Top 10 X-Men Characters Who Have Been Fucked Over

Writers wield much power when it comes to control over the direction of characters. As with anything, some things turn out fine and some things turn to total shit. Now, this list may seem similar to the last one I made, but in this case it's not an issue of attention so much as something that's happened to the character that makes it so that creators seem weary of using them or it simply puts the character in a bad light.

10. Storm
What happened? She got married.
Now some of you may disagree with this. Some of you may think the Black Panther and her are perfect for each other. The problem with the marriage is: We never see Storm anymore. Sure, she's on the Astonishing team, but it's not exactly a regular book. And yes, she does guest star every so often in Uncanny or a mini-series here or there, but what does she do besides throw a few lightning bolts and summon raging winds? And in terms of Black Panther, does that book even run anymore?
The worst part of this marriage seems to be that Storm, who formerly was the X-Leader who was more prone to violence (Marrow and Callisto, anyone?), is now all of sudden the most anti-death penalty of the X-Men. The roles have now been reversed between Cyclops and Storm in a way that displeases me at the very least. And I blame her getting married because at Marvel it seems women lose their unique pizass when they get married. Here's hoping someone throws a wrench in the marriage soon, remember how great Jean got while her marriage was falling apart?

9. Forge

What happened? He went crazy, tried to kill the X-Men, and maybe died doing it.
As some of you may recall, Ellis' first arc on Astonishing, "Ghost Box," featured a Forge gone crazy after the events of Messiah Complex where he got shot and suffered head trauma. From here, Forge tried to send the X-Men through the Ghost Box to a hostile universe, failed, and then ended up staying in his complex when it got blasted by a fricking laser.
Now, normally going insane and death are the two easy things to reverse in the X-Men universe. But let's look at the picture to the right--->
Forge isn't exactly a beloved character, he's definitely not a stylish character (last time we saw him he was wearing a metal thong), and I'm not even sure that he has fans. If Forge is going to recover from this hit to his character then it's probably going to take awhile or it's going to be in a ridiculous Easy-Fix Marvel Style that pisses off a lot of fans.

8. Jean Grey
What happened? She died, came back for five minutes, then died again and her resurrection has been teased ever since.
At this point in time, Jean fans may very well start holding Marvel writers at gun point until they write the return of Jean Grey. Her fans have been teased with Jean's return every few months for the past couple of years in the hopes that at least they'll buy these generally lame arcs. And now with Hope being connected to Jean and Second Coming being about Hope, it seems Jean's return is coming soon. Why is this a bad thing?
Because with all the teasing, fans are expecting a lot. Jean is also White Phoenix of the Crown now, so that just adds on to how much we expect out of her return. Now let's look at what we have: Odds are Fraction will be doing this book because Uncanny is the flagship book and he's got to have every X-Men character worth having on his book. And by now, you know how I feel about Fraction. Worse is Hope herself because these days she's everything about being a teenager we cringe about even though most of us probably acted like too. Still cringe-inducing. Right now Jean's return seems to be on hold because it seems writers know it needs to be such a production.

7. Dust

What happened? Young X-Men.
Dust was by far the most messed with character in Young X-Men. Within the first arc, Magma turns her to glass and afterwards she gets shattered. From there she gets put back together, but as we find out later, it's not holding up very well. In Young X-Men's final arc, Dust dies, but is saved by the deus ex machina of the series, Ink, with his Phoenix tattoo. This then results in her coming back "wrong" as demonstrated by the flash forwards over the course of the arc showing Dust killing the remaining mutants. How was this resolved? It wasn't. Young X-Men finished with issue #12 having done nothing to derail Dust's future homicidal tendencies.

And now the New X-Men find themselves in a place where they're getting chosen individually, so you can imagine how much panel time Dust's gotten since that mess screwed with her future. To what degree her character has been messed with has yet to be determined, she could very well bounce back with no one ever speaking of that arc ever again, but for now creators don't seem as willing to work with her as they had before.

6. Cassandra Nova
What happened? Astonishing X-Men's "Torn"
During Morrison's New X-Men, this villain was defeated by trapping her in the shapeshifting body of an alien referred to as Stuff. Later on a curious character named Ernst appeared and during the "Here Comes Tomorrow" arc we learn that Ernst was Cassandra Nova. Yet it seems all other writers missed that moment.
Austen the Awful attempted to use her for a future arc of his, but then he departed. Then Whedon actually did use her, and ended up contradicting the Ernst situation by presenting Cassie still stuck in Stuff's original form in the basement of the X-Mansion. And after that arc concluded we were left with no answers as to what happened with her.
Whedon basically fucked Cassandra over because any writer who wants to work with her now is going to have to sort through that mess. Which is too bad because A. Cassie's my favorite X-villain B. I loved the Ernst/Cassandra connection.

5. Xorn

What happened? Every shitty retcon known to man.
During Morrison's New X-Men, the refreshing new character Xorn was revealed to be Magneto. Then he was killed except it turns out thanks to shit retcons that it was Xorn pretending to be Magneto pretending to be Xorn on drugs. Then it turns out he's got a twin brother who's exactly like him except he disappears five minutes after his introduction. Then it's suggested that the Scarlet Witch actually was part of these shenanigans. Then Xorn's somehow involved in this bullshit Collective crap to make things worse. [Read it here]
The problem is people liked Xorn. He was something strange and exciting to the stale, normal X-Men who had previously been boring the masses. And the retcons for him were the most half-assed ideas I've heard in awhile. Here's what should have happened: They should have let Magneto appear alive and well in Excalibur like he did, and then slowly reveal what happened with an explanation that actually appears to be thought out. The one presented in HoM sounds the best, and really, it's better to have Xorn have been a facade than to have him be a fun character ruined by a lack of creativity on the part of writers who had to "fix" this "mess".

4. Sage
What happened? She was absorbed by the Crystal Palace.
As far as I'm concerned, this character will forever be Psylocke 2.0. As one of Claremont's pets, she's generally been given an extremely similar personality to Psylocke and tends to be used whenever Betsy's not available.
Unfortunately for her, this makes her pretty replaceable and ultimately, disposable. While Psylocke got out of the Exiles biz in time, Sage was with the rest of the team when they were absorbed by the Crystal Palace. Now she's stuck within a building with no real oppurtunity for an exit as Exiles was cancelled almost a year ago.
A factor in how I ranked this list included how likely the characters are going to bounce back from these situations. In most cases, putting a character in a limbo that also includes some problem barring them from returning is a tricky situation. With Sage it's almost impossible. She's essentially a Claremont pet; I don't know of anyone else who's ever used her. Only time will tell whether or not she can escape the terrors of Exiles limbo.

3. Bishop

What happened? Messiah Complex.

I fucking hate time travel stories. Time travellers, clones (besides X-23 and a few others), space operas, and resurrections rank high on my dislike list. So you can imagine that I never really liked Bishop. The thing is though that I'd never have wished this on him. On Cable? Totally, I've always hated that fucker. But Bishop was always the more likable of the two 90's time travellers.
And what happened? Well, during Messiah Complex his characterization did a 180 as Bishop all of a sudden became a psychotic nut claiming that Hope was the cause of his horrible future. From there, he chased Cable through time to kill Hope, and he went to measures so drastic that I still don't believe that it's Bishop that did that. In the end he was stranded alone in some burnt out version of the future he helped burn out.
He's so fucked I don't even know where to begin. As I said before, insanity and death are quick fixes and that goes double for being stuck in time. But not when they last as long as this, and with fans getting fatigued of this new version of Bishop before MC was even over. If Bishop is ever to be redeemed, it'll be awhile before we see him escaping the shadow of this dark time for his characterzation.

2. Chamber
What happened? Being transformed into looking like a younger Apocalypse.
The 3 dead members of Generation X have more of a chance of simultaneously being ressurected than Chamber does of having this crap reversed.
Chamber's first problem is that he appeared in New Excalibur. Betsy's only just recovering from the damages she sustained thanks to that crap series. Sage may never. Dazzler's trying to act like it didn't happen. Rachel's still stuck out in space. Simply put, an appearance in New Excalibur means that sometime soon you're going to get fucked over.
In Chamber's case, it was revealed that he's a descendant of Apocalypse and now he gets to look like him. Then he got shipped off to New Warriors which had a readership of about 30. And now he's Diva knows where. It'll probably be awhile before Jono's returns back to the angsty mouth flamer he used to be.

1. The Stepford Cuckoos

What happened? Phoenix Warsong.
True, these girls probably have and will continue to get more page time than the entirety of this list combined, but when do you think the next time their backstories will be explored?
The Cuckoos started off as creepy quintuplets with hive mind powers who spoke in unison (not finishing each other's lines like everyone insists on doing these days). Then Warsong came, revealed that they were actually clones of Emma who were only 2 years old but aged to 15, who were created by Sublime who runs Weapon Plus, and that they have a thousand other sisters. Literally. Then the Phoenix landed itself in them, and in order to keep it in control, the girls decided to seal the Phoenix in their hearts, rending them emotionless. Um, can anyone please show me exactly where emotions are produced in the heart? What's worse is other writers respected this story, well, besides Fraction and Land who made them look like whores or just idiot valley girls. While the diamond hearts situation has been resolved, the fact is their entire pasts are fucked. Clone stories suck, Weapon Plus sucks, and Sublime was the worst of Morrison's villains. I just find it hard to believe so much damage could be done to such amazing characters over the course of one mini-series.

The Top 10 X-Men Characters That Need Some Attention

With crossover palooza going on since Utopia and Wolverine and Deadpool getting 3 ongoings and however many mini-series and one-shots on the side, it's easy to feel overwhelmed by the A-Listers and wish creators would stop having such a jizz fest over them. What's worse is the less popular characters have gotten shafted into wallpapers roles. These characters tend to have a lot of devoted fans, and just suffer from writers not taking an interest in them. In my opinion, the ten characters most in need of some attention are:

10. Magma
Arguably the most powerful of the New Mutants yet this girl seems to lack any sign of a personality. She actually suffers from two problems it seems: the "With great power comes no space for personality" problem that happens where overpowered heroes become their powers and also the Polaris Complex where writers can't seem to agree on a personality for her unless she's evil. Which she is often enough, running with the Hellions and whatnot, but is it possible she's simply just that quiet and background a character?
Now, she is a member of the New Mutants series and Wells seemed to be working on her through her taking care of Empath. Which was a good move, I'd like to see how it progresses, but unfortunately the New Mutants have taken a hit in personal progression to be involved in lame crossovers. Another unfortunate problem is Cypher and Magik have a habit of getting the most time in the spotlight lately. In the end, here's hoping we see more of Magma in a personal light in the next few months.

9. Anole

It's no secret that New X-Men fans lose their shit over this character. Back in the day of the original Scans_Daily, fans would make "mega"-posts with whatever appearances of him they could find, mainly due to his status as a homosexual since, despite this entire franchise being about minorities, there aren't very non-heterosexual characters.
Anyway, the people were dying to peel this character from the wallpaper status he had. Creators eventually listened by promoting him and Pixie to New X-Men..right before it ended. Anole's next significant move was joining the Young X-Men to replace Wolf Cub, and as we all know, that ship sank fast. Anole's current status is running around Limbo in the Hellbound min-series.
So far all we know of Anole is he's a complainer, homosexual, and friends with Rockslide. Unfortunately a big problem with the New X-Men is that they need to get used or people are going to forget why they cared about them in the first place. And then they'll be like Generation X: Killed off to make arcs more "serious" or just screwed beyond belief. (I'm looking at you, Chamber)

8. Iceman
One would think that with the Original Five being the first set of X-Men that they'd be able to maintain their popularity and visibility through the years. But instead it seems they're the hardest to keep in the spotlight, well, besides Cyclops. Iceman's last moment of real note was when he was a part of Rogue's X-Men squad.
Since then Bobby's been running around in the vignette mini-series and appearing here and there in series to use his powers. The honest truth is he's just barely a step above a cameo queen these days.
A big problem is that Bobby's roles as the youngest and the funny guy have been eaten up by characters that are much more popular. Now we have funny guys....who kill people! Because you can't be funny without having the redeeming quality of being a serial killer! Who aren't even that damned funny. Seriously, I've read the posts on Scans_Daily where Deadpool is deemed to be "funny," and maybe 1 out of the 30 "funny" lines he delivers in an issue are worth an amused smirk. Anyway, the thing is Bobby's a character that can actually be taken seriously when he's not making jokes and is a great contrast to the group's overwhelmingly negative current status.

7. Polaris

Out of all the fans of characters mentioned on this list, I have to say that fans of Polaris have suffered the most. Seriously, currently their girl is in the worst limbo that exists: space limbo. Even people in dead limbo have a shorter wait time (uh, Kitty Pryde anyone? She had time to "die" and come back during the time that Polaris has been stuck doing diddly).
Polaris' last noteworthy move was when she went off to space for Deadly Genesis II to take care of Vulcan. In my opinion, space stories suck in general and this one lasted 12 grueling issues. But then she got stuck with Marvel Girl and Havok to be a part of the Starjammers to do countless ineffectual appearances in War of the Emperor Vulcan Genesis III. What's worse is during this time she hooked back up with Havok which means any chance for her to have character progress just got shot and killed.
You see, Polaris has three modes: Evil mode (she is the mother of damsel-forced-to-be-evil), Havok's Static Arm Candy mode, and We're-Not-Real-Sure mode. Because writers can not seem to agree on a personality for her. My take on Lorna's personality is that she's sort of like that Aunt that you have that's really flighty and "spiritual" so she does yoga and meditates and that sort of thing. Like she's not all there and this works because her mind's been fucked with quite a bit, and I think this works with Austen and Milligan's takes on her. Anyway, let's just see her claw her way out of space limbo first.

6. The Cast of X-Factor Minus Madrox
I know I've bitched about this often enough, but let's look at it: At one point not long ago, Madrox ate up like 50% of each issue. The rest of the issue was left for the rest of the cast including the arc's villain to fight for. And yeah, I get it, David's done something really swell with Madrox, but come on, David, he's good but not that great. Plus, I know the book's noir, but after the Messiah Complex he's been on a constant angst parade without many funny moments. X-Factor used to be fun, there was an energy and humor about it that was so refreshing. Now Madrox whines for all his narration and the rest of the cast fights to get a glimpse of the spotlight.
And the fact is that they are in need of some work. Luckily, David's finally got back on track with this by having Monet get her own side story and Ricstar getting their own issue dealing with Rahne soon, but it really needs to be above and beyond work to regain that energy that seems to have faded. Also, David would need to remind us why we care about Layla Miller now that a significant amount of her appeal has been removed. Honestly, I do hope that the other team members get some attention in the coming issues because they are a cast that I'm interested in...besides Darwin and Longshot.

5. Colossus

Colossus is a character who has suffered so much recently. He was resurrected for the sole purpose of being Kitty's boyfriend again (and to be part of an apocalypse prophecy but whatever it wasn't that important). From there he's been featured mourning Kitty for way too long because this is comic books, we only get one issue a month so if you make two six-issue arcs having Peter mourning in it then you've got yourself one note that's been held way too long. Then Fraction had Dodson tattoo Peter's chest with a love tattoo tackier than electric blue eyeshadow, and since then Colossus' appearances have been decent but far from what you'd expect for one of the former All-New All-Different X-Men.
The fact is it seems no one knows what to do with Colossus anymore because he's basically the quiet, artistic muscle. His character isn't very dramatic because he's sort of a wallflower so a writer with a talent for building more subtle stories is needed. Honestly, I think we could have lived without him ever being resurrected again, but the fact is he is here. He actually would be useful right now concerning his thoughts on the reformation of X-Force considering what he went through in Astonishing.

4. Northstar
Remember back in Uncanny X-Men #508 where Fraction mocked Austen's use of Jean-Paul by having him be hesitant about rejoining the X-Men since he hated being the X-Men's gay mascot? I sure as shit do. And guess what? He's committed the same sin in much worse way by making Northstar a total cameo queen. Yes, right now he's in the Hellbound mini-series, but what is he REALLY doing there? He's even a cameo queen there.
His last real meaningful appearance was his story by Tim Fish in Nation X #2 which did do him the benefit of having him shown with his boyfriend right before doing it and even holding hands. The thing is, I thank Fish for at least doing something with Northstar, but the thing is that story seems to basically be: Gays are cute, we're sort of vapid but tons of fun. And after Kurt from Glee, Jack from Will and Grace, and Marc from Ugly Betty, I'm tired of that route. Enough's enough, as one of the first gay superheroes let's actually see him get the respect and character work he deserves. Let's evolve him past his arrogance and snark.

3. Dazzler

I understand she just had a one-shot, but really, what else do you think she'll really do in the next year? If you'll recall my original cameo queen posts, they were made for a reason. That reason was to show that even though Fraction was receiving such praise for bringing in popular, neglected X-Men, he really wasn't doing anything with them except saying to those fans, "Look they appeared in panel 12! Buy my book!"
Dazzler has suffered the worse because she's done so little yet she's got this decently-sized group of devoted fans, most of them gay or beloved hags, who so deserve to have their girl back to her original personality. Not the bland take writers besides Jim McCann have used.
And I just feel like a disservice to the gay favorite of the X-Men is a disservice to the gay readers who made her their favorite. In the end, Dazzler would need a serious resurrection to have people past her fans be on board with her story, but I believe done right she could easily become one of the beloved B-Listers of the X-Men who people lose their shit over every time she appears (like Psylocke, whose fans LOVE her more than their own mothers).

2. Gambit
Didn't you think that after the X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie that Gambit's appearances would explode like Deadpool's? I did, I mean for fuck's sake he was played by super fuckable Taylor Kitsch (the things I would do to him would be unspeaka-oh fuck, I'm writing that out loud aren't I?). It made no sense to me because Gambit and all his sexy charm and natural "Cool guy" factor is really popular.
Yet we haven't seen him much at all. He's been around Legacy, but lately it's been too much angst because writers believe angst means that character's serious now. Yeah because the only people I take seriously are the angsty ones. Seriously, this whole possessed-by-Death thing is so repetitive because we've already got evil Illyana and every other week there's someone else possessed. Let's get back to the dangerous and fun Gambit because, shockingly enough, playful people can have their serious moments and character arcs without fully surrendering to their angst.

1. Storm

Storm is truly the most neglected character out of this entire list because she's been A-List up until about now. Seriously, when Marvel makes a video game or book like Marvel Adventures and they need to send in two characters to stand in for the X-Men, who do they send? Wolverine and Storm. She's such an important part of X-Man history and yet look at her now: in a marriage most readers hate, acting way too "shocked" by violence considering it's heart-removing Storm, and the only place where she really matters these days is Astonishing which only just started moving again.
What needs to happen is Storm needs to be divorced, depowered, given a mohawk, and become leader of a team again. Storm is such a great character because she's admirable, she's a woman who won't let anything get in her way and does not quit. She's not supposed to be a pampered princess, she's supposed to be a woman fighting for peace with her bare hands. She needs responsibility without the glamourous status. In the end, Storm needs to have a comeback because she's a strong female voice in the X-Men that fans respect, and we need that considering the X-Men in power as of late are overwhelmingly men.