EXCEPTIONAL X-MEN #11
Writer: Eve L Ewing
Artist: Federica Mancin
Colour artist: Nolan Woodward
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Editor: Tom Brevoort

THE CORE CAST

Axo. He recognises Bronze’s crush Reggie (see below) – it’s not immediately clear how, but presumably she pointed him out somewhere along the line. He seems to be bringing it up to change the topic from a game that he clearly has no interest in playing, but it seems that he and Thao already know about Reggie, and there’s no suggestion that he’s embarrassing Trista just by pointing him out.

His reaction to encountering a tiny energy phenomenon in the park is to say that they should call Kitty or Emma. (Yes, he says “Kitty.”) As he points out, not only is he the most naturally cautious of the trio, but he was also the one who was most directly at risk of death in the previous arc; not unreasonably, he thinks that this gives his view on the matter some weight.

He’s seen the 1971 film A Clockwork Orange, or at least recognises the notorious Mojo-style eye scene.

Melée. With her usual lack of tact, Thao’s response to seeing Reggie is to propose that the group march up to him and start a conversation – this prospect apparently does embarrass Trista, and Thao entirely fails to pick up on Trista making feeble excuses for why they shouldn’t do so. Similarly, she wants to examine the mini-portal herself and isn’t impressed with Axo’s arguments to the contrary – she sees the experience as proof that they can handle themselves without needing to call in the adults. Rather ambitiously, she claims that they’re “ready for the big league”.

She hasn’t heard of A Clockwork Orange.

Bronze. Not only does she get the reference to A Clockwork Orange, she’s heard of the book too.

Kitty Pryde, Emma Frost and Iceman. They throw a “teamiversary” party for the teens, despite the minor technicality that it hasn’t been a year yet (even in publishing terms, let alone Marvel Universe). Trista and Thao are indeed proud of their achievements, with Melée referencing Trista’s fight with a monster in issue #4 and the time they “saved people from an electrical fire” in issue #8 – Axo still seems more minded to talk about the time he nearly got killed by Mr Sinister last issue.

Kitty is unhappy that the kids fought Tank, but Iceman and Emma are both more willing to endorse them as ready to take on the bad guys. Kitty repeats her point from earlier issues that Professor X was wrong to put her in the field as a teenager – Iceman seems genuinely surprised by this, which is not a new opinion.

For some reason, Kitty is among the people who are drawn to Tank’s portal (see below).

GUEST CAST

Ironheart. As Chicago’s highest profile superhero, she was bound to show up sooner or later, not least because Eve Ewing wrote her solo title in 2019.

Trista has met her before, “at a cookout once” when they were about 10. Since Riri was already in high school as a prodigy, Trista remembers meeting her quite clearly and seems to regard her as an extended family friend. When prompted, Riri seems to vaguely remember this meeting, so apparently Trista made enough of an impression on her to register as more than just someone she bumped into once several years ago.

She (correctly) expects the mutants to be late for a meeting, on the grounds that Cyclops seemed to be having them all the time when she knew him. That would be during the 2017-2018 Champions run where the time-travelling Silver Age Cyclops was a member – although Ironheart was only very briefly on the same roster as him, so she may be fobbing the kids off and playing the “established superhero” card with them. Generally, she gives the impression of thinking that she’s the main character in this story, and that the mutant trio are bit part characters.

THE SUPPORTING CAST

Reggie. We last saw Reggie in issue #4; Bronze mentioned then that she had a “massive crush” on him. He was also auditioning for the school musical. He clearly liked her, but the issue was ambiguous about whether it went any further than that – this story makes clear that it does. Reggie knows that she’s a mutant, having seen her use her powers in that issue.

Axo also recognises him, though it’s not immediately clear how, since Bronze didn’t ultimately pursue the musical. Presumably she pointed him out at some other point.

Reggie is in fact figuring out how to send a text to Trista asking to meet up.

Priti. Kitty’s flatmate shows up for the party. Apparently nobody finds it odd that she was involved in steering the teens towards Mr Sinister in issue #6; let’s assume that Emma has checked her out and is satisfied that she was being duped too.

Nina. She’s understandably keen to get some clear answers from Kitty about the state of their relationship. Kitty entirely fails to pick up on the fact that Nina left her toothbrush at Kitty’s apartment on purpose.

VILLAINS

Tank. His only previous appearance was in Ewing’s Ironheart #6. In that story, he tries to trap Ironheart and Spider-Man (Miles Morales) in a time loop in order to monitor them. He describes himself as a “hobbyist” and “connoisseur” with “an unorthodox interest in space, time, interdimensional portals, that sort of thing”. He was specifically interested in small portals of the sort that the kids find in the park.

His interest in Spider-Man was due to a “faint quantum signature… typical of interdimensional travellers” (due to him originating in the Ultimate Universe, but Tank didn’t know that). Normally Tank appears as a slender, normal-sized man, but he can somehow grow into a giant form, which is how he appears in this issue. The Ironheart story ends with him being stuck in a portal which then collapsed, but presumably he escaped somehow or other.

He claims that the portal in the park belongs to him, and he certainly appears to emerge from it. He disappears into the portal rather than fight Ironheart – she’s apparently sucked towards the portal, and has to be rescued by Bronze. According to Ironheart’s AI NATALIE, the portal draws in people who are connected to it, or who are “temporally sensitive” – it’s not clear why Ironheart qualified under either heading, but she concludes that Tank found the portal rather than creating it.

Ironheart claims that the portal has a “null interval” and a “Minkowski metric” – these are real terms, but for our purposes it’s just technobabble. More importantly, the portal will draw in people who are connected to it, or who are “temporally sensitive”, which indicates that Tank found it rather than creating it. Quite what connects Ironheart to the porta