Those Crazy X-Men Kids!

So, I’ve said it plenty of times on Twitter – I am not a fan of the notion of the time displaced X-Men. When All New X-Men was announced, and the idea was “The young versions of the X-Men will be pulled from the past into the present – to see what Cyclops has done and what he’s become.” (He’d killed Professor Xavier, supposedly by this time; and had become a intolerant mutant against those who spoke out against mutants, often attacking them with little regard to anyone else). I thought the notion was great for a limited series. And that’s what I thought All New X-Men was going to be. The Young X-Men pulled into the present to see the disastrous world that’s come about in regards to mutants. I assumed, during this limited series, the adult versions of the X-Men would “blink out” of existence, leaving the Young X-Men to piece things together themselves. I thought, that the Young X-Men would try to change the world, but in doing so, essentially continue to make things worse (indicating that no matter what you try to do to change Fate, Fate will also correct itself, and make what’s destined to happen, simply happen – think along the lines of the Final Destination movies when death came for those who were supposed to die, and avoided it – and death came for them all).

But… that’s not what happened. No, even though Hank supposedly pulled the “616” versions of their Younger Selves (because had he pulled them out from a different reality, it would have had no impact on the 616 world of Marvel) – the adult versions continued to exist in the 616 Universe, even though they had been plucked from the time line.

Think of it this way. You plant a tree on a barren piece of land. Over the next 25 years, it sprouts seeds, and that once barren land is now ripe with plants and animals. Now, you have the ability to go back in time, and stop yourself from planting that seed. When you go back to the present – that seed is never planted, and none of the plants grow, and none of the animals come. That’s how it would logically work right?

Now I hear you (and it’s not because I am a mutant!) – “This is comics!” Right. This is comics. But what if comics – as a matter of fact – an X-Men comic has already proven said logic? What am I talking about? Legion Quest ring any bells?

Turn the pages back to:
Prologue – “The Waking” – X-Factor #109
Part 1 – “The Son Rises in the East” – Uncanny X-Men #320
Part 2 – “The Killing Time” – X-Men Vol 2 #40
Part 3 – “Auld Lang Syne” – Uncanny X-Men #321
Part 4 – “Dreams Die!” – X-Men Vol 2 #41
Epilogue – “An Hour of Last Things” – Cable #20

In this chain of events – Legion travels back to the past, in order to kill Magneto, to make amends with his father – none other than Charles Xavier. However, just as Legion is about to kill Magneto, Charles Xavier steps between them, and sacrifices himself. The end result, a crystalline wave washes over the world and creates an alternate reality, affectionately known as The Age of Apocalypse.

The entire concept of The Age of Apocalypse, is without Professor Xavier, the X-Men are not formed when they were; and the consequences are drastic, including Apocalypse rising to power and ruling the entire world.

So based on the logic, already provided by the X-Men mini Legion Quest which led to Age of Apocalypse, the very actions of Hank McCoy pulling the younger version of the X-Men from the 616 past time line should have had dire consequences. Based on the issues in X-Men Blue, which features the time displaced X-Men, the X-Men are not (or don’t appear to be) familiar with Juggernaut. The original X-Men battled Juggernaut in X-Men #12. So, it’s probably safe to assume that Beast pulled the Young X-Men from sometime before that. And even if it was after that – let’s say, before the events of Uncanny X-Men #94/Giant Size X-Men #1 (which is a safe bet, since the X-Men Hank pulled do not have any new X-Men, and the X-Men are still young).

If they were pulled before the ever went to Krakoa – that technically means the new X-Men (Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Banshee, Thunderbird, Sunfire, Storm, and Colossus). Think of the rippling effect that should have had? Storm would still be in Africa, Nightcrawler would have probably been killed by the mob, Thunderbird would still be alive, Wolverine would probably still be a part of Department H {and probably leading or at least a part of Alpha Flight), Colossus would be in Russia. And if Colossus was in Russia, that means Illyana is never kidnapped. She never becomes Magik. Also, Professor Xavier never forms the New Mutants to replace the X-Men he believes to be dead from the Brood (well, actually, his ulterior motive was that he had a Brood Queen egg in him and he wanted more mutant hosts).

Some might say, I am thinking too much. I, however, think what I am doing is something Marvel has given up on – consistency. As I said, Marvel themselves showed going back to the 616 timeline and making a change has a rippling effect (Legion Quest/Age Of Apocalypse), and yet – there was absolutely no rippling effect, no consequences, no anything for bringing these young versions of the X-Men into the 616 Marvel Universe. All it did was make it more confusing, and more cluttered with existing mutants (there is, after all, adult versions of Angel, Beast and Iceman running around; while the adult versions of Cyclops and Jean Grey, currently remain dead).

All of that said, I’ve been enjoying Cullen Bunn’s writing on X-Men Blue. He’s always been a fantastic writer (I first discovered his amazing writing during the New 52’s Sinestro run – which immediately became a favorite of mine, though I knew very little of the villain – other than being Green Lantern’s main villain, the way Magneto is to Professor Xavier). But Cullen Bunn’s writing got me interested in the character. Then Cullen Bunn took on Uncanny X-Men – you can read on here, how after over 30 years, I gave up on reading Uncanny X-Men until Cullen Bunn took over Uncanny X-Men.

But… even with X-Men Blue, which features the time displaced X-Men, did we really need to bring in Jimmy and have ourselves another Wolverine? X-23? Draken? Old Man Logan? These weren’t enough? We have to add another Wolverine like character from an alternate reality?

But that’s a post for another time.

• Tawmis