Lifedeath is a 1984 X-Men storyline that appeared in Uncanny X-Men #181-188, written by Chris Claremont and drawn by John Romita Jr. and Barry Windsor Smith. It focuses on the US Government taking steps to deal with Mutantkind, with massive consequences. It features the first appearance of Forge, the depowerment of Storm, and Rachel Summers joining the X-Men.
The X-Men return from Battleworld to find a changing situation. Senator Robert Kelly has proposed his Mutant Control Act to handle the Mutant problem. A secret organization called Project Wideawake is made to deal with it. One of its associates, Dr Valerie Cooper, employs the help of a Mutant inventor named Forge, who has made a prototype Neutralizer designed to strip a Mutant of his or her powers. Project Director Peter Henry Gyrich intends to use it with or without Forge’s consent.
That use is sparked when Rogue breaks into a SHIELD Heli-Carrier to rescue a friend. A race is on as Gyrich, Forge, and Storm track down Rogue. Thus sets up a chain of events that leads to one Mutant’s power loss, the growing & breaking of a relationship, and an alien attack.
Meanwhile, the X-Men take under their wing a young woman from an alternate future; one that shows the horrible consequences of federal action on Mutantkind.
Lifedeath features tropes such as:
- Age Lift: Originally portrayed as a mature person, Rogue is confirmed to be age 18. Furthermore, images of her battle with the X-Men in Issue 158 retcon her features to a youthful appearance.
- Alternate Timeline: Rachel discovers the past she teleported to is this trope. 7-year-old Illyana is a teenager, Senator Kelly is alive, Storm is a punk, Professor Xavier is walking, and Jean Grey is dead.
- Ask a Stupid Question...: When Nightcrawler asks Forge about what he'll do to the Dire Wraith before them. The Neutralizer blasting Forge asks him not to say this trope.
- Bar Brawl: Issue 183. Condensed to two persons, but as those two are Colossus and Juggernaut, it’s twice as destructive.
- Berserk Button: Rachel overhears Kurt mention Jean Grey’s death (her mother dying before she was born, terminating her existence in this timeline) causes her to lash out at him telekinetically. Once calmed down, she apologizes.
- Big Damn Heroes: Several times:
- Issue 184- The X-Men rescue Rachel from Selene.
- Issue 186- Rogue barges in to protect Val Cooper from Dire Wraiths.
- Issue 187- Colossus and Rogue come to Forge’s Aerie to help him and Storm fight Dire Wraiths.
- Issue 188- Illyana and Amanda Sefton come in to help the X-Men battle the Dire Wraiths.
- Big "NO!": Several:
- Issue 185- Altered to a “Oh No!” When Forge sees Storm has been struck by the Neutralizer.
- Issue 186- Rogue absorbs Val Cooper’s memories, learning about Forge, the Neutralizer, and when she pieces together what happened to Storm, she makes this trope mentally.
- Ororo hears a phone message revealing the man she loves designed the gun that stripped her of her powers.
- Issue 187- Rogue to herself when it is confirmed Storm has lost her powers.
- Issue 188- Rachel when she hears Nightcrawler exclaim Jean Grey is dead.
- Cassandra Truth: Naze warns Forge of omens and changes in the natural system of time, culminating in some great threat, imploring him to step up and deal with it. Forge refuses.
- Character Focus: Issue 182 on Rogue. 186-187 for Storm and Forge.
- Chekhov's Gun: Forge’s Neutralizer.
- Covers Always Lie:
- Issue 185. It appears as if Rogue has stolen Storm’s powers and gone evil. But the story reveals the absorption is by consent, and Rogue is feeling the power rush with no malicious intent.
- Issue 187 shows Storm becoming a Dire Wraith, which doesn’t happen.
- Issue 188 has Rachel attacking the whole team, when she only hits Nightcrawler.
- Crisis Crossover: The Dire Wraiths come from the ROM Series and its upcoming Wraith War, of which Forge & Gyrich (not to mention the X-Men) will play a role in.
- Of course, this makes it a bit awkward when ROM and the Dire Wraiths were permanently Exiled From Continutiy not long after this story was written, which may be why it doesn't get as much attention as Days of Future Past or The Dark Phoenix Saga.
- Crossover: Several times plot lines mingle between Uncanny X-Men and its spin-off New Mutants:
- Issue 182 drops comments about the White Queen’s captivity of Kitty and the New Mutants, resolved in NM#17.
- NM#18 debuts Rachel to the mainstream universe, followed up by UXM# 184.
- NM#21 has Warlock’s descent to Earth destroy Magneto’s Asteroid base. UXM#188 shows the aftermath, with an injured Magneto floating in the ocean rescued by Lee Forrester. This story would be continued in NM#23.
- De-power: Forge’s Neutralizer strips Storm of her mutant abilities to control the weather (as well as project lightning and use the winds to levitate herself). She will remain in this state until The Fall of the Mutants.
- Face Realization: Rogue thinks she’s still evil at heart. Storm allows her to absorb her powers as a sign of trust. Rogue controls the weather but accidentally causes a rainstorm that threatens a boat with civilians. Rogue wants to save them, but thinks the compassion is from Storm’s feelings. However she realizes that the absorption has faded away and Storm has revived. Rogue realizes the compassion comes from herself.
- Flashback: In issue 187 when Naze gives the powerless Storm a firearm, she remembers Logan teaching her how to fire a gun.
- Flip Personality: In Issue 282, Rogue’s personality, memories, and accent flip-flop with Carol Danvers’, much to the confusion of herself and Michael Rossi.
- Foreshadowing:
- Trying to flee the Aerie, Ororo accidentally activates a hologram of Forge’s Vietnam experience: a Vietnamese massacre involving demons.
- The Adversary possesses Naze.
- Frame-Up: SHIELD Agent Garwood, Hellfire Club mole, kills another agent and intends to pin the blame on Michael Rossi. When Rogue rescues Rossi, Garwood frames Rogue for the murder.
- Ghost Memory: Rogue experiences a memory of a child Carol Danvers playing frisbee with her brothers. Becoming Carol, Rogue plays along.
- Grand Theft Me:
- The Dire Wrauths suck their victims dry and take their forms & personality.
- Naze gets killed by a Dire Wraith, who attempts a spell, only to get attacked by the Adversary, who kills the Wraith and possesses Naze.
- Heroic BSoD: Ororo in the aftermath of her power loss.
- Hologram: Forge’s Aerie apartment is wall-to-wall holograms.
- Hope Spot: Issue 187 has Forge trick the Dire Wraiths into retreating via holograms of their enemy Rom the Spaceknight. The battle is over….then Ororo, Forge, Rogue, and Colossus are engulfed by Shadowbeings conjured by a remaining Wraith.
- I Meant to Do That: Storm frees Forge from the Dire Wraith’s shadow spell by shooting off his bionic leg. When Forge complains, Storm assures him she was firing on purpose.
- Insists on Paying: Juggernaut and Colossus have an impromptu fight that wrecks a bar. Juggernaut throws a roll of bills to cover the damages.
- Jump Scare: Inverted:
- Professor X gets his legs pinned by debris, and can’t feel them. He freaks out at the thought of being crippled again. Once freed of the rubble, he can move his legs again. He feels embarrassed.
- Raven Darkholme tenses when Forge notes his Mutant detector has gone off. Fearing her identity as Mystique has been blown, Raven considers killing Forge and Val Cooper. Forge then reveals his joke: the mutant detected is himself!
- Leave Him to Me!: Learning Dire Wraiths threaten to kill Forge, Storm decides to protect him, only because his fate is hers to decide.
- Manly Tears: After Rachel shows him her experiences (the horrible deaths of the X-Men in her reality, including his own) Professor Xavier weeps.
- A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read: Happens twice to Xavier. Sensing Storm’s pain on getting zapped by the Neutralizer knocks him out. Later in rapport with Rogue, who has just absorbed a Dire Wraith, he is overwhelmed by its evil nature.
- The Mole:
- Double in Issue 182: SHIELD Agent Michael Rossi secretly works for Xavier. He gets arrested by a fellow SHIELD Agent Garwood who is working for Sebastian Shaw.
- Weapons personnel Raven Darkholme is actually Mystique.
- Out-of-Character Alert: Rogue is able to break into a SHIELD Carrier with expertise uncharacteristic of her. This is due to the Carol Danvers personality bleeding through her psyche, taking things over with her knowledge & experience.
- Race Against the Clock: Issue 185 has Rogue targeted by;
- Gyrich, who thinks Rogue murdered a SHIELD agent and intends to shoot her with Forge’s Neutralizer and arrest her.
- Storm, rescuing her teammate.
- Forge, who didn't authorize the use of the Neutralizer, fearing the effect might be fatal.
- Red Skies Crossover: Issue 187-188 shows the blizzard effects of the Casket of Ancient Winters’ breakage in The Surtur Saga.
- The Reveal: Issue 186 reveals that Rachel is the future daughter of Scott and Jean. She confesses this to the team in 188.
- Save Our Team: Kurt, angered over what the government did to Ororo, feels the X-Men and its job to protect humankind has become pointless. He considers disbanding the team. Rachel intervenes, convincing him the X-Men as a mutant team stands for something.
- Save the Villain: Colossus starting a fight with Juggernaut inadvertently saves his life, because he had been flirting with Selene, who would have sucked his life force if the fight hadn’t happened.
- Shades of Conflict: Averted. The newly-abled Professor Xavier taking command bristles Storm considering what she had to go through in becoming a better leader. This gets dropped when Storm loses her powers and takes a leave of absence. By the time she returns, Xavier begins his own leave of absence.
- The Stinger: The epilogue of 188 has a fisherman discover a necklace inside a fish. It is the necklace of Kulan Gath, disposed of by Peter Parker in Marvel Team-Up #79 with Grand Theft Me abilities…
- Stunned Silence: Forge does this when he sees Ororo wearing a dress, dazzled by her beauty. Unfortunately, Ororo mistakes this trope for disdain and leaves to change, with Forge reproaching himself for not responding with a compliment.
- Tears of Remorse: Val has a tear in her eye as she shoots point blank a Dire Wraith doppelgänger of her dead colleague.
- Teleporter Accident: The love-smitten alien dragon that follows the X-Men from their teleportational departure from Battleworld not only upsets the coordinates, sending the team to Tokyo instead of New York City, it enlarges to a giant, causing destruction.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Ororo gives one to Forge, calling him isolated and cut off from society, creating weapons that harm their kind, making him a hollow soul.
- Thou Shalt Not Kill: Storm leaves a Dire Wraith out in the cold, hoping it will freeze to death. Later Forge kills this Wraith to break its Shadow Being conjuring.
- Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Nicholas Domiano. Gives refuge to Rachel, makes her a candlelit dinner. Rachel telepathically confirms his pure motive. Gets his lifeforce sucked out by Selene.
- Written-In Absence: Kitty, heartbroken over her breakup with Peter, leaves the school to stay with her father. This will lead to the Kitty Pryde and Wolverine limited series. Both titled characters will be absent from the parent title from Issue 184 and the next seven issues, not returning until Issue 192.
