100 days of enemy recs: 66. Xavier/Magneto

[melannen]

I went and looked up the old ship_manifesto for this pairing and it said something about how there were FOUR WHOLE CONTINUITIES to keep track of, and they knew it was confusing. Ah, we were such sweet summer children back then.

(,,,meanwhile, xmfc was ten years ago? please join me in feeling old for a moment.)

The main - but definitely not the only - continuities that really matter fannishly for these two are the original comics, the various cartoons, the Stewart/McKellan movieverse, and the XMFC movieverse. Since Disney are probably going to screw with it again now that they own the rights, it's probably a good time to go through this.

I can't really summarize the comics for you. Partly because for huge swaths of X-Men comics, I just can't parse the art even when the art isn't objectively bad. I'm still listening along to the Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men podcast in an attempt to figure it out, and while it has helped a lot to figure out Summerses and Apocalypse and Wolverine and many other things, I still haven't really come up with a Unified Theory of Xavier and Magneto. Probably because there isn't one. Just remember that Xavier and Magneto have definitely been lovers, and have also spent a lot of time as enemies, and as allies, and also a lot of time when one or the other of them was evil and/or dead and/or pretending to be dead, and have probably at least once been retconned into never having met and then retconned back? It is even more of a mess than most comics continuities because basically a generation grows up with Magneto as an evil villain, and then a writer goes "but wouldn't it be cool if he reforms!" and then that lasts until the next generation takes over and makes him a cardboard villain again like when they were kids, and then the *next* generation comes in and makes him a good guy like when they were kids, and then... well, you get the idea.

There are several cartoon verses, several of which had their own thriving fic fandoms in the early days of online fandom, but they are scarce and hard to find these days. X-Men Evolution was basically a high school AU where Xavier was the principle, and ends with Magneto implied to be redeemed. The earlier X-Men cartoon basically followed the comics storylines, only a tiny bit more cohesively.

Then there's the movies. The first X-Men movie with Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellan was just. Really good. It's basically the movie that convinced the world that superhero movies could actually be legitimately good movies and worth making, so I guess we kind of have it to blame for what has happened to Hollywood since. But one of the main things it got right was focusing in on the Xavier/Magneto history as the foundation of the whole story. Another thing they got right was being willing to start in the middle of the story and let people catch up. Magneto starts the movie already in jail, having been previously captured by the X-men, being visited by his old friend/foe/lover Charles Xavier, and it just keeps that relationship tuned perfectly the whole way through. They agree on ends and disagree on means and you get the distinct impression is that all they want is to be able to sit together and keep their philosophical argument going for the rest of their lives, but both of them are too much men of action to be able to do it. It's so great.

Later there were more movie in the series and unfortunately they kind of went off the rails, but the first one is still very good. I should re-watch it.

Then they rebooted with X-Men First Class, which tries to do what the original movie realized it didn't need to do, and fill in the Xavier/Magneto backstory. It, too, understood that their love story was the key to the whole thing, so understandably, the vast majority of the Xavier/Magneto you will find on the web these days is XMFC continuity.

I never really bonded with XMFC, though, for a couple of reasons. One is that everything *other* than the Xavier/Magneto in that movie was just a mess. One is that the vast majority of the fic in that fandom AUs out Xavier's disability, and I'm interested in a character who has basically always canonically used a wheelchair. And the last one is that, look, if you have the option of a Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan version of anything, why would you ever look anywhere else????

"We'll meet in secret to play chess in the park when we're old" is still my ideal of a love story.

So here is some classic original XMMV Xavier/Magneto fic for you.

• Travel Advisory (3497 words) by Penknife
  Fandom: X-Men (Movieverse)
  Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
  Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
  Relationships: Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier
  Characters: Erik Lehnsherr, Charles Xavier
  Additional Tags: Cliche, Hotel, Airplanes
  
  Xavier and Magneto, coincidentally cancelled flights, and only one bed.



• In Dreams Begin Responsibility (2957 words) by Kass
  Fandom: X-Men (Movieverse)
  Rating: Mature
  Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
  Relationships: Charles/Erik
  Additional Tags: Telepathy, Dreams, First Time
  
  Xavier dreams.



• Smoking on the Bus / Burn All The Letters / The Last of the Jedi by artaxastra
  X-Men (Movieverse),
  Charles/Erik
  Long
  Rating: Mature
  
  Charles and Erik and time and youth.

Comments

[primeideal]

To make sure I have this correct. The ship is X/M. And one of the subfandoms' names is XMFC. But that XM stands for X-Men, not X/M?

Are the characters' initials deliberate, or is this just a really weird acronym coincidence???

[melannen]

Sort of! The X-Men may or may not have been exactly named for Charles Xavier (it varies by canon, there's also the X-gene that causes mutants which also may or may not be named for him) but they are his superhero team and the matching Xs are at least deliberate! I think the M for Magneto is complete coincidence though.

(A lot of movieverse uses Charles/Erik for the ship shorthand, possibly to reduce confusion, but that doesn't really work for the overall ship because the comics kept forgetting what Magneto's real name was and changing it.)

[primeideal]

"the comics kept forgetting what Magneto's real name was and changing it." Haha I don't even go here but this sounds like a very comics fandom thing. Thanks!

[likeadeuce]

I also tend to default to the original movieverse but I wanted to mention pocky_slash's Everything about it is a love song which is sort of a hybrid of the 2 verses (it's definitely about the Stewart/Mckellen vers ions but uses elements from xmfc) -- and it's the ultimate manifestation of the 'lovers to enemies to lovers, late in life re-evaluating everything and choosing love' trope for me

[hannah]

Oh, I love that one. Especially how it shows a disabled character simply living their life while disabled - I haven't had much luck finding fics with that. I should start searching gain.

[likeadeuce]

As the original poster alluded, I also struggle with a lot of the XMFC Cherik because it tends toward AU's that erase a lot of the important issues in the relationship (disability being important but not the only one -- Judaism, the civil rights subtext, etc.). Pocky_slash is one writer who consistently avoids that and brings a lot of the interesting philosophical and political issues into whatever AUs she builds.

[kore]

AU's that erase a lot of the important issues in the relationship (disability being important but not the only one -- Judaism, the civil rights subtext, etc)

YES to all that, and it bugs me both characters get really softened, especially Magneto, in terms of what they're willing to do for their cause(s).

(Especially re Jean and X-Men 3. OMFG what a horrible, terrible, no good movie.)

[melannen]

Yes.

And also, some of the fics do try to address at least some of the political and other stuff, but part of what makes the Mutant Metaphor(tm) evergreen is that it's always (metaphorically) about whatever our big issue is right now, for us.

By making XMFC a period piece, the metaphor becomes about the issues that were big for them, then. (And canon didn't do a great job with the back then issues, either.) So even the fics that try to address the other political/identity stuff often seem to not quite work, it's pushing it through both the Mutant Metaphor filter and the Historical Fiction filter and ends up a bit too mushy.

Pocky_slash (and a few of the others that use XMFC backstory) make it work because Picard/McKellan's Xavier/Magneto was always in large part about how the problems of the past keep haunting us in the present, and that is always one of the problems of us, now.

[melannen]

Oh yes, that one is really good! I was tempted to put it on the recs list but I had enough for a pure original movieverse set, so I went with that.

[ambyr]

Travel Advisory is also on AO3, if that's more readable for anyone: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1684

[melannen]

Thanks! Penknife's stuff is all locked on AO3, unfortunately, so I didn't want to have it as the main public rec.

(If anyone knows a better place for artaxastra's work than lucky lj comms that are still up, please let me know.)

[sineala]

I still haven't really come up with a Unified Theory of Xavier and Magneto. Probably because there isn't one.

There was also the time when Xavier and Magneto were combined, but alas not in a sexy way, into one terrible villain named Onslaught. Who is, as far as I know, back in the comics right now. Sigh.

They are basically always Something to each other, I think. Just might not be something good.

[melannen]

Jay and Miles are just getting to the original Onslaught now after delaying as long as they possibly could! I think I am glad I'm not reading it in the comics.

But is it really a major comics enemyship if some kind of child of theirs doesn't show up in some storyline at some point?

"They are always each other's Most Important Person, but not always in the same way" is probably my most enduring OTP dynamic.

[sineala]

"They are always each other's Most Important Person, but not always in the same way" is probably my most enduring OTP dynamic.

It's a really good dynamic. :)

[dhampyresa]

"We'll meet in secret to play chess in the park when we're old" is still my ideal of a love story.

MOOD, as the kids these days say

[melannen]

ik,r?

[kore]

meanwhile, xmfc was ten years ago?

LIES

look, if you have the option of a Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan version of anything, why would you ever look anywhere else????

Seriously! I remember feeling super out of step with fandom at the time because suddenly all the fic was Young Cherik while I love Stewart and McKellan together. It was like when all the Holmes fic got swamped with Sherlock BBC. Which I wouldn't even mind so much, except OMG THE TAGS.

[melannen]

Like, I don't fundamentally object to the basic idea of people writing boring mundane modern AUs just because they like the actors/characters, but again, why would you do that with anyone else if Stewart and McKellan are an option? (They don't even have to be the old versions, young Stewart and McKellan are also both very good.)

And yeah I really wish it was possible to filter AO3 for that version, this recs set is all pre-2011 fic because I couldn't find any other way to filter to not be swamped with xmfc fic. I want to say "tag better" except that's a fandom where continuity itself is such a mess they aren't even really tagging badly, within AO3's general standards.

[kore]

Sir PatStew was quite handsome and sexy but young Ian McKellan was HOLY SHIT GORGEOUS. Like I watched him in Edward II with a friend of mine and we basically had to rewatch the opening ten minutes because both of us were just like "DAMN." Combine it with That Voice acting Shakespeare and the very clingy and slashed and see-through costumes of 1970 and we were goners. I think the BBC has his Richard II hidden in a vault somewhere. He was 29!

except that's a fandom where continuity itself is such a mess they aren't even really tagging badly, within AO3's general standards.

Oh ghod just imagine when Feige reintroduces mutants to the MCU.

[melannen]

I am going to have to make sure I go through and bookmark EVERYTHING before the mutants show up in MCU.

[out_there]

(,,,meanwhile, xmfc was ten years ago? please join me in feeling old for a moment.)

Heh. Yes, we're old.

I will always love Charles/Erik. I went through a big comics phase in 90s and loved my XMen storylines. I loved the 90s cartoons, and the first XMen movie and XMFC does get the basic relationship right -- the mutual respect and political commitment, and the completely opposing views on how to achieve it.

And the last one is that, look, if you have the option of a Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan version of anything, why would you ever look anywhere else????

Valid point, but I do love this vid for combining the two -- Rolling in the Deep.

[melannen]

Ooh, that reminds me that one of the first fanvids I ever saw was a Stewart/McKellan one, I wonder if I could still track it down without remembering the maker or the song...