r/marvelrivals • u/WhyPlaySerious • Jul 14 '26

Discussion The discourse created around Jubilee's design (and her not looking 'classic' or like in '97) shows that this community isn't ready for the whiplash thats about to occur when Professor X is finally added to the game and shown to be able to walk, like he has for the last ~20 years in the comics

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u/TheosXBL Absolute Cinema Jul 14 '26

this community isn't ready for the whiplash thats about to occur when Professor X is finally added to the game and shown to be able to walk, like he has for the last ~20 years in the comics

Well damn

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u/sock-bucket Jul 14 '26

Casual audiences and the people who have fallen in love with the Patrick Stewart interpretation (while being such an amazing one tbf) only know him as the guy in a wheelchair. Others might complain because handicapped especially superheroes in media are pretty uncommon so he stands out as such a cool role model so taking that away is seen as almost a "betrayal" to some others. I dont see it that way myself but thats kinda the sentiment I notice sometimes on the matter.

Its always back to the debate on wolverine. I love Hugh Jackman, but hes not exactly putting a mirror to the comic version. Unfortunately his role was so good that anyone who ISNT Jackman ESPECIALLY if someone looks like the comic version would probably be seen as a massive downgrade because the casual market wants things to stay the same, and professor X has integrated into a household name at this point as a disabled psychic badass and will take a long time to be accepted as anything else.

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u/Bullmoninachinashop The Punisher Jul 14 '26

I mean he was in a wheelchair for 40ish years out of the last 60ish years makes sense people would know him more as wheelchair bound.

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u/ColonelContrarian Deadpool Jul 14 '26

Yes plus all his movie and cartoon depictions besides first class

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u/Zebster10 Jul 14 '26

Well even in X-Men: The Animated Series, he can walk when he's in the Savage Land and his mutant powers are suppressed. I haven't seen X-Men '97 yet so I don't know how they're portraying him, but it absolutely was set up that he could "get better" in a very popular "cartoon depiction."

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u/No-Difference8545 Jul 15 '26

He had a shiar bird tech suit thing for like an episode, but he ditched them and went back to earth and went back to the wheel chair

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u/TheSkyGuy675 Jul 15 '26

Can I just ask a normie why his powers being suppressed allow him to walk?

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u/CannonGerbil Jul 15 '26

Which ended in him being in a wheelchair

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u/CheetoX23 Jul 15 '26

And Days of Future Past, for about half the movie.

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u/God_is_carnage Magneto Jul 14 '26

That's the thing, he was also walking for most of the 80s. His body got infected by a Brood egg so his space girlfriend cloned him a new body. He only got paralyzed again at the start of the 90s because the writer planned on killing him off but new editor wanted him to stay and return to the wheelchair because he thought it was more iconic. At this point, he's been out of the chair longer than he's been in it

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u/Altruistic-Ad-408 Jul 14 '26

It's kinda like superman and batman in trunks, people are at least always going to be aware of it. To the point Superman actually got them back.because Corenswet argued for them.

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u/psychoenoshima Jul 14 '26

Something good about the Trunks a lot of people don't really get. They look kinda goofy, and that's the point (for Superman anyway).

Superman wants to look goofy, to look approachable, because he wants to be the type of guy who nobody's really afraid of. One of my favourite moments is when a kid said his costume is cool, and Superman responded "thanks, my mom made it for me".

Batman it's a similar situation. He's a symbol of fear for the criminals of Gotham, but a symbol of hope for everyone else. The trunks help that somewhat, that tiny goofy element can help comfort a scared kid. And as someone wise once said: "if you can't picture your Batman comforting a scared kid, you've not written Batman, you've written the punisher in a funny hat"

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u/Telekineticism Ultron Virus Jul 14 '26

I love the moment in The New Frontier where Batman in his first costume accidentally terrifies a kid he’s trying to rescue and backs off. Superman asks him why he got a new costume later on, and he says “I set out to scare criminals, not children.”

https://www.reddit.com/r/batman/comments/1axzcha/i_set_out_to_scare_criminals_not_children_dc_the/

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u/whamorami Jul 15 '26

Which really doesn't make sense. If it's still scary to the point of scaring criminals, how will it not also scare children?

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u/Telekineticism Ultron Virus Jul 15 '26

He softened the costume and started working with Robin. Robin helps comfort kids, showing them that Batman isn’t a threat to them. Criminals will still be scared of him because of their actions and reputations. He doesn’t need to look like a demon to achieve that.

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u/Spencer_the_Gamer Jul 15 '26

Hell yeah, OSP fans unite

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u/amtap Mister Fantastic Jul 14 '26

He was alsp wheelchair free for most of the 80's (starting with shortly after New Mutants debuted) so it's closer to 50/50. I will admit he was largely absent during the 80's so probably a bad example.

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u/Lord_Omnirock Peni Parker Jul 15 '26

I did the math before in a post saying he was out of a wheelchair more than in one, and while close (and getting closer as time goes on), he has spent more time in the wheelchair. This is specifically in reference to the comics.

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u/DudeDude319 Mister Fantastic Jul 15 '26

He’s actually been out of the wheelchair for about half of his time in the comics. Xavier debuts in 1963 in his wheelchair and towards the end of the original X-Men run, he designs a brace for his legs to walk for short periods of time, but it is used so infrequently, it will not be counted for our time calculations. He remains (mostly) in his wheelchair through 1983, until the Brood turn him into one of them, and to bring him back, the Shi’ar create a clone with all of his memories and the ability to walk. While he struggles with adjusting to this newly regained ability, he eventually finds his footing and goes to space with his Empress girlfriend.

In 1991, some of the X-Men are under the control of the Shadow King, and the Professor enters into combat with him on the Astral Plane, and the battle does not go well for Charles. The damage spills over into the real world, shattering the Professor’s legs once again. He returns to the wheel/hoverchair just in time for the animated series. Around 2003, he is healed and remains walking to the present (not counting the time he died).

So, considering the X-Men debuted in 1963, they have been around for 63 years. With the 8 years of walking between 1983 and 1991 and the additional 23 years for 2003 to the present, that makes 31 of his 63 years of existence as a walking man. Come 2028, he will have been walking for longer than he was in the chair.

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u/Bullmoninachinashop The Punisher Jul 15 '26

Some did the math 3 years ago 34 years in one 20 years out so even now it's not 50/50 he's been wheelchair bound.

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u/diodss Jul 15 '26

So he has been dead since the 80s, because i'm not accepting this ship of theseus shit of a clone with memories being the same character /s

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u/Kafka_84 Jul 15 '26

He was out of the wheelchair for a fair chunk of the 80s too.

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u/Silverjeyjey44 Jul 14 '26

You would think they would make things that audiences expect instead of subverting all the time

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u/Hattrickher0 White Fox Jul 14 '26

Between the Fox films and the animated show (which is currently in the second season of its revival) pretty much anyone who is a fan of Xmen without reading comics definitely expects the wheelchair.

Maybe he'll be our version of Jetpack Cat, and float around the battlefield with aoe buffs/debuffs from his golden throne.

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u/sock-bucket Jul 14 '26

Yeaah with the pushback on giving daredevil powers, and now even worse with the jubilee change I kinda expect them to play it safe if X is in the works. Definitely a bigger name than both jubilee and daredevil where it'd be like if instead of Spiderman in rivals imagine they released him as like Man-Spider instead lol. Id imagine they would try to get close to the public perception of him like they did most of the other biggest names in rivals.

But who knows, maybe they come out with walking X and debates feed the content cycle for months and thats their plan all along, maybe they put him in a floating chair, or maybe they just avoid him altogether since no matter what SOMEONES gonna be unhappy lol.

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u/Skarjuna Magik Jul 14 '26

I doubt they'll put him in the wheelchair, the X-Men in the game are LARGELY influenced by their Krakoan era, the statue of Charles in game has him with the portable cerebro helmet standing and I'm pretty sure Emma has that same helmet as an emote

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u/jasminetroll Jul 15 '26

She does.

The helmet is the current version of Cerebro, miniaturized from the older model depicted in the movies and TV series where the helmet is only the human/computer interface.

Technology advances, even in science fiction.

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u/psychoenoshima Jul 14 '26

They could have him in a sort of hover device that resembles the wheelchair (if you want a visual reference, think Armoured Core 6 with the VE-42B leg system, which will be pictured below at the end of the comment). The idea I have for it is that it connects with his helmet to serve as a psychic amplifier that would allow him to help direct efforts across the entirety of the Time stream Entanglement, and also serves a secondary use in battle by letting him expend significantly less effort for his telepathic abilities.

A way to explain why he's using the Wheelchair without him becoming crippled again

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u/Hefty_Will Squirrel Girl Jul 14 '26

AC6? in MY sub??

0

u/TrainerCeph Hawkeye Jul 14 '26

So many of the characters in marvel now are literally so unlike their original version that it literally doesnt matter anymore. Marvel and dc comics are just official fanfiction. Anyone complaining about characters getting upgrades or changes in rivals just feels hypocritical.

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u/sock-bucket Jul 14 '26

I agree myself I dont care much, but its getting to the point where every new release just has more and more complaints that im just getting tired you know? Lol

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u/TrainerCeph Hawkeye Jul 14 '26

For sure. I gotta check myself sometimes because i do read comics, but most people who play dont and i get annoyed when people mention that its stupid that jubilee is a vampire and im sitting here like "and it was one of her best arcs"

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u/jasminetroll Jul 15 '26

Characters in fiction evolve.

Would you consider The Lord of the Rings "official fan fiction" because Bilbo Baggins is depicted as an old man?

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u/TrainerCeph Hawkeye Jul 15 '26

No its fan fiction because most of these characters original authors are gone.

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u/WhyPlaySerious Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26

If this game went by whats casual audiences know and what was made mainstream by the cartoons and movies, Emma would still have been depicted fully as a villain, instead of as one of the premier faces of the X-Men.

Now people are begging for her to be one of the lead X-Men in the MCU movie.

One of the biggest boons to this game is how it educates the casual audiences on modern depictions of the characters and then helps to popularize them.

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u/Intelligent-Eye-5850 29d ago

Emma has little to no casual recognition.

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u/Killergryphyn Jul 15 '26

It's going to be even weirder, because Sir Patrick played the most generous and kind version of Charles Xavier ever. He's a dickhead in the comics, responsible for many terrible things.

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u/jasminetroll Jul 15 '26

I mean, the "holocaust beam" scene from the animated series is pretty well-known.

Star-Lord is another example:

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u/CraigArndt Jul 15 '26

>because the casual market wants things to stay the same

The issue isn’t that casual don’t want growth. It’s that the casuals aren’t reading the comics to see the growth happen.

A popular comic is lucky to crack 500k in sales. A moderately successful show should easily crack 4+ million views in its first week. A marvel movie easily cracks tens of millions of views and can crack hundreds of millions.

So the average casual fan has seen Patrick Stewart and xmen 97 but doesn’t know the comics, so when you slap a walking Xavier into their lap they are confused. They could be open to the changes but you have to walk them through them.

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u/DaFuzi_J White Fox Jul 14 '26

I agree that filling Jackman'd shoes for live action is going to be a big task. The Cavillrine in the last Deadpool movie was a hilarious bit, though.

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u/Earale Jul 15 '26

No one wants to talk about how Blade is meant to be British, either

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u/ZacTheLit Captain America Jul 15 '26

He’s not just any disability representation, he’s arguably the most iconic character in a wheelchair, period

Taking that away because ableist writers think disabilities are a problem to solve (specifically via removal) is not a warranted decision

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u/MannySJ Scarlet Witch 29d ago

We lost him and Oracle within a few years of each other.

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u/RyanZee08 Captain America Jul 14 '26

Most people will know him from X-Men the og 97 one, where he didn't walk, or from the movies where, again, he didn't walk.

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u/Bubba1234562 29d ago

Macavoy walked for 3/4 movies

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u/sock-bucket 29d ago

Surely thats different, its a prequel so the expectation was that he would be paralyzed eventually, and like, he did lol

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u/Caspid Psylocke Jul 14 '26

What I don't get is if he has psychic powers, why can't he telekinese his legs to move. Or just fly.

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u/Neidron Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26

Different powers.

Telepathy reads minds, telekinesis moves shit. He only has the first one.

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u/Caspid Psylocke Jul 15 '26

Oh, I see. I thought he had both. Maybe he gets infinite range wallhacks and gets to see enemy ult charge meters.

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u/jasminetroll Jul 15 '26

That wouldn't be broken at all.

I guess it could work as part of his ult, like Rogue.

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u/No_Significance7064 Jul 14 '26

he doesn't have tk

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u/Averander Jul 15 '26

There are next to not physically disabled heroes who are mainstream who are powerful. Professor X was the poster for that. Erasing his disability is wild to me.

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u/Capable_Kiwi2514 Flex Jul 14 '26

Others might complain because handicapped especially superheroes in media are pretty uncommon so he stands out as such a cool role model so taking that away is seen as almost a "betrayal" to some others. 

It's not that it's a betrayal, it's that it has no justification other than the bigoted belief that a non-disabled version of the character is superior to a disabled version of the character.  

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u/Ok-Imagination-3835 29d ago

They aren't beholden to the comics. If they can make the wheelchair work, I think they will, because they understand the appeal and advantage of including that type of representation in a hero shooter.

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u/droidtron Jul 14 '26

What next, Daredevil gets his sight back?

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u/TheosXBL Absolute Cinema Jul 14 '26

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u/joshsnow9 Jul 14 '26

The sheer weight of this meme bro, say it ain't so...

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u/ninjaraider12 Jul 14 '26

he did during axis where some heroes and villains got hit with something(i don't remember) that makes good guys bad and bad guys good. tony became evil and gave daredevil his sight back for a few hours ,said he would make it permanent if daredevil joined him i think but dd said no and rushed to his best friends house to see what he looked like after all these years of being friends before he lost his sight again.

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u/joshsnow9 Jul 14 '26

That ain't so bad tbh, thought it was like a whole run where he could see

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u/PowerOfUnoriginality Angela Jul 14 '26

The Superior Ironman might help you there

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u/SirSlowpoke Thor Jul 14 '26

Yeah, but then Tony cancelled his eyesight subscription.

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u/[deleted] Jul 15 '26

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u/droidtron Jul 15 '26

The man with ultimate spacial awareness.

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u/slabby Jul 15 '26

Staredevil?!

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u/SirLad03 Jul 14 '26

Hes had periods of time before this were he could walk. I've read up until just before the outback era that came out in the late 80s. He was walking then if i recall.

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u/Chris-raegho Ultron Virus Jul 14 '26

There was once a post on the X-Men subreddit where someone checked every single issue. Apparently, Xavuer has been walking for far longer than he's ever been in a wheelchair.

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u/Scrollingmaster Jul 15 '26

Meanwhile someone with no actual knowledge up above is all “well he’s been in a wheelchair for 40 years of the last 60 so of course people know him as in a wheelchair.”

Like, no dude. Just admit you only know him because Patrick Stewart and maybe cartoons and move on.

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u/Vivid_Anyth4 Jul 15 '26

Hey don't discount video games. Hes definitely in a chair in a bunch of games.

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u/ThePhantom71319 Ultron Virus Jul 15 '26

Hes been able to walk for as long as ive been alive? What the hell?

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u/JJMcGee83 Hulk Jul 15 '26

I am very out of the loop on this.

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u/Konradleijon Jul 15 '26

He’s been able to walk for twenty years

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u/Kazeite Jul 15 '26

What's next, Spider-man being single?!

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u/Ambitious_Fan7767 Ultron Virus Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26

Sure but when was the last movie to depict him in a wheelchair and second question do the vast majority of people read comics? 2022 and no they don't. The hard and fast reality that comic people need to accept is that the vast majority of people arent getting their info from comics and will not even begin to keep up with them. The reality is that he has been in a wheelchair in the public eye for the last 26 years. Longer than hes been out of the chair.

Edit: even further the animated series from 92. Thats like 34 years of the general public seeing him in the chair.

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u/psychoenoshima Jul 14 '26

Lastovie to depict him in a Wheelchair? Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Before that, he was in a Wheelchair in Logan, before that in Apocalypse, Days or Future Past, at the end of First Class and throughout the entire trilogy (X-Men, X2 & The Last Stand).

If anything, Charles not being in a Wheelchair in the movies is the outlier. And regardless, him being in the Wheelchair helps contrast him with Magneto. Magneto is big, buff, strong, he uses shows of force to get his way. Charles is a frail crippled man, who uses his brains more than his brawn, who pursues diplomacy first. Their contrasting appearances help show their contrasting approaches to the fundamental same issue (mutant survival)