Today Marvel and X-Men's fans were previewed to the cover of the new Brian Michael Bendis title, All New X-Men. As part of the Marvel NOW campaign happening after Avengers vs. X-Men, All New X-Men will be about the original five X-Men coming to the present day Marvel Universe. Bendis has been writing Avengers titles since 2004 and saw them through Avengers: Disassembled, Civil War, and Dark Reign, but now Bendis says he's ready to step into the X-Men world and mix things up.
I'm not sure how AvsX will leave the mutant race, but I do know the original five have come a long way since their first introduction back in 1963. I've always had a soft spot for the fab five. When they started out they were just teenagers trying to figure out how to protect a world that fears and hates them. And trust me when I say the drama in their lives since then has put Greek tragedies and soap operas to shame. They've been government recruits forming the original X-Factor, school head masters and mistresses at the Xavier Institute, Avengers, and even the world's greatest threats. One of the members is even dead, again. So before Cyclops and the rest of gang meet their teenage-selves I figure we'd look back and see just how messed up their younger counter parts will think they are.
HANK MCCOY / BEAST
Hank McCoy used to be a high school quarterback until the people around him discovered he was a mutant. Neighborhood mobs then tried to kill him so he came to Xavier's school as an escape and too be accepted for who he is. He started hitting the books and is now considered one of the smartest people in the Marvel U.
While taking a job in a corporate lab an accident left Hank with blue fur all over his body to complete his transformation into Beast. With this new look came heightened sense, a descent healing factor, and the ability to run on walls and ceilings; kinda like Spider-Man I guess you can say. But in recent years these side effects are becoming worse. Hank feral/animal instincts are growing more and more like he's De-evolving and as a brilliant scientist he has yet to find a cure.
Because of his appearance Hank has had a lot of trouble with love. Most women seem to not like a guy who will shed in the bed. He had a brief relationship with his lab assistant, then a long term relationship with TV reporter Trish Tilby. But neither relationship lasted due to the not only Hank's appearance, but his life as a superhero as well. He's currently dating S.W.O.R.D. (Sentient World Observation and Response Department) director, Abigail Brand.
In the last few years Hank has broken away from the X-Men, due to not being happy about how is longtime friend, Cyclops has taken the X-Men. But Hank is back in Westchester, NY at the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning, ran by Wolverine and Kitty Pryde.
BOBBY DRAKE / ICEMAN
Robert Louis Drake was barely in his teens when his mutant power first manifested. He was then beaten-up by a mob so the sheriff placed him in jail for his own protection. He was found by Professor Xavier and given a place where he could let his powers grow and be accepted. Bobby, being the youngest of the original five, was always the prankster. Whether he was throwing snow balls at his friends or make jokes at Magneto during a fight, he always lightened the mood.
Throughout the years Bobby has turned into an Omega-Level mutant using his ice manifestation to make himself stronger, have thermal vision, and moisture conversion. He's also been known to team-up with other young heroes like the Human Torch and Spider-Man back in the day.
When Loran Dane joined the X-Men Bobby found his first girlfriend, but the relationship did no last and Bobby ended up leaving the X-Men to go to college and eventually joining X-Factor with the original X-Men.
During M-Day, where most mutants lost their powers, Bobby was one of the fallen, but gained them back through still unknown means. He's tried to live a normal life on several occasions; especially when his dad was almost beaten nearly to death for defending mutants, but Bobby knows, like the rest of his friends, he's a hero at heart.
Bobby is with Wolverine and Hank at Jean Grey's school, but when the AvsX went down he joined back with Cyclops like most mutants, but then has switched back after the Phoenix has manifested itself. And right before this started Kitty Pryde planted a big wet one on him. Watch it Bobby, her ex is part of the Phoenix Five.
WARREN WORTHINGTON III / ANGEL / ARCHANGEL
As heir to a billion dollar corporation Warren had all the time he needed to save people from burning buildings and muggings after he first developing his wings. Xavier soon recruited him into the X-Men and he started dating Jean Grey, who happened to be in love with another classmate, Scott Summers. Warren soon gets over it and has had an on-again-off-again relationship with Betsy Braddock, a.k.a. Psylocke, for quite some time.
During his time on X-Factor, Angel was attacked in the Morlock Tunnels and his wings had to be amputated off of him. Warren makes a deal with the villain Apocalypse to get his wings back so long as he served as one of Apocalypse's four horseman. Warren soon becomes Archangel, an-evil-to-be reckoned with. With the help of his friends and some inner strength Warren breaks Apocalypse's hold on him and becomes one of the good guys again.
Years later Warren shed his robotic wings again to regain his natural ones, but then again turns into Archangel years after, much like a man turns into a werewolf. Warren is now suffering from amnesia after the Dark Angel Saga that almost turned him into the next Apocalypse, but broke him of his Archangel persona. He is currently being watched over by his long-time friend, Bobby, at the Jean Grey school.
JEAN GREY-SUMMERS / MARVEL GIRL / PHOENIX / DARK PHOENIX / REDD DAYSPRING
She's had more names then Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, but she's deserved everyone one of them. Jean Grey was Charles Xavier's first student and after teaching her from home for a while he convinced her parents to move Jean to his school in Westchester. There Jean learned to grow her telekinetic abilities and even develop telepathy like Xavier. Jean became so powerful that she was a host to the Phoenix force, the most powerful being in all the universe. However, Jean's human emotions mixed with the Phoenix became a deadly combination, turning her into the Dark Phoenix. After destroying an entire galaxy with billions of life forms Jean is sentenced to death by the Shi'ar Empire, but kills herself rather than risk harming anyone else.
At the time Jean was dating her long time boyfriend, Scott Summer, a.k.a. Cyclops. She had always flirted with Wolverine, but her and Scott's psychic link made her believe they were meant to be. Jean soon rose from the dead; because the Dark Phoenix really wasn't her. The Phoenix replicated Jean's mind and body after bonding, leaving Jean's original body safely at the bottom of the Hudson River, and found by the Fantastic Four.
Jean woke to a world that had moved on without her, as Scott was married to another woman and had a son. After re-joining her friends in X-Factor Jean and Scott rekindled their relationship and eventually got married. Years later, Jean started developing Phoenix-like symptoms again, but died by the hand of Magneto before the possible return of the Dark Phoenix.
Jean's been dead since 2001, not since Barry Allen has a popular comic book character been gone that long. With the Phoenix back into play in the Marvel U I feel like Jean Grey could make a come back, and if not I'd hate to be teenage Jean and arrive in the future only to find out you died; twice.
SCOTT SUMMERS / CYCLOPS / SLYM DAYSPRING
Warren Ellis was quoted in Wizard magazine in saying that when X-Men is all over it'll be Cyclops story. Scott has been with the X-Men since issue #1 and has never left. But he's had a hell of a tragic life along the way. His parents died when he was young, forcing him into lots of bad foster homes away from his brother, Alex. Scott eventually wound up at Xavier's where he became field leader for the X-Men and fell in love with Jean Grey.
After Jean's death Cyclops took a leave of absence and met a woman Madelyne Pryor who reminded him so much of Jean, physically. Scott married Madelyne and they had a son named Nathan. When Jean Grey returned Scott felt confused, but then news broke that Madelyne was actually a clone of Jean Grey, created by Mr. Sinister to combine their DNA to create the perfect mutant child, Nathan. Madelyne went nuts and sacrifices herself while trying to stop Apocalypse from infecting Nathan with a techno-organic virus. She fails and Scott's only way of saving his son is to let his future daughter, Rachel, take him into the future to be raised by himself and Jean under the aliases "the Daysprings". Once Nathan is almost grown Scott and Jean return to the present, with an adult Nathan following shortly after.
Jean and Scott get married and are happy for a short time, until Scott sacrifices himself to stop Apocalypse. Jean and Nathan find a way to bring Scott back, but not entirely how he was. Scott begins having a psychic affair with Emma Frost, the same woman who once helped turn Jean into the Dark Phoenix. After Jean's death Scott and Emma run Xavier's school together, relocate to San Francisco, and Scott is now assuming the role of leader for the entire mutant race. I have a feeling after AvsX Scott might not end in such a good position.
And this is just him and Jean. His daughter Rachel is also back from the future and taking her mom's name, Marvel Girl. His father who was dead turned out to be alive, and then dead again. His brother Alex was good, then bad, and then good again. Finally, he has another brother he never knew about who pretty much has tried to destroy the whole galaxy. It's not easy being Scott Summers, and that's why I love him as a character.
I'm very interested to see what young Cyclops thinks of his present-day self and where Scott will be after AvsX is over. Ellis said Cyclops is like the Batman of the Marvel Universe. He's been training as a superhero most his life, so somehow, I think Scott will be OK; eventually.
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