has no build up and comes out nowhere for some fans.
- Awesome Art: No matter what people think of the story, the art is praised. Bendis being who he is, he's got some really good artists to draw this stuff. Stuart Immonen's art was great, and made the original X-Men costumes look really good. And Sara Pichelli's artwork is beautiful as always.
- Base-Breaking Character:
- Jean Grey. While most people find her interesting to read, how much they actually like her varies, due to her abusive use of her powers.
- Beast's new mutation. The base is split between those who liked/grown attached to his cat form, and those who hate the fact that he now looks like Bigfoot, and there's already a genius one in Marvel Continuity. Not helping is the rumors that Bendis changed it because he was the only one on staff who didn't like Cat Beast.
- Broken Base:
- The cover of #20, and just the general suggestion that Teen!Cyke and X-23 might get together is highly divisive. Some fans think it's just another unnecessary wedge between Scott and Jean. Some think Scott has the right to play the field considering Jean rejected him and has been doing the same with Teen!Hank. Many X-23 fans don't think the pairing suits Laura at all. And still others are just getting a tremendous kick out of the subtext of Cyclops being attracted to the Opposite-Sex Clone of Wolverine.
- The cover of #30 with X-23 and Warren kissing in mid-air isn't exactly doing so hot either. Now that they're become an actual couple, people are generally more clear on their dislike of the relationship, since the two barely interacted at all before.
- For that matter, Bendis's handling of Laura in general has proven quite divisive. Her voicenote , the ship teasing with Teen!Scott and Teen!Warren (especially by Helix fans), and even the purpose her simple presence serves (to the point characters lampshade not realizing she's even there) have all been a matter of heated debate. Some fans of the character agree that Bendis's characterization has steadily improved the longer he's written her, though others still want to see her out of the book just so a writer who can better handle her personality can work with her instead. Still others accept the implied attraction between her and Tyke because of their similar backgrounds and histories of abuse, while vehemently opposing the shift to Warren later on.
- Miles Morales appearing in the series, and the team venturing into the Ultimate Universe. While the crossovers with the Ultimate Universe are now a frequent enough thing that people have somewhat accepted them, Bendis using a character that he writes that has little to no connection to the X-Men has divided readers again. Some are interested in how the O5 will react to a world where mutants saved the world, while others feel this is just another case of Bendis writing whatever he wants with characters he just likes (in this case, an entire universe he helped create). Then there are those who just don't care about the Ultimate Universe at all and would rather not be exposed to it.
- Teen Bobby being told he's gay, and not bisexual, by Teen Jean opens a massive can of worms:
- Some fans are happy that such a longstanding and powerful member of the X-Men is no longer straight, while other fans are less than impressed with the "revelation" of Teen Bobby secretly being homosexual. Still others are saying, I Knew It!.
- There's also quite a bit of debate on if its a well-handled coming out or not. Some like the idea of Bobby being gay but dislike how Bendis wrote the scene as it ticks a number of clichés that some find uncomfortable or offensive, while others feel the scene was blunt but realistic.
- Beyond that is the issue of how this was revealed to Bobby, with some fans feeling that Teen Jean's actions in reading his mind without consent to find out were reprehensible and robbed Teen Bobby of the chance to discover it on his own while other fans don't mind the method because at this point they are well aware of how liberal Teen Jean is about her mind reading and treat it as an established character flaw of hers (especially since she can't quite control it), and that it appears that his sexuality was causing him quite a bit of turmoil and, looking at his adult self, he's not going to deal with it for some time, making Jean's intrusiveness more well-meaning.
- Finally, fans are split on the matter of whether or not this means the present day Bobby is secretly gay, as all of the Teen O5 are supposed to be from Universe 616 in the past. If this reveal means Adult Bobby is gay, then it's either the usual issue of Bendis not respecting continuity or it makes sense that Adult Bobby would never reveal his homosexuality in The '60s era. If Adult Bobby isn't gay, then the past O5 aren't the same people as the future O5 after all and there goes a perfectly good attempt at adding more diversity to an established cast, or it's great news because not every fan likes the past O5 and any proof that the two aren't connected to the same timeline is music to their ears. The issue was addressed in the crossover Uncanny X-Men #600 where the two Bobbies and Jean discuss it. It establishes to about 90 percent certainty that Adult Bobby has always been closeted and simply didn't want to deal with another source of persecution in his life. Later series such as Iceman (Marvel Comics) would fully establish adult Bobby as being gay, while Extermination (2018) would confirm that the teen X-Men are one and the same with their adult versions.
- There's also general concern over Jean's past manipulation of people's minds, with some taking the way the scene is written as implying Jean's statement that Bobby was gay was a command meant to alter his mind.
- Designated Villain: X-23 in her relationship with Angel. The conflict is written in such a way that the reader is supposed to be taking Warren's side, because Laura's increasing recklessness doesn't take into account Warren's feelings and worries for her safety. Then in issue 6, when he finally cuts loose to deal with Blob, the reader is treated to an extended inner monologue of Warren ranting about how he understands Laura better than she thinks and about his own inner darkness he struggles to hold at bay. However it all falls flat because the only way the conflict even works to begin with is that Laura is written out of character, when normally she wouldn't be so reckless. X-23 fans are also quick to point out Warren's privileged upbringing, having grown up wealthy with a good family, while Laura was born in a lab and endured constant torture and physical and emotional abuse, to say nothing of the Trauma Conga Line to follow. To most readers it just makes Warren look like a whiny hypocrite, and his efforts to force Laura to change — especially by outright breaking up with her after having her skull crushed by Blob — border on downright abusive.
- Fan-Disliked Explanation: Pretty much everything regarding X-23's behavior under Bendis generates this reaction. Especially the things that were never actually addressed in-story, and were hand-waved away with Word of God statements and Bendis being... well... Bendis.
- Fan Nickname:
- Tyke and Tank for teen Cyclops and Beast respectively. The former becomes an Ascended Meme in issue 40 when Magick calls him "Tyke-clops," much to the amusement of Jean and Bobby.
- Baby Xavier for Xavier II.
- Harsher in Hindsight: Beast talking about the necessity of bringing the O5 into the present. This is because, in New Avengers, Beast knowing full well that the world is about to end, visits his younger self and confesses to him about having destroyed two worlds, basically asking if he could've done anything different. Young Beast simply asks, if he knew the world was going to end, why in the hell would he rob Young Beast of the life he could've led? It's a legitimate question.
- Hilarious in Hindsight:
- In an issue, Rachel Summers goes back to the mansion, ignores Storm's attempts to inform her about something, and runs straight into Teen Jean. In her own book's final issue, Teen Jean goes back to headquarters, ignores her teammates' attempts to inform her about something, and runs into Adult Jean.
- Jean confronting Bobby on his sexuality. The first issue of the X-Men, where she is introduced, every single member of the team is excited to meet the new girl except Bobby who is outright dismissive of everyone's excitement.
- With a side order of Squick: X-23 and Scott's mutual (but never acted upon) attraction makes Hellverine's attempt to seduce her in the form of a naked Cyclops during her solo series this.
- Also Laura and Warren hooking up: When she first joined the X-Men way back in Claremont's last run on Uncanny X-Men, Laura could frequently be seen in the background aping Psylocke's mannerisms. And Betsy's most iconic romantic relationship just happens to be the adult Warren. 10 years later and Laura is still imitating Betsy... Lampshaded by Waiting for the Trade◊.
- The revelation that Iceman's Gay made this Family Guy joke even funnier (or funny for the first time).
- Ho Yay: The teenaged Scott has fallen for a genetic clone of Wolverine. The implications there have not gone unnoticed.
- Informed Wrongness:
- Similar to Schism, the X-Men led by Cyclops are constantly being demonized by most of the X-Men led by Wolverine because they... wanted to protect mutants. They didn't want to war with humans, they didn't want to force people to side with them, they didn't even threaten anyone. Literally every thing they're doing that is 'wrong' are things that the X-Men have done for years, with all the people shunning them have done these actions personally in the past. The companion book, Uncanny X-Men doesn't have this issue as it's from Cyclops' perspective.
- In Battle of the Atom #1, after Cyclops's X-Men's Big Damn Heroes moment, they seem to get along well with Kitty and the O5 with the latter appreciating the rescue. Leading more than one fan to suggest that the conflicts between the two teams come from Wolverine and Beast. And, since after the event sees Kitty and the O5 dumping Logan's side and switching to Scott's makes it clear that we're no longer supposed to disagree with Cyclops or his methods, rather the characters in-universe were villainizing him.
- Jerkass Woobie: Yes, 05 Jean is immature and abuses her telepathy. But let's recap: She's a fifteen-year-old child who has gotten a traumatic childhood and has just joined a super-team. Then she's all of sudden transported to an horrible future where mutants are ever-persecuted, the X-Men are divided, her life's love and future two-timing husband has apparently become a lunatic terrorist and murderer and she herself has gone crazy, killed billions and died twice, and her hypotetical children have led awful lifes in real bad futures. Also, her telepathic powers have blossomed before she was mature and well-trained enough to control it, and they reveal -even if she isn't trying to mind-read- that most of people surrounding her are two-faced jerkasses or self-serving liars. Understandable she's developed an attitude issue.
- Romantic Plot Tumor: A frequent criticism of the Laura/Warren relationship. Particularly as most of their interactions in volume consist of Laura being reckless, and Warren admonishing her for being reckless.
- Strangled by the Red String:
- The Kitty Pryde/Star-Lord relationship, at least in how the two get together so quickly. It doesn't help that the foundation of the entire relationship is the joke that Kitty often dates guys named Peter, and the fact Bendis was writing Guardians of the Galaxy at the time. Fortunately, this doesn't actually come up much in this series and is more focused on in The Legendary Star-Lord, where the pairing got actual development and was much better received.
- X-23 and Angel as well. While the buildup between Laura and Scott was handled subtly and rather sweetly, with Scott providing her a comforting shoulder in the aftermath of Arena, (as well as the bonus of Rule 34 trolling for Cyclops and Wolverine), the events of issue 30, with Laura on a wild date possibly ending with them sleeping together received almost no prior build-up at all, with Laura and Warren barely interacting up until then.
- Take That, Scrappy!: Beast, who has been written as a complete and utter self-righteous asshole during the last years, received a whole issue of "The Reason You Suck" Speech from the Watcher.
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: When X-23 arrives on the team, Jean notes that Scott finds her attractive, and over the next few issues they seem to bond to the point that Jean is visibly jealous. However whatever development they had together was subsequently derailed with Scott leaving to go into space with his father. While the cover of issue 20 proved highly divisive, many fans actually found them to be an interesting pairing, both due to the common ground between them,note and the idea of Scott Summers hooking up with the female clone of Wolverine hit several sources of fanservice all at once. Even opponents of the pairing agreed that a scene of Cyclops and Wolverine learning of Scott's younger self and Logan's "daughter" in a relationship was fertile ground for hilarity, and that a relationship between Laura and Teen!Scott would have been far better-established than her subsequent hookup with Warren.
- Also, the pairing itself would have been and interesting (and rather hilarious) flip on the classic "Jean/Wolverine/Cyclops"-love triangle, with Cyclops being at the center, and Wolverine being the "other woman".
- WTH, Costuming Department?: The new uniforms for the O5 X-Men. Though, as mentioned above, this is hardly a unanimous opinion (although it's more unanimously negative for X-23).
- The Woobie:
- Teen Cyclops is turning into this via the guilt by association treatment. It seems that Mystique is trying to turn him into a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds.
- Angel also applies, while Jean's securely a Jerk Ass Woobie.
- When X-23 later joins the cast, she brings her own woobieness along with her, amped up even further by her experiences on Murderworld.
- A fan placed the time of Present!Hank's trip to the past around the point where the X-Men had just escaped an anti-mutant mob attacking them and Past!Hank was about to Rage Quit. Past!Hank then gets lied to by his future counterpart, manipulated to come to the future, learns all the tragedy that happened including the Professor's death, sees that he's become the kind of person willing to destroy billions of lives, gets transported to the Ultimate Universe and gets captured and drugged by Ultimate Doctor Doom to become his truthful slave. All this and during the journey he realizes he's in love with Jean, and she knows it, but she doesn't reciprocate.
- Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Teen Hank comes across as this when he calls Jean out on running off with Scott during Battle of the Atom shortly after kissing him. His complains would sound legitimate had it not been for the fact that Jean was right to want to run away and turned to Scott because Hank would not help her out; and the next scenes showed Hank got over it very quick.
- Wangst: In All-New X-Men vol 2 issue 6, Warren has an extended inner monologue ranting about Laura's recklessness, and that he understands what it is to have a dark side that requires constant struggle to control better than she thinks because of the Vortex. However while Laura's childhood was one of constant literal torture and physical and emotional abuse, losing her only family, and an unknown amount of time spent as a homeless prostitute prior to her finally finding the X-Men, Warren had a privileged upbringing with a wealthy, loving family. Not only that, but he chose to take the Vortex in what was itself a reckless bid to avoid his future, making what's supposed to be a "Not So Different" Remark come across as this. However, he does have the decency to admit that he screwed up when Laura calls him on this in issue 12.
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