X-Men #16 annotations
X-MEN vol 7 #16
“X-Men”
Writer: Jed MacKay
Penciller: Netho Diaz
Inkers: Sean Parsons, JP Mayer & Livesay
Colourist: Fer Sifuents-Sujo
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Editor: Tom Brevoort
THE X-MEN
Cyclops. He immediately recognises the “X-Men” as the Santo Marco Six from issue #1, presumably going by their powers and the fact that there’s six of them.
Magik. On learning that these are the group she fought in issue #10, she attacks without instructions and declares that she’s going to cut off Schwarzchild’s other arm. In issue #1, she somehow managed to lop it off with the Soulsword (which isn’t really meant to affect non-magical things). Schwartzchild was trying to pin her down using his gravity powers, and she teleported behind him. It was still a surprisingly violent move, and to be honest, you can see why Schwartzchild isn’t happy about it. It also plays into 3K’s efforts to tell the Santo Marco Six that the X-Men have turned on their fellow mutants.
It might just be artistic licence, but her eyes are glowing demonically when she attacks.
The Juggernaut. He’s also triggerhappy, and seems remarkably unbothered by Magik’s threats to maim the opposition. Mind you, nobody seemed to be bothered in issue #1 either. And Juggernaut tore off Maggott’s arm in Storm #6, though I’d kind of written that off as the sort of weirdness you get in Storm.
Psylocke. Timebomb dismisses her as “the team’s second-banana psychic” (and indeed, Kid Omega is still missing throughout this issue), but her mind-reading is still good enough to fight a speedster because she can read her thoughts.
Temper is also there.
SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
Magneto. The “prosthetic” mentioned last issue is the Sentinel that’s been looming over Merle since issue #1. Beast has developed a drug to temporarily restore Magneto’s control of his powers, but it seems to be unreliable and limited – hence relying on the Sentinel to fight the kaiju Twin. Once injected, Magneto stands up from his wheelchair, though if the issue is simply control of his powers, it’s not entirely clear why he needs the wheelchair in the first place. It can’t be a general decline of physical coordination because he has no apparent problems with his upper body.
He claims to be “very good with children”, perhaps ironically. Beast responds that “yours have turned out so well” with apparent irony, which is a slightly odd comment – presumably he means Lorna, Wanda and Pietro (the latter two being at least figuratively his children in current continuity), but all of them are in a pretty good position right now.
The Beast and Glob Herman contribute exposition.
VILLAINS
3K are represented by a whole bunch of characters here. Starting with the core characters…
- Cassandra Nova. She’s still giving a pro-mutant propaganda line to the Twin, claiming that 3K’s X-Men are the “real” ones.
- Wyre. The “X-Men”‘s drill sergeant. He claims that the mutant/human division doesn’t apply to him because “I’m a particularly singular monster”. What he means by that, beyond the fact that he’s a non-mutant superhuman, isn’t clear.
The 3K X-Men. They’ve been told that the X-Men are “sapiens-loving running dogs for their flatscan masters”. They claim to want to earn the title of being the real X-Men, “the vanguard of the genetic revolution”. By defeating the X-Men, they will prove that they’re the next evolutionary step. Their leader Schwartzchild uses the phrase “Here comes tomorrow”, which was also the name of the final arc of Grant Morrison’s New X-Men. The team are:
- Schwarzchild. He’s the one with the two metal things holding a black globe over his head. He has a cyborg right arm to replace the one that Magik cut off in issue #1. Wyre claims that 3K could have reattached his real arm, but the (real) X-Men took it with him. That’s correct – Cyclops took it for analysis. Understandably, he’s quite keen for revenge on Magik, who (as already noted) had no terribly good reason for cutting his arm off in the first place. He controls gravity, apparently using a black hole that’s held above him. His name presumably references Schwarzchild black holes, named after scientist Karl Schwarzchild (1873-1916).
- Timebomb. She’s the one in black and red with the long ponytail. She’s basically a speedster. She’s somewhat contemptuous of Psylocke as an opponent, but also seems the most suspicious of Wyre, recognising that she’s getting pro-mutant propaganda from a non-mutant who must have an ulterior motive.
- Constellation. He’s the one with the purple mist instead of hair. He controls cosmic energy.
- Psychovore. He’s the guy in the containment suit. He can phase through the ground, and claims to “eat” people’s thoughts, whatever that means. It seems like he has to get very close in order to do it.
- Galatea. The one made of stone – in Greek mythology, Galatea was a statue that came to life. She and Schwarzchild have a “slingshot” manoeuvre which is obviously the 3K X-Men’s version of the Fastball Special.
- Juice. The chubby guy who seems to be made of yellow-orange goop. When we saw him in issue #1, wearing the AIM-style uniform of Fourth School, his uniform seemed to be liquefying, so there may be more to his powers than we see here. He seems to either project fluid under his control, or just control parts of his body Hydro-Man style. His basic attack is to try and drown his opponents, from the look of it.
The Twin. Relegated to subplot status in this story . It seems moved by the offer to join 3K’s X-Men, no doubt because it’s spent its entire life isolated.
These “X-Men” remind me of the Cerebro’s X-Men from the “Hunt for Xavier” cross-over. More similarity with post-Operation: Zero Tolerance X-Men.
At least Xavier escaped and ran away from this plot retread. Into happier realms when Hickman was writing Charles Xavier. A mutant Dominion. Truly, Xavier was the lucky one.
Psychovore reminds me of the quality Vertigo series, Mnemovore. I think I’d rather reread that comic now.
“she somehow managed to lop it off with the Soulsword (which isn’t really meant to affect non-magical things)”
It was able to affect the Children of the Vault in Duggan’s X-Men 15-17.
In fairness to Illyana, Schwarzchild was attacking her when she cut off his arm.
Illyana ignoring the twin seemed out of character. 3K was trying to turn a thirteen year old girl into a murderer- to corrupt her like Belasco corrupted her. Illyana should have been determined to save the twin. Yet MacKay had her so battle-hungry that she ignored the twin.
It does seem like there are more indications this issue that Doug is the Chairman:
3K is trying to use a teenager as a child soldier. Just like Doug might feel that he was a child soldier.
The Slingshot Maneuver is based on the Fastball Special, which Doug wold know about.
Schwarzchild claims that this is a test to prove that the 3K X-Men are the next evolutionary step. Who tested people to see if they were the next evolutionary step? Apocalypse. And Doug is Apocalypse’s heir.
Though it’s a random association, the Slingshot maneuver also reminds me of the battle between the Hellfire Club and X-Men vs Nimrod, where Harry Leland used his mass-controlling powers to slam Shaw into Nimrod from high up.
There’s something of an insinuation that the FauX-Men are better coordinated in this fight than Scott’s X-Men, and indeed seem to be doing better as a team. But then again, Scott’s short-handed, and Illyana feels like a loose cannon; she and Cain are sort of “point and cause mayhem” together.
I agree that historically, Illyana’s Soulsword is unable to cause physical damage. But we’ve seen her summoning multiple swords of varying sizes and designs of late. I expect the simple explanation is that since her initial resurrection, either her control over it changed, or its actual properties did. It’s just your standard power creep.
I believe Illyana’s sword gained the ability to cut people when she overcame the limits of the Comics Code Authority.
Hey, did anyone else get a misprint? In my issue, the X-Men are fighting a team of villains that look like they’re from a 1993 Image comic that probably only lasted two issues. That can’t be right, right?
There’s a fair bit of arm removal going on the x-books. Are we sure Geoff Johns isn’t a shadow editor?
The fake X-Men do seem well-coordinated, but they’ve also been training to fight this particular team. They might not do so well if someone they haven’t prepped for shows up.
I’m not sure what Beast means about Magneto’s kids. Wanda, Pietro, and Lorna have each had periods of mental instability and villainy – but who hasn’t?
@MasterMahan
I think that Beast was intentionally being sarcastic.
Re: Schwarzchild, in German means black shield, but I can’t help but also read it as an allusion to the Darkchild, given MaKay’s paring him with Magik.
I took the ironic banter about “good with children” to refer to the period when Magneto was headmaster to The New Mutants. It… did not go so great. One of those students is on the current team, where she’s being a bloodthirsty loose cannon. And another may turn out to be the current Big Bad.
The Other Michael: I agree that Scott’s team wasn’t well-coordinated. This could be because they’ve been leaning too heavily on Quentin acting as their comm system. Something I would expect Scott to kick himself over, and rectify at the first opportunity.
@Andy, what do you expext from USA Big Two corporate comics writers whose formative reading material was exactly just THAT ?! LOL
@Si, that explains why Magik is still wearing an actuall traditional sexy-risqué cosurme unlike every other current Marvel Comics superheroine (who’s arguably not) in 2025 KEK
I’ll be honest, the Santo Marco Six made so little impression on me that I forgot they had individual powers. As the Brand X X-Men they’re coming off better. I’m still not sold on the designs, they’re… I mean, they would be right at home drawn by Mike Allred, battling X-Statix. Which is to say, they’re not bad designs, they’re just slightly off-kilter.
Still. I like villain teams, I like villain teams with interpersonal dynamics… which they don’t have. But they do have team-up moves and tactics, and sometimes that’s almost as good.
I also love superhero team fights that are written like chess matches – psychic takes powerhouse, stealthy guy takes psychic, and so on. I strongly associate that style with Claremont (the Mutant Massacre fights the X-Men had against Marauders come to mind) and much later Mike Carey (…also X-Men vs Marauders, now that I think about it). So this issue was right up my alley.
Except. The chesslike takeouts lose their impact when everybody just gets up to pose a few pages later. This, I didn’t like.
Anyway. The fauX-Men could have a future, though they obviously need another name. And I wouldn’t be too surprised to see one or two of them switch sides later.
I think that if we have two official X-Men teams, who are at odds with eachother and sometimes fight, having a third X-Men team who don’t have a comic is pretty clever. What makes them less legitimate X-Men? Cyclops’ team aren’t even all mutants. Neither “real” team is connected to Xavier. Why do they get to be the gate keepers?
@Si- The “real” teams have members that have been X-Men in the past. As far as Scott knows, the 3K X-Men aren’t connected to anyone who has been an X-Man or New Mutant in the past. Which is another reason to suspect that Doug and Warlock will turn out to be their patrons.
There may well be a pool of traditional X-Men, but relying on that to define what is a real X-Men team is at least slightly anathema. This is not supposed to be JSA or Invaders.
Then again, when this volume was launched it was presented as being the book interested in discussing the philosophical and ideological aspects of the idea of X-Men, and I suppose that it is the perfect time and situation to do so, what with two other teams competing for the concept on different grounds and a composition that includes (among others) two founding members, a pair of powerful traditional enemies (a mutant and a non-mutant), a former assassin, and a former literal ruler of demons with a pechant for dismembering.
Which is yet another reason why it makes sense for Revelation to be behind 3K. There is potential for an interesting conversation between the two.
Although I am not sold yet on either this Wyre-led team nor on 3K itself. I suppose we do not really know what is Doug’s current mental state; he would have to be significantly altered in order to be within a mile of Cassandra Nova.
I’d like to see a speedster beat a psychic because they’re just too fast for knowing their moves to make a difference, but maybe that’s just me.
Not a fan of Magneto’s physical status being so messed around with (with a hint of more to come). If he’s thought to be too powerful to be in the lineup – don’t have him in the lineup.
I seem to remember Mr X being beaten by… Quicksilver? …exactly as you describe.
(one Google search later)
Oh yeah, it was an Infinity comic on the Marvel Unlimited app.
@Krzysiek Ceran: Quicksilver’s defeat of Mr. X through sheer super-speed occurred in the Siege tie-in issues of Thunderbolts, specifically v.2 #143(legacy numbering).
The dialogue from Quicksilver pretty much tells the tale:
I read your dossier as I crossed the ocean. You have supreme fighting skill. I’m actually not that great a fighter. You have the weapon of Odin the All-Father. I have some pieces of iron debris I found lying nearby. You’re a mutant, too. You can read minds enough to predict any attack your opponent will make.
So you will be able to anticipate every move I make and do absolutely nothing about it because I am the fastest man on Earth.
Int he comic, that second paragraph is delivered across a series of panels, punctuated by Quicksilver breaking Mister X’s bones one by one.
I’m rather surprised that Claremont never pulled a similar bit with either Super Sabre or Sabre from Freedom Force.
That is the scene I’m thinking of. Apparently my Google skills failed me spectacularly.
@Krzysiek Ceran: It’s not you. Google search results have gotten so bad that great search strategies still get the wrong results.
It’s all very frustrating.
To be fair, Super Sabre was, as speedsters go, pretty slow due to old age.
Marvel doesn’t have nearly the same amount of speedsters that DC has– besides Quicksilver, you have Speed, Black Mamba (who’s more of a sprinter), Super Sabre who was old, Makkari, the Runner (and both of those are in a cosmic category) and Speed Demon. (And then you have a few obscure ones from the Avengers Initiative era.) And various versions of the Whizzer and the Blur. And um… that guy from Psionex. Impulse.
Point is, I suppose, the Flash family is huge and well-known, while Marvel’s speedsters, beyond Quicksilver, are more obscure and varied in how they approach speed.
But a well-written speedster is going to be a nightmare to fight when they can actually act faster than the other person can react. There’s lots of ways to defeat and counter them, sure, but seeing Quicksilver demolish Mr X was satisfying.
@Omar
Even in the context of a humblebrag, “I’m actually not that great a fighter.” sounds like the most un-Quicksilver line.
@SanityOrMadness: I guess it just about works in the context of Quicksilver wanting to make the beatdown as humiliating as possible.
But yeah, you’d think a former commander of the Inhumans’ militia who’d also trained under Captain America would be at least a bit skilled at hand-to-hand-combat. And that Quicksilver would never, ever hesitate to tell people all of that. Or at least you’d expect him to frame any relative lack of skill with condescension: “I’ve never bothered much with that.”
@The Other Michael- Saber was described as being able to run a four-second mile. That’s faster than Quicksilver has been at some points in his history.
@TheOtherMichael: You forgot Aurora and Northstar. The latter, especially, might actually be Marvel’s highest profile speedster in the comics.
Otherwise, we’re back to obscure characters like Spitfire.
@taibek,
That is a very big claim, Northstar as not really featured outside Af and the x-men, rarely in the flagship book.
Quicksilver is a Stan and Jack creation linked to the X-men, Avengers, and the FF through the inhuman. he has had a number of solo titles. HE has appeared in 2 film franchises. And he was the speedster who took on the flash in Marvel vs DC.
He has taken a hit in recent years since axis as it took away a key part of his character for 40 plus years of relationship defined against Magneto.
@Andy: The codenames aren’t quite ’90s Image enough for me. Let’s see… Psychovore and Timebomb can stay, the rest can be BlakkHole, Dethstarr * , Stonecold, and Bloodjuice.
* Image gets sued by Lucas, he’s now called Badstarr.
And then sued by either Steve Austin or TKO, whomever owns the name.
@Taibak: In terms of power levels, Northstar and Aurora would have been a lo closer to the Flash in practice. Their superspeed was pegged at much higher, with the caveat that they didn’t have the physical durability to actually hit those speeds without seriously injuring themselves.
But then Quicksilver got a series of power-ups, most notably the one from his 1990s solo series that involved exposure to the High Evolutionary’s “Isotope E.”
Even before then, Steve Engelhart was writing Quicksilver with Flash-like speed during Pietro’s villain turn. West Coast Avengers Annual #1 has him crossing oceans in minutes.
@The Other Michael: The other Marvel speedster who always seems to be forgotten in these conversations is Whirlwind. He was treated as moving almost as fast over land as Quicksilver back in the Silver Age.
The longer he’s been around, though, the more his travel speed has been de-emphasized in favor of giving him additional tornado and wind generation tricks and bladed costumes. It doesn’t help that half the time he’s used as a punchline, and the other half as a generic minion.
@Omar- Well, Englehart pointed out that he could only travel significantly slower than the speed of light, so he wasn’t quite as fast as the Flash. (Englehart had him compensate for it by turning corners more easily that Monica Rambeau.)
But, yes Quicksilver was usually depicted as slower than the speed of sound.
But Englehart having him travel from America to Australia in West Coast Avengers Annual 1 was weird. One reason Quicksilver hates the Avengers in that Annual is he blames them for abandoning him in Australia in Avengers 103-104. In reality, the last time the Avengers saw him he was in the United States and they didn’t think he’s in Australia because he can’t travel that quickly under his own power. (He was teleported by Larry Trask, who was able to tap into the Sentinels’ teleportation abilities through a contrived plot device.)
But in West Coast Avengers Annual 1 Pietro is able to travel from America to Australia in what seems like a few hours at most.
There’s another speedster running around in the Miles Morales book, with the unfortunate name of “Hightail“. She might be a mutant, I don’t recall ever seeing anything about her origin.
Is the Spidey villain Speed Demon still around? Or the Squadron Supreme Flash analogue who name escapes me?,
Count Nefaria is supposed to have 100x Whirlwind’s speed, and he doesn’t have to spin to use it.
[…] #16. (Annotations here.) Three parts in, and still not finished? This is the longest story X-Men has had in its current run. […]
@Mark Coale- The Squadron Supreme Flash analogue is called the Whizzer. (That used to be Speed Demon’s name.)
And yes, Speed Demon is probably still around. in the Venom War: Zombiotes series he was turned into a zombiote. Then Boomerang figured out a way to use Shocker’s gloves to cure the Zombiotes. And on the last page we saw Shocker about to confront the Zombiotes, including Speed Demon. So he was presumably cured by Shocker.
How is Cyclops even here? Towards the end of issue 15 his aircraft was swatted out of the sky by that Kaiju twin. And he was not part of the group to meet these 3K n00bs in the cliffhanger. It seemed like we were supposed to worry (at least briefly) about his continued existence, like we are with QQ. But at the start of this issue, there Scott is with the rest of his team like nothing happened.
Should have remembered that since it’s same name as the golden Age speedster and one time father of Wanda and a pietro. (It was in the middle of the night.)
I pulled out issue 1 to reread the San Marco Six appearance, and I’m wondering if it was ever clear who the guy in pink with the huge eyes on the cover at Scott’s feet was supposed to be.