Timstuff
Avenger
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2004
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I have been thinking about this for a long time, and I think that Marvel should re-launch the X-men comic as a separate continuity from 616, and remove the presence of mutants from 616. I know a lot of fans would get really pissed it Marvel did this, but I think it would be for the best. There's simply not enough room in 616 to house the X-men universe, and the attempts to make it work usually result in knuckleheads like Joe Quesada's muckery where he reduced the mutant population to only a few hundred. 616 is stifling X-men as a comic mythology, and X-men is not contributing enough to the 616 mythology to justify all the mess that it causes.
616 is a universe that's already full of superpowered beings, and ultimately that makes the mutant phenomena seem rather unremarkable. If two people with superpowers put on costumes and fight evil, why would one of them be persecuted because he was born with his powers, while the other gets the key to the city because he got his powers from radiation? Wouldn't people be numb to the existance of mutants in a world full of supers, or be prejudiced against all supers regardless of where their powers come from? These are questions that Marvel has continually failed to answer conclusively, and that is another reason why I think X-men would be much more effective if the only people with superpowers in its universe were mutants.
I know that a lot of people are going to disagree with me strongly for a lot of reasons, but I think the biggest reason is that people don't like change. Honestly though, it needs to be looked at from a cost-benefit POV. Does the X-men universe feel like it is a part of the Marvel Superhero universe, or has it been shoehorned into it? Do these two mythologies benefit from being in the same continuity, or are they being mutually hindered by it? I think the toll it takes on storytelling is too high, and I think in the end if Marvel bites the bullet and separates X-men and 616 into two separate worlds, the stories will be better off for it.
616 is a universe that's already full of superpowered beings, and ultimately that makes the mutant phenomena seem rather unremarkable. If two people with superpowers put on costumes and fight evil, why would one of them be persecuted because he was born with his powers, while the other gets the key to the city because he got his powers from radiation? Wouldn't people be numb to the existance of mutants in a world full of supers, or be prejudiced against all supers regardless of where their powers come from? These are questions that Marvel has continually failed to answer conclusively, and that is another reason why I think X-men would be much more effective if the only people with superpowers in its universe were mutants.
I know that a lot of people are going to disagree with me strongly for a lot of reasons, but I think the biggest reason is that people don't like change. Honestly though, it needs to be looked at from a cost-benefit POV. Does the X-men universe feel like it is a part of the Marvel Superhero universe, or has it been shoehorned into it? Do these two mythologies benefit from being in the same continuity, or are they being mutually hindered by it? I think the toll it takes on storytelling is too high, and I think in the end if Marvel bites the bullet and separates X-men and 616 into two separate worlds, the stories will be better off for it.