Beware The Leaks & The Spoilers!
These are not new super villains but they are a phenomenons of the modern age of entertainment. They may be forces for good. Good for sales. Are they negative forces in the experience of enjoying a comic book, television episode or movie?
A superhero was outed this week in All-New X-Men #40. The pages where this major character development happened were leaked online. A wave of love, hate and berate erupted on social media. Without even reading the whole book and context, judgement was unleashed.
I couldn’t help but think of dramatic moments in X-Men history when I was actually surprised, when a shocking moment was actually shocking and impactful? They were all before the dominance of social media.
I realize the irony of what I write next. Here are four of the most shocking X-Men moments that I actually read in the comic book. No leaks. No spoilers.
But because some of you may be new or younger readers I will put up a
SPOILER ALERT….
You want to stop reading now because we’re going back to big moments in major X-Men storylines.
OK
Here we go…
The Death and Rebirth of Colossus. In the early 90’s the Legacy Virus was killing off mutants including the Illyana Rasputin, who was back in her little girl, pre-Limbo body.
Losing his “Little Snowflake” proved too much for big brother. In a crisis of faith and loss of hope, Colossus left the X-Men to join Magneto and his Acolytes in orbit. Beast had been working on a cure for the virus designed to kill only mutants and reached a breakthrough. Hank realized the only way to get the cure to work was to have the virus activated in a healthy mutant but it would kill the user. A distraught Colossus injected himself, the cure was unleashed but at a painful price.
When Joss Whedon took over the mutants and make Kitty Pryde the central figure we hoped Colossus could return in Astonishing X-Men but it was’t until we read the book that we saw the long-awaited reunion of Kitty and Piotr. An alien had seized Piotr’s body and used his mutant DNA to create a “cure” for mutants. When Kitty phased into the alien’s secret labs and came face to face with her lost lover and in one word, “Katya” hearts swooned again.
New X-Men. Professor X has a twin sister who’s actually an alien entity? A legion of Sentinels kill millions of mutants on Genosha? Emma Frost and Cyclops caught “physically” having an affair by Jean Grey? Xorn is actually Magneto? The entire Grant Morrison New X-Men run was packed with shock and awe. You really felt no hero was safe, anything could happen, things you never imagined happened including the second death of an original X-Man.
Days of Future Past. Kate Pryde goes into the past to prevent a murder which leads to a dark future in which mutants are hunted, killed or imprisoned by Sentinels. The remaining X-Men of this era (Wolverine, Storm, Colossus) go on a suicide mission against Sentinel HQ. Even though it was a possible future, it was shocking to see these iconic heroes brutally slain. In just two issues, Chris Claremont and John Byrne told one of the most powerful and still influential X-Men sagas that still packs an emotional punch when you reread it.
Dark Phoenix Saga. Thankfully the greatest X-Men saga (and maybe greatest comic book story of all time) happened long before the internet. You know the story but imagine a young geek reading the pages of Uncanny X-Men #137 as the brave mutants took on the Shi’ar Imperial Guard for the life of Jean Grey and in a truly shocking and still painful moment, Jean realized what she must do to keep the Phoenix Force contained.
The Dark Phoenix Saga, Death of Gwen Stacy, Kraven’s Last Hunt, Crisis of Infinite Earths, The Killing Joke – all these classic stories have major impact and long-lasting influence. In this Age of Spoilers & Leaks, when we can know nearly every major plot twist before we actually read the issue, are we denying ourselves the joy and power of a story?
By Editor%