[net.comics] X-Men's ages

harry@ucbarpa (07/23/85)

From: harry@ucbarpa (Harry I. Rubin)

Subject: Re: Rachel of the X-family
Newsgroups: net.comics
In-Reply-To: <3182@decwrl.UUCP>
Organization: U.C. Berkeley

In article <3182@decwrl.UUCP> jayembee writes:
>	Rachel --- the one in the F[uture] H[istroy] issues and is now in
>	the present, is likely in her late 20's, which would actually make
>	her older then the current Scott!

How old is the "current" Scott?  I thought he was in his early thirtes,
or even mid-thirties.  

BTW, trivia question:  How old was Scott in X-Men #1 when Prof. X spirits
him away from the orphanage?  For that matter, how old were each of the 
X-Men, both the originals and the newer crew, when they were recruited,
and how old are they now?  (Replies to the net.)

						Harry

ellen@reed.UUCP (Ellen Eades) (07/25/85)

> In article <3182@decwrl.UUCP> jayembee writes:
>>Rachel --- the one in the F[uture] H[istroy] issues and is now in
>>the present, is likely in her late 20's, which would actually make
>>her older then the current Scott!
> 
>How old is the "current" Scott?  I thought he was in his early thirtes,
>or even mid-thirties.  
> 
>BTW, trivia question:  How old was Scott in X-Men #1 when Prof. X spirits
>him away from the orphanage?  For that matter, how old were each of the 
>X-Men, both the originals and the newer crew, when they were recruited,
>and how old are they now?  (Replies to the net.)
> 
> 						Harry
I *think* that Scott was supposed to be 26 in 1980 when Jean
died, which would make him 30 or so now, but Marvel frequently
reiterates that they do not keep real-world time (which seems
reasonable to me, since the issues only come out monthly). Jean
was supposed to be 24 or 25 at the same time;  and I think that
Scott was 17, Jean 15 or thereabouts when they joined the X-Men,
Bobby Drake somewhat younger than Scott (16, maybe?) and Hank
McCoy and Warren Worthington 16 and 17.  On the other hand, one
of the early X-Men has a "photo" of all the X-Men taken upon
"graduation" from Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters,
diplomas and all.  Does that mean they were all contemporaries?
Also -- apparently Xavier discovered that Jean, the daughter of
his friend Professor Grey, was a telepath at the age of 10.
What was she doing between 10 and 15 when she joined the X-Men?

No one knows how old Logan is; he's apparently fought in WWII
but is very close-mouthed both about that and the origin of
his claws and skeleton (claiming amnesia).  I think Kitty Pryde
was 13 when she joined (see Scott's comment on Kitty in #138,
"Elegy");  Ororo and Kurt -- who knows; and Peter probably
around Warren's age -- 17 or 18.  

Any of this could be flawed;  I'm dredging it up from vague
memories of conversations and net comments.

Ellen Eades
-- 
-    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
	"Who's been repeating all that hard stuff to you?"
	"I read it in a book," said Alice.
-    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -
	tektronix!reed!ellen OR tektronix!reed!motel6!ellen

ron@wjvax.UUCP (Ron Christian) (07/30/85)

>No one knows how old Logan is; he's apparently fought in WWII
>but is very close-mouthed both about that and the origin of
>his claws and skeleton (claiming amnesia).
>Ellen Eades
***
I think the origin of his claws and skeleton was covered in either
the X-Men awhile back or in a very early Alpha Flight.  His Admantium
innards were implanted by the Canadian government, apparently without
his consent.  (At least he was VERY unhappy about it.)  Something I'm
not clear about, though:  Logan mentioned at one time or another that he
had been an assasin for the government.  Was that before or after he
got his claws?  (Maybe it was in Japan?)  None of this has come up in
any recent plots.

A complex character, Logan has (had?) some facinating sides to him that
are rarely seen now.  (Sigh.)  He doesn't even have his old blood lust
any more, preferring to posture and threaten like the rest of the big
bad superfolks.  Bah.
-- 
__
	Ron Christian  (Watkins-Johnson Co.  San Jose, Calif.)
	{pesnta,twg,ios,qubix,turtlevax,tymix,vecpyr,certes,isi}!wjvax!ron

boyajian@akov68.DEC (JERRY BOYAJIAN) (08/03/85)

[I get the feeling I posted this one already, but I didn't see it come
back around. Apologies if this is a re-posting.]

> From: harry@ucbarpa (Harry I. Rubin)

> In article <3182@decwrl.UUCP> jayembee writes:
>>	Rachel --- the one in the F[uture] H[istroy] issues and is now in
>>	the present, is likely in her late 20's, which would actually make
>>	her older then the current Scott!
 
> How old is the "current" Scott?  I thought he was in his early thirtes,
> or even mid-thirties.  
>
> BTW, trivia question:  How old was Scott in X-Men #1 when Prof. X spirits
> him away from the orphanage?  For that matter, how old were each of the 
> X-Men, both the originals and the newer crew, when they were recruited,
> and how old are they now?  (Replies to the net.)

Well, this gets a little complicated...

First of all, are you acquainted with the fiat at DC that Superman will
always be about 29 years old, regardless of how much time passes in the
real world? Well, some years back, Marvel decided to issue a similar sort
of dictum. At that point (I believe it was circa 1981), they decided that
the Marvel Age Timespan (from the events in FANTASTIC FOUR to date) was
only 10 years, rather than the ~20 that passed in the real world. This
necessitated a revision of Marvel History, but that subject has already
been discussed to death in this newsgroup, so I won't get into that. What
concerns us here and now is how it affects the X-Men.
	The revisionist Timeline had the FF in existance for 10 years;
Spider-Man just a tad less than that; the Avengers for something like 8.5
years; and the X-Men for about 7 years. I believe that the 7 years broke
down into 5 years for the Old X-Men, and 2 years for the New.

I seem to remember this being mentioned in an X-MEN lettercol. Unfortunately,
my comics are packed up (I've moved), but as soon as they are accessible,
I'll try to find this reference. Anyways, the ages of the X-Men were also
mentioned.

When the Old X-Men were first recruited, Scott, Jean, Warren, and Hank were
all about 17, and Bobby, 15. So add seven (or maybe eight by now) years to
that, and you get Scott, etc.'s ages at about 24 to 25. It seems to me that
a lettercol specificly mentioned 24 for Scott's age. I think at that same
time, the ages of the New X-Men were given as: Ororo, 20; Peter, 19; Kurt,
18; Logan, 40's; and Sean, 30's. Kitty, of course, was 13-1/2 when she first
joined, and is now supposedly 15. The OFFICIAL HANDBOOK mentioned that Rogue
is a minor, so I'd guess her age at about 17.

As to the New Mutants, I seem to remember their ages being given in an early
issue: Shan, 19; Sam, 16; Dani, 14; Roberto, 13; and Rahne, 13. Illyana is
the same age as Kitty, and so I presume is Doug. Warlock?? Only God knows.

--- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Acton-Nagog, MA)

UUCP:	{decvax|ihnp4|allegra|ucbvax|...}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian
ARPA:	boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA