X-Men In General

Rise of the Powers of X #3 explores Charles' self-righteousness and overruling everyone again when he decided to kill Moira in her 1st life before her Mutant gene activates while hiding that plan from everyone other than Sinister and when Rasputin and Rachel stopped him and thought they finally got through to him, he shoots Rachel in the back while she was walking away insisting he did so bec he thought of a backup plan at that moment.

Yeah, I’m really not seeing what else Chuck could’ve done. Some have suggested that instead of taking control of the mutants, he could’ve controlled MODOK to smash the kill switch, but that’s obviously a big assumption that was the only copy of it. There are SEVEN members of the Orchis Council after all, and many other dangerous high-ranking operatives too.

Meanwhile, some interesting news on NYX. Seems it will be sort of a “mutant culture anthology” and heavily influenced by Academy X!

Well my interest in the post-Krakoa era just went way up! Krakoa itself could’ve used both a book for the kids and a slice-of-life book, I thought.

Claremont and Salazar are doing another Wolverine interquel for the 50th anniversary — Wolverine: Deep Cut, with Sabretooth as one of the antagonists.

I'm still torn because it sounds evocative of the whole Morrison/Wheadon period in general, which is probably my favorite era of X-Men and has a ton of my favorite stories (Academy X, Morrison's New X-Men, Peter David's X-Factor, etc.), but the Krakoan Age was very evocative of that period too which was part of why I adored it so much, so burning it down to get to this feels very counterintuitive.

I gotta be honest I find Krakoa being gone kinda uplifting.

Cause while I like the concept, I was also annoyed how everything became all about Krakoa, and a recurring critique I recall is that plenty of characters personalities were changed and deemphasized to revolve all around Krakoa.

So after 5 years I feel like its a good thing to give Krakoa a break so characters can do other stuff.

5 years isn't that long in comics.

I’ve got mixed feelings about the end of Krakoa. As a long term plot, I’m glad to see if being resolved as whole story arc with a proper beginning, middle and end rather than dragging on (even if plans likely changed significantly due to Hickman’s departure).

As a location and status quo, however, I’ll be sad to see it go. The resurrection protocols, different focus on the mutant experience, and all mutants being on the ‘same side’ created such a wonderful sandbox with so much story potential. It’s allowed a lot of characters to step back into a limelight in a way they rarely get to. Losing that and going back to something that sounds fairly generic will be a shame.

I think my optimal solution would be for Krakoa to remain in play, but for it to take a narrative backseat to something else. Keep it as a location and keep the changes it enabled, but no longer the focus of the story

I think Marvel should really start calling them "X(gene)-Mutants" distinguished from "text(book)-mutants" and "quest(ionable)-mutants". Marvel could trademark it, it would add a permanent level of depth to mutant stories and it could give Marvel a greater incentive to keep things like Genosha and Krakoa around.

You could have people like Striker only hating x-mutants, because text-mutants and quest-mutants aren't threats to humanity in his book. Bastian mainly hates x-mutants but will hunt the other two in their absence. You could have people who only hate inexplicable quest-mutants like Thanos and don't get the whole x-mutant hysteria. Bullies like Heather Noble and Simone DeSantos who specifically target text-mutants because they're unlikely to have mutant powers to fight back with. People who hate all three because they can't tell the difference. People who hate all three equally for completely different reasons. Schisms between the different groups of mutants. A "Pan TXQ Alliance" movement that seeks to unite the mutants. Different government agencies dedicated to each, and contrast how different governments go about it (In Canada it's eliminate the text, exploit the x and quarantine the quest. In the US it's eliminate the X, cure the test and lump the quest in with mutates because who cares).

Those terms make no sense.

Mutants are a specific thing in the Marvel verse. There aren't any other kinds of Mutants besides the one who have the X-factor.

Other Marvel superhumans aren't Mutants. Their powers are all due to being exposed to outside factors in life.

Also, Mutants with no obvious powers that let them fight back are still also Mutants with an X-factor. That's part of what makes the X-factor such a crapshoot.

Thanos is a unique mutant whose mutation is simply that he's an Eternal and a Deviant. But a recent X-Men / Eternals crossover revealed that Deviants are actually similar to X-factor Mutants.

Edited by M84 on Apr 16th 2024 at 11:13:16 PM

Yes there are.

Warlock is a mutant, but not because of an X-gene. Kaga is a mutant, not because of the x-gene, and specifically hates X gene mutants, calling himself a "text book mutant". Thanos may or may not have an x gene, as Nebula may or may not be his descendant and if she is she did not inherit it from him, breaking the whole "new subspecies" thing that's supposed to be driving mutant hatred.

Warlock and Kaga are bad examples.

Warlock's not even human, so he's obviously not a human Mutant. He's from a race of sapient machines whose "mutation" is basic empathy. He's a cultural rebel. He's only deemed a "mutant" by his people (and even by himself) because simple feelings are condemned by their values.

Kaga was affected in utero by the radiation from a nuke. He's technically a mutate since he was changed by an outside factor.

As for Nebula not inheriting a mutation...you do know that even X-factor Mutants don't always have children who are Mutants too, right? It's more likely, but it's not guaranteed. Sabertooth and Mystique for example had a baseline human son Graydon Creed. One of Orchis' collaborators Feilong also turned out to be the son of two Mutant parents. His whole motivation is petty envy that he wasn't born with Mutant powers too despite this. It's even more petty since his parents actually loved and supported him, but he was too jealous and ungrateful to appreciate this.

Edited by M84 on Apr 16th 2024 at 11:24:45 PM

So, in the Marvel verse, what do they call it when Real Life mutations occur?

They don’t call them mutants.

We don’t go around calling everyone suffering from cancer a mutant in real life after all.

Fall of the House of X #4:

Nimrod picks up the Villain Ball. Teleporting out to leave Cyclops to die when a bomb explodes, allowing enough time for Magik to save him. Punching Cyclops when they next fight, but clearly not as hard as he's been punching Colossus. The ultimate mutant killing AI isn't really very good at killing mutants.

And the big betrayal... Xavier sides with Orchis, making a "no more humans" deal to save mutants. Which, on the surface, makes no sense when the mutants seem to be winning. It's not entirely clear why Nimrod accepts, either. Or why the humans in Orchis, who the AI had treated as disposable, suddenly get Red Triangle defences from a Xavier who's abandoned humanity. But Xavier kills a space force crew threatening Orchis to show he's serious.

Meanwhile, Apocalypse starts sacrificing volunteers to save Krakoa. Wrongslide is among them, and his life force is so powerful that no others may be needed. But, still, not happy to see him killed off.

It still feels a bit clumsy and rushed, to be honest.

Edited by Mrph1 on Apr 17th 2024 at 9:01:24 AM

I guess this explains why none of the X-Men teams in the upcoming post-Krakoa From the Ashes stuff are being led by Xavier.

Whatever Xavier's doing might ultimately stop Orchis and Enigma, but he's willfully burning all of his bridges with the X-Men to do it.

Edited by M84 on Apr 17th 2024 at 4:38:39 PM

So, Xavier basically said that if they back off from Krakoa, Orchis can do whatever they please to the rest of the world? Wow, Magneto wasn't kidding about what good men do when they get desperate.

Also despite my well-documented hatred of Marvel Civilians and frequent jokes that the heroes should just abandon them, to see it actually happen is a lot more, uhh, harrowing than I thought it'd be...

Be Careful What You Wish For amirite?

The Marvel Unlimited app isn't letting me read today's Marvel's Voices yet, but it seems to be an Escapade story.

Glad she's still getting some appearances (and surviving the fall of Krakoa.').

Seeing Charles completely abandon his dream to save mutants right when Magneto decides to start sparing humans (up to a point) is sad and ironic.

Especially when today’s episode of X-Men '97 brought us peak idealistic Xavier.

NIMROD: You would make a good Machine.

Edited by NickTheSwing on Apr 17th 2024 at 12:20:14 PM

Over in dead x-men they are able to stop the moria from the one timeline where stelleris tried to ascend, and dazzler realized she is somewhat immortal and how it works, if she's squished to s pulp by a giant robot that will kill her, but she can heal from a wound that would be fatal to most others.

Also traitor x being Xavier makes me understand why mutants are being hated and feared again after this

Edited by Deadpoolrocks on Apr 17th 2024 at 1:50:20 AM

Just finished reading Fall of the House of X #4.

Apocalypse did try to use his own lifeforce to heal Krakoa but it wasn't enough and only 1 volunteer before Wrongslide was sacrificed. As for Xavier's betrayal, funny when we were arguing that what Xavier did at the Gala wasn't a backroom deal when Cyclops, in a 1v1 telepathic conference w/ him, framed what he did at the Gala as a backroom deal and his new deal w/ Nimrod as another backroom deal. Effectively Cyclops told Xavier to take his deal w/ the Sentinels and shove it up his ass as the X-Men chooses to attack Sentinel City anyway, rendering Xavier's betrayal All For Nothing.

Sounds about right. The series has been widening the gap between Xavier and his students for years now. I think it's a miracle they took him back after Deadly Genesis, so with all the secrets of Krakoa and all Xavier's mistakes, both real and imagined, them saying screw you seems like the only response left.

I think back to what Storm told Magneto back in Uncanny X-Men 150: The Dream was good, is good. Only the Dreamer can be corrupted.

That's you Chuck. The only good thing left of you is your dream.

I feel like this probably came from Hickman’s ending for “it’s like poetry, it rhymes” reasons. Specifically Chuck’s now in the same position Moira was at the start, so broken by always losing that he feels the only solution is for one species to be sacrificed.