Illyana "Magik" Rasputin Appreciation

[sunofdarkchild]

What we know for sure is that she was in an intense fight, most likely by herself, as she appeared by herselfm, against what was probably a small army, was engaged in close quarter combat and long range combat as she was beaten and shot, and that something got destroyed and was transported with her in pieces. I would guess that whatever she was fighting was being led by a magic user, otherwise she wouldn't have been fighting by herself. She did have a modern x-uniform, so she could have already been on a team, but I don't think she'd teleport away without her teammates. This may be what leads her to reform the New Mutants.

I still think its impressive that she held her sword with an arm that had three arrows in it.

BTW. I may kill someone at marvel if it turns out that Pixie is the one who did that. Not a chance, but Pixie will always hate Illyana. There may be a lot of fights between them, but Pixie is incable of EVER beating Magik. In the Pixie parade there are lines Marvel must not cross.

[sunofdarkchild]

Has the Shadow King been used recently? Is he still alive? He has ample reason to kill Illyana again.

[NielsVanEekelen]

Possibly--I'm theorizing, anyway--Illyana will restore Pixie's soul at the conclusion of X-Infernus, as part of her own redemption.

The Shadow King's in the Worlds Apart mini.

[sunofdarkchild]

Of course she will, but the enmity between them won't end that easily, at least not realistically.

[MuhollandDriver]

Actually....i'd prefer Illyana aged.

Then again....she is timeless :)

It seems this team will get young adult plots..she deserves the same...i don't want her to be like Molly from Runaways...the brat of the team.

[sunofdarkchild]

Look at that picture of her, costume torn, all battered and bruised, three arrows in her shoulder, and she still gets back up for more. Look at that picture and call her a brat.

Actually, in the original series Rahne and Roberto were very much the brats of the team. Roberto might be again.

[The Black Guardian]

Actually....i'd prefer Illyana aged.

Then again....she is timeless :)

It seems this team will get young adult plots..she deserves the same...i don't want her to be like Molly from Runaways...the brat of the team.

Agreed.

Look at that picture of her, costume torn, all battered and bruised, three arrows in her shoulder, and she still gets back up for more. Look at that picture and call her a brat.

Actually, in the original series Rahne and Roberto were very much the brats of the team. Roberto might be again.

I very much hope not. These are supposed to be adults, after all. I can take Berto getting a chip on his shoulder now and then, but no whiny crap, from any of them, please!

[darkclaw]

Agreed. Anyone have other ideas of who that villain might be?

Selene, the Demon Bear and Magus are tied up in X-Force plotlines.
The demonic contingent from Limbo (though I wouldn't complain about their continued use) are featured in X-Infernus.
Pierce has just been in the rather unsuccesful Young X-Men a lot.
Emma Frost and the Hellions were the New Mutants' real arch-nemeses, but that hardly seems likely either.

Legion?

Or do we know anyone who could've shot Illyana with arrows?

I agree it looks like the arrow shooter may be Dani, quick to judge (and, if so, forgetting her own past acting as a double-agent and plant within the MLF...talk about TRUST issues!

My truest hope is that they come up with some original villains for them to combat, something truly worthy of this group, while not giving in to the fact that they started out as "X-Men, Jr." (or, as Kitty put it in the old days, "X-Babies"). These are complex people who became adults mentally long before they did physically. Even with the whole "few mutants left in the world" scenario, don't rule out the viability of a revival of the Hellions. Several members of that team remain unaccounted for or (again, this a better possibility given the current teams on the X-Books) is that these will be new or little used villains and they will simply ape the Hellions name.

These are mutants who, in their youth, took on forces from Asgard that regularly give Thor trouble and won (speaking of which, does anyone know the status of Dani's Valkyrie power?) I pray they don't sick folks like the Ani-Mater (read: 2nd rate High Evolutionary) on them. Legion would be cool, if they play their cards right and let him age, too. It would be interesting to see how bad Jack Wayne might have become after all this time!

[darkclaw]

This help?

Now you are obligated to post a scan of your commission if you get it, of course.

NATURALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By the fact that I am asking, you can guess my vote for the ostumes, variations of the graduation outfits while, I agree, finding a way to blend them so it's obvious they are a team. The ORIGINAL X-Factor did so quite successfully.

[NielsVanEekelen]

It seems this team will get young adult plots..she deserves the same...i don't want her to be like Molly from Runaways...the brat of the team.

She was still fifteen, sixteen when Inferno took place, so she certainly wouldn't be Molly. She'd be old enough to keep up with the rest, certainly after everything she's been through.

I agree it looks like the arrow shooter may be Dani, quick to judge (and, if so, forgetting her own past acting as a double-agent and plant within the MLF...talk about TRUST issues!

I have my doubts that it's Dani, but I suppose that all depends on how X-Infernus ends.

Trust issues can be good, if no one is played as excessively paranoid. I'm hoping Illyana will manage to suppress her demonic side, but there'll be a constant threat of it breaking free again--that'll give good character conflict and drama.

By the fact that I am asking, you can guess my vote for the ostumes, variations of the graduation outfits while, I agree, finding a way to blend them so it's obvious they are a team. The ORIGINAL X-Factor did so quite successfully.

I think Illyana's sorceress garb was the only graduation costume I really liked, so I dunno. I'd like something to hark back to the original team costumes with some updates and personal touches for each member.

And a zillion pouches, of course.

[darkclaw]

[QUOTE=sunofdarkchild;8376514]The real reason she couldn't cast spells on earth had nothing to do with Belasco or anything marvel universe related. It was because if she could use magic then the answer to every problem would have been one of her spells and none of the other New Mutants would have had a thing to do. I always thought it was a mistake to make her a New Mutant for that reason.


Well, I partially agree with you, but if we go by character and story arc, Illyana's power was strongest in Limbo, where she reigned asabsolute ruler but also as that realm's answer to Dr. Strange. Those who follow the Dr. Strange books know that there have been many times times the Sorcerer Supreme has been decidedly weaker than his opponent because of where he was. Same principle,

Now, that being said, I also tilt my head in favor of the "Belasco manipulating Illyana's magic" theory. He would want to keep her under his thumb, so he would not allow her full access to her power where it could be monitored and she could be further trained in it by those who actually CARE for her! If anyone remembers when Belasco whisked away Kitty, Piotr and Kurt in Excalibur, it seemed that not only were they being tested but, bigger question, why were there so many variations of them in Limbo? My answer: Belasco was studying them.

That being said, I'd like to pose two questions to the thread:

1) On this basis, what do think the likelyhood is that this will be a different Illyana, one from a similar dimension but not the same (after all, they still haven't fully explained what that is buried in the ground that died from the Legacy Virus...stupid and pointless a plotline as that WAS...)

2) If (I hope) Illyana is now allowed to keep her magicks on Earth, could anyone else see a team-up between Illyana and Earth's Sorcerer Supreme?

[NielsVanEekelen]

1) On this basis, what do think the likelyhood is that this will be a different Illyana, one from a similar dimension but not the same (after all, they still haven't fully explained what that is buried in the ground that died from the Legacy Virus...stupid and pointless a plotline as that WAS...)

2) If (I hope) Illyana is now allowed to keep her magicks on Earth, could anyone else see a team-up between Illyana and Earth's Sorcerer Supreme?

1) Personally, I just stick with the Limbo timeloop explanation--In Uncanny #160 a trapped-in-Limbo Storm used Limbo's wacky time to prevent herself and the other X-Men from being trapped in Limbo, thus creating duplicates. One team died in Limbo, the other was saved and returned to Earth.

Basically the same happened to Illyana during Inferno--her younger self was saved from being trapped and raised in Limbo. But that didn't erase the older version, it just put her in limbo (lower case, here) until Belasco restored/pulled out of the timestream/resurrected her.

2) Illyana's on an upcoming New Avengers cover (#51?) with some other magic users, for a storyline about who will be the new Sorcerer Supreme...

(In my own version of Illyana's resurrection, which I plotted for years until it actually happened, she became Strange's apprentice, so yes, I'm all for team-ups.)

[jarrod]

She was still fifteen, sixteen when Inferno took place, so she certainly wouldn't be Molly. She'd be old enough to keep up with the rest, certainly after everything she's been through.

Agreed. Ilyana was almost too advanced for the New Mutants before imo, she really could've been an X-Man from the outset (like Kitty, Rogue or Rachel).

Plus, if they age her it'll likely be by having another 5+ years in limbo offpanel... it's needless. I'd much rather have Yana dealing with "losing time" on 616 and maybe feeling a bit isolated or left behind and unsure of her place.

[Darkchylde]

[QUOTE=darkclaw;8380712]

The real reason she couldn't cast spells on earth had nothing to do with Belasco or anything marvel universe related. It was because if she could use magic then the answer to every problem would have been one of her spells and none of the other New Mutants would have had a thing to do. I always thought it was a mistake to make her a New Mutant for that reason.


Well, I partially agree with you, but if we go by character and story arc, Illyana's power was strongest in Limbo, where she reigned asabsolute ruler but also as that realm's answer to Dr. Strange. Those who follow the Dr. Strange books know that there have been many times times the Sorcerer Supreme has been decidedly weaker than his opponent because of where he was. Same principle,

Now, that being said, I also tilt my head in favor of the "Belasco manipulating Illyana's magic" theory. He would want to keep her under his thumb, so he would not allow her full access to her power where it could be monitored and she could be further trained in it by those who actually CARE for her! If anyone remembers when Belasco whisked away Kitty, Piotr and Kurt in Excalibur, it seemed that not only were they being tested but, bigger question, why were there so many variations of them in Limbo? My answer: Belasco was studying them.

That being said, I'd like to pose two questions to the thread:

1) On this basis, what do think the likelyhood is that this will be a different Illyana, one from a similar dimension but not the same (after all, they still haven't fully explained what that is buried in the ground that died from the Legacy Virus...stupid and pointless a plotline as that WAS...)

2) If (I hope) Illyana is now allowed to keep her magicks on Earth, could anyone else see a team-up between Illyana and Earth's Sorcerer Supreme?

In response to sonofdarkchuild: Logically, I know why Illyana's sorcery was limited on Earth: It would be too easy a plot device to have Illyana use her magick to save the day in every adventure. What I'm saying, however, is that an actual explanation for Illyana's limitation was never given. In one issue of The New Mutants, Illyana was hurling mystical bolts of energy at S'ym while on Earth, but several issues later during "The Demon Bear Saga," Illyana stated that her magicks were restricted on Earth to the use of her Soulsword.

There was no actual reason given for this, so taking the 'deux ex machina' plot point aside, I suppose that Illyana's magicks were more potent in Limbo, but for whatever reason - perhaps Belasco or the Elder Gods - her magicks were severely restrained on Earth. (Remember, Belasco once kept his teleportation spells hidden from Illyana, in Storm and Illyana: Magik, and actually prevented the Darkchild from teleporting in New X-Men's "The Quest for Magik" storyline - a tactic that necessitated the Darkchild training Pixie to teleport.)

Perhaps now that Illyana is alive once more, her spells, no longer bound by whatever forces prevented her from accessing them previously, will be at her disposal whenever outside of Limbo.

[Justin K.]

Am I the only one who enjoys Magik with an axe?
It just makes her look much more cooler