There are plenty of creatures in the Marvel Universe that I could have chosen for today’s pick. Plenty of monsters and all sorts of aliens to choose from. For this, I decided to go old-school and use a creature that, while not as memorable, had a big impact on Marvel Comics.

Krakoa, The Island That Walks Like a Man

This is s monster the likes of which few can rival in comic books. It’s only made a few appearances outside of flashbacks, but like I said, it had a major impact on Marvel. Appearing in the legendary Giant-Size X-Men #1, Krakoa isn’t your ordinary monster. It’s a living island.

Decades before, the US was testing nuclear bombs across the Pacific. One of those tests took place near a small island named Krakoa. Somehow, the radiation altered the island, turning it into a giant hive-mind.

The original X-Men (minus Beast) came to investigate the island in search of a new mutant. What they found was hell. The animals tore at them, the plants grasped at them, and giaant monsters trapped them. It then began to feed on them, until Cyclops was freed to bring him new mutants.

These events lead to Professor Xavier recruiting a new, international team of X-Men, including characters that would become fan favorites. Storm, Colossus, and Nightcrawler all made their first appearences, and while Wolverine already appeared fighting the Hulk, here he became a mainstay.

These new members went with Cyclops and rescued the original X-Men before battling Krakoa. But how do you fight an island itself? The only way they could stop him was by pulling off something unbelieably badass. While Professor X used his telepathy and Cyclops and Havok used their energy powers to keep the monster at bay, Storm conjured lightning. She used that to supercharge Polaris’ powers of magnetism, letting her create a magnetic pulse so strong that it severed gravity around the island. The monster got sent far into space where it could never hurt anyone again, while the X-Men escaped.

Legacy

Like I said, pretty awesome, right? It’s my favorite creature, though, because of the legacy it left. This would be the rebirth of the X-Men, with the era that followed turning them from a backwater team into Marvel’s most popular group. Unknown to all, though, Krakoa also left a darker legacy.

In X-Men: Deadly Genesis almost thirty years later, it was revealed that there was a lot of the original story was a lie. Xavier had sent another team of mutants to rescue the original X-Men, and while they got Cyclops to safety, they were all lost fighting Krakoa. Half of them got killed, and the other half was unknowingly left to die when Krakoa got launched into space. Add on the fact that one of those mutants was Cyclops’ long lost brother, and it was a horrific event.

With Cyclops mentally broken, Xavier chose to erase all memory of this other team and new brother. He then kept up the illussion by making the island appear sentient when it was, in fact, a mindless monster. Also, those two members that were left for dead came back after M-Day, and Cyclops’ brother went crazy.

This whole story was crazy, and I urge you to take a look at Giant-Size X-Men #1 and X-Men: Deadly Genesis if you get the chance. It will be worth the read!

There are a lot of organizations in the Marvel’s multiverse, but until I say so, I’m sticking with the original. Of all the organizations in the Marvel Multiverse, there’s one that stands out above the rest.

S.H.I.E.L.D.

The Strategic Homeland Intervention & Enforcement Logistics Division, or SHIELD. SHIELD’s been around since 1965, and whether people know it or not, they’ve played a big a role in Earth’s superhuman community. Almost always led by Nick Fury, the international law enforcement agency serves as the UN’s muscle. They conduct espionage, deal with metahuman and supernatural affairs, and protect the world. Makes me wish that we had something like this in the real world.

Crazy SHIELD

On second thought, it may not be helpful. SHIELD’s done some pretty sketchy stuff over the years, and it has gone through upheaval. It’s even gotten disbanded at several points in the past. One time, Nick Fury led them on an illegal strike against Latveria, leading to him being branded a fugitive and newcomer Maria Hill put in charge. That was in time for Marvel’s “Civil War” event which tore the the superhero community apart.

It gets worse: Tony Stark got put in charge of SHIELD, and he did a good job at first, but then the alien Skrulls almost took over the Earth. Stark got the blame and became a fugitive, and SHIELD got replaced by HAMMER, run by Norman Osborn.

Thank god that didn’t last long, and the US put Steve Rogers in charge of SHIELD. Then he got replaced by an evil, HYDRA version and tried to take over the world. So, bye-bye SHIELD. This time, for good.

Crazy thing is that all the stuff I mentioned has happened in the last twenty years. The MCU version’s got it even worse.

People would think that my favorite team would be the Avengers, given how much of a fan I am of the MCU. I do love the Avengers, but I’m sticking to the comics, and there’s only one team that’s my favorite

The X-Men

When I was going through my late childhood/teenage phase of buying comic books, it was usually the X-Men. I must have checked out almost every X-Men book from my local library. I’ve read almost every issue written during Chris Claremont’s run on it. One of my favorite cartoons was Wolverine and the X-Men.

Of course, it helps that the X-Men are more than a single team. They’ve grown into an army of teams. There’s the main team, X-Factor, X-Force, the New Mutants, and more! As I said before, they are an army.

Not only that, but the X-Men have been at the heart of some of the biggest stories in Marvel history: House of M, Avengers vs. X-Men, The Dark Phoenix Saga, and more. They are one of the greatest superhero teams in history, and I will always be a huge fan of them.

I Don’t Like Most of the Movies. Bite Me.

For the record, I don’t like most of the X-Men films. Having seen what the MCU has done, I knew that basing an entire movie franchise off of one team was going to end in a dumpster fire. It was too limiting. I’m glad that Disney bought Fox, since that means that the X-Men are going to be a part of the MCU.

Click here to see some of the best stories in the X-Men’s run. There are a lot of good stories.

By the way, Wolverine’s my favorite X-Men. He’s got an amazing history, and he’s voiced by Steve Blum, so that makes him awesome.

I was going to choose Black Panther for today’s challenge, but then I remembered that there’s another character of royal blood in Marvel that I like. He may not seem like royalty, but he is.

Peter Quill, AKA Star-Lord

No, seriously. I am not joking. While the MCU may have changed who his dad was, the comic book version is very much of royal lineage. Ergo, he gets to be my favorite royal. In the comics, his dad, J’son, was part of the interstellar Spartax Empire.

J’son crash landed on Earth one day, where he met Meredith Quill. They ended up dating while he fixed his ship, but he had to leave her behind. What no one knew was that she was pregnant with their child. Also, J’son was actually the prince of the Spartax Empire, so that kind of makes Peter Quill the sci-fi version of Jon Snow.

Unlike Jon, Peter got to spend his childhood with his mom and live a normal life, until that alien race fighting the Spartoi found out about him and tried to kill him. He survived while his mom died, and vowed to travel to space and get revenge. After NASA wouldn’t let him join, though, he stole a Kree ship from them and ran away.

Peter took the name Star-Lord and fell in with a band of rogues for a while before he finally met his father. They didn’t get along. After trying to force him to become Prince, J’son was instead overthrown. So, Pete ended up becoming Emperor for a while. He even got engaged to Kitty Pryde from the X-Men. Too bad they broke it off in the end.

Peter continues wandering the universe, either alone or as part of the Guardians of the Galaxy. No matter how hard he tries though, he can’t seem to escape his royal lineage. His own dad even put a bounty on him. Regardless, he still fights for good across the universe as Star-Lord, making him my favorite royal.

It’s day three of the 30-Day Marvel Challenge, and I have to pick out my favorite diva character. I’ll be honest: I don’t know that many divas in Marvel’s repetoire. I tend to avoid reading about them because they’re the kind of person that I can’t stand. In fact, there’s only one diva that I know of.

Emma Frost, The White Queen

I didn’t learn who Emma was until I first saw in Wolverine and the X-Men, but she has quite the history in the comics. Introduced all the way back in 1980 during Chris Claemont’s legendary run, she’s the daughter of a wealthy family from Boston. Once she discovered her mutant powers as a telepath, she used them to advance her standing in life, becoming the White Queen of the secret Hellfire club. In her first appearance, she tried recruiting a young Kitty Pryde to her school (and the Hellfire Club), only to be defeated by the X-Men and seemingly killed.

She only faked her death, though, and she and the X-Men would clash several more times over the years. When most of her students were killed by a time-travelling villain, though, she becomes an ally to the X-Men. After making her way to Magneto’s mutant island-nation of Genosha, Frost lost another group of students when most of the island was slaughtered by Sentinel Robots. She joins the X-Men as a full-fledged member, and after Jean Grey dies, starts dating Cyclops. Last I heard, she got forced out of the X-Men after a war between them and the Inhumans due to helping to start the war. I think, I don’t know.

In all her appearances, the key thing I remember about Emma Frost is her “high-and-mighty”, queen-bee demeanor. She’s always acting reserved and refined, and when she was with the X-Men, that didn’t win her any favors. There was also the fact that she talked a emotionally-fragile Cyclops into having a psyhic affair with her, too. If I’m honest, if Emma frost was a real person, I doubt that I would get along with her that well. She’s a diva who likes to act high-and-mighty. Still, I know that she can be a good person, as seen in Wolverine and the X-Men when she sacrificed herself to save the X-Men.

Marvel is no stranger to amazing villains, many of whom have gotten the big screen treatment. The MCU has given us great takes on villains like Thanos, Loki, and Killmonger. Willem Dafoe gave gave us an amazing version of the Green Goblin. But of all the villains in the Marvel Comics, only one can be the best. For me, hat spot goes to Max Eisenhardt, AKA Magneto

Magneto, The Master of Magnetism

There are villains out there are far more powerful and evil than Magneto: Dr. Doom, Thanos, Ultron, Kang, the Red Skull, to name a few. The reason he gets my pick for favorite villain has nothing to do with his power or feats. I chose him because he’s the one a lot of people can sympathize with.

For those don’t know, Magneto was born to a German-Jewish family as the Nazi’s rose to power. His entire family was murdered during the Holocaust, so he knew first hand what humans would do to those who were different. He escaped Auschwitz alongside his future wife, Magda, and tried to move on from his past. No matter how hard he tried, though, he couldn’t forget the horrors of the Holocaust. When he learned he was a mutant and that there were others like him, he knew what was coming, what humanity would do. So, he vowed to never let that happen, regardless of what lines he had to cross.

What separates Magneto from other villains is his motives. Yes, there is the desire for world domination and power, so his ego is a part of this. At his core, though, he’s a man who saw the darkest of human nature, and he never wants to see that again. The worst part, though, is that on some level, Magneto’s right.

Ask yourself right: do you think the fears of Magneto are unfounded? That this could never happen? It happens all the time. Persecution, racism, genocide, destruction of entire cultures. The Holocaust isn’t even the biggest example! This stuff has been happening since humans got the idea that one way of life is better than everyone else.

Magneto was broken by war and violence, and since he saw that it got results, he responded in turn. He hasn’t always stayed a villain, staying more in the grey area between villain and anti-hero at times. He remains a tragic victim as much as an agressor, and that’s what makes him such a good villain. It’s why I like him so much, and why he’s my favorite villain.

If you read my blog, you know that I’m a big fan of superheroes. From the ones made by Marvel and DC to those made by others, I love superheroes. I still have all my comics (I call it my retirement insurance). After seeing my friend Jirayan start something called the 30-Day Marvel Challenge, I knew I wanted in. I know I’m a days behind, but that’s not gonna stop me. So let’s start with day 1- my favorite character

Hope Summers, The Mutant Messiah

It would be so easy to say someone like Captain America or Spider-Man, but I don’t want easy! My favorite character has to be Hope Summers, the Mutant Messiah.

If you don’t know who she is, I don’t blame you. She’s not seen that often outside the comics. Nonetheless, she had a big role to play in the Marvel Universe.

Here’s the story: back in 2004, Scarlet Witch’s powers went nuts and started altering reality in the event known as “Avengers: Disassembled” forcing her teammates in the Avengers to take her down teammate down. Afterwards, the X-Men and Avengers decided she was now too dangerous to live. Before they could do anything, though, she used her powers to rewrite reality into one known as “The House of M”

In this new reality, Magneto ruled a world where mutants were the majority, and all the heroes had their greatest desires fulfilled. Thanks to the efforts of Wolverine, the House of M was undone and reality restored to normal. However, Wanda used her powers once more, uttering three words that would have devastating consequences:

As a result, 99% of all mutants in the Marvel Universe were de-powered into normal humans. Only 198 were left, and thanks to Wanda, no more mutants could be born. Or so it seemed. One year after the mutant decimation, the impossible happened, and a mutant child was born.The X-Men waged a war to protect this child, who had the potential to save their species. In the end, the baby was taken into the future by the time-traveling hero Cable, who raised her as his daughter and gave her her name: Hope Summers.

Eventually, Cable and Hope chose to return to the present, kick starting the “X-Men: Second Coming” story line. The X-Men waged a war against the Sentinel Bastion and his army of mutant haters to protect Hope. In the final battle in San Francisco, Hope demonstrated her ability to copy and use the powers of any mutant, and with her full power unleashed, Bastion’s plans for mutant genocide came to an end.

In the aftermath, more mutants began to appear, and for a time, it looked like Hope would save mutantkind from extinction. Then things get weirder. The cosmic entity known as the Phoenix Force started making its way to Earth in search of Hope, who it had chosen to be its next host. While the X-Men see this as a a chance to revive their race, the Avengers don’t want to take any chances.

This leads to the war between the biggest superhero teams in Marvel, Avengers vs. X-Men, and thanks to the meddling of the Avengers, the Phoenix Force is split between five of the X-Men. Predictably, they all become corrupted by the Phoenix’s power, culminating in Cyclops becoming Dark Phoenix.

In a poetic way to end the saga that began with “House of M”, Hope teams up with a repentant Scarlet Witch to defeat Dark Phoenix and finally inherit the Phoenix Force. She then uses it to undo Wanda’s spell and restore mutantkind, fulfilling her destiny as the Mutant Messiah.

Hope Summers may not be the most important character in the Marvel Universe, or the most well-known, but I consider her my favorite because of the amazing story she has. Born in spite of a spell so powerful it was woven into the fabric of reality, hunted across the space-time continuum before returning to the present to save her people. The whole thing just sounds so amazing to me. Plus there are her powers. She can copy and use the powers of any mutant in the Marvel Universe. If she used them to the fullest, she could become the strongest person in the Marvel Universe!

Following her story was the reason why I started seriously collecting comic books, and I do not regret it for a second. If you haven’t read her story yet, you should. It’s some of the best X-Men stories in the last twenty years. I wish they would adapt the whole thing into an animated mini-series. I would watch it.

If you want to learn more about the events mentioned here, click these links:

• Avengers: Disassembled
• House of M
• Messiah Complex
• Messiah War
• X-Men: Second Coming
• Avengers vs. X-Men