Brief X-Men Nerdiness

Count me as one of the people saying that getting the guy who did The O.C. to do a young  X-Men reboot is a bad idea. For one thing, the X-Men are all different ages.  For much of the series of books, no one knows how old Logan is (although he joins the X-Men as a middle-aged-looking adult), Kitty Pryde is 14 when she joins and Colossus is 19 (that's actually important to their relationship, they couldn't sleep together because the editors at Marvel realized it would be statutory rape, even in an issue where they both thought they were going to die, Colossus would only kiss her). Cyclops and Jean Grey are roughly 30.

I mean, there are some X-Men who are around the same age and you could limit your grouping to them.   The original X-Men (Cyclops, The Beast, Angel, Iceman and Marvel Girl) were all teenagers, although for later incarnations of the Beast, he's pretty clearly a middle aged man.  But you still wouldn't have Wolverine (the second batch of X-Men: Storm, Wolverine, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Thunderbird and Banshee are all older than the original crop of X-Men) and, frankly, isn't Wolverine the reason most people read X-Men in the first place? 

Part of the thing that made the X-Men interesting was how different the members of the team were from one another.  They all came from different countries (Canada, The United States, Egypt, The UK and Russia), had different philosophical outlooks, values and life experiences. I worry that going back to the teenaged set will be a little limiting.

Although, if they put Havok in the mix, i'm there. I've always loved Havok and his powers and the whole brothers-estranged-via-separate-adoptions thing going on between him and Cyclops.

Comments

[DJA]

"X-Men: First Class" is a series about the original X-Men (Cyclops, Jean Grey ("Marvel Girl"), Iceman, Angel, Beast), set when they were actually all teenagers and enrolled in Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters (back when it was still a school).

[DJA]

Also, this is just one title -- it's not rebooting anything, it's just set in the past, sort of an "X-Men: Year One." And it's already been running for over a year, during which time the other dozen or so X-books have been continuing as usual.

"frankly, isn't Wolverine the reason most people read X-Men in the first place?"

God no. At this point, even the biggest Wolverine fanboys are sick to death of Wolverine. Dude's been milked dry.

[isaac]

Hey DJA,

Good points all. I should just clarify that "read" in that sentence was meant to be in the past tense. Meaning, wasn't it the reason a lot of us *began reading it* in the first place? It certainly wasn't any of the characters listed amongst the originals. Although being a nerd, I always thought Beast was totes awesome. But Cyclops is just kind of a dick, Jean Grey doesn't get interesting until she dies, and neither Iceman nor Angel have a lot of personality if memory serves me right. But then again, I thought Iron Man would suck and flop, so you shouldn't listen to me.

[DJA]

And now we get to the part where I realize that Josh Schwartz isn't going to be writing the X-Men First Class comic book but adapting it for the screen...

[Aaron]

To be fair, Allan Heinburg, who also wrote for the O.C., came up with the "Young Avengers" comic book, which was pretty good and fairly clever. If Josh Schwartz can think of a good hook for the film, I'm sure he can nail a good story.

[herxanthikles]

Iron Man might be the best example. I'm digging Schwartz's Chuck which manages to consistently hit a pleasantly frivolous note. Some of the colorless heroes of the Marvel universe (Iron Man and the original generation of X-Men seem to apply) do pretty well if not take Batman seriously, and one of the major flaws of the recent X-Men movies was turning its tradition of political relevance into wooden solemnity. So maybe some frivolty is what the series needs, though to say the X-Men "need" anything is an overstatmenet.

[herxanthikles]

wow, that's a new record for me for bad spelling and lack of clarity. at least it was in a comment about the x-men. shrugging apology.

[DJA]

xposted...

I actually am actually kind of looking forward to this adaptation. It's true that the original Stan Lee-Jack Kirby X-Men books were uncharacteristically dull (great concept, terrible execution) and the "original cast" have not always been well-served by comics writers. But the First Class series is actually really well-written and a lot of fun, a much-improved take on the Stan-and-Jack era X-Men.

There's nothing fundamentally wrong with the characters, they are great concepts. The most important thing to understand is that fundamentally, they are all expressions of different aspects of nerddom.

The much-maligned Cyclops is actually a brilliant, tragic character. Scott has incredible destructive power inside him that he can't control. He can't even *look* at anyone with without killing them. So yeah, he's a tightass, because he has to be. He's a kid who never had a childhood, who has always felt the weight of a terrible responsibility.

Jean Grey is the ultimate nerd wish-fulfillment character. Look, she can *beat people up with her mind*. This is GREAT. As a teenager, she should be geeky and slightly awkward, not the alpha-girl she is usually portrayed as. She is basically Willow, but with science-derived powers (mutation), not magic. She has a bit of a daddy complex going on with Xavier.

Iceman is a hothead, in your classic comic book personality-is-inversion-of-powers trope. But hey, it works. I liked Shawn Ashmore's more introverted take on Bobby, but in this cast he needs to be more of an impulsive show-off. (Cyclops hates that shit.) He is also the youngest of this cast, and the least intellectual -- the "regular" kid who's a bit resentful he's been put in "special class" with all the no-fun brainiacs. Except he's not "regular." He's a mutant.

Beast is the nerd who beats people up with his prehensile mutant feet. But other than that he is basically human-looking (no blue fur). Because of his physical strength and agility, Henry is outwardly confident, cultured, a bon vivant, totally unashamed of his nerdiness, the kind of kid who isn't afraid to let everyone know how much he loves opera and NOVA. (Who is going to fuck with him?) But he's also the most reflective, and his mutation -- which, unlike everyone else's, is ongoing -- is deeply disturbing to him. He has flashes of animalistic impulses that he can't control, and he is secretly worried about what's happening to him.

Angel is a rich kid with a chip on his shoulder. He's been (here I would take liberties with "official" continuity) shipped off to Xavier's because his parents are ashamed of his mutation and trying to keep it a secret. Warren acts like he's above everyone else, but inside he's crushed by his parents' rejection and desperately wants to redeem himself in their eyes. He doesn't realize that's not possible.

Professor X is Professor X. But I think he works better when he's not all-knowing and all-powerful. This is his first batch of students, and he's still figuring things out as he goes along.

Another liberty I would take with continuity: include Magneto as an associate professor. He is still Charles's partner at this point. I would not make him a villain until much later.

[DJA]

I should add that the animated show X-Men: Evolution did a pretty good job with the "teenage X-Men" concept, especially in later seasons. It doesn't mesh with the comics continuity at all -- in this version, the original five X-Men are Cyclops, Jean, Kitty, NIghtcrawler, and, uh, Spyke (a regrettable token character created for the series). They gradually added more characters, and the whole cast (including the bad guys) were teenagers except for Professor X, Wolverine, Storm and Beast (faculty), Mystique, and Magneto.

[herxanthikles]

Nice. Especially Magneto being on faculty--"When the tenure process spins out of control...will the world pay the price?"