10 X-Men Characters Writers Need To Stop Using

Australian Cinephile

Some X-Men characters are overused, problematic, or flat out boring; find out which need to go!

Transcript

00:00Marvel's Merry Mutants have long been a fixture in the canon of the 616, but like any story that's

00:05been around for that long, some characters can get a bit stale, or worse, prevent the X-Men from

00:11moving forward. With that in mind, I'm Will for WhatCulture and here are 10 X-Men characters the

00:16writers need to stop using. 10. Wolverine. Believe it, bub. The X-Men's most iconic mutant has been

00:23in more than his share of comic scraps over the years, but it might surprise you to know that,

00:28besides Spider-Man, Wolverine has appeared in more issues of Marvel Comics than any other character

00:33in their superhero universe. This is all the more impressive seeing as Wolverine didn't debut until

00:381974. Wolverine is a compelling character most of the time, but Marvel's insistence on riding their

00:44cash cow into the ground has cheapened his value as a character. If Marvel keeps pushing him everywhere,

00:51he will go from a beloved yet oversaturated icon to an annoying one-dimensional whipping boy.

00:579. Firestar. Best known for her time on the 1980s cartoons Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends,

01:03Angelica Jones has been portrayed in the comics as a mutant. Originally a part of Emma Frost's rival

01:08Hellions at the Massachusetts Academy, Firestar took an extended absence from mutantdom before growing

01:14to become a professor with the X-Men at the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. Since her

01:18reintroduction to X-relevancy, Firestar has made a handful of appearances without really doing much

01:24of anything. When she is in a book, it often feels like the writers don't know what to do with her

01:28character, often falling a bit flat as a result. Take 2014's Amazing X-Men for example, and you have

01:34to wonder if the writers don't actually use her character in the story she's in, why include her

01:39in the story at all? 8. Captain Britain slash Psylocke. Betsy Braddock. Though Betsy Braddock now goes by

01:45Captain Britain, she is best known by her other codename Psylocke. Betsy was born as the younger twin

01:51sister to Brian Braddock, the original Captain Britain. Once she joined the X-Men, Psylocke

01:55underwent a, let's say, extreme transformation, while her white British aristocrat persona was put

02:01into the body of Quanon, an Asian woman who was promptly dismissed from her body. In recent years,

02:07appropriation has become less of a cool fashion trend and more understood as the horrible extension

02:12of racism that it is. Betsy Braddock is now thankfully back in her own body, but her legacy remains

02:18undeniably tainted and more than a little bit uncomfortable, and is in desperate need of a

02:23shake-up, or perhaps better yet, just to be retconned out of existence and left in the trash

02:28where it belongs. 7. Namor. The editorial department has tried to make Namor work many a time. Even

02:35calling him an X-Men character is a bit strange because of the wide dispersal of his appearances.

02:40But the Atlantean is a mutant, and he joined the X-Men during their stint on the island nation

02:44of Utopia. During the Avengers vs. X-Men storyline, he even managed to acquire one-fifth of the Phoenix

02:50Force by teaming up with Cyclops and his team. The problem is Namor's blunt narcissism and hatred

02:56for those inferior to him, and in his opinion, that is quite literally everyone. These traits make it

03:01virtually impossible to keep him on a team for long periods of time, and the eventual discord he

03:06causes becomes predictable and honestly boring. Keep him messing around with the Richards family in

03:11Fantastic Four and away from our beloved mutants. 6. Magma. Despite her near 40-year existence,

03:19Magma has rarely been at the forefront of X-Fans' thoughts. A big part of this is the fact that she

03:24has never really been shown to have a deep connection with her teammates. In fact, the mutant she seems

03:29to have become most linked with is Master Manipulator Empath of the rival Hellions. The less said about

03:34that relationship, the better, but I assure you, it's loads of yuck. Magma was eventually written out of

03:40New Mutants in its original run and appeared infrequently until the early 2000s, when she

03:44was literally crucified. Writers clearly felt bad for her and her mistreatment over the years,

03:50and they brought her back with New Mutants' second volume, where she reunited with her old

03:54classmates. Magma is still hanging around the periphery of X-Books, and every time a New Mutants

03:59book is released, she seems to resurface within it. However, the question remains, if you're going to do

04:04nothing with the character, except for, you know, crucify her, maybe just leave her out of it.

04:09Five, Domino slash Longshot. This spot is reserved for heroes with probability-based superpowers.

04:15It's not that Domino and Longshot are uninteresting characters. In fact, both are extremely likable in

04:20very different ways. The problem is, while they are fun, their powers are just too useful. With the

04:26nebulous power of being lucky, any problem can be solved, and any battle won instantly. With that level

04:31of MacGuffin, any dramatic tension a comic book tries to create is instantly sabotaged. In a world

04:38where the powers are made up and the conflict's malleable, you'd hope writers could find a more

04:42creative way to resolve the plot. Four, Cannonball. Sam Guthrie has been a man of many teams. The New

04:49Mutants, X-Men, X-Force, and The Avengers, to name just a few. And while Sam has always been a mutant

04:54character above all else, it was actually his tenure in Jonathan Hickman's Incredible Avengers run that Sam met

05:00his future wife, Izzy Kane, also known as Smasher. Izzy serves as a super guardian of the Shia Empire,

05:07meaning Sam is currently out in the galaxy living it up and taking care of their newly born child.

05:12What's more, Izzy seems genuinely happy having traded spandex for diapers. X-Men comics have already

05:18had their fair share of absentee fathers, cough Professor X, cough Cyclops. So please,

05:24writers, let Cannonball have his legacy and his completed story and take care of his cannon baby.

05:30Three, Jean Grey. For all that Jean Grey has been through, she's been treated remarkably poorly

05:35as a character. Between the constant deaths and resurrections, she has become synonymous with being

05:41written as an object for Cyclops and Wolverine to fight over. And Jean has gotten the short end of

05:46the stick many times. But one storyline in particular has been damaging to her character. Since the Dark

05:52Phoenix saga premiered in the 1970s, Jean has been typecast as the vessel of the Phoenix. Yes,

05:58there have been stints where writers focus on other aspects of the character, but without fail,

06:03whenever Jean is brought to the prominent role in a book, the Phoenix is quick to follow. That's

06:07problematic because the continued re-emergence of the Phoenix not only keeps Jean from evolving as

06:12a character, but it also dampens the impact of one of the greatest comic stories of all time.

06:17She can never eclipse that destiny. So unless writers can resist yet another Phoenix story,

06:22Jean needs to stay on the sidelines.

06:24Two, Beast. Many remember Hank McCoy as the verbose, lovable heart of the X-Men in the 90s

06:31cartoon. Indeed, it's hard not to fall in love with that characterization. But modern Beast is less

06:36of a cuddly science nerd, more deranged mad scientist. This recent radicalization has led

06:41Beast to take insane risks and indulge in some rather shady activities. He joined the Illuminati to

06:48secretly represent the X-Men without telling his teammates when the fabric of the multiverse was at stake.

06:53He again risked space-time itself by bringing the original five X-Men to the present day,

06:58again consulting none of his team in the process. And now on Krakoa, Beast leads X-Force with the

07:05mentality of, quote, do what's best for all mutant kind, no matter the cost. Far be it from us to say

07:11that characters can't change, but with Beast, he seems to have strayed so far from his moral core that

07:17writers would be best to take a break on the character.

07:19One, Professor X. The founder of the X-Men, Charles Xavier, takes the top spot here.

07:26Anyone who has read the many, many terrible retcons of the X-Men over the years knows the weird and

07:31despicable things Xavier has done. Whether it's lusting after students or telepathically deleting

07:36the existence of Cyclops' brother from his memory, Xavier's credibility has been shot. Yes,

07:42he's found a new function on Krakoa, but that doesn't change his guilt over his past misdeeds.

07:46Xavier's dream has always been more important than the character himself. And with the emergence of

07:51Krakoa, that dream is constantly changing. Die a hero or live long enough to be a villain and all

07:57that nonsense. Xavier's motives may be for the benefit of mutants, but in a book that is an

08:02allegory for so many marginalized groups in society today, it sends a rather convoluted message.

08:08And there you have it, folks. Our admittedly controversial take on the 10 X-Men characters

08:13who need to take a step back from the limelight. Feel free to leave a comment down below with your

08:17own thoughts on the matter, like and subscribe, and I'll see you next time.

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