X-Men: The Next Class

We do try not to be in the business of spoilers on this blog and though I fail at times—frequently—I also do my best to keep my Marvel shilling to a minimum, so I will restrict my official “review” of X-Men: First Class to merely saying it is tremendous fun, the performances are on the whole superb, and that if you are a comic book fan or just a fan of enjoyable movies, I can’t imagine you won’t feel satisfied walking out of the theaters after having viewed it.

First Class has already experienced well-deserved success, so I have to imagine—and hope—it will garner a sequel set in the same groovy retro timeline. I can’t predict what the storyline will be—and again will not spoil the movie outside of the stuff that’s basic knowledge if you’re familiar with the canon via either the comics or previous films—but certainly as has become practice for the franchise, I’m sure we’ll meet yet more new mutants, which suits me fine.

Indeed, while there’s no question that James McAvoy’s Charles Xavier and Michael Fassbender’s Erik Lensherr are the glue that holds First Class together with their immense charisma and chemistry, the fuel that sets the rocket off is the ensemble, and for a fan, it’s pretty cool to see cult favorites like Havok and Banshee or even the most obscure of the obscure such as Angel—no, the female one—and Azazel actually make it to the big screen. With many of the front and center “cool” X-Men set aside for the stuff that comes later chronologically, Matthew Vaughn and company had to dig a bit here to build their cast, and they managed to find gold.

With that in mind, even after five movies—counting Wolverine—and over a decade crammed with a main cast in the double digits and cameos by the dozen, the beauty of the expansive X-Men universe is that there are still both major and bit players alike just waiting to take their curtain call. Here are some picks for who I’d like to see make the leap off the comic page.

CANNONBALL
My number one X-Man, Iceman, already made the original trilogy, so I’ve got to stump for my next favorite to get involved now (side note: They’ve been paired as a team both at the end of the Scott Lobdell era and in Mike Carey’s X-Men run, both of which I presume were written specifically for me). Sam Guthrie would be a particularly interesting character in the First Class era as he’s a good ol’ boy from the South during a time when integration was still something of a dirty word there, so seeing how he’d react to being part of a minority would be a pretty heady character arc. In the end, I’d personally want to see nice guy Cannonball emerge, but the path to getting him there—if he even does—would make for potentially powerful storytelling. Obviously a neat visual power too.

POLARIS
Moving forward, the X-Men movies are going to be more than ever about Xavier and Magneto’s tug of war over the future of mutantkind, and no character embodies that struggle more than Lorna Dane. I’m not sure if the Magneto’s daughter angle would necessarily translate well to the big screen, but regardless, you’ve got a player potentially as powerful as any on the board who will automatically empathize with the “bad guys,” putting the onus on Professor X to win her over and a chance to really state his case. It’s a good, meaty role for any number of talented young actresses; she could essentially be the Jean Grey of this series in terms of the tragic heroine. And of course you’ve already got Havok…

SUNFIRE
I don’t say it much—or even remember it much myself, given how rarely he appears—but Sunfire is for my money one of the most underrated X-Men, in large part due to how incredibly unsuited he is to be on any team (hence why was only an X-Man for an issue). As much as a “bad boy” as Wolverine, Gambit, etc. might be, they can never touch Shiro, who tops even Quicksilver as far as anti-social behavior. He’s arrogant, he’s ill-tempered and he’s also all about duty and honor, all of which makes him a great character, and one who shines even more when played against Xavier and his go-lucky, peace-seeking brood, given how little patience he has for any of it. He’s got another power that would be visually dynamic, as well as a presence that would both spark the interpersonal dynamic and undoubtedly make for some choice one-liners.

FRENZY
The physical powerhouses in the X-Men franchise have always tended to be men, so a change of pace to Johanna Cargill would mix things up a bit. I would never have thought of this suggestion even a year ago, but Mike Carey—him again—has done superb work nurturing the potential he saw with her in X-Men: Legacy and giving her a personality to go with all that anger. Even at her kindest and gentlest, Frenzy is an extremely volatile element to introduce, and would certainly add more than just silent muscle on either side. Again, as with Cannonball, there’s a social element at play here as well, as we’d get to see how somebody who’s not just black and not just a woman but now also a mutant fares in the time period of First Class.

ANOLE
Besides being just a neat character, Anole both throws in another representation of the newer generation—he was only introduced in 2003—and brings a unique visual to the table as well. We’ve seen blue girls and red guys at this point, but never a green kid and no real reptilian folks. Anole would present both some new opportunities for the makeup and special effects wizards—he’s got as Toad’s prehensile tongue as well as scales and the ability to camouflage—plus a layered role as the sensitive kid who gets drafted into a war. Also, I know I keep hammering on the “Societal tolerance was different in the 60’s” card, but having a homosexual character—not just a metaphor—is ground the X-Men movie franchise has yet to tread upon.

MISTER SINISTER
You’re going to need some sort of third party villain who makes the plot more complex than just Xavier versus Magneto, but not one who overwhelms them since they’re the show, and a schemer like Sinister fits the bill, not to mention he’s one of the more iconic villains who hasn’t yet made the leap to the films (you can’t really do Apocalypse justice in a period piece, I don’t think, and they’ve got to save Stryfe until I make my X-Cutioner’s Song trilogy). Just as Sebastian Shaw provided Kevin Bacon with the opportunity to turn in a great performance by tapping into his inner megalomaniac, there’s a veteran actor out there just waiting to rejuvenate his career as Sinister.

Five Comics Characters Who Could be President

It’s Presidents Day! That may mean very little to those of you outside the United States—and frankly very little to many of you inside the United States—but it’s the day we honor those who have served in our nation’s highest office, situated generally either on George Washington’s birthday or between that and Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. More importantly, I get the day off from work.

Both fictional and legit presidents of the U.S. have a long stories history in comics. Bill Clinton endorsed the (ultimately genocidal) Cyborg Superman while Barack Obama had a Marvel Team-Up with Spider-Man. Captain America famously declined to run for office, while known super villain Lex Luthor got elected in a story my friend TJ swears to me makes total sense.

But what comic book characters would in fact be most qualified and best-suited to run this country? Given my extremely limited knowledge and understanding of politics, I am a terrible person to make this determination, so here are my top five plus honorable mentions.

HONORABLE MENTION: BATMAN
On the plus side, there’s no problem he can’t solve with sufficient prep time. On the downside, he’s a sociopath who lives in a cave.

HONORABLE MENTION: HARDCASE
No real reason other than that as an actor turned super hero, he could basically be Ronald Reagan with invulnerable skin.

5. THE INVISIBLE WOMAN
The spiritual mother of the Marvel Universe could totally be America’s mom as well. She’s already demonstrated her diplomatic skills during Jonathan Hickman’s run writing Fantastic Four, and it’s a safe bet the U.S. could count on Wakanda and particularly Atlantis—though likely not Latveria—for support at those UN meetings. Having the smartest man in the world as first husband doesn’t hurt either.

4. KARATE KID
Of all the people elected leader of the Legion of Super-Heroes over the centuries, Karate Kid is the only one from Earth, and thus under our current rules, the only one who could be President (actually, Invisible Kid may have had a term as well, but I’m still going with Val). If he can manage a team of hormonal intergalactic teenagers with super powers, surely KK can handle guiding this great nation. He’s got statesmanship experience as Princess Projectra’s consort and his zen calm will be a big help; and when it’s not enough, hello, super karate.

3. CANNONBALL
Sam Guthrie is the perfect melting pot of belief systems and influences needed to boldly lead America. He’s got his Kentucky upbringing amongst a huge family with blue collar working class values. He’s got the pacifist teachings of Professor Charles Xavier to bring to bear when serving as a diplomat. He’s got the more militaristic stance of Magneto to keep in mind in matters of defense. And he’s got the pro-active guidance of Cable to serve him as a world leader. Beneath that, he retains his good ol’ boy charm and loves his country—he’s Jimmy Carter with a blast field.

2. LOIS LANE
Despite growing up with a military whackjob father, Lois Lane seems to have emerged with a pretty healthy balance of liberal and conservative values that have served her well in her role as the DC Universe’s top investigative reporter. She’s been around the world and is no doubt familiar with all the foreign policy one would need to be up on as President and from all accounts has endeared herself to a number of prominent heads of state and business along the way—well, the legit ones, not the crooked one her exposes have brought down. She can be charming but doesn’t take crap from anybody and also has a spit-curled demigod sharing the first bedroom with her if anything really goes wrong.

1. WAR MACHINE
James Rhodes is an experienced and decorated military man, but also somebody who has done his tour in the private sector as the one-time head of Stark Industries. He’s had a taste of wealth and runs in the social circle of his best buddy Tony Stark, but also maintains strong ties to the middle and lower class via his upbringing. He’s worked with the government before as leader of the Sentinel Squad and at Camp Hammond, but also shown he’s willing to question authority during his Worldwatch days and recent actions during Norman Osborn’s reign in power. Rhodey’s got intelligence, integrity, the right connections—hello campaign contributions—and the right skill set to be an awesome President at least in the Marvel Universe. Could he sweep the stuff he did his 90’s solo series under the rug and not be the victim of a smear campaign on his way to the top? If Osborn can do it, I’d say yes.

Cannonball: Upward Trajectory

I first encountered Sam Guthrie, aka the once and future member of the X-Men known as Cannonball, in the pages of X-Force circa “The X-Cutioner’s Song.” The paramilitary teen X-team was in the process of being ditched by their mentor figure, Cable, and young Sam had already begun seizing the reins of leadership.

The Cannonball I met back then was a Southern gentleman to be sure, but more he was a self-assured youngster with strong convictions and a chip on his shoulder; he was a nice guy, but not too nice, and that quickly made him one of my favorite characters.

At the time, I had no idea that Sam Guthrie had not always been this way. As I was still a kid and yet to really delve into the dense forest of continuity, I had a passing awareness that Cannonball had been part of a younger, less intense team called the New Mutants at one point and from early issues of X-Force I found at my local store, I gathered his confidence and poise with his own powers was a relatively new developments, but I was certainly more familiar with Fabian Nicieza’s “angry young man” take on Sam than any other.

This is why I was so disappointed when Sam joined the X-Men post-Age of Apocalypse and somehow became this wide-eyed rookie in awe of his teammates and incapable of any real sort of competence. This was not the Sam I knew and loved.

Over the years I’ve gotten to know where Cannonball came from a little better, most significantly via the New Mutants Classics trade collections, and while I still don’t buy that Sam should have been quite such a screw-up during his first run in the big leagues, I get where it came from, and also see how the character’s evolution makes him somewhat unique in the Marvel Universe while also instilling him with a huge amount of potential that writers have only scratched the surface of in the three decades or so that he’s been around.

Chris Claremont’s original take on Cannonball in those first several years of New Mutants is one I look back at and can barely recognize as the hero of my youth. In his early days, Sam Guthrie was an awkward, overeager, clumsy and often downright nerdy country bumpkin who seemed in way over his head as a world-class hero. However, while Sam may have been gawky and not quite oozing cool in those initial appearances, the core characteristics that would make me a fan years later were there from the start: he was a true blue hero whose motivation for doing good came from the most pure and unselfish of places, and despite the fact that he may have been crashing into walls half the time, he was a natural born leader who commander the respect of his peers.

In re-examining the trajectory of Cannonball from wide-eyed New Mutant to almost world-weary X-Force leader and beyond, I realize that Sam Guthrie represents perhaps one of Marvel’s best examples of a character who has actually grown up over the years.

Over in the DC Universe, you can look at Dick Grayson and Wally West in particular as well as the original Teen Titans in general when seeking out examples of one-time youngsters who have grown and changed over the years, but there are fewer examples of that path at Marvel, with Cannonball being among the more pronounced. For those who have followed his entire comic book “life,” they’ve seen Sam Guthrie go from an awkward boy to a teen struggling to prove himself and most recently witnessed him blossoming into adulthood as a responsible soldier who guys like Cyclops put total trust in. Cannonball’s progression has been pronounced yet for the most part natural, and it’s neat to see the seeds that were planted way back when and the fruit they have born.

Dick Grayson and Wally West both grew up and assumed the mantels of their respective mentors; while Sam has yet to become the new Professor X--and likely never will--he has ascended from teen sidekick equivalent to fully-realized adult hero.

Another aspect that makes Cannonball so cool is something that used to get brought up a lot back around that era of X-Force I loved so much: unlike pretty much any other character in the X-Men Universe, Sam is a guy who received the tutelage not only of Professor X and his opposite number in Magneto, but Cable as well, providing him with training and a cumulative knowledge that could perhaps put Scott Summers to shame. There was always something neat to me that Cannonball is a character whose power is fairly pedestrian, but the strategic skills and ability to lead instilled in him by the most impressive and diverse collection of teachers any Marvel mutant could accumulate distinguish him. Again, there is so much potential in exploring a protagonist who has been exposed to three incredibly differing philosophies and perhaps is the only person able to balance them into the best possible course.

I really dig what Zeb Wells is currently doing with Cannonball in the current New Mutants series, highlighting him as, again, somebody Cyclops really sees the worth and value in as he works to safeguard the mutant race--and as a possible heir--while also showing he’s a strong leader who is not without imperfection. Surrounding him with his old friends adds an element I also enjoy as while Sam may be a soldier and a hero, there’s certainly a human element you never want to ignore.

I do still think there is much ground to be mined when it comes to Cannonball, not just in a team setting, but maybe as a headliner in his own limited or ongoing series. Really dig deep into the stuff I’ve written about here in regards to his evolution as well as his stance on his various teachers and I think you’ve got a strong foundation for something that could really take off (pun intended).