Recap / Ultimate X-Men: Return To Weapon X

Ah, the good ol' times in Weapon X...

"There's a war going on out there... and your boys and girls here just joined the competition, little man"

— John Wraith, after capturing the X-Men for Weapon X

"Return to Weapon X" is the second story arc of Ultimate X Men, set in the Ultimate Marvel universe. It runs from issues #7 to #12. It was written by Mark Millar, and has arts by Adam Kubert.

The X-Men became celebrities after saving the president from Magneto, but there's still a lot of people who distrust mutants around. Such as Colonel Wraith, from Weapon X, a division of S.H.I.E.L.D., who had lost Wolverine recently. So he sent some soldiers and his remaining mutants, Sabretooth, Juggernaut, Nightcrawler and Rogue, and captured the X-Men mansion and everyone in it in a swift military operation. Unfortunately, Wolverine was not there at the time.

Nick Fury uncovered some illegal genetic experiments in the Middle East, but was captured during the operation, so Thunderbolt Ross has to ask Weapon X for help to rescue him. They do, but Wraith subjected them to several tortures in the process. Even more, they recaptured Wolverine. And when Ross mentioned that Weapon X was to be shut down, Wraith blew up his office with him in it. Nothing can stop him now...

...except that Wolverine let himself be captured. He had a tracking device in his intestines, so that Weapon X's hidden location could be found. And when it was, the Brotherhood came to the rescue. Followed by Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D., who closed Weapon X for good and allowed all the mutants to leave free.

Tropes

• Adaptational Explanation: The idea of the X-Men hiding seems a bit at odds with the iconic sign at the entrance "Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters". In this case, it is explained: it is a joke of Xavier, who trusts in his psychic powers. Other than the X-Men themselves, anyone who looks at it reads that it is the "Westchester Chapter of the Jehovah's Witnesses", and leave them alone.
• All According to Plan: Uttered by Wolverine when Jean apologized to him. He had not really been captured, it was all part of a greater plan.
• All Men Are Perverts: Jean takes Nightcrawler to the telepathic realm. She's not at all concerned that he pictured her in her underwear: everybody does it, all the time.
• Always Someone Better: The big problem of Sabertooth. Wolverine has his same powers, and will always be the better one. Even Wraith says so, even when Wolverine escaped and left him with that big facial scar, and Sabertooth volunteers to work in Weapon X.
• Ambiguous Situation: Sabertooth, who has just burnt the files with Wolverine's life before the mindwipe, boasts about the fun he had when he killed Logan's wife and little kid. Did he really do it? Or was he making it up to push his buttons, taking advantage that now Wolverine can never find out what actually happened, or if he really had a wife and/or son?
• Apologetic Attacker: Cyclops, a Boxed Crook of Weapon X, is forced to take part in a military operation against a stronghold in India. He told the soldiers that he was sorry and then took them down with an optic blast.
• Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: Xavier loathes mutants taking advantage of their superior powers to impose their will of regular humans, no matter the circumstances. Wolverine, on the other hand, has no problem making a display of his powers to a mafia boss so he accepts to leave Colossus alone.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: Nick Fury, in pure James Bond style. Of course, it did not stick.
• Badass in Distress
  • Nick Fury was captured in India. SHIELD had to ask Weapon X to send their agents to rescue him.
  • Also in the flashback in Kuwait during the Gulf War. Wolverine took Fury back to the base instead of killing him or leaving him to be killed by the arabs.
• Bait-and-Switch Gunshot: Wraith was about to shoot Nightcrawler at gunpoint. A hand fires a gun. Wraith falls dead. Nick Fury has arrived to save the day.
• Battle in the Center of the Mind: Rogue stole Jean's powers and used them on Bobby. He forced to relive the appendix operation of the previous year... minus the anesthetic.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Colossus is usually a nice guy, but after weeks of being tortured by Weapon X, and having the chance to take revenge... he won't hesitate.
• Big Damn Heroes: Nick Fury and the agents of SHIELD, showing up at the finale.
• Bilingual Bonus: An Arab soldier, the last remaining one, see that Wolverine has just killed his companion. With an Oh, Crap! face, he shouts "Ibin alqahba!". The translation says "*[censored]", for good reason.
• Blessed with Suck: Rogue, as usual. Even being in Weapon X does not make her forget about her curse, and when Scott is hugging Jean, trying to comfort her after she was forced to kill... Rogue keeps staring at them from the other cell, without missing any detail. Juggernaut found that creepy.
• Boxed Crook: All the mutants in Weapon X are forced to do what Wraith orders. The only exception is Sabertook, who is there by his own free will, as he simply enjoys killing.
• Break the Cutie: Bobby had a crisis at one point. He was sure that they were done for, that they would keep doing those missions until they die, one by one.
• Casual Danger Dialogue: Cornelius can not understand the X-Men's need for it, and wonders if it is a response to a nervous breakdown.
• The Commandments: Magneto tattooed the "Ten Mutant Commandments" on his back.
• Continuity Nod: Wraith mentions that "there's kids climbing walls in Forest Hills and mutants humbling presidents on live television". The first one is about Ultimate Spider-Man, the second is about Magneto's attack in the previous arc.
• Conveniently Cellmates: When they are not in a mission, the X-Men are held by Weapon X in a cell... right in front of Rogue and Juggernaut, the mutants that helped to capture them, and with Nightcrawler in their same cell.
• Covers Always Lie: Issue #9 has a happy and cheerful pin-up of Iceman. The comic itself is anything but.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Bobby is usually just the token teenager, the young guy shoehorned into a superhero world he does not fully understand. But when Weapon X attacks the mansion... he freezes everybody (and "freeze" is not an easy pun, he reduced the temperature and actually turned all the villains and soldiers almost to ice). If not for Rogue, who took the powers of Jean, he would have won the day single-handily.
• Dark Messiah: Magneto tattooed the "Ten Mutant Commandments" on his back.
• Deadly Dodging: Wolverine managed to elude one of Sabertooth's attacks, making him attack the cuffs that kept him restrained.
• Disney Death: Wraith killed Thunderbolt Ross as part of his coup, and Millar did not bring it up again in later arcs or in The Ultimates, his immediate follow-up work. However, Ross returned in Ultimate Fantastic Four: he simply woke up in the morgue.
• Dissonant Serenity: Sabertooth has just burnt the secrets about Wolverine's old life, he has been filled with bullets, he will be a lab rat again for the foreseeable future... and he smiles. Sabertooth attacks him, he wants to know why the hell is he smiling!
• The Dreaded
  • Even if abandoned, stepping into the Weapon X complex again evokes bad memories in Wolverine. The only kind he has left.
  • Juggernaut is treated like this when he's first released against the X-Men. Later on, when they have him in the cell, not so much.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Although Nick Fury had the Race Lift from the let go, in this story he still looks somewhat similar to the original one, and still plays the "James Bond" game.
• Easing into the Adventure: Issue #7 has the X-Men enjoying themselves and having a relaxed time. Little they suspect of all the shit that they'll soon face.
• Enemy Mine: The X-Men and the Brotherhood joined forces against Weapon X.
• Every Scar Has a Story: Much of Wraith's anger against Wolverine is because of that big scar he left in his face.
• Explosive Leash: The mutants in Weapon X receive bug-sized neural implants, to kill anyone who tries to escape instead of proceeding with the tasked mission.
• The Extremist Was Right: Wraith's motivation to run Weapon X was that the number of super-powered threats raises every day, and the US needs a reliable form of defense against them. Nick Fury, the man in SHIELD that close Weapon X, created The Ultimates for the very same reasons one year later.
• Eye Take: We see a close shot of Ross' eyes while he announces to Wraith that Weapon X will be closed.
• Face Death with Dignity: When Nick Fury thought that Wolverine was about to kill him, he accepted his fate. He only requested him not to disfigure his face, so identifying the corpse was a bit less traumatic for his old mom.
• Fandisservice: In one panel, Colossus is shown naked and tied up showing off his muscular body. Sounds hot, right? Except hes also being tortured with lava being poured over him
• Facepalm: Ross can not believe that Wraith risked the secrecy of Weapon X by kidnapping the most famous mutants, the X-Men, and killed Charles Xavier, who was in good terms with the president.
• Forced to Watch: Sabertooth took the SHIELD files about Wolverine, all that they know about his life before they erased his memory... and made a barbecue with it, with a chained Wolverine forced to watch.
• Foreshadowing: Wraith mentions at one point that there are people working on the super-soldier serum, to create a new Captain America, but who did not get any result since 1942. This subplot would be one of the starting points of The Ultimates, also by Millar, one year later.
• Full-Frontal Assault: Wolverine during the Gulf War. He was treated as little more than a dangerous savage animal, so he did not get any clothes.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: In-Universe, the X-Men are loved in Japan. Colossus was ranked as the sexiest mutant.
• Groin Attack: Wolverine sliced Sabertooth's family jewels with his claws. He has a healing factor, yes, but... that gotta hurt!
• Growing Up Sucks: Inverted. Bobby envies how Wolverine can come and go, not needing to do any exams or whatever.
• Goggles Do Something Unusual: Nick Fury's glasses broadcast all he sees to the SHIELD satellite, and can release a flash to take down a room full of criminals.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Beast managed to find Cornelious in the Weapon X complex thanks to his new feral snout, that Cornelious himself gave him. He enjoyed the irony.
• Hollywood Healing: Wraith shoot three bullets at gunpoint to Xavier's chest. Cornelious is removing the bullets later, to save his life. Ah, if it was that easy...
• Hollywood Jehovah's Witness: Exploited by Xavier. Thanks to his powers, anyone who looks at the Mansion will read that it is the "Westchester Chapter of the Jehovah's Witnesses", and not a mutant safe haven.
• Hope Spot
  • Nightcrawler does not say anything after being recaptured. Wraith then figures it out: he's thinking about teleporting to that plane that is passing in the sky. But he has exhausted himself during the escape (including his feat of teleporting alongside a snow vehicle), and can't do it. Wraith kicked him in the face and hauled him back inside the complex.
  • Iceman is having a Break the Cutie crisis, thinking that there is no hope for them that they will die there. Colossus then reminds him about Wolverine. He's still at large... and although he is the Token Evil Teammate, he had been tortured and abused by Weapon X for years, he escaped from them and found people (the X-Men) that treated him like a person, and now those people have also been kidnapped and tortured by Weapon X. Colossus is completely sure that he will come to the rescue... and then Sabertooth breaks those hopes: Wolverine has just been captured.
• Horrible Judge of Character: After some weeks in Weapon X herself, Jean accepted that she judged Wolverine very harshly, and asked for his forgiveness for not believing in his sincerity.
• How Do I Shot Web?: Storms learns how to manipulate the winds to be able to fly. It's an awesome experience... except for the part about landing, that she will need to learn as well.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Bobby has been on vacation, got a girlfriend, and told her about the school. Not just the school itself: every minute detail about it. Xavier was hesitant to simply erase the memory of this conversation from their minds, but saw no other alternative. He asked Jean, who did not see another option either, so he proceeds. Still, he loathes having to do it.
• If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: Jean does not approve killing the soldiers of Weapon X, even after the tortures they gave them.
• Invisibility Cloak: Nick Fury has one of those, but it is incredibly expensive. The budget can only provide some seconds of it. Fortunately, Fury makes each second worth.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Ross and Wraith despise each other with a passion. Ross told him that Nick Fury had been captured, all his intelligence secrets and now available for terrorists to get, and he needs the help of Weapon X. Wraith replied "Not exactly SHIELD's finest hour, general Ross". Ross accepted he had a point. "No, Colonel Wraith. Not our finest hour at all".
• Language Barrier: Nightcrawler speaks in German, and nobody in Weapon X could be bothered to teach him some basic English. Most of the time he speaks in his native tongue and nobody else understands anything. Jean tried to give him a telephatic crash course in English.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Iceman tried to impress a girl by talking her about the School, and everything that happens in it, exposing its secrecy. Xavier had no option but to erase it all from the memory of both.
• Last Request: When he thought that Wolverine was about to kill him, Nick Fury asked him to focus the attack below the neck, leaving his face alone. He thought that identifying the corpse would be hard enough as is for his mom.
• Leonine Contract: The Russian Mafia has a contract with Colossus: he works for them, and they won't kill his little brothers and sisters. Wolverine forced the boss to "renegotiate" this contract.
• Light Is Not Good: Nick Fury found something at the temple that gave a huge bright light. The satellite lost visual, Fury asked for reinforcements, and then was captured.
• Magical Asian: Subverted. Nick Fury finds a one at the Birla Temple, but it was just a facade to conceal an illegal genetics operation in a highly advanced lab inside the temple.
• Mark of Shame: The military that captured Xavier draw an "8" on his head. Even Wraith found it disgusting.
• Memory-Wiping Crew: Iceman tried to impress a girl by talking her about the School, and everything that happens in it, exposing its secrecy. Xavier had no option but to erase it all from the memory of both.
• Never Bring a Gun to a Knife Fight: The Mafia boss threatens Wolverine with a machine gun in gunpoint. Wolverine simply sliced it to pieces with his claws.
• Never Recycle a Building: Weapon-X abandoned their complex when Wolverine escaped. When he returned, he found it empty. Of course, they simply moved to a new one, to stay under the radar.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: When the mutants broke free, and unable to use Xavier against them because of the power loss, Wraith filled him with bullets. Cornelious pointed that, if he didn't do that, they could have used him as a hostage to help them escape.
• No-Sell
  • Sabertooth defeated Storm and Beast without making a sweat when he entered the mansion.
  • Juggernaut defeated Colossus in seconds, off-panel.
• Not Helping Your Case: The terrorist scientist that Jean has to kill. It's either him or Jean's boyfriend, so he had to really do a number to convince her. "I'm not an evil man. Yes, I've done evil things, but I'm just an ordinary human being like you are". And what is an ordinary man that does evil things... but an evil man? Yes, Jean chose Scott.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: Wraith felt that Ross was one, so of course he tried to kill him.
• Oh, Crap!: One of the Arab soldiers in Kuwait told his friend to take care, one of the Americans must still be alive. He does not answer. When he turns to check on his friend, Wolverine had just killed him.
• Ominous Owl: There was an owl in a tree outside Weapon X when Nightcrawler broke free, to set the ominous nature of the place.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: The whole reason Weapon X was created in the first place. Wraith thinks that, after being rescued, the president may be losing sight of the original circumstances that led to it.
• Recruitment by Rescue: The Brotherhood rescued the X-Men and the other mutants captive from Weapon X. None of the X-Men left the team to join the Brotherhood, but the Weapon X forced members Juggernaut and Rogue did so. Nightcrawler left to be on his own, and would only join the X-Men much later.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Subverted. Storm's eyes get electric blue when she's about to attack Sabertooth, but he easily dispatches her.
• The Remnant: Magneto may be gone, but the Brotherhood is still around, and Wraith wants Weapon X to stay to keep them at bay.
• Sadistic Choice: Wraith forces Jean to decide: kill a scientist working for terrorists, or watch Cyclops die. She chose the first option, but was devastated later because of it.
• Sequel Hook: After everything is said and done, and the Professor is relaxing at home with Jean, he mentions that he hopes that Nightcrawler will return someday, and they can be all under the same roof with Magneto and the others. Magneto? Did he just say Magneto?? Don't fall asleep now, professor!
• Shout-Out
  • Charles Xavier has a big copy of the "The Creation of Adam" fresco in his bedroom. Nobody can deny he has good decorating tastes.
  • There are Got Milk? advertising here and there, featuring... Ultimate Spider-Man?
  • Wraith described Rogue as a "Marilyn Manson fan"
• Shut Up, Kirk!: Jean gave a speech that they should not kill the soldiers, that it's wrong, even if they're evil. Rogue tried to silence her by touching her, but Iceman freezer her hand.
• Skewed Priorities: Nick Fury arrives in New Dehli, ready for a top-secret spy mission... and the first thing he asks is "Does anyone knows any good Indian restaurants around here?"
• Slept Through the Apocalypse: Wraith lamented that Xavier was left unconscious in the first wave of the attack, and now could not see how his dream fell down in flames.
• Straw Nihilist: Sabertooth does not consider himself a "mutant", "post human" or anything. He considers himself a monster, plain and simple.
• Tempting Fate: The guards shout "Freeze, you freaks!". Cyclops pointed "You, you really shouldn't give Iceman openings like that, mister".
• Terrifying Rescuer: Nick Fury was rescued from the Arabs by Weapon X (Wolverine), who took him to the tent of the American soldiers. Back at the time nobody thought of him as anything besides a living weapon, so Fury thought he was done for.
• There's No Kill like Overkill: To recapture Wolverine, Weapon X attacked him with an amount of napalm that could held at bay the entire Vietcong.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: When they got out, the X-Men and the Brotherhood were out for blood. Jean had to step in remind them that, even after so much torture, killing is wrong.
• Throwing the Distraction: Storm summoned some rain inside the Indian complex, so Nightcrawler could teleport inside while the guards were distracted and open the main gates.
• To Make a Long Story Short: Wraith calls Ross and asks if the budget cuts mean that SHIELD wants to close Weapon X. After some evasives (he was in the middle of a conference), Ross gave a straight answer: yes, Weapon X will be closed.
• Toilet Seat Divorce: Subverted. Jean does not Wolverine back because he leaves the toilet seat up and smokes all over the place. But, as she kept talking, it is clear that the actual reason is that he infiltrated the X-Men to kill Charles Xavier. Although he reformed and joined the X-Men for real, Jean did not forgive nor forget.
• Took a Level in Badass
  • Before being captured by Weapon X, Nightcrawler was just a timid teenager that wet his pants. In just some months there he turned into a brutal soldier, killing several agents while trying to escape from the facility.
  • Storm leads how to control the wind enough to fly. But she still needs to learn how to land.
• Translator Microbes: As nobody had thought of teaching Nightcrawler some basic English, and he kept taking in his native German, Jean gave him a crash telepathic course.
• Understatement: General Ross explains that Nick Fury has been captured in India during a failed operation, and now all the intelligence secrets he knows are up for sale in the terrorist world. Wraith replies "Not exactly SHIELD's finest hour, general Ross". Ross admitted he had a point.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Storm took down the helicopter with Wraith, but Nightcrawler teleported inside and took Wraith out of it. He did not want Storm to become a murderer. Wraith's reaction was try try to shoot Nightcrawler, right then and there.
• Uniformity Exception: When the agents of SHIELD show up in the finale, they are all wearing the classic SHIELD black uniform... except for Nick Fury himself, still with his white armani.
• Unstoppable Force Meets Immovable Object: There's a train taking Nick Fury, and Colossus gets in the railroad to stop it. But he does it under protest: there's a chance he may stop it, right, but also that the train would squash him like a bug.
• Vengeance Feels Empty: Jean convinced the X-Men against taking vengeance against the men in Weapon X
• Villains Want Mercy: Jean is sent to hire a terrorist scientist, but orders change to kill. As Jean refuses, Wraith summons Cyclops and then forces her to choose: obey her orders, or Cyclops die. Knowing that under those terms he has no hope, the scientist begs for his life. It's of no use.
• Villainous Rescue: The Brotherhood rescued the X-Men and the other captive mutants (Nightcrawler, Rogue and Juggernaut; Sabertooth was not there at the moment) from Weapon X.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Cyclops and the others found that the Indian lab has created... something, that seems to be alive. Do they have the right to kill this new lifeform? Then the soldiers storm in, and things end in an explosion anyway.
• What the Hell, Hero?
  • Ross despised Weapon X too much enough, but... capturing the X-Men, the most public mutants, and risk the secrecy of the whole operation? Kill Charles Xavier, who was on good terms with the president? Is Wraith out of his mind?
  • Juggernaut and Rogue accused the X-Men for saving the president. If Magneto had won they would be all living in a mutant utopia right now, rather than rotting in a human prison.
• While You Were in Diapers: Wraith has been nailing mutants for Weapon X before Cornelius discovered Corduroy.
• Why Didn't I Think of That?: Wolverine and Sabertooth have kept "killing" each other for years, but they always survive because of their healing factors. So Sabertooth had an idea: drown him. What use can a healing factor be if Logan's brain is severely damaged?
• You Can't Thwart Stage One: The X-Men can not defeat the army that came to capture them at the mansion. If they did, we wouldn't see them all in the Weapon X complex.
• You Owe Me: Many years in the past, Wolverine saved Nick Fury's life. End of flashback. Fury is back home from his mission, and checks the lost calls on his phone. The first one is Logan: "Nick, it's me. Listen carefully, I don't have much time here". Later on, he shows up to close Weapon X with an army of agents.
• You Rebel Scum!: When they got free, the guards shout "Freeze, you freaks!" to the mutants.