| T H E U N C A N N Y X - M E N |
CURRENT MEMBERS:
Storm (Ororo Munroe)
Colossus (Piotr Rasputin)
Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner)
Rogue (Anna-Marie Darkholme)
Northstar (Jean-Paul Beaubier)
Shadowcat (Katherine 'Kitty' Pryde)
FOUNDER:
Professor Charles Xavier
| Origin & Backstory |
Mutation. In recent memory, no subject has captured the intelligent minds of the world like it. Humans with inhuman abilities and miraculous powers, borne not of scientific accident, but genetic disposition and circumstance. A sore topic indeed for much of the latter half of the twentieth century, as well as the formative years of The new millennium.
The positions are simple. On one side, swathes of people committed to preserving their own species' survival and claim over the world, with no thought to the mutant cost this might afford. On the other, the disillusioned and oppressed, gifted with great power, but seemingly impotent in the face of adversity. They fight for the right to civil liberty in a world that hates and fears them, some with words, others with actions. As with any ideology, both sides have their moderates, and their less-than-moderates. Very few concede that the two might ever coexist.
The position of government too, is clear. With the M.R.D. (The Mutant Response Division) - an organisation predating the likes of HAMMER - being formed to keep tabs on dangerous mutants and those who may become dangerous, their end goal seems to be the detention of any and all mutant that can't keep its head down.
Something has to give, lest the planet they fight for control of be made simple collateral. The world needs people to unite both tribes, to lead by example. The world needs heroes. The world needs The X-Men.
Genesis (1980's Onwards)
To know The X-Men, you must first know their teacher. A man with unassailable moral fortitude, an uncanny gift for discussion, and a respect for sentient life of all forms. A paraplegic, suffering from damage sustained to his spine following his time served in the military, he harboured more than his own thoughts of resentment. Able to read your mind without you even suspecting it, this alumni of Oxford University was also an outed Mutant, one of the first real high-profile activists for mutant-rights in America and the driving force for efforts to promote coexistence between his species and their predecessors.
While not the loudest faction in play - an honour that belonged to The Purifiers (a violent group of Human Supremicists, united in their intolerance and headed by Reverend William Striker) - nor the hardest-hitting (surely, the growing but disorganised Brotherhood of Mutants), his message stayed strong, a peaceful front in the face of violence and uncertainty, but landing useless on the ears of most.
As the eighties drew to a close and more and more was learnt about 'Homo Superior' and the illusive 'X-Gene', given responsibility where blame first lay in disease or, depending on your social circles, divine punishment for human debauchery and sin, paranoia spread. Even you, a seemingly ordinary human being, could carry this Gene, ready to pass it on. Your kids could have it. Your neighbours kids could have it! And save them coming out blue, deformed or invisible, you wouldn't know until it was too late.
It was a hard time to be a mutant, harder still knowing there was no way to change your fate. Someone had to act.
Exodus (1939 - 1994)
Erik Lehnsherr. Any student of mutant history need only know one name if they wish to truly capture the formative events of the Mutant Revolution. Known to many as the larger-than-life Magneto, this is a survivor of the worst Humanity had to offer in a time when fear and ignorance were the flavour of the day. A survivor of the Nazi death camps, his own mutant abilities triggered years after he was made a free man. Impotent in the face of a mechanical behemoth. To the memory of his mother, his father and millions killed by their neighbours, he vowed vengeance. Vengeance and justice.
He spent some time overseas, following a brief time in Israel. That world offered Erik nothing. He began to learn more about his condition, to contemplate his position in the world. Soon the travelling student became the travelling teacher. Roaming all over, he deposited his views (and on occasion, his seed) wherever he went, not as a man of peace, but as something else. He paid close attention to the published works of Darwin. Of Marx. Of a scholar named Xavier, landing at one, firm conclusion: mutants and humans would never coexist. It was not in humanity's nature. For security to be afforded to Mutantkind it had to be taken; only by force could the meek truly inherit the Earth.
To this end, he turned his eyes back to the west, where a change had already began. Violence, widespread, with a centre among the disillusioned of North America and Europe. Non-localised and hard hitting, perpetrated by humans under the informal umbrella of the Purifier. The struggling Brotherhood, no leader to steer it was on the backfoot. The one recognised individual at least partially tying them together, the Australian Poet and self-proclaimed new-age communist John Allerdyce, dragged from his bed and lynched outside of his home in Indiana, tied no more. And Magneto acted in kind.
When Mutants Attack! (December 18th 1994)
As the year started to draw to a close, as many broadcast networks planned to release their holiday programming, the American public were shocked to find a different white-haired man in red to the one they might have been expecting addressing them. Crowned in a red helmet, the speaker made his presence known finally.
"Mutant brothers and sisters!" He started, accent tickled by European influence. "Throw down your chains. I am Magneto, and while I cannot promise you peace, I can provide the means for you to take it."
With that, regular transmission, rather abruptly recommenced. Many shunned it entirely as a stunt on behalf of the TV-men. A cursory look at the news however would shunt thoughts like that.
Government buildings destroyed. Public forums decimated. Whole bridges, seemingly doubling over as if some great force were exerted upon them. Bolstered by key allies recruited on his travels, Magneto took the fight to Indiana. And when you look under enough rocks, eventually you find a worm or two. Erik found worms of his own, tracking down the supposed assassins of his contemporaries, most notably the men responsible for the murder of John Allerdyce. All found tastefully displayed in their homes, having shifted off their mortal coil.
And suddenly these actions inspired more. Key figures, held ransom by people who might have only glanced at their manifestos. Children armed, allowed to take vengeance on their less evolved cousins. All in the name of Brotherhood.
And at the helm, their White King. Magneto.
The House that Xavier Built (1994 - 1995)
Something had to give. Something always had to give. Xavier knew this. Deep down, most did. To this end, a teacher at heart, Xavier opened his own safehouse. His own training camp. A school. The Xavier Institue for Gifted Youngsters. Once his family home - a mansion situated in Salem Centre, Westchester County - there now stood a state of the art academy. Built with the help of protégé, friend and fellow mutant, the blue-furred Dr. Henry McCoy, the Mansion was refitted with the latest and greatest equipment to accommodate for a large student base, as well as a few items that were perhaps surplus to requirements (see Cerebro and The Blackbird).
Designed to protect those who would be feared and misunderstood for their gifts, Xavier hand picked his first students carefully. The Summers brothers from Alaska, endowed with destructive abilities thus far uncontrolled; a goddess from Cairo who's company was exclusively kept with thieves; a girl from Gotham that could lift a bookcase with her mind; and a feral fighter living wild in the Rockies. They were educated in their origins, instructed in the control of their abilities. In particular, Scott Summers, who was unable to open his eyes due to his inability to control the concussive blasts emitted by them, was salvaged. Provided with a visor of McCoy's one design, he could to some respect now function. Training, while intensive and extensive, was never a chore for these children of the atom. It provided a home and a family.
After a body of months, The X-Men were finally ready.
Named for their founder and the gene that set them apart from Homo sapiens, they would encourage humanity and mutantkind to coexist by setting the precedent. By educating. And if needed, by using violence. Their first objective: the cessation of Magneto's reign of terror. Perhaps easier said than done.
Battle for the Atom (1995 - 1998)
Inexperienced, the X-Men nevertheless entered many skirmishes, hitting back at Purifiers and Brotherhood members alike. At first their activities were reported under the assumption that they were members of Magneto's own forces. Priority was put on the capture of these mutants, to their dismay.
Their first encounter with Magneto occurred outside the school itself, Magneto responding to calls for talk with Xavier. Finding a seat inside, the two spent the day merely debating, discussing their own ideologies, their preferred outcomes of their current struggle. Magneto in his short time there didn't fail to make an impression; Alex Summers, with doubt already seeded in his mind regarding the validity of the cause he had been conscripted for, now saw Magneto as a hero. When talks went sour, Cyclops viciously attacking Lehnsherr following some pointed remarks and a threat to Xavier's life, it was Havok that neutralised his brother, tackling him to the ground.
Magneto left with Alex in tow, their exact locations unknown for a time.
In the following years, the X-Men only bolstered in strength. They faced threats such as The Friends of Humanity, a far-right Christian fundamentalist group that dabbled in occult weaponry. They faced multiple mutant threats, numerous super powered humans and even an anthropomorphic island. As the children became adults, so too did their control over their power. If Lehnsherr were to surface now, they were ready.
M Day (1998)
The final stand occurred in April of 1998. A lock finally being made on Magneto's position, The X-Men were able to track him to the U.S. Nuclear launch facility of Cape Citadel. Fighting there way through, dispatching Magneto's acolytes in synch with each other, they finally reached the control room.
A rapturous fight broke loose, with the X-Men taking on Magneto and Havok with full force. Much had changed since their first days together. This group had no trouble dispatching Havok, Magneto holding strong. In a last ditch attempt to start World War Three, the madman bypassed the missile launch codes. Each key snapped in as willed. The facility shook as a great strength left it.
Finishing Magneto off with a combined effort, attention frantically scrambled to the missile launch. With haste, they attempted to prevent a launch - no use. It began to rise. And then something clicked. The launch was aborted. SHIELD had arrived.
Peacetime (1998 - 2005)
Following this, Magneto and Havok were arrested and detained in a special SHIELD facility. And the X-Men celebrated their greatest victory for the cause.
Though the roster changed significantly over the years, the message continued to remain relevant. The efforts of The X-Men in recent years have stopped multiple threats to mutant and humankind alike, helping to turn public opinion slowly more in favour of those they might otherwise despise. If ever there was a quiet before the storm, this was one.
As we begin to follow our heroes, the team is entering its third incarnation, the helm being taken up by experienced team-member Ororo Munroe, codenamed Storm. The original students have in turn become teachers. And something evil stirs. Something overlooked up until now.
| Biographies |
| Attributes |
the X-Men are comprised of a number of unique mutants. Afforded their abilities by their genes, they manifest (for the most part) during puberty. Below is an outline of their individual gifts.
| Character Notes |
| Character Goals |
Let it be said, right off the bat, that I love The X-Men. Adore it all. I've exposed myself to debatably every fresh interpretation, every animated venture, any ill-thought out cinematic endeavour. Chris Claremont's run, it could be said, influenced my mental perception of the team as a whole. It's probably why I favour the X-Members that I do. Hope I'm not over egging it, by the way.
Regardless, a number of stories stand out that I would love to put my own spin on or, more importantly, discard in favour of new ideas and interpretations. I plan on bringing the conflict to the Brotherhood and Human fronts and I have few interesting ideas for Mister Sinister in the works. But you need not worry about that. All I can say is, in my eyes these characters would have a safe-handed custodian in me.
| References |
#1
#2
#3
2x Like
