What if.....

[Ogrebear]

So thinking about alternative histories got me wondering about some X-Men What If's we have not seen in print yet. So in an attempt to try and fill the gap I have to ask:

What If... the X-Men really had died in Dallas?

A Fall of the Mutants Crossover

The X-Men allow Forge to use their souls to seal away the Adversary forever, all while live on national TV. Storm, Wolverine, Havok, Rogue, Longshot, Psylocke, Dazzler, Colossus, and Shadowcat are all dead... and stay dead.

Meanwhile the New Mutants go up against the Ani-Mator and Cypher ends up dead. After they get back to the mansion they end up fighting with their headmaster Magneto and split form his care, getting new costumes and attitudes in the wake of the Dallas disaster

Finally in NYC X-Factor is fighting Apocalypse and his horseman- inculding Waren Worthington as Death. They drive off Apocalypse by tricking Death into changing sides but there is much damage to the City; even so they end up as Heroes, getting a ticker tape parade. Scott and Jean seem to have resparked their relationship and Beast has bared his soul to reporter Trish Tilby.

Now the fallout from Fall probably would be the same (formation of Excalibur, darkening of Magik, Scott going to find Nathen, Archangel becoming a good guy etc, but what happens long term if the X-Men stay dead?

How does the removal of the the 9 X-Men affect Inferno? or the many other stories that came later?

Details of Fall of the Mutants here (http://www.uncannyxmen.net/db/crossover/showquestion.asp?fldAuto=217) or here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fall_of_the_Mutants)

[Ogrebear]

I guess no one out there likes What if's and/or the Fall of the Mutants storyline then!

[The Lucky One]

Well, on the plus side, if the X-Men had stayed dead, the tide of positive feelings about them that came about after FotM might have stuck around longer... the world actually DID view them as heroes after seeing them die on TV and for a brief time, mutants (or at least the X-Men) became more accepted. So that might have lasted longer. X-Factor would probably have gotten around to becoming the X-Men themselves again in the long run, possibly grooming some of the X-Terminators and New Mutants to join the team.

On the negative side, the world probably would've been destroyed a couple of times over if they'd stayed dead. So you gotta weigh that in there, I guess.

-D

[THANOS/WOLVERINE]

Inferno would have never happened because Madelyne Pryor would have died in Fall of the Mutants. No Goblin Queen either.

[Anodyne]

Inferno would have never happened because Madelyne Pryor would have died in Fall of the Mutants. No Goblin Queen either.
So instead of having her good name trashed, Madelyne would be remembered as one of a group of heroes who gave their lives to save the world. A better fate, IMHO, than the one she suffered.

@Ogrebear: Kitty wasn't in Dallas. She and Kurt were at Muir Island recuperating from their injuries. Maddie was needed as part of the sacrifice because there were only 8 X-Men, and Forge's spell required 9 souls. BTW, that means that Maddie must have *had* a soul to give.

[rilokyle]

I suppose the Muir Island X-Men would assemble sooner, like they did after Uncanny 251 when the Australian squad separated and went through the Siege Perilous. But poor Jubilee wouldn't have met the X-Men, and neither would have Gambit. And Lorna would still be bonded to Malice. Thank Goodness the X-Men survived! :)

[Dizzy D]

- Even without Madelyne parts of Inferno would still take place. There would still be that planetary allignment that Necrodamus would try to abuse and S'ym and N'Astirh would still rebel against Illyana (and without a Colossus to summon, Illyana's spell to resurrect him might have either worked and cost her soul or didn't work and Illyana would get either killed or be forced to flee Limbo. N'Astirh would probably now focus on either Rachel or Jean as his tool of revenge.

[Ogrebear]

So instead of having her good name trashed, Madelyne would be remembered as one of a group of heroes who gave their lives to save the world. A better fate, IMHO, than the one she suffered.

@Ogrebear: Kitty wasn't in Dallas. She and Kurt were at Muir Island recuperating from their injuries. Maddie was needed as part of the sacrifice because there were only 8 X-Men, and Forge's spell required 9 souls. BTW, that means that Maddie must have *had* a soul to give.

I didn't realise Maddie was there- I was going from an X-Men team list rather than the pics in the issue! Obviously Kate was not there otherwise she could not have founded Excalibur! D'oh! on my part.

So the 9 in this pic then are: Storm, Wolverine, Havok, Rogue, Longshot, Psylocke, Dazzler, Colossus, and Madelyne Pyror?
http://www.uncannyxmen.net/images/spotlight/forge08.jpg

So where did Freedom Force goto? They where there and didn't Destiny say everyone in that building would die? How did they skip the Reaper?
What sort of fallout would there have been for the govt's enforcers?

Indeed what sorta fallout for Forge? He would not have been exactly welcome back at the Mansion!

[The Lucky One]

So where did Freedom Force goto? They where there and didn't Destiny say everyone in that building would die? How did they skip the Reaper?

Wolverine made them stay out. When the X-Men went to confront the Adversary, he told Mystique that someone needed to remain behind just in case things went wrong, and that Freedom Force had the government and public credibility the X-Men couldn't match. So FF stayed behind and safeguarded the people outside Forge's tower.

-D