“I Had to Rescue Her”: X-Men Writers Made [SPOILER] a Mutant to Stop Marvel Retiring the Character

According to X-Men writer Leah Williams, Marvel was going to “retire” fan-favorite character Gwenpool, until she intervened, stepping in to “spirit Gwen away to the safety of Krakoa.” The author explained how making the character a mutant was a “practical decision,” that was made to save Gwenpool from the dustbin of comic book history.

Speaking with AIPT for X-Men Monday, Williams and X-Office Editor Jordan D. White spoke about bringing Gwenpool into the Krakoan Era of X-Men comics, revealing that Marvel seemingly didn’t see value in the character, despite her immediate popularity among the fandom.

Williams, however, pushed to make her a mutant, and White agreed. Though ultimately, Gwenpool did not factor into the Krakoa Era in a significant way, the pair suggested that the move to make her a mutant will yield a strong future for the character.

Marvel Almost “Permanently Shelved” Gwenpool

How Leah Williams “Rescued” Her

In a way, Gwenpool has far exceeded Marvel’s original intentions for the character, who began as a one-off joke and has gone on to headline multiple solo series of her own. Building on the success of the character Spider-Gwen, Marvel released a series of variant covers featuring mash-ups of its leading heroes and Gwen Stacy – including a cover for Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars #2, which saw the birth of Gwenpool. The character concept was quickly embraced by fans, and as a result, was soon transposed into the Marvel Universe proper.

Which is why it is surprising to find out that Marvel apparently intended to “retire” the character, despite her continued popularity. While the details of Marvel’s exact plans – or lack thereof – for Gwenpool at the time aren’t known, it is clear that X-writer Leah Williams thought the character needed to be salvaged from falling into disuse. As Williams told AIPT:

My genuine, deadass approach to this mini-series was that I had to “rescue” Gwen from getting permanently shelved, so the decision of bringing her into Krakoa was both a bureaucratic and a practical one – turning her into a mutant, bringing Gwenpool under the protective umbrella of being an “X-Office” character is what, in my eyes, gives her an open-ended potential future that cannot be taken away no matter what.

Williams expressed satisfaction at this successful maneuver, though she also noted that repeated attempts to use Gwenpool more during the Krakoan Era didn’t materialize.

As Editor Jordan D. White put it:

Look, Gwenpool is my child and I love her. I wanted to protect her as well. And like Leah said, making her a mutant seemed like a good way to protect her. We didn’t have specific plans for her, no. We didn’t go, “Let’s get her into this so we can use her in X, Y, or Z.” It was, let’s A: put her there because it’ll protect her and B: put her there because I’m the X-Editor. And so now that’s backfired. [Laughs]

While fans might be surprised that Gwenpool was brought into the X-franchise fold without specific plans for what to do with her, this is part of the protean nature of comic book storytelling – plans are always changing, and parts are always moving. Instead, Williams and White’s efforts were a message to Marvel’s higher ups that they believed in Gwenpool, and didn’t think the character should be “permanently shelved,” not when her best stories are still yet to come.

It’s Unbelievable That Marvel Hasn’t Found A Way To Use Gwenpool More

Despite Several Great Pitches

Having written Gwenpool, Leah Williams is among the most qualified people at Marvel to recognize the character’s ongoing potential. Unfortunately, her ideas for how to use Gwenpool once she was “under the protective umbrella of [the] X-Office” never got off the ground –considering that some of them sound perfect for incorporating the character into the wider ongoings of the X-Men corner of the Marvel Universe. As Williams elaborated:

At the time I was writing Gwenpool Strikes Back, I was also beginning the early stages of X-Factor and there was nothing I wanted to do more than spirit Gwen away to the safety of Krakoa…Our discussion of bringing her into Krakoa was very much a practical decision. After that point, I tried bringing her into X-Factor a couple times, for a couple different reasons – I thought she’d be great in Mojoverse, and I thought she’d be a fantastic sort of “red carpet interviewer” for the first-ever Hellfire Gala.

From the sound of it, Gwenpool fans missed out on several engaging possible uses of the character, who ranks among Marvel’s most unique contemporary creations.

The writer’s comments came in the context of a larger discussion about Krakoan Era story ideas, and concepts, that never materialized. Williams’ may have managed to “rescue” Gwenpool by making her a mutant, but in the end, the character didn’t fit into the X-Office’s larger plans for the era. Meaning that while she still fell into disuse, that will last only until an ambitious writer – Leah Williams, or whomever – finds the perfect role for her. Fans of Gwenpool have to hold out hope that this will happen in the upcoming “From the Ashes” relaunch.

Gwenpool Has Proved Repeatedly That She Has Star Power

And A Lot Of Room To Grow

As Jordan D. White told AIPT, he and Leah Williams brought Gwenpool into the X-Men fold as a labor of love, and an act of protection. That said, the character has appeared infrequently since entering her “mutant era,” something White acknowledged:

But basically, we just haven’t been able to really do anything with her since then. She had an Infinity Comic that was pretty terrific. I didn’t edit that, but I did read it because I’m very protective of her and I thought they did a really great job. I felt like they had a great sense of who she was and how she worked. I would love to do more with her. I want to do more with her all the time and it’s sad that I’m not.

Now, with White leaving his role as the head of the X-Office, and Leah Williams currently penning the excellent Gotham City Sirens series for DC Comics, Gwenpool’s future still seems uncertain. Hopefully, Marvel will honor their work to make her a mutant, and “rescue” the character, by utilizing her more.

While Gwenpool would certainly bring a fun dynamic to any X-title that she might appear in, Marvel’s approach to the character in the Krakoan Era makes it clear that they aren’t intent on shoehorning her into a story that might not be the right fit. Rather, the publisher should take stock of what the character has best to offer. In an X-Men team book, she might be reduced to a comic relief role – but as she has already shown, she is more than capable of carrying her own solo series.

The Unbelievable Gwenpool demonstrated that the character is more than just a derivative of the Merc With a Mouth; instead she is representative of a cross-section of interests, effectively appealing to a wide base of readers – perhaps even wider than Deadpool himself. Now, in the upcoming “From the Ashes” era of the X-Men franchise, Marvel should give Gwenpool another ongoing series, one that builds on the great foundation already established for the character, while leading her to entirely new levels of hilarity and action-adventure.

Source: AIPT X-Men Monday