In fact, they’re nobody’s idea of the X-Men, other than editor Nick Lowe’s apparently.
The breaking news is that in addition to Psylocke, Spider-Man, Magneto and Lyra aka The Savage She-Hulk, Marvel has now revealed that Blade and Hope Summers are part of the new line-up as well.
Say what, now?
I’ve never been an X-Men fan at all, but even know that three out of the six revealed in the line-up aren’t mutants, and no points for guessing who they are. Still there’s much to be said about this team, if it ever remains permanent for the foreseeable future. Firstly, there’s no shortage of experience, either in combat or otherwise. Hope and Lyra may be newcomers to the superhero fracas, but Spider-Man and Blade are no pushovers, Psylocke has been with the X-Men for a significant period of time and Magneto is arguably the granddaddy of the group.
In terms of power, this team contains some of the most potent mutants around – in the form of Magneto and Hope Summers, the presumed Mutant Messiah. The two simply cast a huge shadow over the others, especially the limited and sometimes uncomplementary abilities of Spider-Man, Pslocke and Blade. Such a dynamic is typical of the more prominent team books, but whether or not this continues in the X-Men remains to be seen.
What I do like, though, is the “one of us, one of them” concept. It seems like there is a non-mutant for every mutant, and this gives the team a greater sense of purpose, not just as a group whose adversities revolve around their nature. With Wolverine in the main Avengers team and Beast in the Secret Avengers, the X-Men need not necessarily be solely about mutants any longer.
Still, I am looking forward to the announcement this weekend on what exactly this new X-Men team is going to be all about. The inclusion of the Avenger Spider-Man, for example, seems most extraneous, but having Magneto on the team marks a truly new beginning for this title.
