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which covers them.
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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
MLM of color
The Hellfire Brats weren’t that all interesting; I will admit they fit in Wolverine and the X-Men better than anyone else since that book was more Saturday Morning Cartoon-ish but they are not serious villains at all.
The Mad Doctor
I liked the Hellfire Brats better in Marvel Monsters even if only one showed up.
The Merry Monarch of Darkness
Oh huh, they did a comic that gave full disclosure on everything Weapon Plus was responsible for. How'd I miss that?
The pig of Hufflepuff pulsed like a large bullfrog. Dumbledore smiled at it, and placed his hand on its head: "You are Hagrid now."
Takat Empress
The Merry Monarch of Darkness
"Things needed to be horrific to make his new status quo light in comparison."
...wat.
The pig of Hufflepuff pulsed like a large bullfrog. Dumbledore smiled at it, and placed his hand on its head: "You are Hagrid now."
Welp...Excalibur spoilers
Apocalypse was playing a long game, seeking to overthrow Morgan Le Fay, and wound up battling the team and injuring Gambit, prompting Rogue to absorb him and his powers/memories
Leader of the Holey Brotherhood
Curse you sudden but inevitable betrayal!
One Strip! One Strip!
Mistakes Were Made
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Why does that seem familiar?
Surrounded by weirdoes
That's why you never trust a guy that called himself Apocalypse. And there was too much history for them to think that it wouldn't end in tears and pain.
Wake me up at your own risk.
Does Apocalypse show the malicious joviality he had in X-Factor?
There's actually a bit more to that: Apocalypse had arranged for Rogue to absorb the magic of Otherworld so that they could open a portal there, but due to Gambit getting Rachel Summers to psychically help Rogue wake up, events started happening too soon. So Apocalypse goaded Rogue into killing him with her powers, which activated the portal. So technically, Apocalypse is dead. For now, at least.
I also read X-Men #4 and dear god, that's a great comic. It's nearly all talking, but Hickman really, really gets the dialogue right. And we get some great lines from Professor X (like how, deep down, he will always believe in his dream of peaceful coexistence...but it only took one month before humans tried to assassinate him) and especially Magneto's speech:
Ambassador: Is that so?
Magneto: It is. Surely you can see that our methods are changing— that they have changed. Take me, for example. In the past I would have seized your country's weapons of war and turned them on you... I would have tried to show you how strong I was. How strong I am. But we have learned. You've shown us the way with your quiet weapons of finance and your silent wars of influence. I've seen what you do here. Leverage people with debt. Make them pay to be healthy and whole. Make them pay to become educated. Make them pay you interest so they can have a place to live. Then when you own them, you control them. I have seen what you do. And now we will do the same...but better. Better versions of a better life. Better drugs for a longer, healthier existence. And then we will take the money—the outrageous sums of money you will give us because it also means more wealth for you—and we will invest it. We will buy your banks. We will buy your schools. We will buy your media. We will buy your politicians. And then, when we have bought all the rest, we will buy you—because you have taught us that everything has a price. And we are happy to pay. Then, when we have this influence—we will use it. We will make sure that the wrong sort of people—and you know who—no longer have economic power. We will not allow them inside our institutions, because it's important that they do not have anywhere to peddle their dangerous, outdated ideas. And that is how it will end. Like a fire with no oxygen. Yes, of course, there will still be people who fear and hate us...they just simply won't be able to do anything about it any longer. So as I said... There will be no war.
Edited by alliterator on Jan 11th 2020 at 9:11:12 AM
The Head of the Hydra
Mags is real as fuck.
"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."
Leader of the Holey Brotherhood
Damn straight he is.
He's been waiting for this for years, and now he's not gonna let it go to waste.
Be afraid world. Magneto might actually be scarier now than when he would just try and rule the world.
One Strip! One Strip!
Doctor of Doctorates
Realpolitik Magneto is much more dangerous/scary than megalomaniac Magneto.
"These 'no-nonsense' solutions of yours just don't hold water in a complex world of jet-powered apes and time travel."
So New Mutants pretty much confirmed Illyana as bi, and I gotta say, it bothers me. I just can't see Illyana as bi.
She is a straight-up lesbian.
X-Men X-Pert, my blog where I talk about X-Men comics.
It sounds like he's overestimating Krakoa's economic power. It only has one export (three, if you count each drug separately). The drugs aren't necessary for the quality of life for most, and they don't seem to be price gouging, so how much profit can they expect, compared to the GDP of a first world country? (One ambassador asks whether people need to take the drugs as often as Krakoa recommends. Is that profit multiplier or a red flag?) Relying on natural resources tends to wreck the societies that do. Just look at petrostates. That's why oil is called "the devil's excrement", an example of the natural resource curse. He may be able to bend metal to his will, but the laws of economics not so much. No matter how many Omega level mutants Krakoa has, socialism still won't work.
If Xavier applies collective guilt to all humans for his assassination attempt, will he accept responsibility for Apocalypse's claimed destruction of the Bronze Age, as well as the other wars and conflicts that he's fostered?
To say nothing of all the death and destruction some Krakoan citizens like Magneto have wrought. Yeah, Mutants aren't the only ones who can play the guilt card.
The Head of the Hydra
Magneto may not be able to bend the law of economics but there's prolly several Mutants who can.
It be child's play to essentially buy up the worlds economy into their hands if they use all their potential power players in hand.
"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."
There were plenty of lines Illyana could've used in that situation. She could've asked if they wanted to get drinks. She chose to offer to make out with them.
Anyway, Illyana is 100% a lesbian and I object to Hickman trying to imply she has any interest in dudes. It's just incorrect.
X-Men X-Pert, my blog where I talk about X-Men comics.
I mean, she totally would've made out with the ladies. She wasn't expecting any of them to agree, but if one of them had, she absolutely would've made out with them.
It be child's play to essentially buy up the worlds economy into their hands if they use all their potential power players in hand.
Like who? If telepaths are used on a wide scale, the world would consider it an act of war.
Billionaires are pretty trivial compared to the wealth of nations, which runs in the trillions. People don't appreciate the financial scale involved. Seizing every cent from every billionaire in America would only run the government for a couple of months.
They have three uses. Supposedly extending human lifespan by five years (which isn't immediately obvious), an adaptive antibiotic, which would be good against drug resistant bacteria but not viruses, and diseases of the mind. Beak's father had a fictitious rare form of dementia. They won't be used on everyone all the time, and if they cost too much, their use will go down (and Krakoa will be accused of gouging). The top ten best-selling drugs of 2013 totaled $75.6 billion in sales, and I don't think Krakoa would earn more than that.
Edited by alliterator on Jan 13th 2020 at 8:52:49 AM
Really, it all comes down to a matter of execution. You can have threatening kid villains. Young Allies did that pretty well with Superior and Hybrid was a pretty good villain for the X-Men and Avengers Academy.
The problem is that the Heckfire Clubhouse isn't particularly threatening, especially when they twirl the facial hair they can't grow. Not to mention they're not particularly interesting as individuals.
Seriously, they had a pretty interesting plan. Invest in making supervillains, cause mutant paranoia, profit off of Sentinels. But it's not executed well.
In fact, the only time they're interesting as individuals is when Max loses a fistfight to Kei.
Edited by Dr.XXX on Dec 19th 2019 at 4:03:50 AM