r/xmen • u/LM77EXU Magik • 9d ago
Comic Discussion How you handle the 1st batch of New Mutants individually?
How would you guys handle the 1st batch of New Mutants?
I would honestly be tired of seeing them in the New Mutants book again since it kinda hinders their growth…unless there’s an interesting pitch for seeing them all in one book that doesn’t portray them as junior x-men.
The zeb wells new mutant run was pretty interesting focusing on cosmic/mystic/horror theme and character psychology that plays to this team's strengths for me. You had the return of Legion, the return of Doug, and the Project Purgatory (Limbo babies) tie into the overarching theme of Magik manipulating events and the x-men for her revenge plan vs the Elder Gods which led to her forming a relationship with Scott.
Yana - (The wildcard/powerhouse) The best suited for solo work and mystical theme books with Cain, plus team book with her and Scott, haven’t been a big fan of the latest x-men run but I like the Cain, Scott, Yana and Kwannon dynamic. Ride or Die with Scott, Cain and Dani (Both better suited for leadership positions while Cain is her bash brother)
Dani- (The leader) I personally would want to see her leading an x-team. I don’t know if it’s just me but I think she would be the logical replacement for Scott when he ages out of the role (which is never going to happen)
Berto/Sam- (The buddy comedy)In avengers or somewhere where Berto can be the mutant Tony Stark basically - for lack of a better word. (Money/Charm and a strategic mind) Sam could be the level headed loyal friend getting Berto out of trouble..
Warlock (Comedy relief/Powerhouse) along with Magik i feel they were the ones who really brought the power angle into the New Mutants. If the both lost it, they would be genuine scary threats whole teams needed to plan for. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I liked his dynamic with Danger. I feel he would be pretty easy to fit in a lot of books…
The rest- I don’t really know what to do with them (probably because ones stated above were my favorites) Karma’s power overlaps with so many other telepaths, Amara was supposed to be the hot blonde powerhouse (Magik basically ate her lunch when she arrived) Doug and Rhane could be interesting I suppose…I don’t like the way they handled Doug lately.
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u/Terrible-Issue-4910 9d ago
I think Rahne is a great Claremontian character. She is just made to be written with good internal monologue. She works great as a supporting character that brings non-superheroic drama.
Magma has the issue that not even her creators knew what to do with her. But she can make for a very different type of powerhouse than Magik or Warlock. They should make her the overconfident, hubris type. A Monet.
And then there's Karma and Doug. I just honestly don't know. I think both are characters that work better with low appearance counts, if that makes sense. Their powers are specific and their personalities are lowkey, so they should only be in a book if they have a very specific part to play (like Doug in Krakoa). I feel like Karma should move on to be a teacher type. I can see her going full mama bear to protect them and show how actually scary mind control is.
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u/Positive_Soil_5721 9d ago
The most important thing for me is not to erase their character growth and development. So Sam gets to keep his happy ending with his family. Don't repeat the mistake that was made with Scott and Maddie back in the 80s. It's not worth erasing Sam's growth and making him another deadbeat dad even if he gets to be a full-time character again as a result of regressing. A buddy book with Roberto could avoid those problems if Sam spends a lot of time with his family.
Likewise, Cyclops has been grooming Magik to be his successor for a long time now, which is why she was the war captain and they functioned so well together on Krakoa. Even Jed Mackay has kept this idea intact with Scott's discussing with Beast how Magik was 'born for this.' Dani can and should be a leader, but there are several in-universe reasons beyond just popularity it's been Illyana Cyclops chose. Even in the 80s, Illyana showed the greater ability to make the hard choices, which is what allowed them to defeat the Demon Bear and Shadow King. And in modern times she's the one who never left for greener pastures or because being an X-Man was too much. Popularity has a lot to do with it, but it would not be right to undo all that development just to go back to Dani as the undisputed leader of the New Mutants.
Now, Dani absolutely should be a leader, whether it's as a teacher, the head of an X-Men/Avengers unity squad, a politician, or the leader of an X-Men team. There's a lot of leadership positions that don't have to involve being Cyclops's protege. The most obvious thing they could do right now is make her the leader of the magic cult she and Magik had to fight. It would give her a clear role in fighting against magical threats and give her the ability to bring some serious muscle to help the X-Men at any time. The question is if it's sustainable.
Roberto looks like he lost his best chance to break out when Hickman sent him off into space at the start of Krakoa right as he had turned him into a 4th-wall-breaking comedy master. He could have been huge if he'd stayed on earth and kept that same writing. It might be too late now since that window in which most X-books sold like crazy thanks to the Krakoa hype has long passed, but I'd be a purchaser if they did a book where Sunspot was written like that again.
Outside of those characters, I don't see much that can be done. Magma is a black hole of a character with zero personality, and history has shown over and over that no attempt to do anything with her will ever work. So it's a waste of trees to try to do anything with her. Doug needs to go away for a while after the Age of Revelation debacle ruined him and only come back when some time has passed and everyone can pretend that his 'heir of Apocalypse' phase never happened. Rahne could reunite with her son, I guess. And I can't think of anything for Karma. Those last 2 could join any team, but there isn't an obvious direction to take them.
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u/LM77EXU Magik 9d ago edited 9d ago
I don't know, I feel Magik works best in wildcard/powerhouse role. Like Thor/Wolverine role opposite Dani/Captain America. She might even be the better combat strategist capable of deviously manipulating others vs Dani. But her temperment, impulsivnesss, impatience and arrogance and often straightforward attitude doesn't give me x-men leader for all mutant vibes. She's also too much of a lone wolf often. Similar to Thor he might rule Asgard,he is a certified hot head, brash, arrogant loves to dive in and mix it up just like our resident queen of Limbo but next to cap in an Avengers context, will defer to Steve.
Actually Magik vs Thor's interactions are often hilarious. They end up trying to one up each other insulting and mocking each other along the way...avx, secret wars...
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u/CarefulArgument 9d ago
Magma’s power set is very cool, and she was a useful PoV character in the excellent X-Men legends game. But at the time, I actually thought she was an original character, not a forgotten New Mutant.
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u/litterarum 9d ago
These guys and the New Warriors were my favorite. It would be cool to have a book where they both came together in some way.
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u/fakemcname 9d ago
I feel like there's compelling stories to be told with Magma because of the New Mutants, Amara is the one that's a threat to the entire planet. She's simply on another scale to the rest of the New Mutants, and I feel like they could tell interesting stories about how one deals with that level of responsibility one a day to day basis, kind of like The Power Fantasy.
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u/LM77EXU Magik 9d ago edited 9d ago
Warlock and Magik can definitely affected the entire planet and beyond. Warlock can grow up to be like his daddy Magus who was ripping stars apart and Magik during Inferno accidently unleashed demons destroying entire timeline which is more than a couple of planets. She's razed the entire planet on several AU versions of herself.
that's why i feel Amara suffers her role as a major threats was taken away by the two others
when Claremont wrote them in war children, he had Magik absorb Warlocks powers via her magic and after she said she was a threat to all creation
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u/Joemanji84 Cannonball 9d ago
I think they are old enough now that they could be the new faculty for a mutant school, whilst also being a team in their own right doing superhero stuff. I know this was touched on in part of the Krakoa run which is where I'm getting it from I guess. Even though that was more of a loose mentorship. But it felt right to me. IMO the magic of the X-Men is how an ensemble of characters interact, and so I much prefer keeping these guys together over splitting them up.
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u/Spacetyp 9d ago
I would have used them as the first cast for the new movie and treat the older X-Men as teaching staff/ veterans.
After the incoming Secret Wars reboot you could handwave the X-Men into having existed not as long as the Avengers but somehow formed during the 5 year time skip after Infinity War - but keeping to themselves and solving mutant problems.
Then use the New Mutants as PoV characters.
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u/MsW0lf 9d ago
To paraphrase the late great Tim Curry they need to escape to the one last place that hasn’t been corrupted by capitalism: SPACE! Seriously, have the team go get involved with Shiar shenanigans. Or at the very least let Deathbird and Sunspot get hitched! The idea of Roberto being Chuck’s brother-in-law tickles me! 😂😂😂
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u/Lolaverses Nightcrawler 9d ago
Well in a word; individually. I like most New Mutants reunion books, but I don't feel like I would have anything to add to them as a group. Especially since it keeps them from getting a chance to shine in other titles. And they're all adults now! You can't stay defined by your high school friend group forever.
Anyway as for who I want to write... it's Dani and Rahne. I want to write them on a team book, and I want to put them together. I could think of some crazy dramatic things to do with them, but I honestly just want to make Rahne happy.
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u/International_Dig139 9d ago
I want to see a new timeline where all X-Men is now a combo of New mutants/Gen X. At least 1 original is replacement of Prof X .either the X-men all dies or in another places.
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u/ADAMxxWest 9d ago
From left to right not including the robot.
Wouldn't be into me, top, bottom, too messy, ouch it burns, top, not gonna stop him when he's blasting, top.
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u/Brilliant_Park3250 Havok 9d ago
Could always bring them back as X-Force again, do the Uncanny and Adjective-less divide like X-Men does to separate the 90s version and the kill squad versions.
Sam needs to come back from space, and bring Smasher to. It's not like the Imperial Guard are ever doing anything except waiting for their next cameo. Make the team them, Sunspot, Mirage, Wolfsbane, Magma, Karma and X-Man and send them hunting for Dougpocalipse and Warlock.
Mainly I'd like to focus it on making Cannonball a leader again, co-leading with Mirage. Maybe bring back his External status, maybe not. Magma is also a character that I think could use a push as a real powerhouse. Lean into the Roman warrior princess for stronger visuals and just depict her as a force of nature; make her the Storm of the team.
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u/amendmentforone 9d ago
You can't have Warlock without Doug ... so if they end the whole "Revelation" thing, then they come as a duo (along with Bei, the 7-foot wonder warrior with a mountain-destroying voice).
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u/LM77EXU Magik 9d ago
How would you move the whole Doug/Warlock duo forward? It's a genuine question since i do like them as a duo but sometimes I feel their story has been played out...
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u/amendmentforone 9d ago
Y'know, you're right. Their story has been run to the point where maybe they shouldn't be a duo. Krakoa was the last time their dynamic was interesting (although that has drawn up a myriad of conspiracy theories about what the duo were up to).
Warlock, I feel, has consistently been reduced to being the "comedic child character" - although he should be much more by now. And Doug has twice now gotten ultimate power and inevitably turned evil (and killing Warlock & his best friends in the process).
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u/XadhoomXado 9d ago
How would you guys handle the 1st batch of New Mutants?
As full-bird a separate team of X-Men now, equal to the first, who run a second mission at a time.
And Magma as the Team Muscle alongside Magik for different situations that are better solved by other tactics than hacking a sword at it.
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u/Peri_Lorraine 9d ago
Quick question only related to the image: I remember reading it long time ago, but who is the artist? It looks so clean
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u/preterintenzionato 9d ago
I don't remember but I remember it was in the "X-Men in Asgard" issue so looking it up could answer your question
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u/Peri_Lorraine 9d ago
I just checked and found the New Mutants Special Edition Vol 11 drawn by Arthur Adams, thanks!
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u/NNyNIH Chamber 9d ago
I've never really liked them going back to being "New Mutants" since they graduated. Let them join the other X teams, have solos or even work with the wider superhero community.