Having taken it’s rightful place as one of the top story lines in the history of the comic at the time,  the hugely successful “Days of Future Past” had created more than it’s share of popular mutants which it’s creator, Chris Claremont, could choose from to round out his team of X-Men.  The year was 1984.  Kitty Pryde has taken a leave of absence.  Cyclops retired and the void created by Jean Grey’s death is an elephant in the danger room.

We've all been known to go though one or more changes throughout our lives.  I've been an actor, a producer, a writer, a paralegal, a web designer, a programmer and like most of the X-Men, I'm not even thirty yet!  As I look around at the world, I can't help but to see a human race of evolving peoples, all with different titles, changing names, jobs, etc.  That being said, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH with Psylocke! 

At the time of her debut, in the 1980's Chris Claremont created a nervous yet powerful new member of the X-Men who was able to take on Sabretooth alone. Unfortunately, Psylocke failed to connect with a majority of X-Men Fans which lead to her inevitable revamping.  It was the early 90's; Havok, Rogue, Colossus and Psyclocke, forced to walk through the Siege Perilous at the cost of an erased memory and a new start at life, were on the verge of embracing this transition as they marched through the gates.  Psylocke emerged, after having been brainwashed by Japanese Terrorists, as Lady Mandarin.  At some point during her stint in captivity, her body and mind merged with Japanese assasin and mistress to mob leader, Kwannon.  Betsy became half Asian as Kwannon became half British.  In addition to her over sexuality,Kwannon's assasin personality also was half transfered into Betsy manifesting itself in Betsy's psychic knife, the totality of her psychic power.  Psylocke had become a character for the 90's, part ninja, part fashion model, part spy, part X-Man, part assasin, but all beautiful and, by all acounts, all deadly.  

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is real and it's filming now and will be released May 1st, 2009.  Freshly off the heels of the X-Men Film franchise, X-Men Origins: Wolverine features an all star cast with some amazing new characters we've all been dying to see brought to the screen.

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In the new millennium, the miniseries has become an artform in itself.  They serve as a way for writers to further flesh out the characters we love.  Seeing them in a new light brings us a whole new pespective.  With so many miniseries out there, we thought we'd point out a few of our favorites and a few that may have missed the mark.

X-Men: Phoenix Endsong

Rating: 8 out of 10

When Magneto/Xorn gave Jean Grey an interplanetary stroke and killed her months after she discovered her husband, Cyclops was having a telepatic affair with her arch nemesis, Emma Frost, there wasn't a jaw that wasn't dropped to the floor. Finally, in ..Endsong the hordes of fans mourning over the loss of Jean Grey get a little more closure.

The Phoenix Force has reawoken still incomplete and missing some of it's "pieces." In an effort to expose itself to the raw energy necessary for the force to recompile it resurrects the body and psyche of Jean Grey and inhabits it. Scenes between Wolverine and Jean Grey alone are heartbreaking yet a tad anti-climactic. Cyclops makes his feelings clear when it comes to his love for Jean and Emma Frost who shockingly attemps for the Phoenix Force to possess her.

With new mutants being added to the mix, specifically Tattoo and Greymalkin to Young X-Men, here at X-Men Fan Site we thought we'd remind the writers of the X-Books not to forget some of our favorite under used mutants and also remind them and you, the readers, about some great mutants that were created in the history of the X-Men Universe that we think are pretty cool.  These characters would make excellent additions to any X-Team.

Empath

I'm sure I wasn't the only one who when they first saw Julian Keller thought to themselves "who is this Empath wannabe??"  I'm also sure I'm not the only one to ask what the heck has happened to this guy since "X-Men: the 198?"  Who the heck knows? Either way, Empath (real name Manuel de la Rocha) has been a strong character in the X-Men Universe since his debut as the leader of the Hellions in "the New Mutants" back in the 1980's. Manny is quite the ladies' man and has romanced many of the females on both the Hellions and the New Mutants.   So what if, each time, he had to use his powers of emotional manipulation to get what he wants?  First with his luscious vixeny teammate, Roulette, then in order to get Firestar to attack the X-Men and finally on the one who swept him off his feet against his will, Magma.  

Empath was Emma Frost's prized pupil before her and his reformations.  His deep self-centeredness, the entire time, was hiding a weak and hurt young man and it took Magma to drag him to the Amazon Jungle and then Nova Roma for it to surface.  After living in Nova Roma for a while, Empath realized it was a false creation of Selene instead of a South American Colony founded by the Ancient Romans.  Rather than lose the love of his life, Empath used his powers on Magma and the rest of the city to keep them in such an emotional state as to where they'd never question the foundings of the city.  Firestar, Cannonball and Warpath finally exposed him and he lost Magma which lead to his further transformation into a better person until he joined XSE.  Manny got addicted to the mutant power enhancing drug, "kick," during a story run on Xreme X-Men and was finally seen in the 198 using his powers on an out of control, grief-ridden Magma who still hasn't gotten over him herself.

So a friend and I were talking online about our favorite X-Men characters and the disappointing horror that was X3: The Last Stand (don't worry Brett Ratner, I still watch the movie like everyday) and we asked ourselves what actors we'd cast as our favorite heroes in X4 should there ever be one. Here are some of our picks:

Emma Frost/Julie Benz
In my own humble opinion, I've impressed the living "poop" out of myself with this casting choice. If you don't remember Julie Benz as the soft-voiced Darla on Angel, you can catch her on SHOWTIME's Dexter playing his girlfriend. Hollywood can search far and wide but Julie Benz is the only actress with the looks, the voice, and the acting chops to pull off a powerhouse like Emma Frost.
See Julie in action...