That leaves Warren Worthington III aka Archangel.
There are two influencing factors in this choice: original X-Men and a member of Casey’s Uncanny X-Men cast moving forward. Setting aside Professor X, as part of this story was the X-Men being the adults and the evil mutant being the child, and they don’t look particularly adult with their teacher still bossing them around, that leaves Archangel, Beast, and Iceman. Beast is the only one of those three not part of Casey’s cast and, in fact, was a central member of the New X-Men cast, so he was out. With Iceman and Archangel to choose from, it’s tempting to call it a coin flip since Warren doesn’t actually do a lot in this issue. He shows up, fires the weapon that disrupts Warp Savant’s powers, makes a quip about living fast and dying young, and that’s it (oh, and his first panel is a great visual callback to his pose on the cover of The X-Men #1). I guess that’s it. With two natural choices, Casey just picked at random... Except...
Of the two characters, Archangel looks less human. In an issue where five mutants appear, four of them could pass for human. Sure, Logan and Warp Savant have fairly specific looks to them, and that’s all. They look human. Particularly in this new era where the X-Men costumes are leather outfits that resemble a flashy biker gang or maybe a breakdancing troupe, none of these characters pop off the page as superhuman in any way at first glance. Even Iceman only looks different from any other person when using his powers. Otherwise, he’s just as bland looking as everyone else. Warren, at least, has blue skin and wings. Of the original X-Men who are also members of the title moving forward, he’s the ‘freak’ of the bunch. He adds that otherworldly, altered element of mutants to the issue. If that was the only reason, Casey would have been better off choosing Nightcrawler, honestly, from the Uncanny cast. While not an original X-Man, Kurt Wagner is more the face of ‘freak’ X-Men and would have given Ian Churchill some fun situations with him teleporting around, firing the blaster to disrupt Warp Savant.
Warren’s presence actually relates to the “interpersonal soap opera” drama at the heart of this issue. As I keep saying, this issue is actually aimed squarely at X-Men fans despite the appearance of appealing to new readers. The superficial marketing is new-reader friendly, the true meaning is only for the hardcore. The love triangle in this issue is Scott/Jean/Logan, but, if you go back to those origin Stan Lee/Jack Kirby issues, it was Scott/Jean/Warren. Moreover, many of those initial issues had Jean showing pretty obvious affection for Scott, while he seemingly gave her the cold shoulder, partially out of obliviousness, partially nervousness, and partially because he didn’t think someone like Jean would be interested in him. Despite seeing that Jean preferred Scott, Warren, more flashy and confident than Scott, took advantage of the situation often to try and win Jean over. Eventually, when it became apparent that there was no getting between them, Warren moved on and, in a new story in Classic X-Men #1, when he sees Logan’s interest in Jean, steps in to tell him to back off. Here, he’s a reminder of both that original love triangle and that there’s no getting between Scott and Jean, because Jean cares about Scott too deeply. Casey doesn’t give any dialogue to even hint at this past, it’s all subtext for those that know. And, of course, knowing what eventually happens in New X-Men, it also confirms that Logan would not be able to get between Scott and Jean, because Jean could not be tempted away from Scott. Scott, on the other hand...
Despite these reasons, was this the best team that Casey could select for this issue? I still think that Nightcrawler might have been a better option than Archangel. It’s unusual to only see a roster of four X-Men, especially as the cast had ballooned so much over the years. With the focus on Scott/Jean/Logan, and giving enough space to Warp Savant, there isn’t much room for any other characters, so additional X-Men would have filled a similar role to Archangel: add to the fight against Warp Savant, have four or five lines, and not actually contribute much. The added subtext of Warren’s presence does a lot of the argument for his inclusion, checking off numerous boxes: original X-Man, less human looking, member of Casey’s Uncanny cast, love triangle... I guess he was the character filled with the most meaning simply by being there...
