My Quest to Read All X-Men Related Comics in Order from Beginning to Present time

[Seedz]

Uncanny X-Men #372 & X-Men v2 #92
This begins a mini-event called The Shattering:

In the early hours, Charles Xavier sets the alarms going, forcing the X-Men to gather in the Danger Room. He chastises them on their slow response. A training session begins which lasts for several hours, during which Charles watches, as if he’s looking for something out of the ordinary. Wolverine shows unusual signs of fatigue, whilst Marrow appears to have much greater control over her abilities than before they went to the Skrull homeworld. He tries to get Marrow to retract her bones inside her body, but she struggles to do so due to the enormous pain it causes. Gambit jumps in and argues with Charles about his teaching methods. Charles is abrupt with him and tells him that they are free to leave at any time. Kitty is the next to be tested, and she fails what Charles thinks is a simple task. He dismisses the team and retires to his study and Storm joins him. Kitty, like Remy, questions whether her being at the institute is altogether a good thing. Ororo eventually exits the study and tells Kurt that they need to contact Jean Grey. She and Jean Grey visit Xavier, and with the exception of Storm, the rest of the X-Men are banned from seeing him. Xavier’s erratic behavior, however, takes its toll and an exasperated Gambit is the first to depart. Xavier finally appears before the team and expresses his utmost disappointment, asserting that his students have failed him and asking them all to leave and stay gone. Rogue, Shadowcat and Nightcrawler depart together, intent on vacationing, whereas Colossus and Marrow head for Boston.

In space, Bishop asks Deathbird why it’s taking so long to get back to Earth. She makes up a story for him, before they come across a human-shaped planet that contains fossilized Homo superior D.N.A. On this planet, Deathbird neutralizes Bishop for reasons unknown. Bishop later wakes up in what appears to be the Nevada desert.

Meanwhile, Nina is teleported away from Renee Majcomb by the other Mannites.

Mannites have teleported Nina into their hideaway, hoping she can help them with the latest of their kind, a baby called Beautiful Dreamer. The baby has been unable to wake up, after discerning an impending evil with his powers. Nina indeed senses something evil when she touches the baby and decides to enlist Xavier’s aid. However, after she finds herself unable to telepathically contact Xavier, since the Professor has raised a protective wall around his mind, Nina’s psychic form contacts Wolverine, Cyclops and Phoenix instead, begging for their help. They agree to do it as the new X-Men!

 

[Seedz]

All of the Characters in the above story basically split up now so:
Gambit follows up in Gambit v3 #8-9
Colossus and Marrow are followed up in Uncanny #373-374
Rogue, Kitty & Nightcrawler vacation followed up in X-Men v2 #93-94
Scott, Jean and Wolverine followed up in Astonishing X-Men #1-3

Gambit v3 #8-9

Gambit breaks into the X-Mansion and discovers that the professor has reason to mistrust at least one member. Remy decides to help in figuring out who might betrray the team, but for that needs to retrieve something from his past. The New Son has Gambit transported to his palace, and warns about Apocalypse’s machinations. The upcoming confrontation between him and the X-Men would be a historic key event. Back in reality, Remy visits Claire De Luc in Arizona and through her gets in contact with Scalphunter of the Marauders. Gambit needs him to find one of Sinister‘s bases, but Sinister has cloned a failsafe into his Marauders that kills them if they turn against him. The only one who could help would be Sabretooth, who is still the original and not a clone. Gambit departs to the Andes with the Courier, where they meet a cult of worshippers; their God of Hunt is none other than Sabretooth, who apparently is in bad shape as he is on the brink of dying.

They decide to help each other. Sabretooth will point the way to Sinister’s base, from which Gambit needs a certain object, and in exchange they will force Sinister to jumpstart Creed’s healing factor. Inside the base they are attacked by clones of the Marauders. They shoot the Courier in the head, but he survives, having the mutant ability of controlling every single cell in his body. Sinister shows up and wants to have Sabretooth in return for a device that will expose any traitor to the X-Men, but Gambit refuses. Instead he chops off one of Courier’s fingers for Sinister to study, but after leaving Courier mentally kills the cells of his finger and grows another one.

Uncanny X-Men #373-374
Piotr and Marrow are at a hotel in Massachusetts when Marrow dreams of her time on the Hill, fighting every day to reach Mikhail Rasputin’s citadel. She wakes up and Piotr explains that he wishes to take her to an art exhibition in Boston. She plays with an image-inducer to hide her true form, until she becomes so annoyed with her appearance that she concentrates hard enough for her bones to retract inside her skin. At the gallery she is chatted up by a young artist named Zone but, as she becomes more relaxed around him, Marrow’s bones emerge once more and this horrifies Zone. She runs to the bathroom where she switches on her image-inducer, angry that she has to use it. She then returns to Piotr’s side, only to be swept up in a portal created by Mikhail Rasputin. He takes them to his world where Marrow runs into the tunnels after who she thinks is Callisto. Mikhail then explains to his brother that, with his help, they can remake the world again with their sweet Illyana at their side. Piotr talks with his brother, and it soon becomes clear that Mikhail intends to make up for his sister’s death and those of the Morlocks by creating new life, which horrifies Piotr. He explains that even by creating new life, it doesn’t mean anything, as Illyana will be a soulless statue. Mikhail, however, tells him that Piotr himself will have the creative spark to give Illyana her real presence. Mikhail creates a facsimile of Illyana, but when Piotr will not help, Mikhail decides that he will be destroyed. As they fight, Marrow returns and argues with Mikhail about how he should recognize his part in her struggle in order to live with the guilt of the thousands that he killed. Mikhail begins to struggle with something inside of him, and somehow pushes out of himself a strange entity that swirls around them, comprised of dozens of tortured faces. Piotr realizes that this thing must have been in control of his brother for some time, and formed a symbiotic relationship with him.

Mikhail decides to return Piotr and Marrow to where they came from, but Piotr persuades him to come too, hoping the entity doesn’t follow. With his remaining power, Mikhail teleports them back to the Boston art gallery and falls unconscious.

Meanwhile, Deathbird brings the Living Monolith’s sarcophagus to the cultists and informs them that the age of the Monolith is upon them. However, she is then double crossed by Apocalypse and taken somewhere for conversion.

X-Men v2 #93-94
Rogue, Shadowcat and Nightcrawler travel to New York City, hoping to relax and have some fun. Kurt, however, feels like praying and heads to a church. There, he has an unexpected encounter with a frightened Polaris, who claims to be followed by someone. Nightcrawler spends the night in Polaris’ apartment, chattering with her, unaware that someone spies on Lorna, much like she suspected.

Meanwhile, Rogue and Kitty revel in a nightclub, until a man approaches Rogue… a man who turns out to be Mystique in disguise. Mystique leads them to one of her hideaways, where she reveals that, for the past few months she is being pursued, for reasons unknown, by a number of ninjas who work for Yakiba, the Japanese military. Rogue leaves the injured Mystique to rest and then goes to Mystique's apartment, where she is attacked not only by the ninjas but also by the Japanese mutant known as Sunfire.

Sunfire attacks her, acting on behalf of the Japanese military, considering Mystique is accused of murdering Japanese agents. Ultimately, Rogue convinces him that Mystique has been framed. The pair quickly locates the headquarters of the true culprits. Rogue and Sunfire storm into the warehouse and confront the X-Men’s old foes, Mesmero and Mastermind. The duo is unaware, however, that these two, as well as their soldiers, are actually Skrulls. Eventually, the Mesmero impostor decides to erase all evidence of their secret base and activates a self-destruction mechanism, annihilating himself and his accomplices. Rogue and Sunfire barely escape, thanks to a mysterious force field that propels them both out of harm's way.

In Mystique’s apartment in Manhattan, Mystique peacefully slumbers while Shadowcat snoops around, until she encounters an object hidden in a painting – a diary belonging to Destiny, Mystique’s long-deceased partner. The peculiar thing, though, is that Destiny left the diary there specifically for Kitty to discover one day. The book is full with ominous prophecies about the coming of the mysterious Twelve and Kitty later presents it to Rogue.

 

[Seedz]

Starting with the 3 issue series, Astonishing X-Men, the next few comics are a Prologue to the Twelve Arc.

Astonishing X-Men #1-3
At the Xavier Institute, Phoenix, Cyclops and Wolverine call upon the help of Archangel, Cable and X-Man. Then have been summoned on a mission to help them free Nina's friends, the Mannites, who are imprisoned at the former OZT HQ.

Months after Operation Zero Tolerance has been shut down by SHIELD, Bastion is held captive by his former mutated helpers and SHIELD who examine and test him. Then, an explosion takes place at the facility's perimeter wall. Within moments the base is silent as all are killed by someone simply named DEATH! The new group flies to the base and finds some of the Mannites, but are ambushed by the menace Death, who is out to kidnap the Mannites. They destroy the base and the team, along with Nina, get out safe. However, the other Mannites transport to a different location. Death does survive the attack, though...

The X-Men successfully land the Blackbird in one piece. Once they have landed, the X-Men split up, one team to help out Nina and the other to confront Death. Needing more information, Jean enters Nina's mind and learns through communication with the Mannites that Darco, one of their number, is beginning to "evolve". Using Nina, Jean's group travels to a town, where the populace is covered with a sticky, black goo, that is very much alive. Jean is able to telepathically calm Darco long enough for him to enter his natural chrysalis state. Jean tells the Mannites that Darco will stay in his coc00n until his new abilities fully develop.

Meanwhile, Cyclops' team searches for Death, but instead finds the severed head of Bastion, still very much alive. Suddenly, the airborne Archangel is ambushed by Death, and is instantly defeated.

As Cable and Cyclops battle Death, they receive a telepathic call from Jean. Having found the answer to the Mannites Changing, she tells them to come back. Cable notices Death listening, who then teleports away. Cable realizes that Death is tracking Jean's location through the telepathic link and now knows where Jean and the Mannites are. Too late to stop him, Cable helplessly watches Death fade from sight. Cyclops, Cable and Archangel race back to Jean inside the Blackbird to head Death off, oblivious of that fact that Death is clinging to the outside of the jet. On the Blackbird, Death defeats Cable and Archangel in combat and nearly succeeds in killing Cyclops, but X-Man and Jean use their telekinesis to help him escape. The Blackbird crashes, with Death still on it. The X-Men think he is defeated, but the Mannites know otherwise, as they can still "feel" him. Death appears again, still alive, and pulls Wolverine into the rubble and then turns his attention to the rest of the X-Men. The other X-Men fight back, but Death is to powerful for them and knocks everyone out. With Jean the only X-Man left, Death hesitates, causing Jean to sense something familiar. However, Death knocks her out and proceeds toward the Mannites. Wolverine emerges from the rubble and in a full berserker rage attempts to finish off Death for good. However, Death is stronger than Wolverine. He pulls out his sword and plunges it into Wolverine's stomach, killing him. Before the X-Men can react or wonder what to do, Darco comes out of the coc00n, now fully evolved. The Mannites combine their powers with that of Draco's and teleport Death away. As he vanishes, Death tells them that this is only the beginning. With Death gone, Nina thanks the X-Men for their assist and then leaves with the Mannites as they teleport themselves away. Overpowered by sadness at the loss of Wolverine, the X-Men realize that their lives will never be the same again.

 

[Seedz]

The Twelve Prologue Cont.

Uncanny X-Men #375
Returning from Boston, Piotr and Marrow are asked to return to the mansion immediately. Kitty, Kurt and Rogue are also given the same order and, as Professor Xavier speaks with two members of X-Force, Storm receives a similar call. Once they are all back at the mansion, they discover Wolverine lying dead in the medilab. Charles lays the blame at Scott’s feet, and wants to continue the debriefing in the command center, but Archangel opts to depart. He wants to ensure Psylocke is okay, now she has lost some of her powers. The rest follow Charles to the command center, where he immediately becomes involved in a shouting match with Cyclops. Scott blames him for losing it; telling him that there are two factions in the room, one of which will blindly follow him and his dream, and the other which can think for themselves. Charles accuses Jean Grey of controlling Scott’s mind. He attacks her mentally, and Cyclops unleashes an optic blast at his old mentor. Kitty manages to phase the professor, but the blast hits Storm hard. Jean then attacks Charles in response and, before long, the two factions are separated as the walls come down between them. Both teams run through a few theories as to why this is happening. They mention Marrow and her Skrull technology, Piotr’s defection to the Acolytes and Cable’s battle with his techno-virus amongst other things. Cable smashes through the barricade and attacks Jean - killing Marrow, who comes to her defense. He then takes down Rogue also. Nate, meanwhile, blasts Colossus and then vaporizes Nightcrawler, before Piotr kills Nate with a desperate final attempt at stopping him. Kitty is horrified, as is Gambit, and they hold their respective loved ones as they breathe their final breaths. They then see images of those they think are responsible - Onslaught in Kitty’s case, and Dark Phoenix in Remy’s. As they fight back, everything suddenly reverts to how it was before all this fighting began. Charles apologizes to the X-Men, but explains that, in order to discover who had infiltrated the team, he had to put them through hell recently. Everyone present has passed his tests and appear to be who they say they are. Rogue asks who, in that case, is responsible. Charles takes them to the medilab where Hank explains that the Wolverine on the bed is an impostor. He injects him with a liquid that Remy brought back with him and Wolverine turns into a Skrull.

Everyone is shocked, and Charles explains that he must have switched with the real Wolverine when they returned to Earth aboard the Skrull craft recently. With the mystery over, Storm asks the obvious question. If this isn’t Logan, where is he? Meanwhile, Archangel follows a small craft back to his estate where he is confronted by some unknown soldiers and a doppelganger of himself. Warren is struggling against the man, but Psylocke appears and takes him out. They then fly to safety, escaping their assailants. They return to the mansion and Banshee and Jubilee arrive as well, to be debriefed.

X-Menv2 #95
At the mansion, the X-Men are still coping with the shock of discovering that the recently murdered Wolverine was actually a Skrull. Meanwhile, a cadre of Skrulls continues spying on Polaris, acting on behalf of their mysterious ally, who has clarified that Lorna is one of the Twelve and should not be harmed. However, the Skrull commander arrogantly abducts Lorna and brings her to their headquarters, hoping to snatch a reward from his ally, in exchange for delivering Polaris to him. To his surprise, ‘Polaris’ is revealed to be Cyclops in disguise. The X-Men were aware of the Skrulls’ espionage of Lorna and their plan of using Polaris as bait now leads the entire team to the Skrulls’ base. In the ensuing battle, Cyclops and Phoenix are also revealed to be among the Twelve, while the Skrull known as Fiz slips away, harboring serious doubts that the X-Men are truly mortal enemies of his race. As the fight progresses, Death, Apocalypse’s newest horseman, suddenly appears and blows up the entire base. The X-Men succeed in evacuating the Skrulls’ base and then confront Death, shattering his mask and revealing… Wolverine himself! Visibly brainwashed and with no connection to his previous life, Wolverine claims he now only lives to serve his master, Apocalypse, before he flees through a teleportation device, much to the X-Men’s shock!

Gambit v3 #10
A mysterious data containing jewel, called the Momentary Princess, pops up in Leipzig in Germany for a few minutes every 27 / 29 years. In World War I, Baron von Strucker faces the gem and upon touching it sees his future self becoming leader of Hydra. He watches with awe and fails to grab the Princess before it fades away. With Candra’s help Strucker again tries to reach the jewel in World War II, but Jean Luc LeBeau and Nick Fury’s Howling Commandos get there faster. Candra offers Jean Luc to end the Guild pact in exchange for the gem, but he knows that this would give Hitler the means to end the war, and so he sends it into the timestream again. In the present, Gambit, Sekmet Conoway and Strucker’s children Fenris fight over the stone, but it disappears again before anyone gets hold of it. In the years 2028 Gambit and Rogue, now married, finally get hold of the Princess. In 2084, the Witness sends the Momentary Princess into the past, knowing that many people, including himself, will try to get it. The Courier takes Quiet Bill to the New Son’s citadel. Fontanelle dreamprobes Archangel, who holds Gambit responsible for the loss of his wings during the Mutant Massacre.

Wolverine v2 #145
After the X-Men learn that the man they thought was Wolverine was nothing more than a Skrull imposter, it is learned how it occurred. After their mission to a training ground for the Skrulls in space, Wolverine was abducted by the Skrulls and taken to their master. There, he pitted Sabretooth and Wolverine against each other for the right to become the new Horseman Death. Even though Wolverine is facing a larger, stronger opponent with his bone claws versus an adamantium skeleton, Wolverine determines that Sabretooth would be a merciless killer while he could beat the programming. After winning, he is again infused with the adamantium taken from Sabretooth.

In the present, Death (in truth Wolverine), takes on the Incredible Hulk. It is a monumental battle and, near the end, has a chance to kill the green monster. However, he hesitates and the Hulk is able to punch his foe and rushes off.

Once the Hulk departs, Apocalypse teleports Death up to his location and informs him of his new era – the Age of Apocalypse!

 

[Soundwave]

For the love of God, I hope you skip the Chuck Austen run

 

[Seedz]

For the love of God, I hope you skip the Chuck Austen run

What didn't you like about it?

 

[Soundwave]

What didn't you like about it?

This sums it up somewhat:

Chuck Austen’s X-Men | Comicdom Wrecks!

Not my words, but having read most of those issues, I echo the sentiment

 

[Seedz]

X-Men vs. Apocalypse: The Twelve!!!

Uncanny X-Men #376
Scott wants to quit the X-Men and start a family but there never seems to be a good time. Gambit tries to work out some relationship issues with Rogue. Neither gets accomplished when Xavier summons them all to the Briefing Room. They go over the contents of Destiny’s diary. During this discussion the Professor discovers a mutant Skrull by the name of Fiz. Chaos ensues, but the problem is resolved quickly as Fiz is friendly. He warns the team of the plans of the Skrulls and that something’s going on with “the Twelve”. Professor has the Twelve listed in Destiny’s diary and tells everyone who they are. The last name on that list is Magneto. In Egypt an ancient cult resurrects the living Monolith with help from Havok's visor. Sinister is there as well and puts him under his control. He is vital to his mission.

Cable v2 #75
Cable has been captured in Apocalypse’s lair in Egypt. Him and Apocalypse debate over who’s way of life is correct: strongest survive or peaceful coexistence. Apocalypse eventually leaves the captive Cable and tells him he’s about to be tested. In comes Wolverine/Death and picks up Cable’s psimitar. Cable forces it to give off a concussive blast, freeing himself and knocking Wolverine away. They fight for a long time. Cable tries to break Wolvie free of Apocalypse’s control. Eventually, Cable is able to knock Wolverine into a deep shaft.

Apocalypse comes in and fights with Cable.

They battle for a while until Wolverine comes back, this time with Caliban. He has his fist to Caliban’s throat. He tells Cable to give up or he’ll kill Caliban. Cable reluctantly gives and up and Apocalypse chains him back up. As Apocalypse leaves, Cable wonders if he’ll ever get another chance to stop Apocalypse.

X-Man #59-60
Nate Grey is at the Fantastic Four’s headquarters undergoing some tests in simulated combat. After it’s all over, Reed Richards runs some analysis on the results. He’s searching for a way to identify the other AOA mutants that survived the AOA reality. Nate wants to go after them and prevent them from ruining this world. He spends the rest of the day socializing with Johnny Storm and Franklin Richards. All of a sudden Nate gets the feeling he should leave, says his goodbyes and flies away. Previously, during Nate and Reed’s discussion, a brown oblong creature stole some files on Nate. He returned them to Egypt to show Apocalypse. He is very pleased with Nate and sends one of his horsemen to capture him. As Nate is flying over New York City, Caliban appears mid-air and manages to snag him and bring him through the teleportation disc. Caliban’s new claim to fame is Pestilence, horseman of Apocalypse.

Nate finds himself in New York City, surrounded by Coldsnap-9 gas. All around him are dead bodies, some super heroes. He has no idea what’s happened. He flies around and sees a reflection of himself. He looks like Caliban. He runs into Spider-Man, only he’s been turned into a vampire. He eventually escapes Spidey’s group of vampires only to run into a battle between the X-Men and Gene Nation. It seems to Nate that everything bad that’s happened is actually something that he prevented from happening in earlier adventures. Nate tries to fight Gene Nation, but he can’t physically hit anyone. Nobody can even see him. During the fight most of the X-Men are killed. Nate realizes that he can still use his telekinesis and single handedly takes out the remaining Gene Nation members. Soon after, he wakes from his dream and finds himself inside an underground lair with Caliban in front of him. At the end he finds out that his captor is Apocalypse and what he wants with him.

X-Men v2 #96
Xavier heads out to recruit Magneto. After a heated discussion, Magneto agrees to help him. Back at the institute, the X-leaders are unsure whether Fiz is to be trusted. Jean tries to contact Iceman through Cerebro, but only manages to watch him get captured by Deathbird, the Horseman of War. Wolverine, the Horseman of Death teleports into the mansion. He succeeds in ‘porting Mikhail back to Egypt, but is unable to do it himself. He fights the X-Men, but ends up running away into the sewers. Part of the team is assigned to go after Wolverine, while the rest head to Egypt to rescue their friends. In Japan, Ahab, the Horseman of Famine, captures Sunfire. In the end, we see Apocalypse with all the captured mutants behind him. He believes the Age of Apocalypse will soon be here.

Wolverine v2 #146-147
In the Morlock tunnels underneath the X-Mansion, Archangel, Kitty Pryde, Jubilee and Nightcrawler search for their misguided comrade, Wolverine. With support from Psylocke, the X-Men attempt at taking down Wolverine, first with force but then via mental means. Kitty is able to have some success but, unfortunately, not completely after Death stabs her in the foot. It isn’t until Jubilee approaches Logan that she, Nightcrawler and then Psylocke are able to free Logan from his mental conditioning. Thinking they have won and their ordeal is over, the X-Men are shocked to see Warren Worthington in severe pain and exclaiming that the light never dies in monsters. As Logan follows Warren through the streets of New York and tries to stop him, Psylocke attempts to reach both of them through the use of Cerebro, even though she is jeopardizing releasing Shadow King from the prison in her mind. Once he gets away from Logan, Warren makes his way to a hospital and cures a young girl as Logan looks on. Seeing this, Logan realizes where Warren is going next – to see Abraham Kieros, Apocalypse’s former Horseman War. There, Logan stops Warren from reaching Abraham and begins to battle him. In her mind, Betsy is told by the Shadow King that he can stop this if she lets him. Betsy starts to go towards him but is stopped by Warren who tells her to stop. After that encounter, Betsy turns off Cerebro and lets Warren do what he needs to. At the hospital, Warren convinces Logan to make the right decision. When he does, Warren goes into Abraham’s room and bathes him in the light that surrounds him, healing Abraham from his debilitating condition, but losing his new wings in the process. The next day, Warren informs Logan that he’s going to use his wealth and power to help people.

 

[Seedz]

X-Men vs Apocalypse: The Twelve CONT.

Uncanny X-Men #377
The X-Men, including Magneto and Fiz, make their way to Egypt to rescue their friends. Right away they are hit with an earthquake that damages their jets. A large group of Skrulls and cultists come out of nowhere and engage them in battle. A lot of the Skrulls change their image to appear like X-Men allies. One by one, the Twelve are teleported away by either Skrulls or Horsemen. They all end up in Apocalypse’s chamber. Bishop is retrieved from an alternate timeline and brought to the present. He ends up being the final member of the Twelve caught. Once Apocalypse has everyone he needs, the Skrulls and cultists become more fierce with the remaining X-Men above. Apocalypse reveals his plan to everyone and is ready to initiate it. He wants to bundle the Twelve’s energies through the Living Monolith and send them into Nate Grey, who shall become his new host body. Meanwhile back at the mansion, someone is stealing computer files on all the X-Men from their own mainframe. Shadowcat traces the hacker, who is nearby. The teams heads out to find this person.

Cable #76
Cable’s girlfriend is worried about him. He’s disappeared and she doesn’t know where. Irene Merryweather has no idea either, but she has a feeling it has something to do with the end of the world. In Egypt, the Twelve are all assembled in the null orbs. Cable gets the low down from everyone there. Suddenly, him and Cyclops are transported to the psionic plane. They find themselves in Cable’s future. They’re in a graveyard filled with people who died fighting to stop Apocalypse. Nathan talks about his past with Aliya and what it was like growing up after him and Jean left to go back to the present. They hug and the snow starts falling. Scott disappears and Cable finds himself in Alaska where he lived as an infant. Madelyne Pryor is there and he finds out she’s responsible for pulling him and Scott to the psionic plane. She knows what’s going on and wants him to stay there with him in safety. He tells her that’s not going to happen. He realizes as long as he’s still alive he has a chance of stopping Apocalypse. She reluctantly sends them back to their bodies. They find themselves back in the chamber. Apocalypse is there and tells them the chamber is almost ready for his needs. He will soon rise to ultimate power.

X-Menv2 #97
The X-Men above are still fighting the Skrulls and cultists. They are severely outnumbered. The mutant Skrulls are thrown into the fray and they attack Fiz. Fiz manages to get through to one of them and eventually all of the mutant Skrulls switch sides and fight along the X-Men. After the tides have turned, Fiz tells the X-Men to go after their friends. Inside the temple, the Monolith receives so much energy that he bursts out of his null orb and grows extremely large. He breaks the rest of the Twelve free as he unleashes some of his power.

Cyclops, Phoenix, Xavier and Cable head out to look for Apocalypse while the rest try to stop the Monolith. The Horsemen try to prevent anyone from going after Apocalypse, but Mikhail teleports them away along with himself.

Nothing is stopping the Monolith, so Bishop decides to absorb all of his energies. He succeeds and is sent away by the temporal energies. The original search party finds Apocalypse about to bond to the body of Nate Grey. They try to interfere, but Apocalypse is too strong now and easily keeps them at bay. Cyke can think of only one thing to do and that’s to knock Nate out of the machine and take his place. The rest of the X-Men enter just in time to see the horrifying end result.

 

[Seedz]

Ages of Apocalypse Arc

Uncanny X-Men #278
Jean Grey arrives at Xavier’s School For Gifted Youngsters for the first time. She’s greeted by Professor Charles Xavier and his students: Beast, Gambit, Iceman and Storm. The whole time Jean knows something is not right. Later on Asteroid M, Magneto and his Brotherhood (Polaris, Rogue, Marrow & Sunfire) discuss their future plans. Sunfire comes in and reports a mutant presence on Earth that they should check out. Back with the X-Men, Cerebro alerts them to a mutant presence nearby. The team heads out to a circus and finds an extremely strong metallic man. While they try to convince him to join the X-Men, Magneto and his Brotherhood show up. Before they can battle, a stranger nearby yells out to Jean. It’s Scott, but after not too long he turns into Cyclopalypse.

Everyone attacks him and they start to realize that this reality isn’t right. They start remembering everything that actually happened. Cyclopalypse disappears from the battle and everything returns to normal. They find themselves back in the chamber of the Twelve. Phoenix tries to convince them that Scott is still alive, but Professor X doesn’t believe her. She storms off in anger.

Cable #77
In some alternate reality, Cable is the leader of an opposition group based in Egypt. His enemy, the “Pharaoh”, has conquered many lands and controls almost half the Earth. On this day, Cable defeats a small band of his army. After discussing their next move with his girlfriend Aliya and Professor X, hundreds of reinforcements arrive. They decide to attack right away. Cable and Aliya scout out the temple where the enemy is located. Cable goes over the attack plan with his lover. He also asks her if she feels like this whole thing isn’t right. Something is bothering him about the whole situation. A few of them, Cable, Storm, Sunfire, Magneto and Aliya make it to the Pharaoh’s room. It turns out the Living Monolith has been the one wreaking havoc. Cyclopalypse has been guiding him the whole time.

He engages them in battle tricking them into using their powers. Cable suddenly realizes what’s going on and stops everyone, even though it means sacrificing his true love’s existence. Next he finds himself back in the chamber of the Twelve.

Wolverine v2 #148
In the Ages of Apocalypse, Wolverine, Hulk, Spiderman and the Ghost Rider are the new Fantastic Four. As they attempt to place the Harpy, Betty Banner and the Hulk’s wife, into the Negative Zone, Blastaar and Annihilus emerge and a brief tussle ensues. After some time, the Fantastic Four emerge victorious. With the threat neutralized, the members of the Fantastic Four decide to take in some downtime. During such, Ghost Rider is kidnapped unbeknownst to his teammates. After discovering that President Kelly has been assassinated by Dr. Doom, the remaining three members travel to the White House. Once there, they are attacked by Doombots and then Dr. Doom himself. During the battle they discover that Doom isn’t really Doom but a replica created by Arnim Zola. Freeing Ghost Rider and damaging Zola, the Fantastic Four escapes right before a bomb explodes, destroying the White House. Once outside, they discover that Graydon Creed has been elected president, much to their collective dismay.

X-Men Unlimited #26
Several years in a future, the X-Men are on Earth’s moon fighting a battle against the Shi’ar Empire. The Shi’ar want to take over the Earth. Hundreds outnumber the X-Men. After battling for a short while, all four of Apocalypse’s Horsemen show up. Ahab and Caliban stumble upon the infirmary while Deathbird and Eric the Red attack the standing X-Men. The people in the infirmary are about to buy the farm when Excalibur shows up. Eventually everyone is pushed back into the infirmary area. The enemy surrounds the X-Men and Excalibur. Suddenly, Professor X and a horde of Skrulls drop in from space. Xavier attacks Deathbird and Wolverine skewers Eric the Red. After Ahab shoots Kitty, Caliban attacks him. Deathbird recovers and puts down Caliban’s insurrection. With things looking bleak, Jean with the aid of Mastermind, pulls a daring stunt and they create the illusion of Dark Phoenix returning. It works and all of the Shi’ar flee. Deathbird decides with two Horsemen out that they should retreat as well. The X-Men and Excalibur are left alone knowing that there will be many more battles like this to come.

X-Men v2 98
The X-Men are now in the future 2099. An alien teacher by the name of E’tha goes over a brief history of the X-Men with her class and tells of all the good they’ve done in the universe. The students are distracted by a ship’s arrival. Onboard are Professor X, Storm and Colossus. Magneto shows up with his Brotherhood and we find out that Xavier is dying. We also find out that Phoenix and Charles haven’t been close ever since Cyclops sacrificed his life to stop Apocalypse. They are alerted to a machine that could possible save Charles’ life. It only requires their mutant energies to activate it. After starting up the machine, Cyclopalypse reveals himself. They have energized him once again. He turns back time to when the whole thing first began attempting to take their entire life energies. During the process the circuit explodes and Jean thinks it was Cyclops’ doing. However, nobody believes her. Cable attempts to kill Cyclopalypse, but Jean stops him, allowing Cyclopalypse and the Monolith to teleport to safety. The X-Men have saved the world once again. Back at the mansion, Professor mulls the recent events over in his head. He wonders if Jean and him will ever be close again. In the end, Jean leaves the mansion once more.

Uncanny X-Men Annual 1999
Jake and Sophia, a mutant/human couple in Genosha, face bigotry. Magneto unexpectedly enters and defends their love, causing the citizens to change their mind. Meanwhile, Wolverine, Archangel, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, and Jubilee receive a distress signal from Genosha while on their way to Egypt. They land and meet Madrox, who called for help after Magneto kidnapped Forge. Wolverine frees Forge from captivity and buys him the time he needs to reverse the effects of the mind-control device that’s forcing Genosha into tranquility. As the X-Men battle Magneto, he drops the charade and reveals himself as Exodus. Exodus claims that he’s renounced all prejudice and merely wanted to bring peace to Genosha. When the public’s free will returns, Jake and Sophia are targeted again and murdered.

 

[Seedz]

These next 4 issues are not too important to continuity but serve as some background info on Deadpool.

Deadpool #34-37
Wade wakes up and finds himself trapped in a holding tank. A scientist explains that Wade doesn’t have to be afraid because he isn’t dying, but his body does seem to be changing into… snot. As the scientist researches the problem, Wade tells him a story about the time he was still working for the Kingpin, but that some other guy took down his victim. That other guy turned out to be Bullseye, who later defeated Wade in a battle and took over his job. Wade still thinks that none of this is actually happening, but the scientist claims otherwise. He can really confirm that Wade isn’t dying, since he made sure of that. He shows Wade what he means, as… he also has Death captured!

Deadpool desperately tries to escape from his holding tank to rescue a captured Death, but fails and discovers that his body can somehow completely turn into snot. Next he remembers a time before he started working for the Kingpin, after he had escaped from the Weapon X Program about a month or two. He tried to earn a living by becoming a merc and was hired to kill a nun who was working for the mob but had betrayed them. Filled with life questions, Wade was approached by a mysterious man who hired Wade to join his team. Wade decided to let the nun live and accepted the invitation. But, he went to the wrong meeting house and instead was hired to become a substitute for the Hobgoblin! After realizing he made a mistake, Wade got again contacted by the mysterious benefactor, who revealed himself to be the Wizard. After getting a proper introduction course, Wade, alongside with the Constrictor and the Taskmaster, joined the Wizard’s new team of Frightful Four. They broke into the Baxter Building, and attacked the Thing, who was home alone with Franklin. Though thanks to Franklin’s cunningness and the Thing’s powerful muscles, the team was soon defeated and Wade decided to run away from the Frightful Four before the rest of the Fantastic Four got home to take them out. After telling this story, Wade escapes from his holding tank and is ready to kill the scientist.

Wade calms down and the scientist gives Wade a containment suit, which he has to wear an hour a day in order for his body to stay solid. Wade reveals that, while fighting Bullseye over the same job at Kingpin’s office, he actually chose to save some people from danger. The Kingpin couldn’t have that in a mercenary, so he chose to fire Wade for it, giving the job to Bullseye. Wade also remembers about his bad childhood and abusive mother. Eventually, he recalls the time being a Weapon X reject, where he beat cancer but lost his skin but also gained his healing factor. After escaping, Wade wanted some answers and thought it would be best to go find his father, whom he has never truly known. Upon returning home, Wade was reunited with his mother but killed her. Deadpool manages to free Death from her holding tank and together they escape. However, while escaping, Wade discovers that they are actually trapped on the moon. The scientist catches up with them, and decides to reveal his true face. He is in fact Loki in disguise, who claims to be Deadpool’s father?!

Wade isn’t pleased that Loki still holds his beloved Death a prisoner. Loki promises he’ll release her after Wade performs a mission for him. Wade agrees, so Loki transports him to the city of Manhattan. There, Wade witnesses Thor rescuing some people out of a burning building. But, thanks to Loki’s interferences, things turn worse when the building collapses. Thor drops his hammer and fails to find it. Wade does find the hammer, and earns the power of Thor! Nearby the real Thor’s powers are stripped away from him and he becomes mortal, changing back into Jake Olson. While Wade enjoys his new powers, Jake desperately tries to follow him and get his back. Jake gets knocked out by Loki, who traps his brother in his lab. He releases Death, who now only has eyes for Jake, thinking he’s dying. Wade doesn’t like Death not noticing him and tricks Loki into confessing he isn’t his father. They fight, with Loki casting a curse on Wade and teleporting into safety. Wade tries to give Jake his hammer back, but something is still wrong. They all head back towards Earth, where Jake finds the real Mjolnir, revealing that Loki only gave Wade a fake one. He transforms back into Thor and wants to finish off Death. Deadpool of course doesn’t allow that and he and Thor fight. Thor knocks him out. Wade wakes up a few moments later, with both Thor and Death gone. He feels like none of this really happened. He returns back home, where he makes a startling discovery: Loki’s curse restored his face!

 

[Seedz]

X-Force #94-100 & X-Force Annual 1999
After recieving a package from Genosha, the team travels there. Fending off magistrate and mutate alike, X-Force are soon joined by the man who sent Cannonball the package - Pete Wisdom. Wisdom takes X-Force to a curio shop, filled with boxes that contain the imprints of other people’s memories. Cannonball recounts the memory he received and asks Wisdom to explain it. Wisdom tells him he will provide another piece to the puzzle provided Cannonball helps him out. He then reveals that a satellite crashed into Hammer Bay six months ago, and was taken into custody just before Magneto assumed power, and it is vitally important X-Force help him retrieve the satellite before Magneto realizes what he is in possession of. Wisdom then introduces X-Force to Delphi, explaining that she is the creator of the memory boxes and offers X-Force special skills they will need in Genosha, in return for one memory from each of them. Delphi then gives X-Force the memories of various Genoshans with important skills that will be useful on their mission. Elsewhere on Genosha, Jenny Ransome meets with Quicksilver, and after discussing Magneto, Jenny informs Quicksilver that X-Force are on the island. Quicksilver finds X-Force and confronts them, telling them they are in danger being here, but Cannonball takes Quicksilver down.

He Moonstar, Meltdown, Proudstar and Wisdom enter the cybernetics lab, a place where Wisdom finds what he has been looking for - the brain of his former associate, Archie. This triggers the cyborgs in the lab to wake though, and outside, Magneto flies across Genosha. Wisdom recounts what happened to leave Archie as simply a brain, before Magneto arrives on scene. Meanwhile, Domino and Bedlam arrive at the power plant and discuss Bedlam’s life, before Domino catches him taking drugs - which Bedlam assures her are electro-neural inhibitors, which prevent him from going insane if he uses his powers. X-Force battles Magneto, and eventually Proudstar escapes with the brain. Quicksilver catches up to Proudstar, who quickly explains the situation. Moonstar takes Magneto down, but for some reason loses control over her power. This forces Cannonball to bring plan “B” to the front, and Bedlam shuts down the power plant, plunging Genosha into darkness. This enables the magistrates to attack the capital armory, where Amelia Voght and the Acolytes are barely managing to hold them back. This forces Magneto’s hand - either he squabbles with X-Force, letting the magistrates gain the upper hand, or he lets X-Force leave with the brain and puts a stop to the magistrates. He choses the latter, and X-Force make it to a boat where they leave Genosha, with Quicksilver’s blessing. Wisdom loads the brain into an artificial body, effectively “resurrecting” his friend. Cannonball is finally given what he wanted - the second part of the mysterious memory of his past - this time he sees his father and uncle seemingly involved in a murder!

Cannonball breaks his uncle Lucas out of prison, determined to find out more about the mysterious memory recently uncovered. He reveals how a simple truck robbery became something entirely different. After his partner got shot, Lucas looked into the truck and saw that what they were delivering was a strange golem which is why he asked his brother, Cannonball's father, for help. Ty agreed, both unaware that the young Sam hid in the truck. They met with the mysterious Finn, unaware Sam was spying into the facility and saw several children in cages and being experimented on. Finn revealed that the golem is a Celestial device, and can help them create a new species who will survive the coming age of catastrophe. Lucas stole a gun from one of Finn's men, disturbing the process that they were involved in with the golem, but creating a distraction so that he, Ty and Sam could escape while the golem followed them. The mysterious Sledge then arrived, and battled the golem, destroying it.
Ty and Lucas then buried Finn and his men, who were killed by the golem, and Sledge used a memory-wiping device to erase that memory from Sam and the other children.

X-Force arrives at Sledge’s junkyard where Ulysses Dragonblood and Arcadia Deville make their presence known, and Acradia reveals to Moonstar that she has been haunted by dreams of a giant Demon Bear. Sledge and Ulysses reveal to X-Force information about the Damocles Foundation, which was formed by disillusioned Eternals, Deviants and humans who wanted to create and control the next species on this planet.

Meltdown gives Bedlam some words of encouragement, unaware that she is being watched by the Triune Understanding, who believe she could serve them well. Moonstar is doing some tai chi with Jennifer Kale, and they discuss her new powers, before Moonstar suddenly sees the Demon Bear.

Meanwhile, in Sao Paulo, a very bored Sunspot ignores the girl clinging to him as he thinks about X-Force, before noticing a woman being harassed into an elevator by two men. Sunspot intervenes, only to discover that the men are some sort of demons - and that the woman is actually not defenceless at all - she’s Selene, and after turning the demons to stone, she tells Sunspot that she has been looking for him, and wants to make him an offer. Selene reveals to Sunspot that she has captured the SHIELD agent from the Reignfire debacle in Las Vegas, and he reveals that he is working for Damocles Foundation. Meanwhile, Odysseus Indigo, Dr Joshua and Dr Chandra arrive in Brazil, with the remains of Project Nineteen - Reignfire! Selene and Sunspot arrive in Brazil and she reveals to him the reason they need to stop the Damocles is because they are preparing to merge the Celestial golem with the remains of Project Nineteen in an attempt to rewrite the genetic template of future generations. They are soon confronted by the Sword team, and are captured. Selene reveals to Sunspot that she would like him to join her new Hellfire Club.

X-Force, Sledge, Arcadia and Ulysses arrive at Indigo’s base after learning that Sunspot is there with Selene. Tensions arise between Sunspot and his former teammates, while X-Force are not happy about seeing Selene. Sunspot reveals that Indigo plans to use Reignfire, and the mutants break into the lab, but too late as the remains of Reignfire are infused into the Celestial golem. Ulysses and Odysseus - brothers - battle.

While Selene gets the upper hand in taking control of Reignfire and the golem. She reverts the members of Sword to primitive creatures, and a combined attack of quantum energies from Moonstar and Arcadia manage to destroy Reignfire and the golem - angering Selene - who lashes out at X-Force.

 

[Seedz]

X-Force Continued

Sunspot wakes to find himself in an illusion cast by Selene where he is a celebrated hero. Selene reveals herself, impressed that Sunspot saw through her illusion, she informs him that she wants him to join the Hellfire Club, and casts him into another illusion, where he is an advisor to the President on mutant affairs. Sunspot is still not interested, and flies away. Selene’s associate - Blackheart - reveals himself and tells Selene that if she wants Sunspot, she will have to use the girl. Sunspot frees the rest of X-Force from their illusions. Moonstar is being held in stasis by Blackheart - until Hela arrives, pointing out that Moonstar is under her protection and that no harm shall befall her. Blackheart is no match for Hela and forced to release Moonstar. Moonstar then meets up with her teammates and uses her quantum powers to make the Hellfire guards disappear, before announcing Selene is working with Blackheart. Selene and Blackheart appear, revealing that Juliana Sandoval is in their possession, explaining that when she was shot by the Hellfire Club all those years ago she was not meant to die. Sunspot is amazed to see her, and told that they can give Juliana a second lease on life if he joins the Hellfire Club. X-Force are free to leave the Hellfire Club and inside Susnpot asks Selene to keep up her end of the bargain. Selene does, revealing that in a Baltimore hospital a young woman was brought into the emergency room suffering from a massive cerebral aneurysm, and that her soul has passed on - and that Juliana’s soul is now entering her new body. Juliana rises and calls out to Sunspot, while Selene tells him that eventually she will forget that she was ever a girl named Juliana Sandoval, but that is the price you pay for a second chance. Sunspot is more interested in the fact that he can do more damage to the Hellfire Club as a member, than he could as part of X-Force, before regretting the fact he can never be part of Juliana’s new life. And across town, Juliana Sandoval - in her new body - wonders why she dreams of a Brazilian boy.

X-Force make their way through a chaotic San Francisco only to find the Demon Bear tearing up the city. Arcadia appears and after a brief battle the bear swallows them. They land in what Moonstar assumes to be the realm of the Demon Bear. While the rest of X-Force continue to battle the Demon Bear, Meltdown is unaware that she is being watched by two people in suits, and Proudstar is rescued from a large falling sign by Risque. A SHIELD team arrives to use a multiphase plasma cannon against the Demon Bear. Cannonball and Bedlam attempt to stop them, but are unsuccessful. Back in the Demon Bear’s dimension, Moonstar and Arcadia find the “heart” of the Demon Bear, and begin absorbing their energies back from it - but Arcadia is not strong enough to contain the energies, and releases them - causing the Demon Bear to explode in spectacular display. But what is more shocking is what is left behind - four versions of Dani Moonstar!

Next Arcadia turns into the Queen of Swords. X-Force confront the four versions of their teammate, before the Queen and the Moonstars vanish, and the real Moonstar appears, dazed, but otherwise fine - except for the fact that she has lost both her quantum powers and psionic powers. A massive cathedral then appears on Treasure Island, and they realize just how powerful the Queen is. Domino is suspicious of Risque, who explains that she is here at Sledge’s request. Ulysses Dragonblood transports X-Force to the cathedral, and Moonstar opens a portal so they can enter it - only to find themselves separated. Jennifer Kale has learned of what is transpiring and makes her way to the cathedral. Moonstar realizes that the cathedral is a portal to countless alternate realities. Suddenly Cable & Ulysses arrive. Moonstar, Cable and Dragonblood enter a world where X-Force work for the Queen of the Star Swords. Soon, three of the alternate Moonstars appear, as servants for the Queen, they battle Cannonball and Meltdown, and in the process, inadvertently reunite the members of X-Force. Moonstar absorbs the energies of the three alternate selves back into her, and confronts the Queen, trying to reach out to Arcadia. The fourth alternate Moonstar - the cosmic one - is found by Jennifer Kale and the Man-Thing and she jumps into the middle of the battle between Dani and Arcadia, adding her strength to Moonstar. Moonstar uses Cable’s psimitar to finish off the Queen, and Arcadia is reverted to her true form. Moonstar receives instruction from the Man-Thing on how to destroy the cathedral, and with her cosmic power returned, does so. The escape the cathedral - except for Cable, who must return to his true reality.

Meanwhile, Siryn being looked after by her aunt. She finds a strange antique shop, and is greeted by a woman who quickly places a necklace over Siryn’s neck - and the necklace begins to glow. Siryn’s aunt returns home to find the place a wreck - and Siryn mysteriously speaking. Siryn leaves her aunt and takes flight, the mysterious necklace having something to do with it, her possessor decides that she likes this body and will keep it for a while.

 

[WhenWeWereKings]

The build up to the Twelve was well thought out and excellent. However the actual Twelve storyline fell flat. It never sat right with me and Apocalypse never felt like a real threat

 

[Seedz]

The build up to the Twelve was well thought out and excellent. However the actual Twelve storyline fell flat. It never sat right with me and Apocalypse never felt like a real threat

Totally agree, buildup way more exciting than the result.