The Summers Family Tree

The Summers-Grey family is essentially the first mutant family of the Marvel Universe. However, with dozens of realities and timelines crisscrossing the X-Men mythos it is very hard to keep a track of all the relatives/descendants of Cyclops. In order to simplify this rather tedious job, I have compiled the following infographic regarding the relationships of the characters from the Marvel Universe.

NOTE: I have deliberately left out some characters, and only displayed those characters which have been the part of the mainstream Earth-616 Universe in some form or another.

Key to the infographic:

1. D'Ken Neramani (Earth-616)
2. Katherine Summers (Earth-616)
3. Christopher Summers (Earth-616)
4. Scott Summers (Earth-616)
5. Alexander Summers (Earth-616)
6. Gabriel Summers (Earth-616)
7. Jean Grey (Earth-616)
8. Madelyne Pryor
9. Adam Neramani (Earth-616)
10. Rachel Summers (Earth-811)
11. Nathan Summers (Earth-616)
12. Nathan Summers (Stryfe) (Earth-4935)
13. Nathaniel Grey (Earth-295)
14. Franklin Richards (Earth-616)
15. Aliya Dayspring (Earth-4935)
16. Jonathan Richards (Earth-967)
17. Tyler Dayspring (Earth-4935)
18. Hope Summers (Earth-616)
19. Nathaniel Essex (Earth-616)

In case I have missed something, your suggestions are more than welcome.

How to form a Superhero team of your own?

Be it Justice League, Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Teen Titans, Stormwatch or even the Defenders, superhero teams are far more interesting than the usual standalone solo adventures of a comicbook character. Obviously, everybody loves a good crossover with complicated plots bunching totally different characters together like a big dysfunctional family only to ultimately keep aside their differences and come together as a unit to save the day.

Alright, enough with the crappy introduction. I've been thinking about writing this post for a longtime now. What motivated me to write this post was the fact that I've been able to observe almost a pattern in the ways these popular superhero teams are formed. Broadly speaking the core group of the teams is almost the same: You need a Tactician, a Bruiser, a Cosmic Power, a Telepath etc. in your superhero team. So, what follows are the types of members you are bound to find in a superhero team.

THE TACTICIAN

Tactician Logic!

The League has Batman and the Martian Manhunter, Avengers have Cap (Even Tony Stark), X-Men have Cyclops and the Fantastic Four have Mr. Fantastic to fall back to every time they need to devise a strategy. Also, it is for the tactician to lead and organize the team. It is more than often the case that when all seems lost, the ever reliant tactician delivers the proverbial ace in the hole sucker-punching the the super-vile schemers, saving the day and earning respect from their peers all at the same time.

THE BRUISER

That's right folks, the bruiser plays the second-fiddle, ALWAYS!

With the Tactician accounting for the brains, the team needs brawn. Superhuman strength with nigh invulnerability is exactly what you need from your Bruiser. Superman-Wonder Woman for the League, Hulk and Thor for the Avengers, Thing for the FF and Colossus for the X-Men serve as the hard hitters for their respective teams.They get the job done when you need to smash monsters, smash buildings, smash comets, smash meteors and smashing other gazillion things.

THE DEMI-GOD

With the superhuman threats varying from an overgrown starfish (wishing to enslave the world) to jealous/mischievous gods (played on screen by a beloved English actor), you need to have a demi-god  and/or (if possible) a god on your side. Because time and again they will inform you of some mystic artifact, or call upon their kin from the legends to help you out, or even ask their almighty fathers to resurrect you! Thor is a god, a well known one. Wonder Woman is a demi-goddess although in the New 52 continuity, she is the new goddess of war among the Olympians.

THE SORCERER/MAGICIAN/WARLOCK

The Doctor's in! (Also the most cliched line concerning a medical practitioner)

What about magical threats then? Superman is as helpless against magic as a water-hose being peed upon by a territory conscious dog. What do you do? That's right you call upon an expert. Dr. Fate, Zattana and Zattara aid the League whereas Scarlet Witch, Dr. Strange and Brother Voodoo are the resident sorcerers at the Avengers Tower. As far as the X-Men are concerned Illyana Rasputin is on the rosters of the X-Men and her codename is Magick for obvious reasons.

THE TECHNICIAN

For your team to be super-cool you need to have super-cool comm devices, hypersonic jets, space ships advanced computers, teleporters and every other bit of far-fetched instrumentation a comicbook scribe can possibly imagine of. But, the question remains: "Who will build that shit for'ya?" Gee... that's why keep the guy running around in the creepy Batsuit (Also, that he pays their bills, we'll come to that later)! Batman is said to have designed the Watchtower satellite and the Javelin jets for the League and Tony Stark's prowess is all too well known. Beast works as the tinkerer at the X-Mansion.

THE SPY/NINJA 

One of those Hawkward moments. Don't worry Hawkeye is totally used to being helpless!

A super-hero team needs to run it's recon missions to get hold of the enemy motives and tactics. As such even the most useless (read powerless) former spy team members can be put to some work. Black Widow and Hawkeye for the Avengers for an instance. On the other hand Ninjas are cool! Batman is a Ninja and Batman is COOL, so Ninjas are definitely cool!

THE TELEPATH

What is worse than a dead Jean Grey? A live hipster one!

Ask a Star Wars fan, what do they like about the Jedi. The the first and foremost answer you are likely to receive is "the Jedi Mind Tricks", better known as telepathy. A telepath is a really handy member for the purpose of interrogations, and also long distance secure communication. Also, to fight a battle on an astral plane and possibly win it you need an expert telepath like the Manhunter, Jean Grey, Charles Xavier or Emma Frost by your side.

THE SPEEDSTER

If you know what she meant!

"Quick, it's a hostage situation".. "Oh no! Luthor has planted boombs across the city".. "Only if we could travel back to time to stop him!" .. "How are we going to disarm them? There are like 100 of them!" 

Who's going to be your go-to man? Definitely not the pokemon named Slowpoke! Flash? Maybe Quicksilver? The super-fast guys are going to run errands for you and stop the shit from hitting the fan!

THE COSMIC-POWER WIELDER 

What if a pan-galactic empire comes knocking at your door and they are not interested in trading Justin Beiber for flying skateboards? In that case you need several weapons of mass destruction at a cosmic scale (or even a negligent space-cop using a ring for a badge would suffice) to negotiate peace and to function as a mediator and trade Beiber and his Beliebers off the planet anyway. There are 5 Green lanterns in the DC Universe for that purpose. 6, if you count the GL from the 40s too. Quasar, Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel are some Avengers with a cosmic repute as well. Although the X-Men beat all the other superteams by light-years in terms of cosmic diplomacy, they've had their fair share of ahem..  cosmic adventures.

THE BILLIONAIRE

Alright. You've got your team. You can build your headquarters with the state-of-the-art machinery sophisticated security systems, uber cool jets, satellites and the stuff geeks drool about. But hey! Wait a sec, who do you think is going to write your checks? Aaaand... that is exacly why you need a "Billionaire, philanthropist, playboy genius.. yadda yadda". That's right. Batman and Iron Man are seemingly powerless but they possess the most significant power of them all: "Being disgustingly rich!!" Money is all that matters after all! (Tyrion Lannister fan here? Anybody?) 

Wrapping it up, this one was tooooo long an article. I had some other minor super-hero archetypes in my mind. Left them out for some other time. Please "like" and/or "share" this article if you find it good. And feel free to leave in your comments below.

Superhero Zodiac Signs: Which one are you?

I have this strange habit of entering random search strings on Google and then further, googling related search results. For instance, today I happened to end up reading an article or two on the traits and personalities of various Zodiac signs. And an idea struck to me. What if, we could actually classify the zodiac signs according to the Superheroes exhibiting similar traits? This blogpost might be an answer. Also, interestingly only one DC Comics character ends up on the list, rest 11 being from the Marvel Universe. Check out for your birthdate and your own Superhero Zodiac. 

Aries: (Mar 20-Apr 20) The Invincible Iron Man

He is rich, arrogant, and a genius! Also, he is one of the fewer characters here who have all the qualities as listed in my source of reference. Highly energetic which is equally matched with his quick wit. Adventurous by nature, pioneering, courageous and not to forget slightly over confident at times. 

Also selfish, quick-tempered, very impulsive and impatient, leading to his frequent foolhardy and near fatal endeavors. 

Taurus: (Apr 21-May 21) Wolverine

Definitely ox-headed, fairly stubborn! But, patient and reliable in his own way. Also, Logan is warm-hearted and loving which is not quite evidently portrayed, but holds true. He is jealous of Cyclops and possessive regarding Jean Grey. The feral X-Man and Avenger is as adamant as his Adamantium laced skeleton and at times very inflexible and difficult to deal with. Known for his ox like rage Wolverine is a true Taurus.

Gemini: (May 22-Jun 21) Nightwing

Dick Grayson aka Nightwing, who was the first Robin and has even donned the cape and cowl while his mentor was presumed dead at the end of the Final Crisis. Very adaptable and versatile. Excellent at communication skills and fairly intellectual. Well known for his wisecracks. Even, the caped crusader has admitted that were it not for Robin lightening things up for him, it would have pushed him off his edge. Despite his confidence, Nightwing is nervous on occasions largely due to the fact that his mentor's are pretty big shoes to fill in.

Cancer: (Jun 22-Jul 22) Ms. Marvel

Carol Denvers, was an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. prior to a freak accident which merged her physique with the Kree physiology. She adopted the name of Ms. Marvel and became an Avenger. Emotional, loving and intuitive. Being an ex S.H.I.E.L.D. operative, she is a very shrewd and a cautious adversary. Unfortunately, owing to her Cancerian traits, she is very temperamental and moody. And, her adamancy is comparable to that of a Tauran.

Leo: (Jul 23-Aug 21) Thor

Thor the thunderer, Prince of Asgard and protector of the earth realm, Midgard. Lion-hearted and generous. Bravest of the brave, yet arrogant and pompous. He was banished to earth for his arrogance and lack of humility. But, he learnt his lesson and Thor still remains to be one of the greatest and most fearless warriors in the Marvel Universe.

Virgo: (Aug 22-Sep 23) Mr. Fantastic

Reed Richards, unarguably one of the smartest men in the Marvel Universe is the leader of the Fantastic Four. Very modest and reserved by nature. Reliable, meticulous, practical and highly analytical. Also, very fussy and a worrier. Richards is overcritically harsh at times owing to his perfectionist nature.

Libra: (Sep 24-Oct 23) Jean Grey

Jean Grey, is one of the original X-Men. She is also the host to a cosmic entity, the Phoenix Force. Diplomatic, charming, easy going, sociable and idealistic. Although she has a fairly balanced personality, but she is indecisive, gullible and easily influenced, which directly resulted in the emergence of the Dark Phoenix.

Scorpio: (Oct 24-Nov 22) Magneto

Once a Gobal threat, Magneto has switched sides too many a times. The Master of Magnetism is determined and forceful to the extents of genocide to achieve his goals. One of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe. Like a true Scorpion he is both obsessive and compulsive to achieve mutant supremacy over the humans.

Sagittarius: (Nov 23-Dec 22) Wasp

Janet Van Dyne aka Wasp, wife to the scientist superhero Henry Pym, was an avenger and she has even served as their chairman for a brief period of time. The Wasp is optimistic, fun-loving, jovial and honest. In fact she is blindly optimistic, to the extent of carelessness and irresponsibility. Like Sagittarians, Janet lacks tactfulness and she has a very restless persona.

Capricorn: (Dec 23-Jan 20) Cyclops

Practical, prudent, ambitious, disciplined and patient. Reserved by nature, Cyclops is one of the best strategists and tacticians in the Marvel Universe. Leader of the X-Men, Cyclops projects concussive blasts (and not heat rays or lasers!!) from his special Ruby-Quartz visor. Like any Capricorn, Cyclops is a bit insensitive at times and focuses only on his goals despite what his teammates think.

Aquarius: (Jan 21-Feb 19) Deadpool

Wade Wilson aka Deadpool, the merc with a mouth. Friendly in his own way, Wilson is very original and inventive when it comes to killing. Perverted to the utmost extents of imagination, Deadpool is very unpredictable owing to his unstable psyche. Further, he is a cold blooded assassin, unemotional and detached by nature! (But, Deadpool is simply AWESOME!!!) 

Pisces: (Feb 20-Mar 20) Spiderman

Imaginative, sensitive, compassionate and kind. Time and again Peter Parker aka Spiderman has proved his selflessness with his heroic deeds. But, owing to his so called Parker Luck, Peter has grown into an escapist and he is very secretive when it comes to his super-hero life. Spiderman is unarguably the greatest hero in the entire Marvel Universe. 

You may also like to read:

How to form a Super-hero team of your own?

Rebooted: Cartoons from the 80s & 90s retold

I have been a regular follower of many of the animated series both available and unavailable in the subcontinent. And, I have a special liking for the cartoons from the 80s.

Now, this post primarily concentrates on the re-telling/reboots of some very popular animated series from the 80s and one from the 90s.Starting up with G.I.Joe:

GI JOE: RENEGADES

Those familiar with the G.I. Joe, know that it is an uber-awesome global peace-keeping team with special operatives recruited from all across the globe, fighting against the terrorist organization Cobra headed by the megalomaniac, world domination loving and ever sulking Cobra Commander. In November, 2010 Hasbro reintroduced the team as a band of fugitives!! Well, obviously they are not fugitives, they were framed for the crimes they did not commit. 

Each of the 26 episodes from the series (except the first 2), started off with the following narrative:

Accused of a crime they didn't commit, a ragtag band of fugitives fights a covert battle to clear their names and expose the insidious enemy that is... Cobra. Some call them outlaws. Some call them heroes. But these determined men and women think themselves only as "Ordinary Joes". And this is their story.

which, sums the plot pretty much.

What makes this series different/better? The plot focuses on how the team comes together. Also, the back story of nearly every mainstream and/or popular character from the G.I. Joe mythos is explored and retold in a fairly realistic manner.

IMDb Rating: 7.2/10

X MEN:EVOLUTION

Absolutely no need to introduce the X-Men! Anyway, for the sake of the non-believers:

X-Men are mutant heroes, who want to preserve the peace between humans and the genetically gifted(?) mutants.

Of all the X-Men Cartoons, X-Men: Evolution tops my list. Unlike, the other series this one features adolescent school-going X-Men characters. Mutants, with the usual Marvel universe issues plus the problems of being a teenager. I actually like the idea of having younger Scott and Jean, the students meanwhile, Wolverine and Storm alongside Professor X, themselves being the teachers. 

In a broader sense it was more like a good piece of fan fiction which materialized into a pretty good animated series. All the popular mutants from the X-Men and the Brotherhood attended the same school, and their principal was none other than Mystique in disguise! How awesome is that?

An intricate drama minus the redundant themes like Sentinel attacks, alien invasions and time travelling mutants (from the 1994 series), is what makes this series tick. The series is lot more youthful, one can  easily associate it with themselves.

You can watch the episodes on Marvel.com: The Official Site itself 

IMDb Rating: 8.0/10

THUNDERCATS

Remember that 80s cartoon with humanoid feline characters? The one, about the little sword (more of a dagger/knife) which expanded into a full-sized sword? The series revolved around the eponymous protagonists, the ThunderCats, apparently the last survivors of their species from a planet named Thundera.

A reboot to the ThunderCats was launched in 2011 in the form of an ongoing series. The characters except for Panthero, are a lot younger, more likely to be in their 20s. Instead of a high tech Cat race the Thundercats are here the residents of a seemingly medieval kingdom of Thundera on the planet "Third Earth" ruled over by the Lion clan of the Cats. The plot resembles that of a fairy tale, whereby Lion-O the prince of Thundera flees alongside his adopted Step Brother, Tigra and his sworn protector, Cheetara. The series also uncovers an extensive backstory regarding the Sword Of Omens, the power stones and Lion-O's own history with Mumm-ra, the main antagonist. 

Unlike the original series, this one is not as campy as its predecessor and we witness a plot involving a love triangle, sibling rivalry and issues such as trust, betrayal and loyalty. Another, fascinating feature being the newer looks to the characters. Lion-O is a lot younger, Wily-Kit and Wily-Kat are a lot kiddy. Cheetara is well... beautiful (and hot!). Tigra, is a lot more verbal and condescending unlike the reserved and calm Tigra of the original run. Panthero has been muscled up! He is huge and he appears to be more of a Bushido Warrior.

The story involved good twists and turns, but Cartoon Network decided to cancel airing the show after 2 good seasons.

IMDb Rating: 7.9/10

HE MAN & THE MATSERS OF THE UNIVERSE

Who is He-Man? He-Man is everyone's favorite peace loving scantily clad Viking warrior from the planet Eternia.

"By the power of Grayskull...  I have the power!!"

Ring any bells?

Now, He-Man is actually Prince Adam of Eternia, who undergoes a transformation using his power blade after saying the above lines. Transformed into the mightiest hero in the universe, by the mystic powers of Castle Grayskull, He-Man fights for peace against the evil forces of Skeletor. The original concept of He-Man is believed to have been inspired from Conan the barbarian. The original 80s series followed the introduction of a toyline by the same name from Mattel. It was a marketing campaign for the toyline.

The original run was quite campy owing to the strict broadcasting regulations at that time. Which meant He-Man could not use his sword to hit any villain except for well... robots. The series was a hit. Hit enough to produce a live action movie (which did not fare that well at the box office).

Then in 2002-03, Mike Young Productions launched a reboot to the He-Man mythos to tie it in with a newer toyline from Mattel. Prince Adam is an adolescent and an insecure prince, who initially refuses the Power of Grayskull, but accepts it as a last resort to help his father and his allies against the armies of Skeletor who is seemingly pissed-off with the Eternians for having exiled him. 

After receiving the "Sword of Power" and the "Power" Adam transforms into a rather muscular and barely clothed He-Man, who turns the tables in the battle and defeats the forces of evil, and so ends the series of the 6 pilot episodes. 

Unlike, the original series, one can actually differentiate between Adam and He-Man. In the second season, the connection between Grayskull who happens to be an ancestor of Adam and He-Man is revealed. No campiness here, He-Man is entitled to all hitting, sword slashing, punching etc. Also, a convincing revelation of Skeletor's origin was also featured in the series. One can always watch the reboot and compare it with the original.

IMDb Rating: 7.3/10

What is your favorite cartoon from the 80s/90s? Feel free to leave your comments.