"Luke, I Am your Father" syndrome, part I

Madame Rouge- Mystique

Why, your kounterpart kurator asks someone— anyone who may ever read these words— are comic book creators so susceptible to the “Luke, I am your father” syndrome?

The second character cited was introduced in 1980 in the perhaps too-often-referenced “Days of Future Past” storyline: Mystique was a blue-skinned shapeshifter leading a new iteration of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Evidently she was intended by co-creator Chris Claremont as not only the “life partner” of fellow evil mutant Destiny, but, due to the biological quirks of shapeshifting, the “father” of Nightcrawler.

But the time at Marvel, LGBT characters were verboten. Only in the last decade or so (I think?) was this connection revealed.

It’s enough that Magneto was eventually shown to be the father of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. It was also enough that Nightcrawler was a German gypsy of unexceptional parentage, and to limn him to a blue -skinned mutant femme fatale is, frankly, cheap and unimaginative.

As for Madame Rouge, I seem to remember that she was wreeten to ‘ave a conspeecuous french accent.

Commonalities:
Both are shapeshifters who’ve made it into the film/tv arms of their representative franchises.

Differences:
Only that Madame Rouge (who can also stretch!) is an obscure french super-villainess who has not been revived in the DCU.

Alternate histories:

MR: Laura Demille was apparently born in the early 20th century; her preternatural shape-shifting abilities have retarded her aging. She assumes a number of identities and associations, and using the codename Madame Rouge, comes to light as an antagonist of Hawkgirl and the Titans, and as a mentor to a troubled young Terra. She has since worked with and against the Titans, and apparently (and stupidly) has been revealed to be the mother of the Titan Changeling.

MY: Raven Darkholme is modified into a shape-shifter by a criminal mastermind; using the codename Mystique, Darkholme opposes the Fantastic Four and the X-Men. Initially, Mystique struggles with a split personality, vacillating from affection for Charles Xavier and hostility towards the Doom Patrol, which she is incorrectly believed to have murdered. She finally dies in battle with the X-Men.

The classic early ‘80s X-Men lineup

Now this can be told as well…

Cyclops
Marvel Girl
Iceman
Storm
Nightcrawler
Colossus
Lilandra

The blue and the green

Changeling- Nightcrawler


Upcoming posts will indicate that, for the most part, members of the X-Men from 1964 to the late ‘80s will be paired with Teen Titans from the same period. Therein, one rule will be observed (sidekicks are too numerous in the DCU) and another will be broken (Kounterparts must come from a similar place of origin). This is because the X-Men and Teen Titans books in the 1980s are dear to me and many many other nerds (TT writer Marv Wolfman has said that his book took no inspiration from the X-Men, which is very hard to believe) and thus I’m wedded to pairing them up —there will, however, be some exceptions…

But here we speak of Gar Logan, of whom I insist on referring to as Changeling as opposed to Beast Boy, and Kurt Wagner. Logan was introduced as a kid sidekick in the 1960s Doom Patrol, and is now known to lots of real, live kids via the early aughts cartoon the Teen Titans. Wagner, on the other hand, was glimpsed briefly in the 1990s X-Men cartoon and in the second X-Men film only. He also has been foolishly established by Marvel PTB as the son of Mystique and a demon of some sort—why they can’t leave it with him as a mutant that resembles a demon is beyond me…

Commonalities:
Both are immediately distinguishable without exhibiting extraordinary abilities: Logan is green, Wagner is blue. Both provide levity to their teams, but these goofball exteriors mask tortured interiors.

Differences:
Logan shape-shifts into animals; Wagner teleports, has a prehensile tail and blends into shadows. Wagner is German, whereas Logan was born in Africa to his scientist parents.

Alternate histories:

CH: Teenage circus performer Garfield Logan is ostracized in his community, first for his green hair and skin and then for his shape-shifting abilities. He joins the Teen Titans and serves therein on and off for many years.

NC: Young mutant Kurt Wagner loses his parents and is adopted by Reed and Susan Richards of the Fantastic Four. After the apparent demise of the FF, Wagner joins the X-Men for a number of years.