Once again, they started something at least with Kitty and Iceman that could be explored more in the future. There wasn't much time in season 1 to do so. So we didn't get to explore much with Kitty and Iceman, but we got more of that kind of business with characters like Nightcrawler. Narrative economy.
We'll see if Iceman and Kitty do more in Season 2. Suffice it to say I would prefer fewer "hey, look at what we can do!" style cameos and more character focus on the regulars or the ones who do show up. But maybe I'm weird that way.
What has to happen, though, is that a character can't be EXACTLY the same from episode 26 as they were from episode 1. The example of a character who wasn't was Wolverine. He began the show as a loner who was more impulsive and even willing to exact "eye for an eye" justice, such as on Wraith. By episode 26 he has successfully reorganized the X-Men and managed to lead them, at least with Future Zordon Xavier's guidance enough to have them survive the Master Mold crisis and Dark Phoenix, even despite making errors along the way. Another example is Nightcrawler, who went from being a defender of the downtrodden away from the X-Men to someone willing to understand the "other" side of the equation to a degree with his romance with Wanda Maximoff. Angel, of course, also went through a character arc; he went from retiring from the X-Men to appease his father, to being angry with his father and conflicted since he funded the Sentinels, to deciding to join the X-Men again regardless of his father, and then of course his fall from grace, literally. Rogue also went through her own story, learning to trust Wolverine again, even if the resolution to that was rushed in the final episode.
The example of characters who didn't have as defined an arc are of course Storm, who after leaving Africa was basically a cipher.
Cyclops in the first season is an odd duck. He probably got as much focus across the first 26 episodes as Nightcrawler did, about 3 solo episodes worth of material. He wasn't abandoned. But the problem is that he really had no character arc because he was virtually unchanged from how he started in episode 1 to how he was in episode 26, especially after the episode 20 reveals. He began his life as an incompetent, sheltered X-Man who needed to be led by the hand at every turn by Jean and Xavier, and was practically nothing without them. When both left him, and when Xavier decided to invest in Wolverine instead, Cyclops was shattered. He was shattered throughout the series. He was nothing unless a different woman, Emma, led him by the hand at every turn. In the end it was basically Frost who went through the growth for him. Now, the angle of Scott being a broken man obsessed with Jean would have been okay if it eventually led to Cyclops overcoming that, either by design or circumstance. He didn't. He began the show obsessed with Jean, and ended it obsessed with Jean. He began is needing his ego stroked at every turn, and ended it likewise. He had focus but no real arc, and I think that was a misstep. Every decision he made was usually wrong, and he never really stepped up and got competent, nor did he ever put the team before himself. He's honestly worthy of Wolverine's disgust and impatience, and I'm not sure that is the best way to write Cyke long term. Cyclops had a nuanced position in AGE OF APOCALYPSE in the comics, but as this show has usually been as nuanced as a WWE pay-per-view, I expect "Good Wolverine vs. Evil Brainwashed Cyclops" next season. Should be a decent fight at least, and I can be a sucker for a good fight.
Still, focus is more than just focus; a character has to grow and change. Look at SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN where Peter Parker, Gwen Stacy, Harry Osborn, hell, Norman Osborn, Liz Allen, and Flash Thompson are in no way the same at episode 26 as they were in episode 1. With most of the characters the show gave focus to, there was some eventually change and growth, just not for Cyclops, being the anomaly.
If Colossus does show up, I would like him to have some sort of growth.
I still an curious about your own "wish list" of forgotten Marvel characters, Vile. C'mon, comparing notes on that stuff is fun.
Squidboy was a minor background character in the series that underscored a strong point and theme in his episode. Also the important thing about Squidboy is to show that not all mutants get these dashing good lucks. Some of them look quite odd and different by humanity's standards and simply can't fit in with society anymore. And he pops up again and gets fried. I imagine if that type of focus and important happened to Colossus you'd be upset with how they took Colossus out of the show.
I'm upset that they took Colossus out of the show
now and he wasn't instrumental to an episode.
Yes, I know the point of Squidboy; again, his point was entirely the same as Beak, created at least a year sooner by Morrison & Quietly. Both were mutants who were more freaks than powerhouses, both of them had a mentor relationship with someone who has super-strength (Juggernaut for Squidboy, and Beast for Beak). Squidboy was probably more useful, at least underwater, while Beak usually was just ugly; not even his wings worked well. I never cared for either, personally.
Squidboy's death was so implied that I completely missed that he and his mother were supposed to actually have been killed until Wikipedia and other posters confirmed it. That sort of makes Magneto's aims even less sympathetic; if he is willing to kill mutants already loyal to him, how is he much different than Kelly? I understood Magneto's aim, just think he went a bit too far standing there and ALLOWING his own subjects to die. But that's really the only quibble I have for Magneto this season.
