Warning: Spoilers for Uncanny X-Men #7TheX-Menhave just started fighting each other again, and like so many superhero-vs-superhero conflicts, I don’t really buy it. The X-Men’s latest event isn’t a story that’s come out of nowhere, but that doesn’t mean that it’s a story that feels earned either. I’m sure the two scrapping teams will sort their differences out soon, but do we really need to see the X-Men fighting again?
InUncanny 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 come to blows, but I’m not convinced by the reasoning behind their fight.
Uncanny#7is the second part ofthe 4-part crossoverRaid on Graymalkin, which alternates betweenUncannyand the adjective-lessX-Mentitle. As the teams converge at Graymalkin Prison, the former X-Mansion turned mutant prison, they finally clash. The problem is thatthis intra-X-Men conflict has never felt natural.
The Latest X-Men vs. X-Men Fight Doesn’t Feel Earned
Rogue and Cyclops Are Fighting Because… Well, They’re Certainly Fighting
The actual instigating incident for the fight inUncanny#7 isa classic superhero misunderstanding, with Rogue’s young teammate Ransom -a member of the X-Men’s new “Outliers” team- thinking that Cyclops is going for an attack all while everyone’s being made more aggressive by Graymalkin’s own telepath. I don’t have a problem with this plot movement. Temporary misunderstandings are the bedrock of superhero-vs-superhero conflicts. The problem is that even before the two teams meet, Rogue is already talking like she’s resigned to fighting the other team, and it just doesn’t feel like a logical character beat.
Until now, we’ve only had passive-aggressive phone calls between the two teams, implying a level of falling out that the books haven’t shown.
The context here is that this crossover takes place in the aftermath ofthe recently-ended X-Men Krakoan era. As seen in flashback inX-Men#7 by Jed MacKay, Netho Diaz, Marte Gracia, and Cowles,Cyclops came out of that era despondent and depressed. Rogue calls this out inUncanny#7:“We all waited for you to step up.”Okay, well - we, the readers, didn’t get to see that. Until now, we’ve only had passive-aggressive phone calls between the two teams, implying a level of falling out that the books haven’t shown.
Rogue’s Going Through It Too, So I’ll Cut Her a Little Slack
To be fair, Rogue is going through her own character arc at the moment. She’s leadingan X-Men teambecause she believes it’s the right and necessary thing to do, but she’ll be the first to admit that she’s lacking the concrete ideological stance that drives most mutant leaders. Her struggling with her identity post-Krakoa ispart of what’s led her to be more aggressive towards Cyclops throughoutUncanny, but that’s a justification that needs a level of access to Rogue’s internal thinking and a level of interaction between the two teams that the books haven’t given us.
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Part of the problem lies inX-Men’sinsistence on starting in media res with its X-Team and slowly doling out its flashbacks, which serves that book’s pacing but hurts the larger line. The aforementioned flashback inX-Men#7is one of that book’s best scenes so far, but it’s one scene and focusesonly on Cyclops and Magneto.99% of the reasoning behind this conflict is stuff I have to pull out through close reading. I like close reading, but it feels like the two books think that they’ve done more to justify and build up the conflict than they actually have.
I can lay out what I think are the implicit emotional states of the characters that are leading them towards fighting, but we’re halfway through the crossover already, and I still have to speculate to do even that.There’s too much going on in any one issue for this conflict to feel realwith the space it’s been given, and this pacing problem is a fault of both the crossover and its lead-up. A lot of plots are dreamed up before the emotional and character work that justify those plots, but you’re not supposed to be able to tell.
This Whole X-Men Era Feels a Little Disconnected From Itself
No One’s Talking, Even When It Makes No Sense
This forced conflict illustrates a larger issue with theX-Men line in their newest era, which is the lack of connective tissue between titles. Editor Tom Brevoort has talked about how each book has avoided crossing over majorly until now to build each title’s identity, but the consequence of this is that so many of the books feel like they’re off in their own world. If you asked me why each team was operating separately across the country from each other, my first instinct wouldn’t be to say that it’s because they’re all sad about Krakoa. It would be “because the writers and editors say so.”
I wish that there was a clearer ideological battle going on here.
Why are the X-Men fighting each other? Again, my first answer is to say that it’s cecause the writers and editors say they are. My first answer should be to say: “Well, this one event inflamed tensions, and Cyclops said this particular thing,” and so on. But that’s not my answer. Why have Scott and Rogue not talked more? Because the writers made sure they didn’t so that they could fight inRaid on Graymalkin. Why does their conflict inRaid on Graymalkinnot work? Because the books haven’t let them talk. I’ll be the first to point out thatthere’s still half a story left, but that doesn’t excuse the poor buildup.
Moreover,I wish that there was a clearer ideological battlegoing on in this new event. In an edition ofAIPT’s X-Men Mondaydiscussing the event,X-Menwriter MacKay says that:
[Rogue and Cyclops] are two characters who each lead what they believe to be the X-Men, so there’s going to be an obvious ideological clash there. Each group goes about being X-Men in their own way, and we’re going to see how those differences will create friction between them.
Are we seeing that, though? Not really. I’m not sure how Rogue’s ideological stance sets her apart, distinctively, from Scott. Comparing the two, one is a brash leader struggling with being that leader and their sense of self-identityafter the fall of Krakoa, and the other… is a brash leader struggling with being that leader and their sense of self-identity after the fall of Krakoa.
I Wish This X-Men Conflict Dug a Little Deeper
Only Rogue and Cyclops Have (Minimal) Stakes in This Fight
The two aren’t different enough to make any potential ideological point land. Rogue’s team is criticized by Cyclops for being too brash, but she’s the one who tries stealth while Cyclops flies off the handle when Beast is imprisoned in Graymalkin. Yes, this is irony at work. Yes, these character choices are deliberate, but they only mean thatthe two feel more similar than they ever feel different. Maybe Rogue is a bit warmer towards her immediate team, but it’s a distinction without a difference.
The other frustration I have is thatRogue and Cyclops’ individual emotional states aren’t enough to carry an actually interesting conflict. I’m an X-Men fan, and I love melodrama, but if these two leaders weren’t on the teams, nobodywould have a reason to fight. The introduction of the conflict-fostering mutant Scurvy feels almost like an implicit admission of failure to convince the audience of any actual tension between the groups. If there wasn’t a literal hatemonger making people mad, the teams wouldn’t be fighting in the first place.
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Scott and Rogue’s similarities and frayed emotional states are likely 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 unite and go “we’re not so different, I guess we really let our emotions get the better of us.” That’s a perfectly acceptable conclusion, but without any real tension, it feels like an inevitable one. With only two issues left to get any fighting done, I’m mostly just sitting here waiting for the other shoe to drop and for theX-Mento just get along.
Source:AIPT Comics
X-Men
The X-Men franchise, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, centers on mutants with extraordinary abilities. Led by the powerful telepath Professor Charles Xavier, they battle discrimination and villainous mutants threatening humanity. The series explores themes of diversity and acceptance through a blend of action, drama, and complex characters, spanning comics, animated series, and blockbuster films.
