Oh Captain, My Captain

Captain Marvel

Even though it happened well after I'd stopped reading comic books, the 2012 debut of Captain Marvel vol 7, featuring a now-promoted Carol Danvers taking on the rank of her predecessor, was one of the bigger forehead slaps of my comic book awareness. It seemed like such an obvious character development that I was pretty embarrassed that the idea had never occurred to me before.

And with apologies to series writer Kelly Sue DeConnick, even though I haven't actually read any of her series, the idea is so barrier-breaking that I knew I needed to adopt the idea into my own Make My Marvel pitches.

I even like the new costume, although she definitely
needs the scarf to come back rather than the sash.

As we roll forward in the MMM timeline following the 'Secret Invasion,' we find Carol Danvers in a position to become one of the premiere heroes of the Marvel Universe. The planet has just fended off (yet another) galactic invasion, and the governments of Earth are seeing the need to make some attempts to join the intergalactic community. If only there was someone available with experience in both the military and national security who had worked closely with SHIELD in the defense of the Earth and had ties to two galactic empires and known enemies of the recently-invading Skrulls they could turn to for guidance and help.

Oh wait...

Carol's resume includes bullet points such as Air Force service, NASA security officer, Kree liaison, Shi'ar freedom fighter, SHIELD agent and Avenger. It's like she's been spending her whole life waiting for world events to catch up with her. Following the Secret Invasion, she's one of the first people to recognize the needed shift in global/galactic relations and takes the first steps to see that the Earth is ready to enter the galaxy. Taking the title Captain Marvel, she steps forward to guide the way. 

So what kind of adventures does the new Captain Marvel have? There will be no shortage of crime fighting and Earth saving, but her main goal will be the safe integration of and protection from extra terrestrials. True, there will be some overlap with the MMM Fantastic Four (who you may recall I've mandated as the guardians of Earth from external threats), but while the FF deal mostly with detection and deterrent, Carol spends more of her attention on working with alien ambassadors while uncovering alien plots. Her book should make an interesting blend of flashy fisticuffs, over-the-top super action, and devious politics.

So this, basically. Also, that DS9 cover art. Hahaha!

Normally, I'm not a fan of full-time heroes as I think the private life is important for fleshing out a character's third dimension and showcasing them in circumstances not just about their costumed actions. Carol would be an exception, though, because I think the role I've described sounds like a full-time gig. Unfortunately for her, though, I think she really needs the fleshing out that a private life brings, because she's historically been a very 2-dimensional character.

Looking back, the last thing she had that came near a private life was when she was a writer in Oregon. I think I actually missed that period, but it's certainly a start, and I can easily see someone with her life experiences and novelist background putting together a lot of successful sci-fi-themed political thrillers in the vein of a Dean Koontz-penned Star Wars. Even better, though, is the opportunity that being a writer gives her for anonymity and to step away from the world of the galactic, so I'd actually like to see her become a successful writer of romance novels under a thinly-disguised pen name. This will open the door to some non-galactic based supporting characters like her literary agent.

I also look forward to the storytelling opportunities of her trying to keep her civilian alter ego a secret from her Avengers and government friends.

Speaking of Avengers, I think it's important to keep her separate from their roster for a while. Despite pushing her to be the world's premiere hero, I think she needs time to build her own identity and role before stepping back into the ranks of a team dynamic. 

My Marvel Timeline

In setting ground rules for the My52 DC rewrite, I solidified the standard DC premise of the sliding timeline, codifying that everything since Superman's first appearance happened '15 years ago'.

Marvel Comics never had an explicit framework for how their timeline worked, instead just sort of choosing to ignore historical contradictions.  It didn't matter that Mr. Fantastic once served in WWII.  They just never mention it again and it sort of goes away.  I'm afraid I'm a lot more anal than that, though, and just had to put some thought into how I would explain these contradictions in Make My Marvel.

I think I've hit on the idea, something I'm calling 'Compressed Time.'

The basic (and only) idea is that the only way to rationalize 50 years of monthly comics is to instead consider them 10 years of weekly comics.  How's this work?  Well, in very broad brush strokes, we'll assume that each successive issue of a comic takes place the week following the previous issue rather than the next month.  For example, the Fantastic Four debuted November 1, 1961 facing off against the Mole Man in 'Fantastic Four #1.'  Their first encounter with the Skrulls in 'Fantastic Four #2' would then occur about a week later, on or around November 8, 1961.

Sure many comics are continuations of the issue that came before, requiring only minutes or hours to have passed, but enough comics have vague spacings that I'm sure could even things out over time.

The big kicker of this whole concept is that, with Make My Marvel having a soft kick-off at roughly the end of Secret Invasion (January, 2009), that means only 567 weeks of Compressed Time have passed since the debut of the Fantastic Four.  In other words, the adventures we're reading about now are actually taking place in September of 1972.

There are a few anachronisms that come with this concept, such as the number of presidents our heroes have encountered, or the tri-monthly Christmas adventure, but these are no less jarring than the actual number of presidents Captain America has met since thawing out (or the number of Christmases he's celebrated since appearing in the "modern day.")  Technological advances, in comparison, are much easier to accept.  With minds like Tony Stark and Reed Richards pushing the envelope, the development of the iPod in 1971 is pretty easy.

But once you accept the plausibility of Compressed Time, a few interesting alignments start to appear:

After their heroic debut in November of 1961, Reed Richards and Sue Storm would get married less than a year later in September 1962. Exactly nine months later, Franklin would be born (June 1963).  Per this timeline, Franklin is only about 9 years old now, which seems in keeping with his apparent age in the comics.







Peter Parker received his spider-powers during a school field trip January 1962 and graduated high school in September of that year (so, either I adjust the calendar back a couple months, or Peter went to a year-round high school).  Gwen Stacy would be killed in July of 1964 (when they were both 20 years old), and Peter would graduate college in September 1965 (okay, maybe I should back up all these dates by three months).  Peter and Mary Jane would've gotten married in 1967 and have been married for 5 years.  Peter Parker is currently 28 years old.

An interesting Spider-extrapolation is to notice that, even if Pete and MJ had a baby tomorrow, the earliest they could have a 15-year-old daughter is 1987-ish, creating a soft start time for Spider-Girl and the MC2 universe.








The members of Power Pack got their powers in January of 1967.  At the time, Julie Power was 10 years old and would later be shown to have her 11th birthday in issue #45, which, according to Compressed Time, occurs February of 1968.  That's close enough to a year to fudge. When Julie joins the Loners in October, 1971, she's 14. I've never read Loners, though.  Hope that makes sense with the series... If memory serves, the other Powers kids were about 2 years apart from each other, so youngest Katie would now be 11 years old, Jack would be 13, Julie would now be 15, and the oldest brother, Alex, would be 17. -ish.



There are probably a lot more fun timepoints to plant in Compressed Time, but those will do for now.
Admittedly, there are some current second gen characters which might cause some hiccups, though.  Wiccan and Speed of the Young Avengers get a pass for the bizarre nature of their recreation.  Fellow teammate Hulkling was supposedly conceived only 8 years ago, but we can call that an accelerated Skrull development.  Likewise, Reed and Sue's second child, Valeria, was only born a year ago according to Compressed Time, and she's depicted as obviously older than that.  I wasn't reading FF when she was written, but Wikipedia tells me there were some cosmic, Franklin-related shenanigans to her birth that might serve as an explanation to her advanced aging.

Mutant School

Academy X

As spelled out in my X-Men pitch, I really like the take on the X-Men as running a school for young mutants, although I was dissatisfied with the sheer volume of students they'd since added.  My preference is more along the lines of the days of the New Mutants, where a small class of mutants was being taught even as the graduated class of X-Men continued to save the world.

So gearing up for My Marvel Academy X requires me to pair down the numbers quite a bit. As the school is now public, I can imply some sort of safety review on behalf of the X-Men following that attack on the academy during the Messiah CompleX storyline and declare that they've determined gathering all those mutants together makes them a target.  Due to the hazardous nature of the X-Men's work, they simply can't be home to the least powerful of their kind.  Many of them are sent back home, while only a few are retained to help train.  It doesn't hold up to close scrutiny, but it gets me to where I want my student body to be.

Illogic aside, that means I get to choose from some of my favorite additions to young mutant-hood to create my student body for Academy X. Despite all of the young mutants at Xavier's to choose from, only a few  were distinctive or original enough to draw my attention.

Anole
Victor initially caught my eye by being so visually striking. His reptilian appearance, including one monstrous arm, stood out to me, especially when combined with his comfort with his appearance. In a world that hates and fears mutants, he stands out as being one who hasn't faced much bigotry despite his appearance. He's seen first hand the possibility of humans and mutants living together, and brings that optimism to the team. He's tried team leadership in the past, but despite having the heart, he doesn't have the drive. He serves as unofficial co-leader with Hellion, keeping the crew on the right path.

Hellion

Although I won't say his telekinetic powers are in any way original, Julian caught my eye with his vain, aggressive yet very successful leadership skills. The perfect counterpoint to Anole, Hellion grew up in wealth, yet was expected to hide his abilities. His human vs. mutant upbringing could easily have made him an evil mutant if one of the X-Men's enemies had gotten a hold of him first, but at Xavier's he's learning to work with humankind, even if he still sees them as different. Power-wise, Hellion's telekinesis took an interesting turn when his powers were "upgraded," making them much stronger while costing him much of his control. Punching holes through floors while trying to pick up paperclips really does make him a hellion. Julian co-leads the X Students with Victor, providing the fire and direction that Anole doesn't, while Anole tempers Hellion's darker elements.





Blindfold
There's not much to say about Blindfold other that she weirds me out in the best ways. From her eyeless face, to the enigmatic way she talks, to the unclear way her powers actually work, she cheerfully makes everyone uncomfortable. The biggest challenge with Blindfold, however, is the lack of a visual dynamic in her powers. Focused almost entirely on telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition, there isn't much to recommend her in "the field." Ultimately, the Academy students aren't intended to be field agents, so that shouldn't be a roadblock to her presence, but comics are a visual medium, and something should be expected. My first thought is to have her serve as a sort of home base support, providing intel to the team when they're out while traveling with them via astral from. I dunno.

Bling!

I'm not sure why the less-imaginatively-named Rockslide got all the attention in Young X-Men, when this hip-hop, be-gemmed bad-ass was waiting in the wings. Like Anole, she "suffers" from a grossly apparent physical mutation and accepts it with equal ease. In fact, she goes one step farther and uses it for celebrity, having appeared in a number of her rap royalty parents' music videos. I like Roxanne because she's confident and has nothing to prove, but without the in-your-face baggage of Hellion. She really is an anchor for the team.









Dust
Visually, an X-Men committed to wearing a full burqa is pretty stunning, and I won't balk to say that her inclusion in Academy X is a beacon of the racial acceptance the X-Men are fighting for. While I don't think it should be the point of her character, I've personally known enough people with fearful views of modern day Muslims, and I think Dust provides a good gateway to young American readers to understand more about them. As an added bonus, her power is awesome, ranging from the subtle to the devastating. 



I do have an opportunity here to again address minority balance in comic books. Ironically, it was this group's parent team, the X-Men, which first caused me to address the topic with my lineup's total lack of minorities. Like with them, I make no effort of affirmative action in my teams, only choosing the characters which most appeal to me regardless of race or gender. That's how I wound up with five white dudes and a white chick for my mutant team. Here, it's almost the opposite. Of the five students, we have a black woman, a Middle Eastern woman, and two homosexuals. It's an interesting contrast, and one that accidentally echoes the differences between the original X-Men, and their multi-national replacements

Going back to my New Mutants days, I want to keep the students in a team uniform (favoring the black and yellow like what Blindfold is wearing above), but perhaps with making the yellow a more shiny gold texture. The only challenge is what to do with Dust's uniform. I confess I've no idea how much leeway Islamic women have in accessorizing their burqas, and don't want to ignorantly offend anyone by adding a gold belt to her dress. Still, I'd like to find some way of tying her into the team uniform, so maybe some research is in order...

Of course these students will be in residence at the Xavier Academy, including the Danger Room and everything that comes with it, but it's notable to point out that by this time in the team's evolution, the school has gone public. Everyone knows the students (and faculty) here are mutants, which provides its own new dynamic.

Find me some teenagers with attitude

Young Avengers

The first Young Avengers mini-series really roped me in with  the way they set up these characters as junior versions of Avengers, but then left fielded all of them with reveals that they weren't connected to the Avenger you'd thought .

Later tellings of the group slowly pushed me away, though, as they sidelined favorite characters (Iron Lad, AKA Kid Kang) and brought in less-imaginative characters (Speed? Really?)  Since I can claim vague-itude in the Young Avengers' later outings, I'm free to refocus them to the state I loved them in. 

The YAs are at their best when they're dealing with more intimate life issues. Sure they were founded by an old Avenger enemy, and one of them is the son of the hero who went crazy and destroyed the Avengers, and another is heir to a cosmic, galactic empire, but at their heart they're kids trying to live up to the reputation of their forebears while at the same time learning that their idols aren't all they're cracked up to be.

Wiccan
I actually preferred his name when he was Asgardian, but I can live with Wiccan. His abilities as a powerful yet inexperienced magician gives the group a fun, variable power, but self-limits it so it isn't the instant win that characters like Dr. Strange can be. It was revealed that Wiccan was the "reincarnation" of one of Scarlet Witch's vanished twins, and then someone less clever came along and said "let's make the other twin a Quicksilver clone." (Speed?  Really?)  You can't talk about Wiccan without mentioning his gay relationship with teammate Hulkling. As one of the few positive portrayals of a gay relationship in comics, it has to be applauded.

Hulkling

His status and appearance as a hulking bruiser downplays his abilities as a shape-shifter. And if you're trying to be a shape-shifter, not letting everyone know you're a shape-shifter is probably key. Still, he is a super-strong character and serves as the team's muscle. He also has ties to the galactic community through his shared Skrull and Kree ancestry, making him a pretty big mover in the galactic community.





Mockingbird
When Kate Bishop first appeared wielding a number of weapons found in the basement of Avengers Mansion, I was stunned when she focused on just the bow and took the name Hawkeye.  Sure the original archer was dead (at the time), but it seemed pretty apparent that using somebody else's stuff translates to 'Mockingbird' pretty readily.  Even when the original Hawkeye returned to life, she kept the name and they both travel around together using that name jointly. 

In Make My Marvel, she's going to give the name back to Barton and, since I never resurrected Mockingbird at the end of my Secret Invasion, that name's wide open for her to use. She'll remain a talented archer, but the new name will also include a broader focus of using multiple weapons from multiple former Avengers and foes. Bow, sword, bo-staff, whatevs.

Mockingbird is also my top choice for team leader.  From panel one she's always been the most assertive and take charge.

Patriot

I missed why they wrote him out of the group, but he'll be making a triumphant return in MMM Young Avengers. Since receiving the super-soldier serum in his blood, he's been able to hold his own in any throwdown the team gets into, but he doesn't feel quite up to the legacy of Captain America. So while he's the most driven to keep the team on the right path, he's the one most likely to struggle with keeping to it.





Titania
Another name change for my relaunch, Stature has long been one of the weakest names (to me) in comicdom. I read somewhere that she originally was going to appear under the name 'Titania,' and I'm going to take up that flag. The duality of her power, growth and shrinking, plays very well with the name, which can refer both to a titanic being as well as the queen of faeries. Of all the Young Avengers, she has the most experience with super-heroing, having been around the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and Heroes for Hire since she was a toddler. She brings a wealth of hero and villain knowledge to the team, which is of key use for a team which lacks the resources of major league teams like the Avengers and FF.


In the final battle of Secret Invasion, Vision got his head smashed in. I guess it wasn't truly fatal, because he was repaired enough to die later during the Children's Crusade storyline, but for my purposes it's enough for me to say that he didn't survive the invasion. For funsies, I'll say that they were able to do a partial save of his program so they still have access to some of his Avengers files, and because I'm slightly wicked, there's just enough of his personality left over to really screw with his former girlfriend, Cassie 'Titania' Lang.

While the conditions for Make My Marvel don't require me to explain where characters go when I drop them from the team, I'm going to say that Speed gets frustrated that his brother isn't doing more to find their mother, and runs off alone to find the Scarlet Witch.

When I was reading YA, they were hiding out in the basement of the destroyed Avengers Mansion. I believe they then moved into an old warehouse or printing press belonging to Hawkeye/Mockingbird's family, but I don't know anything about that. I do like the idea of the group having a hidden HQ (as opposed to public knowledge like other teams'), and if the warehouse serves that purpose, they can stay.

It may be the easy way, but it's not the cowboy way

The Rangers

I don't know why it took me so long to get to this crew.  The Rangers have long been my go-to team for Marvel fan-fiction (even more than the Avengers).  There's a special charm to a team which combines superhero action with the do-good spirit of American westerns.  

With the Avengers, Fantastic Four and X-Men all basing out of New York, the American west is open game to villainy, and the Rangers are ready to step in to fill that gap. The 50 State Initiative would have us believe that this group could be limited to Texas, but their membership ranges through Arizona, Oklahoma, Nevada and New Mexico.  With my MMM disbanding of the Initiative, the Rangers are now free to range (ha!) all across the Southwest.

The lineup hasn't changed at all from their first appearance, consisting of:

Texas Twister
I hate this picture of him, but it's what I got.  It makes him look a little doofy, when in fact he's a former SHIELD super-agent and more than capable of leading this team.  True there's a measurable bit of showmanship spawning from his rodeo days (something he still pursues in his off time), but he takes his heroing responsibilities very seriously and has no trouble balancing the two traits.

Shooting Star

Longtime companion of Texas Twister, Star's sharpshooting skills, combined with her specially-rigged pistols are an invaluable asset in both his rodeo act and his super heroics. Her ability with the trick-shot comes in handy when shooting guns out of thugs hands (or fuses off of sticks of dynamite, or mind control chips off of victims spins, or...you get the idea), but her specially-designed revolvers are also capable of shooting stun bullets when she just needs to take a man down. On the team, she provides the loyal opposition to Twister's leadership, supporting him 100%, but in the most argumentative way possible. Seriously, they argue like an old married couple.







Phantom Rider
When evil arises, the spirit of Lincoln Slade merges with his descendant Hamilton to become the ghostly law enforcer, Phantom Rider.  I suspect Hamilton will need to learn some tricks to summoning him when evil is NOT present, though, or he's going to be absent during any scene that doesn't involve a villain, and that's pretty limiting.  As the Rider, he can best be described as ominous and single minded, but Hamilton is swaying him to be more of a team player than the loner he used to be.  As an archaeologist, Hamilton's contributions outside the mask shouldn't be downplayed, as I suspect the Rangers will be facing many challenges native to the Southwest and Hamilton's knowledge in that area is often the key to victory. 

Red Wolf

Having returned to his construction job by day, Red Wolf continues to serve as Ranger when called upon.  A peerless combatant, Wolf is also an unmatched tracker and hunter, valuable skills when their opponents can be spread anywhere across the Southwest.  Another not favorite picture here, though, as later appearances have geared him up too much in the stereotypical Indian war dress.  I much preferred his more streamlined initial dress and will scale him back to just the coup stick and tomahawk.  He should probably get another wolf companion too.  I miss Lobo.









Firebird
As a social worker in her day job, Firebird is a guiding force behind getting the team to provide more to the peoples of the Southwest than just catching bank robbers. From making appearances at children's hospitals to simply cleaning up after their battles, she's probably why the Rangers are as popular as they are. I also like the idea of a positive portrayal of a Christian character in the comics. There aren't enough of those, I think.











I'm a bit torn on location for the team to meet up.  I can't decide what's the most Western. My first thought is to have the team encounter a ghost town with a secret underpinning of technology (I'm thinking an early encounter with the villain Arcade) that they could commandeer. At the same time, the widespread nature of its membership says that a Wild, Wild West-style steam train HQ would be more practical.

Maybe I'll do both... 

Irredeemable Tales

G.I. Ant-Man

By rights I shouldn't have liked it, but Eric O'Grady, the Irredeemable Ant-Man, really won me over.  Despite a long-standing fanaticism for Hank Pym's Ant-Man, I do have a special place in my heart for craven, deceitful anti-heroes going back to George MacDonald Fraser's 'Flashman' books.

I was honestly disappointed to learn that O'Grady was killed off in the comics and replaced with the previously-dead Scott Lang, but since that all happens *after* my Secret Invasion kick off point, I don't have to allow it and can continue with O'Grady filling the diminutive title role.

Plus I really like the buggy-ness of his costume.

During his time with the Initiative, some genius writer coined the name "G.I. Ant-Man" and gave O'Grady the ability to grow as well as to shrink.  No way I can let that name die, so I've taken his SHIELD training into consideration and make him a government agent.  For the most part it's his training and shrinking abilities which make him such an asset, but every so often he needs to enbiggen and lay some stomp onto things.

Just like Flashman, Ant-Man's status as a top government agent gives him an undeserved reputation of heroism, but just like Fraser's character, his successes only come in spite of his cowardice and general cad-like behavior.  It'll be awesome.  In theory, O'Grady *should* have a secret identity as a top government agent, but I don't see him as the type to be able to keep a secret from a pretty face, so expect him to be dropping some very obvious hints to his occupation with the young ladies living in his apartment complex.

Assembly required

The Avengers

Like with the My52 Justice League, the Avengers line-up is one of the greatest armchair quarterback opportunities in comics.  Everyone has their favorite and detailed explanations of why their choices are best.  Also like the Justice League, there are so many characters to choose from, it's easy to fall into decision paralysis until the most inviting solution is to put EVERYONE in the Avengers.

Done.

The end of Secret Invasion creates a new opportunity to form up "Earth's Mightiest Heroes." Following his killing blow of the invading Skrull queen, Norman Osborn and his Thunderbolts are on the rise, while the Avengers and the 50 State Initiative are on the outs.  In fact, the Initiative is seen by many to have been a base from which the invasion penetrated the U.S., and the program is quickly dismantled.  The Avengers lose their preferred hero status and government support to the Thunderbolts, and are forced to operate as an independent unit.

Not incidentally, the core membership most people think of when they think Avengers doesn't exist in a recognizable form in Make My Marvel.  Thor and Captain America, fer instance, are now completely different people, as is Iron Man as far as anybody else is concerned.

So who makes it into my Avengers line-up?  Thought you'd never ask.

Captain America 
With the death of Steve Rogers, James Barnes has taken on the role of his former mentor.  He doesn't lead the team as Rogers did, but he still brings a lifetime (or more) of combat training and small unit tactics to the team. He fulfills the role of the legacy hero, a second generation character raised to take the spot of his mentor.

Storm

Storm always seemed too big for the X-Men.  In a group where each character possessed a unique single mutant power, Storm's ability to command the elements seemed out of scale.  She's so powerful, in fact, that she always felt to me like she belonged in the Avengers.  And here she is.

Songbird
Of all the former villains to take on heroic identities in the original Thunderbolts series, Songbird was the one for whom it seemed to take the strongest.  We were even shown that she would be joining some future Avengers team in 'Avengers Forever'.

Besides, villain-turned-hero always makes for some great character and story opportunities.

Icarus

The Eternals are an entire race of god-like superhumans living on the fringes of Marvel Earth, and I'd like to see them get some of the attention they deserve.  Thena, the current ruler of the Eternals, decides that they can't hide anymore, and assigns one of their member to join the Avengers as a way to build goodwill toward their people.  I'm even willing to say Makkari was her first choice (because I confess he was my first choice), but noble Ikaris stepped forward to volunteer (even taking the more commonly accepted spelling of his name as a way to blend in).  Without a doubt, Icarus brings Thor-level power to the team.

Iron Man

With Tony Stark bankrolling the Avengers again, it's a sure thing that his Iron Man will get to be on the team.  It's a bit humbling, though, that he has to convince everyone that he's a different guy under the helmet and he doesn't have as much clout in the team as he should with his founding member status.

In fact, a few people think of him as having bought his way onto the team rather than proving himself. It's an uphill battle for some to prove he has what it takes. 

Yellowjacket

I'm not a fan of the heavy handed slate wiping of Hank Pym at the conclusion of Secret Invasion, but whatever helps us get past that one backhand which marked him as a wife beater for the past 40 years.  With that out of the way, I look forward to returning him to his adventuring scientist days.  Also, as far as anyone knows, he's the only founding member of the Avengers still on the team, and that brings him a level of leadership and respect.

Spider-Man
Flying high on his celebrity status (as described in Spider-Man's own entry in Make My Marvel), Parker adds "Avenger" to his resume.  Despite a life-long history of crime fighting, though, being a superstar has soured public opinion on him a bit, and even some of his fellow Avengers question his commitment to righting wrongs. Truth is, he didn't leave the Avengers on the best terms in Civil War, but with someone new in the Iron Man suit (heh), he's ready to give them another chance.









Since the destruction of Avengers Mansion back in 2004, the team has operated out of a skyscraper in Manhattan.  Since I feel that robs from the Fantastic Four too much, I'm going to have my Secret Invasion end with them losing that building and being forced to relocate. Their new digs are set up in one of Stark's long-abandoned Long Island factories.  It's easily adapted to hold science labs, communications equipment, and engineering spaces.  There's a token effort for living spaces, but it's not really intended for full-time occupancy, requiring 
Avengers to keep residences outside of their HQ.

Cap'n A!

Captain America

Steve Rogers is dead.

There, I said it. Assassinated at the end of Civil War, Captain America's shield and mask are taken up by his former sidekick James "Don't call me Bucky" Barnes.  Although the comics quickly set out to revive Steve Rogers and eventually give him his shield back, my policy of "don't kill 'em if you don't want 'em dead" means that Steve is going to stay a martyr, and Barnes is really going to have to step up to fill his shoes.

Once Bucky got behind the shield, though, he continued on the trail he'd set as the Winter Soldier, a gun-toting vigilante/super-spy.  Personally I like my Cap'n A a little more high-minded than that, so my BuckyCap will quickly become aware of the shoes he's filling and try to discard the trappings of the previous life that had been forced on him.  Walking the high road is his way of atoning for everything he did while being mind controlled by the USSR.

Including the shield, he's literally carrying more 

weapons than he has hands for.

Trained by the original Captain America, Barnes is no slouch in a fight, especially when you combine that with his years of activity as a Soviet spy.  He's not the leader of men Steve was, but he can still serve as a symbol for people to rally behind.

Appearance-wise, I kind of hate the costume they put Bucky in when he took on the identity.  He looks more like Captain Puerto Rico than Captain America.  I don't feel at all beholden to adopting the appearances from the movies, but I really thought Cap's costume in Avengers was pitch perfect, and could easily see that adapted to Bucky's new wardrobe, especially in the way the zip-up-the-side-paneled jacket matches what he wore as Bucky in WWII.  Detach the mask from the jacket to give it an upturned collar (and Cap's helmet from Winter Soldier like that which CA originally wore) and I think you've got it.

 

There will be a quiz later.

I can't remember the last time Captain America had a secret identity (and then it was a comic book artist (?)), but I think Barnes needs one.  After spending decades either frozen in hibernation or under Soviet mind control, Bucky is even more a man out of time than Rogers was when he was thawed out.  He needs a civilian life to grow accustomed to the modern world (and only coincidentally provide interesting story potentials.)

When considering the best place for a one-armed Army vet, I latched onto the idea of Bucky getting a job at a veteran's affairs office.  Providing support for veterans and wounded warriors adjusting to life outside the military can be just as therapeutic for Bucky, and there's even an opportunity for a romantic interest in a young, idealistic physical therapist.

Then I realized I sort of ripped that off from the Falcon in the Winter Soldier movie as well, but just decided to go with it. 

I...am...Iron...Man...

Iron Man

To be honest, Tony Stark didn't come out of Secret Invasion too well.

On the heels of Civil War, Tony Stark had been made the head of SHIELD and incorporated all his "Starktech" into that global defense force.  I'm not sure exactly what "Starktech" means, but it was apparently even hardwired into his own body such that when the alien invaders inevitably hacked his system and brought down all of Earth's defenses, Stark sort of crashed with it.

After the smoke had cleared, opportunistic politicians saw Tony as the perfect scapegoat and came down hard on him.  In the comics, this lead to some sort of weird system reboot in his brain (conveniently wiping any culpability for the dickhead maneuvers he did during Civil War).  I don't need to go that far exactly, but I do appreciate the excuse to gut all that Extremis gear that had pushed Iron Man so far from the "guy in a high-tech suit" concept.

wha-?

I admit, my ongoing concept for Iron Man stems from one mental image: Tony Stark in trouble and calling on his bodyguard all Johnny Sokko-like, and Iron Man launching from a silo at Stark Enterprises to fly to the rescue.  The twist is that once the Iron Man armor arrives on scene, Tony would surreptitiously slip into it, becoming Iron Man rather than being whisked to safety.  Everybody sees them both together, so they're none-the-wiser about the dual identity, and Stark gets to be Ironman in secret.

"Why," you ask, "would he need to act in secret when everyone knows he's Iron Man?"

The answer is that, following the debacle of Secret Invasion, the public loss of confidence in Stark both from the government and his investors lead him to the realization that the only way to keep his company afloat is to stop being Iron Man.

The opening story arc shows that he's hired someone else to be Iron Man (I'm thinking Michael O'Brien, a character with experience piloting some of Stark's powersuits, pending a quick review to make sure the character is still alive), only to see that person quickly overwhelmed and killed in action.  Tony can't put another person at risk like that again, and decides to continue being Iron  Man himself, but now must keep that role secret for the sake of his company.  He uses O'Brien's death to justify his need to keep the current Iron Man's identity private.

It's hard for me to pick a favorite IM armor.  Of course I'm a longtime fan of the classic MkV armor he wore for so many years, but I also appreciate some of the more modern takes on it.  Ideally, I'd like to see a blend between the classic form-fitting suits and the modern plated armor look.  Something that suggests iron plates, but without all the jutty and sticky-out parts some artists can get carried away with.  Something along the lines (if not exactly the lines) of the 'Bleeding Edge' armor which appeared in 2010.

In fact, this suit is almost perfect.  I wonder if there's a way to add back in the eye slits.  It was always nice to be able to see Tony's eyes through his visor.

Other than that, it's business as usual.  Tony tries to manage his company as best he can, while fending off corporate spies and foreign saboteurs on a monthly basis.  Although no longer in the defense industry, the scope of SE's projects mean there's no shortage of ways to put him in any number of dangerous situations around the globe.

Here's where I confess I have zero idea of who Stark's supporting cast is these days.  I know Happy Hogan's dead, and Pepper Potts recently sported the armored identity of 'Rescue,' but I'm pretty blank on anything else.  He might even need an all-new cast of supporting characters from which to hide is secret identity. 

Marvel's First Family

The Fantastic Four

It's hard to pitch a Make My Marvel version of Fantastic Four because the series never seems to work when it deviates from the initial four characters of Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Thing and Human Torch.  They're all so perfectly balanced and characterful that any tip of the apple cart is too much.  However, I think a fun variation of the team would be to, while not changing the membership, switch up their powers.  It's change for the sake of change, but could liven up a team that's been pretty consistent now for about 50 years.  

They dabbled with this a bit in the second Fantastic Four movie, and I'd bet money it's been played with in the comics before, but I'd like to try it as a long-term ('cause nothing's permanent) change to the status quo.  I accept that it's a gimmick, but let's see how it takes.

Strangely, I couldn't find any pictures of them with switched powers,

so I made this handy chart to track my intent.

Mr. Invisible (Reed Richards)
Based on Reed's deep-set desire to see and understand the underpinnings of the universe, Reed takes on Sue's ability to bend light and manipulate "hyperspace forces" (whatever that means).  As Sue could, he can turn himself and others invisible as well as produce invisible force fields.  His engineering-oriented mind is able to create more complex shapes and effects than Sue ever could, but he finds that his structures aren't as strong as hers were.

It-Girl (Sue Richards)
Sue's desire to protect her family and others leads her to adopt Ben's monstrous strength and appearance.  While I'd like the artist to find a slightly more feminine way to draw her than She-Thing, she does have to learn to cope with her new appearance much as Ben had to in his earlier days (and she does it in much the same way, thanks to the unconditional love of her husband and children).  Her new form is even more indestructible than Ben's was, but she isn't able to reach the same strength that he did.

The Torch (Ben Grimm)
We all know Ben's got a bit of a temper, and he loves to fly, and these two traits lead him directly to Johnny's flame powers.  He's not as good as Johnny was  with the fire shapes, but can really pour out the speed and power.  Unfortunately his flame doesn't last as long, and Ben finds his flames can exhaust themselves pretty quickly if he doesn't moderate them.  On a personal note, he's obviously ecstatic to have his human appearance back, but is almost as distraught by having (inadvertently) foisted his disfigurement onto Sue.

Thin Man (Johnny Storm)
I kind of hate the name, but I tried to keep the new names thematically similar to the meter of the previous names, and the best I could come up with for Johnny was to tie his name into another WWII-era superhero, in this case, one with stretchy powers. In any case, it's Johnny's carefree personality which leads him to adopt the shape-altering powers of Mr. Fantastic, although his vanity makes him slightly less likely to distort his features too much. He mostly limits himself to elongating his limbs and trunk rather than flattening his body or taking on shapes.  Still, he's more acrobatic than Reed was with the same powers, and he can be an elusive combatant.



Recent leanings in the writing of the Fantastic Four have depicted them as explorers, gallivanting around space and the dimensions, and having a series of out-of-this-world adventures (ha!).  I actually like this interpretation as it's in keeping with early comics of them discovering Subterra or aiding alien civilizations, but it shows the same flaw (to me, at least) as all those stories of Thor in Asgard.  I lose interest in the characters if they're removed from the recognizable world.  Putting them in the Negative Zone or rocketing to Altare V gives me zero investment in whatever it is they discover or achieve.

Looking again at their early adventures, the FF weren't just exploring new places, but were discovering new threats to the Earth there and stopping it.  Having just survived a major alien invasion (and feeling more than a little responsible for it), puts Reed and the rest of the FF in a position to re-dedicate themselves to watching for extra- (or sub-) terrestrial threats to the Earth.  The Foursome is more focused on being a first-line defense against anything "not of this Earth."

Initially I was kind of directionless about the Richards kids.  Franklin and Valeria are getting old enough to participate in adventures, and my first blush was that adding these two to the mix upsets the 4-way balance of the main characters.  In fact, I briefly had the idea of renaming the group the 'First Family' (playing off both the growing family aspect as well as their often-used sobriquet as the first family of comics. But then I remembered that was exactly the title of one of Kurt Busiek's Astro City groups and I didn't want to be ripping him off at all.

Although it might be fair to ask who ripped off whom in his instance.

But then the idea dawned on me that being old enough to have adventures is not the same as joining the team.  I think the occasional back-up story of the Richards kids going all Goonies would be a lot of fun.

Thanks to some destruction during Secret Invasion, the upper flours of the Fantastic Four's skyscraper HQ are eligible for some redesigning.  I'd like to see the tower take on some traits of an observatory, and serving as a reminder of their goal as watchmen for extra-terrestrial threats to the Earth.  In a departure from the clean, symmetrical geometry of Four Freedom's Plaza, the new tower is topped with a jumble of Kirby-esque domes and devices.

Children of the Atom

Astonishing X-Men

2008 kicked off with Messiah CompleX, the last X-Event to contain anything I recognized as X-Men.  Following this event, all the mutants of the world moved to San Francisco and created their own nation (or something), inviting people like Magneto and Sub-Mariner to join the team.

By pulling the e-brake here, though, I get to keep my X-Men as the struggling minority, working to keep the world safe in spite of overwhelming bigotry and hatred, but not isolated in their own nation.  With the death of Charles Xavier at the end of CompleX (uh...spoilers?), the X-Men must refocus on attaining his dream, and the existence of Hope Summers, the first mutant born since Decimation, gives them a renewed sense of optimism and wipes some of the "we're dying as a species" angst which darkened recent years.

Personally, my view of the super-powered mutant is that mutations in the X-Men comics (I believe created by Celestial tampering in human genetics at the dawn of time) should lead to beneficial mutations the vast majority of time.  Sure appearances may deviate a bit, and there can be some side-effects, but Celestial-tampered genetic mutations will lead to laser eyes and rocket punches rather than wax skin or early-onset aging.

The greatest power possessed by these mutants, fer instance,

is that the girl in green can vomit acid...

However, I really like the idea of the X-Men serving as the faculty of a school in addition to being crime-busting superheroes.  I'll be discussing the student body at some future post, though.  For the time being, I want to focus on the X-Men themselves.  My X-Men were selected based both on experience with the team as well as contributing a distinctive power and ability to the group dynamic.  Fer instance, with Cyclops providing the laser blasting power, I had no interest in other-blasty characters like Gambit, Chamber or Dazzler (although I did seriously consider the latter).

With that in mind, these are the mutants who made the cut:

Cyclops
For years Cyclops has been aware that the slightest misstep on his part could lead to disaster from his uncontrollable eye beams.  The events of Messiah CompleX lead him to see that same quality in his leadership of the X-Men. Under his watch, the team has become a dangerous weapon and he dedicates himself to stepping away from that edge.  He realizes trying to keep mutants separate from humanity only leads to conflict, and true peace can only come from full integration.

Cannonball

The first New Mutants "graduate," Sam is most in tune with the Academy as a place of learning.  He knows what it's like to want to be an X-Man, and he's the best at relating to the students on campus.  He also recalls how much trouble he had learning to control his own powers, which makes him a great teacher when dealing with young mutants with the same limitations.  I'm not 100% current on what Cannonball can do with his powers these days (I think I saw him making a force field once), but I'd like to keep it focused on his main "invulnerable while blastin'" smash-thru-things qualities, although I can see him being able to throw explosive punches to strike with the force of a cannonball.  Creating defensive blast shields or throwing energy blasts are outside what I think his unique powers would allow.

 Iceman

Of all mutants present at Messiah CompleX, seeing Professor X killed affected Bobby the most.  Charles' death opened his eyes to how far they'd come from the initial forming of the X-Men and how much he himself had changed in that time.  The re-commitment to Xavier's dream is driven mostly by Iceman as he strives to return to what made him and the team great in its heyday.  As the "heart" of the team, Iceman also begins focusing his powers more on defense and restraint rather than offense and weapons.  

Wolverine

I've never been a big fan of the character, but I do appreciate the way his animalistic loner nature has taken to the idea of being an X-Man.  No longer the one Cyclops has to keep on a leash, Logan has become an equal voice on the team.  He provides an interesting counterpoint to Scott in that, while they both agree on the team's goals, it's Wolverine who's most willing to get his hands dirty achieving it.  In the end, though, he has a fierce loyalty to the X-Men and the school.

Husk
As a former member of Generation X, Paige is the youngest I'd go in terms of establishing a "senior" mutant body.  However, she has a lot going for her as a contributor to the team.  While her power is delightfully random and versatile, it's her voice that most sells her. As a trainee of Banshee and Emma Frost, Husk has less invested in the Xavier Dream than the rest of the X-Men and is the most likely to be a "loyal opposition" when discussing what role the team plays on the world stage.  And since she grew up in the country with a lot of siblings, keeping her mouth shut hasn't become one of her strong suits.  She's also Cannonball's sister, and the two of them bring a family element to the team for all the drama that can carry.

Legion

I confess, I'm not 100% sure what David Haller's status is these days, but Wikipedia tells me he's probably alive (or can easily be made so) so I'm willing to give him a spot in the team. While in one sense Legion's multiple-personality based powers steals some of Husk's thunder as far as "random effects" goes, he brings a couple other things to the table I really want to have in my X-Jet.  A) As Charles Xavier's son, he brings a bit of legacy to the Dream and carries on his father's traditions proudly, and 2) his weird mental status lets me have a telepath on the team with a little more interest (and a little less reliability) than some of the other trump card telepaths.  To be honest, it can be fun to have a character able to read another's mind, but if it's too available, it becomes difficult to keep secrets or hold mysteries against the team. David's no-guarantee powers means it's often available, but can't be relied on.




One side note to my roster, so far I've been very lucky in my comic team rewrites (mostly in my DC Comics My52 posts) that I've never had to pay much attention to race or gender.  There were always enough good characters to choose from which met my needs that I never wanted for a decent balance of race or sex.  To my surprise, though, the X-Men seem pretty weak in those areas.  There are only two significant black X-Men, Storm and Bishop, and one of them is now evil (and the other has a different role to be discovered later on in these posts).  So I just have to accept that my X-Men, for a while at least, are going to be mostly white males.  It's not my preferred status quo, but to do it any other way would cry of tokenism, and fortunately I don't have to bow to that.

In the comics, the X-Men restructured after Messiah CompleX by reforming in San Francisco. To my mind, at least, that gives an undesired air of counter-culture to the team.  Maybe at some point I'd be interested in an X-Men spin-off group on the West Coast that's more "alternative" to the main team, but for now, I like my Xavier's Academy as a posh, upstate New York prep school, so that's where they'll stay.