X-Men In General

So, I've had an idea kicking around in my head. People often talk about wanting the X-Men to do something different, while also not losing the metaphor for bigotry aspect. And I thought of something that could be an interesting shakeup:

Do a linewide event where, because of some technobabbly hoo-ha, the dormant X-genes of everyone on Earth become active - suddenly, every human being is now a mutant. There'd be an event miniseries dealing with trying to manage this chaos, along with defeating some big threat that either caused or was caused by this Mass Super-Empowering Event, while the tie-ins explore what various characters would be like as mutants and how they'd handle living in a world where everyone is superpowered.

Naturally, there'd be a Reset Button at the end of the event. Everyone would be provided with a mutant cure that could turn them into baseline humans ... but with the catch that this cure has a psychic component: for it to work, the person has to actively will their mutation to go away. Virtually all X-Men characters would choose to keep being mutants, of course, while much of the population would choose to go back to being baseline humans: some out of anti-mutant sentiment, others because their mutations ended up being uncontrollable or debilitating, and still others because the mutant forms their bodies took just felt viscerally wrong.

So at the end you'd have a ratio of humans to mutants not unlike what you had before (though if there's any characters whose powers you'd like to changeup, that'd be a great opportunity to do it). The difference is that, now, being a mutant would legitimately be a lifestyle choice - "Have you tried not being a mutant?" would be a valid question (as would "Have you given being a mutant a shot?")

This would shift the nature of the mutants vs. those-who-hate-and-fear-them conflict. It would now be about mutants asserting their right to self-determination, their right to choose to be mutants and not have to conform to what society says they should be. Still plenty of rich metaphorical goodness there with a wide range of Applicability, but of a different sort than what the X-Men typically go for.

That's not a bad idea, I would be fine with it.

BUT I don't think bigotry, prejudice, discrimination, Fantastic Racism, I don't think that element is necessary for X-Men. The premise of X-Men was that mutants are hated, but The Fantastic Four are loved? Why? They're super heroes? Well, I Charles Xavier, have a useful superpower! I will use it to find other mutants with such, and we'll be mutant superheroes! Everyone will love mutants!

Obviously that didn't succeed, but what if it did? What would be wrong with that, exactly?

Triggering the X-Gene in a number of Baseline humans was Magneto's plan in the first Fox X-Men film.

But your idea more resembles the plan Apocalypse had in the final season of X-Men: Evolution, since it was on the exact same scale (world-wide).

Both plans had the same issue. That artificially making someone a mutant might not be good for the body. It killed the movie version of Senator Kelly eventually, as his body couldn't take the forced evolution.

In the case of Apocalypse, he knew full damn well this was the case, but being the Evilutionary Biologist he was, he considered the death of a large amount of humanity after being forced to become mutants to be a feature, not a bug.

And of course, he wanted the usual SurvivalOfTheFittest Battle Royale afterwards.

I have to assume that since two separate continuities proposed that making everyone into mutants might kill a lot of people, it's a thing in the main continuity as well.

Edit: About the only thing right about Wolverine in Wolverine And The Xmen was that Logan was a shitty leader (and was fully aware he was, and acknowledged it constantly). Logan thinking he'd be an awful leader has been a character trait of his in the comics....which makes the fact that he did become the head of Xavier's school rather odd, though I have no clue how the comic faired against its animated namesake.

Edited by HandsomeRob on Apr 27th 2024 at 6:56:09 AM

It could absolutely kill a whole lot of people - unless the writers want it to not do that, in which case they can Hand Wave that it won't.

Though, you'd expect that even if the process itself doesn't kill anyone, having everyone suddenly turn into mutants all at once would still cause a bunch of deaths (due to traffic accidents if nothing else), but comics are no stranger to No Endor Holocaust.

The biggest problem w/ that idea is it'll be parroting what queerphobes insist about LGBT people: that it's a lifestyle choice when it never was, never is and never will be (and as a bisexual man I should know that it's not a lifestyle choice and why I take offense to calls for nuance and understanding for bigots who want people like me dead). Not to mention queerphobes have been falsely claiming that turning everyone gay and/or trans has allegedly been our goal and that's where the false accusations of us being labeled as corrupting pedo serial rapists who spread our queerness as an insidious virus came from. Not to mention the idea of a Mutant cure has always had the spectre of conversion camps where they abuse queer people into becoming straight w/c again sees queer people like me as a vile disease to be eradicated.

Wolverine and The X-Men the comic was more like a denser and wackier take on the franchise w/ Iceman as the school accountant bugging Logan on where and how they're going to get funding so they won't get shut down (leading to shenanigans like Wolverine shanghaiing Quire to an alien casino to try to win big) until Krakoa Jr merges w/ the Institute's grounds and starts periodically growing diamonds to solve their money woes, the Danger Room being expanded to the whole campus and hosting "scheduled" surprise attacks to keep students and staff on their toes, Toad as the groundskeeper/janitor/occasional substitute teacher/reserve X-Men member, the school being infested w/ Nightcrawler-themed alcoholic imps called Bamfs who scour the grounds for Logan's alcohol stash, everything involving Doop who's head of security there, etc. Though it also was the building block for the most wholesome ending for X-Men (until Hickman retconned it out of existence w/ his Secret War and replaced it w/ the Moiraverse) w/ Mutants finally becoming accepted, the Jean Grey school itself becoming a school that welcomes all races and species (including aliens and robots), Dazzler becoming the 1st Mutant president, misfits like Eye Boy and Shark Girl growing up to become badasses, Shogo growing up to become a superhero wearing a Sentinel-themed Iron man armor and being part of the future X-Men, and Wolverine finally growing old and living a peaceful life as headmaster.

Edited by KRider on Apr 27th 2024 at 7:25:27 AM

Ooof. has a good point.

I think that it's far too late to separate being a mutant from all the different metaphors it's been tied to (Gay, Lesbian, Trans, etc).

Maybe if this had been done before such things started getting tied to it, it might have worked, but now it's no go.

Almost forgot another hilarious moment in Wolverine and The X-Men where Kitty Pryde experienced a Terrible Interviewees Montage where various superheroes were being interviewed to be a teacher. Highlights include her declining Sasquatch and Puck bec they lack qualifications and the only reason they went was bec Logan recommended them, Deadpool constantly begging Kitty to be hired and she kept saying no, Spider-Man (who possibly was Superior Spider-Man (while still wearing Amazing Spider-Man's costume) at the time based on the timing of the issue's release) applying just to see how funny it looks that Wolverine is trying to run a school, a regular teacher wondering whether the school and other staff are properly accredited or not, refusing to hire Blade despite Deathlock's recommendation to hire him given the number of vampires in the Marvel Universe and Longshot showing up not to apply for the job but to promote his upcoming Mojo films. Other applicants were Fat Cobra, Ghost Rider, Damon Hellstrom, Gorilla Man, Werewolf by Night, Dr Nemesis (recommended by Fantomex) and Firestar (who got rejected bec she expressed a crush on Iceman and Kitty & Bobby were dating at the time).

Edited by KRider on Apr 27th 2024 at 7:28:15 AM

Isn't Sasquatch a scientist? Think he could have taught something related to that.

He is and now that you mentioned it, Sasquatch, Gorilla Man (has experience as a PE coach) and Firestar would've been decent hires. All in all, the whole scene was played for laughs.

The way you said "acting on our nature as queer people" still makes it sound like being queer is a problem that needs to be concealed/not acted upon.

Edited by KRider on Apr 27th 2024 at 7:38:56 AM

And like, Firestar is part of the X-Men now....

Oh right. Wanting to date Iceman.

Real Clever Marvel.

Here's a screenshot of the Jean Grey School's curriculum in case you're wondering how crazy the series was.

Yeah you don’t see a lot of people framing heterosexuality as a “lifestyle choice”.

Feels like you're trying to force it.

Saying this as a sex-repulsed biromantic asexual.

The comic Wat XM was pretty fun.

Its pretty good barring any time Aaron goes on an anti-Cyclops rant through Wolverine.

Blade could be a competent music teacher.

And it should have followed up with Firestar dating Sunfire, since that's who she actually went out with in Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends.

"Sex Ed with Professor Remy Le Beau"

Oh dear.

Wolverine and the X-Men is quite possibly the one and only Jason Aaron comic I like. I have no real idea how he managed to produce such a great X-Men comic... maybe just because he didn't indulge all his worst qualities for once.

This series was also around the time Quire was being written as a chump. You also later get new character Warbird 2 as an art teacher and Swarm jobbing to Krakoa Jr.

It also helps that this is a more comedic and lighthearted series. Jason Aaron's worst excesses probably arose once he saw what he could get away w/ in Avengers.

Edited by KRider on Apr 27th 2024 at 8:18:27 AM

Well there's no fantasy so that probably helps.

Can't go on an anti magic religion rant there.

Also despite the title, Wolverine doesn't overshadow everyone else here compared to the cartoon sharing the same name.

While it's played for laughs, WaTXM pretty much shows Doop as the X-Men's ultimate badass instead.

Edited by KRider on Apr 27th 2024 at 8:29:36 AM

and are both true. As I said, for some reason or another, Aaron didn't or couldn't engage in his usual bullshit and it resulted in his actual writing talents shining through. Kinda like how Garth Ennis and Mark Millar manage to produce great stuff when they aren't indulging their creepy hateboners instead of trying to write a good story. I (an omnist and practicing Unitarian Universalist) could make a "this is your brain on x" crack about the fact that all three of said writers are notoriously staunch atheists, but I'd rather not provoke fights. And besides, I'm sure there are plenty of atheists who hate having people like that as their "representation".

It may have also been helped by being so much Lighter and Softer and Denser and Wackier. Considering it was coming off the tail of M-Day and is jammed right in the middle of the various other Utopia/Schism-era stories which trended towards darkness - such as Uncanny X-Force - and preceded the M-Pox stuff, a book that was less hate and fear and more just laidback slice of life was very easy to appreciate for giving a little relief, no matter who wrote it.

That's because Doop ''is'' the ultimate badass of the X-Men. He's been carrying their asses since his debut.

Edited by immortaleditor on Apr 27th 2024 at 8:33:15 AM

Oddly enough, WaTXM followed up on Remender's Uncanny X-Force the most w/ Evan Genesis and Angel 2.0 moving over here though played for heartwarming and laughs instead of darkness. Though Evan still ends up becoming a supervillain according to the pre-Hickman future.

I think the X-men can move on from prejudice as a plot point when it's no longer a problem in the real world.

Truthfully, I largely hated Wat XM. A big problem, for me, was the Hellfire Brats. I hated their very concept. "They're kids but they're evil and it's funny!" is a concept I just find incredibly shitty, and frankly, I don't think Aaron did a good job selling it. They were just obnoxious and annoying, not in the "I want them to get their comeuppance" way, but in the "I want to never see them again" way.

I also found that several characters were turned into caricatures, forced into high school archetypes. I dislike Aaron's entire take on Quire as "Bad Boy With A Heart Of Gold." That is so far from who Quire actually was in New X-Men that he's basically an entirely different character.

Also, being a comedic series, it relied entirely on whether the humour landed. For me, it very rarely landed. Most of the humour fell flat for me, as did most of the drama. Just about everything about the series fell flat for me.

Also, it had Idie, who was like 14 or 15, put on one of those sexified Hellfire Club outfits from the '80s, and man, that was weird and uncomfortable and I did not like it at all.

Kinda didn't help that it was running while Gillen was writing UXM, which I just found to be a vastly superior book, with sharper humour, better characterization, a more compelling villain in Sinister. Wat XM really suffered in comparison, in my eyes.