20 Of The Weirdest X-Men Stories Ever

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14. Nightcrawler And Friends Tangle With Leprechauns

X-Men has generally been okay about portraying different groups respectfully. It isn’t always a perfect record, but it’s a far sight better than a lot of the other media produced at the time. After all, their whole conceit centered around the X-Men being cast-off, persecuted people. It remains a powerful metaphor even into the present day. Oftentimes, the finest X-Men storylines center on persecution, acceptance, and the basic humanity of all intelligent beings.

Um, unless you’re Irish. Then you’ve got a one-way ticket to Stereotype City, buddy.

The offending comic is Uncanny X-Men #101-103. Believe it or not, this is also the comics run that first introduced the Phoenix Force. The early stories centering around Phoenix and Jean Grey were generally excellent, though you may think that recent resurrections of the story feel a little like you’re stuck in an endless, repeating purgatory.

But, we’re not here to talk about Phoenix right now. Instead, take a look at Banshee. Banshee, a.k.a. Sean Cassidy, is a walking Irish stereotype. His mutant powers consist of flying around and yelling a lot, which is at least makes him more useful than Beak. Otherwise, he is a red-haired, thickly-accented Irish man with a castle. Of course, the X-Men come with an excuse to visit his castle, named Cassidy Keep. I mean, wouldn’t you?

Standard villainy interferes with their plans, and the X-Men get thrown into a dungeon. Nightcrawler passes out and is promptly carried away by leprechauns. Of course, you all know that every Irish castle comes equipped with its own leprechaun horde.

And don’t you think that these little folk are incidental to the plot. It turns out that whoever controls the leprechauns controls the castle, so working with and protecting these strange people are in the X-Men’s best interests. The task isn’t made easier when the leprechauns are kind of jerks about the whole thing.

Eventually, the X-Men escape and never, ever return to their friend’s sweet castle retreat. Neither do they ever mention the leprechauns. I don’t blame them.