X-Men Unlimited #46

[superboyprime]

'I believe all of [the X-Men Unlimited stuff] has been pitched by the writers with the exception of the X-Men Green story, which we wanted to keep going. And so we’ve gone to different people to say, “Hey, you want to take over the X-Men Green story?” But first of all, X-Men Green did begin with Gerry pitching, “Here’s a nutty thing I want to do.”' - Jordan D. White

Comments

[numeronone]

...I just remembered that this series has been happening concurrently with Gillen's "Eternals", where it's established that the Machine That Is Earth - and the closest the planet has to a consciousness - is badly damaged and only part-functioning, thanks to Phastos and Thanos attempting to kill the Eternals.

Sure, the Machine is eventually brought back to working order - but only just as A.X.E. is starting. So, when the "Earth" said Nature Girl should be let go...

Oops, Doug. Oops.

[akodo_rokku]

It wasn't "the Earth" so much as Krakoa. I believe Doug is covering for the island for some reason. Of course The Machine and Krakoa are buddies...

[numeronone]

Not so sure - in this issue Doug says Krakoa accepted the council's judgment, but the planet it's part of interceded. The way it's phrased with Earth and Krakoa as distinct entities, it feels more like the Earth/Machine is responsible.

[icon_uk]

Yes, but what Doug tells the Council happened is contradicted by the concurrent flashback, which shows the events that we saw happen previously.

Krakoa was not happy with the Quiet Council's incarceration policy re Nature Girl and Curse, and Doug has made his feelings about the Pit quite clear before, outright challenging Xavier with "I thought there were going to be no prison's on Krakoa" at one point.

So, as we saw, Krakoa made the decision to release Curse and Nature Girl, and Doug aided and abtetted him because he agreed with it.

Doug's whole "The Earth wanted it to happen and used mysterious unknowable means to release them to become it's champions" explanation is waffle, diverting blame from Doug and Krakoa for unleashing Nature Girl and Curse's PR disaster for Krakoa.

Which is a choice I intensely dislike for both Doug and Krakoa.

Krakoa has over-ruled the QC in past (like not closing the super-Portal to Otherworld despite the QC wanting it done) and his actions should not always line up with what humans/mutants want done, because he is not human (and what sort of a mutant he is is open to debate).

Doug has always had a pretty decent moral compass before, and stood up for what he believes is the right course of action, even if it means going against his friends groupthink or admitting things went wrong.

Him putting a spin on his actions, which could come back to bite both him and Krakoa on the ass feels like a bad idea from start to finish and out of character,

[numeronone]

This is true, and also worth consideration. (Especially since, it has to be said, Doug’s track record thus far with trying to mitigate the Krakoan justice system has not been great - both Nature Girl and Moira have turned into much bigger problems after release.)

It is a shame how characterisation over X-Men Green has often fallen into this trolley problem of “Either they’re acting wildly out of character or they’ve had this other side to them we never knew about”.

[icon_uk]

Also, the whole Sabretooth attempted rehabiliation debacle, which left a permanent problem for Krakoa with a throne which appears to channel something akin to the Dark Side in the Pit.

[laughing_tree]

I'm not sure Doug is so much lying as just providing new context (for the characters and for the reader): Krakoa was acting at the behest of the Earth, which it views as a higher authority than the Council.

[icon_uk]

That's an interesting, and a much more charitable, reading than mine, and I hope it's the right one.

Edit - Though it does raise the question of why Doug didn't just TELL the Quiet Council what had happened at the time, so they might be able to be ready for the massively negative PR it was going to cause Krakoa.

[beyondthefringe]

And if I recall correctly, when the Eternals tried to nuke Krakoa, the bomb got chucked back at them like the Earth/Krakoa just said "fuck no."

Also... maybe the editors shouldn't let Gerry do -whatever- he wants.

[numeronone]

Si Spurrier has talked proudly of there being a synergy in the writers' room when it comes to Krakoan writers. I can only imagine that in this case it extends to everyone else letting X-Men Green happen on the assurance that they won't have to reference it happening in their own books?

[dan_ingram]

Who's the Alchemist character Kitty meets with later? She new?

[icon_uk]

Nope, she actually dates back to 1996's "Pryde and Wisdom" miniseries

https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Soudabeh_Abadi_(Earth-616)

[beyondthefringe]

Talk about yet another dive into the obscure.

[scorntx]

A thought occurs:
Are we absolutely sure it's Doug who's saying that?
We already know Warlock's got his own agenda.
For all we know, he could be using his bff as a meat-puppet (consensually or otherwise).
And really, what's another character assassination at this point?

[icon_uk]

What makes you think Warlock has his own agenda, he's been 100% behind Doug and Krakoa in everything I've seen.

[scorntx]

Like I said, what's one more bit of character assassination?

Failing that (tinfoil hat ahoy):
Something to do with that rogue entity that sent not-Karima back in time.
We really only have Doug's word Warlock's on the level, and he's already shown he's capable of pulling fast ones / making some pretty stupid moves.
And he was infecting everything with his transmode virus to spy on people.

[justsotired]

Guh-huh-huh-huh-huh-yuk... here's a nutty idea.

Give me a break.

[blues32]

Did all that stuff on her skull burrow into her brain or something? Armageddon Man is just going to kill everything. His powers force the tectonic plates to move in dangerous ways. He manipulates the magnetic fields, gravity and other delicate forces of nature. The Earth doesn't lend him its power, he forces it to obey. Summoning Galactus to feed on the planet isn't as bad because at least Galactus gets a meal out of it.

[cainofdreaming]

But hey, imagine how many oil refineries and petrol stations he will destroy! Isn't that worth some collateral damage?

[blues32]

Clearly that's how Nature Girl seems to think.

[shakalooloo]

Nature Girl thinks?!?!?

[blues32]

On occasion.

[scorntx]

Science has determined that at least some teenagers think.

Whether they feel pain is as yet unclear.