#perfect way to retcon his character like ann did in book 2

[lachemisenoire]

Ok hear me out

I know it's the oldest soap trope in the world (but let's face it IWTV is basically a soapy gay gothic vampire horror)

and I know it's not in the books

what if Lestat wakes up with fucking AMNESIA

[sacrificedtoatree]

Thoughts on Almost Nowhere

Almost Nowhere is over, so here's my reaction post. I was going to call it "Thoughts on the Almost Nowhere ending" but then I rambled all over and didn't just talk about the ending.

This post is FULL of spoilers for Almost Nowhere, all after the cut.

First, wow there were some very good fakeouts in those last few chapters.

1) I was sure that the Beasts were going to use the Wish-Power once more, in defiance of Everywhere-Heaven. Didn't see Twenty-Five just shooting her before they had time.

2) I was sure that the final chapter would end with something like, “But really, we can’t know which new story Twenty-Seven will choose. We are a part of the old story, and we cannot follow her to the moment of choice. It is not for us.” Especially with how careful our authors have been so far to convey to us that they only know what they were able to find out as a group of characters.

____

I like that the final chapter recalled the world of Anne’s tower again. It hadn’t been such a major presence in Act 3. But really, the completely-real-seeming world of the Annes was one of the big original draws of Almost Nowhere. The bizarre writing of “Ratleak”, the way the Annes just accepted everything as perfectly normal and only casually mentioned things that were totally different from the real world.

In fact, I have a specific memory from early chapters. When Cordelia mentioned that Anne was being kept in a “fucked-up crash” and proceeded to rescue her in Chapter 3, I was kinda disappointed. I thought that the weirdness of Anne’s world, the hook that had grabbed me in the very first few pages, was being demoted to backstory, that it being just one example of a type made it a little smaller, that Michael was being revealed as the equivalent of, say, some random cult in the middle of nowhere that’s got a few people kidnapped.

Of course, I was totally wrong. Anne's tower is explored to a great extent in Act 2, both in terms of the aesthetics and day to day experience of living there and in terms of plot implications!

____

In his post for new readers, Robnost mentions that he really got serious about plotting in Chapter 13.

It’s hard to tell now if I can tell that, or noticed the transition as it was happening. For me:

The first two chapters are fucking perfect.

(Like seriously, it’s hard to tell that anything wasn’t planned out when rereading the first two chapters, and hard to imagine any of their individual paragraphs being more perfectly written)

Then the chapters start to feel a little more like stuff is being thrown at the wall, as new plot elements accrue quickly (though even then ... early Cordelia chapters make a lot more sense in retrospect than they did at the time).

If there’s a low point, it’s the Stein on Stein’s Rock chapter. This chapter has some of the only elements that seem like Robnost throwing things at the wall in a way that didn’t stick. Most specifically, WTF is the Social Web, why are they in space, and in what context would an organization called the “Geometric Brotherhood” be a part of Almost Nowhere? My impression is that Rob noticed this and retconned it with that Annabel monologue.

Then by chapter 11 and 12, it feels like things are coming together and there’s a plan again. I remember Chapter 13, but as a step on that path, not a new direction - but I do have some memory that I noticed it as a particularly [i]longer[/i] chapter than usual for that point.

(But now I look back and it doesn't seem particularly long, though the early chapters do seem unusually short for AN)

Then Aidan’s MM lecture blew me away. The ending of the chapter, with all those plot elements briefly teased and then hidden for another third of the book, was brutal, and brutally effective. And also served to tell me that from then on, it wouldn’t be any kind of crapshoot whether a chapter was good or not.

____

If I could change something in Almost Nowhere, I’d just … make the finale a little shorter?

Rob said he imagined the final section being “fast and explosive”. It did feel that way during the serial chapters. But then, the last block of six dropped and the final act ended up being nearly as long as 1 and 2 put together.

I feel like it would be better if Act 2 had remained the longest act? When I look back over Almost Nowhere, it at least seems to have the largest amount of "differing stuff" in it.

Not a word could be shaved off of Sylvie's physics essay though.

____

btw, Thank You Rob for not having all the characters just give in and accept the alleged moral supremacy of Everywhere-Heaven. I don't like being mugged.

Things I’m still wondering about: the Titanomachy. I was sure it would be revealed that the Alpha Centauri Surface Civilization had fought the Anomalings before, and that was what the “bombs that can kill gods” stuff was about. But apparently Titans are a [i]different[/i] thing created by the Alpha Centauri Surface Civilization?

But wait, the ACSC must have fought the Anomalings at some point, right? How would they still be around otherwise, if they’re stack-users?

I’m interested in Sylvie’s plans for future humanity, but I don’t need to, like, actually understand them. I don't understand the anti-language plague at all. Do feel like some of the big plot tensioners just went away (the Beasts encroaching on Advanced Containment and Hector’s desire to use it for rebase if Anne won’t use Michael’s crash). Though I like that Hector's actually willing to talk. All in all there's enough resolution.

The last chapter is excellent. It truly ties up the main arc. Act 1 interrupted Twenty-Six's orderly universe, Act 2 had Twenty-Six learn to be Twenty-Seven and explore all the secrets and implications of Michael’s crash, and the biggest thing hanging over and driving the plot of Act 3 was what Twenty-Seven would do when it was finally time to rebase Michael's crash. And I was truly surprised by her decision! But I can understand why she made it, and it fits well with the themes (these characters really need to work with what they've got instead of obsessing over what really poisoned the world at its root). And I really liked the little scene with Twenty-Six at the end. Takes us all the way back to the beginning.

I can't believe this thing is really over! I've been obsessing over it since sometime last summer. Looking back I was really lucky to get into it in Spring 2022 when Rob was updating regularly ... I think I had the perfect amount of time to enjoy being a serial reader but not to get frustrated at how long I had to wait for answers.

And now I have the answers. Or at least, enough of them.

Thanks, Rob.

[showmey0urfangs]

I read the books and I know how the story unfolds, but it bothers me a little that a lot of readers can't wait to brand Louis a liar and call into question the entirety of s1. They stress again and again that Claudia was manipulative and that she hated them both, but in the show she is older, she doesn't need Louis to stay alive and she was ready to leave on her own. She genuinely thought that Louis would be better off without Lestat. Even in the books (that were written as a complete retcon since Anne decided that Lestat was her self insert character) Lestat admitted that Claudia was completely justified for doing what she did and that he would have done the same. Oddly enough, for a lot of people the two black characters are manipulative liars who didn't listen to Lestat and so it's their fault if Claudia died horribly, while Lestat was the innocent one whose reputation has been tarnished by evil Louis. Unfortunately many white viewers can't see past that, but since the show has decided to deal with race issues, things are complicated and everything needs to be addressed differently. I hope s2 doesn't really end with Louis attempting suicide and Lestat appearing out of nowhere to save him. White savior trope at its finest.

Hi Nonnie. I agree that the characters in the show are quite different from their book counterparts and the story will unfold very differently as a result. So using the books as a surefire way to predict season 2 is misguided imo.

And as I was discussing in another post, it's not just Louis and Claudia who are different, it's Lestat too. He's no longer a naive 21-year-old vampire fledgling. He's now a fully grown 34-year-old man and a very powerful vampire with more than a century of experience under his belt. It would be weird for him to make the same misguided decisions he does in the books.

So again, expecting the show characters to behave exactly like their book counterparts makes no sense within the context of the story.

On the issue of race, I've spoken before about how happy—and frankly, surprised—I was with the way it was handled in season 1. But, I have since read and heard some things both from Rolin and the other main writer, Hannah Moscovitch (who I'm not a fan of, to say the least) that gave me pause and made me question some of their decisions.

I choose to stay hopeful that season 2 will continue to navigate these complex issues with deftness until proven otherwise but...the choice to have Lestat as the only white one out of the four main characters has so many implications and it can quickly veer into a disaster if not handled carefully. Especially if they follow Anne's route of retconning him into a Mary Sue extraordinaire while everyone else fades into the background.

And yeah, the optics of discrediting and vilifying the other characters (who just happen to all be POCs) in order to absolve Lestat of all wrongdoing would not be great. But at the same time, I DO want complex and morally grey POC characters because that's what good representation is. Making them all perfect little angels would be boring, patronizing, not to mention terrible writing.

I guess we will have to wait and see. I try not to get too caught up in speculating and theorizing because I would burn myself out and it would probably sour my enjoyment of season 2 once it comes out.

My advice is to carefully curate your timeline because chances are, the people chomping at the bit to see Louis and Claudia punished or Armand revealed as the sole villain are probably people you don't want to be interacting with anyway. So I suggest using your block button generously. 😊

[sananaryon]

I posted 382 times in 2021

7 posts created (2%)

375 posts reblogged (98%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 53.6 posts.

I added 697 tags in 2021

#reblog - 352 posts

#art - 165 posts

#amphibia - 64 posts

#melanie king - 23 posts

#sasha - 23 posts

#magnus archives - 18 posts

#anne - 17 posts

#sashannarcy - 12 posts

#she ra - 12 posts

#marcy - 11 posts

Longest Tag: 100 characters

#that they forgot that a star wars movie is ultimately a western-samurai-fantasy-warmovie set in spce

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

I may be somewhat obsessed with the jedi from Star Wars Visions “The Village Bride”

8 notes • Posted 2021-10-05 00:41:40 GMT

#4

 Shipping characters based on their chemistry and backstory? Broke.

Shipping characters based on that one time you and another player emoted at each other? Bespoke.

9 notes • Posted 2021-06-03 14:35:08 GMT

#3

Val So I just bought Van Richten’s guide to Ravenloft, and I thought I would write out a first impressions review.

(I got the alt cover)

I love this book. Ravenloft was already my favorite D&D setting, and this book did it all the justice in the world. It doesn’t cover every domain, obviously, and half of them are only covered in summary, but the ones it does it does a full writeup on are absolutely amazing. The changes made to the setting all make sense and work either as just better storytelling or to remove some of the iffier elements of old Ravenloft. I have only read the first half so far though, so it might do a 180 from now on, but from what I’ve looked at, doesn’t seem like it.

The whole thing is quite clearly not intended as a continuation of the 3e ravenloft, with a lot of darklords being rewritten (more on that below) either slightly or entirely, not to mention that the domains are no longer directly connected as a continent, but floating independently in the mists. At the same time, some domains are clearly the same as the previous editions, but with time having passed. In Darkon, the darklord escaped as he was always trying to do, and the domain is facing the consequences, and the darklord of Valachan (one of the more blatantly racist darklords depicted back then) was recently deposed and replaced, as opposed to simply being retconed out of existence. It’s fun and interesting.

The Best (because everything is good)

The book opens on letters between Van Richten and his students, it’s all found family and I love it.

The darklords are all immensely well-written. Most of them are given some changes from previous editions to update them with the time or just make them better written. Notably, at lot of them are given gender flips, but the rewrites obviously extends to more than that. Sometimes it’s the lords that are rewritten heavily, other times they just change a few elements and instead put the focus on the domain itself, and how the Darklord fits into it. I especially loved the take on Falkovnia as a zombie apocalypse, with a darklord willing to do anything to retain power.

There are of course other characters. Seems they realized that having a beloved character burn in hell was a bad idea, so Jander Sunstar is back in the mists where he belongs. They actually combined his story with the classic House on Gryphon Hill module that has been ignored since 2nd edition, and they did it in a way that makes perfect sense within the timeline, even after stating that any inconsistency in the setting should be handwaved by “The mists did it.” It’s great, I love it.

WOTC seriously stepped up their diversity game in this. Dr. Mordenheim has been rewritten as WLW, having met her gf while they were both out graverobbing. Of course she died, can’t have shit in Ravenloft, but said gf is now the new version of Mordenheim’s monster, and has actual agency rather than being stuck in a tube (she is also so pretty)! There’s also two of van Richten’s new students (bringing the total number up to five), who are a pair of gay detectives, and Erasmus van Richten (who’s ‘alive’ again) is canonically aromantic. That’s just the stuff I got from a cursory glance, since I haven’t gotten further than Bluetspur in terms of domains. The illustrations also enforce this, both Harkon Lucas (a darklord) and the Weathermay-Foxgrove twins (heroic vampire hunters) are POC, as well as a ton minor and major POC characters.

Speaking of domains, if you didn’t get the impression already, they are extremely well written, and are notably different from each other. None of them are generic gothic horror (aside from Barovia). Obviously that wasn’t a problem in the old ravenloft either, but I’m praising all I got damnit, and I just read the section of Bluetspur (Mind Flayer domain) and it is evocative as hell. Other than those two, there’s also Valachan for some good old jungle survival horror, Dementlieu for the masquerade, Richumelot for the plague-ridden court intrigue.

Adding on that, the way each domain is set up is fantastic! A description of the domain, the main features, the darklord and some plothooks for an adventure, all of which is highly evocative.

So obviously a lot of the old Ravenloft wouldn’t fly in 5th edition, and WOTC did take steps to work on that. Some elements are just straight up removed entirely, like Hazlik’s whole gender shit or the vistani’s “evil romani thing”, while other stuff is waved away, like the formerly only black darklord being a panther-turned-into-a-human having been killed at some point and replaced with another black darklord, this time just a weretiger, which is slightly better, and, as I mentioned, there are more POC people now, yay! I also loved that they went nuts with the possible reincarnations of Tatyana. The list includes a pair of twins, several boys (Strahd is bisexual yo) and a dragonborn.

Even the domains that aren’t given a full writeup are still given a short description, which is so evocative that I honestly like some of them more than the main domains. My personal favorites are Cyre 1313, the Mourning Rail, the last train out of Cyre when the mourning hit and killed everyone aboard thanks to the cruelty of one passenger delaying them, and the crumbling domain of Klorr, where a mad clockworker remakes a broken world.

Obviously, there’s also the “make a domain” feature. I didn’t read it too carefully, but I loved the exploration of different genres of horror.

Speaking of, it’s a bare minimum thing I know, but the book has content warnings! Mostly just “this is a horror book, expect horror content”, but it’s a step in the right direction. Also, when listing each genre of horror contained therein, the book takes a moment on several of them to mention common pitfalls of that genre (like the stigmatization of mental illness seen in a lot of psychological horror), and advices DMs to avoid them.

I don’t care too much about mechanics beyond monsters, so I won’t say much about the classes and races. They’re good, and I love the fluff around the Reborn lineage.

The art is amazing and there are so many pretty girls, help.

The only things I have to complain about is that there wasn’t enough

There were not enough monsters in this book. Only a few classic monsters return, and the darklords aren’t given proper statblocks, only generic ones from the manual. I get the point of having the darklords not be scary because they’re powerful, but it feels wasted that Mordenheim is just a generic Spy. She’s supposed to be a mad scientist! They didn’t even reprint Strahd or his zombies!

Bit of an odd one, but, while they did a great job of removing the iffy parts of the Vistani, I feel like they may have gone a bit overboard. Curse of Strahd, for all its faults, at least gave you an impression of the vibrant vistani culture. In Van Richten’s Guide, the vistani writeup is borderline generic, amounting to “They’re travellers and traders who can safely traverse the mists”. Not even any pictures that give an impression of how Vistani tend to dress.

In conclusion, while I will never say that a company deserves your money, the writers of this book deserves that you take a moment to read it because it is so good!!!

30 notes • Posted 2021-05-31 00:58:08 GMT

#2

I was so certain that Luz would end up keeping Goldieboy’s staff at the end of that episode, so here’s her dual-wielding like a badass.

43 notes • Posted 2021-07-30 11:08:10 GMT

#1

“Let’s make a quick sketch for a glitra au”

-A fool who proceeded to do lineart, coloring and shading.

146 notes • Posted 2021-03-22 18:09:57 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[aion-rsa]

X-ecutioners: X-Force’s 15 Deadliest Members

Ever since creators Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld launched “New Mutants” #100 in 1991, X-Force’s defining trait has been its aggressively proactive approach to protecting mutantkind. Even after the X-Men reluctantly took up a more militant stance under the leadership of Cyclops, X-Force also kicked its activities up a notch, becoming a black ops-style mutant kill squad designed to end potential threats before they escalated into real menaces.

RELATED: I Can’t Believe It’s Not Deadpool: The 15 Best Non-Deadpool Deadpools

Distinguished from the rest of the X-Men by a willingness (some would argue an expectation) to use deadly force on their missions, it’s no wonder “Deadpool 2” writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have been tapped to lay the groundwork for a future “X-Force” film. With Cable and Domino already confirmed to appear in the blockbuster sequel, can an “X-Force” movie be far behind? With that question in mind, we couldn’t help but compile a list of X-Force’s most dangerous members.

SPOILER ALERT! Spoilers ahead for numerous stories published by Marvel Comics.

DEATHLOK

Thanks to the perils of time travel, alternate realities and liberal retcons, there have been several versions of Deathlok over the years. The Deathlok-Prime who joined X-Force after the death of his creator first appeared in “Weapon X” #11 and hailed from a parallel universe, where the evil mega-corporation Roxxon had taken over the world. Prime was the product of a clandestine Weapon Plus program that successfully used reanimated corpses to create an army of cyborg super soldiers and secure a potential future timeline policed by the Deathlok Nation.

His cybernetic enhancements and ability to accurately predict highly-probable future timelines make him a dangerous foe, but what chills us to the bone about Deathlok is his onboard A.I.’s ability to cede control to his psychotic serial killer host. Eventually, he would take a position teaching the next generation of X-Men at the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning, which we’re sure seemed like a good idea at the time. Anybody want to sign up for Serial Killing 101? We thought not.

SHATTERSTAR

This founding member of X-Force first appeared in “New Mutants” #99 as a refugee from a future Mojoworld tasked with bringing the X-Men back to his home dimension to help him liberate his people from Mojo’s twisted, despotic rule. A highly-skilled warrior raised in Mojo’s gladiatorial arenas, Shattterstar is the progeny of the mutant Dazzler and Longshot, himself a legendary revolutionary who fought against Mojo’s regime and the beneficiary of some of his son’s DNA, making Shatterstar his own grandfather. Probably best not to think on that fact too much. Thankfully, neither of his parents remembers his birth due to some convenient time travelling hijinks.

None of this makes Shatterstar particularly dangerous, simply a little weird and overwrought. What does make him dangerous is his willingness to use deadly force whenever necessary without a second thought, a precedent that was set early in his tenure with X-Force. Just ask Reaper of the Mutant Liberation Front. Shatterstar used his trademark double-bladed swords to dismember the mutant terrorist on three separate occasions.

FERAL

Another Nicieza-Liefeld creation who debuted in the seminal “New Mutants” #99, Feral was definitely a product of her times, an early example of the bloodthirsty antihero archetype that seemed a staple of virtually every comic published during the ‘90s. At least her codename didn’t have the word “blood” in it, although it easily could have, judging by her love of violence. A mutant born with innate lion-like abilities and an untameable personality in keeping with her name, Feral clawed her way free of a horrific upbringing by murdering her father and mother. She also may have been complicit in the deaths of two younger siblings, but no evidence exists pointing to their murders.

Like many bestial comic book characters, Feral struggled to keep her animalistic tendencies in check. Tragically, she never really found the knack in the same way Wolverine or even her sister Thornn did. However, it was this unpredictability and hair-trigger temper that made her so deadly, something her teammates learned early on, when she nearly disembowelled teammate Cannonball during a simple training exercise.

MARROW

Like our last entry, Marrow was another example of ‘90s comics sensibilities taken to their furthest logical (or illogical) conclusion. Once again seemingly based on the Wolverine antihero archetype, Marrow was created by Jeph Loeb and David Brewer, and first appeared in “Cable” #15 as a member of the mutant terrorist group called Gene Nation. Born with the ability to control the growth of her bones, Marrow was raised amongst the Morlocks in a brutal alternate dimension, gaining her membership in Mikhail Rasputin’s Gene Nation by literally killing her way to the top of the heap. As a member of Gene Nation, Marrow launched a brutal terrorist campaign on normal humans.

Upon joining up with the X-Men, she struggled to control her murderous tendencies. Her greatest claim to fame while with the team was shoving one of her patented bone knives into Wolverine’s throat during a sparring session. Although she lost her powers during Decimation, a re-empowered Marrow joined Cable’s reformed X-Force team. During their battle with Volga, the man who re-powered her, it was revealed that a despondent Marrow tragically lost her unborn child during the process to regain her powers.

DOMINO

The woman known as Domino was created by Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld (surprise, surprise) and first appeared in “X-Force” #8. Although a mutant, Domino’s birth wasn’t random. Her birth is the result of a clandestine government-sponsored breeding program dedicated to the creation of the Perfect Weapon. Domino shares a long history with X-Force founder Cable, serving beside him in Six Pack, his old mercenary outfit. She’s been a fixture of various X-Force teams over the years, often serving as leader during Cable’s frequent absences during her initial tenure with the group.

Although Domino’s powers are subconscious by nature, typically activated when she’s threatened by impending injury, her mutant abilities aren’t what makes her so dangerous. As one of the most accomplished mercenary spies in the biz, it’s Domino’s no-nonsense attitude and willingness to make the hard choices that make her so deadly. During her time with Six Pack, the unit was known for mowing down crowds of people to achieve their goals. Her ruthlessness is perhaps best illustrated by her assassination of Flagsmasher, which paved the way for Cable’s liberation of the 198 mutants who survived M-Day.

SPIRAL

Arguably the most purely evil entry on our list, perennial X-Men villain Spiral first appeared in “Longshot” #1, created by Ann Nocenti and Art Adams. Spiral was once the Earthborn stuntwoman “Ricochet” Rita Wayword who was transformed by Mojo, the ruler of the Mojoverse, after she attempted to help her friend Longshot overthrow the tyrant’s all-powerful dictatorship. She was then sent back to the past to attack Longshot and her younger self. A six-armed cyborg sorceress with the ability to traverse the multiverse, Rita’s drastic physical transformation paled in comparison to the damage done to her mind, after it was expanded to perceive multiple dimensions.

She is an extremely powerful sorceress – one of seven who were flagged as potential successors to Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Strange – who combines science and magic to startling effect. After Mojo exiled her to Earth for failing to kill Longshot, Spiral opened up the Body Shoppe, manufacturing cybernetic limbs and weapons systems for various clients including the Reavers and Lady Deathstrike. Although later retcons would transfer the Reavers creation to Donald Pierce, there was no undoing the alternate timeline Spiral conquered, where she was known as the Apocalypse after killing most of the world’s heroes and mutants.

BISHOP

First appearing in “Uncanny X-Men” #282, the time-displaced mutant known as Bishop was born in dystopian alternate reality, where mutants were branded and forced into detention camps. After the Summers Rebellion freed mutantkind from their Sentinel–backed human overlords, Bishop joined the X.S.E. (the Xavier Security Enforcers) in an attempt to police his own kind. It was during one of his X.S.E. missions that Bishop was transported to the primary Marvel 616 continuity, where he became a valued member of the X-Men. Plagued by the memories of his horrific future, Bishop’s outlook was dramatically altered by the events of M-Day.

Although he was one of the lucky few to retain his mutant abilities post-Decimation, became more zealous in his defense of mutantkind, culminating in his attempt to kill the first mutant born after M-Day, whom he believed would usher in his dystopian timeline. After Cable saved the baby from Bishop, the pair embarked on a cross-time war of attrition, which Bishop willingly escalated into mass murder, thanks to numerous traps scattered throughout the timeline that killed millions. Now, that’s freaking deadly.

WARPATH

The younger brother of legendary X-Man Thunderbird, James Proudstar first appeared as one the Hellions in “New Mutants” #14. Under the tutelage of Emma Frost, James rose to leader of the Hellions but left the group for Cable’s first X-Force team, feeling like he no longer fit in to the Hellfire Club’s teenaged mutant strike force. Under Cable’s direction, James honed his fighting skills and underwent a sustained power boost that saw his enhanced senses and strength increase exponentially. Now far more powerful than his brother ever was, James finally stepped out of his long shadow, taking the name Warpath. It was an appropriate name choice considering his future career path.

After the events of M-Day, the protection of the few remaining empowered mutants became the X-Men’s priority, so James was tapped for a membership on the new version of X-Force that was created to target and eliminate threats to mutantkind with extreme prejudice. He was finally able to lay his brother’s soul to rest during the events of Necrosha, plunging the vampiric Black Queen’s own knife into her chest, killing her (for the time being, at least).

PSYLOCKE

In a medium noted for its love of retcons, reboots and resurrections, there are perhaps few heroes who have changed as drastically as Psylocke. The mutant telepathic sister of Captain Britain, Betsy Braddock first appeared way back in 1976 in “Captain Britain” #8. Originally, Betsy was your typical telepath, with very little to distinguish her from others of her ilk, aside from a brief stint as Captain Britain. After a run-in with the Marauders during the Mutant Massacre, Psylocke joined the X-Men and was with them when they “died” after passing through the Siege Perilous. Betsy would resurface in Madripoor, where she would undergo her most dramatic transformation after the Hand transferred her consciousness into the body of one of their most feared assassins.

Betsy was effectively transformed into a telepathic Elektra capable of skewering your psyche at the same time that she’s skewering your body. Her new abilities naturally made her a perfect choice for various incarnations of X-Force. During the “Dark Angel Saga,” Betsy showed her willingness to make the hard calls, when she stabbed her lover Archangel with the Life Seed, killing him and preventing his ascension into the role of Apocalypse.

FANTOMEX

Fantomex is quite possibly the most unpredictable entry on our list. His vaguely defined abilities, narcissistic personality and connections to the Weapon Plus program ensure even his teammates aren’t entirely sure what side he’s really on. Created by Grant Morrison and Igor Kordey during their classic run on “New X-Men,” Fantomex is the product of decades of Weapon Plus research, the same program responsible for the creation of everyone from Captain America to Wolverine. Sharing the Canucklehead’s patented healing factor and enhanced senses, Fantomex also possesses three brains, an external nervous system in the form of EVA and the ability to cast convincing illusions.

Although he’s shown moments of selflessness, Fantomex is at his core a survivalist and a cold-blooded killer, willing to follow through on threats even his fellow X-Force assassins thought crossed the line. In the events leading up to the “Dark Angel Saga”, Fantomex was the only one with the intestinal fortitude to pull the trigger on the infant clone of Apocalypse, after his teammates decided to save him. He eventually went insane after gaining god-like new abilities, prompting Hope Summers and his former lover Psylocke to fry his brains.

WOLVERINE (LAURA KINNEY)

Laura Kinney first appeared as the teenaged killing machine X-23 in the pages of “NYX” #4, created by Craig Kyle and Chris Yost. A clone created from the damaged genetic material of her “father” Wolverine, Laura struggles to reconcile her conflicting human and bestial natures, in much the same way as the long-time X-Man. She was trained to be the ultimate killing machine by her creators in the Weapon Plus splinter cell known as the Facility, who initiated her murderous tendencies with genetically-implanted trigger scents.

Although she would seemingly overcome her trigger scent programming, Laura would continue to use lethal force throughout her career. This is perhaps best illustrated by her assassination of Matthew Risman, a mutant-hating Purifier she initially tried to kill by secretly planting explosives around his base, without informing her teammates. Although the destruction of his headquarters failed to kill him, Laura completed the mission the old-fashioned way, with a bullet to the brain. Thankfully, Laura has been far less reckless ever since taking up the mantle of Wolverine, far more concerned with living up to her late father’s noble legacy.

DEADPOOL

If there’s anybody left on the face of the planet who doesn’t know the Merc with a Mouth, then they’re likely already a victim of the infamous “dead pool.” Created by Louise Simonson and Rob Liefeld, Wade Wilson first appeared in the now-classic “New Mutants” #98 as a future adversary of Cable’s inaugural X-Force team. Although it would take several years for the Deadpool we all know and love to evolve from the one-dimensional villain that plagued his future teammates, Deadpool’s willingness to eliminate targets and rivals alike has always been one of the character’s defining characteristics.

As his blockbuster movie admirably showcased, Deadpool doesn’t just kill people for the sake of expedience. He revels in racking up the body counts in the most inventive ways possible. Driven mad by the process that gave him a suped-up version of Wolverine’s healing factor, Deadpool’s talent for killing is only outstripped by his sadistically comical monologues. Although he’s been the victim of recent attempts to tone down his violent nature in the wake of his monstrous mainstream popularity, there’s no keeping a good merc down and we’re confident he’ll continue to tear up the Marvel Universe with his signature zeal for manic destruction.

WOLVERINE (JAMES HOWLETT)

“I’m the best there is at what I do but what I do isn’t very nice.” While that statement may not be entirely true for this list, there are few other entries who’ve racked up the body count that the original Wolverine has since his first appearance in the iconic “Incredible Hulk” #180. Blessed with enhanced animal senses, retractable adamantium claws and a robust mutant healing factor that has allowed him to survive virtually any injury, Wolverine was a natural born killer in every sense of the word. With innate abilities honed by decades of military training, Wolverine was also one of the most accomplished hand-to-hand combatants in the Marvel Universe, up until his recent death in the appropriately titled “Death of Wolverine” #4.

And yet, none of that is what made him one of the most dangerous men on the planet. Rather, it was his willingness to do whatever was necessary to deliver the killing blow that gave his enemies cause to fear. Case in point: When Cyclops shut X-Force down, it was Wolverine who kept it running on the down-low as little more than an assassination squad.

ARCHANGEL

For years, Warren Worthington III was the dreamy poster boy for human-mutant relations. Along with Beast and perhaps Iceman, he was an integral member of the wider Marvel superhero community, serving as a founding member of both the original Champions and the New Defenders. As a founding member of the X-Men, the Stan Lee and Jack Kirby creation functioned as a key player in several major mutant story arcs. It wasn’t until he lost his original feathered wings during a vicious attack by the Marauders during the notorious Mutant Massacre, that his character took a drastic turn for the worse.

Drafted as the Horseman Death by Apocalypse, Warren embarked on a terrifying campaign of destruction that saw him irrevocably changed physically and mentally by the experience. As a member of X-Force, he was an unpredictable teammate, murdering hundreds of flying Purifiers in a blind rage after the re-emergence of his techno-organic wings. During the “Dark Angel Saga,” the depth of Apocalypse’s malevolent genetic manipulation was revealed, with Warren even having to be put down by his former lover Psylocke after he threatened to become the new Apocalypse. Although he’s since been resurrected with no memory of his past life, it remains to be seen how angelic he truly is.

CABLE

He’s the man with the plan; the X-Men’s very own mutant Captain America. Without Nathan Summers, the man who would come to be known as Cable, mutantkind likely would’ve perished years ago. Created by a comic book brain trust that includes Chris Claremont, Louise Simonson and Rob Liefeld, Cable first appeared as an adult in the pages of “New Mutants” #86. As the offspring of Scott Summers and Jean Grey, Cable was shunted into the future as an infant to protect him from the machinations of Mr. Sinister.

Over time, Cable evolved into an accomplished soldier, who plied his trade in the present as the leader of Six Pack, a mercenary unit notorious for their brutal tactics. He was instrumental in promoting a new more militant approach to protecting mutantkind, resulting in the formation of the original X-Force. His role as guardian of the future of his species remains his defining trait, driving him into conflict with everyone from the Avengers to his own friends and colleagues in the X-Men. A man on a never-ending mission who is always willing to make the killing blow even if it means his own life, there is no more dangerous member of X-Force than its founding father.

What do you mean we didn’t “execute” this list properly? Let us know who we missed in the comments!

The post X-ecutioners: X-Force’s 15 Deadliest Members appeared first on CBR.com.

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