The Last Defenders

[PhotoJones]

Small hands?

 

[Darthphere]

It's sort of like Immonen and Walker made an art style baby.

With small hands.

They're wearing mittens in the most of the preview, must be cold out there.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Nighthawk's hand where he's uppercutting the dude in the chin in the preview is really small.

 

[PhotoJones]

I hadn't noticed. I like the art, personally.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I do, too. It just looks kind of wonky in places. I'll get over it.

 

[PhotoJones]

I'm not really seeing the wonkiness, but whatever.

 

[Darthphere]

Yeah, I don't see how his hand is small.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Relative to his gigantic forearm? It looks small to me. Whatever, shut up, I'm gonna read it anyway. Shut up.

 

[PhotoJones]

Sometimes your eyes make your brain seem like it's stupid, Corp.

 

[Dread]

I like Casey's attitude about the whole thing.

Me too.

I like Muniz's art so far. With colors it should be extra spiffy. That's what inks and colors do, improve the pencils. Who'd have thunk?

Having scimmed that X-Fan Bio for Colossus (I'd read a slew of those classic X-stories via friends' comics and reprints, but I don't own many of them and haven't read some of 'em in years), it seems to have been outright stated quite a few times that, likely due to a combination of his "pure spirit" and the make-up of his powers (organic steel body with the "bio-energy" inside of it), Colossus is resistant to magic. Roma specifically summoned him to battle the Adversary for this purpose, and he proved resistant against black magic during Inferno and probably other times. Considering how often the Defenders battle magical or magic-based enemies, that could be a huge advantage and a way to have him separate from She-Hulk, who isn't magic resistant (and actually needs to breathe, and has been TKO'd by gas a few times). Granted, Blazing Skull's powers are based on magic and he's invulnerable (although he feels the pain), but it isn't the same.

Depending on the sort of threat these Defenders battle, and whether or not Casey actually knows this much about Colossus, thinks could get interesting. The man's displayed a sense of knowledge about past lore of other works he has done, so it is likely.

 

[PhotoJones]

I don't know if his resistance to magic will come into play, but Casey has mentioned that there's a specific reason the Piotr joins the team. I'm pretty sure he commented that the reason is politcal in nature. I hope there's more to it than just trying to repair mutant/human relations.

 

[Dread]

I don't know if his resistance to magic will come into play, but Casey has mentioned that there's a specific reason the Piotr joins the team. I'm pretty sure he commented that the reason is politcal in nature. I hope there's more to it than just trying to repair mutant/human relations.

As I mentioned in that long post you didn't want to read, some posters at Newsarama are guessing Colossus may be about to be connected to the Red Guardian/Starlight somehow. She was the second Red Guardian from the Soviets who joined the Defenders for a while before being kidnapped and turned into a radiation based superhuman named Starlight by The Presence, who she eventually ran off with via a bit of "Stockholm Syndrome" or something.

Granted, that seems a bit cliched, to connect Colossus to something Russian just because of his nationality, but then again, it also would seem that way to connect him to THE Rasputin just because he shares the same last name, which is fairly common in Russia, but, hey, BLOODLINE happened.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Bloodline was so stupid. It felt like Colossus was guest-starring in a Hellboy comic, kind of. Only not as good.

Anyway, I'm guessing his joining the Defenders may somehow play up his Russianness, too. Seems likelier than just trying to improve mutant/human relations.

 

[Dread]

Bloodline was so stupid. It felt like Colossus was guest-starring in a Hellboy comic, kind of. Only not as good.

Anyway, I'm guessing his joining the Defenders may somehow play up his Russianness, too. Seems likelier than just trying to improve mutant/human relations.

Especially since, post M-Day, there are hardly any mutants left, thus negating any sense of a mutant community.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Well, that doesn't preclude mutant/human relations from being a possibility. We know Iron Man talks to Cyclops towards the end of Messiah Complex. Maybe Cyclops agrees to officially end the mutants' neutrality and push some X-Men into the Initiative--Piotr being one.

 

[Dread]

Well, that doesn't preclude mutant/human relations from being a possibility. We know Iron Man talks to Cyclops towards the end of Messiah Complex. Maybe Cyclops agrees to officially end the mutants' neutrality and push some X-Men into the Initiative--Piotr being one.

So Piotr is some bargaining chip, like a CD you got for Christmas and don't want?

"Well, you can't have Wolverine, and Storm is off in Wakanda...here, take Colossus. No X-writer knows what to do with him anymore. Go nuts."

Considering there are "about 300" mutants worldwide, considering all the other metahumans out there who outnumber them, if people still hate them enough for the X-Men to still have a cause, than the Marvel Earth civilians really are *****es who deserve being enslaved by the Skrulls. There're less mutants than BLUE WHALES for chrissakes. It's like wanting to kill pandas at this point. M-Day has really been a horrible step backwards, in some ways worse than OMD to the franchise. It sucked the life out of so many books and so many potential ideas. So many.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

If 90% of the black population died off tomorrow, do you really think the Klan would be satisfied? Racism runs pretty deep for a lot of people.

Anyway, it may not even be strictly human/mutant relations that Colossus joins the Defenders for. It may just be Iron Man trying to fold the X-Men into the Initiative, since they've got a bunch of perfectly good, well-trained superheroes who probably aren't doing much after MC is over.

Also, I never indicated that the move would be any kind of disrespect to Colossus. You came up with that all on your own.

 

[Dread]

If 90% of the black population died off tomorrow, do you really think the Klan would be satisfied? Racism runs pretty deep for a lot of people.

Anyway, it may not even be strictly human/mutant relations that Colossus joins the Defenders for. It may just be Iron Man trying to fold the X-Men into the Initiative, since they've got a bunch of perfectly good, well-trained superheroes who probably aren't doing much after MC is over.

Also, I never indicated that the move would be any kind of disrespect to Colossus. You came up with that all on your own.

I know. I felt like being snarky. It just seemed sort of weird, suggesting that Cyclops would offer Colossus as a bargaining chip. Like Rockslide is phasing him out or something.

Oh, I know about bigots like the Klan and Redeemers and all that. I was talking about the average civilian. The X-Men thrived on the concept of there being a mutant community that was perhaps going to outnumber the humans one day, and M-Day has completely nixed that and ruined the process. It was always a tricky dynamic to pull off considering all the other metahumans that exist in Marvel, but now that the mutants are outnumbered by panda bears, it seems even wonkier. Imagine if people held marches against all the andriod characters. It also sucked all the life out of NXM, for those who cared.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yeah, it would be weird to suggest that Cyclops would offer Colossus as a bargaining chip. That's probably why I never did that. You somehow read that from what I posted, which is just that Iron Man might offer Cyclops a chance to integrate the X-Men into the Initiative as a show of unity among the superhero/mutant community, and some X-Men might take him up on it.

The rest of the stuff I agree about. Mutant/human relations should be a relative non-issue at the moment. That in itself could be a motivator for Cyclops to fold the X-Men into the Initiative, though. If they're not fighting for mutant rights, what point do the X-Men have beyond being generic superheroes?

 

[Dread]

Yeah, it would be weird to suggest that Cyclops would offer Colossus as a bargaining chip. That's probably why I never did that. You somehow read that from what I posted, which is just that Iron Man might offer Cyclops a chance to integrate the X-Men into the Initiative as a show of unity among the superhero/mutant community, and some X-Men might take him up on it.

I suppose. I suppose if I looked at it seriously, that would be it.

I just took it the other way because historically, writers have had no clue what to do with Colossus. Even Whedon is at a loss beyond, "Kitty's boyfriend" (and Whedon admitted in a Wizard interview 1-2 years back that Colossus was the character in the cast he struggled with the most).

The rest of the stuff I agree about. Mutant/human relations should be a relative non-issue at the moment. That in itself could be a motivator for Cyclops to fold the X-Men into the Initiative, though. If they're not fighting for mutant rights, what point do the X-Men have beyond being generic superheroes?

The only problem with that is something akin to the problem that arose when Spider-Man joined the Avengers; the franchise has relied on telling a select type of stories for so long that switching gears to something different won't be easy and may not even be successful (depending on who is doing it). I pined for the web-slinger joining the Avengers because I essentially thought, "If handled properly, he would have to shift to becoming akin to the Flash, and not only may that not work, Marvel won't be ready to do that after 40 years of Loser Everyman", and time proved me right.

I read and enjoy XM:FC, and I have enjoyed the concept of the X-Men as superheroes. The only problem with that is that they have been more sellable as the "struggling against oppression/racism/dealing with mutant community issues" in terms of a premise. Now, for many periods this got muddled as the soap opera tales of the past, or battles with aliens or specific threats clouded it. But Morrison's NXM brought it back to the fore and from there the ball was not only dropped, it was hurled into the stands. M-Day gives the X-Men franchise no choice but to intermingle with the rest of the MU and that has not been their strong suit. After all, that original incarnation of UXM was canceled in the 60's and spent years selling reprints.

On the other hand, trying to integrate the X-Men into the rest of the Initiative could serve to either get other superheroes to understand mutants and get on their cause, not unlike Beast on the Avengers with Wanda & Quicksilver, or try to prove to the world at large their end goal. On the downside, it could been seen as "tokenism". The question is whether Marvel is willing to let a situation play out properly to it's conclusion, or will they get scared and hit the reset button and end up with the worst side of any situation, which is basically OMD.

 

[Dread]

A dumb reason to bump this, but, I happened to scim the solict for SHE-HULK #25 (while I was scanning the 6 page preview of THE ORDER on Comics Continuum, of course), and it goes, "Plus, why exactly did Jen Walters leave the superhero life behind?" about that issue, and I chuckled because if she has left that life behind, it won't last long. Curious as to Casey's reasons why she would join an Initiative team after all the stuff Stark has done to her.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I'm sure you meant Casey, not Carey.

Maybe she joins out of respect for Nighthawk. She was a Defender before, after all.

 

[Dread]

I'm sure you meant Casey, not Carey.

Maybe she joins out of respect for Nighthawk. She was a Defender before, after all.

Yes, I did. I editted. Don'tcha hate names that are one letter apart sometimes?

Yeah, She-Hulk was a Defender once (as well as an Avenger, and longtime replacement of Thing on the Fantastic Four), but the Initiative is essentially Stark's operation, or at least one he is heavilly involved in (The CSA can go over his helmet quite a bit, though). Maybe Nightwing manages to appeal to her sense of greater good. Considering Colossus' "mack" status (as I noted in a prior post), that could be interesting...

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Well, Tony's in more of a redemptive mood now, it seems, so maybe he offers Nighthawk a degree of autonomy and She-Hulk, who's already registered anyway, accepts Nighthawk's invitation under the assumption that Tony will stay far, far away.

 

[Dread]

Well, Tony's in more of a redemptive mood now, it seems, so maybe he offers Nighthawk a degree of autonomy and She-Hulk, who's already registered anyway, accepts Nighthawk's invitation under the assumption that Tony will stay far, far away.

Or at least manages to fall for his speech/leadership ability (if any), or there could be a common good sort of goal. Jen was willing to battle some threats that her cousin used to deal with now that he was MIA. Still, things should be tense. Jen knows many of the dark things that had to happen to get the Initiative on it's feet. Technically so does Nighthawk but he and Stature switched sides at halftime. Blazing Skull's cynical worldview might be appropriate.