{"id":6346,"date":"2021-02-03T22:21:18","date_gmt":"2021-02-03T22:21:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=6346"},"modified":"2021-02-03T22:21:18","modified_gmt":"2021-02-03T22:21:18","slug":"hellions-9-annotations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=6346","title":{"rendered":"Hellions #9 annotations"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"\"<\/a>HELLIONS #9
\n“Funny Games: Level 1”
\nby Zeb Wells, Stephen Segovia & David Curiel<\/strong><\/p>\n

COVER \/ PAGE 1:<\/strong> Mastermind holds up a “missing” poster of Mister Sinister, who is holding up a “missing” post of Mastermind, who is holding… you get the picture. This layers-within-layers stuff doesn’t really appear in the issue, but maybe it’ll feature into the bigger picture.<\/p>\n

PAGES 2-4.<\/strong>\u00a0Mastermind drugs Mr Sinister.<\/em><\/p>\n

Mastermind.<\/strong> Psychic illusionist Jason Wyngarde was a member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants back in the Silver Age. He also had a major role in the Dark Phoenix Saga, when his manipulations of Jean\/Phoenix set her on the path to becoming Dark Phoenix. He drifted off the radar over the course of the 1980s, and he was finally killed off via the Legacy Virus in\u00a0Uncanny X-Men Annual<\/em> #17 (1993). We already knew that he had been resurrected on Krakoa, since he showed up as one of the army of mutant psychics in\u00a0Empyre: X-Men<\/em>, but this is the first thing he’s done of any significance.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Precisely what Mastermind is up to in this issue is left deliberately unclear. He’s clearly been in discussions with Mister Sinister about some sort of scheme. He says that participating is very risky for him; Sinister says he has no choice, but we really don’t know why yet. He seems to betray Sinister and hand him over to another villain entirely, but the cover suggests there’s more to it than that. Well, that and the fact that it’s Mastermind, so we can’t entirely trust anything that we see. On the other hand, Sinister says Mastermind has turned him down before, which would fit with Mastermind using that offer as an opportunity to get close to Sinister and capture him.<\/p>\n

Da Hong Pao.<\/strong> It is indeed a staggeringly expensive Chinese tea. Mastermind is exaggerating when he says it’s worth a hundred times its weight in gold, but not by\u00a0that\u00a0<\/em>much – it does indeed sell for more than thirty times its weight in gold<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It’s a little surprising that Sinister – who used to be an A-list threat capable of taking on the entire X-Men team on his own – is apparently susceptible to something as basic as poisoning. Perhaps Mastermind is helping the process along. But note also that Sinister’s response to being poisoned seems to suggest that he thinks Mastermind will help him. Which is a bit odd, but, well, Sinister\u00a0is<\/em> a bit odd.<\/p>\n

Sinister’s cape<\/strong> apparently hasn’t recovered from the beating it took in Otherworld during\u00a0“X of Swords’, but he refuses to be parted from it long enough to get it washed.<\/p>\n

PAGE 5.<\/strong> Recap and credits.<\/p>\n

The title, “Funny Games”, fits with the villain revealed at the end of the issue. Given the nature of\u00a0Hellions<\/em>, it’s likely also a reference to the 1997 Michael Haneke film, remade in the US in 2007, in which a family are held hostage and tortured with sadistic games. I’ve never seen it, and don’t particularly want to.<\/p>\n

PAGES 6-8.<\/strong> Peter gets his new armour.<\/em><\/p>\n

Orphan-Maker<\/strong> is never actually called by that name in this issue, though he’s still listed under it in the recap page. He died in Arakko in issue #6, and so, like Nanny and Wild Child, he’s returned changed. In their case, they were harder and more focussed. Peter appears to be both physically and mentally older – he still treats Nanny as a parent figure, but in a more adolescent way.<\/p>\n

As Nanny has repeatedly hinted, and Professor X confirmed in issue #7, Orphan-Maker’s powers are apparently insanely dangerous and must never be allowed to activate. Presumably if they had had the choice, the Five would have brought him back at a younger age, but the nature of an Arakko resurrection took the decision out of their hands.<\/p>\n

It was previously unclear whether Peter was a child in adult-sized armour, or an adult whose powers had been arrested by the armour. This scene seems to confirm that he was an actual child, which makes you wonder what on earth Professor X was thinking, handing him over to Mr Sinister to play with.<\/p>\n

Nanny.<\/strong> Unfortunately for Peter, Nanny also seems to have moved on in response to his personality change, and is now focussed on the Smiley AI that she retrieved in the previous issue. She’s clearly treating it as a baby, and channelling her maternal instincts to it instead of to Peter.<\/p>\n

This scene also seems to confirm that, at least after her resurrection, Nanny can in fact remove her egg-shaped costume. She still has the shell she was wearing before. Nanny’s established origin had her being\u00a0trapped\u00a0<\/em>in the cyborg shell by the Right, but evidently that no longer applies.<\/p>\n

PAGES 9-11.<\/strong>\u00a0The Hellions train.<\/em><\/p>\n

Empath<\/b> offers to release Havok’s “fun you” persona, by which he presumably means the violent one we saw in issue #1 that got Havok stuck on this team in the first place. It remains somewhat unclear whether that actually is an alternative personality of Havok’s, or something else entirely.<\/p>\n

Wild Child<\/strong> still sees Kwannon as the alpha female and is looking for a mate to start his “pack” with. He is well aware that Kwannon isn’t remotely interested – nor indeed is any other woman – but seems clueless as to why. Despite the fact that a romantic triangle of sorts is clearly being set up, Greycrow offers Wild Child relatively sensible advice about why people might be finding him a little off putting.<\/p>\n

PAGES 12-13.<\/strong>\u00a0Sage despatches the Hellions to rescue Mr Sinister.<\/em><\/p>\n

Clearly, Sage has been manipulated by Mastermind. She\u00a0believes<\/em> that there used to be footage of Sinister being captured in New York and that it’s somehow been erased. She also believes that Professor X has insisted on sending the Hellions. But she at least registers that this doesn’t make sense, and warns Psylocke to be careful – which suggests that this scene isn’t, in itself, an illusion.<\/p>\n

Quite understandably, the Hellions couldn’t care less about Sinister’s disappearance.<\/p>\n

PAGE 14.<\/strong> Data page. Apparently a forged memo sent by “Sage” to Professor X to justify the Hellions going on the mission, despite the fact it has nothing to do with their usual “smash things up as a outlet” remit. The memo insists that the Hellions are showing progress in rehabilitation, as proved by their determination to rescue a teammate. It’s\u00a0possible<\/em> that Sage actually did write this, and has her own reasons for sending the Hellions and covering it up, but it’s much more likely that Mastermind is just telling the truth.<\/p>\n

It’s obviously heavily ironic for the memo to push Greycrow’s supposed loyalty to Sinister as evidence “that even the most antisocial mutant may change.” We’ve seen throughout this series that Greycrow isn’t particularly antisocial at all; he’s always been a good team player, subject only to his refusal to tolerate Empath.<\/p>\n

PAGES 15-16.<\/strong>\u00a0The Hellions arrive in New York and are met with Mastermind.<\/em><\/p>\n

Note that Peter apparently knows that Nanny has got a new ward, and Nanny tells him to shut up before he tells everyone.<\/p>\n

Nanny has changed back to her previous costume (the one with the lips).<\/p>\n

Havok refers to Mastermind as a “Hellfire guy” because he was a provisional member of the Hellfire Club during the Dark Phoenix Saga.<\/p>\n

PAGES 17-20.<\/strong>\u00a0Mastermind toys with the Hellions.<\/em><\/p>\n

He implies to them that he might have been manipulating them as far back as issue #1, and generally messes with their minds until they all fall unconscious.<\/p>\n

PAGES 21-22.<\/strong> Arcade emerges as the villain.<\/em><\/p>\n

Arcade<\/strong> is the X-Men’s long-time comic relief villain, who builds ridiculously elaborate theme park styled deathtraps and then captures superheroes just to test them. In theory he’s an assassin for hire, but even the Official Handbook has felt constrained to point out that his schemes are so ludicrously and pointlessly expensive that he can’t possibly be covering his costs at whatever he’s charging. He was last seen working with Kraven the Hunter in Nick Spencer’s\u00a0Amazing Spider-Man.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Arcade’s main interest is in absurdist sadistic torture games, though he’ll also work as a hired gun for any other villains who don’t mind their instructions being fulfilled in an absurdist fashion. While he has been known to cross paths with A-list villains like Doctor Doom, he’s not a character of any grand ambitions, and it’s far from obvious why he would be interested in picking a fight with a still-just-about-an-A-lister like Mister Sinister.<\/p>\n

Arcade’s unnamed assistant is presumably his regular current sidekick\u00a0Miss Coriander<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

PAGE 23.<\/strong> Data page with the usual quotation from Nightcrawler. Mastermind has generally been in the category of authoring his own demise – for a character with very powerful (if highly specific) psychic abilities, he’s really achieved very little over the years.<\/p>\n

PAGE 24.<\/strong> Trailers. The Krakoan reads NEXT: ARCADE GAMES.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition. HELLIONS #9 “Funny Games: Level 1” by Zeb Wells, Stephen Segovia & David Curiel COVER \/ PAGE 1: Mastermind holds up a “missing” poster of Mister Sinister, who is holding up a “missing” post of Mastermind, who is holding… you get […]<\/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":[31,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-annotations","category-x-axis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6346","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=6346"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6348,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6346\/revisions\/6348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}