當個龍哥迷的好處之一是,就算一個有缺點的人也可以努力當個英雄、或至少當一個好人。
比起聖人來說,這個目標還比較有努力跟崇拜的價值。
Shades of Grey: My Rambling Opinion about Cyclops's Current Characterization
So, I was talking about a crazy fan theory on twitter and the subject
of Cyclops's current characterization came up (specifically the whole
X-Force, assassin squad thing), and I decided it'd make a good blog
post because unlike most people I know, I actually like the development.
Of
course I'm not saying all the writing was great mind you (especially in
X-Force itself) but I still like the development on an overall level.
I
like it because, in a sense, it (like Whedon's Astonishing X-Men did as
well, Nation X too) really gets into what place the mutants have in the
Marvel Universe and how to deal with it.
Astonishing for example
actually brought up the fact that superheroes, and even mutants on the
Avenger teams, are/were (pre Civil War) actually pretty accepted by the
general populace. They're recognizeable, accountable, and the people
have gotten to know them. For all of Xavier's grand speeches, he never
seemed to realize that a mutant army that popped up out of nowhere and
disappeared leaving destruction behind was not going to do anything
more than terrorize the "normal" populace of the Marvel Universe. And
over the "ten" (or forty) years that the X-Men have existed, things
have only gotten worse rather than better. And while not all of that is
Xavier's fault, a lot of that is.
Now of course, given Wanda's
bit of mojo and the chaos of Civil War, and Hammer and all that, the
old tactics are even less workable. There are what? 250 active mutants
total? Something around that number? And the government outright
declared war on them. Which means that the mutants have to take extreme
measures to ensure their survival. And when survival's at stake,
sometimes conventional morality has to give.
I've seen the
argument that the stuff with X-Force is out of character for Cyclops,
who's generally one of the most moral of the X-Men (for example, he was
strongly against killing Wanda in House of M, when even Xavier was
ambivalent). And well, that's kind of the point. Because the
consequences of Wanda's actions, and Civil War, and Hammer, and all
that aren't getting swept under the rug. We're actually seeing the
consequences here. These decisions HAVE to be made, and some heroes
can't really BE heroes anymore. Desperate times, desperate measures.
They need a team who can make the hard calls and take out the enemies
that need taking out anymore. They can't afford to be nice anymore.
And
it's Cyclops making the call because, well, he's the leader right now.
But also because it means something. If Emma's the one scheming and
sacrificing, weighing lives and sending strike forces, it doesn't have
the same impact. Emma's kind of a bitch, after all. She might be a good
guy now, but she's never been portrayed as a character who'd shy away
from a "whatever is necessary" mentality. She might be willing to do it
even if the circumstances weren't so dire. Magneto's similar, provided
he's sane enough to make that call. Cable, if he's in the present,
well, let's face it, Cable's done a LOT worse under less provocation.
And Xavier, well, for all his good press, is kind of a manipulative son
of a bitch.
So Scott's our sacrificial lamb. Because as much as
he's a prick, more than a bit crazy, a lot more devious than he gets
credit for, and keeps fucking up his interpersonal relationships, he's
also CYCLOPS. He's probably the closest thing that the X-Men have to a
Lawful Good type character.
And now he's kind of Lawful Neutral. And it's a tragedy. And I think it's supposed to be.
But
I also don't think he's being dragged through the mud just for the sake
of the story either. Or at least, I actually think the change fits the
long term growth of the character, and has been building for a long
time.
I mean the poor guy's got the kind of origin story that
makes serial killers, a power that makes him unable to be anything BUT
a weapon, and pretty much barreled from evil father figure-trying to
use him as a weapon to evil father figure-trying to use him as a weapon
before getting saved by Xavier...who promptly set him up in charge of
his mutant army. And for all that, he manages to be a fairly
upstanding, moral guy. With periods of varied stability and
assholishness, granted, but still pretty steady. And by the late
nineties, he'd pretty much gotten as settled as he was going to get. He
was married to the woman he loved, comfortable in his leadership
position, right hand man to the best of his father figures. Heck, he
even had kids who were alive and...sorta well. Or at least improving.
And
then the whole Apocalypse thing kind of shot that all to hell. And then
when THAT was getting settled, Jean was dead again. That's kind of a
key element because Jean was always fairly good at providing a
perspective he lacked. She was a symbol of everything good, but also as
a character was more than willing to bitch him out when he looked like
he was going to cross a line. It's a role that Emma can't QUITE manage,
as much as they love each other, because she's a lot more of a ends
justify the means kind of character. It's possible maybe that if Jean
were still alive, Scott would not be where he is today. But who knows.
However,
he was still doing pretty well once they restarted the school. A bit
darker, a bit snarkier, a bit more openly crazy, but still functioning.
But then there are the two events that I think really brought the
change about. That turned him into someone who WOULD set up an assassin
team for the good of the mutant race.
The first was Wanda's
Edict. Mutants went from being a fairly populous, growing subset of
humanity, to numbering to barely more than some high school graduating
classes. That's a huge deal. Overnight extinction. It's what led to a
lot of the changes that started setting up the X-Men and surviving
mutants as more of a unified, if very tiny, nation than what they were.
But
I think the real key was in Messiah Complex. And the two important
things that happened at the end of that: 1) giving the baby Hope to
Cable, (explicitly referencing his own failures with Nathan in the
process), and 2) seeing Charles Xavier get shot in the head and "die".
And
those two events are the real triggers, I think. As much as Charles and
Scott had fallen out at that point, he was still the closest thing he
had to a father. And he "died" not two SECONDS after Nathan and Hope
disappeared to parts and times unknown with a LOT of would be killers
on their trail. And that's when I think he snapped.
We knew he
would die for his family, and now we know he'll kill for them too.
X-Force isn't just a mutant assassin strikeforce, they were also
incorporated into Scott's increasingly machiavellian attempts to save
his son's life. And it's kind of understandable, really. And of course,
then you get the fun of Hammer and Exodus, and the desperate measure
that was founding Utopia, along with a benevolent generalissimo-type
dictator that even Magneto can admire. (And why not? He might be crazy,
but the mutants are still alive to complain.)
So right now, I
actually think the characterization makes sense. It's not always the
best written (I'd have liked to see a lot more second thoughts/doubts
in X-Force for example, but they have been covered elsewhere), but it
works for me. And it isn't the end either. Scott's gone a bit dark and
that's awful for him, but he's salvageable. If Hope grows up and Nathan
returns. Or if they manage to reverse Wanda's edict. Or hell, probably
even if Xavier would actually get up off his ass and be a damn FATHER
as opposed to complaining waspishly about how he never taught Scott to
see people as collateral (shut the hell up, Xavier), that might help
too.
(On a tangential note: Hank's departure bothered me. Not
because he was mad about the getting tortured during Utopia thing, as
that's understandable, even if it didn't seem like Scott had much of a
choice. But that he answers it by going with Abby Brand, who much as I
like her DID know that the Breakworlders had Colossus for months, if
not years. JUST a tad hypocritical, man.)
But yeah, I'm actually enjoying it. I want to see where it goes from here.
他不完美,但他能試著從錯誤裡學著成長與改變,所以夠真實。
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