Australia – Nerds on Earth https://nerdsonearth.com The best place on earth for nerds. Tue, 31 Dec 2019 13:04:10 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://nerdsonearth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/cropped-nerds_head_thumb2-100x100.png Australia – Nerds on Earth https://nerdsonearth.com 32 32 All the podcasts from NerdsonEarth.com, under one umbrella. We create short run podcasts for nerds, covering D&D, Marvel, Starfinder, and more! You vote for your favorite shows and they just might get a second season. Australia – Nerds on Earth false episodic Australia – Nerds on Earth jason.sansbury@nerdsonearth.com podcast All the podcasts from NerdsonEarth.com, the best place on Earth for nerds. Australia – Nerds on Earth https://nerdsonearth.com/wp-content/uploads/powerpress/noe-podcast-logo.png https://nerdsonearth.com/blog/ A Down Under Theory for Bringing the X-Men into the MCU https://nerdsonearth.com/2019/12/theory-for-bringing-the-x-men-into-the-mcu/ Tue, 31 Dec 2019 13:03:52 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=28274

Here's an interesting theory explaining how the X-Men might be brought into play in the MCU: By revealing that they've ALWAYS been there.

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Forgive me, nerds, for I have sinned. I don’t asked to be absolved from my misdeeds, only given a chance to be heard.

You see, I confess that I’ve been baselessly speculating on the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Granted, not everyone wants to hear my theories on the future of the MCU. In fact, I was at a hoppin’ holiday party the other day and everyone was discussing their love of the movie Cats, when I bought up the future of the MCU.

They muscled me out of the conversation, closed the gap, and left me standing on my own. I had to call a Lyft to get home. Whatever, it’s cool.

OK, I made that story up, but I still would love to share a theory on how the X-Men might officially join the MCU. Spoiler: It focuses on Australia.

The lineup for the Australian years of the X-Men.

First, some Marvel comic book history.

In 1987, a bunch of intersecting storylines from Uncanny X-Men, The New Mutants and X-Factor converged in a fight against a demon and the battle was televised around the world.

Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Longshot, Rogue, Dazzler, Psylocke, Havok and Cyclops’ then-wife Madeline Pryor sacrificed themselves to save humanity. It was called the Fall of the Mutants.

As far as the world was concerned, the X-Men were dead. The entire world had just watched them die on TV after all. However, the goddess Roma, touched by selflessness of the X-Men, restored them to life. In addition, she made them invisible to all forms of surveillance except for plain sight.

With the entire world believing them to be dead, the X-Men took over an old foe’s headquarters in Australia where–with the help of the mutant Gateway–they could teleport anywhere to help mutants in need.

The Theory

I’m going to ask you to squint a little bit because there are some problems out of the gateway. First, Roma doesn’t currently exist in the MCU and it’s unlikely she’ll be introduced. Her reality warping power-set will need to come from another character.

Second, no one is suggesting that the MCU is bringing the Fall of the Mutants storyline to the screen. I’m suggesting instead: What if something or someone has been keeping the presence of mutants hidden all this time?

Now, stick with me: What if the Scarlet Witch with her reality warping powers has been keeping the presence of mutants hidden?

How the theory could work in the MCU: Wanda’s powers have been vaguely explained in the MCU. And it is entirely understandable that she’d have repressed trauma from the results of Avengers: Age of Ultron, both from the loss of her brother as well as the traumatic act of her experimental “creation” in that film.

Sure, Roma doesn’t exist but what if Wanda has been rendering mutants invisible to the rest of the world’s eye all the way back to the events of Age of Ultron? It’s not at all implausible. And it’s a nice little nod to “No More Mutants,” don’t you think?

Meanwhile, the curtain could fall on the whole “hidden in plain sight” angle of the Australia years of the X-Men when Wanda’s trauma is addressed, perhaps first introduced in WandaVision, then further fleshed out in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

The team of the Australia-era X-Men–Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Longshot, Rogue, Dazzler, Psylocke, and Havok–would be a pretty great lineup to introduce into the MCU, although plenty of liberties could be taken.

As a bonus, Jubilee was introduced during this era, when she hitched a ride back to Australia from a So Cal mall and squatted at the X-Men HQ. She’d be a delightful add to the MCU, as would Gateway.

So, what if it turns out that Kevin Feige doesn’t introduce the X-Men this way? Should I explode from embarrassment? Or maybe implode from the weight of my shame? Ah, well, maybe the embarrassment and shame, both equal and opposite forces, simply cancel one another out and I’ll just exist in the 616 as is?

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Merry X-Mas Dazzler: A Look at Uncanny X-Men 230 https://nerdsonearth.com/2016/12/merry-x-mas-dazzler-a-look-at-uncanny-x-men-230/ Sat, 24 Dec 2016 18:40:33 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=11379

Chris Claremont's X-men would often have quiet issues between the sweeping events. This is the time that Dazzler and Longshot saved Christmas.

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As we have shared before, some of the best issues of the X-men, especially during the Chris Claremont era, were the issues that fall between the major storylines. In the summer, it is the softball issues. Not that the story is a softball plot; it is the issue where the team actually played softball. It is a moment to pause and give us some character moments, a deeper look into what everyone is thinking.

Now, we have waxed on about how much we love the Australian Outback era of the X-men and Uncanny X-men 230 falls at the very early part of that story. The X-men have “died”, taken over the Australian Outback base away from the villainous Reavers and are basically cleaning up the place. (When Wolverine says that the Reavers were gross, you KNOW it is bad.)

Through that, we discover how different characters are feeling. Most notably, Dazzler, the light producing former disco queen, seems to really be struggling with their new hidden lives and what that means.

So what makes this a Christmas issue? Ah, it all starts with Longshot.

Longshot has this power that doesn’t get talked about much but he can touch an item and then give a little bit of its backstory. The more emotionally important the item, the more that residue speaks to him. Well, in the course of the story, Longshot discovers this large room smack full of loot. And the power of so many items wrecks him, putting him in a kind of psionic shock for a few days.

When he comes to, the team works out a plan. With Psylocke helping shield him, and with Madelyne Pryor working some serious pre-Google mojo on computers, the team divides out the loot into the 6 continents and makes a plan to return all the items. This requires the help of Gateway, the native Australian who has the ability to teleport. It is a great plan that turns out to be even more amazing because it is on Christmas Eve.

It is a touching moment to see people reunited with things that they must have considered long ago lost, since they were stolen from the Reavers. Dazzler herself has to concoct a story about being Santa’s helper when some kids bust her. At the end, it is a really feel good story and one worth checking out.

I love this story in particular because it shows the “lesser” characters using their powers together. Rogue, Wolverine and Colossus can’t just punch and Fastball Special their way out of this issue. It takes all the work and by doing some further cements Longshot, Psylocke, Pryor and Dazzler as true X-men, which is what these “softball” issues always do well. (And maybe in the future we can discuss what a missed opportunity it was for the team to have had a rugby issue while in the Outback.)

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Meet Gateway, the Aboriginal Teleporting Mutant Member of the X-Men https://nerdsonearth.com/2016/10/gateway-aboriginal-mutant-x-men/ Thu, 06 Oct 2016 10:37:22 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=9408

What's the true origin of the Gateway of the X-Men? Nerds on Earth digs into the Aboriginal teleporting mutant's story.

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X-Men was the #1 selling comic book in the 80s by a wiiiiiiide margin, so like so many others, I was grabbing X-Men comics off the spinner racks by the fist fulls. And even though he’s a deep cut, I loved Gateway, their mysterious Aboriginal teleporter.

2284037-gatewaycolAustralia has a beautiful mix of interesting cultures, dating well before colonial times and it was fun that X-Men featured a character from that region. But the comics never included a map of Australia that had a big map marked “X-Men headquarters be here.”

This imprecision makes it difficult to exactly pinpoint Gateway’s indigenous origins, yet we have several solid clues that allow us to guess with pretty good confidence. We know that during the Australian years of the X-men, they took over the Reavers’ base that was located in Cooterman’s Creek, a high-tech facility disguised as an abandoned town in the Australian Outback that in X-Men vol. 2 #44 is said to be around 200 miles southeast of Lake Disappointment.

Geographically, that would locate the fictional Cooterman’s Creek in the area of Uluru, a site that is sacred to the Pitjantjatjara, the Aboriginal people of the area. Also known as Ayers Rock, it features a large sandstone rock formation that is surrounded by an abundance of springs, waterholes, rock caves, and ancient paintings.

outback01

At this point, let’s do three things:

  1. Even though we shouldn’t treat X-Men comic books like history or geography textbooks, let’s have a little fun with the tiny clues that help pinpoint Gateway’s ancestral inspiration.
  2. Let’s look a little more at the historical Ayers Rock and the Pitjantjatjara people who hold it dear.
  3. And let’s look more into the mutant powers of Gateway and why he was such an interesting support character in the X-Men comics.

The very real Uluru, aka Ayers Rock, which remains an important spiritual and ceremonial site for Aboriginal people.
The very real Uluru, aka Ayers Rock, which remains an important spiritual and ceremonial site for Aboriginal people.

The clues to Gateway’s geographical origin. Cooterman’s Creek is an abandoned mining town in  the middle of the inhospitable Australian Outback (Uncanny X-Men #249, and the comics that introduced the X-men Australia years.). The town was once booming enough to support a saloon, a hotel called the Desert Rose, and a newspaper called the Woolagarra Creek [X-Men Legacy #220], no doubt a homage Wollangarra, a place in Australia that can indeed be found on the map, even if the climate details were all wrong.

Historically, mining ore was prevalent in that region in the early 1900s, with little towns like this able to flourish in the otherwise arid Outback if it was located near an underground reservoir of fresh water. And Aboriginal people certainly had developed interesting and unique cultures in this region.

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Gateway, presumedly perched high atop Uluru, looking down upon Cooterman’s Creek, the one-time HQ of the X-men.

Ayers Rock and the Pitjantjatjara people. Chris Claremont was undoubtedly inspired by Ayers Rock (aka Uluru), which is a very real place that has been recognized as a World Heritage Site. And although the comics never really zoomed out to the point that the art gave a panoramic view of Uluru, there are so many wonderful panels of Gateway sitting criss-cross-apple-sauce, perched on the edge of Uluru, peering over into the Outback and Cooterman’s Creek, all while twirling his bullroarer as he teleported the X-Men all over the world.

As for the Pitjantjatjara, they are an Aboriginal people who refer to themselves as the Anangu, which in their language means “human being, person.” (I couldn’t confirm if the term also meant “mutant.”) Today there are still about 4,000 Ananou who have given up their nomadic hunting and gathering lifestyle, and are living scattered in small communities like Cooterman’s Creek across their traditional lands like Uluru, which still possesses important spiritual and ceremonial significance in their culture.

eden-fesi-1The mutant powers of Gateway. Gateway was always a mysterious mutant, both because he never spoke and also because his origin was so shrouded in mystery. But twirling his bullroarer, Gateway could send the X-Men wherever they wanted to go.

And in addition to his kindly and wise appearance, he also had vaguely empathetic or telepathic powers, although comics are famous for making powers shift to support whatever plot point is current. Still, he always seemed to “know” just where the X-Men needed to be and when they needed to return.

The X-Men Rogue, in particular, formed a connection with Gateway and he’s been considered an unofficial team member for decades now. He’ll routinely pop up in stories from time to time, although precious little of his backstory is ever revealed. Most recently, Gateway is seen near the Jonathan Hickman created Eden Fesi (Manifold) who has similar powers to Gateway and presumedly could be Anangu as well.

Gateway is a great character, even if we’ll never truly see his origins presented in the comics. But kudos to Chris Claremont for bringing in a character that could take readers imaginations around the world.

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Remembering the Australian Era of Uncanny X-Men https://nerdsonearth.com/2016/03/australian-era-of-uncanny-x-men/ Thu, 24 Mar 2016 12:31:39 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=5213

The X-Men have mostly been known for their New York mansion. But we take a look at the Australia era of the X-Men.

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Why was Hugh Jackman–an Australian–hired to play Wolverine in the X-men movies? Well, it all started back in 1988.

Australian era of Uncanny X-MenDuring the Fall of the Mutants crossover, the X-Men engaged a villain in a battle on LIVE television. It was the Kardashians, I think.

So the entire planet watched as the X-Men sacrificed their lives to stop the villain. But…after the cameras stopped rolling, the goddess Roma intervened and resurrected the X-Men, giving them a new start in a world that had seen them die!

Shortly thereafter, the X-Men fought the Reavers, and after whoopin’ them, it resulted in the Reavers’ headquarters in the Australian Outback becoming the X-Men’s new home base. From there the X-Men laid low for a little soul searching.

Chris Claremont had just began a brand new chapter with the X-Men and it was gall-darned brilliant.

The Australian era of Uncanny X-Men only lasted for a couple of years, but it marked both a shift in tone for the comics, as well as laying foundational pieces that carried the comic forward for years long after. The X-Men in Australia brought the Uncanny X-Men back to being the best comic book in the spinner racks. Claremont had found new inspiration and retuned to form, producing some of his greatest work.

Remembering the Australian Era of Uncanny X-Men

As evidence:

Australian era of Uncanny X-MenThe X-Men in Australia were grounded and re-established. Gone for a couple years were the big, epic earth-shattering battles with gods and deities. Likewise, the Starjammers were taken off the table, making every thing happen on good ‘ole fashioned earth.

This isn’t to say the X-Men avoided fisticuffs. Far from it. But the Australian years saw the villains be more personal, and as a result, the X-Men became more introspective.

The art tone under Marc Silvestri reflected this as well. The Australian Outback brought a less cosmic feel to the book and replaced it with a more earthy vibe. Our heroes engaged in walkabouts, not galaxy-spanning jaunts.

Older villains, characters, and storylines were reinvigorated. But Claremont didn’t neglect past epics villains. The Brood, for example, made an appearance during this run. But this time they were a more dangerous opponent with higher stakes, as everything happened on earth, among settings that comic readers felt hit closer to home. Again, the stories were smaller, but they were more personal, both the the characters…and the readers.

The Australian years were BOLD. Claremont was writing the #1 comic on the newsstands, which would have made it easy for him to coast. What did he do instead? He stripped away everything that was comfortable, like the mansion and Cerebro, or characters like Kitty Pryde and Nightcrawler. Not many writers would have the courage to rip up their team and setting to start from scratch.

Australian era of Uncanny X-MenIt re-awakened the social conscience of the X-Men. This Australian era introduced of Genosha, a small country that practiced a mutant version of Apartheid. X-Men had always been a book about civil rights but soaked in soap opera storylines. But the storylines from Genosha provided renewed vigor and seeded dozens of storylines for the entire mutant line of books for years to come (most notably the X-Tinction Agenda crossover).

It was responsible for amazing character growth. Characters like Dazzler, Longshot, Havok, and Psylocke weren’t at all fleshed out, but Claremont turned them into the main team. This brought new romances, new drama, new personality mixes, and renewed engagement in characters beyond how their powers worked in combat. Again, X-Men has always been a soap opera, but the Australian years turned it into something that Telenovela was jealous of.

The Australia era of Uncanny X-Men (Issues #229-245) was a shift in tone and attitude that lasted all the way until Claremont changed them yet again by passing them through the Siege Perilous (a story for another time).

Jim Lee then succeeded Marc Silvestri and reinvigorated the art once again. Then new characters like Gambit and Jubilee were added into the mix. But none of these things would have happened without the Australian era of Uncanny X-Men, a run that remains criminally underrated.

So that, my friends was why the Australian Hugh Jackman was cast as Wolverine. Australia and the X-Men are a perfect fit.

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All issues are available on the Marvel Unlimited app.

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