Some X-Men characters are overused, problematic, or flat out boring; find out which need to go!
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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.