X-Men: The Hellfire Murder #1 Spoilers & Art

Spoilers: Sebastian Shaw hosts a Hellfire Gala at his mansion and invites several of mutantkind’s most influential figures. During his speech, Shaw criticizes the X-Men for their poor handling of Graymalkin Prison and argues that mutants need a leader who is willing to fight more aggressively on their behalf. Shaw has installed telepathic dampeners throughout the building, preventing the telepaths in attendance from freely using their abilities. Shaw attempts to gather support for a new mutant initiative. Mister Sinister refuses Shaw’s invitation to join his endeavor, while Angel gets into a confrontation with Sinister. Storm, Betsy Braddock, and Kitty Pryde also openly clash with Shaw. Shaw later approaches Hellion and attempts to recruit him, but Emma Frost interrupts their conversation.

Idie Okonkwo sneaks into the Gala without an invitation and spends much of the evening with Ransom. Elsewhere at the Gala, Cyclops and Kwannon secretly coordinate a plan to assassinate Joseph and Astra, the leaders of 3K. They intend to eliminate them quietly during the event without the other guests discovering what they have done. Mastermind, Martinique Wyngarde, asks Kitty Pryde to dance and flirts with her. Emma Frost and Namor slip away from the main party and enter a hidden room so they can spend some private time together.

Wolverine’s heightened senses eventually alert him that something is wrong. Jubilee follows him as he investigates, and the two discover Sebastian Shaw’s body. Because Shaw’s vital signs have been compromised, the mansion automatically enters lockdown. The exits are sealed, and security drones are activated throughout the building. Angel, Storm, Kitty, and Betsy work together to disable the drones. News of Shaw’s death quickly spreads throughout the Gala.

Emma joins Wolverine and Jubilee in the room where Shaw’s body was found. Wolverine initially suspects that she may have been involved, but Emma claims that she was with Namor the entire time. Wolverine determines that Shaw was exposed to nerve gas and estimates that he has been dead for at least twenty minutes. However, several guests claim that they saw Shaw alive only ten minutes earlier, creating an apparent contradiction in the timeline.

Wolverine and Jubilee begin questioning the guests and investigating the murder. Suspicion quickly falls on Joseph and Astra. Several attendees accuse the two 3K leaders of killing Shaw, and their refusal to cooperate with Wolverine’s questions only makes them appear more guilty. Because of the murder investigation and the growing attention surrounding Joseph and Astra, Cyclops and Kwannon abandon their assassination plan. Joseph and Astra eventually teleport away from the Gala after being publicly accused of Shaw’s murder.

Wolverine then searches the mansion’s security room and discovers Toad behaving suspiciously. Before Wolverine can stop him, Mystique—disguised as Jubilee—helps Toad escape. Wolverine follows their trail to another room, where he discovers a newly formed Brotherhood consisting of Mystique, Destiny, Martinique Wyngarde as Mastermind, Toad, and Empath.

The Brotherhood reveals that Shaw had been planning to use Forge’s mutant power-dampening weapon against everyone attending the Gala. In response, they conspired to kill him and seize control of his financial assets. Mystique shapeshifted into Shaw so that the mansion’s security system would identify the real Shaw as an impostor and release the nerve gas against him. Mastermind used her illusions to make it appear that Shaw was still moving through the party after his death, while Empath manipulated the guests’ emotions to turn them against Joseph and Astra, making the two 3K leaders the perfect scapegoats.

Their new organization, effectively a Hellfire Brotherhood, intends to use Shaw’s stolen wealth and resources to support mutantkind. The Brotherhood asks Wolverine to keep their involvement secret, arguing that exposing them would undermine the greater good they hope to accomplish. Wolverine agrees. To the rest of the world, Joseph and Astra remain the primary suspects in Sebastian Shaw’s murder. They are publicly blamed for the crime after fleeing the scene. The Gala ends, and the guests leave Shaw’s mansion.

A few days later, Wolverine meets Emma Frost for a drink. During their conversation, Wolverine reveals that Shaw had already stopped breathing before the Brotherhood’s nerve gas reached him. Shaw’s actual cause of death was a massive psychic overload. Wolverine therefore knows that Emma was responsible for killing Shaw, with Namor serving as her alibi while they were alone together. Despite knowing the truth, Wolverine tells Emma that he has no intention of exposing her.

Main Takeaways from X-Men: The Hellfire Murder #1 - Advance Spoilers

As we know, Betsy fans have been eagerly anticipating X-Men: The Hellfire Murder #1, as it marks her first present-day appearance since the end of X-Force one year and three months ago. With that in mind, here are the issue’s main takeaways so you can manage your expectations accordingly.

1) Betsy Braddock is indeed the character identified as “Lioness” on the Hellfire Gala costume sheet. However, “Lioness” is not presented as a new codename or identity. In fact, none of the identifiers from the costume sheet are used or mentioned at all.

2) Betsy briefly interacts with Sebastian Shaw and Frank Bohannan, aka Crimson Commando, and later fights alongside Storm. However, she has only three lines of dialogue and is not central to the plot, mostly appearing in background cameos alongside Storm and Kitty Pryde.

3) There is no mention of what Betsy has been doing since the end of X-Force, nor any indication of future plans for the character. Rachel Summers does not appear and is not mentioned at all.

Full spoilers for the issue will be posted tomorrow.

If you’re as disappointed as we are, use that frustration as fuel and email the X-Office at officex@marvel.com to ask for more appearances by Betsy Braddock.

By Saladin Ahmed & Joelle Jones

By Saladin Ahmed & Federica Mancin