5 X-Men Characters We Hope to See in 'Legion' Season 1
These five should make their way into the world of 'Legion.'
Legion, starring Dan Stevens (The Guest), spotlights just one of many mutants who exist in the larger X-Men universe. But Legion, aka David, has a special place in X-Men lore. According to Marvel canon, he’s the son of Professor Charles Xavier and he has been written as a villain and reluctant anti-hero since his debut in 1985. Now that FX has turned its attention to Legion’s story, which other mutants could easily show up in the new TV series?
David, who may suffer from schizophrenia (though other mutants tell him he actually just has telekinesis and telepathy) is powerful enough to absorb other minds into his own. It’s likely that whatever non-X-Men mutant who appears in Legion could wind up being sucked in among the hundreds of innocents in David’s mind.
In books like New Mutants and Age of X, David has fought against and stood by many mutants, and early episodes of Legion indicate David isn’t alone in man’s war with mutants, possibly even hinting at the formation of the Force Warriors from the Age of X storyline. So what mutants should come to life in Legion? Below are a few.
Hellion in 'Age of X'
5. Julian Keller, aka Hellion
In the Age of X reality, telekinetic Julian Keller is born from a rich family and irresponsibly fails to keep a low-profile when he’s on the run, eventually getting him caught up in Magneto’s Mutant Resistance. He then joined the Force Warriors with Legion, which was a group of elite young mutants tasked with guarding Fortress X against the outside world.
In the Age of X reality, Hellion is distinctly featured with a severed arm, a scar from a laser attack intending to kill him. Using his telekinesis, he has a robotic prosthetic that hovers just below the stub of his right arm.
Stand-Off in 'Age of X'
4. Carmella Unuscione, aka Stand-Off
Not much is known about Carmella Unuscione, who goes by the name Stand-Off in the field for her ability to form shields she calls “exoskeletons” she can shape at will. Despite appearing in over 200 issues since 1993, her entire backstory remains a mystery, though she might be the daughter of Angelo Unuscione, also known as Unus the Untouchable. Since she’s a pretty blank slate, so an appearance on Legion wouldn’t be tied down to any old continuity.
Revenant in 'Age of X'
3. Revenant
Like Stand-Off, Revenant is also a total mystery, though it’s strongly suggested she is the reincarnated form of Jean Grey who died in an explosion at Albany in the Age of X reality. Appearing in flesh, her body is actually made of patterned plasma and is capable of telekinesis, flight, and pyrokinesis, also reinforcing her lineage to Jean Grey. She tells Cyclops that she is the mental manifestation of his daughter with Jean, Rachel Summers, sent from across the cosmos with a poorly timed arrival at the dawn of Age of X. She’s basically a mind without a body, and after Age of X, she disappears back to reunite with Rachel’s body.
While Cyclops and Jean Grey didn’t have Rachel in the X-Men timeline, Revenant can still exist on her own in Legion.
Cypher, with Warlok in 'New Mutants'
2. Doug Ramsey, aka Cypher
One of the New Mutants who joined in 1984, Cypher is also a creation from Legion co-creator Chris Claremont and Sal Buscema. With the power to decipher any language, his somewhat un-superpowers didn’t make him an ideal student for Professor Xavier’s academy but was given a scholarship to Emma Frost’s rival school which he declined. He is later sought after when the techno-organic mutant Warlock arrives at the school and is unable to communicate, prompting the need for Cypher and his membership to the New Mutants.
An easy superpower to get on camera, Cypher is just a convenient cool character to add to Legion without spending a ton of the VFX budget.
'X-Man' in the 'Age of Apocalypse' storyline.
1. X-Man
Nate Grey is the alternate universe version of the one they call Cable, who is on his way to Deadpool 2 in his more recognized older self. But X-Man, still the son of Jean Grey and Cyclops with tampering by Mr. Sinister, hails from the alternate Age of Apocalypse reality which last year’s X-Men: Apocalypse only sort of lifted inspiration from. Wielding similar powers to Legion along with precognition, X-Man is born directly because of Legion’s tampering with the timeline to kick off Age of Apocalypse.
Borrowing from that origin, Legion could either be a mentor to X-Man or he could be some kind of antagonistic force that exists as a punishment for Legion abusing his powers; that is, should he get a real handle on them in Legion enough to get to that point
Legion premieres February 8 on FX.
