{"id":12404,"date":"2026-10-03T13:17:53","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T12:17:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=12404"},"modified":"2026-10-03T13:17:53","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T12:17:53","slug":"x-men-united-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=12404","title":{"rendered":"X-Men United #7"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>X-MEN UNITED #7<\/strong>
\n“Shadow Play, part 3”<\/strong>
\nWriters: Eve L Ewing & Evan Narcisse<\/strong>
\nPenciller: Ruair\u00ed Coleman<\/strong>
\nInkers: Ruair\u00ed Coleman & Victor Olazaba<\/strong>
\nColour artist: Brian Reber<\/strong>
\nLetterer: Joe Sabino<\/strong>
\nEditor: Annalise Bissa<\/strong><\/p>\n

COVER:<\/strong> Wolverine fighting Blade.<\/p>\n

It’s been seven weeks since the last issue came out, but that is indeed how it was solicited. For what it’s worth, the original solicitation for this issue had Eve Ewing as the sole writer, and Tiago Palma (who drew issue #6) as the artist, but describe the same plot.<\/p>\n

PAGES 1-3.\u00a0<\/strong>Wolverine and Blade squabble.<\/em><\/p>\n

Wither.\u00a0<\/strong>He and Blade showed up at the end of the previous issue, with Wither asking for help and claiming that it was an emergency. This story is his first significant appearance in the X-books since\u00a0he died in\u00a0X-Force<\/em> #25 in 2010, although it was established that he had been resurrected on Krakoa. He was last seen in\u00a0Love Unlimited Infinity Comic<\/em> #43-44, a Gwenpool story, where he seemed to have gained control of his powers. The story is a bit hazy about where that stands – he claims at one point that he was unwilling to go to the Storm Sanctuary because his powers were so dangerous, but later on he tells Bloodline that what’s happened to him has “messed with his control”, which implies that he\u00a0was<\/em> in control.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Psylocke claims that his mind is “different” and “darker”, though it’s not obvious how she’d know, given that this is the Kwannon version of Psylocke. She might have run into him on Krakoa somewhere, but this feels more like a point that Emma should be making. Prodigy, the character who probably knows Wither best, says that he “look[s] off”. We’ll find out why in the next scene.<\/p>\n

Blade.\u00a0<\/strong>Wolverine is wildly suspicious of Blade, though in fairness that’s prompted partly by being told that something has changed about Wither’s mind. More generally, Wolverine remembers Blade serving as the main villain of the 2024 event\u00a0Blood Hunt<\/em>, when he was indeed possessed by Varnae. Wolverine never crossed paths with Blade during that event (his tie-in mini was off on the fringes of the storyline), but presumably he’s heard about it on the superhero grapevine.<\/p>\n

Graymatter Lane.<\/strong> The basic nature of Graymatter Lane remains confused – Blade seems fairly clear that they have “psychic constructs” rather than “physical bodies” while in the school, but that still doesn’t explain how characters are able to physically exit the school in different locations from where they came in.<\/p>\n

Emma says that “[a]s a matter of policy, Graymatter Lane is open to all mutants”, although she expects advance notice. In issue #1, she described it as “a mind palace accessible from anywhere across the globe to those mutants who possess the telepathic key”, but she may simply mean that any mutant will be issued with the key on request. Presumably Wither received some form of invitation, even if he hasn’t taken it up before, as otherwise he wouldn’t know that Graymatter Lane was there in the first place.<\/p>\n

PAGES 4-6. <\/strong>Flashback: Wither is bitten by vampires.<\/em><\/p>\n

Wither.\u00a0<\/strong>He’s returned to his home town of Atlanta (which was established in his first appearance, New Mutants <\/em>vol 2 #3). He’s become an artist; there’s a basis for this in the early issues of New X-Men <\/em>vol 2 in 2004, when he was making sculptures out of scrap.<\/p>\n

Despite having a gallery show lined up, he’s living on the street – the gallery owner clearly isn’t aware of this. There’s an obvious problem here, which is that Atlanta has also been Storm’s main base for most of the post-Krakoan era. The dialogue acknowledges that he “heard Storm had some kind of sanctuary” – as a massive floating thing over the city, it would be hard to miss – but he says that he felt his powers were too dangerous to risk going there. Realistically, there must have been other X-related people he could have made contact with – he’s able to contact Emma in this story, after all – so more likely we’re looking at him rationalising his reasons for not doing so.<\/p>\n

Atlanta is also the home base for Bloodline,<\/strong> the daughter of Blade, a character who’s mostly appeared in the\u00a0Avengers Academy<\/em> Infinity Comic. Naturally, this means that there are plenty of vampires around in Atlanta for her to fight. Some of them attack Wither and turn him. His powers apparently\u00a0do\u00a0<\/em>work on vampires at least to some extent (as we see in two scenes time), so presumably the idea is that he’s understandably reluctant to go straight to lethal force and gets bitten before he realises what’s going on.<\/p>\n

Mattie<\/strong>, the gallery owner, and\u00a0Keith<\/strong>, the security guard, are new characters.<\/p>\n

PAGES 7-10.\u00a0<\/strong>Flashback: Wither meets Bloodline.<\/em><\/p>\n

As a vampire, Wither attempts to survive off roadkill and on any bodies he finds that have already been killed. He says that his powers tend to destroy the bodies before he can feed fully anyway. On the plus side, he can’t be staked because his body destroys the stake. He still has enough control to bring trees down as a distraction, and somehow he’s able to open a pit for Bloodline to fall into. Organic soil, is it?<\/p>\n

PAGES 11-12.\u00a0<\/strong>Flashback: Bloodline is abducted by vampires.<\/em><\/p>\n

The vampires here seem to heal from his powers, at least if the effect stops before they actually turn to dust.<\/p>\n

PAGES 13-16.<\/strong> Blade explains the mission.<\/em><\/p>\n

Blade<\/strong> has been called in by Wither after his daughter’s abduction. He’s learned that Bloodline is in England and being held by a mutant with the ability to copy vampire powers. (In fact, we’ll see later that it’s someone with the general power to copy people in her vicinity – we’ll come back to her.) Wither seems to have persuaded him to contact the X-Men on the basis that a mutant is involved, but he doesn’t really care whether they want to help or not. Hence, when some of them seem more interested in the previous issue’s storyline, his immediate reaction is to turn and leave.<\/p>\n

“It happens.”\u00a0<\/strong>Jubilee is referencing the time she spent as a vampire between the opening arc of X-Men<\/em> vol 3 (2010) and Generation X<\/em> #86 (2018). Wow, that lasted a long time.<\/p>\n

“An all-out assault on Graymatter<\/strong> Lane…”<\/strong> The storyline from issues #5-6 which Blade is interrupting. Prodigy is about to explain that the Shadow King is the suspect, and Emma steps in to shut him down, much as she did in the previous issue.<\/p>\n

Prodigy rather bizarrely concludes that the physical abduction of Bloodline from Atlanta must be connected with the disappearance of multiple people from the psychic world of Graymatter Lane. This is the sort of link that only really makes sense if you also know that this is part 3 of the same storyline. He and Dani are both willing to go off on the side quest; Iceman evidently sees this as a distraction from the real plot.<\/p>\n

PAGES 17-18.\u00a0<\/strong>Nightcrawler and Magik teach a class.<\/em><\/p>\n

The students in this class are:<\/p>\n