Stan Lee, creator of numerous Marvel comics characters such as Spiderman, was born on this date in 1922. Today I’m focusing on one of his superhero teams, The X-Men.
- The X-Men were first created in 1963 by Lee and artist Jack Kirby. They originally called the team The Merry Mutants. The whole mutant thing came from the fact that Stan Lee didn’t want to have to come up with a radioactive Spider style backstory for every character. 'Why don't I just say they're mutants? They were born that way,' he recalled in 2004. Marvel rejected the name because they didn’t think readers would know what a mutant was. While the “X” is often assumed to come from the team’s mentor, Professor Xavier, The first issue has the Professor himself explain: “X-Men, for Ex-tra power!”
The original line up was: Cyclops (Scott Summers) who shoots energy from his eyes and has to wear special glasses 24/7 to contain the power;
The Beast (Hank McCoy) super-strong, covered in Blue fur; Ice Man (Robert "Bobby" Drake) who can make ice and Snow; Angel (Warren Kenneth Worthington III) who has big wings with White feathers, like an Angel; and Marvel Girl (Jean Grey), who has the powers of telepathy and telekinesis.- While early comic sales were underwhelming, in time the X-Men became extremely popular and over time have undergone numerous re-boots and engendered any number of spin off titles. A few of the characters who have been part of the team include Storm (Ororo Munroe), whose powers are controlling the weather and flight. She was the first ever female black superhero, and is married to Black Panther; Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner), who has blue fur, pointy ears and a tail and can teleport; Colossus (Piotr "Peter" Nikolaievitch Rasputin), who can turn his body into steel; Shadowcat (Katherine "Kitty" Pryde)who can move through solid objects; Gambit (Remy LeBeau), who can charge any object with energy which then makes them explode. He usually uses poker cards; Rogue (Anna Marie), absorbs powers and memories from other people when she touches them; and Psylocke (Elizabeth Braddock), a telepath.
- The X-Men's enemies include Mystique, Sabretooth, Toad, Juggernaut, Mister Sinister and Apocalypse. The best known villain is Magneto. He wants to gain civil rights for mutants, just like the X-men do, but while they want to do it peacefully, Magneto wants to do it in the more violent style of Malcolm X.
- Arguably the most popular character of all time is Wolverine (James "Logan" Howlett), the one with the sharp metal claws which come out of his knuckles and an adamantine skeleton. When the X-men films were being cast, producers knew they needed a big name to play him. Dougray Scott was initially cast, but had to pull out when filming of John Woo’s Mission: Impossible 2 over-ran. Plan B was Russell Crowe, but he turned the role down, because he “didn’t want to be the wolf guy”. He thought this, coupled with his character in Gladiator had a wolf on his shield would forever associate him with Wolves. He did have a suggestion as to who might be up for it – Hugh Jackman. In the comics, Wolverine is 5’3” tall. Hugh Jackman is 6’1”. Fans at comic cons have been known to challenge Jackman for being too tall!
- X-men was among the first comic books to include social commentary in a superhero story. Prejudice against mutants was an allegory for racial tensions in the United States with many storylines reflecting that. Diversity has long been a feature. While the initial line up was mainly white Americans (apart from Iceman who was Jewish/Irish), the 1975 re-boot added a Russian (Colossus), a German (Nightcrawler), a Canadian (Wolverine), a Kenyan (Storm), a Native American (Thunderbird) and a Japanese guy (Sunfire).
- Race isn’t the only diversity issue to be tackled. Iceman telling his parents he was a mutant has been compared to someone coming out as gay. An X-Men spin off title featured the first openly gay superhero, Northstar, who in 2012 married Kyle Jinadu in the first comic book same sex wedding. There’s a transgender character, too – Mystique, one of the villains, was born in the late 19th century and in the early 20th century, was living as a man. She is the mother of Nightcrawler and Rogue.
- Two years before Patrick Stewart was cast as Professor X, someone in the comics made an off hand reference to the fact that Professor X was like Captain Picard in Star Trek – they were both bald, morally-righteous leaders. The younger Professor X was played by James McAvoy, who was said to be so excited about getting the part that he shaved his head in preparation for filming, only to find out he was to play Professor X before he went bald, and had to wear hair extensions on set. While both actors are British, the character of Professor X is actually American. The School for Gifted Youngsters Building in New York is the house he grew up in.
- Brian Singer, one of the X-Men movie directors, banned his cast from reading X-Men comic books because he wanted them to play the characters exactly as they were written in the script. The actors ignored him and secretly slipped copies of the comics to each other under their trailer doors.
- If you live in the UK, you can ride an X-Men train. Virgin Trains christened an 11-car Pendolino train X-Men: Days Of Future Past to promote the film of the same name. Hugh Jackman and James McAvoy were guests at the naming ceremony. The train still runs on the West Coast Main Line out of London Euston and can be tracked with the hashtag #xmentrain.
NEW!
Who's That Girl?
Matt Webster lives in a tower block and attends a failing school. He dreams of being a spy like James Bond. Little does he know that he is being watched by someone who can make him into even more than that – a superhero.
His first solo mission is to attend a ball at the Decembrian Embassy and discover who is planning to steal a priceless diamond. While there, he meets the mysterious Lady Antonia du Cane, and is powerfully drawn to her. It soon becomes clear, however, that Lady du Cane is not what she seems. Matt’s quest to discover who she really is almost costs him his career.
A modern day Guy Fawkes gathers a coterie around him with the aim of blowing up Parliament with a nuclear bomb. To achieve this, they need money. Lots of it. Selling the Heart of Decembria Diamond will provide more than enough. All that stands in their way is the Freedom League – but the League is beset by internal disagreements. Can the heroes put their differences aside in time to save the day?
Prime Minister Richard Miller and his wife Fiona grieve for their daughter, Yasmin, who has been missing for three years, and is presumed to be dead. Viper agent Violet Parker could hold the key to what happened to Yasmin, but Violet is accused of giving away the organisation’s secrets. She is to be executed without trial. Will she take her knowledge of what happened to Yasmin with her to her grave?
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