Summary
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The latest era of X-Men will feature Rachel Summers due to her connection to Captain Britain, not her lineage.
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Characters from alternate timelines were initially sidelined, but Rachel was allowed into X-Force due to her bond with Betsy Braddock.
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The X-Men relaunch focuses on the present, excluding characters tied to past events, unless a strong relationship justifies their presence.
The X-Men The last era will be displayed Cyclops daughter, Rachel Summers, but not because she was a front runner for the team. Tom Brevoort, executive editor for the X-Men: From the Ashes Relaunch, has revealed details about her inclusion. On Substack, the Marvel creator revealed his preference and criteria for the X-Men and how Rachel was allowed to be a part of it by association.
Rachel Summers has had a long history in Marvel Comics, having debuted in 1981 in Invisible X-Men #141. The daughter of Cyclops and Jean Grey, Rachel has gone through several codenames and role-shifts, including Phoenix, Bright Lady, Hound, Marvel Girl, Prestige and Askani.
As of late, she has been working closely with Captain Britain, which resulted in the primary reason for her inclusion. If it wasn’t for Betsy Braddock, Rachel would be in the background of current X-Men events like some of the team’s other big names.
Related
Rachel Summers was originally going to be sidelined
Alternate timeline characters are not meant to be at the forefront of relaunch
Although she and Cable share some similarities, Cyclops’ daughter Rachel’s relationship with Betsy Braddock is the defining factor…
The current line-up for X-Force is Forge, Sage, Surge, Betsy Braddock, Rachel Summers and Tank. While Askani was not intended to be part of the X-Force line-up, Betsy Braddock was. Given their current relationship with one another, it made sense to allow Rachel to stay close to her significant other at this point in their history. The connection is revealed on Brevoort’s Substack. When asked about the potential presence of Rasputin IV, Tom Brevoort said:
One of my first decrees to all my creative teams when we started things was that I wanted everything to take place in the here and now. And I wanted it to be digestible for ordinary people who have not followed the books for a couple of years. So that meant momentarily sidelining any characters that came from the future or from an alternate timeline or any of that stuff. I made one or two exceptions – I allowed Rachel to be part of X-FORCE because she was attached to Betsy. She’s also a long-established character, one that I think you can get into without even needing to immediately mention ‘grew up during Days of Future Past and was a mutant-hunting slave-hound. Even relatively popular characters such as Cable and Bishop are sidelined for this reason.
The X-Men relaunch aims to have a current feel, allowing new readers to jump aboard easily. The X-Men have gone through many alternate timelines, resulting in various variants, family lines, and personal trajectories. This is especially the case for the offspring of Cyclops, such as Rachel and Cable who exist in specific timelines. In Rachel’s case, she comes from the Days of Future Past Era. While this would normally exclude her from the relaunch lineup, her connection to Betsy is allowing her to stay at the forefront of events.
In the X-Men, romantic connections can be anything
With the number of incredible — and fan-favorite — characters the X-Men have had over the years, lineups can seem especially difficult to decide. There are characters that are constant staples, while others are thrown to the back or largely lost to time. Rachel was a standout heroine and was part of some great X-Men comic moments. Although she and Cable share some similarities, the relationship that Cyclops’ daughter Rachel has with Betsy Braddock is the deciding factor in her becoming part of the X-Force for the X-Men Newest era.
Source: Tom Brevoort