Hellions #9: Funny Games, Level 1

[superboyprime]

Comments

[beyondthefringe]

Ah yes, Mastermind. That most trustworthy of fellows.

Also Arcade. Fuck that guy.

[zachbeacon]

I thought Arcade was a fun villain until all the child murders.

[fra080389]

Also in universe he was seen as a fun villain before that, that's why he did it.

[zachbeacon]

I feel like his original gimmick of being a rich asshole who is hired by rich assholes to build deathtraps for other rich assholes is pretty evergreen. I get why you'd want to mix things up a bit by trying to kill Spider-Man. The child murders have really tainted the brand.

There are some lines even a lot of criminals won't cross and you'd have to be a real creep to still want to work with Arcade.

[dan_ingram]

Same.

I really hate how part of his motivation was 'I haven't killed any heroes'.

I mean, 95% of villains haven't!

Arcade is a villain who's gimmick should mean that heroes only survive by the skin of their teeth. In terms of threat level, he oughta be up there, without ripping off Hunger Games.

[donnblake]

Yeah, I didn't read Avengers Arena or whatever it was, but I never really bought that Arcade was upset with his lack of kill count when it came to heroes. Hell, the classic Arcade stories tend to start with him capturing the heroes and having them at his mercy, often with enough leisure to dump them in new costumes. I always figures he finds giving them a chance a lot more fun then the guarantee of a payday.

[coldfury]

Did they put all the dead villains at the top of the resurrection queue?

[beyondthefringe]

It... wouldn't surprise me.
Though on a logical level, the choice to prioritize the resurrection of mutants who are known quantities with potentially useful or exploitable powers makes a weird kind of sense. Assuming you have a way or incentive to keep them in line, it might benefit to have guys like Mastermind or Empath around. They're predictable, powerful, and you know how they fit in a dynamic. Better old foes than complete randos like Genoshan #4,009,432...

On a writer level, it's easier to dredge up existing characters and bring them back from the dead, than invent new ones to fill the same niche, especially with the door open to play with literally any mutant in the toybox, however formerly broken.

Still, you really -do- think they'd have thought twice about letting Farouk or Selene and others of that caliber run around with no oversight. Forget X-Force and Hellions, what Krakoa needs is internal security just to actually keep an eye on the ones most likely to actually cause trouble. They have so many mass murderers, serial killers, psychic vampires, energy drainers, psychopaths and worse...

[nyadnar17]

It real unclear how many villains resurrected because of The Five and how many just popped back to life because no one was looking at their corpse and that's what villains do when the camera isn't looking.

[themajesticmoose]

I assume for the same reason they brought Pyro back first

When your experimenting with something like this you don't want to start with the people you'd miss if it went wrong

[zachbeacon]

I mean Pyro was never that bad a guy especially when compared to a lot of people on the Council.

Maybe they just missed his smutty books and wanted more.

[themajesticmoose]

More smutty books is always fun

[tcampbell1000]

I like the timing on the group's reaction to Sinister's abduction.

[themajesticmoose]

I love how literally no one remotely cares what happens to Sinister

I'm sure the Council only care because they don't want that little freak falling into enemy hands. And honestly viewing him as useful property is all the compassion that Sinister deserves

I imagine if anyone ever perma-kills Sinister the Hellions reaction is basically going to be Yzma's in Emperor's New Groove

"WELL HE AIN'T GETTING ANY DEADER"

(Celebrates)

[zachbeacon]

Sage seemed to care and even embellished reports to make it seem like the others did ... which is a weird call. I mean, I get why Sinister being MIA would be cause for concern from a security standpoint but no one would ever be broken up that he's gone.

The report should read something like "the Hellions had to delay the rescue mission because their arms were too sore from high-fiving each other".

[mastermahan]

The recap next issue states Mastermind falsified the mission, so maybe that's an illusionary report or an illusionary Sage?

It's unclear.

[themajesticmoose]

The report from Sage was fake. It was part of Mastermind's illusions along with pretty much everything that happened after the meeting with Sage was

[icon_uk]

This may be the first time Empath and... well, basically anyone who isn't Empath have agreed on anything without his powers being involved.

[zachbeacon]

Sinster is the great unifier.

[themajesticmoose]

It's inspring how even people who normally hate each other can come together and hate him even more

[zachbeacon]

I never really thought about the proper maintenance of a metal cape until just now. I guess it's a lot of work to be that fabulous.

[cygnia]

I thought King Jamie got the cape?

[donnblake]

It's Sinister. He probably cloned it.

[alliterator]

Jamie traded the cape back for a clone of Betsy. A clone that, uh, kind of disappeared.

[themajesticmoose]

Jamie: I didn't want it for anything unsavoury

Gambit: I would trust you more on that if this wasn't the fourth time you "Reassured" me of this

When I didn't even ask in the first place

[themajesticmoose]

Ah he traded it back to him in return for a spare clone of his sister...because Jamie is a weird fuck

[donnblake]

Huh, Arcade. You know, except for maybe Mojo, I think he's probably the most prominent X-men villain who is neither a mutant nor particularly motivated to act against mutants. Mutants, other heroes, unpowered people, robots- all just toys he can bang together.

[zachbeacon]

Also some aliens like the Brood.

I mean there's also the villains that don't particularly care about mutants but really hate Professor X; Juggernaut*, Danger, Professor Power, ect.

I guess Wolverine has similar non-mutant villain problems but they rarely also become X-Men problems...except for the Hand. The Hand are everyone's problem.

*Really he's very pro-mutant when it doesn't involve his a-hole brother.

Edit: And Dracula. Can't believe I forgot him. Actually I suppose "people trying to get with Storm" is also a pretty significant non-mutant villain category.

[themajesticmoose]

I love the Juggernaut as a villain because he's not a racist or a megalomaniac he's just a big rowdy motherfucker who wants to slap his brother's head riight off his shoulders for unclear reasons and steal stuff with his Irish plant man boyfriend

[zachbeacon]

Cain is living his best life.

[themajesticmoose]

He is one of the most relatable X-villains. He hates Charles and wants to Be Gay and Do Crimes

[longboxingwhileblack]

Arcade is a bad guy that I wouldn't mind seeing being killed off and staying killed off. He really shouldn't have survived that BS with the Avengers Academy. Those kids deserved better than that.

[themajesticmoose]

The good thing about Arcade vs Sinister is that they're both so loathsome it's going to be fun whichever of them loses because they both deserve to suffer