Here lies Ororo Munroe...
Professor Xavier lives! His life had been saved by Empress Lilandra, and news of their coming marriage sends shockwaves throughout the entire Shi'ar Empire. Meanwhile, back on Earth, it's a race against time as Storm must find a way to cure Forge of a deathly infection, hounded by the Adversary every step of the way...
Episode Synopsis
In space, a massive ship battle rages between the Shi'ar and the Kree. Despite the Kree's firepower, Deathbird and the Shi'Ar Imperial Army are able to break into the flagship, where Deathbird and Gladiator engage and defeat Ronan the Accuser. Deathbird demands to know where the Kree Supreme Intelligence has hidden itself, but Ronan refuses to reveal his location. Before Deathbird can kill him, a messenger stops her with news from her sister, Empress Lilandra. Lilandra reveals that she has decided to marry Charles Xavier, who is not only healthy once more, but also whole again, as he now has regained use of his legs. Sadly, the crowd does not go wild at this thought and Deathbird schemes.
In the privacy of their home, Xavier and Lilandra muse the tepid reception, though Xavier does miss his dear students. Lilandra tries to reassure Xavier and he starts to slowly come around.
Back on Earth, Storm tends to the ill Forge while the Adversary, who inflicted a deathly infection upon him, taunts and messes with her mind. The creature tells her to forget Forge and let him die. Trapping her in an illusory coffin and exploiting her claustrophobia, the Adversary claims that Storm didn't lose her powers, she renounced her heritage and her friends, something she weakly admits being true. However, Forge is able to rush to Storm's aid and sends the Adversary away with an ancient spellbook. Forge's disease is growing worse, and he tells her that there's a cactus that could help. Storm wants to go alone, but Forge is dying. Thus, they go together.
Back on the Throneworld, it seems that not all his well as while it seemed that the war against the Kree is almost a victorious one, the idea of Xavier and Lilandra marrying to be a crazy one. Then Deathbird arrives. Preying on the fears of bringing the Throneworld to the "Milky Way ghetto", Deathbird challenges Xavier - if he wants to marry Lilandra, he must erase all memories of Earth and Lilandra should be the one to do it. Musing at a statue of the Shi'ar's gods, Xavier muses with Gladiator over their story and Xavier realizes Gladiator reminds him of Magneto. It seems that Xavier is making his mind as Lilandra begs him to stay with her, that if she decides to leave the throne, Deathbird will take it and unleash untold destruction on the universe.
On Earth, Storm and Forge arrive at Snowsnake Tower, where the cactus is located, discovering a Civil War-era bunker. Here, the two make up for their arguments two episodes ago before Forge continues to have his health fail.
On the Throneworld, Xavier prepares to erase his memories, but he hesitates at the thought of losing the memories of his X-Men. Deathbird swoops in to take advantage of everything, revealing that even that the Council looks down on Xavier for being a mutant. A fight breaks down before Xavier drags everyone into the psychic realm, ready to teach them a lesson.
On Earth, Storm's search for the cactus leads to another confrontation with the Adversary trapped in a cavern. However, Storm realizes that her powers were being suppressed by believing in her fears. In a defiant show of force, Storm's powers reawaken, restoring her hair and giving her a new costume. Storm tends to Forge's disease, and it heals. The two start to muse about going away on a romantic getaway before Forge turns on the TV; they learn about Genosha and that the survivors there are being refused to return home, fearing an evolutionary war is about to begin.
In the psychic realm, Xavier continues his teachings, attacking their methods of assimilation, but he's wanting to help them work on better coexistence. However, the psychic backlash of the Genosha genocide hits Xavier, throwing them all back into the real world. Xavier realizes he ran away like a coward, and he needs to return home.
On Earth, Bolivar Trask is on the run, horrified as he realizes that he's done something unthinkable, as a figure tells him he did a great thing, a prologue that is past, and that all he needs to do now is put his faith... in Sinister.
- Adaptation Amalgamation: In the comics, "Lifedeath" was only about Storm coming to terms with the loss of her powers. Getting her powers back was a completely different story arc that came three years later: The Fall of the Mutants. Here, the two stories are combined.
- Adaptational Badass: Deathbird asserts that Lilandra has psychic powers equal to Xavier's own. In the comics, her telepathy is very limited and generally confined to her psychic bond with Xavier.
- Adaptational Jerkass: In the comics, Mister Sinister's Mutant Massacre was carried out by his Marauders against the Morlocks, an atrocity to be sure, but a small-scale one. Here, he's responsible for a massive attack on Genosha that killed millions of mutants.
- Adaptational Wimp: In the comics, the Adversary is an ancient God of Evil whose mere presence in Dallas caused reality to unravel in the city and threatened the whole world, and the only way X-Men could defeat him was to die and offer their souls to fuel Forge's spell to seal him away (they got better). Here, he's just a lowly demon who feeds on self-loathing and is driven off when Storm accepts herself as a mutant.
- Adapted Out: Forge's mentor in sorcery in the comics was the Cheyenne shaman Naze, whom the Adversary impersonated in the prelude to The Fall of the Mutants. Here, Forge says it was his mother who taught him.
- Battle in the Center of the Mind:
- It's revealed that Forge's machine from "Lifedeath Pt 1" did restore Storm's X-gene, but her own traumas with being a mutant prevented her from reclaiming her powers. Winning a battle of wills against the Adversary is what leads to her getting her powers back.
- Amidst the battle for the Shi'ar throne, Xavier uses his telepathy to bring all involved to the astral plane, where he uses a classroom setting to argue against the Shi'ar's imperialism and espouse his own heartfelt belief in equal coexistence with all peoples. It makes an impact, though the lesson is interrupted when Xavier suddenly senses the Genoshan genocide and Gambit's death.
- Big Bad: Sinister is set up as one, having used Trask’s research to create the Tri-Sentinel to attack Genosha.
- Bittersweet Ending: Storm is able to regain her powers and Professor Xavier decides to return to Earth, even though it means he and Lilandra cannot be together. However, Sinister is revealed to be the mastermind behind the Genoshan massacre and begins his next plan.
- Breather Episode: This episode mostly focuses on both Storm and Xavier and their sub-plots (Xavier's literally years in the making), allowing for fans to recover (mostly) from the last episode.
- Bring It: As Storm begins to regain her powers, the Adversary attempts to bring her back down, warning her that if she regains her powers, humanity will come after her. She defiantly tells it to let them come.The Adversary: Be warned, be smart! Believe the lie! Deny your power! Play dead, or humanity will thunder down upon you and your kind!
Storm: You all are an echo of who I am. So, let them thunder, for I AM LIGHTNING! - Bullying a Dragon: While on the astral plane, Deathbird arrogantly proclaims that the Shi'ar Empire is built upon conquering "inferior" minds like Xavier's. Xavier casually chides her for not raising her hand before telepathically leaving Deathbird back behind a desk, with an apple shoved in her mouth.
- But Now I Must Go: Xavier calls off his marriage to Lilandra to return to the X-Men in the wake of Genosha's Mutant Massacre.
- The Cameo: Vulcan appears among the forces of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard, which is especially notable since his arrival in the comics heralded a major shake-up to the status quo. Alongside him, Manta, Smasher, Earthquake, Titan, Starbolt, Flashfire and Warstar also appear.
- Coincidental Broadcast: After Storm regains her powers and heals Forge, he turns on the TV to the news of the aftermath of the massacre on Genosha and the possibility of a human-mutant war.
- Composite Character: Mister Sinister takes the place of Cassandra Nova as the person responsible for unleashing the Sentinel attack on Genosha. Bolivar takes the place of Donald Trask III as the one that provides the DNA allowing Sinister to access the Master Mold.
- Crapsaccharine World: The Shi'ar Empire is an advanced interstellar empire with wondrous technology and generally far more benevolent than its rivals, such as the brutal Kree. But underneath the pleasant facade, it's a nation whose fundamental identity is built on imperialism, whose ruling class has more than enough Fantastic Racism to go around, and whose core culture considers art and idealism forms of insanity (while conveniently defining them so versions that they themselves use don't count).
- Curb-Stomp Battle:
- Deathbird and the Imperial Guard's battle with Ronan the Accuser is very much not in the Kree's favor, with the Shi'ar quickly having Ronan and his forces at their mercy before Lilandra's wedding announcement takes precedence in Deathbird's attention.
- Gladiator easily shrugs off any attacks Deathbird or her mooks throw at him, and Deathbird herself only gets shots at Lilandra and Xavier when Gladiator is distracted.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Deathbird's threatens the captured Kree soldiers with summary execution while they are kneeling and helpless, resembling numerous photos of actual war crimes, such as those committed during the U.S. military occupation of Iraq.
- Didn't Think This Through: Deathbird's attempted coup failed to account for Gladiator, who is loyal to whomever occupies the Shi'ar throne and who quickly proves to be more than a match for Deathbird's loyalists.
- Dramatic Irony: Both Storm and Xavier are unaware of the attack on Genosha and both of their storylines come to a hopeful conclusion before the realization of what's happened hits them.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Despite having built the Sentinels and having tried to kill the X-Men in the opening episode, Bolivar Trask apparently draws the line at outright genocide.
- Evolving Credits: Magneto and Gambit’s title cards are removed from the intro and Nightcrawler has been added in their place. Whilst both characters remain in several group shots, Nightcrawler has also replaced Gambit in the mid-credits shot of the X-Men running across the screen. A new shot is added of Nimrod being produced by Master Mold, followed by it being blasted to pieces by Bishop with alternate Storm and Wolverine from "One Man's Worth" beside him.
- Fantastic Racism: When Lilandra announces her engagement to Xavier, the prevailing emotion among the Shi'ar is discomfort, Deathbird is vehemently against the very idea of a human and a Shi'ar mating, and one councilor goes a step further of calling Xavier not even pure by Terran standards because he's a mutant. Deathbird even refers to Earth as the “Milky Way ghetto”.
- Forgiveness: Despite her anger at his previous deception, Storm ultimately forgives Forge, especially once the Adversary has been defeated, and she's even shown to reciprocate his romantic interest.
- Foreshadowing: The Adversary torments Storm by trapping her in a coffin to exploit her claustrophobia before Forge rescues her. When they both head to Snowsnake Tower for an ingredient for a medicine to remove the Adversary's infection, he reveals that he insisted on joining her because he didn't want to leave her traversing the mine's tight confines alone.
- Friend-or-Idol Decision: The "friend" refers to his love for Lilandra, while the "idol" refers to the X-Men, whom he has trained to become beacons of hope for humans and mutants alike. A Shi'ar ritual has him attempt to remove all memories of his life on Earth, a decision which would prove his worth to marry Lilandra, though he hesitates. Though it seems he may be able to compromise, sensing the horrors of the Genoshan massacre from afar (symbolized by Gambit's death) forces him to choose returning to Earth and the X-Men, even if it means risking the end of his relationship with Lilandra.
- Hypocritical Humor: Early in the episode, Lilandra playfully chides Xavier over wanting to get involved in the drama of the X-Men again, saying that families are like black holes that way. Xavier points out that her brother tried to destroy the universe with the M'kraan Crystal, and by the end, Xavier is caught up in drama involving Lilandra and her sister.
- Internal Reveal: Storm and Xavier learn about the Mutant Massacre at Genosha and Gambit's death respectively.
- Interspecies Romance: Deconstructed; this episode examines the difficulties two people would encounter when they're from cultures alien to one another, especially in a society as imperialist and supremacist as the Shi'ar. Xavier's role as Lilandra's consort invites scorn, and her intention to marry him is met with general unease and is used by Deathbird to launch a coup attempt.
- Ironic Echo: During their confrontation, Charles sardonically applauds Deathbird for being blunt enough to "say the quiet part out loud". A moment later, she turns it back on him.
- Kick the Dog:
- Deathbird threatening to have Ronan’s men fried if he doesn't reveal where the Kree Supreme Intelligence is hiding.
- Deathbird issues a challenge for Xavier to marry Lilandra, namely that to prove his loyalty to the Shi'ar, he has to forsake all memories of Earth and his life there, and because of Xavier's formidable psychic powers, Lilandra would have to be the one to erase his memories. While she has a pragmatic purpose (if Xavier or Lilandra refuse, Deathbird can make a play for the throne), she clearly enjoys the emotional torment she causes, and as soon as Xavier hesitates to renounce his beloved X-Men, Deathbird makes an immediate attempt at a coup.
- Mood Whiplash:
- Storm's storyline seemingly ends with her and Forge making plans for a romantic getaway. Then Forge turns on the TV, and they see the horrifying news from Genosha.
- Xavier's compelling speech to the Shi'ar council begins to reach a hopeful and optimistic pitch that would've led to internal reforms within the Empire... just before Xavier senses Gambit's death and is immediately horrified and desperate to return to Earth to help his X-Men, even if it means the end of his relationship with Lilandra.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Bolivar Trask is completely horrified that Sinister attacked Genosha, as he hadn't realized that had been Sinister's aim when given Trask's DNA to activate Master Mold. He's even guilty enough to ask Sinister to kill him for it.
- My Significance Sense Is Tingling: Soon after Xavier forces Lilandra and her imperial court into the astral plane to give them a "The Reason You Suck" Speech, he senses Gambit's death and realizes he is needed back on Earth.
- Mythology Gag:
- The episode opens with the Shi'ar and Kree locked in combat, suggesting that a measure of Operation: Galactic Storm is happening.
- The telepathic classroom on the Astral Plane Xavier brings the Shi'ar to resembles the one where Cassandra Nova was instructed in at the end of the "E for Extinction" arc.
- When Xavier senses the deaths in Genosha, he cries out that they were drinking wine, dancing and making love. He said the same thing in the original "E is for Extinction" storyline.
- Negated Moment of Awesome: Xavier’s mass mental disciplining of the Shi’ar is cut short by his visions of death on Earth.
- No-Sell: Anything that hits Gladiator, of course. The Kree’s lasers, the X-Men’s attacks in the opening, Deathbird’s claws, etc.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Xavier compares Gladiator's imperialist attitudes to Rudyard Kipling, and compares his description of idealism as a sign of insanity to something Magneto might say. The former comparison means nothing to Gladiator, while the latter makes him compliment Magneto as "a wise Terran".
- Out of Focus: The X-Men are only mentioned, with none of the team's present roster making an appearance.
- Power Makes Your Hair Grow: Storm's mohawk grows to waist length after she gets her powers back.
- Promotion to Opening Titles: Nightcrawler has been added to the roster in the intro, despite not actually joining the team in this episode or even appearing in it.
- Psychosomatic Superpower Outage: Forge's re-powering machine worked, but Storm remained unable to use her powers due to the trauma of losing them to begin with. It isn't until she confronts the Adversary and rises above that trauma that her powers truly return.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Xavier schools the Shi'ar on why their imperialism just doesn't work as they harm other peoples in order to bring into their fold. He points out that coexistence is messy, but it can work out in the end. Sadly, he doesn't get to really finish before the psychic backlash from the Genosha genocide hits.
- The Reveal: Mister Sinister was behind the attack on Genosha, having used Bolivar Trask to access Master Mold and create the Tri-Sentinel. Sinister ominously warns a panicking Trask that that was only the beginning of his plans.
- She's Back: Once she finally confronts the Adversary, Storm's powers return in spectacular fashion. She even regains her long hair, and gets a new costume in the process.
- Significant Wardrobe Shift: Once she regains her powers, Storm also changes from the silver costume she's worn throughout the series to her famous black costume.
- Spared by the Adaptation: In the comics, the entire population of Genosha was completely wiped out and very few were spared. Here, it’s revealed that many more survived the attack, leading to a refugee crisis.
- Team Member in the Adaptation: Vulcan appears as a member of the Imperial Guard but in the comics, he was never a member. In fact he was their boss once he became Emperor of the Shi'ar.
- Two Lines, No Waiting: Xavier's and Storm's respective arcs take place simultaneously in this episode with nothing linking them until they separately learn about the Genosha massacre at the end. For that matter, it's three lines if you consider that the previous episode's events are also happening during this one.
- Uncertain Doom: Following on the ambiguity in the previous episode, Xavier only senses Gambit's death from the attack on Genosha, not that of Magneto.
- Villain Has a Point: One of Deathbird's points of contention against Xavier and Lilandra's marriage is a suspicion that he'd want the Shi'ar capital moved to his own homeworld of Earth. While Deathbird's accusation is built on racism and jingoism, she's not entirely wrong, as Xavier had suggested to Lilandra that they spend part of their time on Earth, and she'd said she'd consider it.
- Wham Episode: Professor X is revealed to be alive, Storm regains her powers, and Mister Sinister is revealed to be responsible for the attack on Genosha.
- Wham Shot: Near the end of the episode, news of nations refusing Genoshan refugees in the wake of the Tri-Sentinel's attack portends a potential war between humanity and mutantkind. This is followed up by The Reveal that Mister Sinister orchestrated the attack, with Trask's aid.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Ronan and the other Kree aren't seen again after Lilandra's announcement of her and Xavier's engagement.
- White Man's Burden: The Shi'ar believe that by conquering other cultures they are binding them together for galactic harmony, like their gods Sharra and K'ythri who were enemies forced to marry. Xavier compares Shi'ar imperialism to Rudyard Kipling, calling him a Terran "possessed of many burdens. None of them real."
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Storm's claustrophobia is used as a weapon of psychological warfare by the Adversary, and she's later forced to crawl through a tight tunnel to try and reach the cactus that can save Forge's life.
