Marvel’s X-Men line is currently undergoing an uncanny renaissance thanks to Head of X Jonathan Hickman and his team of talented creators. But X-Fans weren’t always so fortunate. In fact, it wasn’t too long ago that X-Fans had to endure one of the most controversial and polarizing X-Eras in the franchise’s history.
Much of the behind-the-scenes decision-making in the post-Secret Wars/Inhumans Vs. X-Men era is still shrouded in mystery, but with each passing creator interview, we seem to be learning new tidbits as to what could have been. Today, for example, we’re learning that Dan Slott, the writer who turned Spider-Man from “Amazing” to “Superior” could have been the Head of X.
In an interview with the AIPT Comics Podcast, Slott told co-hosts David Brooke and Forrest Hollingsworth that when his lengthy Spider-Man run was nearing its end, then Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso took Slott out to lunch to pitch him what he wanted him to tackle next.
“You can be the God of X,” Alonso told Slott. “You can guide the X-Men universe.”
Slott’s immediate response? “Mehhh,” which surprised Alonso.
“I’m not really an X guy,” Slott explained. “I had collected comics my whole life and, yeah, I read the Byrne/Claremont run, but I get spotty at certain eras and it would be so much research and I’m really not up on all the mythos of X and I’m really more of an MCU guy.”
When asked what Slott wanted to do instead, he said Fantastic Four and Indiana Jones. Obviously, one of those ended up becoming reality, and the rest is Marvel history.
This wasn’t the only X-Men talk on the podcast, as Slott–the former writer of Marvel’s The Ren & Stimpy Show comic–wanted to do a crossover story between the X-Men and Powdered Toast Man that never happened.
Hm, maybe the bread-themed hero could have reappeared in the Slott X-Men era. Either way, I highly recommend you listen to the entire episode, as Slott always gives solid interviews (I would know, we chatted for X-Men Monday this past summer at FAN EXPO Boston 2019)!
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