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In the latest Comic Book Legends Revealed, learn how close we came to an awesome two-part What If…? story where Cyclops formed the Avengers to take down Professor X!
Welcome to Comic Book Legends Revealed! This is the eight hundred and ninth installment where we examine three comic book legends and determine whether they are true or false. As usual, there will be three posts, one for each of the three legends.
NOTE: If my Twitter page hits 5,000 followers, I’ll do a bonus edition of Comic Book Legends Revealed that week. Great deal, right? So go follow my Twitter page, Brian_Cronin!
COMIC LEGEND:
There was almost a two-part What If…? comic by Peter B. Gillis and Jerry Ordway showing what would happen had Cyclops formed the Avenger.
STATUS:
True
As you know, Marvel launched a new series in 1977 called What If…? that was based on the idea of taking notable Marvel moments and then asking, “What if things had gone a different way?” The first one opened up with what if Spider-Man had joined the Fantastic Four when he tried to join the team way back in Amazing Spider-Man #1…
The format of What If…? was that it was a every other month release that was double-sized, so there were often multiple stories in every issue. Since it launched in the late 1970s, one of the interesting things about the series is the relative lack of X-Men related stories, as the X-Men didn’t really blow up in popularity until around 1983, soon before the series abruptly ended with What If…? #47.
There WERE a few X-Men related What If…?s and the are some of the most popular issues in the series, like What If Phoenix had Lived?…
and What if Wolverine had killed the Hulk?
One of the best What If…? writers of all-time was Peter B. Gillis, who was basically the regular writer on the series towards the end of its run. He did the iconic Captain America What If…? where Captain America is replaced by a double and sort of turns America into a nationalist nightmare and the real Cap has to save the day and he gives an amazing speech.
Anyhow, Marvel abruptly cancelled the series in 1984, while Gillis had some stories in development, including what I presume would have been a 50th issue two-parter. In 1985, Marvel told Amazing Heroes that it planned on releasing these What If…?s as special issues in 1985. It was not to be, except for one of them (which I’ll talk about in a later legend). Peter Sanderson did the write-up on what we almost got for an X-Men TWO-PART What If…? tale…
The first of these will be the first two-part What If story. It tentatively has the cryptic title, “What if the X-Men were the Avengers?,” is being written by Peter B. Gillis and will be drawn by Jerry Ordway, formerly the penciler of DC’s All-Star Squadron and Infnity, Inc, who is now inking some issues of Fantastic Four. In this story, Gillis states, Professor Charles Xavier, who was to found the X-Men, was not crippled in his clash with the alien conqueror, Lucifer. “As a result, he becomes, instead of the mentor of superheroes, a superhero himself!” Years before the Fantastic Four is formed, Xavier reorganizes the most famous World War II superhero team, the Invaders, by finding the Sub-Mariner and Toro, the partner of the original Human Torch. Eventually, instead of forming the Avengers, Thor, Iron Man and the Hulk join this team, which calls itself the Liberty Legion, after another wartime team.
What we know as the original X-Men team, meanwhile, is organized not by Xavier, but “by an embittered Cyclops,” who has become that way not only because he himself has been persecuted for being a mutant, but because he has learned that another mutant, Iceman, was killed by a mob (the same mob from which Xavier rescued Iceman in his origin story in mainstream Marvel history). Cyclops calls the team of mutants that he organizes the Avengers, because they are out to avenge Iceman’s death and other examples of the persecution of mutants.
The Beast never becomes a superhero in this story, but the Angel and Jean Grey join Cyclops’ team. “Jean’s a little bit…crazy” n this story, Gillis explains, “mainly because she was neglected by Xavier, who was more interested in putting together the invaders” than in teaching her how to cope with her mental powers, as a young girl, as he did before she joined the X-Men in mainstream Marvel continuity. Other members of Cyclops’ Avengers include Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch, Unus and the Blob.
Gillis points out that this two-part story “is an alternative history not just of one character, but approximately 40. If for its length alone, it should be one of the most elaborately constructed alternate universes.” The history of the two teams will be depicted, with such incidents as Johnny Storm teaming up with Toro, and a battle between Thor and the Juggernaut ,leading up to the climactic battle between the two teams, which will include a psionic fight between Xavier and Jean Grey.
“And Dark Phoenix does NOT appear,” Gillis cautions.
Man, that sounds like it would have been amazing (or uncanny?). Jerry Ordway has rarely been able to draw the X-Men officially over the years, so that would have been a treat. I wonder if any of the pages were done when it was canceled?
SOME OTHER ENTERTAINMENT/SPORTS LEGENDS!
Check out some other entertainment and sports legends from Legends Revealed:
1. What Was Michael J. Fox’s “Revenge” Against Brandon Tartikoff For Tartikoff’s Original Hesitance to Cast Fox in Family Ties?
2. Does Nintendo Seriously Own the Rights to a Super Mario Brothers Porn Parody?
3. How Did “High Noon” Change the Movie Soundtrack Business for Good?
4. What’s the Secret Origin of Scooby Doo?
PART TWO SOON!
Check back later for part 2 of this installment’s legends!
Feel free to send suggestions for future comic legends to me at either cronb01@aol.com or brianc@cbr.com
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