X-MEN #12 - Hey, it's those guys!

[starwolf_oakley]

"First to Last" is the current X-Men story that started in X-MEN GIANT SIZE and continues in the (current) adjective-less X-MEN series. X-MEN #12 came out on June 2, and even though X-MEN #13 came out June 15, it is still less than a month old. So I'm only posting 4 pages.

A rather ominous looking group called the Evolutionaries have decided its time for mutants to inherit the Earth. So the Evolutionaries want to kill all humans and seem to have the power to do so. The strange part? Scott suddenly remembers them from the days of the original team, but Warren and Bobby don't.

Meanwhile, 2.7 million years ago...







Hey, it's the Eternals, that team Jack Kirby created when he returned to Marvel in 1976. They are, left to right: Ikaris, Zuras, Sersi, Makkari, Phastos and Thena. They originally weren't part of the mainstream Marvel Universe, but were eventually "blended in" with little difficulty in THOR #300.

Sersi was an Avenger for a while, but had that whole "so freaking powerful, it is hard to come up with anything that can threaten her" problem. Ikaris and Makkari became friends with Quasar.

Phastos is the Eternals' inventor and engineer. Between his look on the last panel and some clues in the rest of the issue... Well, the first few pages of X-MEN #13 confirmed my suspicions.

We get a flashback to the Evolutionary meeting with the X-Men, asking if they are the leaders of mutantkind. The X-Men aren't thrilled with the idea of the Evolutionary wiping out humanity. It's Iceman who attacks first.



Hey, the face under that helmet looks familiar.

In the present, Cyclops is trying to reason with the Evolutionaries, but they aren't hearing it. They list how things are working out for mutantkind so far.



Part 1 of "First and Last" says that Hammer Industries created the first Sentinels instead of anthropologist Bolivar Trask, which makes a little more sense.

What was Stryfe's reason for the Legacy Virus? And aside from Mastermind, Pyro and Maverick, did that many X-characters die from it?

Wanda going "No more mutants" seemed to be out of spite. And because Joe Quesada thought superheroes and villains needed more creative origins than "Born that way, powers kick in at puberty."

Even though the Evolutionaries can wipe out humanity instantly, they want to kill Cyclops first. Violence ensues.

And the last flashback shows the Evolutionaries going to Magneto, asking if he's the leader of mutantkind. He says yes.

Comments

[starwolf_oakley]

Indeed. For the most part, mutants powers don't manifest until your teens. In fact, the powers had to fully manifest for Cerebro to detect them, IIRC.

[long_silence]

There's some key differences between these new mutants and those who manifested their powers before M-Day though. None of these Lights had powers before M-Day, it's not like Hope is repowering mutants. And the oldest of her Lights is the 19 year old girl Laurie, and like you said, before M-Day mutants got their powers during adolescence. Laurie was probably long past puberty.

So somehow Hope's very presence at this point in time mutates people around the world, teenagers who weren't mutants before M-Day and who might never have become mutants if it weren't for her, even if Wanda hadn't cast her spell.

And then there's the fact that the Lights have unstable mutations that either drive them insane or cause them to destroy themselves with their own powers. And so far the only way to stabilize their powers is for Hope Summers to touch them. And that touch seems to turn them into her devout followers, they can't refuse her orders, and they do things they'd normally never do (like walk into war zones without any training).

Point being that if these new Lights even are the same species of mutants (before now mutants didn't need her touch to simply survive, I can't help but think that they're something new) this doesn't seem to be the best way to replenish mutantkind. They've become completely dependent on the intervention of one girl, and once that happens they become unquestionably loyal to her. It seems more like she's building an army than saving a dying race.

[drmcninja]

Agreed. There is definitely more to Hope's "new mutants" than meets the eye, enough that her striking out on her own could actually be very dangerous on behalf of the world. The only reason these people are still alive is because she got there fast enough.

Following the religious theme the X-Events have been going, I want to see what happens during the inevitable betrayal. One of the lights, I think, will turn on her for something, just like Judas, and if she dies, what would happen? These people are turned completely devout and need her to live. What happens when she isnt there to follow?

[long_silence]

Honestly I'm just waiting for her to go Dark Phoenix on all their asses and for all of her Lights to become her army against the X-men.

[drmcninja]

Didn't the science club already kind of cover that in Second Coming? Because it would be really weird if they let the radical mutant hate group be totally right about mutants destroying the world.

[long_silence]

I've already designed a "Bishop Was Right" t-shirt.

But it would make sense though. Bastion has knowledge and technology from the future, why not use some kernel of truth in a simulation designed to trick mutantkinds best scientists? And since they realized it was fake, now they'll be less likely to recognize that it's happening right in front of them because they don't want Bastion to have been right.

Besides she's a red headed mutant connected to the Phoenix Force and the X-men, of course she's going to go evil at some point.

[drmcninja]

True, but I don't think Marvel could do that to the X-Men. They would basically be saying, actually, in 60 years you were wrong. Nightcrawler, Cable, and everybody else died because you were protecting the mutant Antichrist. That would completely go against the original X-Metaphor.