X-Men Red #16 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
X-MEN RED vol 2 #16
“The Fall of Prometheus”
Writer: Al Ewing
Artist: Yildiray Çinar
Colour artist: Federico Blee
Letterer: Ariana Maher
Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen
Editor: Jordan D White
COVER / PAGE 1. The Horsemen pose in front of Port Prometheus.
PAGES 2-4. Craig Marshall’s ship approaches Arakko.
Craig Marshall was last seen in issue #14, with the two kids Loolo and Kobb. In that issue, he was simply wondering about leaving his part of Arakko for Port Prometheus, where Peter Corbeau had offered him a posting. Evidently he either accepted that posting, or otherwise made contact with Corbeau once war broke out. The fact that Kobb hasn’t talked since A.X.E.: Judgment Day was mentioned by Craig in issue #11.
Peter Corbeau makes his first actual appearance in X-Men Red here; he’s a NASA scientist who had some minor appearances in early Claremont X-Men. I don’t think he’s been seen on panel in years. He’s still wearing his yachting cap, which is nice.
The woman who “paints with truth” is Fisher King’s daughter Weaponless Zsen, who we last saw helping Cable in issues #8-10. She left Arakko to work as a mercenary (though we saw her as a child in Fisher King’s origin story last issue). Historically she’s tended to portray her mutant power as useless (and as something likely to present traumatic images), so it’s a change of pace for her to use it helpfully like this.
The other two mercenaries are Blackjack O’Hare and the Prince of Power, both of whom were hanging around with Zsen when Cable recruited her in issue #8. Al Ewing previously used both characters in his Guardians of the Galaxy run. O’Hare started off as a Rocket Raccoon villain, but aside from the bit where he’s a humanoid rabbit, he’s a basically normal mercenary. The Prince of Power is a complete moron and a comic relief character, although he’s also the current keeper of the Power Stone (of the Infinity Stones), which makes him massively powerful. He’s basically well meaning but so dim as to be a liability in most situations. You’d have to be absolutely desperate to call him in, but then they are. His back story, which he references here, can be found in the 2021 Guardians of the Galaxy Annual.
PAGE 5. The Horsemen destroy Port Prometheus.
The Horsemen are part of the invading force that Genesis brought to Arakko last issue. As pointed out in the comments for the last issue, in X-Men: Before the Fall – Heralds of Apocalypse, there were only three seeds for the Arakko gate (which allowed travel even without a pre-existing gate at the other end). One was used by Genesis at the end of that issue to travel to Arakko; Apocalypse kept one; and the third was used by Genesis to bring her army to Arakko. That’s why she had to engineer a complex plan involving a sea monster in order to get the thing to Port Prometheus.
The second panel at the top shows the Red Lagoon, Sunspot’s bar, in flames.
PAGE 6. Recap and credits.
PAGE 7. Syzya recovers the Uranos trigger.
We’re clearly meant to pick up on the similarities between Syzya and Nightcrawler here, though what significance that might have is anyone’s guess. As for the Uranos trigger…
PAGE 8. Data page: Xilo’s history of Arakko continues.
During the A.X.E.: Judgment Day crossover, the Eternals (then led by Druig) set Uranos loose on Arakko for an hour, and he caused absolute devastation. Xilo describes Uranos’s motivation as “his own interpretation of the Eternal Principles”; more precisely, a key theme of Kieron Gillen’s Eternals run is that the Eternals are bound by certain principles laid down by the Celestials, including the destruction of Deviants who have become excessively deviant, and have no power to break those principles, although they do have some freedom of interpretation. Uranos is a fundamentalist who believes that basically everything is excessive deviation which needs to be destroyed. The reason why this might matter is that, although Uranos says later in the issue that he will attack everyone other than Storm’s faction if he’s given an hour on the loose, it’s not at all clear what’s keeping him to that rule or why he would care. After all, it’s inconsistent with his interpretation of the Principles.
At the end of the story, as part of making amends, the Eternals (back under normal leadership) give the Arakki the ability to do the same thing at some point. This data page expands on the question of quite why the Arakki accepted this rather odd offer, not least because of their aversion to accepting help. The Arakki appear to have rationalised that it’s the best offer of amends that the Eternals can make within the confines of their programming, and that the Eternals can’t actually be destroyed without destroying Earth (to which they’re connected), which isn’t really a fight that the Arakki are up for.
Lactuca seems to have been particularly keen on this point, which is interesting, since Lactuca rarely takes an active interest in anything that isn’t cosmically significant. Whether that’s because Lactuca wanted to avoid a war with Earth, or make sure that Arakko had access to Uranos, or both, isn’t clear.
PAGE 9. Uranos tries to tempt Syzya.
That’s Druig in the background, sharing Uranos’s cell, and impaled on a crystal. The end of Judgment Day didn’t go well for him.
PAGE 10. Sunspot and Fisher King fly overhead.
Sunspot says that “every death here is on me”. In issue #14, he was somewhat vague about what he was doing on Earth at the time of the Hellfire Gala. (“Business on Earth – very secret. Don’t ask.”)
PAGE 11. Famine destroys Port Prometheus.
He’s a cheery fellow, isn’t he?
PAGES 12-18. Storm fights the Horsemen.
Famine gets downed by Storm in one shot; War does a little better. Death makes sure to tell us that neither of them is quite dead.
Storm makes the point that War is appealing to their pedigree, yet they sided with Annihilation rather than Genesis when they were in Amenth.
Death, consistent with his portrayal in “X of Swords”, actually takes the code of honour stuff seriously, and is genuinely appalled by the behaviour of his fellow Horsemen – to the point where he kills Pestilence for interfering. He’s also smitten by Storm, as Pestilence points out, but he does seem to be sincere in the importance he attaches to his honour – it’s what gives his life meaning and justifies his actions to himself. Honestly, it was a little odd that he was willing to join this invasion in the first place, given the way he’s been written since “X of Swords”, but let’s assume that Death’s sense of honour extends to a feeling of obligation to align with his family. What seems to finally push him over the edge is Pestilence telling him directly that the traditions he cares about are no more than a means to an end, not just for her, but for everyone else. For Death, they are an end in themselves – which puts him in a position to reject Genesis’s interpretation of Arakki tradition as corrupted.
During all this, Pestilence infects Nova with her plague, but it’s not clear that he’s actually dead yet. Nova’s last words are, as usual in this series, insisting that everything is up to him – he feels the responsibility of a solo hero even when he’s actually a secondary character in an ensemble title.
PAGES 19-20. Uranos tries to tempt Storm.
Page 20 is a data page, continuing the history of Arakko. Storm’s dilemma is whether to unleash Uranos on Genesis’s forces and hope to wipe them out… or just do it herself because she’s an Omega mutant. Uranos is essentially offering her the excuse of keeping her own hands clean.
PAGES 21-22. Apocalypse arrives.
Apocalypse is using the third seed that he kept in Heralds of Apocalypse. The creature perched on his shoulder is an unnamed daemon who was asking Apocalypse to mentor him in that one-shot. Someone in a cloak can be seen coming through the portal behind Apocalypse, who isn’t identified. (It’s not Lactuca – her cloak covers her face.)
This is the site of the Autumn Palace, Magneto’s former home on Arakko. The “sun caged below” is Vulcan, who destroyed the Palace in issue #10, after which Storm and her allies combined their powers to imprison him underground.
PAGE 23. Trailers. The Krakoan reads APOCALYPSE.
PAGES 24-31. This is a Sunspot & Shark-Girl back-up story which has nothing to do with the main series; it’s one of a number of team-up back-up stories that have appeared in Marvel titles this year.
Shark-Girl is exactly what she looks like, though this story is quite unusual in showing her changing back into her human form. She was one of the students first introduced during Wolverine and the X-Men. She’s Brazilian, which is presumably the point of doing a team-up with her and Sunspot.
The Isle of Snakes is a real place in Brazil – the proper name is Ilha de Queimada Grande – and it is indeed famous for its abundant snakes.
King Cobra is a pre-existing character – this is supposedly the second King Cobra, nephew of the original, who was introduced in the 2006 White Tiger mini. I don’t know where this story got the idea that he’s a cult leader – he’s normally just a mercenary who has cobra powers, and if there’s a story out here that’s taken this angle on him, I’m not familiar with it. Equally, the Serpent Society is normally just a bunch of snake-themed mercenary villains from Captain America, not the Serpent God-worshipping cultists seen here. And King Cobra II wasn’t a member anyway. (He was a member of the Serpent Squad, but they aren’t cultists either.) I honestly wonder if he’s been mixed up with somebody else.
The last time I remember seeing Corbeau on panel was in Captain America & the Mighty Avengers just before Secret Wars 2015… and that was an Ewing story too.
This felt very heavy considering recent events. Just enough resonance with recent events in I/P to never let it off my mind.
Sounds like the backup story is using King Cobra as a stand-in for DC’s villain Kobe’s.j
Kobra, that should be; predictive text problem.
The last Corbeau sighting was probably in Jay Edidin’s Marvel Snapshot X-Men oneshot, though that was a continuity implant.
Apparently Mephisto corrupted several members of the Serpent Society into forming a cult worshipping him in Avengers (https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Serpent_Society_(Earth-616)). Then they went back to their corporate shtick.
Re: the Serpent Society being a cult and Piet being a cult leader- this is probably a reference to Jason Aaron’s Avengers run, where the Serpent Society is depicted as a Mephisto- worshipping cult. Why Jason Aaron decided to write them that way when every other writer depicts them as normal mercenaries is beyond me.
Re: Sunspot referring to Piet as also King Cobra- That’s probably a reference to Nick Spencer’s Spider-Man. Prior to Spencer’s Spider-Man,only Piet’s uncle had been called King Cobra- Piet had been simply Cobra. But during Nick Spencer’s Spider-Man run, a Cobra appears and Arcade refers to him as King Cobra. There was some confusion among readers about whether the Cobra in Spencer’s run was Piet or his uncle but it was eventually decided to be Piet.
As a side note, can someone please explain to me why anyone thought it was a good idea to introduce a second Cobra with such similar powers as his uncle while the original Cobra was still around? It was bound to be a recipe for confusion- and both fans and writers keep getting them mixed up.
I have to give Ewing credit- I complained that Storm’s reaction to Xavier in issue 11 ignored all the times Storm has lost control but it looks like Storm’s fear of losing control again will be an element in the climax.
@Michael: “I have to give Ewing credit- I complained that Storm’s reaction to Xavier in issue 11 ignored all the times Storm has lost control but it looks like Storm’s fear of losing control again will be an element in the climax.”
This is why I like Ewing’s work on the X-books, he asks big questions: How far is too far? What can one do to improve their community/ world, and what if they get it wrong? What is the nature of power? What kind of motivator is guilt?
That said, I get where @Ryan T is coming from, as real world events interfered with my enjoyment of this comic. It was very well-done, but the escapism factor was lessened.
Once again, the Four Horsemen turn out to be goobers who talk big, and then get crushed like bugs the second they fight someone competent, except Death. See also: every story where there’s a new Four Horsemen. For a character whose central gag is that he’s obsessed with survival of the fittest, everyone that follows Apocalypse invariably ends up being pathetic.
Some possibilities on who the cloaked figure behind Apocalypse (who is almost certainly part of the “forces” Nur went to gather at the end of Heralds of Apocalypse) might be:
1. Mister M (Absolon Mercator). Matter manipulator. Ally of Apocalypse installed in the Otherworld Kingdom of Mercator. Has control of the Siege Perilous. The only Krakoan Omega mutant to not participate in the Terraforming of Mars during PSXM. Now that Apocalypse has arrived to remake Planet Arrako, Mercator might get his chance.
2. Sunfire. Currently on an Otherworld quest to retrieve Redroot. Might have met up with Apocalypse and hitched a ride to Arakko. Redroot can communicate with the island of Arakko, which is currently Genesis’ base.
But Sunfire/Redroot is a Duggan plotline, not sure if it’ll be resolved in an Ewing book. Apocalypse also seems to be looking for Vulcan, which is redundant if he had Sunfire.
3. Polaris. Was in the Treehouse the night of the Gala, but hasn’t been seen since. Used to be the Horseman of Pestilence once. There was a vision of her moving asteroids in X-Men 20, so she’s heading to space at some point. But like Sunfire, she’s a Duggan plotline.
4. Brand. Left S.W.O.R.D. at the end of XMR 10. It’s possible that she might have joined up with Apocalypse, but my theory for some time has been that she’ll eventually replace Fisher King on the Night Seats.
The small snippets we’ve gotten of Craig Marshall throughout the Genesis War is interesting. Ewing wants us to keep track of him. I’ve theorized before that Jon Ironfire killed Craig in the Sins of Sinister timeline, orphaning Loolo and Kobb, which Jon came to later regret. I hope he doesn’t make the same mistake in this timeline, but I suspect we’re heading towards a tragedy of some kind. Ironfire hasn’t done much so far, but his connection to the sword Purity must have some plot significance.
Death joining forces with Storm isn’t too much of a surprise – we saw Death amongst the Brotherhood of Arakko in the post-Genesis War part of Sins of Sinister. Just to bring up my Fall of the Mutants : Fall of X theory again, Pestilence died and Death switched allegiances in X-Factor 25, which is echoed in this issue. XF25 also had Caliban become the Horseman of Death. If Ironfire does kill Craig Marshall, could he be revived through a Death Seed?
Uranos attempting to tempt Storm has parallels to Annihilation attempting to tempt Genesis in Heralds of Apocalypse. In both cases, the cosmic entity offers the mutant a chance to end the war quickly by saying yes, but the mutant refuses in order to fight on by themselves. The first choice led to the splitting of Okkara, might the second choice lead to the eventual reunification of Okkara? Uranos is actually a very similar character to Annihilation – might we see the staff attempting to control Uranos or vice versa?
I say Jon Ironfire is Colossus’ never-quite-confirmed son from the Savage Land. See the Savage Land hairstyle. See the horns like Magik. See the stylised lines on the arms. See the metal powers. See Ewing’s love for making a big deal out of obscure existing characters.
How did he end up in a different dimension, a thousand years before he was born? I don’t know, Limbo maybe.
This is a book that isn’t working for me.
It seemed to be a team book at first, but it really isn’t. For a while I felt uncertain on how it related to Legion of X, but it mostly did not.
Apparently it is… well, it is Ororo playing Tarzan in the exotic and dangerous wild lands of Arakko. In full Mary Sue mode to boot.
I like John Carter just fine, but this does not mix well with the already deeply set inconsistencies in Ororo’s personality, nor does the character’s history justify the impressive and sustained levels of wisdom and stability that the role would require.
Not to my taste, sorry. I would rather have seen more of Si Spurrier working with Legion and Kurt.
I’ll take this over Si Spurrier working with Legion and Kurt, which I found to be a bit overrated. I’m enjoying this title and the way Storm is being written.
“See the horns like Magik”
Not a genetic trait he would have picked up from Illyana…
I think if there’s one thing this arc has made crystal-clear, it’s that it’s not really about mutants or mutantkind. The Arakki could just as easily be Warcraft orcs considering their whole shtick is magical swords, gladiator combat and fighting endless hordes of demons. After all this time, I’m still at an absolute loss as to why I should care about any of this beyond Storm’s role in it, which Ewing has consistently failed to develop in any meaningful way since she became Regent back in SWORD.
Well maybe not in the real world, but Marvel people inherit all kinds of weird stuff. Anyway, it would be more of a symbolic thing.
Storm hasn’t been written in this amazing a story with such important decisions in ages, if ever !
[…] RED #16. (Annotations here.) We’re still in Genesis’ invasion of Arakko, but this issue brings us back to a couple […]
Try saying “Corbeau, Cobra” five times fast
I have been binging Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men recently, so as soon as I read the phrase “Peter Corbeau makes his first actual appearance in X-Men Red here,” I thought “That’s Super Doctor Astronaut Peter Corbeau” and was instantly earwormed with a hornpipe.
To be fair to Jason Aaron’s portrayal of the Serpent Society, he did present the Mephisto-cult business as something weird that had happened to them, not standard operating procedure.