{"id":10749,"date":"2025-01-29T22:30:17","date_gmt":"2025-01-29T22:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=10749"},"modified":"2025-01-29T22:30:17","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T22:30:17","slug":"x-men-10-annotations-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=10749","title":{"rendered":"X-Men #10 annotations"},"content":{"rendered":"

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>X-MEN vol 7 #10<\/strong>
\n“Brinkmanship”<\/strong>
\nWriter: Jed MacKay<\/strong>
\nPenciller: Netho Diaz<\/strong>
\nInker: Sean Parsons<\/strong>
\nColourist: Fer Sifuentes-Sujo<\/strong>
\nLetterer: Clayton Cowles<\/strong>
\nEditor: Tom Brevoort<\/strong><\/p>\n

THE X-MEN:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cyclops.<\/strong> Naturally enough, he was expecting retaliation for the X-Men’s attack on Graymalkin over the last two issues. His solution to this problem is, as he says, brinksmanship: he hires the Hellions to wreck O*N*E’s resources, and openly threatens mutually assured destruction unless O*N*E back off. He literally says that if he’s killed then the X-Men will slaughter the US government, and that Phoenix will probably raze the Earth in revenge.<\/p>\n

How far Cyclops is bluffing is open to debate – the message he wants Lundqvist to take from this is that he’s demonstrating the amount of damage that a fight between the two sides would cause, and that he’s giving Lundqvist the arguments he needs to back off. He’s certainly exaggerating the risk of his death driving Phoenix mad – when Quentin asks him about it, he simply says that “I can’t rule it out”, which is a lot less definitive than his threat to Lundqvist, and feels like a “well, I wasn’t completely making it up” justification. But does he have plans for a retaliatory strike on Washington? Possibly – he’s certainly selected a team of X-Men relatively likely to be on board with such a plan. Then again, when Quentin asks him “Is it true?”, Scott has to ask him to specify which bit, which implies that the whole speech was news to Quentin. (In contrast, Quentin clearly does know about the Hellions.)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Kid Omega.<\/strong> Quentin is genuinely worried about the prospect of the Phoenix going crazy if Cyclops dies. Cyclops blithely tells him that in that event the X-Men will have to deal with the problem – and that Kid Omega is on the team precisely because they need an omega telepath and former Phoenix host for the job. Scott might be winding him up, but Quentin seems alarmed at the thought.<\/p>\n

Magik, Temper, Psylocke,<\/strong> the Juggernaut\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0the Beast<\/strong> appear briefly when the X-Men return home, but don’t have much else to do.<\/p>\n

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Magneto. <\/strong>When he thinks that O*N*E are going to attack the Factory before the X-Men return, his plan is for himself and Xorn to hold them at bay while the non-combatant mutants get to safety. He clarifies that his condition has cost him control<\/em> of his mutant powers – he can still use them for uncontrolled devastation. Clearly, what he has in mind is a suicidal last stand. He draws the line at calling the Avengers for help, and Ben plausibly argues that Magneto is looking for an excuse to go out in a blaze of glory. Cyclops seems to agree.<\/p>\n

Glob Herman. <\/strong>He quite reasonably suggests calling the Avengers, and is ready to try and defend the Factory with a frying pan.<\/p>\n

Xorn. <\/strong>He regards it as entirely Magneto’s decision whether to fight O*N*E in a suicidal last stand. He never says directly whether he’d have been willing to join the fight as Magneto wanted, but he certainly doesn’t demur from it.<\/p>\n

Ben Liu.<\/strong> He’s worried about O*N*E finding out that he’s alive (after his death was faked in issue #2), but even more horrified at the thought of Magneto sacrificing himself. When Magneto won’t back down, Ben declares that he’ll stay and fight – pretty much the first active decision that he’s taken in this series. He seems to believe that his power is specifically to manifest the alien invasion we saw in issue #2 (or possible that’s the only thing he knows how<\/em> to manifest).<\/p>\n

Jennifer Starkey<\/strong> still doesn’t even know what her powers are.<\/p>\n

The Hellions. <\/strong>Apparently a mercenary group hired by Cyclops to smash up O*N*E’s resources. It’s the first appearance of this incarnation of the Hellions. For the most part, they teleport around O*N*E facilities wrecking records and equipment. The group comprise…<\/p>\n