Who would you have chosen as the tweleve in the Xmen story?

I would have chose (01.)SpiderMan, (02.)ShadowCat, (03.)Human Torch, (04.)Piecemeal/Proteus, (05.)Dr. Strange, (06.)Phoenix, (07.)Mimic, (08.)Mimic, (09.)Invisible Woman, (10.)ManThing, (11.)Ghost Rider, (12.)Bishop is who I would have made the 12!

Well, the point of the Twelve is that they were all mutants, wasn't it? Many on this list aren't mutants (one, Dr. Strange, technically doesn't even have any superpowers).

All of the Twelve were supposed to be mutants. That automatically eliminates Spider-Man, the Human Torch, Dr. Strange, Mimic (depending on whether or not he's been retconned to be a mutant), Invisible Woman, Man-Thing, and Ghost Rider. That leaves us with 4 of your choices (you had Mimic twice). Originally, Shadowcat and Phoenix were among the Twelve. I don't see where Bishop would possibly fit. I thought that the threat assessment was supposed to be based on both power and leadership capability (that is, the ability to direct many other mutants to do what they wanted). From that perspective, I'd choose Professor X, Apocalypse, Magneto, Storm, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Archangel, Phoenix...and I'm not sure who else. At different times I might have chosen different people but some of them don't make sense at the moment.

In that context definitely Cannonball, who has learned from Xavier, Magneto, Cable and Wisdom and is probably the most versatile leader in the X-Verse.

<rolls eyes>

<shakes head>

Hmmm, off the top of my head, I came up with:

Prof. X, Magneto, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Cable, Wolverine, Apocalypse, Franklin Richards as the musts, probably Storm, I liked the idea someone threw out about the Living Monolith, one mutant no one's ever heard of (new character - why would they all already be well-known?)...and one other...hopefully a villian to balance the scales some. Although, I keep thinking from when they were hyping him as one, the Sub-Mariner might take the place of Storm, the Monolith, or the villian to be named later...

-Chris C.

...

I'm a Kitty fan, so I like this.

?!? Um... the 12 are, in fact, supposed to be mutants.

These two I can understand, even if the first did commit suicide.

Twice??? How's that then? And I guess it would depend on whether or not you consider him a mutant.

...

Had I been able to choose the Twelve... well, this might get long... The only things I know for sure are that I would have based my list more off of the original story and my story would never have been told until the very end of the X-Men.

It's always been my opinion that possibly both sets of images we saw in the original storyline were not bonafide. The first has more credibility than the second.

In the first set (Franklin, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, and Apocalypse), we are actually told by the narration that the images come from Master Mold's database, however, the same narration also states that Master Mold is going through 'useless facts' and that it chooses to ignore them. What we know for certain is that Master Mold recognizes Scott's energy signature as being one of the Twelve.

When we see the second set (the same 5, plus Xavier, Psylocke, Cannonball, Moonstar, and three others who cannot be identified), no narration claims their authenticity. My opinion is that these are a narrative device for the readers, and nothing more. However, we do have evidence that Franklin Richards is considered to be 'the Twelfth' by Master Mold.

So, we have Scott and Franklin as sure things.

The third, and final, set (the original team, plus Xavier, Cable, Storm, Cannonball, Apocalypse, a dark-haired woman, and a man with fangs) once again falls under 'narrative device,' in my opinion. Nowehere in the text or narration is it stated or hinted that this list is bonafide. We have Apocalypse saying that when X-Factor entered his Citadel, the fates of all the fabled Twelve were sealed, but this doesn't even mean that the original five are part of the Twelve. Apocalypse was talking to Iceman, when he says 'your fate – indeed, that of all the fabled Twelve – was sealed the moment you breached my citadel.' Even Iceman's inclusion is not explicit. In fact, everything about this mention is implicit.

The third set also leaves us with questions: Who is the dark-haired woman? Psylocke? Moonstar? Who is the man with fangs? Wolverine? Mr. Sinister (who's not a mutant, btw)? There are now more than 12 Twleve, so who gets canned? This last question is a major reason why I disbelieve the credibility of many of the images.

The entire list (from the images): 1. Franklin Richards 2. Cyclops 3. Jean Grey 4. Storm 5. Apocalypse 6. Xavier 7. Psylocke (Dark-haired woman?) 8. Cannonball 9. Moonstar (Dark-haired woman?) 10. Beast 11. Angel 12. Iceman 13. Cable 14. Man with fangs (Wolverine? Mr. Sinister? Someone else?)

Kind of interesting that Magneto was never on these lists, no?

For the rest, we have to use some deduction based on the narrations and statements of the characters.

The Twelve are called 'the strong,' 'the dozen mutant humans who will one day rise up and lead all of mutantkind in war against homo sapiens in the twilight of earth,' and 'around whom others will rally.'

Well, for starters, Master Mold is the product of mutant haters, so I don't pay much credence to the part of leading a war against mankind. The Twleve may rise up and lead mutants, but of course not against humankind

IIRC the idea is that the Twelve are all mutants, mostly leaders, many of them way powerful, so that they compose the core of the 'mutant menace' the Sentinels want to stop.

That would mean:

Prof. Xavier Cable Magneto Cyclops Storm Cannonball Apocalypse Emma Frost Nightcrawler Banshee Meggan Dani Moonstar

Cannonball isn't currently influential, but he was circa Fatal Attractions, and I think he will eventually develop into quite the mover. Wolverine just does not have what it takes. Storm doesn't cut it by a hair. Nightcrawler, Banshee and Meggan are usually underestimated; they did a lot of importance, mainly in Excalibur. Banshee in particular is a criminally underrated character.

It's easy. Mimic duplicating Madrox gets on twice.