It’s “having too many emotions about John Constantine” hours

cherik + framed images they keep of them together

Making a metal version of Charles to ask questions in his absence???? I knew it was bad but not THIS BAD

'Why did Charles leave everything to Magneto?' I love that almost every character has a moment in ep. 2 where they either question that or express their inability to understand the reasoning behind it. No one knows (almost no one). Magneto's own explanation is the one logical conclusion he could draw: that Charles simply left him with the duty of continuing his dream where humans and mutants can coexist.

So why did he do it? Did Xavier think that Magneto was the most capable mutant to lead them to acceptance? Was it to give the X-men a leader? Was it to save their future? Was it because he trusted Magneto's judgment over his own X-men?

Nah, he did it out of love. Not in order to save the X-men - he trusts them, he taught them everything he could - but to save Magneto from himself. Or, better yet, it's because he hopes and trusts that they can save each other. Charles knows that once he is gone, his oldest friend and rival (and anything in between), is going to be left alone. He knows that there is balance between his dream (his unbending belief in tolerance) and Magneto's dream (his fight for survival), and he dreads what would happen to Erik in his absence. He did it out of love for Erik, because if he gets pulled towards the X-men (a group shaped by his beliefs) maybe, just maybe, that balance can go on.

And do you know who didn't question Xavier's decision? Who understood the answer to that question? Rogue. Because both her and Charles share something - they have both known Erik/Max in times when his pain and grief have not governed his decisions, when love wasn't turned into vengeance, but into hope. And they both fell in love with that. They both know that Erik is capable of being a great leader if only there is something to constantly pull him towards an ideal and away from his anger. She knows! It's in the way she approached Magneto; she understands Charles because she's been there herself - asking Erik not to give up on something good (during the events in Savage Land) and she hopes that this time around Charles's love is enough to keep him anchored to the right path.

____

note: please don't use this post to start any ship vs. ship arguments on what's wrong, what's right, etc. etc. This is meant just as a meta take on the show and the comics behind it. There is more than one way to love someone and different ways to love different people. It can be complex and there's something really beautiful in that.

Resurrection of Magneto - Issue 2

For all Cherik lovers:

If you haven't been following / don't follow the comics - Magneto has been dead since 2022 after his battle with Uranos in AXE: Judgement Day and has stayed dead because he asked not to be resurrected (yes resurrections were/are a thing in the Krakoan era for mutants). The new mini RoM is about Storm going on a journey to... purgatory somewhere?... to bring Magneto back to the land of the living because she heard his 'call'/dreamt he was in pain and regretted his choice. When she finds him though, he is very determinedly NOT interested in coming back, wanting to atone for his sins and because he's just so TIRED y'all. But then:

Then Storm is like 'Bestie let me catch you up it's been a NO GOOD VERY BAD DAY for mutants':

As you can see, Mags is PISSED because he specifically told Storm with his dying breath he was worried about Charles being left alone and what he might do if pushed to his limits and that he needed (her) support...

It's a little hilarious that Mags is more upset with Storm for botching things ('YOU HAD ONE JOB, ORORO') than with Charles' (questionable? depends who you ask) decision-making and starts flinging metal name plates of his victims at her (i.e. people he's killed or were killed because of him and yes he's been tormenting himself, surrounded by walls and walls and walls of their names).

Then we get THIS panel of Erik remembering how he cradled his 'friend' in his arms and lamenting how Charles was the only one who saw that ERIK/MAX/MAGNUS/MAGNETO mattered too, and that HE (and not just his victims) also suffered from his actions....'WHAT DID I DO, CHARLES?'

'SO I CHOSE DEATH OVER THE DREAM I BUILT WITH MY FRIEND' - HE'S SO SORRY HE ABANDONED YOU, CHHHHHHARRRRRRLLLLLEESSSSS!!!!

But then Storm says 'but look at all the lives you've saved, that's important too. You need to come back and help us SAVE mutant kind and HE says:

BABE, WAIT FOR ME I'M COMING HOME!!!

absolutely iconic how charles and magneto talk about each other as if they hang the moon in the sky, but the moment they see each other in person they do nothing but fight

Magneto is so OP they had to make him in love with Charles to nerf him

Their relationship in a nutshell

A funny thing that comes up when you're reading very early All New All Different X-Men is how much mileage Claremont is milking out of the rest of the team being bewildered when Wolverine abruptly turns out to Have Traits. Wolverine's backstory has been basically completely fleshed out for as long as I've been reading comics, and I think his collective gestalt image in the fandom as a result is that he's that one grumpy uncle on the team who everyone knows really well at this point, but when you're reading the early ANAD stuff it's a cavalcade of the rest of the team going "Oh my GOD those are fused to your goddamn skeleton we thought they were built into the gloves," "Oh my GOD you're fluent in Japanese for no obvious reason," "Oh my GOD you have a first name and a social circle outside this team," etc.

it's him. the x man

Gambit by Leonardo Romero! Outstanding!

The funny thing about the X-Men famous battle cry is that it's a fairly recent addition. Although Xavier said something similar way back in X-Men #1 ("And now, return to me, my X-men"), he didn't use that exact phrase until Grant Morrison's New X-Men in 2001. Even after that it was only used sporadically. It wasn't until around 2013 that it entered regular use. This is why it was never used in the original animated series or any of the movies.

This image was living in my head rent-free for months

X-MEN art