COMICS: Brian Michael Bendis Talks UNCANNY X-MEN; Cyclops And Emma Frost To Break Up
They've been together ever since Grant Morrison's New X-Men, but Cyclops and Emma Frost will be calling it quits in next February's Uncanny X-Men despite remaining on the same team! Hit the jump for details on that and the direction that the series will take.
On Whether Or Not Uncanny X-Men Will Continue To Be The Flagship Title:
I feel the audience decides what is or is not a flagship title, but I will say that UNCANNY X-MEN will be the one-stop shop for these very important characters in the mutant [corner of the] Marvel Universe and the Marvel Universe proper. I'm very lucky that I get to write ALL NEW X-MEN and UNCANNY X-MEN at the same time. I can examine this fascinating part of the Marvel Universe from vastly different angles. I can't think of a time where the mutant part of the Marvel Universe has been more exciting. Every character is so complex and there are so many characters interacting. Literally anything could happen. It is not unlike the job I had writing NEW AVENGERS and DARK AVENGERS at the same time, even though this is not DARK X-MEN.
On How The Idea Of A New Uncanny X-Men Series Came About:
Everything in UNCANNY X-MEN came right out of our story planning for Avengers Vs. X-Men. There was a great deal of time where Marvel had asked Jason Aaron and [me] to bring all the elements of the story together. It was during this process that both of us came up with a lot of ideas for the mutants going forward. By this time I knew that I was taking over the X-Men and that allowed me freedom to take his [X-Men] characters into places I probably wouldn't have the guts to [in AVENGERS VS. X-MEN] if it wasn't my job to clean up the mess so to speak.
While we were discussing whether or not it was time for Charles Xavier to die, one of the reasons I was all for it was because it made all of my books so much more interesting.
On Bringing The Relationship Between Cyclops And Emma Frost To An End:
The romance is done. They are not together anymore romantically. It's pretty hard to come back from what they went through in Avengers Vs. X-Men. Things were said, powers were stolen, and as we will discover in the very first issues of UNCANNY X-MEN, some things happen between them that cannot be taken back. And because they are Scott and Emma, this breakup is going to take a while. And it's not going to be pretty, but fun to write. If the Avengers are a family, then UNCANNY X-MEN is a very, very, very dysfunctional family. But these characters really do need each other. And some of them love each other. And some of them don't.
On Taking Magneto In A Bold New Direction:
What you are going to see with Magneto is a very specific new chapter in his life. At the last Marvel [creative summit] we were talking about the fact that we often break our heroes but never do much to our villains. We would put the Fantastic Four through the ringer but Doctor Doom is always Doctor Doom. I gave that conversation a lot of thought. What happens in the pages of UNCANNY X-MEN will establish a very bold, new chapter for Magneto. Magneto, when written well, is trying to make the world better for mutantkind. He just doesn't think, or [didn’t think], that humans and mutants can or should get along.
On Where Scott Summers' Head Is At As Leader Of The New Uncanny X-Men:
You will discover in the very first issue of ALL-NEW X-MEN exactly where Scott Summers’ head is at. Of all the X-Men that feel it is their job to further the legacy of Charles Xavier, no one feels it more strongly than Scott Summers. Scott Summers himself is not only trying to save these kids but he is trying to train them and get them ready for what he feels is coming mutant revolution These new students represent his only hope for true redemption. And his only hope to make the world the way he really thinks it should be.
On The Relationship Between All-New X-Men And Uncanny X-Men:
At least initially my goal is to do exactly what I did [with] AVENGERS and NEW AVENGERS. The books will connect thematically and sometimes even story-wise, but you don't have to buy both books to enjoy them. Hopefully I will make you want to buy and read both books with our stories and our characters. But these books are both looking at mutants and Marvel from their unique point of view. Both of these books' points of view are, in my opinion, very legitimate and very much a concern.