X-TREME X-MEN #1: Irene Adler and Raven Darkholme

[starwolf_oakley]

X-TREME X-MEN #1 has a lot of information about Irene Adler, aka Destiny. And some surprising opinions about Charles Xavier.





The X-Treme X-Men are on a boat. At this time, the group was Storm, Beast, Rogue, Sage, Psylocke, Gambit and Neal Shaara aka Thunderbird (who isn't a Proudstar).

Tessa, AKA Sage, is narrating things.





"Rouge running away from Mystique" in Uncanny X-Men #171 was at least partially Mastermind's doing. It is rarely mentioned, though.



Some MAD Magazine parodies would have a character explain a complex situation and then say, "If *you're* confused, think about how *I* feel!" That would probably go double for Irene Adler.



Changing the world is a difficult thing.

As I've said elsewhere, Irene Adler was hardcore when she wanted to be. In the original "Days of Future Past" story, she was going to kill Senator Robert Kelly with a crossbow.



Would "Irene and Raven once met Arthur Conan Doyle" be an interesting story? Or a little too "Edgar Rice Burroughs once travelled to Mars" or something like that?

Psylocke has a rather harsh opinion of Charles Xavier here. I don't know what Neal Shaara is up to these days, and if he is even on Krakoa. And Betsy Braddock and Kwannon are separate people again because comic books.

The talk about what to do with Destiny's diaries makes me think Chris Claremont could have done CIVIL WAR II without it being so exasperating.

Comments

[donnblake]

Leaving aside the morality of assassination as a tool of political change in the broad sense, it's got to be kind of embarassing, as a precog, to have someone come back from the future to tell you "Hey, this one specific thing that you specifically did created an incredibly bad future."

I'm not a hundred percent sure how things line up, but I believe X-treme X-men at least overlapped with the period in which Xavier's body had been taken over by Cassandra Nova.

[lordultimus]

Oh, god, that pose Storm's making on that cover.

[dan_ingram]

Ah, pre-douche bag Beast, how I missed thee

[blues32]

We all do. And the writers know it. They had those thought boxes about Beast knowing everyone wants the old Hank back, but he's too busy being this "much needed bastard" he's always going on about.

[tinygaylaura]

They're bringing back the animated series

At least we'll have a nice version of Beast there

Unless they have him go evil there to tie in to the comics oh no :(

[blues32]

I do not have high hopes for that series. If they can recapture the magic, good on them. If not, it's just going to feel hollow. ...I really hope Dodd can do that growl still. It never sounded good for the throat.

[donnblake]

A nice Beast- except for absolutely out-of-nowhere savage dunks on nineteenth century British poet Coventry Patmore.

[tinygaylaura]

He knows what he did

[mastermahan]

Ah, exposition: Sage's superpower.

Would "Irene and Raven once met Arthur Conan Doyle" be an interesting story? Or a little too "Edgar Rice Burroughs once travelled to Mars" or something like that?

There was a story earlier this year where Professor Moriarty threatened to out Irene and Raven unless Irene married him, so I'm not sure if Doyle existed in the MU. I've also heard a fan theory that Holmes was actually one of Mystique's disguises based on stuff like "Raven Darkholme, Consulting Detective", but that's neither here nor there.

Neal Shaara showed up in a group of solar-powered mutants in X-Corp. I don't believe he had any lines. Nor should he have. It says something about how bland he was that his backstory ex-girlfriend Karima Shapandar ended up being way more important than him.

[deh_tommy]

Apparently the idea is that Arthur Conan Doyle got the idea for Sherlock Holmes based on whatever Mystique and Irene were doing. How much really happened and how much was fabricated by him is up for debate.

[scorntx]

Don't forget the part where Sherlock Holmes was also apparently actually a real person at the same time.
(Shang-Chi once had a buddy who was related to him.)

[scorntx]

Now, now. Exposition is everyone's job.
(Except the New Kid. It's their job to ask stupid questions. If nothing else, it gives them something to do.)

[scorntx]

This was the time when Claremont, for whatever reason, got super down on Charles, and had characters treating him like he was the worst person to ever walk the Earth and every decision he made was automatically terrible.
Which probably reached its apex when Kitty said that by founding the X-Men, Charles was no better than a Bosnian warlord (No, really. She did.)

It's not as if Charles doesn't have a laundry list of flaws, mistakes, screw-ups, really bad decisions and instants of just being a jerk, but all the same. The characters go from supporting him to suddenly treating him like he's drinking liquefied kittens every morning without cause.

(Claremont also has characters he likes writing and ones he doesn't like writing. Given his treatment of Charles and how he shoved him onto a bus in X-Men: Forever - remember that series? - think it's probably safe to say by this point Charles had fallen into the later category.)

[angelophile]

I think the reason was probably that Claremont was aware of what was happening in Morrison's X-men, running concurrently with this comic, where Charles had been acting super sus. Understandably so, since he had been possessed by Cassandra Nova at the time.

So the character's suspicion of him was bang on the money tbh.

[scorntx]

Their suspicion here (and, admittedly, in general) might be on the money, but there's a later arc where they go back to the mansion after he's been depossessed, and still treat him like he's The Absolute Worst.

Again, not that they don't have a long list of precedent, but they don't cite any of that as a reason. Just Charles is suddenly a would-be dictator in the making.

[lordultimus]

The funny thing is that this happened before Deadly Genesis, which retconned his probably first true irredeemable in the eyes of fans moment.

[scorntx]

Not that he didn't have a string of dodgy moments before that.
Though that depends whether we're talking publication-wise or chronology-wise, because even by the start of All-New X-Men, he'd racked up points either way.

[tinygaylaura]

I always love getting to see more of Raven and Irene's backstory together. They are two of my favorite heroes and one of my favorite couples so it's great to get to see more of what they got up to before we met them

I'd love a miniseries that's all about their lives together across the years. Would make for a fun series I think. And it's been too long since Mystique had her own ongoing

[blues32]

"Heroes"? Mystique is one of the most untrustworthy individuals ever. She's completely without scruples. If I recall correctly, she kidnapped Dazzler and constantly harvesting her to make mutant growth hormone.

[tinygaylaura]

She's ruthless, manipulative, dangerous, homicidal and willing to do absolutely anything to get what she wants

*Sighs dreamily*

*Cheryl Tunt voice* I'm wet just thinking about it