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???

[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

[ambyr]

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

[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.

[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

[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.

[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.