Evolution: Marvel Finds A Way
In 1963 a comic book released that would make Marvel a leader in the industry. What initially seemed a story about a group of school kids was in truth a metaphor for current world events, one which would would launch five decades of memorable stories and iconic characters which would touch TV, film and video games. Enter the X-Men…
Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, X-Men #1 released on 10 September 1963. What separated this comic book from other established Marvel properties (Fantastic Four, Spider-man, Captain America, etc) was that the characters derive their powers from a unique — evolutionary — genetic makeup instead of some freak exposure to “insert plot device here.”
Said “X-Factor” gene, and the abilities it provided, made them stand out from other humans, in turn resulting in animosity, fear and hatred towards them.
A Most Private School
Professor Charles Xavier, the most powerful telepath on earth, wisely realized that the only chance for these “new mutants” to coexist was to train them; to help them hone their powers, so that they could prove themselves to be more than genetic freaks but instead guardians of all.
It was not hard to see that Lee and Kirby were drawing on the Civil Rights Movements of the time with the hatred towards mutants because they were different; they represented the classic “outsiders”.
With this new definition of superhero, Marvel, via the character of Professor X, put together the original team, which included the following: Professor X (powerful telepath), Cyclops (optic blast), Jean Grey (telepath), Beast (genius intellect and animal physiology), Iceman (cold and ice manipulation) and Angel (flight).
Rogue’s Gallery
With this super team assembled, Marvel needed a gallery of villains equal to the task. Some of the most notable villains include Magneto (magnetism) who is a sort of grey-area villain who would fight to protect mutants alongside the X-Men but then be more militant and violent going further than his good friend Professor X could accept to improve the lives of mutants.
Then you had Government agencies wishing to stop the mutant gene and the emergence of a Homo Superior. For example, Bolivar Trask, a government-funded scientist, developed mutant killing robots called Sentinels.
Other notable villains include Apocalypse (self-molecular manipulation, altering power of other mutants), Mr Sinister (genetically altered human, mutant scientist) and Shadow King (telepathy) who would return regularly to challenge the team. This is part of the success of The X-Men when things got stale they could create a new character or villain to keep things fresh.
With the ensured success of the property, Marvel split the team into multiple titles to maximize exposure of the property.
Currently there is X-Men Gold, Blue, Red and Astonishing X-Men. There are also comics for Jean Grey, Wolverine, Iceman, Domino, Deadpool and Legion with a Rogue & Gambit team up. Even mutant anti-heroes get their own book with the Weapon X. X-Men is still a large part of Marvel comics output.
The Enduring X-Factor
While the original team members have survived through five decades of adventures, they are now assembled in very different teams/time zones/stages of their lives.
This ever-evolving roster has created new iconic Marvel characters — too many to mention — but the top five X-Men as on “The Top Tens” site who are not the original team are: Wolverine (healing factor and adamantium skeleton): the poster boy for the X-Men who arrived in 1970s as a villain for Incredible Hulk, in turn becoming the most popular mutant, leading the comic books to its their most successful era of the 80’s and 90’s. Unfortunately his popularity turned the X-Men franchise into a “Wolverine and Friends” line of books. Storm (weather manipulation) is the second in command behind Cyclops. Nightcrawler (teleportation), Deadpool (healing factor and combat efficiency) and Rogue (flight, super strength).
The 80s and 90s success brought about other adaptations. The classic 80s’ cartoon which introduced the characters and interpreted the main storylines to a new batch of kids/adults. The show ran for 76 episodes and gave most mutants a chance to appear from the comics history. The TV exposure was quickly followed by the video game market. The 1989 NES The Uncanny X-Men, 1992 Arcade cabinet through the home consoles market and the excellent X-Men Legends games from 2004-05.
The franchise was already enjoying a resurgence when Bryan Singer was called on by Fox Studios to direct the first film, so in turn launching the X-Men movie universe and pushing mutants into the mainstream of the common pop-cultural zeitgeist. So it was that the comic book blockbuster as we know it was realized. The films started off well but the more they tried to use famous story arcs and give prominence to the famous actors they had under contract (Mystique), the more the quality dropped. Hugh Jackman has made a career playing Wolverine, but the popularity of the character made the films more and more Wolverine-centric, to the detriment of Cyclops the original team leader who is largely ignored. The mutants have also launched in to TV with successful shows Legion and The Gifted which are loosely linked to the film universe. The future of the comic and movie’s universe is a bit up in the air at the moment. With the Disney acquisition of Fox Studios there is a possibility that the X-Men could soon appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is a tricky prospect with the well-established character recognition from the previous films, should the existing actors transfer over or should there be a clean slate.
The mutants remain popular and with Disney buying Fox’s movie studios they will be eager to relaunch the line through comics, games, TV and films. It will be possible to show Hulk v Wolverine, Storm marrying Black Panther as has happened in the comics.
So over to you, who is your favourite X-Men character and why and do you think the X-Men should be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
