Yesterday was very nice, thanks for asking. On the way to my friends' house I crested a hill, and there's just this beautiful view, with the trees beginning to change color, and a few open fields here and there to break things up. A rare moment when I wished I owned a camera. Ah well.
So, a couple of weeks back, I'm in Marvels and Legends, talking comics with Len and Jack. Somehow we wound up on Ultimate Spider-Man #100, and Len commented that this is a prime example of what Bendis likes to do: Take a story that was a complete mess before, and "fix" it, which he can obviously do, because he is Brian Michael Bendis, after all. Len brought up "The Collective" story in New Avengers as another example, in this case Bendis trying to fix the Xorn/Magneto mess.
Of course, he only seems to have confused the issue further, which doesn't bode well for his chances of "fixing" the Clone Saga. Either way, it left the three of us trying to come up with a plausible way to explain the whole damn thing (clearly, things were kind of slow).
So here's what we came up with, you can tell me if it makes sense.
There are two Xorn brothers, both mutants, both from China (jibes with what Quesada has said). Magneto assumed the identity of the Xorn with the star in his head - as opposed to the one with a black hole in his head (what the hell?) - and infiltrated the X-teams, culminating in a huge smackdown with them, and his death (jibes with Morrison's stuff). Here's where we veered off.
See, Len felt that this Magneto had two problems. One, he was using drugs (to amp up his powers, right?). Two, well honestly, he was too evil. Solution? It wasn't Magneto. It was, in fact, a clone. I know, you're groaning and rolling your eyes, but there is precedence.
In the '90s, post-"Xavier wipes Mags' mind for ripping out Logan's Adamantium", pre-Onslaught, a fellow called "Joseph" arrives on the scene. Looks like Magneto, has the same powers, but nicer, doesn't really remember who he is, ends up being part of the X-Men for awhile. Eventually, Magneto reappears, and we learn Joseph was a clone, but obviously not a perfect duplicate, as he lacked the Holocaust-induced emotional trauma that Magneto has. As the people behind the cloning weren't planning on stopping with one, it's reasonable to assume they tried again. This time, they may have induced some emotional trauma, to try and get a Magneto that's a bit more dangerous, more vicious, and possibly willing to turn to drugs.
In this way, it's no big surprise Xavier finds Magneto not dead after everyone thought he died, because he was still in Genosha (maybe trying to put the pieces back together covertly) the whole time. He can still dramatically show up to take his crazy daughter off the Avengers' hands, get depowered right along with his son, and as for his being repowered? Hmm, let's say his will is so strong, he subconsciously beckoned Michael to him, and their proximity somehow restarted his powers, removed whatever sort of block Wanda had put on them. It makes as much sense as the explanation for Iceman.
If you want a more simple explanation for the whole thing, then let's say that after Doctor Polaris' death in Infinite Crisis, he crossed dimensional realms, found himself in the Marvel Universe a few years earlier, and once he realized where he was, decided to mess with Magneto's rep.
Then he died again. Whoops.
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13 comments:
regarding the "problems" with morrison's magneto and why they aren't problems at all:
"he was using drugs (to amp up his powers, right?)" - Magneto has a history of using outside influences inorder to amp his powers, whether it's machinery, Polaris or Cortez.
using drugs to amp himself is consistent with how Magneto was behaving for years.
"he was too evil." - well beside the fact that Morrison gave a reason for that in the story (Sublime controlling Magneto),
how was he more evil then all the other times he did a show of power, using a global e.m.p, making a volcano in a city, etc.
Magneto just isn't the nice guys people think he is.
Pujols > Magneto
First of all, when it was revealed that Joseph was a clone, we also found out that the people that made him were going to try again (then Magneto killed them).
Second, and this is something that Marvel editorial needs to always remind themselves of, Magneto isn't good or evil; he's neutral. His ideal is to "protect mutants," while Xavier says "peaceful coexistence." These aren't mutually exclusive, which is why one day the X-Men could be fighting Magneto, but the next day, they're all working together.
Magneto is best portrayed as a man who learns from his mistakes. Yes, Fabian Cortez increased his powers before. But Cortez betrayed Magneto, trying to martyr him. Also, Magneto doesn't blow cities up; he destroys the occasional missile silo or nuclear power plant, all of which have had their innocents vacated.
Magneto is always trying to make a point, not conquer any cities or worlds. He'll employ humans for this purpose because he knows what comes from genocide.
anonymous: Well, len's already responded, and done so better than I probably can, but I'll try.
Re: drug use. In the case of both Polaris and Cortez, weren't those examples of Magneto trusting those people? I remember him asking Polaris if she would help him, because he was weakened, and with Cortez, he was under the impression Cortez was a healer. In neither case did he simply take from them to increase his powers. He either asked for, or was freely given help (or in Cortez' case, what he thought was help).
As for the machinery, I can't say, I don't know that story.
Re: evil actions. I think the difference is, Morrison portrayed Magneto as someone more needlessly cruel and bloodthirsty. If he has to kill, he'll do it, but he doesn't often seem to take pleasure in it. He considers it to be neccessary, so he does it and moves on.
fitz: Damn straight. Albert is the alpha and omega.
len: I think that sums things up well.
Well, this makes as much sense as anything else I've read.
"A rare moment when I wished I owned a camera." -calvinpitt
I use to say that all the time...So I finally got a camera to do that with....over 100,000 photos later I'M still taking them. Its great to go digital so people like me don't want to get up and go to walgreens to get it developed. Also its pretty nice to have one when you have a blog, although your blog is mostly comic related you might want a picture here and there to shake it up a little.
I have some suggestions for your blog.. (not to do with photos) that you might like to incorporate. We can discuss it offline.
I agree with Lem and Calvin: Magneto isn't a bloodthirsty megalomaniacal arch-villain. Okay, maybe he was under Stan and Roy, but it's Claremont's Mags that people actually give a damn about.
I look at Magneto as akin to King Arthur, a man of exceptional honor, nobility, and chivalry, content to live his life among his people in isolated tranquility. But because of the horrors of Magnus's past, he is mercilessly extreme in his pursuit of justice. He's the kind of person who is so fearful of the kind of moral weakness that leads otherwise normal people to shove others into gas chambers that he goes medieval against it. He brooks no injustice against those under his protection, and is willing to crucify even the least of "criminals" as a warning and object lesson. Like Dr. Doom in Latveria, only without the bloated egotism and sadistic pleasure. Which would all still make him a very crazy villain, except for the fact that his fears are actually justified. The humans are building Sentinels and Mutant Registration Acts and killing mutants in the streets. Nonetheless, he only acts in defense or in response to aggression, not the offensive terror tactics used by Mystique or Stryfe. As badly written as Magneto was during Fatal Attractions, at least Nicieza got that part right (only after the humans went "Oh crap, Magneto's not dead, enact the Magneto Defense System!" for no particular reason, did he respond with his EM pulse).
As for the Sublime/Kick thing, I think Magnus is one of the last people to take an enhancement drug. I remember several occasions during his headmastership of the New Mutants when he would scold the kids for eating candy or drinking Coke or watching TV. He's almost Batman-like in his adherence to mental and physical health. So I can't understand why he would take a drug which he knew was dangerous.
At this point, can't we just say that Joseph was the real guy and every Magneto appearance since X-Men #3 was a clone?
Possibilities:
1) It was all an elaborate plan by Doc Doom, for his own evil and sadistic amusement.
2) It was all an elaborate plan by Tony Stark, for his own evil and sadistic amusement.
3) Superboy punched a wall.
sallyp: Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
papafred: Yeah, but my desire for a camera, is challenged by my inherent stinginess.
cove west: I didn't know about the anti-artificial stimulant thing during his time with New Mutants. Interesting.
kelvin: I think option 2 is the one most likely to be retconned into the truth later on.
ok
this is how i see it....sublime had control of the xorns. the star xorn got hooked on drugs..due to his powers sublime figured i can control this guy ...so xorn thinks hes magneto..i dont know how but he looked like magneto....xagneto snaps and destroys new york...jean dies...pufff here comes tommorrw...beast now under the control of sublime tells how he is always on the underbelly of evolution trying to take over....how he orcestrated it all....flash to c. austens runs and the 2nd xorn brother is sucked into his own head.(i trully think this was an editorial issue....i think someone wasnt communicating maybe c.a was to tell that story but didnt know morrison all ready explained it in here comes tomorrow so then we all of asuden get a second xorn..they realize they messed up so they kill him off in a cuople of issues)
fast foward to house of M..most of the energies are going into michael and he fals under the combined mental powers of xorn...this is when bendis explains how the xornetos were down with evil all along they tried to rally the troops for sublime but used magnetos rep to convert followers..rember as i said earlier michael tells magneto "we tried to do it with out you"(meaning they tried to use his image to rally the mutant troops but failed since they needed him).....then the energies having taking over michale seek out magneto...who -in an atempt to bring mutant justice go to him asking him to take the powers that "they need him" so he does...he not only gets his old powers back but others as well....the remaining energies get tossed into the sun with xornetos.
thats how i see it but to be honest?
i see it as this..morrison took magneto to a place no one liked(personaly i loved it!!)...so then marvel tried to back peddle..tried to erase it ...basickly everyone went on how out of charecter it was(even dave cocrum sp?? wife was mad at marvel )...so they made it xorn all along..now cc can have magneto be good in genosha and loved by all and the evil magneto was really xorn...then austen added his 2 cents and made it worse...then bendis tried to explain it more..basikly per them it went like this...
for some reson the xorns wanted mutants to fight...they used magnetos image to do this and got whopped.they die...travel as energy to magneto and re-power him the end.
to me it was awesome untill c.a added another xorn into the mix and to me thats just someone in the x-offices not communicating..how did that not get caught yuno?? dont they got pepole checking facts and stuff
and id beleive the whole 2 xorns did it all along thing if they would just explain how they looked like magneto..i mean .,.i can see how xorn was really xorn ,he gets hooked on kick thinks hes mags and goes apesh!@#$t that makes sence...but i cant figure out how they looked like xorn. that is the one whole in my thereoy.
gabesummers
Don't try to explain it man, you'll go insane.
Joey Q tlls us that Xorneto was working for an "as yet unknown" entity.
Onslaught Rebornis out soon...
gabesummers: If there's only one hole in your theory, you're not doing badly at all.
kelvin: I suppose Onslaught might make some sense, given his connection to Magneto.
But man, I really don't want more Onslaught.
But if you buy Onslaught Reborn, Marvel will give "a portion" of the sales to the Sam Loeb fund!
I'm sure if Jeph Loeb was writing something with a higher profile, with a greater chance of not being shit, Marvel would donate profits from those too...
Dirty pool, Marvel, dirty pool.
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