{"id":5946,"date":"2020-11-27T23:11:54","date_gmt":"2020-11-27T23:11:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=5946"},"modified":"2020-11-27T23:11:54","modified_gmt":"2020-11-27T23:11:54","slug":"x-of-swords-destruction-1-annotations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=5946","title":{"rendered":"X of Swords: Destruction #1 annotations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

X OF SWORDS: DESTRUCTION #1<\/strong>
“X of Swords, Chapter 22”<\/strong>
by Jonathan Hickman, Tini Howard, Pepe Larraz & Matte Garcia<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the final chapter of the “X of Swords” crossover, and the third one-shot – the others being X of Swords: Creation<\/em> and X of Swords: Stasis<\/em>. All three officially have a #1 attached, because that’s how these things work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

COVER \/ PAGE 1.<\/strong> Fighting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGE 2<\/strong>. Epigraph from Apocalypse. Until now he’s been carrying the burden of losing Arakko and Genesis in his youth; he’s evidently willing, in this issue, to take on the burden of Annihilation instead in order to rescue them. Since Apocalypse was immortal even before the Krakoan resurrection protocols took hold, he assumes that he’s likely to literally<\/em> carry these burdens forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

PAGES 3-4. <\/strong>Credits and recap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGE 5. <\/strong>Saturnyne reaches her final card.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saturnyne is still accompanied by Ryl (the fish woman), Shogo (the dragon) and a couple of random priestesses. The narration suggests that Saturnyne couldn’t affect the eventual outcome, but only the route by which it was reached. It’s never clearly explained what she was trying to achieve by rigging the contests in the earlier issues (beyond the fact that she needed to shatter Betsy to create an ingredient for her love spell), but presumably she was trying to make it look as though Krakoa would lose, in the hope of bringing Brian Braddock to heel that way. Instead she grudgingly accepts bringing back the Captain Britain Corps that she’s stuck with – one based on alternate versions of Betsy, rather than Brian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGE 6. <\/strong>The new Corps enters the battle.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final card that Saturnyne draws is the Wheel of Fortune. The version she’s holding is a relatively straight rendition of the now-traditional design from the A.E. Waite tarot deck. It symbolises, well, fortune and luck and so on, though it’s also the card that draws together the whole tarot deck; the points of the wheel spell T-A-R-O-T. There’s a Roman numeral ten at the top of the card, indicating that this is the tenth card in the major arcana. So it’s not the X of Swords, but it is tarot card X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new Captain Britain Corps is (apparently) made up of versions of Betsy Braddock – some of them are men or animals, but they’re meant to be wearing variations of Betsy’s Captain Britain costume, and where applicable they have her purple hair. We’ll get names for some of these characters at the end of the issue, which also establishes that none of them is the “real” Betsy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGES 7-10.<\/strong> The Arakkii respond by summoning up demons.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We’ve been told before that Summoner was one of a number of Summoners, all of whom had the power to summon up and control the beasts of Amenth. Despite their similar appearance, this apparently isn’t a mutant power but a magical skill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGE 11.<\/strong> Saturnyne and Cable talk.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cable was injured in his contest in Cable<\/em> #6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGES 12-13.<\/strong> Cyclops and Magik open a portal for the X-Men to reach Otherworld.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cyclops and his forces are on the SWORD space station, where Saturnyne sent them in Cable<\/em> #5. Cyclops, Marvel Girl and Magik telepathically discussed a plan to get through to Otherworld at the end of that issue – which they kept secret from everyone else. Cyclops’ reference to the weather is a callback to them talking about rain in that scene. Evidently the plan was for Magik to open a portal through which the whole station could pass. The practical value of the station is that it has the portal to the dimension of the Viscora (from Cable <\/em>#5), who are brought in to fight the Amenth army – presumably this was Cyclops’s big idea to even the odds..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGE 14.<\/strong> The horde of X-Men attack.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We established in the previous chapter that the X-Men had officially been disbanded, so Jean is making a point by using the name. She’s also referencing the “To me, my X-Men” line that seems to have become associated with Xavier (though it’s more of a Morrison-era thing).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the first panel, the three characters coming through the portal are Callisto, Bling!<\/strong> and Gwenpool<\/strong> – who moved to Krakoa after retconning herself into a mutant in Gwenpool Strikes Back<\/em> #5. Callisto’s eyepatch is on the wrong side, if that sort of thing worries you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the big splash page, running roughly from left to right (and ignoring some unrecognisable background blurs):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • Unus the Untouchable<\/strong>, evidently feeling better after his trip to Arakko in X of Swords: Creation<\/em>.<\/li>
  • Skin<\/strong>, once of Generation X.<\/li>
  • The character with fire powers is presumably Magma<\/strong>, though she really shouldn’t be on fire when she’s off the ground.<\/li>
  • Gambit<\/strong> from Excalibur<\/li>
  • Forge<\/strong> from the supporting cast of X-Force<\/em>.<\/li>
  • Chamber <\/strong>from New Mutants<\/em><\/li>
  • Polaris <\/strong>from X-Factor.<\/li>
  • I think the uncoloured guy with the glowing eye above Domino is Vulcan<\/strong>.<\/li>
  • Domino<\/strong> from X-Force.<\/li>
  • M<\/strong>.<\/li>
  • Rictor<\/strong> from Excalibur<\/li>
  • Rogue<\/strong> from Excalibur<\/li>
  • Glob Herman<\/strong> from the cast of New Mutants<\/em><\/li>
  • Pixie<\/strong><\/li>
  • Warpath <\/strong><\/li>
  • Boom-Boom <\/strong>of the New Mutants<\/li>
  • Jamie Madrox<\/strong> (he’s in there at least three times in the background).<\/li>
  • The Stepford Cuckoos<\/strong>.<\/li>
  • Mondo <\/strong>of the New Mutants<\/li>
  • Kid Omega<\/strong> from X-Force – which might be a continuity error, since he was kidnapped by Mikhail Rasputin in the final issue of that series before the crossover hit.<\/li>
  • Gwenpool<\/strong><\/li>
  • Amazing Baby<\/strong>, Prestige’s pet Warwolf.<\/li>
  • Wildside<\/strong> of the Mutant Liberation Front, last seen in New Mutants<\/em>.<\/li>
  • Someone wearing purple who I don’t recognise.<\/li>
  • Bling<\/strong>!<\/li>
  • Callisto<\/strong><\/li>
  • Wolfsbane<\/strong> of the New Mutants<\/li>
  • Marvel Girl<\/strong><\/li>
  • Cyclops<\/strong><\/li>
  • Iceman<\/strong> of the Marauders<\/li>
  • Armor<\/strong><\/li>
  • Mirage <\/strong>of the New Mutants<\/li>
  • Prestige <\/strong>of X-Factor<\/li>
  • Doop, <\/strong>once of the reality-TV incarnation of x-Force.<\/li>
  • Forearm <\/strong>of the Mutant Liberation Front<\/li>
  • Bishop <\/strong>of the Marauders<\/li>
  • Archangel<\/strong> <\/li>
  • Pyro<\/strong> of the Marauders<\/li>
  • Daken <\/strong>of X-Factor<\/li>
  • The Beast.<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    PAGE 15.<\/strong> They fight.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    PAGES 16-17. <\/strong>Apocalypse and Annihilation \/ Genesis continue to fight.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Genesis’s point seems to be that she believes that she has to fight on in order to avoid fully succumbing to Annihilation; Apocalypse seems to be getting through to her, and so Annihilation makes a last ditch attempt to wipe out everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    PAGES 18-21.<\/strong> Cable opens the gateway to the dimension of the Vescora.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Saturnyne has to prompt him pretty heavily, but Cable finally remembers that – as per Cable <\/em>#5 – his sword can activate the portal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    PAGES 22-26.<\/strong> Apocalypse takes the Annihilation mask.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The idea obviously being that he’s going to sacrifice his own identity to free Genesis. Apocalypse is apparently able to control the helmet and retain much of his own persona, because he’s motivated by the desire to save his people rather than simply by trying to beat Annihilation as an end in itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    PAGE 27.<\/strong> Isca changes sides.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This echoes part of Arakko’s back story, in which Isca changed sides when the defeat of Arakko at the hands of Amenth became inevitable. The idea is that Isca’s mutant power is to be unbeatable, but this only enables her to actually win up to a certain point – at some stage, it simply compels her to defect to the winning team so that she is never personally “beaten”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Isca is apparently just about to kill Pyro when she has this epiphany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    PAGE 28<\/strong>. Apocalypse surrenders.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Apocalypse effectively defeats Annihilation by overriding its wishes and ending the fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    PAGES 29-31.<\/strong> Saturnyne tidies up.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    She uses Shogo’s reality-melting dragonfire to get rid of the Viscora, and tones down Annihilation by turning it into a less controlling staff (which she gives back to Genesis). Apparently Genesis’s reign will be somewhat closer to her true personality from now on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    PAGES 32-33.<\/strong> Saturnyne insists that each side pick a mutant to live with them.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Genesis chooses Apocalypse, so he gets to be reunited with his wife and (effectively) written out of day to day X-stories. Apocalypse chooses the entire island of Arakko, which apparently qualifies as a mutant – thus bringing with it all of the mutants who were imprisoned when Annihilation’s forces overran the place. According to Saturnyne there are millions of them, which sounds like it should seriously destabilise the balance of power on Krakoa. If Krakoa’s attitude is anything to go by, the two island will presumably want to merge – but even if the Arakkans remain on their own island, they become a substantial power base with no inherent loyalty to the Krakoan establishment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    PAGE 34.<\/strong> Everyone heads home.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I think that’s Scout<\/strong> (X-23’s younger clone) talking to Glob Herman in panel 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    PAGES 35-36.<\/strong> Data pages on the fate of the twenty swords – remember them? In practice, these serve as “what happened next” capsules on the champions who wielded them. Running through them quickly, we’ll start with the Arakko swords:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    • Vermillion<\/strong> was War’s sword, and it sounds like she’s predictably unhappy with the outcome of all this.<\/li>
    • Purity<\/strong>, the White Blade’s sword, is back to business as usual.<\/li>
    • Colony<\/strong> was Summoner’s sword, apparently lost when he died in Blightspoke.<\/li>
    • Alluvium<\/strong> was Redroot’s sword, and poor Redroot is still<\/em> stuck in the Crooked Market after being imprisoned by Jim Jaspers for a dodgy debt.<\/li>
    • Muramasa<\/strong> was Solem’s sword, and we’re given to understand that he’ll be back to cross paths with Wolverine again in due course.<\/li>
    • The Black Bone of Amduat<\/strong> is Death’s sword. Despite appearance, Death was apparently not <\/em>killed when Storm threw him to the vampires of Sevalith, but “captured”.<\/li>
    • Seducer<\/strong> is Bei’s blade, and she’s come to Krakoa to live with Cypher. Lucky Cypher.<\/li>
    • Mercy<\/strong> is Isca’s sword, so evidently she goes back to Arakko.<\/li>
    • Pogg ur-Pogg <\/strong>is back to mercenary adventuring.<\/li>
    • The Twilight Blade <\/strong>was apparently the blade wielded by Annihilation\/Genesis, though it was previously called “the Midnight Blade” in this story. Genesis seems to have abandoned it and someone has walked off with it, so it sounds as though we’ll come back to that. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      And for Krakoa…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      • The Soulsword<\/strong> is straightforward.<\/li>
      • The (other) Muramasa blade <\/strong>gets a mirror of its twin’s description, so Solem and Wolverine will indeed be returning.<\/li>
      • Skybreaker<\/strong>, Storm’s sword, has apparently taken some damage, so the Wakandans are not likely to be happy.<\/li>
      • Warlock<\/strong> is now going to have to share Cypher with Bei. What could possibly go wrong?<\/li>
      • The Light of Galador<\/strong>, Cable’s sword, will stay with SWORD to keep the space station running. (I suppose Saturnyne somehow closed the portal to the Viscora’s world…)<\/li>
      • The Sword of Might<\/strong> remains with Captain Avalon.<\/li>
      • The Starlight Sword <\/strong>exists only as part of the Captain Britain mosaic.<\/li>
      • The Scarab Blade <\/strong>was Apocalypse’s, and has been destroyed.<\/li>
      • Gorgon’s two swords <\/strong>have been taken back to Krakoa, where there will apparently be an attempt to resurrect him and see what comes up. Since he died in Otherworld, the result will be scrambled. (Note, though, that if they’re willing to resurrect him, they should presumably we willing to take their chances with the Hellions who – as far as they know – may also have died in Otherworld.)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        PAGE 37.<\/strong> A data page on the new Captain Britain Corps. Other than noting that Captain Britain Prime (our Betsy) is missing, this is the start of a very, very long list of members. Obviously, all of the specific members are new, because they’re the Betsy versions… but we’re told their Earth numbers (in the form of seats). Some of them are indeed the established homeworlds of previous Captain Britain Corps members with the same gimmicks. Some of them are either new or utterly random. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        • Captain Britain of Earth-6.<\/strong> Completely new.<\/li>
        • Justicar Druidica of Earth-14.<\/strong> Again, new.<\/li>
        • Captain Britain of Earth-15.<\/strong> Probably just a random choice of number, but Earth-15 was the home of the Spider, a Spider-Man counterpart who was a member of the rival Weapon X team in Judd Winick’s Exiles<\/em>.<\/li>
        • Captain Amphibian of Earth-22.<\/strong> The Earth is new, but presumably this is the frog Captain Britain from the group shots.<\/li>
        • Alpha Briton of Earth-33.<\/strong> Another seemingly random choice of Earth, and probably an unintentional one – Earth-33 is the setting of Fantastic Four: Unstable Molecules<\/em>..<\/li>
        • Sister Britain of Earth-65.<\/strong> This is the Betsy version of Brother Brit-Man, the hippy Captain Britain first seen <\/em>in Excalibur<\/em> vol 1 #14. His homeworld was indeed identified as Earth-65; either the Marvel Multiverse has two Earth-65s, or he shares a homeworld with Spider-Gwen.<\/li>
        • Captain Krakoica of Earth-78.<\/strong> Completely new.<\/li>
        • The Green Woman of Earth-99.<\/strong> Ditto.<\/li>
        • Capitaine Angland of Earth-305.<\/strong> This was the homeworld of the French-themed Captain Angleterre, who first appeared in Mighty World of Marvel <\/em>#13. <\/li>
        • Captain Albion of Earth-523.<\/strong> Presumably a new one, though the previous Captain Albion was also a woman. It’s a modern Elizabethan Empire world. <\/li>
        • Captain Britain of Earth-812.<\/strong> New.<\/li>
        • Captain UK of Earth-839.<\/strong> This was the world to which Captain UK (Linda McQuillan) was reassigned in Captain Britain<\/em> vol 2 after defeating Sat-Yr 9.<\/li>
        • Captain Bretland of Earth-904.<\/strong> Probably meant to be a random choice, but Earth-904 was a timeline where the X-Men stayed in Asgard after the Asgardian Wars, as seen in What If…? <\/em>vol 2 #12.<\/li>
        • Captain Granbretan of Earth-1812.<\/strong> A new version of the character from Captain Britain <\/em>vol 2 #13. It’s a Napoleonic Britain.<\/li>
        • Captain Plumdragon of Earth-2112.<\/strong> New.<\/li>
        • High Priestess Celtia of Earth-2113.<\/strong> New.<\/li>
        • Crusader X of Earth-2122.<\/strong> A new version of the character from Excalibur<\/em> vol 1 #21. It’s a world where America never gained independence.<\/li>
        • Centurion Britannia of Earth-4100.<\/strong> A new version of Centurion Britannus from Excalibur<\/em> vol 1 #24. A Roman Empire Britain, obviously.<\/li>
        • Captain Baboon of Earth-8101.<\/strong> The world of Marvel Apes<\/em>. The Captain herself is new.<\/li>
        • The Violet Swan of Earth-8311.<\/strong> You might assume that she’s the ordinary-looking swan seen in this issue and at the end of the previous chapter – but Earth-8311 is the Larval Earth, home of Spider-Ham. So presumably the Violet Swan is Captain Britain as a cartoon swan. And the ordinary-looking swan is… either a breakdown in communications or a Captain Britain from a different, swan-based reality.<\/li>
        • Elspeth Braddock of Earth-13059.<\/strong> Probably not a deliberate choice, but Earth-13059 is a Tolkienesque alternate reality seen in X-Treme X-Men<\/em> vol 2 #9.<\/li>
        • Britannica Rex of Earth-99476.<\/strong> A new version of Britainicus Rex from the dinosaur world that appeared several times in the original Excalibur<\/em> series (most notably Excalibur<\/em> vol 1 #51).<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

          PAGE 38.<\/strong> Ryl asks Saturnyne to explain the plot.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Saturnyne denies complete <\/em>knowledge of what was going to happen but says that the broad strokes were always clear to her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          PAGE 39.<\/strong> Saturnyne starts her wrap-up.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

          The “tenth sword” is presumably the SWORD station itself, since Saturnyne told Cable that the Light of Galador wasn’t really a sword.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          We get a panel of Storm returning the Wakandan sword, which is evidently going to be more significant in future than it was in the context of this story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          PAGE 40.<\/strong> More wrap-up…<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Avalon <\/strong>will now have the only portal to and from Earth, which Saturnyne seems to find acceptable because it’ll keep the deranged Jamie Braddock busy. Presumably we’ll pick up more of this in Excalibur<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          The Summoners<\/strong> and the Vescora<\/strong> are now under Saturnyne’s control, and she’s using them to get Blightspoke under control. In the following panel, we see Blightspoke’s sheriff Gia Whitechapel bringing some of the produce to the Crooked Market to sell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Death<\/strong> is indeed still stuck in Sevelith, where the suggestion is that he’s become a food source for the vampires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          PAGE 41-42.<\/strong> Saturnyne passes the Captain Britain Corps.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Ryl evidently wants to believe that everything turned out exactly as Saturnyne had planned, and Saturnyne is not going to disabuse her of that. Most of these Captain Britains are identically dressed, but the one with the flamboyant hat is probably Captain Albion (based on the costume of her predecessor). The one next to her seems to be wearing a tartan skirt and presumably represents a Scottish-themed Britain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          PAGE 43.<\/strong> Trailers (ish, since it doesn’t list any future stories). The Krakoan text reads NEXT: REIGN OF X. As pointed out in the comments, the loss of Apocalypse and Jean has indeed reduced the reigning Quiet Council to a membership of 10 (X).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          As always, this post contains spoilers and page numbers go by the digital edition. X OF SWORDS: DESTRUCTION #1“X of Swords, Chapter 22”by Jonathan Hickman, Tini Howard, Pepe Larraz & Matte Garcia This is the final chapter of the “X of Swords” crossover, and the third one-shot – the others being X of Swords: Creation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-annotations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5946"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5946\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5949,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5946\/revisions\/5949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}