The Fall of Nimrod

[shakalooloo]

He's slain an entire team of X-Men. He has fended off dozens of assaults on Orchis single-handedly. He went toe-to-toe with Magneto and Professor X. He's recovered from having his brain removed from his body in seconds. So, what is it that finally defeats the ultimate sentinel, Nimrod? What mutant power is his secret weakness?




That's not all! This also has the definitive coverage of the prosecution's case against Cyclops and the mutants!




...Yes. That was the sum total of coverage in the comic. This amazing, utterly convincing legal argument is totally glossed over off-panel. Cool.

Finally, we have the return of Alia Gregor, an important character in Orchis until Hickman left the X-office, and she was pushed into the background and utterly overshadowed by Doctor Stasis and freakin' MODOK. How's she been holding up?






Well, next week we get Gillen's half of this Fall of X series, so perhaps things will improve?

Comments

[blueprintstyles]

the first couple of pages felt really phoned in, but the Cyclops section got me interested.

[shakalooloo]

One character Duggan has been good with is Cyclops. Say whatever else about his run, but he's done some good Scott Summers.

[scorntx]

There is... much I could say about the Krakoa era, much that has been said, and quite a few things about this issue specifically.
But he does do a good Cyclops.
(And that is praiseworthy, given how writing a good Cyclops does seem like a legitimate challenge for some writers.)

Even not able to see, he still can tell Dr. Whatsername isn't the biggest threat in the room.

I like how the trial is held in France, because apparently they're the only country willing to go along with this... whatever this is.
France, of course, well known for its total willingness to ignore things like human rights, international law, justice, etc, ect...
... did I say "like"? Sorry, I meant some other, angrier word.
(Apparently this week Marvel America didn't want to hold a sham trial. Maybe all the courts were booked?)

Nimrod, the Ultimate Sentinel! Nimrod, the dread of Mutantkind! Nimrod, killer of several teams of X-Men!
With super-speed, advanced intelligence, the ability to split into multiple copies, and reconstitute itself when torn to pieces!
... immobilised by a wad of goop.
It forgot the most important lesson: "If you're gonna shoot, shoot. Don't talk."
(Bet wherever he is at the moment, Magneto's feeling like a right fool.)

[justsotired]

Metaphorical significance that Krakoa took Nimrod out by hocking a loogie on him?

[onsokumaru]

"France, of course, well known for its total willingness to ignore things like human rights, international law, justice, etc, ect..."
Not sure if that's ironical or not because I'm not sure if I would say it ironically or unironically myself. Depends of the day...
Anyway, it seems to be a callback to the trial of Magneto that happened in France too.

[mindsweeper]

Another six months of Fall before the reset. Oof.

I haven’t missed Gregor. I didn’t like Hickman trying to make her anything less than a villain and I feel the same about Duggan. Mutants didn’t kill her husband. He died as a suicide bomber defending his wife’s weapon solely built to genocide Mutants.

Nimrod is the kind of counter anything childish playground villain that I dislike, so seeing him temporarily delayed by an equally childish playground level attack actually amuses me.

[shakalooloo]

I don't think Hickman was trying to make Dr Gregor less of a villain, merely giving her a more personal reason for hating compared to her colleagues; if everyone's despising mutants 'just because', why even bother having anything other than a faceless mob as villains?

[beardedjellybean]

I do appreciate the kind of person who is so drawn into their hatred against a group, that if said group was erased entirely, they just expect things to just be great forever. Which is even more hilarious when you're working with Sentinels, Sinister Clones and other individuals who would definitely try world domination at some point.

[scorntx]

It was meant to be sarcasm, but when you live in a country whose government is maniacally obsessed with shipping migrants to Rwanda and have openly tried to ignore and / or break international laws to do so...

And, yup, it is a callback to Magneto's trial.

[cainofdreaming]

I can just picture Modok whistling loudly at this, before suddenly running away while shouting "Intelligencia awayyyy!!".

[nyadnar17]

Its honestly kinda adorable how no one in Orchis has realized that as soon as mutants are dead the machines put them in chains.

Like.....do you know how racist you have to be not to realize a Skynet situation when its right beside you?

[icon_uk]

Given the number of homicidal sentient computers in the MCU one has to wonder what the MU version of The Terminator looks like.

"The computer network comes to life and tries to kill us"

"You mean like Ultron?

"No. not like Ultro... actually, yes pretty muche exactly like Ultron"

"Or the Vision that time"

"Yes, or the Vision that time"

"Or any time the Sentinel's show up"

"Sigh... yes, probably."

"And that Quasi-Motivational Destruct Organism... y'know Quadimodo?"

"Okay, okay, so this is less "World devastation" to you than it is "A regular Tuesday", but my point is...."

[cainofdreaming]

"And then it sends a human-form cyborg back in time to kill..."
"Oh, you mean a Deathlok?"

[leahandillyana]

It's stupid, but I soooo had enough of these characters and any way they are out the picture is good for me.

[dr_archeville]

"I never thought the leopards would eat MY face!"

[lbd_nytetrayn]

...Yes. That was the sum total of coverage in the comic. This amazing, utterly convincing legal argument is totally glossed over off-panel. Cool.

Seeing how Marvel has handled legal matters in the past (Civil War, anyone?), I don't mind if they just cut to the chase if they can't deliver in the lead-up.

[viridian5]

"Mankind exhales and lives happily ever after."

Cyclops was really controlling himself by answering that blatant stupidity with just a smirk.

[donnblake]

It's probably got pirates.

Actually, I'm pretty sure Days of Future Past predated the first Terminator movie. I wonder if Kitty caught it...

[mastermahan]

Invasive foreign species? Is Duggan going for a half-assed immigration metaphor, because mutants are pretty clearly the opposite of invasive. The pattern is that they start out as domestic citizens and withdraw from their nation and sometimes planet. Explore the scenario you've actually set up rather than throwing meaningless phrases at us.

Maybe it's setting up clumsy irony for Polaris leading a Brood attack on Earth?
---
In other news, Colossus is now throwing Orchis mooks into Wolverine's claws while they banter about what to call their new combo move.

[nyadnar17]

"Invasive foreign species? Is Duggan going for a half-assed immigration metaphor, because mutants are pretty clearly the opposite of invasive"

I think that just a callback to a pre-existing secular agreement against mutants. Whereas the religious beef against mutants has always been "they are against Gods will" or "they prove macro-evolution is true so they threaten my worldview" the secular beef with mutants has always been "evolutionary superior beings always destroy the lessor so we must destroy them first" or "aktually mutants are obviously the result of meddling and not a naturally occurring phenomenon. I mean what kinda of evolutionary path is 'has working glock 11s for hands'".

[scorntx]

With another writer (just an example at random, Gillen), it'd be an easy argument to make that Orchis' argument being so pathetically stupid is deliberate (well, more deliberate), and that Cyclops could easily shut it down if he made even half an attempt to defend himself.
Don't think that's the case here.

Looks like it's just some clumsy 'irony'.


(Is Colossus still being mind-controlled or whatever it was? Have the X-Men caught on to that one yet?)

[mastermahan]

They finally freed him a couple months ago, so it's all Petey Pureheart.

[scorntx]

Oh.
Oh, dear.