Talking about comic books, TV shows, movies, sports, and the numerous other pastimes that make us Gentlemen of Leisure.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Teebore's X-Men Roster Dream Team

Here's the roster of X-Men I'd like to write, and what I'd do with them.


Cyclops: Duh. He’s as important as Xavier, but can actually change his outlook on ‘the dream”. Love the shacking-up-with-Emma, telling-Xavier-to-shove-it, running-the-institute-Cyclops. He’s still devoted to the dream but realizes new approaches are necessary. Also, he shoots energy beams from his eyes.








Emma Frost: You’d think I’d hate the idea of killing Jean and hooking Emma up with Cyclops. But I love it. Emma would be the team's telepath. She'd introduce tension amongst the other team members and tension between the team and Cyclops, since Cyclops sticks up for her. Plus, her ability to become diamond-hard would give the team some added muscle. Tough, no nonsense, and I like the idea of a reformed villain who is trying to be a hero, even though she’s not that good of a person.




Shadowcat: The team genius, the one they send on recon, the one who hacks computers and cobbles together crazy alien tech. A genius ninja who can become intangible. She’d probably have an ‘off campus’ non-mutant boyfriend. I’d play her just like Joss Whedon does: she doesn’t trust Emma because to her, Emma will always be the first villain she ever encountered, leading an attack against her at a malt shoppe. Yes, shoppe.




Wolverine: Wolverine is rarely around the mansion (a meta-fictional commentary on his status as Marvel’s Moneymaking Character). The team would often go on missions without him, but bring him in when he’s needed or actually around. And Shadowcat would be the only one who knows how to get in touch with him at all times.






Iceman: People always say Cyclops or Storm are the “heart” of the X-men; I’d make Iceman that. And by “heart” I don’t mean sappy, just funny. He enjoys doing this. He’s been doing it awhile. So more than being just the funny guy, he’d be the guy who really enjoys being an X-Man. And that makes him the ‘heart’ of the team. I also liked what Scott Lobdell started with him, the evolution of his power and his potential as a really powerful mutant. After all, not only can he transform himself into ice and hurl icicles and make ice slides, but he can control the ambient temperature around him, freezing all kinds of things. There’d be fun with Emma, from that time she took over his body and used his power better than he ever had. The two would spend time together with her training him and expanding his power.



Angel: I've always wanted to write a character whose only power is to fly. That’s it. Just…flying. He and Iceman would be BFF and Angel would be his straight man, the guy who shakes his head, pretending he doesn’t think it’s funny. And I’d play up the fact he’s been a super hero forever on a variety of teams. He’s experienced, and knows how to organize and run a company, and he’d bring that sensibility to the table. I’d also play up the rivalry between him and Wolverine, exacerbated by the fact that Angel thinks Wolverine’s frequent absences make him unreliable and less committed.




Juggernaut: The best idea to come out of the X-Men in the last ten years, was Juggernaut joining the X-Men. The X-Men are all about reforming villains, and I would totally play up the fact that Iceman and Angel fought against this guy since they were fifteen. He’d be my strongman and would have to learn that just charging headfirst into things isn’t necessarily the best strategy. I’d also have him develop a crush on Shadowcat, for some romantic tension.




As much as I enjoyed what Grant Morrison did with the idea of mutant culture and the explosion in the mutant population, and as refreshing and original as some of that was, I’d bring things back more to the “sworn to protect a world that fears and hates them” bit. Mutants would be feared and hated. The X-Men’d believe in the whole peaceful coexistence dream but they’d be so busy fighting evil mutants the only way they’d really be furthering the dream is by showing the public that some mutants aren’t all bad. Basically, they’d save a crowd from getting sat on by the Blob or something, and then that crowd would hurl bricks at them. They’d be outcasts again. And there would definitely be a huge brawl with the Sentinels at some point. I miss those.

7 comments:

  1. Not bad. I do like the take you have on the characters. However when looking at the line up it seems a little to status quo for me. There aren't really any surprises on the team. You have four of the six members of the Astonishing line up there and three of the original team. I'm not saying it wouldn't be any good, but if this was announced as the team for an X-men book it wouldn't really grab my attention.

    Give me a little bit to mull it over and I can post my team. Then you can bash the crap out of it. :P

    ReplyDelete
  2. I believe when teebore and I originally were talking about this, we both decided the X-men roster we wanted would not be the strongest, or diverse, or even sexiest, but it would be a group of characters we would most enjoy writing and already had ideas on how they would interact.

    Therefore, I would grab your comic, teebore, simply because we owe it to ourselves to support our friends and family. I enjoy your writing and think you could take the characters to different places then Joss Whedon. Since, I know you, I'd also get all of my friends and family to buy your comic.

    ahem . . . www.adampankratz.com . . . ahem

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yeah, what can I say? When it comes to the X-Men, I'm something of a traditionalist :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. i like the traditional junk - i would love to read about the people hurling bricks and who the hell doens't like giant robot battles? Good times.
    For some reason, though, i feel like you could use 1 or 2 more characters - especially if wolverine is only a part time member. semi-x-man.
    Love juggs - i agree that it was grand, good times when he joined the team.

    -S

    ReplyDelete
  5. I never said that it wouldn't be any good or that I wouldn't buy it. Just that at first glance the line up doesn't really do much for me. A well written comic is a well written comic regardless of who the members are.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I gotta say, i would read your book- i like the characterization as you laid them out. But i agree that it seemed like a small team. when i finished reading, i was like 'that's it?'

    -A

    ReplyDelete
  7. For whatever reason, I've always believed 'seven' to be the magic team number. Not too many, not too few. Maybe it's because that's the number the gubmint forced onto the Avengers back when Gyrich reigned them in, limiting their membership and instating the Falcon as a form of Affirmative Action.

    However, at some point when I get around to posting my pick for an Avengers roster, it will have more than seven members. I guess maybe to me, the X-Men work better with a smaller roster whereas the Avengers work better with a slightly larger one?

    ReplyDelete

Comment. Please. Love it? Hate it? Are mildly indifferent to it? Let us know!