This thread's for all of the X-Men comics and spin-offs (X-Force, X-Factor, New Mutants etc.), whether they're decades old or brand new.
- Apart from the main Marvel Universe titles, Ultimate X-Men, X-Men 2099, X-Men "What If?" stories, crossovers, guest appearances in other books, Alternate Universe tales and things like Marvel's manga adaptations are all on-topic here.
- X-Men 'family' books are on-topic (as are their own crossovers, guest appearances etc.) - e.g. Wolverine, Deadpool, Ms. Marvel and Cable.
- Characters and comics that originated in X-Men and its related books but are no longer connected to the franchise are not on-topic, unless you're discussing historical connections and crossovers. If in doubt, check before you write a long post. If this isn't the right place, there's a more general Marvel Comics thread
which covers them.
Technically, Marvel's Infinity Comics (and their predecessors, Infinite Comics) are webcomics, not comic books, but it's fine to talk about their X-Men related stories here.
Discussions that are only about X-Men adaptations in other media (films, video games etc.) are off-topic, but discussing the differences between the adaptations and the original comics is fine - as long as spoilers for the adaptations are tagged.
Please follow the spoiler policy rules
- tag spoilers for the latest issues, for any previews or content leaks, and for off-topic comics. When including spoiler tags, try to write so that tropers can make an informed decision before viewing them (e.g. which series and issue will they spoil?).
I have to say that the X Men franchise has been going on for decades. Maybe not as many as the Superman franchise has, but it still has quite a number to it.
One thing I am certain of is that the franchise seems to be subverting Status Quo Is God in recent years. Magneto and Professor Xavier seem to be fading into the background, with Cyclops and Wolverine taking their places. A lot of villains associated to the X-Men have been killed off and have actually stayed dead so far.
All this gives me the general impression that the franchise is trying to reinvent itself. Do you think that's what's going on here?
Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 29th 2023 at 10:02:23 AM
X-Men: The Last Stand, for all its many flaws, kinda handled this aspect well by having Rogue choose to get the cure. Like, yeah, Rogue’s powers are a huge pain, and she should be able to ditch them if she wants. Colossus and Storm can live normal lives with their powers, while other mutants can’t, so the mutant cure could be a blessing to some.
I feel like the mutants-as-minorities metaphor works on a really general level where anyone who’s ever been different from the norm or oppressed can see a bit of themselves in the mutants’ struggle. It sorta falls apart the more specific you get. Like, using mutants as stand-ins for racial minorities and LGBT people works in the sense that it creates pathos because we feel bad seeing them mistreated. But then you can’t ignore that, well, mutants are dangerous. They can kill you by looking at you. Lots of mutants cause destruction or death when their powers unexpectedly manifest for the first time (Rogue, Cyclops in some adaptations). Then the minority angle gets skewed because now the real issue is superpowers-as-gun-control. The best summary of this is the scene in Ultimate Spider-Man where Peter gets angry at Kong for saying someone “should keep an eye out” for the mutants, and tells Kong that the Nazis said the same thing about Jewish people. To which Kong responds, “Yeah, but the Jews didn’t have big red laser beams comin’ outta their eyes.” Which is stupid and doesn’t justify genocide, but jeez, big red eye beams are scary, put those away.
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Rosenberg actually pointing out the Eternal Recurrence seem... douchey to anyone else? I feel like he's going "I'm well aware that this plot is dull and depressing and has been done a million times, but At Least I Admit It which makes me so much smarter than anyone else that's done it!"
The Gifted was onto something earlier this season when they had this scientist develop this device to help mutants control their powers and she likened it akin to an insulin pump. I thought that was a great answer to the problem of mutants with uncontrollable powers but then it went like every other X-Men plot.
Leader of the Holey Brotherhood
Did she herself make it go that way, or did someone use her tech to make it go that way?
One Strip! One Strip!
It turns out she was a Purifier and wanted to replicate the tech to completely rid the world of mutants.
I haven't seen a single episode of that show. Hearing stuff like this makes me feel I've made the right decision.
Of course. Because nobody really wants to help mutants do they?
And the humans who don’t actively try to exterminate mutants generally turn a blind eye. The X-Men would work better within the Marvel Universe if not every X-Men story was an existential threat to mutantkind.
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The Gifted is actually decent and digs into the metaphor a bit better than the comics in terms of exploring privilege and discrimination but that particular storyline I disliked because it would’ve been a good way to sidestep the “what if a mutant’s power is harmful to them” issue by offering a better solution than wiping out the entire race.
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I’m honestly shocked Cap showed up in Uncanny though he should’ve done more than just crowd control. Like he and the Avengers should have a most vested interest in protecting mutants instead of just leaving it to the X-Men.
Edited by MegaJ on Feb 8th 2019 at 12:01:01 PM
Professional Complainer
If I had my way then we'd never have a story about Mutant powers as a curse. The only problem with being a mutant should be that people are dicks about it.
Surrounded by weirdoes
Wonder how the MU people take My Hero Academia.
Wake me up at your own risk.
Yeah, considering how many mutants have been Avengers — Beast, Justice, Firestar, Cannonball, Sunspot, Wolverine, Storm for five minutes, yes-I’m-still-counting-Pietro-and-Wanda — you’d think the Avengers would have a more vested and personal interest in preventing mutant genocide.
Edited by RedM on Feb 8th 2019 at 1:06:41 PM
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The Head of the Hydra
I think a combination of longing & jealousy.
The franchises are too disconnected really.
Professional Complainer
If only there were a book specifically dedicated to the idea of unifying the Avengers and X-men.
Takat Empress
How sad is it Last Stand of all things has a better cure story than this new one. Also, the freaking cheek of the writers to admit this is old hat but does this anything makes it worse.
Mileena Madness
Yeah, "Every X-Men story is the same" pissed me off a lot. It's trying to be oh-so-clever, but it's really just an admission of the franchise's inability to move beyond, like, two stories. It's all either mutant genocide, or the Phoenix.
Tell different stories! Instead of "things are WORSE THAN EVER for mutants and they're all going to die and this is the last generation of mutants!!!!" they could just . . . not do that. They can have the situation for mutants be complicated, progress has been made but there are still problems, more mutants feel comfortable existing in public but a lot are still afraid, but hey there's a mutant character on a popular sitcom and major cities have annual mutant pride rallies, and Dazzler's new tour is going well.
But nah, kill another couple 2000s teen mutants to show how bad things are for mutants and how things never get better and The Dream is a delusion because the entirety of the human race are assholes who think every single mutant should be horrifically murdered.
That's definitely more interesting than some fucking nuance.
X-Men X-Pert, my blog where I talk about X-Men comics.
Leader of the Holey Brotherhood
![[tup]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Thumbs_up_emoticon_3268.png "[thumb up]"){kind=small}
Knowing Marvel civilians, said mutant sitcom actor would probably be lynched on-camera by an angry mob, and it would be the show's highest-rated episode.
This whole discussion is reminding me of how much I loved the Whedon/Cassaday run on Astonishing X-Men. I guess they had the cure going on for like six issues, but after that it was pretty fresh. No mutant genocide, no Phoenix, just fun character beats, great art, and SPACE TRAVEL.
Edited by RedM on Feb 8th 2019 at 8:28:05 AM
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The X-Men should be one of the franchises that should break the status quo.
Brenner's Wolves Fight Again
x3 Sounds like real life.
and Isn't that how they ended The Facts of Life?
Edited by Tiamatty on Feb 8th 2019 at 2:24:42 PM
X-Men X-Pert, my blog where I talk about X-Men comics.
Man should Morrison have gotten the 17 years he originally wanted.
Professional Complainer
I still haven't read it. Why do you say that?
That's the problem with the obsession with serial escalation in comics, where every next antagonist has to be the MOST POWERFUL MUTANT OF THEM ALL. So what started out as a clever way to give people powers without dragging them through a prolonged origin story ended up becoming a never ending series of alternating battles between genocidal Christian fundamentalists and Omega level Mutants.