Professor X had a dream of mutants and humans living and working together in harmony. It has not happened.
Marvel revealed today that David Haller (Professor X’s son aka Legion) will take on his father’s role as leader of the mutants marching on towards making the dream a reality in a new X-Men Legacy series by Si Spurrier and Tan Eng Huat.
As a longtime X-Men fan this is definitely not what I was expecting. Legion is a mentally unstable mutant with multiple powers for his multiple personalities – and maybe the worst hair in comic book history! David’s fractured mind has been the cause of epic stories (Age of Apocalypse, Age of X) and twisted realities.
Si Spurrier revealed David’s plan to reshape the mutant world in his father’s vision.
“Yeah, David does feel like a natural fit for the title, doesn’t he? We’ve got the son of Professor Charles Xavier slicing, smashing and exploding his name into the history books of mutantkind. I’m kind of in love with that LEGACY tag, because in the run-up to the announcement so many of the readers speculating blindly on the Internets—we’ve all done it—have been saying “it can’t possibly be X-MEN LEGACY, that word doesn’t work as a title any more, it doesn’t make sense, it’s gotta be something else, oh God please let it be Stiltman Legacy, no, no, let it be Squirrel Girl Legacy, or Devil Dinosaur Legacy, or yadda yadda,” Spurrier tells Marvel.com.
Actually, I would read the [expletive] out of all those titles, so ignore me.
Anyway, I kinda like the idea that rather than launching something new with a whole new X-adjective attached—Ebullient X-Men! Gibbous X-Men! Arousing X-Men!—we’ve made it our business to make the LEGACY tag relevant. This time it really is all about how mutantkind in general, the X-Men in particular, and the name “Xavier” specifically, will be regarded in the light of the dawning future.”
If you’re like me you’re probably asking of all the mutants to get their own series in the Marvel NOW! relaunch why David?
“As far as I know the idea of basing the series round David has been in the works since the plotting of Avengers Vs. X-Men. David’s story grows organically from those events. In fact I’d go so far as to say it’s the tale that really needs to be told in the aftermath period. My brief was pretty simple: take a thoroughly screwed-up young character—who’s been handled so differently by so many narrative teams down the years that it’s tricky for anyone to say for sure exactly who he is or what his voice might be—and launch him into the Marvel Universe as a definitive, dynamic, tormented, likeable character cooler than an Inuit’s arse. “Show us who he is, Si. What he can do. What he wants to do but can’t yet. Think differently.”
It’s a pretty wonderful remit, when you think about it. Here’s a character almost everyone’s heard of but nobody feels familiar with—yet. So, who’s David? David is one of the most powerful beings alive on the planet, who has spent the majority of his life unable to trust his own brain.
That’s a cool starting point.”
The mutants have always been divided: Xavier vs. Magneto, Cyclops vs. Wolverine. How will Legion fit?
“Without giving too much away, nothing’s ever that easy with David. When we join him at the start of this story he’s very much alone, confused [and] lost. In many ways the controlling idea behind everything he does is about finding himself—but of course that manifests with all the explodo insane villain-blasting fun you’d expect, as well as the soul-searching and, ah, internal struggles particular to David.
But—yeah. This book isn’t going to work like the other X-books. It—like David—is the black sheep of the family. It’s tricky to define. It worms its way between the cracks. It’s not a team book, although we’re going to see a lot of team stuff along the way. It’s not a straight-out fight book, although a [lot] of stuff explodes all the time. It’s not a horror book, although we’re going to see a lot of horror vibes. David isn’t really one of the X-Men at all when we first meet him, but we’ll certainly be seeing a great deal of those guys throughout the tale.
For much of the time David doesn’t actively “belong” to any of the political or resource-structures we’re used to associating with mutantkind. He may have a “side” he prefers—he does—but it’d be stretching things to say he “belongs” to it. It’s easier to think of him as the Joker in the pack, or the Independent Candidate. The only side he belongs to it his own. None of the above, right? There may come a time when he isn’t the only one occupying that niche, but you can bet your bottom dollar he won’t be working with anyone on any terms beside his own.”
Spurrier did not comment on if other mutants will join David’s cause and book. For more of Spurrier’s interview here’s the Marvel.com link.
Here’s the question? If Legion is taking over the mutant cause does that mean Professor X, Cyclops and Emma are not around after AvX to do it?
By Editor