Because it's about time someone did!
Xorn & the entropy of continuity
http://www.xavierfiles.com/2016/11/10/entry-051-xorn/
xavierfiles.com
Wrote an article to explain Xorn/discuss him as a character. What do you think about Xorn? Do you think Marvel's heart was in the right place with the retcon?




do we need to put up the spoiler shading or is it a given that this thread will contain spoilers for Xorn
also how do I put up the spoiler shading
I would assume that the statues of limitations on spoilers for big twists end after 12 years but I could be wrong
OK then spoilers away
I think Marvel did the retcon as they were terrified of losing fans of one their best villain or anti hero characters by making him bigoted and genocidal
I feel it is similar to what happened with Hall Jordan when he became Parallax in that the destruction of his city and mental breakdown were not enough for fans to forgive his destruction and so a big yellow space bug was invented
in Xorn / Magneto the addiction to drugs to boost his powers leading to his meltdown and destruction of his friends and life along with lots of other peoples lives were not enough and so it had to be retconned into someone else who thinks he's Magneto
but oh no there is also a twin who isn't as bad but is similar enough for us to transfer all the goodwill and characters moments from a different character on to him
xorn is one of those problems with no solution. the initial problem is that morrison's characterization of magneto just doesn't make a lot of sense -- this twist doesn't actually fit with the character's history or even thematically with the story it takes place in, so it comes off really poorly. but the following retcon with the "real" xorn doesn't actually bring back what was cool about xorn when he was first introduced, it just makes the whole thing even messier.