Warning: Spoilers for Uncanny X-Men #7THE X-Men I just started fighting each other again, and like so many superhero-on-superhero conflicts, I really don't believe it. The latest X-Men event isn't a story that came out of nowhere, but that also doesn't mean it's a story that feels earned. I'm sure the two disbandment teams will resolve their differences soon, but do we really need to see the X-Men fighting again?
In Mysterious X-Men #7 by Gail Simone, Edgar Salazar, David Marquez, Victor Olazaba, Matt Wilson, and Clayton Cowles, sparks fly as Rogue and Cyclops' X-Men teams clash, but I'm not convinced by the reasoning behind their fight.
Strange #7 is the second part of the 4-part crossover Attack on Graymalkinwhich alternates between Strange and the adjective without X-Men title. As the teams converge on Graymalkin Prison, the former X-Mansion turned mutant prison, they finally come into conflict. The problem is that this intra-X-Men conflict never felt natural.
The last X-Men vs. X-Men doesn't feel earned
Rogue and Cyclops are fighting because… well, they're definitely fighting.
The real inciting incident for the fight in Strange #7 is a classic superhero misunderstandingwith Rogue's young teammate Ransom – a member of the X-Men's new “Outliers” team – thinking that Cyclops is going on an attack while everyone is being more aggressive by Graymalkin's own telepath. I have no problem with this plot movement. Temporary misunderstandings are the basis of conflicts between superheroes and superheroes. The problem is that before the two teams even meet, Rogue is already talking like she's resigned to fighting the other team, and that just doesn't seem like a logical character beat.
So far, we've only had passive-aggressive phone calls between the two teams, which implies a level of disagreement that the books don't show.
The context here is that this crossover takes place after the recently ended X-Men Krakoan era. As seen in flashback in X-Men #7 by Jed MacKay, Netho Diaz, Marte Gracia and Cowles, Cyclops left that time discouraged and depressed. Rogue calls it in Strange #7: “We all waited for you to introduce yourself.” Okay, well – we readers don't get to see that. So far, we've only had passive-aggressive phone calls between the two teams, which implies a level of disagreement that the books don't show.
Rogue is going through this too, so I'll cut her some slack
I just wish the two teams had interacted more sooner
To be fair, Rogue is going through her own character arc at the moment. She's leading a team of X-Men because she believes it's the right and necessary thing to do, but she'll be the first to admit that she lacks the concrete ideological stance that drives most mutant leaders. His struggle with his post-Krakoa identity is part of what led her to be more aggressive towards Cyclops throughout Strangebut that's a justification that needs a level of access to Rogue's inner thinking and a level of interaction between the two teams that the books didn't give us.
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Part of the problem lies X-Men's insistence on starting in medias res with his X-Team and slowly doling out his flashbacks, which suits the pacing of the book but detracts from the broader throughline. The flashback mentioned in X-Men #7 It's one of the best scenes in the book so far, but it's one scene and it only focuses on Cyclops and Magneto. 99% of the reasoning behind this conflict is something I have to extract through careful reading. I like a close read, but it seems like both books think they did more to justify and escalate the conflict than they actually did.
I can lay out what I consider to be the characters' implicit emotional states that lead them to fight, but we're already halfway through the crossover and I still have to speculate to do that. There's too much going on on any issue for this conflict to feel real with the space given to it, and this pacing problem is a failure of both the crossover and its preparation. Many plots are imagined before the emotional and character work that justifies those plots is done, but you shouldn't be able to tell.
This whole era of X-Men feels a little disconnected from itself
Nobody's talking, even when it doesn't make sense
This forced conflict illustrates a larger problem with the X-Men line in its newest era, which is the lack of connective tissue between the titles. Editor Tom Brevoort has talked about how each book has avoided crossover so far to build each title's identity, but the consequence of this is that many of the books feel like they're in their own world. If you asked me why each team operates separately across the country, my first instinct wouldn't be to say it's because everyone is sad about Krakoa. It would be “because the writers and editors say so”.
I wish there was a clearer ideological battle going on here.
Why are the X-Men fighting each other? Again, my first response is to say it's because writers and editors say so. My first response should be, “Well, this event inflamed tensions, and Cyclops said so in private,” and so on. But that's not my answer. Why didn't Scott and Rogue talk more? Because the writers made sure they didn't, so they could fight in Attack on Graymalkin. Why did their conflict in Attack on Graymalkin doesn't work? Because the books didn't let them talk. I'll be the first to point this out There's still half a story leftbut that doesn't excuse the poor accumulation.
Furthermore, I wish there was a clearer ideological battle happening in this new event. In an edition of AIPT's X-Men Monday discussing the event, X-Men writer MacKay says that:
[Rogue and Cyclops] There are two characters who lead what they believe to be the X-Men, so there will be an obvious ideological conflict there. Each group will be X-Men in their own way, and we will see how these differences will create friction between them.
Are we seeing this? In truth. I'm not sure how Rogue's ideological stance distinctly differentiates her from Scott. Comparing the two, one is a fiery leader who struggles to be that leader and his sense of self after the fall of Krakoa, and the other… is a fiery leader who struggles to be that leader and his sense of self after the fall. from Cracoa.
I wish this X-Men conflict was a little deeper
Only Rogue and Cyclops have (minimal) risks in this fight
The two are not different enough to make any potential ideological points. Rogue's team is criticized by Cyclops for being too bold, but she is the one who tries to be stealthy while Cyclops loses control when Beast is imprisoned in Graymalkin. Yes, this is irony in action. Yes, these character choices are deliberate, but they just mean that the two feel more alike than ever different. Maybe Rogue is a little more affectionate with his immediate team, but it's a distinction without a difference.
The other frustration I have is that Rogue and Cyclops' individual emotional states aren't enough to generate a truly interesting conflict. I'm a fan of the X-Men and I love melodrama, but if these two leaders weren't on the teams, no one would would have a reason to fight. The introduction of the conflict-promoting mutant scurvy feels almost like an implicit admission of failure to convince the audience of any real tension between the groups. If there wasn't a literal hatemonger driving people crazy, the teams wouldn't be fighting in the first place.
Scott and Rogue's similarities and frayed emotional states are probably the point of the story in the end, but that doesn't excuse the execution. The obvious ending to this crossover is that the two teams come together and go”we're not that different, I think we really let our emotions get the best of us.“That's a perfectly acceptable conclusion, but without any real tension, it seems inevitable. With only two issues left to end any fight, I'm basically sitting here waiting for the other shoe to drop and the X-Men just to get along.
Mysterious X-Men #7 is now available from Marvel Comics.
Source: AIPT Comics