00:00Marvel's Merry Mutants have long been a fixture in the canon of the 616, but like any story,
00:05that's been around for that long, some characters can get a bit stale or worse.
00:10With that in mind, I'm Will for WhatCulture and here are 10 X-Men...
00:15and characters, the writers need to stop using.
00:1810. Wolverine
00:20Believe it, bub. The X-Men's most iconic mutant has been in more than his share of comic-
00:25scraps over the years, but it might surprise you to know that, besides Spider-Man, Wolverine has...
00:30appeared in more issues of Marvel Comics than any other character in their superhero universe.
00:35This is all the more impressive, seeing as Wolverine didn't debut until 1974.
00:40Wolverine is a compelling character most of the time, but Marvel's insistence on riding their...
00:45into the ground has cheapened his value as a character.
00:48If Marvel keeps pushing...
00:50him everywhere, he will go from a beloved yet oversaturated icon to an...
00:55annoying, one-dimensional whipping boy.
00:579. Firestar
00:58Best known for her time...
01:00on the 1980s cartoons, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, Angelica Jones has been portrayed in the...
01:05comics as a mutant, originally a part of Emma Frost's rival Hellions at the Massachusetts...
01:10Academy, Firestar took an extended absence from mutant-dom before growing to become a professional...
01:15professor with the X-Men at the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning.
01:18Since her reintroduction to...
01:20ex-relevancy, Firestar has made a handful of appearances without really doing much of anything...
01:25since she is in a book, it often feels like the writers don't know what to do with her character...
01:29often falling a bit...
01:30flat as a result.
01:31Take 2014's Amazing X-Men, for example, and you have to wonder if...
01:35if the writers don't actually use her character in the story she's in, why include her in the story...
01:40at all.
01:418. Captain Britain slash Psylocke
01:43Betsy Braddock
01:44Though Betsy...
01:45Braddock now goes by Captain Britain, she is best known by her other code name, Psylocke.
01:50Betsy was...
01:50born as the younger twin sister to Brian Braddock, the original Captain Britain.
01:54Once she joined the X-Men...
01:55Psylocke underwent a...
01:56let's say...
01:57extreme transformation...
01:58while her white British...
02:00aristocrat persona was put into the body of Quanon, an Asian woman who was promptly...
02:05dismissed from her body.
02:06In recent years, appropriation has become less of a cool fashion trend...
02:10and more understood as the horrible extension of racism that it is.
02:14Betsy Braddock...
02:15she is now thankfully back in her own body...
02:17but her legacy remains undeniably tainted...
02:20and more than a little bit uncomfortable...
02:22and is in desperate need of a shake-up...
02:24or perhaps better yet...
02:25just to be retconned out of existence...
02:27and left in the trash where it belongs.
02:29Seth...
02:307.
02:31Namor...
02:32The editorial department has tried to make Namor work many a time...
02:35even calling him an X-Men character is a bit strange...
02:37because of the wide dispersal of his appearances.
02:40But the Atlantean is a mutant...
02:42and he joined the X-Men during their stint on the island nation of...
02:45during the Avengers vs X-Men storyline...
02:47he even managed to acquire one-fifth of the...
02:50the Phoenix Force by teaming up with Cyclops and his team.
02:53The problem is Namor's blunt...
02:55narcissism and hatred for those inferior to him...
02:58and in his opinion...
02:59that is quite...
03:00literally everyone.
03:01These traits make it virtually impossible...
03:03to keep him on a team for long periods of time.
03:05and the eventual discord he causes...
03:07becomes predictable...
03:08and honestly...
03:09boring.
03:10Keep him...
03:10messing around with the Richards family in Fantastic Four...
03:12and away from our beloved mutants.
03:156.
03:16Magma.
03:17Despite her near 40 year existence...
03:19Magma...
03:20has rarely been at the forefront of X-Fans' thoughts.
03:23A big part of this is the fact that she has never...
03:25really been shown to have a deep connection with her teammates.
03:28In fact, the mutants she seems to have become...
03:30most linked with is Master Manipulator Empath of the rival Hellions.
03:34The less said about that...
03:35relationship the better...
03:36but I assure you...
03:37it's loads of yuck.
03:38Magma was eventually written out...
03:40out of New Mutants in its original run...
03:42and appeared infrequently until the early 2000s...
03:44when she...
03:45was literally crucified.
03:46Writers clearly felt bad for her...
03:48and her mistreatment over the years...
03:50and they brought her back with New Mutants 2nd Volume...
03:52where she reunited with her old classmates.
03:55Magma is still hanging around the periphery of X-Books...
03:58and every time a New Mutants book is...
04:00at least she seems to resurface within it.
04:02However, the question remains...
04:03if you're going to do nothing with...
04:05the character...
04:06except for...
04:07you know...
04:08crucify her...
04:09maybe just...
04:10leave her out of it.
04:115.
04:12Domin-
04:10no...
04:11slash...
04:12longshot.
04:13This spot is reserved for heroes...
04:14with probability based...
04:15superpowers.
04:16It's not that Domino and Longshot are...
04:18uninteresting characters...
04:19in fact, both are extremely...
04:20likeable in very different ways.
04:22The problem is...
04:23while they are fun...
04:24their powers are just...
04:25too useful.
04:26With the nebulous power of being lucky...
04:28any problem can be solved...
04:29and any...
04:30battle won...
04:31instantly.
04:32With that level of MacGuffin...
04:33any dramatic tension...
04:34a comic book tries to...
04:35create...
04:36is instantly sabotaged.
04:37In a world...
04:38where the powers are made up...
04:39and the comfort...
04:40makes Netflix malleable...
04:41you'd hope writers could find...
04:42a more creative way...
04:43to resolve the plot.
04:44For...
04:454.
04:46Cannonball.
04:47Sam Guthrie has been a man...
04:48of many teams.
04:49The New Mutants...
04:50X-Men...
04:51X-Force...
04:52and the Avengers...
04:53to name just a few.
04:54And while Sam...
04:55has always been a mutant...
04:55character...
04:56above all else...
04:57it was actually his tenure...
04:58in Jonathan Hickman's...
04:59Incredible Avengers run...
05:00that Sam met his future wife...
05:02Izzy Kane...
05:03also known as...
05:04Smasher.
05:05Izzy serves...
05:05as a super guardian...
05:06of the Shi'ar Empire...
05:07meaning Sam...
05:08is currently out...
05:09in the galaxy...
05:10living at a...
05:10up...
05:11and taking care...
05:12of their newly born...
05:13child.
05:14What's more...
05:15is he seems genuinely happy...
05:15having traded spandex...
05:16for diapers.
05:17X-Men comics...
05:18have already had...
05:19their fair share...
05:20absentee fathers...
05:21cough professor X...
05:22cough cyclops...
05:23so please...
05:24write us...
05:25let Cannonball...
05:26have his legacy...
05:27and his completed story...
05:28and take care...
05:29of his cannon...
05:30maybe...
05:313.
05:32Jean Grey...
05:33For all that...
05:34Jean Grey...
05:35has been through...
05:36she's been treated...
05:35remarkably poorly...
05:36as a character...
05:37between the...
05:38constant deaths...
05:39and resurrections...
05:40she is...
05:40become synonymous...
05:41with being written...
05:42as an object...
05:43for Cyclops...
05:44and Wolverine...
05:45to fight over...
05:45and Jean has gotten...
05:46the short end of the stick...
05:47many times...
05:48but one storyline...
05:49in particular...
05:50has...
05:50been damaging...
05:51to her character...
05:52since the Dark Phoenix Saga...
05:53premiered...
05:54in the 1970s...
05:55Jean has been...
05:56typecast...
05:57as the vessel...
05:58of the Phoenix...
05:59yes...
06:00there have been...
06:01stints...
06:02where writers...
06:03whenever...
06:04Jean is brought...
06:05to the prominent role...
06:06in a book...
06:07the Phoenix...
06:08is quick to follow...
06:09that's probably...
06:08problematic...
06:09because the...
06:10continued...
06:11re-emergence...
06:12of the Phoenix...
06:14not only...
06:15keeps Jean...
06:16from evolving...
06:17as a...
06:18never eclipsed that destiny, so unless writers can resist yet another Phoenix story,
06:23he needs to stay on the sidelines.
06:25Two, Beast.
06:26Many remember Hank Mc...
06:28Coy is the verbose, lovable heart of the X-Men in the 90s cartoon.
06:31Indeed, it's hard not to...
06:33Fall in love with that characterization, but Modern Beast is less of a cuddly science nerd,
06:37more...
06:38more deranged mad scientist.
06:39This recent radicalization has led Beast to take...
06:43insane risks and indulge in some rather shady activities.
06:46He joined the Illuminati...
06:48to secretly represent the X-Men without telling his teammates when the fabric of the multiverse...
06:53was at stake.
06:53He again risked space-time itself by bringing the original five X-Men to the...
06:58present day.
06:58Again, consulting none of his team in the process.
07:02And now on...
07:03Koa, Beast leads X-Force with the mentality of, quote,
07:06do what's best for all...
07:08mutant kinds, no matter the cost.
07:10Far be it from us to say that characters can't change,
07:12but...
07:13with Beast, he seems to have strayed so far from his moral core that writers would be best...
07:18to take a break on the character.
07:20One, Professor X.
07:22The founder of the X-Men...
07:23Charles Xavier takes the top spot here.
07:26Anyone who has read the many, many...
07:28terrible retcons of the X-Men over the years knows the weird and despicable things Xavier has done.
07:33Whether it's lusting after students or telepathically deleting the existence of Cyclops' brother...
07:38from his memory, Xavier's credibility has been shot.
07:41Yes, he's found a new...
07:43sanction on Krakoa, but that doesn't change his guilt over his past misdeeds.
07:47Xavier's dream...
07:48has always been more important than the character himself.
07:50And with the emergence of Krakoa, that dream...
07:53is constantly changing.
07:54Die a hero or live long enough to be a villain and all that nonsense.
07:58Xavier's motives may be for the benefit of mutants, but in a book that is an allegory...
08:03for so many marginalized groups in society today, it sends a rather convoluted...
08:08And there you have it folks, our admittedly controversial take on the 10 X-Men...
08:13characters who need to take a step back from the limelight.
08:16Feel free to leave a comment down below with your own...
08:18thoughts on the matter, like and subscribe, and I'll see you next time.
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