Spoilers: The main X-Men, along with Lila Cheney, Abigail Brand, Death's Head and the X-Brood, are rushing back toward Earth aboard their stolen Shi'ar craft when the ship comes across a tear in space... and an enormous hand reaching through it. On Earth: Apocalypse exposits to Cassandra Nova and Joseph about the big hand's owner: back in the day, the M'Kraan race produced the first mutants, which in turn grew into the Celestials. One specific Celestial would come to be known as Xodus the Harvester: a galactic-scale warmonger who purged the mutant races of many a world, fearing that they might one day evolve into some new form of life superior to his Celestial brethren. The other Celestials disagreed with this, and banished him to another dimension. Xodus the Harvester became Xodus the Forgotten. It was inevitable that one day he would return, and Dead Girl unleashing the Montesi program caused the barriers between spaces to weaken enough that 'one day' has been fast-forwarded to 'today'. Apocalypse has known of Xodus for millennia, and claims that every hardship, battle and devastation he's inflicted on the X-Men over the years was done to toughen them up and prepare them for the horror to come. Now he wants to know if Nova and Joseph will join him. Back at Lilapalooza, President Kelly is complaining, until Xodus' form becomes so large as to be visible in the sky. A panicked riot starts, but the Professor is able to telepathically calm everyon as Lila teleports the space crew in. Happy reunions are had before everyone is distracted by Xodus again. Brand seems to know what it is but Kelly prevents her from sharing, blaming a need for secrecy on the X-Brood's presence. Brand is forced to depart to the Peak along with the X-Brood and Death's Head, then Kelly rounds on the Professor. He claims his bad attitude isn't about anti-mutant racism, but the X-Men failing in their role as the world's protectors, since most of the problems they solve stem from their own causes. He would rather trust another - and pulls an ankh-shaped key from his pocket, summoning Apocalypse, along with Nova, Joseph, the Upstarts and the remaining Horsemen (Mystique, Bastion and Exodus). Before Apocalypse can explain, Wolverine attempts to claw him, and a big fight breaks out. In the middle of all this, Apocalypse rounds on the Professor and lets him peek into his mind freely. Xavier sees the truth behind the words, and begs the X-Men to stop fighting and listen. Cable then shows up with X-Force and blasts a five-foot hole through Apocalypse's torso, killing him.
“For so long, my life has been out of control. Chaos and serendipity, wrapped in insanity. I have suffered, I have lost. Not just my life, but my very soul, my self. But no more. Now I know who I am.” – Elizabeth ‘Betsy’ Braddock, daughter of Otherworld, mutant, telepath, telekinetic, defender of the realm and, above all, X-Man.
1 comment:
Mystique, Bastion, Exodus... who is the fourth Horseman? Robert Kelly himself? And which Horseman is each one?
Nevertheless, it's exciting to see so many villains gathered at the same time (even though the end implies that Apocalypse and his followers are probably not the real bad guys this time). Hopefully the Upstarts will be the first ones to bite the dust (Shinobi, Fitzroy, Cortez, Siena Blaze... usually every group of villains has at least one sympathetic one, but ALL of the Upstarts are detestable people).
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