Giant-Size X-Men are a series of five one-shots written by Jonathan Hickman with alternating artists.
Released during the Krakoan Age of comics, each one-shot stars a single character.
The five one-shots are:
- Giant-Size X-Men: Jean Grey and Emma Frost, published February 26, 2020.
- Giant-Size X-Men: Nightcrawler, published March 25, 2020.
- Giant-Size X-Men: Magneto, published July 15, 2020.
- Giant-Size X-Men: Fantomex, published , August 5, 2020.
- Giant-Size X-Men: Storm, published September 16, 2020.
Giant-Size X-Men provides examples of:
Jean Grey and Emma Frost
Giant-Size X-Men: Jean Grey and Emma Frost
- Absurdly Long Stairway: Ororo's mind contains one.
- Call-Back: One of the first memories Jean and Emma see in Storm's mind is a replaying of the time Emma pulled a "Freaky Friday" Flip on Storm, waaaaaay back in the 80s. Seems Storm is still pretty pissed about that.
- Honesty Is the Best Policy: Emma has to admit to the lions guarding Storm's subconscious that she and Storm are not exactly friends.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Emma before entering Storm's mind.
- Internal Homage: Jean and Emma have a wordless Journey to the Center of the Mind of an ally who has fallen mysteriously ill, only this time it's Storm instead of Xavier as it was in Grant Morrison's run. Some of the panels even have them in the same poses.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: Jean makes a butterfly elephant for her and Emma to ride on.
- No-Dialogue Episode: The issue has almost no dialogue. None at all between close-ups of a sign which reads "Silence" in Krakoan.
- Race Against the Clock: Jean and Emma find that Storm was infected with a virus by Serafina and has 30 days to live if they can't cure her.
- Your Mind Makes It Real: Judging by how hard Jean and Emma fight, Storm's mind makes it all perfectly real.
Nightcrawler
Giant-Size X-Men: Nightcrawler
- Plot Tailored to the Party: Discussed. Doubly Subverted. Nightcrawlers team investigating the X-Mansion was supposed to be a routine mission, only to find out that they face overwhelming numbers which Illyana and Kurt acknowledge isn't ideal with a team whose abilities are geared towards investigation and recon. Then is turns out that Doug is actually the perfect one to negotiate a cease fire with the enemy, who turn out to be the alien bouty hunting species The Sidri.
- The Unreveal: Magik catches Warlock, who's been pretending to be part of Cypher's arm for whatever reason, and asks him what he's doing. Warlock is about to explain, and then gets cut off.
Magneto
Giant-Size X-Men: Magneto
- Call-Back: Magneto tells the keeper of Mykines that he is a bit of an expert on islands, having a lot of experience with them. As many will remember, he ruled the island of Genosha for a while, was part of the governing body on Utopia, and now is part of the Quiet Council of Krakoa. Not to mention that he used to live on Island M.
- Cool Boat: Magneto makes it sound like he sailed over on the cargo ship he brought along to have enough metal to build Emma a house.
- False Dichotomy: The choice between the spiral and the stone.
- Funny Background Event: Not that they do much, but just the presence of the puffins on Mykines is quite amusing.
- Makes Us Even: Magneto saves Namor's life, so the king of Atlantis figures he'll just give him that island in the Faroes he's been asking to buy.
- Riddle Me This: Without giving criteria for correctness, the witches ask their visitors to pick the "right" item from their columns.
- Ship Tease: Magneto and Emma are awfully friendly with each other in his issue.
- Shout-Out: Namor claims the keeper told him there's a "stranger in our strange land".
- Supreme Chef: Emma's chef, Saucier. He claims he can make dirt taste delicious and no one contradicts him.
- Take a Third Option: Magneto defeats the witches by noticing that there's a third option. They make it look like there are only two options while hiding the third.
Fantomex
Giant-Size X-Men: Fantomex
- Call-Back: Storm comes to Fantomex seeking help for her terminal illness. This illness was discovered in Giant-Size X-Men: Jean Grey and Emma Frost.
- The Cameo: Fantomex takes a number of Marvel characters into the World with him on his once-a-decade excursions. Among them are Nick Fury, Dum Dum Dugan and the Howling Commandos and the Hellfire Club a decade later.
- C-List Fodder: The Humonganauts, a group of mercenaries named Red Eye, Emotipool, Rustbot and Mohawk Person who get killed ridiculously easily on Fantomex's trip into the World one decade before he recruits Wolverine and Cyclops.
- Gilligan Cut: A decade after trying to break into the World with the Hellfire Club, Fantomex sits relaxing and reading a book on a beach deciding, "I may just never go back." The next page shows him one decade later addressing his latest bait, stating, "I'm going back."
- Find the Cure!: The issue concludes Storm's arc and has her cured of Serafina's disease. The World has machinery designed to separate organic and technological components, which is perfect for purging the virus Storm is infected with.
- Identical Twin ID Tag: The scientists working in the World can harbor no "aberrations" like two children born 100% identical "down to the atom." The head scientist marks the one to keep with a circle and the one to dispose of with a diamond. These children are Ultimaton and Fantomex respectively.
- I Choose to Stay: Ultimaton does this every time Fantomex breaks into the World to free him. The A.I.M. scientist Fantomex brought on his latest attempt also chooses to stay, because the World is a perfect playground for a mad scientist.
- Once More, with Clarity: The "Assault on Weapon Plus" arc from Morrison's New X-Men is shown once again from Fantomex's recruiting of Wolverine and Cyclops to his confrontation with Ultimaton. It's re-contextualized this time, however, now that we known this is just another attempt by Fantomex to free his twin brother Ultimaton from the World should he want to leave.
- Punch-Clock Villain: The A.I.M. scientist who agrees to accompany the X-Men into the World is there because Fantomex is paying him a lot.Seriously, it's a ridiculous amount. Like, change your identity, leave your wife and kids, disappear forever money...
- Separated at Birth: Ultimaton and Fantomex were this. The latter breaks into the World once a decade to try and liberate the former if he decides he's ready to leave.
- Sibling Team: Fantomex and Ultimaton are revealed to have been this all along.
- Timey-Wimey Ball: How the World works. Or, as Monet puts it:Yes. Temporal nonsense.
- What the Hell Is That Accent?: Discussed multiple times regarding Fantomex's (affected) accent. While Jean-Phillipe has largely been described as speaking with a French accent, he's more referred to as sounding "Flemish" by Nick Fury and the A.I.M. scientist.
Storm
Giant-Size X-Men: Storm
- Bait-and-Switch: Douglas notes that since there's clearly some kind of battle going on around a hovering structure inside the World, they could just use it as a distraction while they go get the thing that will cure Storm. Phantomex points out that the cure is inside that hovering structure.
- Call-Back: Emma's demeanor is back to how it was in Morrison's run.
- Comically Missing the Point: Emma thinks Storm is giving her a compliment when she says she is "good at talking" after Emma suggested she shouldn't fight the virus but just die so they could resurrect her.
- Everyone Has Standards: Subverted. Ned says they can do whatever they want with the money intended for him, as long as they don't give it to charity.
- It Can Think: The containment structure that healed Storm. Cypher discovers that it is sentient, but keeps it to himself.
- I Choose to Stay: AIM scientist Ned finds the World to be too interesting for him to leave.
- I Lied: Phantomex admits that he doesn't actually have the money he promised Ned for getting them into the World.
- Shout-Out: Penance calls Doug "the mutant version of Bambi".
- What the Hell, Hero?: Storm calls out Monet and Phantomex for haggling while her life hangs in the balance.
