#X-Force: Krakoa (2019) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

positivelybeastly · 4 months ago

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X-Force and Krakoa as a whole was a bad time to be a Beast fan. So for fun I just wanted to ask, if you were in charge of Beast during the Krakoa era, what storylines would you have liked to see done with him? I feel like there was a lot of potential there that didn't get realized because he was basically trapped in X-Force hell and rarely appeared outside of it. For instance, with the whole cloning thing, he could've technically gotten his human-looking body back for real, without the intelligence-draining drawback from X-Factor. It might've been cool to explore that temptation. Would he even still want to go back? Has he fully accepted who he is at this point? Maybe he'd view it as cowardice to erase his outward mutation when others can't. And then there's the potential for exploring his thoughts on mutants separating from the world as one of the more connected mutants who often worked to try and bring them together with humanity. I feel like a lot of his story potential with Krakoa was wasted due to the plot he was forced into.

So, I've had thoughts about this.

Yeah, I categorically have to agree, Beast was criminally wasted on Krakoa.

Like, even if you do take the view that his heel turn was done well (it wasn't), it was a logical place for his character to go (it wasn't), and that his villain arc was satisfying (it wasn't), it's still, objectively, the stupidest thing to do with him, in and out of universe, because Hank is actually fairly unique among X-Men characters in terms of how he can interact with the Krakoan status quo?

So, let's explore some of the stories that we could have gotten during the Krakoan era!

Now, in the interests of fairness, this thought experiment will have a few ground rules, most notably that it has to treat everything that came before it, up to 2018-2019, as hard canon, and it has to flow naturally from that point. We're also not going to radically alter the rest of the Krakoan story, in part because I hate the wankery of 'oh, everything would have been fine if this one character had been here,' and in part because Krakoa was designed to fail, so we're keeping those themes and intents intact.

Ah, but I hear you say! How can that be so when X-Force can't happen without Beast there?

Easily, I say! One, because X-Force doesn't actually do shit in the wider Krakoan story - it's, like, genuinely worthless as part of the wider narrative, there's a reason every recommended reading list for the era skips it - and two, because we can just put Dark Beast in charge of it instead, and the story doesn't change at all.

Why not? If Sinister can be on the Quiet Council, why can't Dark Beast get his shot at a position of authority? He's still alive, so we don't have to worry about justifying his resurrection under the no clones rule, and it would suit Sinister's wider story beats to have an ally who owes him for saving his life in such a useful position.

But yeah, this legitimately doesn't change the story one bit. All you have to do is tweak a few bits of Jean Grey, Colossus, and Domino's dialogue, and nothing changes. So, X-Force is completely intact. You're welcome. Now, on with the show!

Option 1-A: Exile/The Nonconformist

One of the more interesting and maybe divisive choices I think we could go with for Hank - what if he just says no, I wouldn't want to be on your kooky culty ethnostate island? Or, alternatively, what if the Quiet Council string him along, get him to create their miracle drugs, and then exile him from the island because he's considered a rogue, unstable element?

It's within their character, especially Shaw, Mystique, Apocalypse and Sinister, to not want him around, and frankly, I don't think Jean, Charles, Kurt, or Ororo would really vouch for him, either. The X-Men have been established not to fully trust Hank, thanks to the time travel debacle, and he doesn't like them much, either, after they stabbed him in the back during Inhumans vs. X-Men and got him fired from Harvard, so it'd be very easy to more naturalistically pick up on the story beats from there with him just not being welcome on Krakoa or not wanting to be there.

It also fits with the wider course of his character, where Hank has repeatedly expressed unease at being an X-Man and left the team as a result, multiple times. Hell, this is where he's at with Charles and the X-Men as of 2018.

Not exactly champing at the bit, is he? He sounds tired, and over it.

This opens up a more realistic and, let's be real here, interesting dynamic than we had on Krakoa, where everyone is, by virtue of editorial dictate, now magically fine with one another to the point where they'll all live on the same island and also completely fine with establishing a new nationality for themselves.

We can argue about Krakoa's isolationism, capitalism, human policies, etc, but the fact remains, everyone was made a monolith and they all moved in together, and it was kinda lame if you stopped and thought about it. They did it because the X-office wanted all their eggs in one basket so they could hand them out to their writers and not have to share, not because it was a natural move for a lot of these characters.

As you intimated, it especially doesn't really make sense for Hank to do this - he's been an Avenger for almost as long as he's been an X-Man, a lot of his best friends are on that team, and his friendships with the X-Men are rocky at best, textually speaking. His very human and pro-mutant parents are still in Illinois, and still alive, as of 2018.

I also think it's an interesting move from the Krakoan side - you establish early on that there's some real double standard bullshit going on, just like you do with Sabretooth, but EXACTLY as with Sabretooth, it's against an 'acceptable' target.

It's also a good springboard from which to spur Hank into action - maybe this is his penance for his actions, exile from paradise, the punishment he kept saying he was ready to accept but that no-one seemed willing to dole out. Maybe this pushes him to clean up his act. Maybe this is what Eva Bell was talking about, when she talked about the Trial of Hank McCoy - the trial that determines that he's unfit to be Krakoan. This is really interesting emotional ground for him, too, to be ostracised again - does it hurt as much, does he rave, does he go ballistic, does he quietly accept it and cut ties?

Where does he go from here? I don't quite know! Maybe Jed MacKay gets to use him for his new Avengers team, come 2023, and he gets to join the fight against Orchis as part of Fall of X. Maybe we get a Defenders reunion, with Gargoyle, Moondragon, and a few new members. Maybe we get a Beast and Wonder Man team up comic! Hell, get him to join the Fantastic Four or Spider-Man as a supporting character - Hank has so many connections, you can literally use him anywhere.

Option 1-B: X-Club.

An offshoot of the above - what if Hank appears to be exiled/a non-conformist, but he's actually on a secret mission for Xavier? More specifically, what if he's been given the directive that he SHOULD have been given from the start - to find a way to oust Sinister from Krakoa, permanently.

Think about it. Hank is objectively smarter than Sinister, he just doesn't obsessively focus on genetics. He is the single smartest X-Man. If anyone can rebuild, steal, or substitute Sinister's genetic database, the one bit of collateral keeping every X-Man from obliterating him on the spot, it's him.

Enter X-Club volume 2.

Beast, Kavita Rao, Doctor Nemesis - throw in every scientist you've got. Their one mission: get their hands on Sinister's database. I'm thinking a five issue miniseries, short, sweet, loaded with science and sass. In the end, they fail, because the rest of Krakoa has to unfold, but guess what? At least they tried! At least the Quiet Council is trying! Maybe they get away with a small victory, maybe a portion of the database, maybe they only put a stop to one of Sinister's schemes (which would make it intertwine with Hellions nicely), but at least they tried.

You also get to play with some of the more interesting aspects of being an undercover operative - namely, the emotional toll of lying to your friends and family about what you've been up to. Imagine the charge of Hank having to shit-talk Krakoa, knowing that Bobby and Warren and Jean are all going to hear it, and then he has to go and fight for it, and he can't say a word about it? There's pathos and tragedy in there!

Option 2: Temporal Guardian

The X-Men cannot escape from crossing fate - uh, I mean, temporal drama and bullshit. Krakoa especially was rife with it, thanks to shit like Sins of Sinister and Moira X, so, why not let's actually interact with it, using one of the characters who has both the knowledge and the power to interact with time on a higher level?

Hank McCoy canonically had: 1) intricate knowledge of temporal physics, 2) temporal senses that made him mentally immune to changes in the timeline, and 3) the ability to move, completely independently, through time using magic.

The guy's just a fucking Time Lord at that point.

So, let's let him Time Lord! Imagine a circuit between him, Rachel Summers and Tempus - Sins of Sinister would be over like that. You're worried about the timeline where mutants always win or always lose? Just use the mutants at your disposal to metagame your way to the timeline you want! You literally have the tools, you just won't use them!

This is the most 'comic booky' of the options, but I honestly think this could have been fun as a gimmick for a book, battling across centuries for the fate of mutantkind, taking on all comers - hell, maybe you could even use Orbis Stellaris for something instead of having him just sit around in his dumb orb, and he decides to try and engineer a win using temporal warfare!

It'd be neat, is all I'm saying.

Option 3: The School

Remember how Krakoa didn't have a school?

You know? The island nation, didn't have an actual place where you'd go and learn shit? The thing we had when we were a superhero team, but the instant we decide we want infrastructure and a nation and a full on population, we just don't want it?

Think I found your dude.

It always struck me that the move to teacher made more sense for some X-Men than others, but for Hank, it really was the most natural fit in the world. Highly academic, empathetic, good with kids, open minded, versatile - he's perfect to lead a school. And, now that you've divorced the school from the X-Men, you avoid the issue you had when Hank took over the school during Here Comes Tomorrow, where the pressure destroyed him - he doesn't have to worry about the fate of mutantkind, he's literally just a teacher now.

But, 'just' a teacher? Of mutants? Ha!

This would be a really interesting coming of age/community book, I think, maybe more slice-of-lifey and akin to Wolverine & the X-Men volume 1 in content, though maybe not as whacky in tone. Academy X students, nascent mutants, people who just want to pick up a community college class, people who never got a formal education, hell, characters who find they need qualifications in things that they never got - you could literally throw everyone in here, and Hank can bounce off them all.

This is maybe the 'safest' place for Hank, the most obvious and 'boring,' but I think a good writer who's interested in the mutant metaphor and the generational aspect of it, as well as the passing vs. non-passing mutant dichotomy, would have a lot of material to dive into - your ideas, of Hank grappling with his role as role model to these kids, of working on his complicated feelings regarding his mutation, would slot in well here, I think.

A story where Hank arrives to teach a class in his human form, much to the shock, worry, and disturbance of all of his students, and the ramifications of such a choice, would be really interesting, and a good opportunity to comment on the Krakoan tendency towards disposable bodies and the cheapness of death, too.

That being said, I do think it's worth noting that Bendis' choices with Hank and the subsequent story flow seem to indicate that Hank's dysmorphia and dysphoria were associated primarily with his feline form, since he'd come to terms with his classic form and seemed more comfortable in his modern form immediately.

The switch from full kevlar vest, bandolier, pants and body coverings to the shorts says it all, doesn't it? One of these bodies is acceptable to display. The other is not. But, even if Bendis took away the feline mutation in favour of a design that appealed more to nostalgia, that doesn't mean we can't use this book to unpick that idea, and talk about Hank's feelings on that and why one is okay while the other isn't. There were aspects of this in New Mutants, and this would be a good way to handle it from yet another perspective!

Option 4: Reunion and Reconciliation

So, it's pretty fair to say that the O5 have drifted apart.

So.

Let's DO something with that, shall we?

O5 reunion book. Let's hash it all out. Every petty grievance, every massive failure, every way they've hurt one another, not been there for one another, let's DO IT. Let's hear Hank tear Scott a new one for not saving him from Osborn until the time was right. Let's hear Scott tear Hank a new one for breaking the space-time continuum just to try and hurt him. Let's hear Warren tear Jean a new one for the shitty way she treated him when they were time displaced. Let's do EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. Let's put it all to rest.

Maybe this could only sustain a big giant size issue, but fuck it, it's a better use of page space than that Original X-Men one-shot that ended up being nothing but an advert for yet another Wolverine book! And it would be high key dramatic as fuck. Let's do that thing that often makes for the single best episodes of a TV show or movie - people in a room, around a table, TALKING at one another. There is so much history there, and you wouldn't know it by looking at Krakoa as it is! Scott, Warren and Bobby never even speak Hank's name, and god knows that Warren got shit fuck bugger nothing to do for most of the era once X-Corp died, so let's DO something, like, my god. These people are meant to be family - let's treat them like one.

And hell, while we're at it? Let's settle what happened with Abigail once and for all, too! Are they together? Are they not? What's the story, morning glory? I hate existing in this nowhere space where we don't know shit about fuck!

Option 5: X-Forces Beyond Our Control

All right, so, I've been outlining all of the above, and the assumption has always been that X-Force just ends the way it does in 616, though it's probably a little less homoerotic, Dark Beast probably just bites it at Logan's hands and it's all as uncritical as Percy's normal work.

Well, what if X-Force were good, actually?

What if we leverage some old history?

Bring Beast in as a supporting cast member for X-Force once Dark Beast, their Director, goes rogue.

Let's explore and unpack Sage and Hank's relationship - let's look at the way that Xavier wronged them both, made them both child soldiers, brought their genius to bear, left them emotionally unprepared for the future they faced.

Let's unpack Hank's lingering resentment over the choice that Sage made for him, that saved his life but 'trapped' him in the feline form for years.

Let's unpack Sage's jealousy and confusion over Hank being Charles' favourite, let's take the old man to task, let's see where this goes.

Hell, while we're at it, let's even do something with Colossus, and dive into Hank's guilt over Piotr's taking of the Legacy Virus cure so many years ago. Does Piotr even realise Hank felt that way, realise that he feels he probably killed Piotr? Does he forgive him? Does Hank forgive himself?

And then we lock in. Beast vs. Dark Beast. The final confrontation. It's been brewing since 1996, and it's about time we settled it.

So, those are my thoughts on what Beast COULD have been up to Krakoa, instead of being stuck in a 100 issue long diatribe about how 'Kissinger Was Bad, Mmkay?' by a sub-par writer. I also think that while you could choose one of these options, it's not out of the question to do ALL of them, if you really wanted to maximise your Beast per year values. They're not exactly mutually exclusive, if you think about it!

Hopefully that answers your question, friend!

#koalaguru #outofmuffins #gif warning #epilepsy warning #bright light #hank mccoy #henry mccoy

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soviet-supersoldier · 4 months ago

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Happy Valentine's Day!!

Taking a moment in honor of Valentine's Day to acknowledge and celebrate one of the most underrated ships from Marvel Comics and one of the least talked about: Arkady Rossovich, a.k.a Omega Red and Tessa, a.k.a Sage.

These two characters and their bond was a highlight of the 2019 Krakoa X-Force series. I absolutely loved their unexpected relationship and the bond that they formed together over the course of that story. Their relationship in the comics may not have gotten quite as romantic as seen here in these pieces of artwork, but it was a relationship that I could truly see both characters entering into together had the story been allowed to continue and they were kept on the same team. They had a ton of chemistry and a whole lot of potential as a couple. They both worked very well together on the team's various missions and had a very unique and special bond that went beyond just being teammates. It was a much deeper connection, linking them together into a real unit that allowed them to take down opponents that neither character could take on alone.

I love them together. I think that they're both good for each other, bringing out more of each other's best qualities and supporting each other when all the world and the X-men leaders they were forced to work with wanted to do was beat them down. They have quite a lot in common -- both with dark and tragic pasts they have continually had to battle without the world giving them so much as a glance or an offer to help -- and helped each other through some of their darkest moments, coming out the other side better people than they were before. Sage became a true leader. Omega Red regained his humanity. Both became better people and have more potential now than they ever did before. I do hope Marvel reunites them again someday, hopefully soon. And allows them to continue their relationship where they left off. There is so much potential for continued growth for Arkady and Tessa if Marvel lets them stick together.

A HUGE shout-out and thank you to @x-whores here on Tumblr for creating each of these incredible pieces of fanart! They are an amazing artist who creates so many great pieces of X-men artwork -- including doing a commission for me on this rarepair -- which can be seen both here on tumblr and on their Instagram at: @kadiotpng. If you haven't seen their work, I strongly recommend you check them out!! They have quite a few pieces of X-men fanart featuring other characters that I'm sure you'll love. Please show them your support!

Edit: thank you to @ninja-o-s for pointing out my error on the Insta handle for @x-whores . Here is the correct link if anyone wishes to support them:

https://www.instagram.com/kaidotpng?igsh=aTI5aHh2ZWt1bG11

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thequiver · 11 months ago

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Guthrie Family Reading Guide Masterlist

Lucky for you, I've created a reading list for each of them and have compiled them all here in a masterlist for your use! All information and links are under the cut!

Sam Guthrie | Cannonball

Sam is the oldest Guthrie sibling and with over 700 appearances, his reading list is in two parts, reblogged together for ease of use. Sam has been a member of the New Mutants, X-Force, the X-Men, X-Corporation, and the Avengers. Sam has also been staff at the Xavier Institute.

Paige Guthrie | Husk

Paige is the second oldest Guthrie sibling and has over 200 appearances. Paige has been a member of Generation X, X-Corps, and the Legionnaires. Paige has also been staff at the Xavier Institute.

Jay Guthrie | Icarus

Jay is the third oldest Guthrie sibling and has around 50 appearances. Jay was part of the New X-Men during the Academy X era.

Melody Guthrie | Aero

Melody is the fourth oldest Guthrie sibling and has less than 20 appearances. Melody was part of the Xavier Institute at the same time as her brother Jay, and was one of the mutants depowered after M-Day. She was the first mutant to undergo the crucible on Krakoa in X-Men (2019) #7!

Jebediah Guthrie

Jebediah is one of the younger Guthrie siblings and has 9 appearances. Jeb has never attended the Xavier Institute or ever joined a team, he is a depowered mutant who did not seek to regain his powers by undergoing the crucible on Krakoa.

#guthrie family #sam guthrie #paige guthrie #jay guthrie #josh guthrie #melody guthrie #jebediah guthrie #x-men #new mutants #generation x #new x-men #academy x #reading guide #reading list #comic reading guide #comic reading list #x-men reading guide

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dailyjeangrey · 6 months ago

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Hello!!!!

This is a fan blog dedicated to Marvel’s greatest telepath: Jean Elaine Grey. Also known as Marvel Girl and Sometimes Pheonix

Jean Grey was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby for their new comic book series The Uncanny X-Men. Jean was the only girl on the original team (up until Uncanny X-Men #49) and served as a founding member of the X-Men alongside Cyclops, Beast, Angel, and Iceman.

Jean’s powers initially revolved around telekinesis, which allowed her to manipulate objects with her mind. As the series progressed, it was revealed that Jean was also a telepath

Jean’s story took off with the introduction of the Phoenix Force. In X-Men #101, her transformation into the Phoenix made her Marvel's first female cosmic hero. However, this also introduced an internal struggle as she grappled with the entity’s darker side. This conflict ultimately culminated in the Dark Phoenix Saga.

Her role in the X-Men is foundational—Jean is the team’s heart and moral compass, often balancing her immense strength with compassion and selflessness. She’s been a student, a teacher, a leader, and, most importantly, a symbol of the power and resilience of the human (and mutant) spirit.

Whether as Marvel Girl, Phoenix, or simply Jean, her legacy in the Marvel Universe is unmatched. We’re here to celebrate all things Jean Grey daily—her triumphs, struggles, and everything in between!

This account has two admins: 👻 and 👽. On this blog we will also talk about the current struggles within the world such as Palestine and Congo. We will try to post once a day but no promises 😁

Here is a basic reading guide for her

—The Original Marvel Girl Era (1963–1975)—

The Uncanny X-Men (1963) #1 – Jean’s debut as the only female founding member of the X-Men.

The Uncanny X-Men (1963) #4-7 – Jean’s early adventures and her blossoming relationship with Cyclops.

The Uncanny X-Men (1963) #43-46 — Jean’s growing confidence with her powers and teamates

—The Phoenix Saga (1976–1979)—

X-Men (1975) #98-108 – The Phoenix Saga. Jean bonds with the Phoenix Force for the first time, sacrificing herself and gaining godlike power.

Classic X-Men (1986) #8 and #43 – Expanded stories and insights into Jean’s time as Phoenix

—The Dark Phoenix Saga (1980)—

X-Men (1980) #129-138 – The Dark Phoenix Saga. This is the definitive Jean Grey story, chronicling her fall into darkness and ultimate sacrifice.

—Post-Dark Phoenix and Resurrection (1986–1990)—

X-Factor (1986) #1-3 – Jean is resurrected, and the original X-Men reunite as X-Factor.

X-Factor (1986) #27-30 (Inferno Arc) – Jean faces Madelyne Pryor, her clone, and wrestles with the fallout of her resurrection.

Uncanny X-Men (1988) #242-243 – Confrontation between Jean, Scott, and Madelyne during Inferno.

— Jean as a Leader and the 90s Era (1991–2000) —

Uncanny X-Men (1991) #281-283 – Jean leads the X-Men through major transitions after Professor Xavier’s departure.

X-Men (1991) #1-3 – The launch of the 90s X-Men series, featuring Jean and the team battling Magneto.

X-Men: The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix (1994) – Jean and Scott are sent to the future to raise Cable.

X-Men (1995) #30 – Jean and Scott’s wedding issue.

— Morrison’s Era (2001–2004)—

New X-Men (2001) #114-154 – Grant Morrison reinvents Jean as a more assertive leader and explores her connection to the Phoenix.

• Highlights: Her transformation into the Phoenix once again (New X-Men #132), and her tragic death at the hands of Xorn/Magneto (New X-Men #150).

—Jean Grey’s Return and Modern Stories (2017–Present)—

Phoenix Resurrection: The Return of Jean Grey (2017) – Jean officially returns to life, returning to her role among the X-Men.

X-Men: Red (2018) – Jean leads her own team, fighting for mutantkind with a focus on peace and justice.

House of X / Powers of X (2019) – Jean plays a pivotal role in the creation of Krakoa, a mutant utopia.

X-Men: Hellfire Gala (2021) – A great showcase of Jean’s leadership and style in the modern era.

Jean Grey (2023) – A modern retelling of Jean’s history and her role in the X-Men’s future.

Pheonix (2024) - Jean starts her journey as a cosmic hero

Time Displaced Jean Reading order:

Jean Grey’s Teenage Era, when the time-displaced original X-Men were brought to the future during the events of All-New X-Men. This storyline dives into how a young Jean grapples with her legacy, powers, and the knowledge of what her future self becomes.

The Beginning: All-New X-Men (2012–2015)

All-New X-Men (2012) #1-5 — The younger X-Men are brought to the present by Beast to show Cyclops the consequences of his actions during Avengers vs. X-Men.

All-New X-Men (2012) #6-10 — Jean’s telepathic abilities awaken prematurely in this timeline, forcing her to learn psychic skills quickly. She also starts developing her own identity apart from her older self.

All-New X-Men (2012) #11-15

All-New X-Men (2012) #18-19(Battle of the Atom) — A crossover event where the future X-Men try to force the younger team to return to their original timeline

Jean Joins the X-Men in the Present Timeline

Guardians of the Galaxy (2013) #11-13 — Trial of Jean Grey. The Shi’ar put teenage Jean on trial for crimes committed by the Phoenix Force. She teams up with the Guardians of the Galaxy

All-New X-Men (2012) #20-35 — Jean continues to grow into her own person

Teen Jean Faces the Phoenix and Her Legacy

All-New X-Men (2015) #37-41 — Black Vortex Crossover, Jean and the team are pulled into a cosmic conflict involving the Black Vortex, an ancient artifact that unlocks unlimited potential. Jean receives a vision of her ultimate power and begins to grapple with the inevitability of the Phoenix Force.

Extraordinary X-Men (2015) #1-12 — Post-Secret Wars, After the Secret Wars reboot, teenage Jean joins Storm’s X-Men

Jean’s Solo Adventures

Jean Grey (2017) — Teenage Jean gets her own solo series, where she prepares to face the Phoenix Force head-on. This series delves into Jean’s internal struggles, and her attempts to change her destiny

The End of the Teenage X-Men Era

X-Men: Blue (2017) #1-36 — Teenage Jean leads the time-displaced X-Men in their final adventures.

Extermination (2018) #1-5 — The teenage X-Men’s story concludes as they are sent back to their original timeline

(We're sorry if this is bad neither of us know how to make a reading guide)

In other media

Shows/Animated Series-

X-Men: The Animated Series (1992)

X-Men: Evolution (2000)

Wolverine and the X-Men (2008)

Marvel Anime: X-Men (2011)

X-Men '97 (2024)

Films-

X-Men (2000) (Played by Famke Janssen)

X2 (2003) (Played by Famke Janssen)

X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) (Played by Famke Janssen)

The Wolverine (2013) (Played by Famke Janssen)

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) (Played by Sophie Turner)

X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) (Played by Sophie Turner)

Dark Phoenix (2019) (Played by Sophie Turner)

Video Games

X-Men Legends (2004)

X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse (2005)

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 (2009)

Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds (2011)

Marvel Super War (2019)

#jean grey #marvel #x-men #marvel girl #phoenix #reading guide

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cataclysmiccal · 4 months ago

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X-Men (2019) issue #7

Great job keeping Warlock secret dude

Giant Size X-Men: Nightcrawler

I love their friendship and I’m so glad they got to interact more on Krakoa. The New Mutants special where Illyana tricks Warlock into wearing a bikini is one of my favorites.

Giant Size X-Men: Storm

I love X-Men characters who are smart but aren’t geniuses. There are so many “geniuses” that it’s funny when a character is just normal guy smart. Like sure Doug’s smart but when you’re hanging out with Beast or Sage, not really…

New Mutants Issue #13

I love this issue so much. The art is just so beautiful, I could stare at every page for forever. Especially the way the backdrop of Krakoa is drawn, everything just looks so green, it really does feel like an island paradise. I’m a big fan of this interpretation of his ability to read body language, like it takes him time to translate it just like any other language, and it doesn’t make him some sort of fighting machine. Anytime Doug and Magik hang-out I’m happy. I love their friendship when Doug first joins the New Mutants so it’s always nice to see them interact.

Excalibur (2019) issue #14

I read Excalibur, read this scene, and was like, this guy seems silly, maybe I'll go read some stuff with him. Then I forgot about it and got New Mutants (2009) from the library and was like "Ok, time to become obsessed with this character"

Inferno #1

I need to learn how to make my own I 🌸 Krakoa mug. Nice to see some domesticity on Krakoa, I'm sure it'll all turn out well...

Inferno (2021) issue #3

Uhh Beast, wtf. I have no interest in reading X-Force so I probably won't figure out what's going on.

Inferno (2021) issue #4

Notorious rule follower: Doug “released two mass murderers” Ramsey. My whole goal in reading all of his appearances was to read all the random appearances during the Krakoa era I knew I missed and I have to say, I did not realize how important he was. I'm skipping through these issues just to his appearances but I'll probably go back and read them since I don't fully understand how Krakoa ended. I've read Fall of the House of X but that's about it.

#cypher #doug ramsey #x men #new mutants #magik #illyana rasputin

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rei-ismyname · 11 months ago

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The Phoenix/Phoenix Force sucks

If you're not familiar with Marvel/X-Men's The Phoenix catching you up on the full context is not really possible. I'll summarise the salient bits, but I definitely recommend checking out The Phoenix and Dark Phoenix sagas in Chris Claremont's Uncanny X-Men. The big dumb Firebird has appeared earlier in the timeline for better or worse, but that's the definitive phoenix story (and very entertaining.)

An abridged Publication History of the Phoenix

- The Phoenix is introduced as a cosmic abstraction, a vital entity that is part of the universe. Jean Grey is sacrificing herself to save the rest of the X-Men and this happens.

And this.

It's wild shit, totally iconic and mostly internally coherent, though it doesn't end well. Jean as the Phoenix eats a star and destroys a planet of broccoli people. A very effective use of girl power. A lot happens and she ends up sacrificing herself again. It was established that Jean is The Phoenix, now and forever.

- Rachel Grey, Jean and Scott's daughter from an alternate timeline shows up and is a phoenix host for years without any genocides or whatnot. There's angst, but it's just a part of her. Rachel was a bit of a Jean expy at times but it still made sense and was exciting. She's Jean's daughter so it doesn't take too much handwaving to accept her as a 'host.' (She still is btw, no idea how this works but I like her.)

- Over the next few decades the Phoenix showed up an awful lot. Avengers Vs X-Men is probably the most well known instance. The bird is a lot less picky about hosts now. Hope Summers is the intended host (another Jean expy at times,) but due to Tony Stark's arrogance the phoenix ends up in five other people - Namor, Emma Frost, Scott Summers, Magik and Colossus. It makes very little sense tbh, but after much needless conflict it ends up in Hope and she uses it for some cosmic magnificence.

- Over the next few decades it's all over the place. The Stepford Cuckoos, Quentin Quire, tean Jean, this Shi'Ar dude with a big sword, a prehistoric woman called Firehair, this utter dipshit called Faithful John, and others. It's become a problem of the week, deus ex machina, and worst of all - the stories are not very good. The lore of the phoenix is nonsensical at this point but Marvel was not showing any restraint. Personally, I'd groan whenever it appeared because it meant repetitive plot points and further muddying of how the thing works.

- The Avengers got hold of it and the less said about it the better. It's the mid 2010s and this supposedly unknowable universal abstraction, a god of sorts, has become frankly silly (derogatory.) The wonder has been strangled through overuse and conflicting lore. I'm actually understating it a bit - if you don't believe me check out the wiki for The Phoenix. This cosmic abstraction, one of the most iconic X-Men concepts/moments/arcs had become cringe and boring through overuse and lack of imagination.

- In 2019 Jonathan Hickman's House of X dropped and it was a great time to be an X-Men fan - the Krakoan age. A decade plus of deeply average stories and nostalgia bait were in the past and the status quo had changed in wonderful ways. The Phoenix received a mention on a data page, but it was in a list of powerful entities to give context to a new and interesting concept. At the time it wasn't necessarily foreshadowing.

- In 2023 Marvel was (unwisely IMO) speed running an end to Krakoa and the aforementioned concept emerged as the endgame threat. The Phoenix found its way into the story in an organic fashion and the X-Men put all their hopes in The Phoenix to defeat the threat. Kieron Gillen, under difficult circumstances and with less time than promised, actually did it! He used the Phoenix in a quality story with appropriate gravitas and wonder - and he cleaned up the lore so it made sense again. That run (and era) ended in a better place than most of us imagined it could. It didn't surprise me because Gillen is the best writer in comics today IMO, but we got lucky. He left it on a high note but Kieron Gillen is not at Marvel anymore and Tom Brevoort is in charge of X Books. I'll come back to this polycule erasing bozo.

Phoenix (2024) picks up where he left Jean and The Phoenix (and some infinity comics but let's ignore those for now) - both lore and characterisation-wise. It's explicitly solicited as a cosmic run and the first issue has delivered on that. It's not hard to imagine an ending with The Phoenix seeing itself out of the story in an entertaining way with clean lore and sense of wonder intact. Hopefully without killing Jean again 😅.

Ideally, Marvel will have the good sense to leave it alone for a few years at least. The books are already milking nostalgia and historically X-Men keep returning to the Phoenix, Apocalypse, and some new hate group/the US government deciding genocide is on the menu again. Apocalypse has had character growth (and if they ever undo that I'm doing violence) and moved on & we've just had an attempted genocide plus past victims resurrected - so I'll be generous and say they're off the table. The X line has all new writers and seems to be looking to synergise with '97 and the MCU while claiming they're going for fresh and exciting.

We might get lucky again. X-Men 97 is way past the OG Phoenix stuff and so far has avoided using bottom of the barrel storylines from that time. The 2000s contains danger, but most instances don't fit the 'greatest hits' style they've used so far. An exception to that could be Avengers vs X-Men, but I think they'd save that for a summer blockbuster if anything. I suspect a lot of people would get hype about a movie called AVX, especially if they never read the comic. The MCU hasn't been shy about reconceptualizing events for movies, like Civil War, for instance. The essence of the premise was there but the film made a lot more sense. There's plenty of other reasons (better ones even, ones that don't feel OOC and forced) for the X-Men and avengers to fight, and they'd have to set it up with Disassembled (kinda already happened, not Wanda's fault,) House of M (please no) and then all the Hope Summers/Messiah events. The Fox Movies already did the Phoenix, too, bad as it was. I don't think they'll go that way.

Secret Wars has a phoenix egg in the comics, but it's not important and it's barely an X-Men story. I don't see The Phoenix menacing our screens anytime soon, thankfully. What I fear most is editorial playing it safe and/or nostalgic (which is why Tom Brevoort concerns me - check out his Spider-Man manifesto and you'll see what I mean) and a writer returning to the well when pitching story ideas. Everyone is confident at the start of a new era bc it takes a while to internalise that Marvel repackages and reskins the same 25 tropes while deliberately presenting the 'Illusion of change.' Once the initial ideas dry up and it's crunch time it's natural to look to the past for ideas and characters to reuse. Maybe sales dip a little, or the comics are in a holding pattern waiting for the MCU to do something. Whatever the cause, it will get pitched again and Brevoort will likely say yes. I don't want to be unfair to the guy, but he's been failing upwards for years.

After all, it's happened so many times already. Metatextually, The Phoenix is a symbol of rebirth. That would be a good thing. It can be easy to mistake repetition for rebirth, but it's the avatar of life and creativity. In universe one of its roles is to destroy stagnant ideas or species. Anything that's static and has stopped evolving. Ironically it's been used in some of the worst instances of creative stagnation in Marvel comics. The Phoenix, recent goodness aside, sucks.

I genuinely hope I'm an old 'man' shaking my fist at a cloud while telling Tom Brevoort to get off my lawn. I love being wrong. Nothing would make me happier than Spider-Man or Magneto hosting the Phoenix being an Impossibility. I know I'm not the target demographic but I don't just hope these things for myself. We all deserve good stories, new ideas, the joy of being vulnerable enough to get invested in escapist media. The Mouse, like all capitalists, does not give a fuck about those things though unfortunately. They care about profit. Eh, there's always Fan Fiction. If it does happen I'll commit to a million words. 💜

Don't even think about it.

#x men #marvel #the phoenix #meta #mcu #xmen 97 #jean grey

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yonadave · 2 years ago

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“I’m Not Anti-Mutant Just Anti-Krakoa '' - Why We Should Compare Krakoa to Israel.

When HoX\PoX came out in 2019 I was living in Jerusalem and talking to a friend about it and eventually the question went up “Do we want to talk about Krakoa and Israel?” The answer was a resounding no. Unfortunately for me, some of the latest issues of X-Men titles made the connection between my actual homeland and my fictional favorite Island-state clearer and clearer. I don’t know if the writers meant to make the connections I see, but they are there and in order to truly understand what we’ve seen as the road to Fall of X is being published we need to look at the triangle of Israel, Anti-Zionism, and Anti-Semitism in real life.

Since we are talking about a volatile subject we do need to put on some very basic ground rules. Many critics of Israel claim Zionist would use the Anti-Semitisim card in order to ignore valid criticism. While my side of the issue needs to understand that not every criticism of Israel is antisemitic, the other side needs to understand that not all Anti-Zionism is automatically not Anti-Semitic. Anti-Semites also use criticism of Israel to ignore criticism of their own anti-semitism. In my opinion, both sides of this equation are not opinions rather basic recognition of reality needed to talk about this issue. The point of this article is not to prove that Israel is the source of all evil or to justify its existence/importance. This is about understanding what the plot of a comic book means to readers living in the real world and vice versa.

The Naive - Krakoa as Ugande.

While I decided to write this specifically during my reading of Duggan’s X-Men issue 23, I think it is best to start at House of X issue 1. It’s hard to ignore the parallels between Krakoa and Israel when Magneto, a Holocaust survivor, is hosting foreign ambassadors in Jerusalem. The new mutant nation was showing what Krakoa is, and what it has to offer to other nations. Host of the Cerebro podcast, Connor Goldsmith, brought up Krakoa as Israel without the Palestinian Issue. Since Krakoa is a newly formed island it can represent the good in the Zionist project without the bad - the fact that the country was formed in a land that was already populated. As an Israeli who is temporarily living in the US, this seems to be a desire shared by many left wing jews who want to love Israel but feel like they cannot due to the plight of the Palesstinians. Jonathan Hickman himself, while being a guest on said podcast, said that Magneto represented a form of politics evolved and better than humanity’s politics.

This aspiration, formed out of both of these hopes, reminded me of two Zionist naive works. The first one is a parody song by the Israeli comedic trio “Ma Ka’shur” - Why Not Ugande. The song, released in 2008 celebrating the 60th anniversary of the state of Israel, claims that Theodore Hertzel, as a symbol for the entirety of the Zionist leadership, was wrong to decline the British Uganda Scheme to create a Jewish national home in Uganda instead of our ancestral homeland. The chorus of the song begins with the words “Why not Uganda, why not Uganda, we do not go on busses” refering to the waves of suicide bombers who bombed Israeli busses during the time of the Oslo Agreement and during the first couple of years of the second Initifada. This naive view of the early days of the Zionist movement assumes that the Zionist project would not be opposed in Uganda.

The other work is from the writings of Rav Avraham Issac Kook, a rabbi who’s writing would eventually be the basis of the contemporary Religious Zionisim movement in Israel. Rav Kook was heavily influenced by European philosophers who believed that WWI was the last war in history. In his most famous book “Orot” (Lights in Hebrew) he writes “We have left the global political stage [after the destruction of the second temple and the beginning of the Diaspora YT] due to an external source forcing us, in a way that also reflected our inner wishes. Until that glorious time where a kingdom can be run without wickedness and cruelty.” (Orot, Lights out of Darkness, War, Passage 3)

Thinking that if only Zionism went a few dozen miles to the side everything would be perfect is as silly as saying that WWI is the last war in history and that’s why the Zionist project is going to be perfect. But this silly naivety can also become insidious. Krakoa started out as a perfect nation, harming no one while helping everyone. But that wasn’t enough. Setting the bar for what humanity expects of Krakoa so high that no other country could ever pass it, while expecting the mutant nation to do it is a ruse. Even when they ran a seemingly perfect country it wasn’t enough because Krakao’s actions were never the issue. Not when Krakoa is morally wrong, not when it is morally right. From its birth, Krakoa could never be accepted by those who prosecuted mutants. The problem would always be the existence of Krakoa because the world that hates and fears mutants cannot accept that they would have control over their own future.

The Good - Krakoan Pharmawashing

Since its inception the island nation of Krakoa has performed many outreach programs. The krakoan miracle drugs were the big opener of the nation’s international activities, the X-Men team built and lived in the tree house to help people outside of the island and now we’ve also seen Mutant First Strike, a team meant to act as disaster relief. It would be one thing if those efforts would simply fail to move the needle of public opinion towards mutants, but we see how these efforts are being used in anti mutant/Krakoa propaganda.

The mutant medicines are seen in the pages of X-Force and Wolverine to be a point of contention by those who oppose the island nation. In X-Men 22 we even see that Orchis are blaming mutants for poisoning their medicines. Sure, the lie is because Orchis are the ones who put the poison in, but all I could see is Krakoa being blamed for poisoning wells. Israel was also accused several times in poisoning wells, but the source for these rumors seem to come not out of fact, since those haven’t been presented, but out of the centuries old antisemitic trope of Jews poisoning wells.

In the real world, Israel is being blamed for “Pinkwashing the Occupation”; later on it also evolved to other issues like Veganwashing. The pinkwashing campaign does not mean that the good Israel does can not cancel out its wrongs, which is an actual critique. It started, back in 2010 as a critique saying the Israeli government uses its LGBT community to hide our atrocities. It also evolved, and today, in its extreme form Israel is blamed that many of the good we do (such as promoting green energy and vegan products) are only done in order that we can continue and oppress the Palestinian people. Every other country has done both good and evil, and reasonable people can see that a country, or people, can be both at the same time. But if you view a group as demonic then even its best qualities must be viewed in that light.

The Bad - Why Is It always Sentinels

I started writing this after reading X-Men 23. In this issue, Orchis, a global union of many anti-mutant groups, use of a sentinel as a proposed vehicle for peace and feint of ignorance made my blood boil. Orchis propaganda claims they “do not know” why the X-Men decided to attack a sentinel. The intentional use of Sentinels, the most recognized symbol of mutant oppression, is not foreign to me. While being accused of being a Nazi is pretty common for most people on the internet, it’s different when it’s used against the victims of that regime. When Roger Waters wanted to ‘criticize’ Israel he chose to do so wearing Nazi uniforms. Many Arab countries who ethnically cleansed their Jewish population blame Israel for committing that act, without an inch of recognition for what they did to the ancient Jewish Communities they used to have. The choice of Sentinels was not meant only to bait a response from the X-Men, it was meant to hurt them by reminding them all of their shared trauma.

The only thing I was missing in the issue was the claim that Orchis isn’t Anti Mutant, it is simply Anti-Krakoa. But Duggan already wrote that scene in his original Marauders run at the Dawn of X. And while it is not said explicitly here, Orchis are asking us to believe that the use of sentinels is not out of mutant hatred but due to something else. The idea that mutants shouldn’t attack a sentinel is absurd, but claiming that mutants are not allowed to defend themselves in face of clear aggression actually does makes sense. Because even after Israel spent decades developing a defensive technology that doesn’t hurt any Palestinian, we are still being blamed for using it, as famously seen made by Jon Oliver regarding the Iron Dome. In the last year we have seen so much bad spewing out of Krakoa, but the hatred came before all of that. Krakoa is primed to be a quick excuse for mutant hating bigots, just like Israel is used by many anti-semites regardless of all the bad and good that comes out of my country.

One of the common conceptions surrounding X-Men comics is that the mutant metaphor is problematic since minorities are in a position of weakness while mutants have super powers. But while Jews and Israelis do not shoot lasers from the eyes we are at the bottom of every conspiracy theory. From space lasers from the right to being blamed for American police brutality on the left, we are attributed fictional powers and being blamed for them long before the forming of Zionism as a modern political movement in 1880. Krakoa isn’t Israel, it is better than we could ever hope to be and it is worse than we will be able to become. Krakoa is mostly a fictional state, something that we will never be again. So the answer to Israel-Palestinian conflict would not be found in the Fall of X, but looking at the hatred, be it justified or Antisemitic, surrounding Israel is a great way to write visceral scenes that sticks with the reader. Especially now as things are about to take a turn for the worse for my favorite made up nation.

I do not know what the Fall of X has in store for us. I truly hope we are not about to witness the end of Krakoa, but I know it’s a possible outcome. Both from watsonian and the doylist perspective Krakoa was always going to fail. In the pages of Powers Of X issue 6 we learned that Xavier, Magneto, and Moira , the founders of Krakoa, knew the threats that are facing this miracle island and are not sure they will make it in the long run. From an industry perspective, many fans simply assume that Krakoa can’t last since every big change in comics gets pushed back eventually into the status quo. Not to mention that no one thinks that the MCU is going to let Krakoa in.

Even if Krakoa doesn’t fall, the threat of the destruction of the nation is on full display in previews we’ve seen. And that’s the point, most countries in the world are not under constant threat of complete annihilation, but Krakoa and Israel are. When we criticize most nation we demand a regime change, not promoting relocating millions of people, but that is always the explicit goal of anti Krakoa and Anti-Zionist campaigns. You do not have to support Israel in order to be a “true” X-Men fan, but it is my opinion that the best way to understand this age of comics, and the best way to write it, is to lean in on the Israel metaphor.

#x-men #fallofx #marvel comics #fall of x #Krakoa #writing

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rei-ismyname · 11 months ago

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This was definitely true in like, the 2000s (and in TV/movies.) Nowadays, I'd change Cyclops to 'The Narrative.' If the central premise is interrogated it doesn't stand up very well, but that would cause the X-Men to change (a good thing imo) - something Marvel wishes to avoid. So instead of a dialectic paradigm Xavier's 'dream' is presented uncritically as a correct and fully realised political and ideological position.

Starting with Magneto way back in the 60s, other approaches or ideologies are always reacting to Xavier's 'dream' but they're ridiculous and illogical, completely unfeasible and generally personified by lunatics and extremists. Magneto, for example, was right that humans were always going to try to kill them, but his position is undercut by the aforementioned narrative presentation. Repeat ad infinitum. Decades pass and *millions* of mutants die. The 'dream' is never truly challenged or built upon - it's been around for so long it's acquired narrative weight - so dense it suffocates even the tiniest ideological shift.

By the time Cyclops is holding it up by itself the dream has become a nightmare. Editorial decree required 'no more mutants' which not only depowered all but ~198, no new mutants were being born. The Extinction era. One would think a subspecies on the verge of extinction would be concerned exclusively with survival. The genocidal threats haven't gone anywhere, after all - indeed every threat by definition is a genocidal one. The X-Men become in truth what they've always been - an army. The Dream itself was never explicitly pointed at as a failure, but the way the characters acted changed. Almost everyone deferred (including Magneto and Xavier) to Cyclops as a John Connor military leader and symbol.

This would have been the perfect time to take the Dream to task for the childish ideology and abject failure it is, but that didn't happen. Xavier himself was knocked off his pedestal and rejected for being a manipulative and deceitful jerk with countless violations of consent, but not the dream. They knew they'd need it again.

A...lot happened between 2010 and 2019. Wolverine deciding kids shouldn't be trained to fight and restarted the school, naming it after Jean Grey. (Nobody seemed to mention that the school had always been a paramilitary academy, and the narrative kept all the genocidal threats away from it to prove him right and demonise Cyclops.) War with the Avengers. New Mutants start being born. A bunch of other shit that's honestly very skippable.

In 2019 they all moved to Krakoa and built a fully automated gay sci fi communist utopia. The separatist aspect (or as I call it, a safe space) was explicitly an evolution and compromise with the dream. Mutants had it better than ever. I've got a few drafts with my thoughts on this era bc it was amazing, and I'll finish those at some point, but it's over now. For frankly forced and silly reasons, it's referred to as if it was a failure (Mistakes were made, to be sure, but no more than any other country - most of whom didn't have to deal with constant genocides and a digital God. It's only a failure bc poochie died on the way back to his home planet.) Xavier is in a hectic jail and everyone has to begin again. It's the perfect time to dream a new dream without the suffocating presence of the old. All the setup is there, even Magneto has learned that there's no war but class war.

Will they interrogate their mission statement and graduate to mature political actors? Will the promise be followed up on? We'll see. I'll definitely be watching and asking this question. I don't have much respect for Tom Brevoort, tbh. His Spider-Man 'manifesto' was illogical and full of factual holes - his personal nostalgia disguised as analysis. Fan response was mixed and sales went down. Somehow he failed up and is 'Conductor of X' - Chief Editor of the X-Line and characters I believe. His comments and edicts so far have been milquetoast and give me the same vibes as his Spider-Man 'manifesto.' I hope it will be, and I hope it'll be fun and fresh - so I'll leave it there. On hope. With a 'dream' if you will lol.

#x men #cyclops #charles xavier #tom brevoort #marvel #don't fuck this up

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