Character stock in the last decade: Up or Down?

[Toadman005]

Simple enough game.....which characters have improved in quality in the last 10 years (roughly) and which have degenerated or just plain suck now? Also, you can mention great support characters or new characters as you do this...

In my ever so humble but always RIGHT opinion...

Stock up:
1.) Emma Frost - around 10 years ago she was just becoming relevant as an X-heroine, working with/mentoring Generation X. In the last decade she's become the wet dream of (straight) fanboys everywhere, and has been featured in every single title, and taken Jean Grey's spot as the "token" X-girl, and Cyclops estranged mistress. Plus, she got a boob job, a nose job, and Valtrex.
2.) Deadpool- while Deadpool was always sort of a bad ass (understatement) and a fan favorite, he's argueable the most liked character by everyone across the board in the X-U, He's also been carrying the Cable and Deadpool title alone for a few months. He's hilarious, lethal, and self-aware. Whats not to love? I'd say he also rhemed Sabretooth recently, but then, who hasn't?
3.) Iceman- come on! A decade ago he was a joke, the token wimpy underachiever who made ice sleds, and got kicked in the background of group melee shots. Now, he's one of the most powerful X-men, he's gotten more female tail in the last 10 years than anyone other than Cyclops, and I suspect even some male tail, as well (Cannonball anyone?). He's reconciled with his father, as well. Plus, his wardrome has changed numerous times...I mean, the Luau shirt, worn into battle? How cool is that (not very, but still, Icemans had a good couple of years)

Stock Down:
1.) Gambit- remember when Gambit was cool? If you're under 13 you don't...lets just say, a decade ago, he was probably the most marketable X-man after Wolverine. He kicked as much ass too, if not more. In the last decade, he's lost his vision, his appearance, his powers, and I suspect even his manhood, at some point. I think he throws more whines now, than cards. I think of every character possible, his stock has plummeted faster than a turd out of teh Blob's fat @$$. (a pity, too)
2.) Jean Grey- Well, what else can you say when, within 10 years you lose your husband (he dies) only to re-lose your husband (to another, hotter, blonde woman), and then you lose your life? Again? The only thing worse would be not being used...or having your character used VERY poorly, and pointlessly, in a third X-men film. Yeah...
3.) Wolverine - 10 years ago, he was still somewhat cool, mysterious, and simply 'Logan'. A Decade later, and he's grown a foot, de-aged 25 years, become a wimp, despit his healing factor becoming Godlike, he has a lame name (Howlett, are you kidding me?), and has been on every X-team, and every other team for that matter (Avengers, The Justice League of America, etc) I miss stoic, samurai bad ass WOlverine....not leather jacket wearing Gap Wolverine.

Best new character of the last 10 years:
SQUIDBOY
Worst new character:
X23 or Xorn

Most inconsistent:
Charles Xavier
Most consistently bad ass:
Havok

[Diablito]

Double post I guesss?

[The Multiple Demon]

No Madrox? I am shocked, he's gone from a background character, to being written by PAD to dying of Ai.....the Legacy Virus, to not really dying from the Legacy, to being in the background through X-Corps and whatnot, to MadroX and X-Factor, and beyond!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Buy, Buy, Buy Madrox! His buisness is expanding if we can believe that pregnancy test!!!

[Diablito]

Stock Up
Emma Frost- throwaway villain/occasional ally became popular X-Character, important X-Member, and Head Misstress of the Institute. Plus, total writer fave.
Cyclops- long-time bore gets some balls. Becomes undisputed X-Leader, Headmaster, and Main man of crossover. Total character renewal.


Stock Down
Professor X- undisputed leader becomes throw-away dick.
Any X-Man that died- and there are a ton. Caliban, Banshee, and more.


Best New X-Characters of the Last 10 Years
Armor, New X-Men, Squidboy, Children of the Vault, Omega Sentinel.


Worst New Characters of the last 10 Years
X-Corporation characters, Vulcan, Xorn.

[podmark]

I loved Xorn...until he turned out to be not Magneto. God that retcon was almost as bad as the Spidey one, maybe worse.

Unless you're talking about the other Xorn, he was lame.

[Omega Alpha]

Stock Up:
Emma Frost- She was irrelevant to the franchise and a C-lister but moved on to become an important X-man.
Cyclops- He was wallpaper in the 90's, now he's the definitive leader and central character of the X-men
Beast- Wallpaper in the 90's to one of the most important figures of the team, so much that's very hard to imagine the team working without him now.
Madrox- PAD made him a character almost universally loved, which is rare.

Stock down:
Gambit- He was one of the most popular characters of the 90's, managed to had his own solo, but now can't even be on a team. He became too associated with the 90's, I'm afraid.
Psylocke- Very popular in the early to mid 90's, but was mostly in Limbo from around Onslaught to 2000, and then Claremont, by having her dying, made her a focal character on an unpopular run, and then took her away to books with few readers, took the A-list status from her.
Apocalypse- How come no one mentioned him yet? 10 years ago, he was the cool villain of X-factor and AoA, now he's a mess that most fans hate.
Xavier- Lost all relevance he had, and passed from the X-daddy figure to someone who is mistrusted by most.


Best new characters (not necessarily in order):
Layla Miller, Karima, Lady Mastermind, several of the New X-men

[Wild Card13]

Stock Up:

Rogue: She was a pretty good character throughout the 90s, but Carey's run alone has catapulted her to superstardom. And that's what's happened while she's been comatose. Imagine what things would have been like were she conscious.

Emma Frost: It's come to the point where I can't easily imagine her not with the X-Men. Morrison did a great job of cementing her into the lineup, a notion carried on strongly by Whedon and everyone else that came after.

Cyclops: As someone earlier said, the boy scout finally grew a pair and stepped into his big boy boots. Over the course of one crossover he's become the true head honcho of the X-Men, a status I really don't mind him at. That, and I absolutely love the Emma/Scott pairing.

Madrox: I grew up in the 90s, and so I had absolutely no idea who he was. And when I first found out, I dismissed him for his lame power. PAD made him rise to become one of my absolute favorites of the X-Verse since then.

Stock Down:

Gambit: My favorite X-Man ever has, until recently, been a joke. He lost his aim and his coolness, and in doing so lost his point. What he needs more than anything right now is to be separated from Rogue for a good long while so he can re-establish himself as a character. Maybe he should spend some time in the main Marvel universe.

Apocalypse: I never particularly liked him, but I couldn't deny his badass factor. Fast forward to now, and he's probably the biggest joke of all X-villains. How is it that En Sabah Nur, the legendary First Mutant, could be played for such a chump EVERY TIME?

Colossus: I didn't like his death very much, but it's better than what we've got now. Writers have no idea of what to do with him except use him as their token brick when Warpath's committed. Even Whedon's admitted that he doesn't always know what to do with ol' Piotr.

Jean Grey: Pairing Emma with Scott made me realize how much I actually disliked Jean, but just accepted her presence because that's how it had always been. It doesn't help that her constant deaths and resurrections are the biggest running gag in X-books.

Best New X-Characters of the Last 10 Years:
Layla Miller, Karima Shapandar, Bob Agent of HYDRA (Deadpool's close enough), New X-Men, X-23

Worst New X-Characters of the Last 10 Years:
Cassandra Nova, Vulcan, Xorn, Xorneto

[The Multiple Demon]

Madrox: I grew up in the 90s, and so I had absolutely no idea who he was. And when I first found out, I dismissed him for his lame power. PAD made him rise to become one of my absolute favorites of the X-Verse since then.

Dissed him for his lame power?!!??!!? Egads man he has like the most useful power ever..............wait I take that back, when written by PAD he has the most useful power ever, when written in the 90's by other people he's cannon fodder.

[Canemacar]

Stock Up

Emma Frost: Easily the biggest jump in character stock. She went from being a supporting character in a fringe X-book to queen bee of the X-franchise, taking Jean's place as Cyke's wife and headmistress of the Institute.

Madrox: For the majority of his existence, he's been an afterthought in the X-franchise until PAD got a hold of him and made him one of the biggest up and comers in recent memory. Even five years ago he wouldn't have gotten the role he did in the films.

Iceman: Bobby's usually been a second-stringer, but has stepped up lately: he's very promenant in Ultimate X-men, the movies, all recent X-men related video games, and the core books now.

Stock Down

Gambit: A waste of ink.

Wolverine: Joe Q cashed in everything cool about Logan. It's only a matter of time until Wolvie simply can't sell as much as he used to and he'll be forgotten.

Psylocke: Was popular in the 90's for cheesecake, but people moved on and now she's B-list at best.

Prof X: Went from the figurehead of the X-men to an old man being pushed aside by his surrogate son.

[Slung]

This may be the most depressing thread I've ever read. Jean Grey, Prof X, Wolverine going "down." Sad.

[claimtosubclaim]

This may be the most depressing thread I've ever read. Jean Grey, Prof X, Wolverine going "down." Sad.

*I hope the X-office finds a great way to bring Jean back some day.
*Xavier's stock is probably going to go up after Legacy, if we're to believe that he's trying to repair mistakes made in the past to preserve the future.
*Logan is a great supporting character in the X-books. I don't even mind him staying with the New Avengers, though it makes no sense that he'd have time to chill with them when the X-Universe is crashing down. But his solo titles are subpar. And because of the solo titles, he can't ever have any sort of character arc in the team books, which makes him stagnant. If Wolverine and Origins were cancelled, or at least Origins, his stock might go up a tad bit.

[Dizzy D]

I don't agree with Xavier's stock going down actually, because we are comparing it to the last decade, which had Xavier repeatedly sidelined: killed by Legion, arrested after Onslaught, depowered, kidnapped by Bastion, off into space with Skrulls. At least this decade when they sent him off into space, the story followed him. And with Excalibur they tried to put a focus on him.

And dickish behaviour from Xavier goes way, way back.

Wolverine's stock? His solo-titles right now aren't great, but a decade ago it really wasn't any better (noseless Wolverine, anyone? Erik Larsen's run? Wolverine from the last dozen issues or so is really a Skrull.)

Short opinions (X-Men only, cause I got a wedding to go to. Basing my stock opinion on writers' willingness to actually do something with the characters for good or for worse.)

Professor X: About stable, with some peaks (Morrison, Excalibur) and a possible upwards swing in the future.

Cyclops: Up, up, up. Gets lots of time in Astonishing, some new developments and all vs. mostly used to point at the enemy and attack in the 90s.

Iceman: Up, but really not that much. The 90s had Lobdell trying to expand his powers and he also had a bit of a subplot with his father and Graydon Creed.

Archangel: Down, down, down: Not even an X-Man these days. He did have a bit of an upswing with being part of WWH as one of the Renegades, but even there his role wasn't that big.

Beast: Up for now: Endangered species and his (not so new by now) look got some development out of it. Still not that much up.

Phoenix: Down, dead with no immediate return in sight.

Mimic: About stable for the actual Mimic (hardly used a decade ago, hardly used now). If we count Exiles Mimic, his stock skyrocketed compared to where it used to be, but he has not been in Exiles for quite some time now.

Changeling: If we're counting Morph: Up, Up, Up to incredible heights compared to where it was a decade ago.

Polaris: Up, her 90s were mostly her being sidelined to small parts in X-factor. Now her Magneto connection keeps getting played up.

Magneto: ... tough one. I would say about stable: long periods of inactivity, short periods of extreme activity, periods of activity who are then retconned to be different characters.

Havok: A bit down considering that Mutant X was basically *the* Havok title. Overall, he was down a bit lately, but with Emperor Vulcan, there is a new angle to him, just waiting if it's going to be used that much.

Nightcrawler: Down, leader in Excalibur to character in X-Men who just doesn't get used that much lately. Even a solo-series didn't help his stock much.

Wolverine: About stable; solo-series are selling well, on the most popular teams. Insane amount of limited series are down, but a second ongoing evens out.

Banshee: Down, down, down. From major character in Generation X to dead.

Storm: Tough one. Sidelined out of the X-books, but her marriage to the Black Panther gave her a boost, where in the 90s she just wasn't doing that much at all.

Sunfire: Another tough one. He's used more lately vs. hardly at all in the 90s, but he is mostly one of many villains and could easily be replaced with another random villain in these stories.

Colossus: 90s mostly had him burying his family members one after another, this decade had his death and rebirth... with not that much follow-up really. About stable I would say.

Thunderbird: Stable, though if we count his Exiles counterpart a decent surge in stock lately.

Shadowcat: Up, even though she got a decent amount of attention in Excalibur, this decade she has received so much attention in Mekanix and Astonishing. And if we count Exiles, there is even a second version of her around right now.

Rogue: Up, even comatose now, Carey still took her out of the Gambit/Rogue pit.

Marvel Girl: Stable with a brief surge up recently, but she may be sidelined again.

Psylocke: Oh god, this is such a mess. If you like the Claremont version then up, I guess vs. just one of many in the X-Men during the 90s and not even on the team for a bit of it. Still I liked what Kelly did with her.

Dazzler: Up, up, up. She was actually used this decade vs. limbo in the Mojoverse.

Longshot: Also up, but not that much. His stint on Exiles hardly used him.

Forge: Down, but not that much. He was a main part of X-factor vs. now used when plot makes it necessary, but even in X-Factor he never did that much. I heard of an upcoming limited though, so his chances are improving.

Jubilee: Eh, depends how this Wondra thing is going to work out. She is a main character now, but she also was a main character in the 90s in Generation X. Overall Down, I would say.

Gambit: Down: a well-selling solo-series in the 90s and one of the main X-Men that received writer's attention.

Bishop: Down, a decade ago he had several solo-series following one another and a safe spot on the X-Men. District/Mutopia gave him a bit of a boost, but not that much and he has almost disappeared from the main books except as an antagonist.

Cannonball: A bit up, but as the new X-Man, he got a decent amount of attention last decade and he was a stable part of X-Force for most of the series. Carey gives him a bit of a boost though.

Cecilia Reyes: Limbo, down.

Marrow: Down, down, down. She was all over the place in the 90s and had a bit role in X-Factor recently.

Maggott: dead and down.

X-Man: dead and down.

Cable: Up due to Messiah Complex. Overall he had a fairly stable presence during the 90s and this decade with Robinson, Casey, Weinberg, Soldier X, Cable and Deadpool etc. He isn't back at his early 90s popularity yet though.

Sage: Up, as Tessa she appeared about once a year in a supporting role. Now she has received lots of attention.

Moonstar: New Mutants/Academy X gave her a boost, but then she was kicked from the book. A decade ago, she still had some role in X-Force, even though it wasn't that big. Down.

White Queen: Up, up, up. A decent amount of attention during Generation X vs. lots of attention these days.

Chamber: Decent amount of attention during Generation X vs more attention recently, but that attention has been all over the place (X-Men, solo, Weapon X, Excalibur and New Warriors). I would say a bit up overall.

Northstar: At the moment down, but a few years ago it was way up as Alpha Flight all but disappeared during the 90s and during the Seagle revival Northstar didn't really have a large part.

Husk: Down right now with her disappearance from the X-books.

Juggernaut: About stable right now with him leaving Excalibur. He had a lot of attention during Austen's run though. A decade ago he was an often appearing villain with a short stint as a hero in Exiles.

Mystique: Right now, she's up. A solo-series this decade and one of the main characters in Messiah Complex. She has always been a presence on the books in the past two decades though, so she isn't that much up.

Warpath: Up, his promotion to the X-Men gives him a decent boost. He was well-used in JFM's X-force though.

Sabretooth: Down. Sabretooth was big in the 90s. He's still appearing all over the place now and had limiteds in both decades, but two words: Sabretooth Classics.

Hepzibah: Up: supporting character whenever the Starjammers showed up to actually being on the X-Men.

Caliban: A bit down, presence on X-Force (even though I hated his characterisation there) a decade ago.

[MarvelGirlBoy]

Karma, Husk and Northstar: Stock down. The strip poker in the X-Mansion's laundry room has gotten a little awkward ever since Northstar revealed his thong and Husk actually removed a layer of skin.

Mystique: Stock Up by quite a bit. SeXed up by Rebecca Romijn. The bitch is back. Even had a bit of boytoying with two of the X-Males' hottest exports.

Exodus: Stock very down. In the 90s he took down Jean Grey, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch - a trio whose combined powers according to this decade makes him God. This decade he had a go at alphabetising the Brotherhood by leading an elephant and an ent into the X-Mansion, got sucked into a lame character's head, and has now discovered his weakness is Nightcrawler.

Rachel Grey: Stock quite up from limbo with appearances as a major figure in the main X-Men team, but analysts predict a major fall grown from the name change and personality transplant.

Emma Frost: Big UP. And bigger tits, apparently.

Psylocke: Stock CRASH.

[Wild Card13]

Dissed him for his lame power?!!??!!? Egads man he has like the most useful power ever..............wait I take that back, when written by PAD he has the most useful power ever, when written in the 90's by other people he's cannon fodder.

Precisely. PAD had to change my thinking around.

[ExodusCloak]

Emma Frost: As stated before probably the greatest increase in stock. In Gen X she barely interacted with the X-Men and then was sent to live in Genosha in limbo. After Morrisons run her stock just keeps on rising.

Cyclops: Like Tony Stark we have exhibited a great increase in Cyclops's stock and it seems like we'll see even more of this in the future thanks to solicits.

Monet St. Croix: A fairly significant increase in stock when you compare it to her Gen X days.

Madrox: He's quite the adored character and seems to have seen a vast increase in his stock since X-factor.

Iceman: Carey seems to have increased his stock quite a bit as well as Cannonballs.

Rogue: Comatose or not IMO I think we've seen a vast improvement from the Blood of Apocalypse fiasco and CC's X-treme days.

Apocalypse: Liquidation.



Exodus: Stock very down. In the 90s he took down Jean Grey, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch - a trio whose combined powers according to this decade makes him God. This decade he had a go at alphabetising the Brotherhood by leading an elephant and an ent into the X-Mansion, got sucked into a lame character's head, and has now discovered his weakness is Nightcrawler.

Psylocke: Stock CRASH.


Phoenix: Down, dead with no immediate return in sight.


I agree with these as well.

I can't seem to place Magneto, Xavier or Storm. It goes up and down.

[GeneralSpecific]

Storm's been doing quite well recently. Being part of the wider Marvel U (being in The Fantastic Four, being with BP) has helped her, and she's gone up, just not as part of the X-Men.

[Ann Nichols]

<snip>

Worst New Characters of the last 10 Years
X-Corporation characters, Vulcan, Xorn.

I agree with you about Vulcan and Xorn (after Marvel pulled those witless retcons about him), but what new X-Corporation characters? I thought the X-Corp employed previously created characters: Cannonball, Darkstar, Domino, Feral, Lifeguard, Monet, Multiple Man, Quicksilver, Rictor, Risque, Sabra, Siryn, Sunfire, Thornn, Thunderbird III, & Warpath -- to name the employees I was able to look up from memory.

Or did you mean Banshee's X-Corps?

I didn't come back to the X-Men until June 2003 and I don't have all the issues from 1997 - May 2003, so I'm sitting this one out.

BTW, I'm 40 years over 13 and Gambit was created during the 23 years I wasn't buying and reading X-titles. In fact, "X-Men" v.1 was still the only X-title when I dropped it.

[Dizzy D]

Karma: About stable: ten years ago barely seen in the books, currently barely seen in the books. Slight boost around Mekanix/New Mutants III

Cypher: Down, ten years ago you at least had the is he or isn't he with Douglock.

Warlock: Down, nowhere to be seen despite a Phalanx presence in Conquest (maybe in Nova soon though?), Warlock himself hasn't showed up. (Probably to avoid confusion the other Warlock who has shown up). Ten years ago he even had his own (short-lived) solo.

Magma: About stable. Hardly appearing ten years ago, hardly appearing now. Short boost near the end of X-treme/Early Academy X

Wolfsbane: Bit of a boost with X-Factor/X-Force. Ten years ago her presence in Excalibur wasn't that big.

Sunspot: Down, ten years ago he was a solid presence in X-Force, now he is in semi-limbo.

Magik: Up again with both Exiles Illyana giving a bit of a boost, House of M Illyana and recently in New X-Men.

Bird-Brain, Gosamyr, Rusty Collins: Next.

Skids: About stable: occassional appearance ten years ago, occassional appearance now.

Rictor: Up. Though depowered, while he was largely filler in X-Force, in X-Factor he has subplots and characterisation.

Boom Boom: Down again, though with Nextwave rather recently she was up again.

Artie: Down

Leech: Down

Copycat: Down being dead with no return in sight.

Shatterstar: Down, down, down, even though he had a mini not so long ago.

Feral: Down, but not that much as ten years ago she was already being booted off X-Force.

Siryn: A bit up, decent amount of attention in X-Factor vs. decent amount of attention in X-Force and Deadpool.

Domino: Down again, though for some reason she had a solo earlier this decade.

Bedlam: So far down it isn't funny.

Pete Wisdom: Up, up, up. Solo-mini, spot on Excalibur and one of the few "sure" bets for Cornell's Excalibur.

Val Cooper: Down, she was a solid supporting character in X-Factor and now occassionally appears when Bishop needs some support when arguing with the other X-Men or Gyrich would be too unreasonable.

Strong Guy: Up, but not by much. His role in X-Factor has been mostly small, but ten years ago he was almost nowhere, except for one "comedic" oneshot.

Quicksilver: Tough one. He has received a lot of attention recently (though positive or negative is up to you), but ten years ago he had a solo.

Wild Child: Down, solid Alpha Flight/late X-Factor presence vs. not even around.

Shard: Even downer, dead with no immediate hope for return.

Random: Up, he's one of the recurring "villains" in Carey's X-Men vs. slowly fading out of X-Factor ten years ago.

Greystone, Fixx, Archer: Down. Apparently gone with no immediate return in sight.

Captain Britain: Down, but not by much. 90s Excalibur and Sword of Power was all about Brian, recent Excalibur and Die By the Sword had him in it, but apparently not doing that much.

Meggan: Down, down, down. Disappeared vs. solid Excalibur member.

Lockheed : Up again. Usually forgotten Excalibur member vs. usually forgotten Astonishing X-Men member with a subplot.

Widget: Down, completely forgotten.

Kylun: Down AFAIK unless he has recent appearances in a title I didn't read.

Cerise: Down, a short appearance in Ronan didn't help her that much. But ten years ago she was phased out of Excalibur for a more mutant focused Excalibur.

Micromax: Oddly enough, slightly up he's been used a bit lately here and there as random superhero to appear.

Feron: Down, was being phased out ten years ago and has hardly appeared since. Even a magic focused mini like Arcana didn't mention him.

Moira MacTaggert: Down, down, down. Dead with no return in sight vs. strong supporting cast member in X-Men and Excalibur.

Daytripper: Down, short stiny as Magik gave her a boost, but recent Arcana seemed to favour her mother over her and with Illyana returning her time as Magik is up.

Douglock: See Warlock/Cypher.

Skin, Synch: Down and dead.

M: Up. She was heavily featured in early Generation X, but problems with her origin dipped her stock quite a bit. She gets good attention in X-Factor. Now bring back Emplate.

Penance: Bit of attention in the Loners recently, so about even I guess. In Generation X mostly background decoration after her first appearance. Having another Penance around doesn't help.

Mondo: Down and it's a shame. He already was low ten years ago.

Gaia: See Mondo and add worse to it. Mondo at least comes from a period in GenX which was generally well-remembered.


Other characters:
Risque: down, see Mondo basically. Never that heavily featured but completely ignored recently. Sorry, Faded.

Empath: about stable. See Skids: appearing whenever they need him which is few and far between in both this and last decennium.

Darkstar: Down, at least a decade ago she was still alive, occasionally appearing.

Sabra: Way down. Ten years ago she was heavily featured in Zero Tolerance and the whole Joseph/Magneto subplot. Now she has a guest appearance here and there.