Ultimate X-Men
The X-Men have come a long way since its humble beginnings of super powered humans and giant robot sentinels. Marvel comics since then has made its mark upon the world as one of the largest sci fi entertainment franchises. However, what was it that made these comics great? A lot of people would say it was the powers. A lot of people would say it’s because Storm is a hotty. More than often most people say it’s the storyline. Everyone knows the characters, most people know the storylines, but did you know they remade the comics to adapt to a more current audience? These aren’t the same X-men everyone grew up with. The new X-men reached higher and took things to a really random level.
For those who don’t know the basic storylines of the X-Men here’s a little rundown.
Cyclops: The astute tactical leader who’s power is the ability to shoot beams out of his eyes. His main storyline in the original comics was his love for his fiancée Jean Grey who would later die tragically when she transformed into Pheonix.
Jean Grey: The down to Earth redhead who’s admired by both Wolverine and Cyclops has the power of telekinesis. Jean Grey’s main story had to do with keeping a professional team outlook along with juggling her sensible feelings for Wolverine.
Wolverine: The rugged man of the hour. Some say X-Men was built around Wolverine. That’s not true. X-Men actually started without Wolverine, in which they later found him in Canada working for Alpha Flight. He has Adamantium claws and the ability to heal quickly. His main story was his love for Jean Grey and his overall badassness.
Beast: Beast was the overall scientist/intelligence of the group who has animal strength and agility. His main storyline is his sensitive side and his anguish in dealing with his appearance.
Storm: The second in command of the X-Men with the power to control the weather. She set on being a more professionally diligent member of the X-Men.
Colossus: The sensitive steel Giant from Russia. He would later be in a relationship with fellow X-men Shadowcat.
Nightcrawler: The religious mutant with the power to teleport. He's also German and Catholic. When his village sent him to exile, he went off to join the circus.
That’s all the important characters that have changed drastically when it comes to the new remade version of X-men.
The Ultimate X-Men
The Ultimate X-Men which is the remade version of the original X-Men has more of a high school drama texture. It’s focused on a younger X-men team. The love triangle between Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Wolverine isn’t focused on sexual tension between Jean Grey and Wolverine. The love triangle is actually focused on Jean Grey and Wolverine breaking up and getting back together over and over. Cyclops isn’t engaged to Jean Grey. Jean Grey’s character knows that Cyclops is attracted to her, but she feels Cyclops lacks passion and should admire her from a far; which is where Wolverine comes in.
Why do Jean Grey and Wolverine break up so often in the new comics? It’s simply because Wolverine does a lot of stupid things. In the Ultimate X-Men, Wolverine does a lot of stupid things, for example, his attempt at killing Cyclops.
Wolverine’s beginnings in the Ultimate X-Men don’t start in Canada. They start with Magneto. Wolverine plays a villain in the beginning of the Ultimate X-Men comics who switches sides. First he switches over to be a spy, but then realizes, he kind of likes being a good guy. They changed his persona from the charming cocky person, to an overall douchebag cocky person who raves about how many people he kills and how easy it is for him.
What about Weapon X? Wolverine still has his humbling start with Weapon X, but he doesn’t suffer from Amnesia. He remembers all of it. What downplays Weapon X even more, was that Wolverine wasn’t the only X-Men to come from there. In the Ultimate X-Men, Rogue and Nightcrawler also come from the Weapon X project. Nightcrawler isn’t banished from Germany as a circus performer, he was found from The Weapon X Project. Rogue didn’t run away from a Southern home, she was kidnapped for The Weapon X Project.
More tainted origins of teammates who also have major makeovers is Storm and Colossus. Storm isn’t recruited from Africa where she would summon the rain for her indigenous tribe; she’s a ghetto black girl from the hood who shoplifts. She would later develop a relationship with Beast. Colossus dawned one of the more risky storyline changes which tends to have a big of controversial criticism. They made Colossus gay. Out of all people they pick the large bulky steely guy. It does show that Marvel chose to reach new horizons, but changing the sexual orientation of one of the teammates doesn't tread well with a lot of X-Men’s major audiences. The way they play out Colossus’s sexual orientation is his failing relationship with Nightcrawler's religious perspective on life.
Some more tweaks and changes to the storyline:
- Gambit is introduced and dies in about 4 scenes and is brought to life.
- Beast dies in the beginning and is brought back to life.
- Jean Grey dies when she turns into the Pheonix and is brought back to life.
- Sabretooth, Wolverine’s nemesis, doesn’t have sharp long nails, he has 4 allimantium claws just like Wolverine but plus one.
- Pyro is a good guy. He wears an ocean diving suit looking costume.
- Iceman is played by a little kid, not a young adult who has a childish personality like the old Bobby.
- There’s a love triangle between Rogue, Gambit, and Iceman.
- Cable also has claws like Wolverine.
Those are just some of the changes taken by the remake. I found a lot of these changes quite difficult to swallow. A few years ago comic critics gave Ultimate X-Men a C grading, saying something along the lines as to either bastardizing the vision of Stan Lee or staying too close to the storyline for it to even be categorized as a remake. Maybe somewhere along the lines I’ll remake the X-Men. I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be too hard to top the tragedy which is Ultimate X-Men.
Jonathan Manor is the author of The Titan Project, a blog about taking short cuts, breaking traditional systems, making complicated things more relateable, and chasing hearts and dreams. He currently talks a lot about his darling love for his girlfriend which is probably annoying to some people. Jonathan Manor is a laid off website content writer who spends most of his time going to rock shows, meeting awesome people, and eating his vegetables. He loves blogging, sunsets, and reading all sorts of online literature.
