Claremont's Abandoned Plots

[david r]

I thought it would be fun to start a thread detailing the forgotten, rejected or abandoned plots of X-auteur Chris Claremont.

Here goes

1)Dark Wolverine Saga: Wolverine gets heart ripped out by Lady Deathstrike in X-Men Vol. 2 #3. Logan is dead for a year. Wolverine returns suddenly in UXM #294 as the Master Assassin for the Hand. The X-Men have to count him as one of their most dangerous adversaries. The Hand send him to do their evil bidding. Professor Xavier is adamant that he MUST be saved.

Jean Grey infilitrates the Hand secretly and tries to free Logan from the Hand's spells. Wolverine seduces her, breaking her deep connection with Cyclops. Colossus and Wolverine have an all-out battle in which Colossus rips out Wolverine's claws from their roots!! The Hand give him artificial claws. Logan's adamantium begins to leech out of his body!! Finally, Logan overcomes their control over him and is reborn: a new Wolverine.

2) The Shadow King saga from the late 1980s was supposed to end very differently than it did. The world would have come to the brink of war between humans and mutants, with the Shadow King at the heart of it. The SK would have taken control of Rogue, Moira McTaggart and the Muir Island Mutants, as well as taken possession of Donald Pierce and the Reavers. He ALSO would have seized control of certain members of the Hellfire Club, and captured Gateway and was trying to access Dreamtime!!

It would have taken damn near every living X-Men to stop him and his diabolical plans. Finally the story would have culminated in "Uncanny X-Men" #300 with the Shadow King finally being stopped--but only after Professor Charles Xavier giving the ultimate sacrifice. His Life!!

Know any others?

[fishtaco]

delete post. sorry.

[david r]

Here a few more...

3)The Neo. Claremont had far more ambitious plans for the Neo than what we saw. The X-Men were supposed to drive them from their church hideout and into their lair--in the Savage Land. Meanwhile, mysterious earthquakes are rocking Genosha, driving Magneto insane wondering what is happening.

The X-Men enter the Savage Land and not only find the Neo's hideout, but a resurrected Zaladane. Zaladane has become an earth-oriented character, who has control of the tetonic plates the way Lorna Dane controls gravity. She is seeking revenge on Magneto for killing her in UXM #275.

The Neo themselves are planning on destabilizing the Antarctic ice sheet, which if happens, would raise the sea level to critical danger. That would have created problems for most of the surface of the planet! They would create such an inhospitable climate that humans and mutants would have come under their control. Naturally, the X-Men must stop them!

4)Claremont planned a Kitty Pryde mini-series called "X-Men: Shadowcat-Captain's Courageous". She would go on an alternate-Earth, alternate dimension adventure with a bunch of captains. There would have been a madman trying to conquer the multiverse, universe by universe, dimension by dimension.

[fishtaco]

Adding to the Dark Wolverine saga, Jean and Logan would become lovers.

Following the death of Xavier, Gateway would have become the X-Men's spiritual mentor.

Claremont had the 16 million storyline, but flucking House of M got in the way.

He also had a story where Jean returns an amnesiac (I dont know the details).

Vargas would have returned in X-Treme X-Men.

Hecate from the X.S.E. would have come to the present.

Some stories involving Beast in X-Treme X-Men (I hate Morrison!!!!)

Chris also was planning on X-Men: Year Zero

Plus a bunch of stories that were probably nixed by Jim Lee

The Dark Phoenix saga was supposed to end with Jean losing her powers and being forced to live a normal life.

Whatever happened to Rachel when she was in Mojoworld

A one-shot featuring the dead guys (Thunderbird, Phoenix, Magik, Cypher, Sunder, Sharon Friedlander, etc)

A Shi'ar space epic involving a load of villains in X-Treme X-Men.

Sketch was to be an X-Man

A Lila Cheney mini somewhat reminiscent of the Dazzler series.

At Wolverine and Mariko Yashida's wedding, Sabretooth was supposed to have jumped out of nowhere and maimed Mariko.

Kitty and Illyana were to be "sisters".

Stryfe would have taken over the school. I think he was supposed to take over the X-Men, and brand all the other X-Men as adversaries. Something like that. That reminds me a lot of Star Wars Episode III.

Claremont always intended for Gambit to be a villain who was working for Sinister to corrupt the X-Men from the inside. Some members of the X-Men, new Mutants, and X-Force even commented that Gambit seems to be learning a lot about them, but he doesnt reveal anything about himself (Uncanny X-Men 273-277).

Claremont intended for the villain in Uncanny X-Men 225-227 (Fall of the Mutants) to be Mad Jim Jaspers.

There was the whole original Mutant Massacre story, but that couldnt happen because of Alan Moore's issues with Marvel.

Magneto's struggle between his good side and dark side would have reached a climax.

Mutants would have been used as commodities. Powerful individuals and corporations would have used mutants as objects to their own ends

'Kill Charley' in Excalibur.

[Fede]

Vargas and neo! i want that!

[david r]

Adding on to Fishtaco's post:

Following Xavier's planned death in UXM #300, Charles would have been replaced by Gateway and a reluctant Magneto. Magneto would have been confronted with the consequences of his former life as a super-villain and force him to make a choice on which side of the line he stood.

5) "Sixteen Million" was intended for XXM, and then "Excalibur". It would have seen the X-Treme team visit a country in central Asia that has been taken over and is now wholly ruled by a quartet of mutants. It would have been a fun swashbuckler-type adventure.

6)X-Treme X-Men's original arc structure was to go from Spain to the Savage Land (a Beast arc, where Hank begins his own odyssey through his personal Hell, discovering that he is more of a *beast* than we know). And after that arc, they would discover the Starjammer ship--all 12 miles of her mostly buried in the ice cap. From there, a Sh'iar epic in outer space. Along the way, they would team-up with Vargas, which would have led to all sorts of troubles.

7) Chris proposed a mini-series called "X-Men: Year Zero". It would have highlighted the time between Charles Xavier losing his legs and his formation of the original X-Men. We would have seen him meeting Sage and Sebastian Shaw in Afghanistan, his recruitment of Jean Grey, back-story concerning Charles and Logan in wartime, and his gradual decision to form the X-Men. Marvel passed on the proposal, naturally.

[goldenarms]

Did Chris ever mention his plans about Magneto's loss to the shadow King which was mentioned in UXM #275?

[david r]

Did Chris ever mention his plans about Magneto's loss to the shadow King which was mentioned in UXM #275?

Damn good question. One that I wondered about myself. (Though didn't #275 that Magneto WON the battle against the Shadow King? And the price of his victory sickened him?)

I'm really not sure what CC's plans were over this? I believe the SK had his claws into the Hellfire Club (he possessed some of the members), and Magneto apparently was the only person aware of this. But what this battle between them was all about, and what that PRICE Erik paid for his salvation, we are still awaiting an answer. Sorry!

[protege]

Okay- how do you know about all these plots?

[david r]

Okay- how do you know about all these plots?

It has become a favorite hobby of mine. After Chris Claremont left the books in 1991, I began to hear his intended stories, rejected ideas etc. So I began writing them down in a journal. And all these years later, it's practically bursting at the seams!!

I've also gotten great feedback from the Man himself over at another site. And gotten lots of subplots from other people as well who have either met Claremont or read it somewhere. Here's some more...

*********************************************

8)The Summers School of Mutants. If Claremont had remained on the core books in 2001, this is how the books would have looked. "X-Men" would have seen Charles Xavier and most of the mutants evicted from the Mansion. Stryfe would have secretly taken control of the school and it would be renamed "Summers School of Mutants."

Stryfe's team would consist of Scott Summers, Jean Grey, Rachel, Cable, Havok, and possibly X-Man. They would be promoted as the "Good Guy Mutants" while the "Bad guys" would appear in "Uncanny X-Men". That particular team would be on the run, fugitives trying to locate Destiny's Diaries.

9)Nightcrawler's origins. Mystique is his "father" and Destiny his mother. The Draco storyline is nowhere to be found. Mystique would have abandoned Kurt because of his appearance,and then she would have suffered a nervous breakdown. And lose Kurt Wagner.

[goldenarms]

Damn those are some cool ideas. I really like the summers school, and the good guys on the run. Some of Claremonts abandoned ideas are showing up in X-men the end as others have stated.

[david r]

10) Gambit: Claremont originally intended for Gambit to be a villain who would infilitrate the team. He would betray them and cause serious harm. We would have learned that in fact, Gambit and Mr. Sinister are closely tied.

They are both bizarre byproducts of an 8-year-old mutant boy that Scott Summers met at the orphanage. Sinister is the "negative" side of this boy, while Gambit is the "positive" side. And the boy would age just 1 year for every 10.

11) Psylocke's death in "X-Treme X-Men" was supposed to go very differently. Claremont intended for her to return in her original, British-version. And minus the Crimson Dawn. But as we all know, Marvel's Dead is Dead Policy royally screwed this subplot. Claremont also had a plan to resurrect Colossus years ago, but that was also nixed by editorial.

12) In 2000, CC came up with a new X-character named "Re-animator". She eventually appeared briefly as Sketch, but was originally intended to be a new X-Men member. Her mutant power: anything that she draws, it comes to life.

13)Kitty-Illyana Rasputin connection: Karmically, they are sisters. Kitty Pryde would become the repository of the SoulSword, which should have come to her after Illyana's death.

[xakko]

13)Kitty-Illyana Rasputin connection: Karmically, they are sisters. Kitty Pryde would become the repository of the SoulSword, which should have come to her after Illyana's death.

That was continuity for the longest time. When the Beyonder killed the New Mutants, Kitty got the Soulsword. When Illyana reverted to childhood, Kitty got the Soulsword. Eventually she tried to give it away, but it came back and eventually ended up with Amanda Sefton, I think. In a roundabout way.

I thought they were soul-mates.

[david r]

14) Sabretooth IS Wolverine's father.

15) Claremont planned "Dead Guys"!---Just because you're dead doesn't mean you stop being an X-Man! Starring Colossus, llyana Rasputin, Psylocke, and poor-dead Doug, Major adversaries: Madelyne Pryor and Stryfe! (I admit, this one is weird!!) :p

16) Rachel Summers is meant to be the child of Jean Grey and the Phoenix Force. With no man involved!

17) Following the Dark Wolverine Saga, Logan and Jean Grey would have become a Hot Couple. This is why Claremont has said he NEVER would have married Scott and Jean. The connection between Scott and Jean would be severed when Jean attempts to rescue Wolverine from the clutches of the Hand, and after it is all over, Logan and Jean would become lovers. Their bond would be so deep Scott could only dream about it (or have nightmares about!)

18) Neal Scharra aka Thunderbird III was intended to be a male opposite for the Phoenix Force, and a love interest for Jean Grey. With a different name, possibly Agni.

19) Following UXM #300 if Claremont had remained, we would have seen mutants treated like commodities. Powerful individuals and corporations would have bought and sold mutants like weapons/objects and used them for their own ends. (We saw some of this with Omega Red and the Hand.)

[Will.S]

To be honest alot of them sound pretty stupid and I'm glad that they were dropped. You have to reign in the absurdity at some point.