10 X-Men Characters Writers Need To Stop Using

WhatCulture

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

00:04any story that's been around for that long, some characters can get a bit stale, or worse,

00:09prevent the X-Men from moving forward.

00:12With that in mind, I'm Will for What Culture and here are 10 X-Men Characters The Writers

00:16Need to Stop Using.

00:1810.

00:19Wolverine

00:20Believe it, bub.

00:21The X-Men's most iconic mutant has been in more than his share of comic scraps over

00:25the years, but it might surprise you to know that, besides Spider-Man, Wolverine has appeared

00:30in 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.

00:39Wolverine is a compelling character most of the time, but Marvel's insistence on riding

00:44their cash cow into the ground has cheapened his value as a character.

00:48If Marvel keeps pushing him everywhere, he will go from a beloved yet oversaturated icon

00:54to an annoying, one-dimensional whipping boy.

00:579.

00:58Firestar

00:59Best known for her time on the 1980s cartoons Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, Angelica

01:03Jones has been portrayed in the comics as a mutant.

01:06Originally a part of Emma Frost's rival Hellions at the Massachusetts Academy, Firestar

01:11took an extended absence from mutantdom before growing to become a professor with the X-Men

01:16at the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning.

01:18Since her reintroduction to X-relevancy, Firestar has made a handful of appearances

01:23without really doing much of anything.

01:25When 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.

01:31Take 2014's Amazing X-Men for example, and you have to wonder, if the writers don't

01:35actually use her character in the stories she's in, why include her in the story at

01:40all?

01:418.

01:42Captain Britain slash Psylocke

01:43Betsy Braddock

01:44Though Betsy Braddock now goes by Captain Britain, she is best known by her other code

01:48name Psylocke.

01:49Betsy was born as the younger twin sister to Brian Braddock, the original Captain Britain.

01:53Once she joined the X-Men, Psylocke underwent a, let's say, extreme transformation while

01:58her white, British aristocrat persona was put into the body of Kwanon, an Asian woman

02:04who was promptly dismissed from her body.

02:06In recent years, appropriation has become less of a cool fashion trend and more understood

02:11as the horrible extension of racism that it is.

02:14Betsy Braddock is now thankfully back in her own body, but her legacy remains undeniably

02:19tainted and more than a little bit uncomfortable, and is in desperate need of a shake-up, or

02:24perhaps better yet, just to be retconned out of existence and left in the trash where it

02:29belongs.

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 because of the wide dispersal of his

02:39appearances, but the Atlantean is a mutant and he joined the X-Men during their stint

02:43on the island nation of Utopia.

02:45Following the Avengers vs X-Men storyline, he even managed to acquire one-fifth of the

02:50Phoenix Force by teaming up with Cyclops and his team.

02:53The problem is Namor's blunt narcissism and hatred for those inferior to him, and

02:58in his opinion, that is quite literally everyone.

03:01These traits make it virtually impossible to keep him on a team for long periods of

03:04time and the eventual discord he causes becomes predictable and honestly boring.

03:09Keep him messing around with the Richards family in Fantastic Four and away from our

03:13beloved mutants.

03:156.

03:16Magma

03:17Despite her near 40-year existence, Magma has rarely been at the forefront of ex-fans'

03:22thoughts.

03:23A big part of this is the fact that she has never really been shown to have a deep connection

03:27with her teammates.

03:28In fact, the mutant she seems to have become most linked with is master manipulator Empath

03:32of the rival Hellions.

03:34The less said about that relationship the better, but I assure you, it's loads of

03:38yuck.

03:39Magma was eventually written out of New Mutants in its original run and appeared infrequently

03:43until the early 2000s, when she was literally crucified.

03:46Writers clearly felt bad for her and her mistreatment over the years and they brought her back with

03:51New Mutants second volume where she reunited with her old classmates.

03:55Magma is still hanging around the periphery of X-Books and every time a New Mutants book

03:59is released, she seems to resurface within it.

04:02However, the question remains, if you're going to do nothing with the character, except

04:06for, you know, crucify her, maybe just leave her out of it.

04:095.

04:10Domino slash Longshot

04:11This spot is reserved for heroes with probability-based superpowers.

04:16It's not that Domino and Longshot are uninteresting characters, in fact, both are extremely likeable

04:20in very different ways.

04:22The problem is, while they are fun, their powers are just too useful.

04:26With the nebulous power of being lucky, any problem can be solved, and any battle won

04:30instantly.

04:31With that level of MacGuffin, any dramatic tension a comic book tries to create is instantly

04:36sabotaged.

04:37In a world where the powers are made up and the conflicts malleable, you'd hope writers

04:41could find a more creative way to resolve the plot.

04:454.

04:46Cannonball

04:47Sam Guthrie has been a man of many teams, the New Mutants, X-Men, X-Force and the Avengers

04:51to name just a few.

04:52And while Sam has always been a mutant character above all else, it was actually his tenure

04:57in Jonathan Hickman's Incredible Avengers run that Sam met his future wife Izzy Kane,

05:02also known as Smasher.

05:04Izzy serves as a Super Guardian of the Shi'ar Empire, meaning Sam is currently out in the

05:09galaxy living it up and taking care of their newly born child.

05:12What's more, Izzy seems genuinely happy having traded spandex for diapers.

05:17X-Men comics have already had their fair share of absentee fathers, cough Professor X, cough

05:22Cyclops, so please, writers, let Cannonball have his legacy and his completed story and

05:28take care of his cannon baby.

05:303.

05:31Jean Grey

05:32With all that Jean Grey has been through, she's been treated remarkably poorly as

05:36a character.

05:37Between the constant deaths and resurrections, she has become synonymous with being written

05:41as an object for Cyclops and Wolverine to fight over.

05:45And Jean has gotten the short end of the stick many times, but one storyline in particular

05:49has been damaging to her character.

05:51Since the Dark Phoenix saga premiered in the 1970s, Jean has been typecast as the Vessel

05:57of the Phoenix.

05:58Yes, there have been stints where writers focus on other aspects of the character, but

06:02without fail, whenever Jean is brought to the prominent role in a book, the Phoenix

06:06is quick to follow.

06:07And that's problematic, because the continued re-emergence of the Phoenix not only keeps

06:11Jean from evolving as a character, but it also dampens the impact of one of the greatest

06:16comic stories of all time.

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

06:23Jean needs to stay on the sidelines.

06:252.

06:26Beast

06:27Many remember Hank McCoy as the verbose, lovable heart of the X-Men in the 90s cartoon.

06:32Indeed, it's hard not to fall in love with that characterisation, but modern Beast is

06:36less of a cuddly science nerd, more deranged mad scientist.

06:40This recent radicalisation has led Beast to take insane risks and indulge in some rather

06:45shady activities.

06:46He joined the Illuminati to secretly represent the X-Men without telling his teammates when

06:51the 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,

06:59again consulting none of his team in the process.

07:02And now, on Krakoa, Beast leads X-Force with the mentality of quote,

07:06do what's best for all mutant kind, no matter the cost.

07:10Far be it from us to say that characters can't change, but with Beast, he seems to have strayed

07:14so far from his moral core that writers would be best to take a break on the character.

07:201.

07:21Professor X

07:22The 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

07:30the 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 function on Krakoa, but that doesn't change his guilt over his

07:45past misdeeds.

07:47Xavier's dream has always been more important than the character himself, and with the emergence

07:51of Krakoa, that dream is 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

08:02for 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.

08:16Feel free to leave a comment down below with your own thoughts on the matter, like and

08:19subscribe, and I'll see you next time.

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