History Comicbook / Inferno

* ArtShift: Readers who read the TPB will notice a major difference in art style and storytelling between ChrisClaremont and Marc Silvestri's ''X-Men'' issues, Louise Simonson and Brett Blevins' ''New Mutants'' issues, and Louise and her husband Walt Simonson's ''X-Factor'' issues. Most fans prefer the ''X-Men'' issues.

* TakeThat: S'ym is a parody of {{Cerebus}}. His creator, Dave Sim wrote about having a little "talk" with the Marvel artists about their parody character becoming a main story driver and featuring on the cover without them asking permission. Per Dave, no lawyers were involved but Sym's body and features changed significantly shortly afterwards, with N'astirh suddenly taking over much of the demoning.

* TakeThat: S'ym is a parody of {{Cerebus}}.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Inferno_4666.jpg
[[caption-width:300:Creepiest X-Men Crossover Ever]]

Should not be confused with a part of Dante's DivineComedy, the movie about [[TheToweringInferno a burning building]], or several other media uses of the word "inferno".

'''Synopsis:''' Although extended to affect several Marvel titles, this was basically an {{X-Men}} crossover. It was made for two reasons: first, to solve the dangling plotline regarding Jean Grey's clone, Madelyne Pryor, and secondarily, to finally do ''something'' with the plotline of Illyana Rasputin (Colossus' sister) which had been teased for years. Pryor was a Jean Grey lookalike that Cyclops ''just happened'' to meet shortly after Jean Grey's death. They married and had a baby. However when Marvel decided to bring Jean back to life and have her and Cyclops star in a new title (XFactor) suddenly the character was unnecessary and made Cyclops look bad for "running away from his wife" (actually he had intended to return to her, but she had vanished by then.) This story revealed that Pryor was indeed a clone of Grey from the start, created by the villain Mister Sinister since he wanted a baby born from the two of them, as it was predicted it would be the only one who could permanently destroy Sinister's archfoe, the mutant villain Apocalypse. The revelation drove Pryor mad.

'''Synopsis:''' Although extended to affect several Marvel titles, this was basically an {{X-Men}} crossover. It was made for two reasons: first, to solve the dangling plotline regarding Jean Grey's clone, Madelyne Pryor, and secondarily, to finally do ''something'' with the plotline of Illyana Rasputin (Colossus' sister) which had been teased for years.
Pryor was a Jean Grey lookalike that Cyclops ''just happened'' to meet shortly after Jean Grey's death. They married and had a baby. However when Marvel decided to bring Jean back to life and have her and Cyclops star in a new title (XFactor) suddenly the character was unnecessary and made Cyclops look bad for "running away from his wife" (actually he had intended to return to her but she had vanished by then.) This story revealed that Pryor was indeed a clone of Grey from the start, created by the villain Mister Sinister since he wanted a baby born from the two of them, as it was predicted it would be the only one who could permanently destroy Sinister's archfoe, the mutant villain Apocalypse. The revelation drove Pryor mad.

As for Illyana, she had the mutant power of opening portals to the dimension called Limbo- which was a type of Hell. She was captured by its ruler, the sorcerer Belasco, who raised her for the purpose of sacrificing her to his mysterious gods, but Illyana defeated him- leaving ''her'' the ruler of limbo, whether she liked it or not. She joined the NewMutants but her demonic heritage was a constant latent threat.

The plots become linked by the fact that S'ym, Illyana's main demon servant, made a deal with with Pryor in a dream, which she foolishly accepted thinking it would not be binding in the real world- needless to say, it was. This turned her into the evil Goblyn Queen. The whole thing was a plan by Limbo's top two demons, S'ym and N'astirh (Introduced for this story). (Note that N'astirh was given credit for corrupting Madelyne, which is incorrect, unless it had pretended to be S'ym in the dream.) The two eventually turn on each other.

* TheChessmaster: The demon N'Astirh's machinations on both Magik and Madelyne led to Inferno in the first place.

* DealWithTheDevil: N'Astirh specializes in these.

* HeroicSacrifice: Magik's "Darkchylde" story arc in ''Inferno'' is reminiscent of Jean's in ''TheDarkPhoenixSaga'', except that at the end she comes face to face with her younger, innocent self. Faced with the choice of staying as she is or returning to that innocent childhood, Illyana sends her child-self forward through time so that she will never become Magik, and therefore Darkchylde, and thereby [[RetGone un-creates herself]].

* RedSkiesCrossover: None of the non-mutant heroes involved ever found out [[IncrediblyLamePun what the Hell]] all that was about with the exception of SpiderMan who had a few issues dedicated to the crossover. This became important to the history of the second Hobgoblin who was merged with a demon during this event. Said demon would eventually leave the Hobgoblin to become the villain Demo-Goblin.

** Also, S'ym loses the spotlight to a completely new demon, the Chessmaster N'Astirh.

* {{Underboobs}}: See page illustration above. Unquestionably one of the most legendary examples in comic book history. Were it not for the fact that she possessed awesome telekinetic powers there would have been no way that Madelyne could have ever raised her arms like that, much less engaged in combat, without baring it all!

* PoorCommunicationKills: After Scott had joined X-Factor, several months had passed before he first tried to contact Madelyne. Many of the problems would [[WeCouldHaveAvoidedAllThis have been avoided]] if Scott bothered to explain the situation to both Jean and Madelyne.

* RedSkiesCrossover: None of the non-mutant heroes involved ever found out [[IncrediblyLamePun what the Hell]] all that was about.

* ContrivedCoincidence: Cyclops running into a Jean lookalike shortly after her "death" (although this story says it was set up by Sinister.)

* FridgeLogic: ...So, nobody thought to check out Madelyne's DNA to see if it matched Jean's?
** Why didn't Sinister just USE Cyclops and Jean's DNA to create the baby instead of going to such convoluted extremes? Made even worse because ''that's exactly what he does'' in the AlternateReality crossover, The AgeOfApocalypse.

* IThoughtItMeant: The terms "limbo" and "inferno" are NOT interchangeable. Made worse by the fact that Marvel *already* had a dimension called Limbo before Illyana's was introduced.
** To make it easier, Limbo is the ''place'' (also known as Otherplace), and Inferno is the ''event'' by which that Limbo merged with Earth.
* NightmareFuel: Many instances, but particularly when Madelyne tries to kill her own baby.

* SpotlightStealingSquad: The long-teased Limbo invasion finally happens, and it's Madelyne Pryor instead of Illyana who provokes it?

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The demon [[TheChessmaster chessmaster]] N'Astirh is introduced, and killed, in this story arc. Given that he's just another magic-user, fans who think Belasco, the sorcerer who turned Illyana into Magik in the first place, should have returned for this instead consider his introduction to be this.

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Madelyne, who's StartOfDarkness was because Scott callously abandoned her and Nathan to be reunited with Jean.
** Well really Madelyne does not undergo a change of personality after being abandoned. So really her StartOfDarkness would be her later dreams.
** When news came that Jean had returned to life, Scott ''goes to see Jean'', but he does not tell Madelyne that their marriage is over, though she threatens him with it if he goes. Note that he specifically ''does not'' immediately take up his former relationship with Jean again, and tries several times to contact Madelyne and figure out how to fix things. Scott does not resume his relationship with Jean until he learns (wrongly) that Madelyne had died. It was, strictly speaking, Madelyne who ended the relationship.
*** Of course, there has always been a fan faction who maintain that Madelyne and Jean are the same person anyway, a case of multiple personality disorder combined with the Phoenix Force. While this sounds far-fetched, a case for it can be made using canonical sources.

* ArtShift: Readers who read the TPB will notice a major difference in art style and storytelling between ChrisClaremont and Marc Silvestri's ''X-Men'' issues, Louise Simonson and Brett Blevins' ''New Mutants' issues, and Louise and her husband Walt Simonson's ''X-Factor'' issues. Most fans prefer the ''X-Men'' issues.

* ArtShift: Readers who read the TPB will notice a strong difference between ChrisClaremont and Marc Silvestri's ''X-Men'' issues and Walter and Louise Simonson's ''X-Factor'' issues.

* DealWithTheDevil
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Madelyn, the baby, teenage Illyana.

* HumanSacrifice: Illyana (originally) and the baby (both survive.)

* NightmareFuel: especially when Madelyn tries to kill her own baby.

** Also, S'ym loses the spotlight to a completely new demon.
*** You'd think Belasco would have returned for this instead.
* SuperpoweredEvilSide: The Darkchylde for Illyana, and the Goblyn Queen for Madelyne.

* TakingYouWithMe

** When news came that Jean had returned to life, Scott ''goes to see Jean'', but he does not tell Madelyne that their marriage is over, though she threatens him with it if he goes. Note that he specifically ''does not'' immediately take up his former relationship with Jean again, and tries several times to contact Madelyne and figure out how to fix things. Scott does not resume his relationship with Jean until he learns (wrongly) that Madelyne had died. It was, strictly speaking, Madelyne who ended the relationship.
*** After Scott had joined X-factor several months had past before he first tried to contact Madelyne. Many of the problems would have been avoided if Scott bothered to explain the situation to both Jean and Madelyne.

** When news came that Jean had returned to life, Scott ''goes to see Jean'', but he does not tell Madelyne that their marriage is over, though she threatens him with it if he goes. Note that he specifically ''does not'' immediately take up his former relationship with Jean again, and tries several times to contact Madelyne and figure out how to fix things. Scott does not resume his relationship with Jean until he learns (wrongly) that Madelyne had died. It was, strictly speaking, Madelyne who ended the relationship.

** Um...not quite. When news came that Jean had returned to life, Scott ''goes to see Jean'', but he does not tell Madelyne that their marriage is over, though she threatens him with it if he goes. Note that he specifically ''does not'' immediately take up his former relationship with Jean again, and tries several times to contact Madelyne and figure out how to fix things. Scott does not resume his relationship with Jean until he learns (wrongly) that Madelyne had died. It was, strictly speaking, Madelyne who ended the relationship.

''Inferno!'' was a MarvelComics [[CrisisCrossover comic book crossover]] from 1988. The basic premise was that New York city was ''literally'' turned into a hell ([[JesusTaboo not THE Hell, mind you]]) and its heroes, villains and civilians had to deal with it.

* UnexplainedRecovery:
** Jean Grey's return started the whole mess.
** All the characters eliminated here eventually return.

* IGotBetter: all the characters eliminated here eventually return.

** Why didn't Sinister just USE Cyclops and Jean's DNA to create the baby instead of going to such convoluted extremes? Made even worse because ''that's exactly what he does'' in the AlternateReality crossover, TheAgeOfApocalypse.

* IThoughtItMeant: The terms "limbo" and "inferno" are NOT interchangeable. Made worse by the fact that Marvel *already* had a dimension called Limbo before Illyana's.

* SuperpoweredEvilSide: The Darkchylde for Illyana, and the Goblyn Queen for Illyana.

** Why didn't Sinister just USE Cyclops and Jean's DNA to create the baby instead of going to such convlouted extremes? Made even worse because ''that's exactly what he does'' in the AlternateReality crossover, '''The Age of Apocalypse'''.
* GeniusLoci: The city itself became "evil" featuring everything from overflowing toilets to trains turned into giant worms.

* RedSkiesCrossover: None of the other heroes involved ever found out [[IncrediblyLamePun what the Hell]] all that was about.
* Selective Obliviousness: The people of New York accept the existence aliens and mutants, but demons? No way.

* SuperpoweredEvilSide: The Darkchylde for Illyana, and the GoblynQueen for Dalyne.

* TheMasquerade: The people of New York accept the existence aliens and mutants, but demons? No way.

* DemonicSacrifice: Illyana (originally) and the baby.

* GeniusLocii: The city itself became "evil" featuring everything from overflowing toilets to trains turned into giant worms.

* IThoughtItMeant: The terms "limbo" and "inferno" are NOT interchangeable. Made worse by the fact that Marvel *already* had a dimension called Limbo.