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Australian philosopher, literary critic, legal scholar, and professional writer. Based in Newcastle, NSW. My latest books are THE TYRANNY OF OPINION: CONFORMITY AND THE FUTURE OF LIBERALISM (2019); AT THE DAWN OF A GREAT TRANSITION: THE QUESTION OF RADICAL ENHANCEMENT (2021); and HOW WE BECAME POST-LIBERAL: THE RISE AND FALL OF TOLERATION (2024).

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Sunday supervillainy - Bleeding Cool reveals Uncanny X-Men line-up

According to Bleeding Cool, this is what the Uncanny X-Men line-up will look like post-Schism.

In fact, it can only be two-thirds of the core group, for which we've been promised nine characters. We've also been told that it will be the most powerful X-Men line-up ever, and this little pictured group goes a long way towards that ambition.

Okay, so we have Emma Frost, Cyclops (still as leader?), Magneto, DangerColossus (who is depicted here, I suspect misleadingly, as if he is still in the form of the Juggernaut as a result of the current Fear Itself storyline), and Magik.

If these characters are written at full power - I hate it when characters are underwritten to make stories work - that is certainly a monstrously powerful and versatile line-up. It covers pretty much the whole range of standard powers for superheroes and villains. You have to wonder what threats would have much of a chance against them, especially with another three core characters to be revealed.

I wonder who they will be. Namor? Hope? Psylocke? Storm? Surely not ... hmmm, Dazzler?

It's starting to look as if Schism will split up two current couples: Colossus and Kitty Pryde, as well as Magneto and Rogue (this split is not really surprising) ... but not Cyclops and Emma Frost, which would have been kind of interesting. We're getting a very gender-balanced team, though - and I wouldn't be surprised if the final male:female ratio is 4:5. This could be a very Claremontish team that way, depending on who the missing characters are.

Finally, we're getting a rather villainous combination of X-Men, with almost all of these pictured team members having dark sides to them. Magneto, Emma Frost, and Danger all started out as villains. Arguably the first, or even the first two, still are at heart. As for Magik ... she's not exactly villainous but she's an incredibly dangerous loose cannon.

Hey, this could almost pass for a supervillain team, especially if Namor ends up being part of it.

Which is bleeding cool with me.

3 comments:

Rocket Stegosaurus said...

I'll have to read Magik's wikipedia page to see when she got resurrected. :/

Also, the partially blacked out cover for the Regenesis X-Factor came out a week ago: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=34040

X-Factor is the only modern book I'm following at the moment (and even then, I'm somewhere in 2006, though I'll be up to speed in a few weeks).

MosesZD said...

Where is Wolverine? Because he's the coolest... And cool IS a superpower...

Russell Blackford said...

Wolverine is on the other team: Wolverine and the X-Men.

Let's go back a step. The "schism" is between the group discussed in the original post (and any other groups that are allied with them, such as maybe Hope's young group) and the group who go off under the leadership of Wolverine.

When Schism it's over, there will be two core books in the franchise: Uncanny X-Men; and Wolverine and the X-Men. The X-Men will be split into two political units with rival philosophies for mutantkind.