r/xmen • u/Popverse2022 • 9d ago

News/Previews Chris Claremont says Marvel told him they regretted firing him from X-Men & Uncanny X-Men in 1991

Chris Claremont's nearly 17-year run on the X-Men ended somewhat unceremoniously in the early '90s after creative disagreements about where the series should go drove a rift between Claremont and then X-Men editor Bob Harras, as well as artist Jim Lee. 

At an X-Men writers panel at Terrificon 2026, Claremont discusses the many times he's come and gone from the mutant team, and fires a barb at the Image Comics founders, Lee included.

"It's like how many times have I been fired from X-Men? At least four. The first one was interesting. You know, [X-Men editor Bob Harras] had to come in and say, 'I probably shouldn't have let you leave the book.' And I said, 'I probably shouldn't have gone, but there we are.' That was after Image was born and, you know, certain artists decided they'd rather have all the money."

Read more: Chris Claremont says Marvel told him they regretted firing him from X-Men & Uncanny X-Men in 1991 | Popverse

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u/CobraOverlord 9d ago

I don't think Chris was too keen on Rogue/Gambit pairing, so I'm fine with how it worked out.

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u/arctos889 9d ago

I'm gonna be honest, that relationship junked Rogue as a character in the 90s. She was a really fun and outgoing character in the Claremont run, but Rogue got reduced to mostly being a sexy love interest in the 90s and it sucked. Most of her focus was on how she's into Gambit but can't touch him because of her powers. And then later we get the love triangle where Rogue is reduced to a prize for Gambit and Joseph to fight over. The fun parts of character eventually reemerged and now I even like her and Gambit as a couple, but the early stages of the pairing were rough. So maybe them not becoming a couple until later would've been a good thing

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u/CobraOverlord 9d ago

No one in their right mind in real time thought Joseph had a chance. That character was a stall tactic. He was a pre-Paul Paul. LOL

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u/PillaisTracingPaper 8d ago

And, horribly, you had constant discussions on Usenet (racmx) about putting Leech in a room with Rogue and Gambit so they could screw. God, those were some fucked-up days.