EmmaFrostFiles.com

In CBR’s latest X-position, the site interviewed Mike Carey and Daniel Way. There has been controversy regarding X-Men Legacy #216 - some fans believe Emma was being hypocritical or too judgmental, while others believed she was the right person to talk to Xavier like that.

My question concerns Professor X and the direction of “X-Men: Legacy.” For awhile now, Marvel writers have put a great amount of effort into making Cyclops the leader of the X-Men, and it seems to me they’ve thoroughly desecrated Professor X in the process.

I’ve always been a big fan of the Professor, and I am a huge fan of the current X-writers, but for the life of me I cannot see how anything that has been done to the character in these last few years has benefited him. The current franchise seems dedicated to demonstrating how he’s been a secret bastard for the entirety of the franchise. Now he’s an outcast and everyone hates him, most especially Cyclops (their father-son bond was always one of my favorite things about the X-Men).

And the last issue was spent with Emma Frost — who was a villain worse than Xavier on his worst day — talking down to him. As someone who loves the character (and is a fan of the current writers), I honestly want to know what hope there is for the character — the real Xavier, the wise and benevolent (but not perfect) visionary?

MC: I’m really sorry you saw “Walkthrough” in that light, Sean — it’s certainly not how I see the story. Emma’s goal in going into Professor X’s mind is to make sure he’s free of Sinister’s influence. Being Emma, and therefore having a certain arrogance and sense of entitlement (traits which the Professor has also shown in his time), she pauses while she’s there to pass comment on his past actions. But in passing comment, she doesn’t pass judgment.

As she explicitly says, there’s no point: everyone’s past includes mistakes and false steps, and every action has both intended and unintended consequences, so that even some of the things that Xavier is now regretting having done may, on balance, have had positive effects. Yes, there’s a certain irony in having it be Emma who says these things to the Professor, but that was one reason for having Emma be the one to do it: you read what’s said in the light of her past as well as his.

I love Professor X, too. One of my main goals in writing “Legacy” is to draw a through-line, taking in all his good and bad decisions and making them all sit within a realistic portrayal of his character. And I still see him as both wise and visionary, but I also endorse what Cyclops says about how idealists can do very questionable things in the pursuit of their ideals. Having a vision isn’t the same as having a hotline to the ultimate truth, and even if you see the shining city on the top of the hill, you don’t necessarily see a route map.

The bottom line is that I am bringing Professor X back in from the cold, but I’m doing it in a way that doesn’t deny any of the character beats already defined for him.

DW: If I could jump in, Professor X — though he is a visionary — has also always been the kind of man that goes out and makes that vision happen. And, in doing so, he has gotten his hands dirty. To me, that makes him a very real character.

Resident fan ExodusCloak had a similar question as well!

First, I just wanted to say that I adore your work, but there seems to be a rift over fans in the internet regarding “X-Men” Legacy” #216 and we were wondering if you could sort it out. Some users felt that Emma Frost came across as a hypocrite when she lectured/guided Xavier about ethics; others don’t. What was your real intention? And what was Emma’s point?

MC: See previous answer, EC. I don’t think you can call Emma a hypocrite because she’s not taking the moral high ground. If anything, she’s arguing a position that you could call relativist. For example, she points out hat even though on a personal level she’s furious at Professor X for lying to and hurting Scott, she’s well aware that the end result of what Xavier did may have been better for Scott than the alternative. If anything, I think what she’s saying to Xavier is that this entire agonizing process of self-examination is a waste of effort.

He’s not God, and therefore he can’t expect to have been perfect and faultless in everything he did. He’s going to find sins and virtues — good and bad — the same way any other human being would, and at the end of the day he’s just going to have to learn from his mistakes and move on. There’s no tribunal outside of his own mind that will ever convict or acquit him. And yeah, it’s a reformed villain who’s saying this — which for my money doesn’t make her a hypocrite but an informed expert.

I think Mike Carey made a good point, and he explained Emma’s intentions quite well (props to ExodusCloak for similar theory before Mike Carey stated his opinion). I agree Emma was not being a hypocrite in X-Men: Legacy #216, although, I’ll still reserve judgment in this…cause I don’t know. I’m just not sure yet.

Regarding Xavier’s “new, dark character,” are anti-heroic characters now considered “realistic”? While not everyone does what is right, there are still good people out there. Part of the reason I love Emma is because she’s basically the grey in a morally black and white world. Now that several character seem to be getting this “greyness” to them does not make Emma seem so special anymore.

The source: CBR’s X-Position: Mike Carey and Daniel Way

4 Comments to “Is X-Men: Legacy #216 now justified?”

Leave a Reply