What to do about Magik?
Author's note: The time of, yet another, revamped X-Men has begun. We have three ongoing paths of this rewrite. One - the Age X-Man (where Nathaniel 'Nate' Grey creates a perfect world that is perfect assuming you're Nate and you brainwash everybody to conform to your rather odd ideas of perfection. Two - the return of Scott and Logan (Uncanny X-Men) with some imprisoned Mutants to rescue. And three - the upcoming war of the realms storyline where earth is invaded by the Dark Elves, Storm Giants, Angels, and various bad Asgardians.
The Age of X-Man is rather… simplistic (everybody is a mutant and nobody is allowed to love anybody). It has some fun character interactions, but lacks any deep writing. I suppose it will mostly serve to perform some character modifications and interaction changes (assuming folks remember the interactions, one of which is Jean having a sexual fling with Bishop, I rather wonder if that subplot will continue). Rather looking forward to seeing Apocalypse portrayed as a hippie love preacher, tie-dyed and all; but honestly… I think the Age of X-Man will be very forgettable.
Uncanny X-Men is much better, rather like that the tension is still there between Scott and Logan. They start saving some imprisoned Mutants being used for government experiments. Illyana is one of the locked up Mutants and I love her comment when rescued (she has an inhibitor collar and supposedly some device that blocks her summoning her soul sword). "What took you so long." Reading between the lines, I get the impression she knew Scott and Logan were back. And it looks like a return to moody Illyana and some teammates fearing her (as it should be, only an idiot does not comprehend how dangerous Illyana can be).
And finally the upcoming Mega crossover event, the War of the Realms, which will have side stories involving almost all of the Marvel universe. No idea where Marvel is going with this, other then I think Odin is going to be killed, and Dani has a major sub story (as she is a Valkyrie). No idea if Leah of Hel is going to show up, but this is the perfect opportunity to introduce new Illyana interactions.
This is meant to be a one shot funny chapter as it hypothesizes that the entire Marvel Multi-verse is just a series of virtual reality simulations. The writers and editors are altering the environment and seeing how the characters react. Not Beyonders as those are just part of the simulation, but something… beyond even that I guess. Omnipotent, all powerful, but far from all knowing.
And… well… just what does Marvel have planned for the X-Men, and our favorite hell lord? This is my "musings". Time will tell.
Part 37a: Just why do things happened the way they do?
From: The most high, giver of life, provider of inspiration, director of purpose, he who walks with his eyes held high, receiver of great bonuses, the signer of paychecks, source of promotions, the man with the plan, the big cheese, that's Mr. to you, in short Stan the man!
To: The lowly implementers of his will, the downtrodden, the recipients of the bountiful benevolence, wage slaves, those who wait in hope of bonuses and promotions, they who are fated to work for the man named Stan.
Subject: X-Men relaunch, and… what to do about Magik
Now that the whole Fox situation is behind us, we can turn our attention to how the revitalization of a neglected part of our empire is proceeding. You guessed it, the X-Men. And if you guessed Inhumans you're fired. Just kidding, but seriously… if you guessed Inhumans then you are fired.
Love how the X-Men re-imaging is progressing, putting most folks in a simple time-out as it were in X-Man's utopia while Scott and Logan get re-acquainted. Hopefully we can put the kibosh on any love triangles between the two of them and Jean for now (although I love the storyline idea where Logan finally gets Jean as Scott has moved on, not quite as keen on the Bishop ideas but this would give Bishop lot's of exposure). I say it's time for a new female companion for Scott, perhaps Psylocke? Logan and Storm should rekindle their casual sexual relationship if Jean is not on the menu. I suppose we could always use the big wheel of random shipping to come up with matches, but last time we used it we did end up with the whole Logan/Scott romance on earth 6996. Remember keep it PG, not triple XXX; this is family entertainment (most of the time).
Like the direction of Emma and the Hell Fire club. Looking forward to Emma realizing that Scott is back. Agree with the story plot of Scott wanting to move on from Emma resulting in the inevitable conflict with Emma; as we know how well Emma takes being told no, so pithy combat and conflict should result! Plus the inevitable female rage of learning that Scott did not tell her that he had returned (hell hath no fury and all that…)
Any use of the Avengers should mostly consist of showing how isolated the X-Men are. After all, the Avengers have better things to do then deal with Mutant problems. So what if they've known them for years. This will create lots of opportunities for later regret stories about how sorry they are that they did not help; plus the opportunity for the X-Men to demonstrate moral superiority; plus might there be another Avengers vs. X-Men some time in the future.
But remember the key X-Men story principles:
Conflict within the team.
Conflict external to the team.
Sexual tension within the team (and without if you so wish).
And no talking out issues! Disagreements should always result to fisticuffs!
Yes we need to keep having Scott apologize for a while. I suppose that can die down after the X-Men trapped in X-Man's delusional fantasy world are released (man does that boy have issues). But until then, Scott should keep castigating himself. I know… it will get old after a while, but then we can have it fade away. And no more Scott is Hitler comments! Rehabilitation has begun!
It may be time to bring out the random mutant wheel of death to trim down the number of junior mutants that have just not clicked with the audience, weeding out the weak to make room for the new. The upcoming War of the Realms storyline should cause all kinds of fun situations, speaking of which, this brings us to the question of Magik, whom I think should be on the team because… well… a host of reasons, but my favorite is having somebody more stabby then Logan.
But…just what to do with her?
The ongoing campaign to destabilize her and return her to a more moody and isolated representation appears to be succeeding. Kitty's failed marriage attempt, the Dead Souls plotline that helped isolate her, not to mention Xi'an Coy Manh's betrayal, should continue to put her at odds with many of her teammates. Recommend we continue to de-emphasis of her magical abilities and lordship of Limbo. Teleport and stab, with occasional Darkchilde transformations to remind everybody what a badass she really is (likely need to abuse somebody to drive that home).
Why this course of action you ask? Happy Illyana is boring Illyana, girl having problems means interesting.
Interesting means sales.
Sales means money.
Money means bonuses… and some for you as well my o' so loyal minions.
So emphasize her disconnection from most of her teammates, shouldn't be that hard considering how badly Xi'an screwed up (lots of conflict potential there over the betrayal, and Xi'an's being robotized by the transmode virus due to her attempt the screw over Illyana; we really should have blowout fight between the two of them). But we need something more… she's become quite friendly with the mutant Strong Guy, who is but a minor character. I suggest a noble death is so much more useful then his continued presence as we have so may strong-men characters; and something more for Illyana to get worked up about (girl does know how to act upon resentments!)
Time for us to either decide to make use of Leah or not. Throwing Leah into the mix will allow for some new Illyana storytelling. We keep hinting at it… time for more then hints because if nothing happens in War of the Realms then nothing is ever going to happen.
Oh, and for the record… NO MORE plotlines that involve Harvey Weinstein and Illyana! Earth 6996 has still not recovered! Who the hell thought it was a good idea to have Weinstein attempt to sexually force a hell lord? Yes the resulting battle scene was dramatic, and seeing Harvey portrayed as a super powered mutant was rather… appropriate at many levels; but resulting wreckage was completely unnecessary.
A few brief comments on ideas I've received:
Agree, let's throw in a few Skrulls, always good for the odd subplot or really great surprised expressions. Just imagine the look of shock of Johnny Storm's face when he finds out his current girlfriend is actually a Skrull, and a male one at that.
Love the idea of continued Rahne and Illyana interactions at an adult level. Let's have these girls work some things out. Since we always love having a red head, might we have Rahne grow her hair out a bit?
Let's make them poor for a change. Bereft of resources. And continue to have Limbo not be a place that is made use of story wise. We overused it on the Inhumans toxic gas storyline (toxic in so many ways, why… the story side affect even killed off most of the Inhumans, not that anybody really noticed.)
Alex continuing to be a douche? You had me at douche. Run with it (not like it's hard). And since Logan and Alex have such a great history together (as in not), let's keep them close in hope for the inevitable interactions a we know how well Alex thinks things out. Plus, Alex has had only minor interactions with Illyana, likely he can get dismissive of her as well, especially if some dark things need doing (suggest torture of a prisoner for information). This would let Alex get his high horse on and, of course, creation team tension.
The lack of a telepath on the team will just so help cause character miscommunication.
Oh, and no girl friend for Alex. Scott and Logan are to first get any babe action.
Nuff Said!
Now… go make me proud.