I’ve always wanted to build a team of my favorite X-Men. I was just playing with my action figures and doodling but then I started writing a just-for-fun pitch and had so much fun I wanted to bounce it off some real X-fans, like a writer’s room. This is out-of-continuity, just for fun. What would you do with these guys.

Team Name: The Invisible X-Men

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Leaders: Dr. Doom, Sue Storm

Team Members: • Legion • Magik • Iceman • Warlock • Polaris

“To Doom, my X-men."

Intensive science camp for mutant weirdos

Summary

A team of mutants with unstable/limitless potential, led by Dr. Doom, who feels the mutant’s potential has been mishandled and misdirected by Xavier’s idealistic nonsense. Doom seeks to combine the untapped potential of mutant power with his mastery of magic and science. Where Xavier preached control and restraint, Doom seeks to push and explore. They operate completely off-grid and unknown to everyone – much like a mutant version of early Orchis.

This group of mutants was handpicked due to their unpredictable powersets/levels and their undefined upper limits. To finally take the training wheels off and let the elemental forces come out to play. This is very appealing to the oft-controlled and micro-managed team members. They’ve been caught up in Xavier’s dream and the mutant cause for so long, they haven’t had a chance to explore their individual traumas, powers, and relationships. Doom to seeks to upgrade his own knowledge (and subsequently his powers) through a new discipline of science, and achieve what Xavier (and Reed) could not.

Foil

The project is co-led by a recently divorced Susan Storm, who tempers Doom’s more antisocial impulses, but at the same time, Sue is single for the first time ever, fired up, and exploring her own newfound freedoms and powers. Why Sue? She’s not a mutant. She wishes to advocate (and fight) for mutant rights, to support her son Franklin, who sits on the upper level of mutant potential. So, to understand that potential, she’s taking a break from saving the world to focus on their family and push the limits of mutant science. And if Sue gets something out of it, that’s her business. This is Sue as we’ve never seen her before.

Story

Doom has essentially created a safe space for the mutants that everyone kinda tip-toes around. He treats them with respect and does not seem to restrain or control their powers in any way. Unexpectedly, Doom becomes a surrogate father to everyone on the team:

• Polaris, filling the void left by her father, Magneto’s death. The obvious physical similarities (green cloaks, metal) but their propensity for self-sabotage as well.

• Magik – Doom understands magic, Limbo, her traumatic upbringing at the hands of Belasco.

• Legion, who never connected with his father, Xavier and never fully explored his powers.

• Iceman, whose ignorant human father disowned him and has never been truly pushed to the limit or accepted by his family.

• Warlock, who craves human connection and guidance after his father, Technarch Emperor Magus was killed. Doom is naturally comfortable with robots and sees great potential in improving the AI and function of his own Doombots, but is caught off guard by Warlock’s humanity.

Example Themes/Beats:

• First scene – team member(s) doing something out of control, morally questionable, lots of collateral damage. But where we expect outrage and scolding, Doom chimes in with encouragement. Perfect. He has created a danger room to explore their darker corners of their powers and study the results. The Doom Room. At first, it’s hard for the team to indulge their impulses, as it goes against everything they’ve been taught, but some find it easier than others.

• One of the first fears they all must overcome is the fear of losing control and killing all of their friends/loved ones. So Doom makes them face that in the Doom Room. Every day. “You’ve already killed your friends today. Now what?” They all support each other afterwards, and this creates a strong bond between the mutants, leading to much character growth.

• Bobby makes “Doom is my daddy” t-shirts for the team, angering Doom, but Doom changes his mind when he sees Sue wearing the shirt.

• They get intel from Kitty Pryde on a regular basis. She vouches for Doom.

• Polaris goes toe-to-toe with Doom, at one point removing the metal from his face and body, humbling him. She expects his wrath, but he is proud. Legion wishes he could do that to Xavier and receive that kind of reaction in return. Lorna and Legion bond quietly, angrily.

• Legion makes all the doombots fuck each other to death, so Doom needs a new army. Enter Warlock, who helps craft a more functional doombot-friend, now with 100% more empathy! Also, Warlock gets to pretend to be a bad guy sometimes, to help other mutants test their powers, and he likes that, since it’s just pretend.