X-Men #24 annotations
X-MEN vol 7 #24
“Three Thousand”
Writer: Jed MacKay
Penciller: Tony Daniel
Inker: Mark Morales
Colourist: Fer Sifuentes-Sujo
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Editor: Tom Brevoort
COVER: The core members of 3K, with the Chairman still in his previous body, to avoid spoilers in the solicitations.
As with the previous issue, this is billed both as a “Shadows of Revelation” issue and as an “Age of Revelation: Epilogue”.
The X-Men themselves don’t appear in this issue, which covers what was happening with 3K while the Chairman was absent in the future, and what happens upon his return.
3K:
The Chairman refers to the ruling group as the “Great Table”, a name which previously came up in issue #14, and feels like it has echoes of the Krakoan Quiet Council.
As we saw in X-Men: Age of Revelation – Finale, the Chairman’s body went into lockdown when the future Beast from the Age of Revelation timeline attempted to swap places with him. As a result, he’s missing for a week. In this time, 3K is already falling apart, with Cassandra Nova and Astra fighting one another for control; evidently this organisation depends on the Chairman to hold it together. In fact, the others seem to have remarkable deference to him.
The Chairman. He says that he had previously inhabited a synthetic body in order to “act as a being of pure logic and intellect, unencumbered by the washes of various hormones”, but his time in the future has changed his mind. Although he doesn’t spell this out to the other members of 3K, it seems that he’s been inspired to clone himself a new body as a result of his encounter with Animalia, the future version of Jen Starkey, who’s the love interest for the X-Men’s Beast at the moment.
The body which he’s chosen resembles the Age of Revelation Beast, with white fur – though again, he doesn’t explain this change to the other members of 3K. It does mean that we’ll now be able to tell the two Beasts apart with ease, so that’s good.
The Chairman describes himself as “the genuine Henry McCoy, misunderstood saviour of Krakoa etc”; he’s clearly being flippant to some degree, but doubtless still means it.
He regards Revelation as having achieved 3K’s goal, specifically by creating a virus that transforms humans into mutants, and sees it as shameful that 3K’s entire contribution to the future was to be framed for it. He doesn’t directly tell the rest of the 3K about the fact that most humans died – Astra takes him to be claiming “a reliable method”, and he doesn’t correct her. He says that he knows how to re-create the X-virus himself, based on the work of his future self that he saw in the Age of Revelation – this must be why he was poring through the X-Men’s computers at night in Amazing X-Men #3.
Cassandra Nova. She gives it a week before asserting herself as 3K’s new leader in the Chairman’s absence. She correctly anticipates Astra as the main source of opposition to this. She now has Myriad as a loyal sidekick; more of that later. She does seem genuinely enthusiastic about the X-Virus as playing into a shared goal.
Myriad. This is Robin Cobb, the twin sister of Piper Cobb who we last saw in issue #18 when she left to be with Cassandra. She seems completely confident when sneaking up from behind to disarm Joseph; by all appearances, Myriad is entirely loyal to Cassandra and unfazed by being involved in the struggle for control.
Astra. She claims, at least for Joseph’s benefit, to be more interesting in resisting Cassandra’s takeover of 3K than in obtaining power for herself – she calls Cassandra “insane”. According to Myriad, she spends most of her time “complain[ing] about not being allowed to make more clones” – she was indeed weirdly obsessed with this in issue #17, when she wanted to make even more Magneto clones. She calls Joseph “baby”, and seems to ignore his requests to be addressed as “Magneto”.
Her initial approach to fighting Cassandra is just to let Joseph do it for her, but when that goes wrong she teleports to attack Cassandra from behind, and is apparently quick enough for this to give her the upper hand before the Chairman intervenes. She seems really enthusiastic about the X-Virus and being able to turn more humans into mutants; to date, she says, 3K have just been using trial and error and sometimes made it work.
Joseph. He’s aware that Magneto – who he calls his “gene-father” – is powerless at the moment, and seems keen to usurp his identity and be accepted as the real Magneto. He’s meekly loyal to Astra, who he calls “mother”. His helmet can block psychic attack just like the real Magneto’s, but that doesn’t do him much good when Myriad ambushes him and takes it off. He doesn’t say anything once the Chairman returns, and reverts to standing loyally next to Astra.
Wyre. He says that he has no interest in leading 3K, and this seems genuine. He repeatedly claims that his only concern is “a more interesting future”, and seems happy to go with the winner of Cassandra vs Astra as the person most likely to deliver it. He advises the 3K X-Men to do the same, and they evidently agree, even though they clearly have the power to affect the outcome of any battle where a rookie like Myriad could make a difference. Unlike Cassandra and Astra, he shows no particular interest in turning humans into mutants as an end in itself, but does seem to regard the end result as a suitably “interesting” future.
The 3K X-Men: Schwarzchild, Constellation, Galatea, Timebomb, Psychovore and Juice. Cassandra believes that without the Chairman, they will simply follow Wyre’s lead, and she seems to be right. Since the Age of Revelation Schwarzchild was a member of the (real) X-Men, the Chairman orders him killed, either because his future loyalty is suspect, or simply as another way of derailing Revelation’s timeline. This isn’t what happened to Schwarzchild in Age of Revelation; he claimed in Amazing X-Men #1 that 3K had simply abandoned their X-Men. The other 3K X-Men seem entirely happy to kill him despite his protests, and you can just see his body being chucked off the side of the 3K ship in the last panel. Something tells me he’ll be back.
CONTINUITY REFERENCES:
- Joseph refers to his “gene-father” (i.e., the real Magneto) as “a broken-down wreck”; this refers to the degenerative condition which he’s had throughout this series.
- Obviously, the Chairman and Cyclops swapped into the future in X-Men: Age of Revelation – Overture #1, and goes on to appear in Amazing X-Men #1-3 and X-Men: Age of Revelation – Finale, which also revealed that the Chairman’s synthetic body had gone into lockdown as a result. The material about Revelation’s X-Virus, and the framing of 3K for it, comes up repeatedly in “Age of Revelation”.
- The Chairman’s claim to be “misunderstood saviour of Krakoa” references his story arc in X-Force during the Krakoan era.
It’s almost parodic how they spend the better part of two years building up to the mystery of the Chairman’s identity, and put him in a body much smaller than he’s associated with… and then, *immediately* after the reveal, they dump it and make him recognisable again. Also, just to be sure we know he’s absolutely EVIL, he has his henchman immediately beaten to death.
[Is this Joseph meant to be an all-new Magneto clone, or the original brainwashed again?]
It’s interesting that Cassandra was able to put Joseph to sleep so easily while the real Magneto has considerable resistance to telepathy even without his helmet. Of course, Joseph is an idiot who lacks the real Magneto’s experience and discipline- the real Magneto would have never let Myriad sneak up on him and steal his hemet like that. Magneto probably knows all sorts of psychic defense techniques and Joseph never bothered to learn.
The reason why the Chairman used a synthetic body originally is probably because his emotions betrayed him the last time he met X-Force- he couldn’t bring himself to let Wonder Man died. So he figured that he could avoid emotions by using a synethic body but realized everything he was missing when he met Future Jen.
It’s nice to see that the Chairman is still the same idiot he was on Krakoa- trying to kill such a potentially powerful asset as Schwartzschild because of a “betrayal” that hasn’t happened yet.
@SanityOrMadness- The Chairman said “Joseph … three? Four? With your predilection for clones I can never keep track.” So presumably this is a new Magneto clone.
“It’s nice to see that the Chairman is still the same idiot he was on Krakoa”
Which begs the question of why everyone would be so deferential to Hank McCoy. It’s freakin’ Hank McCoy. Both Cassandra Nova and freakin’ Astra are more qualified to lead this group than CIBeast (OK, that doesn’t actually work). His mutant power is to be kind of strong and athletic. He has a genius-level intellect by real-world standards, but is at the bottom of geniuses by Marvel Universe standards. He screwed up over and over while on Krakoa and was eventually defeated. He’s not very impressive.
His most impressive feat as a member of 3K was done by sheer luck in that he happens to also be Hank McCoy.
Yes, he was impressive during “Here Comes Tomorrow”, but that was Sublime.
When we saw a truly evil Beast unleashed during AOA he lived his life in fear of Mr. Sinister.
I quite liked this villain POV issue, and I’m happy to officially have Krakoan Beast back.
His competence (or lack thereof) aside, I don’t see Astra or Nova being that naturally deferential to anyone. So I have to assume he’s got something that keeps them under his thumb. I don’t actually know what either of their statuses were prior to this series; could they both be clones that Beast brought to life or something?
@Sean Whitmore- Cassandra Nova was last seen being trapped in the prehistoric era. I think the Chairman rescued her through time travel and Chris V thinks she lived through the intervening years. Even if the Chairman rescued her. I can’t see Nova following him out of gratitude.
Astra was last seen alive on Krakoa. so she has no reason to follow the Chairman.
Maybe he’s taken a leaf out of Amanda Waller’s book, and put bombs* in their brains.
*May not be literal explosives.
If ChairBeast killing Schwartzschild because the latter was a future X-Man is what leads current Schwartzschild to becoming an X-Man, I’ll laugh at the self-fulfilling stupidity of it all.
A pretty good issue that lays out what’s going on with 3k and sets up the next conflict. It seems that editorial has instructed the writers to start resolving some plot threads in preparation for whatever is next – even if that isn’t imminent, it’s apparently time for some payoff.
I do expect Schwatzchild to head to Alaska and I expect Cyclops to welcome him – given how he was basically the straight man to all of Glob’s hijinks in the future and a generally helpful guy, I expect they won’t even give him that hard a time about joining the team. He’ll also handle revealing to the group who The Chairman is so we can setup the confrontation between him and Cyclops (and him and Beast)(and maybe a little bit him and Quinten, I guess) that is likely the run’s endgame.
“As with the previous issue, this is billed both as a “Shadows of Revelation” issue…”
Shadows of Tomorrow.
The Chairman also didn’t tell the rest of the great Table that the ultimate goal of the virus was to turn all mutants into a collective controlled by Revelation.
John> I do expect Schwatzchild to head to Alaska and I expect Cyclops to welcome him – given how he was basically the straight man to all of Glob’s hijinks in the future and a generally helpful guy, I expect they won’t even give him that hard a time about joining the team.
You’d think SOMEONE would have a problem with the ex-ORCHIS guy though.
This really cements the sense that “Age of Revelation” was a plot intended for McKay’s title that was arbitrarily turned into a crossover.
Here, the “Shadows of Tomorrow” branding has an actual story meaning, since the characters’ knowledge of the future directly affects the present-day plot in substantive ways.
Didn’t the 3K X-men completely fall apart in the field without Schwarzchild? I see that War Crimes Hank continues to make the same quality choices that he has in the past.
@SanityOrMadness- Yes, the X-Men putting a former Orchis member in a mutant-rights group would be like them putting a former child abuser in charge of teaching children. Um, never mind.
Schwarzchild wouldn’t be the first member of an anti-mutant group to join a X-team. Elixir used to be a Reaver.
Most of the members of Scott’s X-Men have dark pasts. Magento killed thousands with an EMP. Kwannon was an assassin. Juggernaut killed Kid Juggernaut’s grandfather. Quentin started a riot just to impress a girl. Glob Herman was the son of a bigoted and cruel man who became just like his father. Xorn killed thousands in New York. Schwarzchild probably has a lower body count than half of Scott’s team.
@Michael,
Ackchyually , this Xorn is apparently NOT that Xorn , this is the Xorn brother , “Shen” , who supposedly has a literal “blackhole” for a brain who was liberated by the XMen in China and then later joined Magneto’s (CULLEN) BUNNcanny Xmen during the T-Mist Era (after a failed assassination attempt by the Dark Riders, where SX literally vaporized Barrage) and who died helping stop Inverted-Havok and PTSD Emma and Ms Sinister and Bastion spread the MotherVine virus across the globe by sacrificing his own life to perma-destroy 616-Bastion. He then got resurrected on Krakoa , with his brother , “Kuan-Yin” , who is the one with supposedly the literal “white star” for a brain , and who apparently spent Grant Morrisson’s New XMen run unknowingly fused with Magneto ala Darwin and Vulcan (as I’ve explained before in other comments , this is the picture that emerges when you reconcile together all of the pro-Xorneto stealth retcons made over the years by Mike Carey , Brian Bendis Bendis , Dennis Hopeless , even Chris Claremont himself) . Jonathan Hickman resurrected KYX on Krakoa and changed his name to Zorn (to match his OG-Ultimate counterpart) and gave him a new appearance in which he now looks like a fusion of IronMan with DC’s Firestorm
It’s great to see things starting to finally happen, at last.
I do hope we see Schwartzchild again, though I also wish we had a bit more time with him in AOR. He’s ex-SHIELD, AFAIK, so even if he’s at best morally bankrupt/easily manipulated he should have some skills.
3K really come across as chumps lol. Can’t leave them alone for a week without shit going down. Joseph really is wack – defeated by a 10 year old in the same way 60s Magneto used to be. For all the discussion of clones, my money is on Hank just cloning them all with some kind of tweak to retain leverage. Maybe they don’t know? IDK. Cassandra is certainly dangerous by herself but I think Hank is what makes 3K dangerous as an organisation. Yeah he’s a bonehead, but he knows the real X-Men well.
In retrospect their discussion about recruiting Sinister seems ridiculous. He’s objectively brilliant – you don’t want him because he will 100% betray you no matter what.
As for their WWE Smackdown Promo at the gala, I have to wonder what they were thinking. Every failure they levied at the X-Men applies to them as well, and they openly have Cassandra Nova in management. Who TF would look at that and think ‘sign me up with the genocide lady and a fake Magneto please.’ Lol. Also, ‘we’ll save you all in 1000 years?’ Not very impressive.
I mean whatever, that’s in the past but I wonder why they bothered.
Is it just me, or has @Jdsm24 just given us a fine example of why the X-Books have a hard time achieving new readers these days?
Gosh. Is Xorn even a character at this point? Or just a concept, a background visual?
I do think it was a pretty stunning reveal when Xorn-is-Magneto-all-along, especially in the days before internet spoilers. See also: Colossus’ death and later resurrection. The last thing that gave us that “woah” feeling I think, was Moira being a mutant and her power.
This is an odd group especially to be loyal to Hank.
Astra could have provided him with his cloning tech in X-force, (as he would not have got it from Sinster) so he would need her for his new bodies and she bring a powerhouse like Joesph. He needs her and gives her a place to experiment with her future science.
But Cassandra Nova has never been a follower, so nor interested in mutant survival so she is a weird fit. Maybe she is Sublime as she was left back in time after destroying him. HE could have infected her Nova/Sublime are now one which is why she is now pro-human evolution which is Sublimes thing.
I’m not a fan of Tony Daniel’s art (it’s not bad, just not to my taste), but the white Beast looks really good the way he draws it.
I could see Astra deferring to Beast simply because she doesn’t want to actually lead anything, just mess around with mad science and get revenge on people who wronged her. Cassandra Nova, though? I could see her taking a subordinate role because she’s amused by the situation and would prefer to cause chaos while being snarky. I can’t see her staying in that role once challenged, or accepting that her challenger is still breathing unless it’s part of a greater plan. Overall, I’m interested in the 3K plot, but I hope characters aren’t being shoved imto roles they don’t fit.
Does anyone else just really hate Wyre? Everything from his edgelord 90s origins, to his visual design, to the fact that they’ve just suddenly elevated this nobody character to a seemingly Wolverine-level threat…I just find it all unappealing.
@Jeremy H- MacKay didn’t want to use Wyre for 3K- he wanted to use Cyber. But Ahmed snatched up Cyber for Wolverine. So he wound up using Wyre instead, even though Wyre seemed to be on the side of the angels the last time we saw him.
@Alastair- Cassandra Nova’s change in attitude was explained in Marauders. Back in X-Men Red, Jean tried to alter Cassandra’s mind so that she felt empathy. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out the way Jean planned and now she feels empathy but she’s still willing to torture and kill in the name of mutantkind.
I’m still not sure that I can believe her being subordinate to Beast, though.
@LuisDantas, at least it weeds out the casual tourists LOL
But seriously , you read USAmerican mainstream corporate comics , but you’re not a fan of soapoperas / telenovelas ?
@Jeremy H I sure do! He is a thorough non-entity, mocked by both sides. Seemingly happily working for an organisation that is aiming for mutant supremacy or something. Worst of all, I don’t know what he wants. Dude needs a motivation and this issue was a good opportunity to give him one – except ‘an interesting future’ isn’t much to go off.
The other CEOs explicitly referred to him as replaceable yet he’s ‘The Means.’ Also a crack shot able to take the Marauder with QQ flying it out of the Sky, a master strategist running rings around Cyke, a goddamn ninja who can get in and out of the Factory with zero difficulty, and apparently a black ops drill sergeant.
He has wires coming out of him (whatever they do) but otherwise he’s just a guy with a gun, right? I’ve never read anything about him before. Feels like Jed maybe should have used someone else or an OC IMO.
@Rei ,
Well , it’s the same exact motivation as his fellow Canadian and Alpha Flight alumnus Eugene “Puck” Judd . And Wyre was always a Gary Stu one-man-army from his 1990’s origins as the OG Secret Empire’s own master assassin https://uncannyxmen.net/characters/wyre/biography-0