Tuesday, May 10, 2011

X-Position: Rick Remender

CBR: We have Rick Remender, the writer of Marvel Comics' "Uncanny X-Force," here to answer some queries and many others in today’s X-Position. Let’s jump right in…


Uncanny X-Force #10 Preview

Psylocke definitely can't get over the Apocalypse boy's death. She also seems very worried when it comes to the possibility of Brian finding out about her actions on X-Force. Do you think she has what it takes to be in a team like this?

Rick Remender: Right. The ethical quandaries that the team is placed in should beg the question, "Does any good person have what it takes to be on a team like this?" While the jobs they take on feel absolutely mandatory to them, the late nights of hand-wringing over the decisions are inevitable. We saw in issue #5 all of the cast were having difficulty with the Apocalypse job: Fantomex discussing it with his mother; Wolverine suddenly in denial about the decision; Deadpool dealing with posttraumatic stress; and Betsy lying to herself in conversations with holograms of her brother.

If these characters were not traumatized by what they went through, they would not be heroes and they would not feel like human beings. Betsy will continue to work with X-Force because she wants to keep her friends safe. But she will pay the price for what she does -- as will the entire team.

With Warren not being himself that much lately and Fantomex all over Betsy (the cover to issue #12 is, just, wow…), it seems like the romance between Angel and Psylocke is doomed. I'm sure they love each other, but do you feel like they are in a toxic relationship?

Rick Remender: They do love each other. And, were they two regular people living a regular life, I believe that they would be quite happy together. Their characters and their backgrounds align in a way that makes me feel that they belong together. However, in a situation such as the one therein, given that Betsy is responsible for containing the evil within Warren, there are sure to be some complications. And those complications will take their toll on both of them.

The "Schism" event will happen at the same time as the Dark Angel saga. Will you deal with the "Schism" fallout in "Uncanny X-Force?" It would be interesting if Wolverine, Angel and Psylocke take different sides in "Schism" and yet have to work together in X-Force...

Rick Remender: X-Force will obviously be involved in all big X-events moving forward; to what capacity you'll have to wait and see. The events of the Dark Angel saga will spill over into the other books -- no question about it. The future of X-Force will be somewhat altered by the events of "Schism."

Psylocke has had her telekinesis for a long time, and considering that she was involved with Angel for even longer than that, when will she learn to fly already?

Rick Remender: I can't speak to how Psylocke has been used by all other writers, but to me, having her fly makes her too powerful. Stealthy super-ninja/burgeoning Omega-level telepath is plenty for one character, in my mind. That's not to say that she hasn't been shown to have other abilities. To be frank, her history is a bit scattered and in order to make a cohesive backstory for her, I had to make some executive decisions as to what I would and would not be using. To use it all would just be too many ingredients in the soup, and I believe would make the character less interesting and believable.

Is Psylocke immune to the misdirection ability of Fantomex?

Rick Remender: No one on the team is immune to the misdirection ability of Fantomex. No one.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love his answers. They make me want to read the next issues even more! :D

Anonymous said...

I completely agree about the telekinesis. I prefer her as a ninja and powerful telepath. TK never suited her character, in my opinion.

Anonymous said...

Ok this is really stupid, "out there" kind of speculation, but wouldn't it be kind of funny/messed up if Fantomex misdirected Betts into thinking he was Warren and maybe that's the kiss we saw on the issue 12 cover? I'm inclined to think an actual kiss won't happen and that cover was just symbolic or something but wouldn't the
aforementioned "misdirection" scenario be kind of funny, lol.

Anonymous said...

I think you're right. If they actually do kiss it would be too much of a giveaway to just put it on the cover.

FSaker said...

I agree with Brian (and Remender, of course): although Psylocke has had some great TK moments in the past, the "TP/TK" combo makes her too powerful and kinda repetitive considering other über-powerful mutants (Jean, Rachel, Exodus...). In fact, I don't know why Claremont didn't undo the "power-swap" mess from the moment he ressurrected her (after all, the excuse for Betsy to lose her telepathy was to keep the Shadow King imprisoned; after her death and Shadow King's later appearances, there was no reason not to give her the telepathy back).

Anyway, great X-Position! And not only regarding Betsy, but every other character as well; I love how Remender acknowledges AoA-Gambit's supposed death (though his "ressurrection" is very easy to be explained; he can just say Gambit found a way out of Cloak's Dark Dimension), the arrival of the Schism, and the differences between Fantomex's and Deadpool's senses of humor (to me, Fantomex's sense of humor always sounded closer to Emma Frost's, while Deadpool's sounds closer to Spider-Man's).

Too bad the person who asked about the Age of Apocalypse characters forgot to ask about Blink...

jarim77 said...

I wonder if X-Force will end up being evicted from Utopia once they are found out.

treysome said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
treysome said...

yup I like her being a TP ninja. That's how we(I) came to love her in the first place. she had a few power changes over the years. hopefully rick's version sticks. Can't wait for the AOA arc to start.

Eduardo said...

Could Fantomex have misdirected all of the members of the team then to pretend he killed kid Apocalypse? That's a pretty good explanation...

Anonymous said...

That would make sense. People have been speculating that Fantomex misdirected the others into thinking he killed Kid Apocalypse for a while now.

Francis said...

nope that's a whole different kid apocalypse, Remembered answered to another question not listed here...but he ensured fantomex walked over the corpse of the boy after killing him and picked up a blood sample

walteion96 said...

OMG i hate him for saying that. she is intresting as a telepathic ninja but i LOVE her more as a telekinatic telepathic ninja. i didn't say make her telekinesis like jean or rachel, just make her a low-level telekinatic & her Tk is limited to telekinatic katana ,increasing strenght ,speed & skills & Tk pushes. just like in her mini series. and i so want to see her flying with angel over a river or in the night sky under the stars ,that would be so ropmantic.