Tag: mutates
333 – Fight Train
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In which Miles discovers owl legs; Iceman dwells in subtext; Dark Beast overperforms; Daredevil is a delightful trash fire of a person; Graydon Creed’s presidential run is somewhat less shocking in 2021; Rogue does not enjoy playing ‘Got your nose’; and Mister Sinister is not a friend to public transportation.
X-PLAINED:
- Post-Decimation resurrections
- Owl legs
- Uncanny X-Men #331
- X-Men #51-52
- Iceman’s complicated personal life
- Casual crossovers
- The facial hair of Warren Kenneth Worthington III
- The terrible decisions of Matt Murdock
- How to subtly test your in-laws for mutant powers
- What Mister Sinister sounds like
- A bad plan
- The debut of Bastion
- DNA
- Foreshadowing
NEXT EPISODE: Emplate Sucks
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As Mentioned in Episode 277 – Hedgehogs of Cairo
Listen to the episode here!
LINKS & FURTHER DINOSAURS
- Jay co-wrote a serial Thor novel! You can subscribe to it–and hear and read the first chapter–here, if you are so inclined.
- (If Jay got to pick a theme song for said novel, it would be the extremely kickass Faster, Pussycat cover of “You’re So Vain.”)
277 – Hedgehogs of Cairo
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In which Sauron is a huge nerd; the Savage Land is where Marvel stores the weird stuff; an etymology detour does not come from the X-Pert you’d expect; and Storm will straight-up stab you.
X-PLAINED:
- Responsible weapon storage
- X-Men Unlimited #6-7
- A very large creative team
- Sauron (more) (again)
- Blood-derived powers
- The Mutates
- A pterosaur glow-up
- Achmed El-Gibar
- Street urchins (and the etymology thereof)
- How to get a t’ieve mentor
- Style vs. taste
- The proportional relationship between knife skills and leadership potential
- Tattoos vs. healing factors
NEXT EPISODE: Sex?
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As Mentioned in Episode 241 – Conducive to Moral Subversion
Listen to the episode here.
LINKS & FURTHER INCIDENTS:
- Learn more about the history of direct-action group Queer Nation!
- This is the World Trade Center attack that Alex is likely referring to.
241 – Conducive to Moral Subversion
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UPDATE: Jay initially linked to the wrong episode here. Link now leads to the actual Episode 241. Sorry for the inconvenience!

In which Quicksilver wants you to know that he’s not cool; X-Factor gets a new government liaison; a danger room on a jet is a terrible idea; this team is bad at feelings; Forge is a pretty okay boss; and it remains exceptionally difficult to be Rahne Sinclair.
X-PLAINED:
- Several deaths of Scott Summers
- X-Factor #93-96
- X-Factor (more) (again)
- A somewhat tragic meeting
- A costume and the response thereto
- A very brief adventure
- A political reference
- Feelings
- Art therapy with Quicksilver
- Random (more) (again)
- Mr. Dibbles
- Havok’s hair
- The new boss (as literally and idiomatically distinct from the old boss)
- Some history
- Haven (kind of)
- Navigating mental health triggers in comics
- The difference between isolation and quarantine
NEXT EPISODE: A Threat and/or Menace!
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As Mentioned in Episode 239 – Rap and Rumble (feat. Max Carleton)
Listen to the episode here.
LINKS & FURTHER MAXIMOFFS:
- Max Carleton is an unmitigated delight! Here’s where you can check out more of his work:
- Read Max’s comics about comics at Waiting for the Trade!
- Follow him on Twitter!
- Hear Max and Tina dive into the weird and somewhat horrifying world of Once Upon a Time in Welcome to Storybrooke…
- …and find their secret podcast by supporting them on Patreon!
- Then come back and listen to Max and Jay talk about the wonders and horrors of the X-Men anime in our Episode 115 – So Many Teeth.
- Life on the Infinite Farm, by Richard Evan Schwartz
- Erdös Numbers
- Aud Koch’s impressive take on Viv Vision’s family tree
- Seriously, Marvel, give Aud all your mystical characters immediately.
239 – Rap and Rumble (feat. Max Carleton)
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In which we enter the era of bomber jackets; the covers are the cards; Genosha remains neither green nor pleasant; the A is for “Avengers,” not “A-list”; Henry Peter Gyrich is the straightest of men; Cyclops sets an important precedent; Exodus is a huge jerk; we speculate about movies we have definitely not seen; Stephen Strange is not a qualified OBGYN; the Avengers are really weird even by our standards; and Max manages to connect two of Marvel’s most complicated family trees.
X-PLAINED:
- One way to name babies
- Blood Ties
- Infinite bomber jackets
- Avengers #368-369
- X-Men #26
- Avengers West Coast #101
- Uncanny X-Men #307
- Several very fancy covers
- A shadow government, but not that kind of shadow government
- Genosha (more) (again)
- The Avengers, as of 1993
- A special delegation
- The Genoshan resistance
- U.S. Agent
- A time Cyclops told someone other than Dracula to follow their heart
- The many belts of Nicholas Fury
- Several members of the Maximoff family (more) (again)
- Black Knight (Dane Whitman)
- Sersi
- A very drawn-out fight
- Roy Thomas dialogue
- The racist icing on the racist cake
- Exodus (Bennet du Paris)
- Diplomacy, kind of
- Apolitical avenging
- Magneto’s dream
- A green and pleasant beverage
- Yet another energy-dome-enclosed crisis
- The giant, angry disembodied head of Charles Xavier
- What is definitely the actual plot of the Purge movies
- The surprisingly torrid private lives of the Maximoffs
- Scarlet Witch and Vision’s kids
- Master Pandemonium and his weird baby hands
- Damian Hellstrom
- How we’d handle Magneto’s family in modern Marvel
- Robopaternity
- A possible link between the Summers and Maximoff families
NEXT EPISODE: Live at Emerald City Comic Con, with Vita Ayala, Seanan McGuire, and Leah Williams!
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Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men is 100% ad-free and listener supported. If you want to help support the podcast–and unlock more cool stuff–you can do that right here!
Buy rad swag at our TeePublic shop!
As Mentioned in Episode 226 – Les Mutants
Listen to the podcast here!
Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line! Meet Random. (X-Factor #88) Quesada ribbons: totally a thing! (X-Factor #88) Look, if it works, it works. (X-Factor #88) Well, THAT can’t be good. (X-Factor #88) Who Wore It Better, Garden of Earthly Delights Edition! Genosha, or… (X-Factor #89) …Hieronymus Bosch? (Bosh. Definitely Bosch.) Oh, kiddo. (X-Factor #89) Romance! (X-Factor #88) AND THAT’S WHY YOU ALWAYS LEAVE A NOTE (X-Factor #89) Big mood. (X-Factor #90) Remember when Alex Summers was actually pretty awesome? (X-Factor #90) GENOSHA WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU (so much) (X-Factor #90) Harsh but valid. (X-Factor #90) Meet Mutate #24601, whose mutant power is probably painfully complex internal rhymes. (X-Factor #90) Aw, these goofballs. (X-Factor #90) Genosha’s sanitation system is ridiculous. (X-Factor #91) A+ lurking, Rahne! (X-Factor #91) This definitely won’t come back to haunt Jamie. (It definitely will.) (X-Factor #91) NEXT EPISODE: Wolverine vs. Everything!
At the End of the Fight
Lyrics by Jay Edidin, with apologies to Herbert Kretzmer
Performed by *Luz Bianca, Greg Black, Jeremy Borders, Lucas Brown, Kitty Byrne, *Tina Carelton, *Finn Carter, Everett Christensen, Veryan Croggan, Chris Eddleman, *Christina Eddleman, edibleflowers, Sol Foster, Emily Freville, Matt Gardner, Eric Michael Gray, Pete Gresser, Becky Hawkins, Andrew Hill, Jeff Holland, Al Kennedy, Steve Lacey, Kevin Lanigan, Elana Levin, *Alex Lundquist, Dan McMahon, William Mason, Steve Neal, notwhelmedyet (Lynn), Duck Orsino, Shannon Pack, Erin Pence, *Steve Pence, Philthy, Mariana Poole, rainproof, Samantha Riedel, Scott Sharplin, Adam Slevison, Richaundra Thursday, Dave Tomaine, Devin Toohey, and Grace Young.
*Soloists
[X-FACTOR]
At the end of the fight you’re another page older
And that’s all you can say for the X-Factor life
It’s a struggle, it’s a war
And just when you think that you’re winning
You find yourself stuck on the moon, facing down Stryfe
And the fight’s just beginning
At the end of the fight you’re another fight older
And the X on your jacket won’t keep out the chill
And the readers all hurry past
To the six other X-books they’re buying
As the Legacy Virus spreads fast, ready to kill
One fight nearer to dying
[COMPANY]
A tthe end of the fight there’s another fight coming
A crossover next week, an annual soon
Like a storm that’ll break any second
Foreshadowing Fatal Attractions
There’s a reckoning still to be reckoned
Plus the critics’ hot takes and reactions
And the future is not looking bright
At the end of the fight
[VAL COOPER]
At the end of the fight there will be a debriefing
You don’t get to slack in a government job
[STRONG GUY]
We’ve got better things to do
And this system doesn’t seem fair
After all, we threw all the punches
[POLARIS]
Plus, we don’t care
[STRONG GUY+ WOLFSBANE]
And we need a vacation.
[MULTIPLEMAN]
Have you seen how Val Cooper is fuming today
[QUICKSILVER]
She might be possessed, she seems so out of sorts
[VAL]
Step it up Summers, there’s paperwork waiting–
They’re not dissertations, just mission reports
[COMPANY]
At the end of the fight it’s another fight over
To whatever extent superhero fights end
Fight Magneto, fight the Blob
Fight some guy we just met in a sewer
What the hell, at least it’s a job
Just find us the next evildoer
‘Cause there’s no resolution in sight
At the end of the fight
LINKS & FURTHER NONSENSE:
- David Dinkins was New York City’s first Black mayor and a pretty interesting dude.
- The Lindbergh baby was not in fact safely returned. Sorry, Rahne.
- If you want to know more about Genosha, check out Episode 99 – Those Who Walk Away From Genosha.
- You can hear about Havok’s short career as a magistrate in Episode 156 – Genosha Strikes Back.
- For Val Cooper’s unfortunate encounter with a tentacle monster, listen to Episode 216 – X-Amining X-Factor.
226 – Les Mutants
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In which Havok actually used to be pretty great; there are at least four attorneys in the Marvel Universe; Genosha continues to be wildly problematic; Hieronymus Bosch was not Comics Code-compliant; Quicksilver goes on vacation; Polaris has no time for your love triangle; Wolfsbane can maul as many magistrates as she wants; and Multiple Man makes a choice.
X-PLAINED:
• Damian Tryp
• An unconventional staffing practice
• Genosha (more) (again)
• The devolution of Alex Summers’ personality
• Several attorneys in the Marvel Universe
• X-Factor #88-91
• Random (Marshall Stone III)
• Joe Quesada’s signature ribbons
• Checkbook heroism
• Kids these days
• Genoshan reconstruction
• Several gardens of earthly delights
• Puberty
• A mercifully abandoned plan
• A conspiracy
• A significant tonal shift
• Mutate #24601
• RoboJean
• Genosha’s sanitation system
• Dick Chalker
• Magneto Rex
• Humans in Magneto’s Genosha
NEXT EPISODE: Wolverine vs. everything
Thanks to everyone who helped bring Jay’s weird musical dream to life:
*Luz Bianca, Greg Black, Jeremy Borders, Lucas Brown, Kitty Byrne, *Tina Carelton, *Finn Carter, Everett Christensen, Veryan Croggan, Chris Eddleman, *Christina Eddleman, edibleflowers, Sol Foster, Emily Freville, Matt Gardner, Eric Michael Gray, Pete Gresser, Becky Hawkins, Andrew Hill, Jeff Holland, Al Kennedy, Steve Lacey, Kevin Lanigan, Elana Levin, *Alex Lundquist, Dan McMahon, William Mason, Steve Neal, notwhelmedyet (Lynn), Duck Orsino, Shannon Pack, Erin Pence, *Steve Pence, Philthy, Mariana Poole, rainproof, Samantha Riedel, Scott Sharplin, Adam Slevison, Richaundra Thursday, Dave Tomaine, Devin Toohey, and Grace Young.
*Soloists
Special thanks to Juliana Finch, Christian Lipski, and Laser Webber for technical advice; Christina Eddleman for recording the demo track; and Matt Gardner and Peter Gresser for [Easter egg description redacted].
Check out the visual companion to this episode–as well as the full lyrics to “At the End of the Fight”–on our blog!
Find us on iTunes or Stitcher!
Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men is 100% ad-free and listener supported. If you want to help support the podcast–and unlock more cool stuff–you can do that right here!
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