I'm not convinced Rogue could manage Madrox's power. Has she used it before? Given how unreliable the dupes have become it might not be the smartest thing to unleash in the midst of a major crisis.
Dark Phoenix. X-Tinction Agenda. Muir Island. Age of Apocalypse. Deadly Genesis / Rise & Fall of Shi'ar. Nation X (I know I'm in the minority on that last one).
I just picked up Worlds Apart - can't wait to read it after hearing all of your endorsements!
@papad1992: All true! We saw the council during Nation X, and it consisted of the "senior team" of x-folks. Also, I agree on your third point - Scott has always been positioned as the best on-the-fly decision maker.
The New Mutants aspect I'm not entire sure of. I feel like them being segregated into their own title rather than kept around in the main books is a signal that the editors aren't necessarily thinking of them as potential leaders.None of the writers seem to like Cannonball enough to use him as a consistently smart leader, though they are at least writing him well inside of his own title. Moonstar would be my personal pick, and they seemed to be going that way in early New X-Men, but after M Day she's taken a lot of abuse as the non-mutant mutant. I adore Karma, but who knows where they'll go with her now.
It's crazy to think that the Xavier/Cyclops/Storm monopoly on the main X-Titles has been in effect since 1963 with relatively few breaks (Magneto, Nightcrawler, Havok, Rogue, occasionally Jean or Wolvie). As I think I've said elsewhere, it's partially a function of the New Mutants (along with Kitty and Rogue) being the "Third Genesis" of the X-Men but never being allowed to become trusted adults in continuity. That leaves a vacuum of characters who can step up to lead the older generation characters.
(Meanwhile, the 4th generation was a patchwork of background players (Psylocke, Dazzler, Longshot, Gambit, and Jubes), they killed most of their 5th generation (Generation X), and the 6th generation (New X-Men) are still pretty young.)
I think Scott is the only choice at the moment, but clearly at some point people are going to begin to reject him just like they rejected Xavier in the past. In a way the new X-Force is a function of that - Wolverine going behind his back.
I would be surprised if we see Storm lead again - I think making her a literal queen means she 's out of the leadership picture. They toyed with Nightcrawler leading for a while, but always usurped him.
Personally, I think it would be really interesting to see Iceman put in the position where he has to lead - either by disagreeing with Scott or by Scott being indisposed in some way. They've done so little with his character recently, and I think it would be an interesting arc. He's been around since the beginning and as the youngest original X-Men he became a part of the family at a much earlier age than many X-Men - even a lot of the New Mutants were older than Bobby when they first joined.
It seems to be up to the collective of fans to decide, because Marvel is pretty confused themselves (see below). I'd say the unofficial fan consensus is "X-Men, Vol. 3."
Officially is a different matter...
What the internet commonly refers to as "X-Men, Vol. 1" is the original 1963 title, either up to #94 or through the actual title change to "Uncanny" in the 140s. However, that title started out as "The X-Men," with the indicia reflecting "the."
As a result, what we think of as "X-Men, Vol. 2 (1991)" is actually listed in the indicia as "X-MEN(R) Vol. 1" at least through the #40s. Since it wasn't titled with "The" it really was the first volume to be called "X-Men."
When New X-Men dropped the "New" it came back without a volume indicator in its indicia. I only have the first 12 issues after the re-title, so I don't know if it showed up eventually. By rights it could have been either seen as a continuation of Vol. 1, or a newly launched Vol. 2.
If any of you have a physical issue of the new X-Men volume, check its indicia. It could be labeled as Vol. 2 or Vol. 3, but I'd be surprised if it's Vol. 4.
@Dex: Hell yes, X-Cutioner! My only fear is that he's going to come off as another tongue-in-cheek Deadpool or Fantomex bad guy.
I'd maybe add Emplate, but his brief arc just rocked. Oh, and Proteus, who also just had a brief, rocking arc. Because Legacy is awesome :)
In seriousness, I just went through the wikipedia list of X-Villains, and we've seen representatives from just about every group recently. I always wish they hadn't killed Siena Blaze, but otherwise I hope they find some decent new foes as well.
@Thunderscream: Agreed. She's too formidable a physical combatant to have hugely effective psi and TK powers. I like her powers low key and as an augment to her physical fighting.
The alternative is she gets amped up and gets her ass kicked in every battle like she did back in the 90s ;)
Log in to comment