Wolverine is one of the serial offenders, yes. I get that he can be a fun character to write. There is a lot of history and with his backstory you can, literally, make him anything you want. That is the fun of a cypher.
But, the writers have a tendency to misuse him. Need a heavy hitter that can double as a meatshield? Hey, let's use wolverine! Slap a few bub around the dialogue and there we go. And they rarely go beyond that. Which does the character a disservice.
The other two characters that seem to get a lot of screen time that make me go why are Jean Grey and Kitty Pride. Again, good characters but...they are everywhere. (And part of that is because Kitty was the original Wolverine's sidekick. Plus walking through walls is pretty cool and lends itself to making her a ninja supergirl which is also pretty cool but there are better characters. Jean Grey was one of the originals, period, and the Phoenix and Dark Phoenix sagas were some of the most ground breaking in comic history. Can't have one without the other.)) I get that, I respect it, but it annoys me that you create these amazing characters as...what? background? Amazing characters that you could do so much with.
Take Jamie Maddox (multiple man) for example. He can create clones of himself that can go out and learn something come back and reabsorb the clone and, and this is a really cool power, keep the knowledge. He can be in multiple places at once. He is a cop's worst nightmare. He could be the world's best spy. Or detective or half a dozen other things.
Imagine, for a moment, setting him up as a chronicler for the X-men. Or...what about a Buffy-style watcher? What would the x-men appear as in his voice? His perspective?
Doesn't it at least have the potential to be more interesting than some of the storylines we've seen?
I LOVE your Jamie Maddox as Watcher idea. That would be simply phenomenal (and if I had that power, I'd be in four or five universities at once, damnit, devouring all the cool knowledge like a desperate addict).
Jean Grey turned into the original Mary Sue, IMO. Even so, I wish they had done the Phoenix saga justice in the movie franchise, instead of cramming it into one movie. In the comics, though? PLEASE LEAVE HER DEAD.
Honestly, just as with fans, the writers and artists have their favorites. And those are the ones that get all of the screen/page time. I probably shouldn't complain: I definitely abuse my love of Rogue.
Still... over 2000 characters of awesome. Maybe a few new titles, instead of a rebootish thing (again) would be the way to go next time? I'd hope for X-men done correctly, with Joss Whedon hired on to Marvel's stable with an exclusivity clause for the next three years... but he'd probably only give us Kitty Pryde!
The third movie in the X-men series was supposed to be a dark phoenix movie, basically movieversing the dark phoenix saga. but then there was TEH DRAMAZ!
And Yeah, there is more than a little bit of mary sue in Jean Grey. Which is sad because as a character idea, she's good. but she's been rewritten so many times that...well, you get mary sue. Part of me does want to reboot the original x-men even with the original characters just so it can be done right.
...Oh god, I can just imagine my next writing project. Combining a reboot how I want it (and isn't that just a little arrogant of me) with the Maddox as watcher...
I'll have to start brainstorming.
But, yeah. there are a lot of awesome characters. the problem is that there's so much history there that you really end up cherry-picking...and sometimes you just don't get the luxury of choosing certain things - they're so ingrained in the characters that it becomes...well, defining.
Personally, I'd like to see a Rogue that does have partial control of her powers. Or rather, one where her powers blinked off on occasion. She doesn't get warning and the 'borrowed' powers aren't affected. I think it would be interesting to know that you have these brief moments of touch but never knowing when or how long they would last...it would be a personal nightmare for her...and epically awesome to see how she would deal with it...
They needed three movies for that Saga alone, at least.... Was there behind the scenes drama beyond Marsden needing to leave and play Superman?
I'd read that reboot of yours!
Unpredicatble control of Rogue's powers could be GREAT! Maybe I'll see if I can work that into Reeducation in an arc or two - some of the forthcoming ones aren't complete, so I could definitely raise the ante there. Hmmmm....
Yeah, there was more behind the scenes drama. I think it started with the director, at least that I heard.
And you could have done it in one movie. You wouldn't have gotten everything but some of what was in the comics wouldn't have translated well anyway. (For example: alien anything, space battles and intelligent cosmic entities - parts of the phoenix saga are made of crack. The empire, while cool, would have had too many people going the what now or ohh so that's where mutants come from, not human but aliens or alien/human hybrids. And, if they had done it right, they could have ended on one of those what happens next/where do we go from here notes that, to be honest, is really one of the best ways to end an X-men anything. Which from a marketing standpoint would have been awesome, leading into a natural reboot/comicverse based off of the movies.and tons of merchandizing.
I'm still not totally convinced that it could have been done in one movie - but it surely could have been at least partially done in a BETTER movie! :)
But, the writers have a tendency to misuse him. Need a heavy hitter that can double as a meatshield? Hey, let's use wolverine! Slap a few bub around the dialogue and there we go. And they rarely go beyond that. Which does the character a disservice.
The other two characters that seem to get a lot of screen time that make me go why are Jean Grey and Kitty Pride. Again, good characters but...they are everywhere. (And part of that is because Kitty was the original Wolverine's sidekick. Plus walking through walls is pretty cool and lends itself to making her a ninja supergirl which is also pretty cool but there are better characters. Jean Grey was one of the originals, period, and the Phoenix and Dark Phoenix sagas were some of the most ground breaking in comic history. Can't have one without the other.)) I get that, I respect it, but it annoys me that you create these amazing characters as...what? background? Amazing characters that you could do so much with.
Take Jamie Maddox (multiple man) for example. He can create clones of himself that can go out and learn something come back and reabsorb the clone and, and this is a really cool power, keep the knowledge. He can be in multiple places at once. He is a cop's worst nightmare. He could be the world's best spy. Or detective or half a dozen other things.
Imagine, for a moment, setting him up as a chronicler for the X-men. Or...what about a Buffy-style watcher? What would the x-men appear as in his voice? His perspective?
Doesn't it at least have the potential to be more interesting than some of the storylines we've seen?
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Jean Grey turned into the original Mary Sue, IMO. Even so, I wish they had done the Phoenix saga justice in the movie franchise, instead of cramming it into one movie. In the comics, though? PLEASE LEAVE HER DEAD.
Honestly, just as with fans, the writers and artists have their favorites. And those are the ones that get all of the screen/page time. I probably shouldn't complain: I definitely abuse my love of Rogue.
Still... over 2000 characters of awesome. Maybe a few new titles, instead of a rebootish thing (again) would be the way to go next time? I'd hope for X-men done correctly, with Joss Whedon hired on to Marvel's stable with an exclusivity clause for the next three years... but he'd probably only give us Kitty Pryde!
Reply
And Yeah, there is more than a little bit of mary sue in Jean Grey. Which is sad because as a character idea, she's good. but she's been rewritten so many times that...well, you get mary sue. Part of me does want to reboot the original x-men even with the original characters just so it can be done right.
...Oh god, I can just imagine my next writing project. Combining a reboot how I want it (and isn't that just a little arrogant of me) with the Maddox as watcher...
I'll have to start brainstorming.
But, yeah. there are a lot of awesome characters. the problem is that there's so much history there that you really end up cherry-picking...and sometimes you just don't get the luxury of choosing certain things - they're so ingrained in the characters that it becomes...well, defining.
Personally, I'd like to see a Rogue that does have partial control of her powers. Or rather, one where her powers blinked off on occasion. She doesn't get warning and the 'borrowed' powers aren't affected. I think it would be interesting to know that you have these brief moments of touch but never knowing when or how long they would last...it would be a personal nightmare for her...and epically awesome to see how she would deal with it...
Reply
I'd read that reboot of yours!
Unpredicatble control of Rogue's powers could be GREAT! Maybe I'll see if I can work that into Reeducation in an arc or two - some of the forthcoming ones aren't complete, so I could definitely raise the ante there. Hmmmm....
Reply
And you could have done it in one movie. You wouldn't have gotten everything but some of what was in the comics wouldn't have translated well anyway. (For example: alien anything, space battles and intelligent cosmic entities - parts of the phoenix saga are made of crack. The empire, while cool, would have had too many people going the what now or ohh so that's where mutants come from, not human but aliens or alien/human hybrids. And, if they had done it right, they could have ended on one of those what happens next/where do we go from here notes that, to be honest, is really one of the best ways to end an X-men anything. Which from a marketing standpoint would have been awesome, leading into a natural reboot/comicverse based off of the movies.and tons of merchandizing.
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