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Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Exodus
#
1
Nov 2009
Matt Fraction
,
Mike Deodato Jr.
Story Name:
Utopia conclusion
Synopsis
Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Exodus #1
synopsis by
Rob Johnson
Rating:
Continued from
DARK AVENGERS #8
.
This issue starts with a flashback (supposedly 7 days ago).
Beast
has walked into the bedroom of
Scott Summers
and
Emma Frost
to announce that he's taking the
X-Club
scientists on a mission. But when he returns he wants to know what secrets they have been keeping from everyone else, or he won't stay to watch the team fall apart. It turns out that the secrets are things the pair have been keeping from each other as well.
Cyclops
wants to unburden himself to Emma, but she wants them to both keep their secrets secret.
(An editor note says this continues in
Dark X-Men: The Confession
1-shot, which doesn't have the
Utopia
banner but like
DXM: The Beginning
is considered part of the crossover. It continues with Scott sleeping on the couch for a few days, then Emma says she's leaving to kill
Norman Osborn
. But Scott persuades her to share minds with him. Emma finds out about the dark deeds Scott has had his secret black ops
X-Force
team doing, and some of the consequences. Scott learns some of Emma's dark past, ending with her joining Osborn's
Cabal
. They each assure the other that (s)he's not as as bad as (s)he thinks, and they'll back each other's actions even though everyone else will hate them, but they'll have no more secrets from each other. It ends with a flashforward to the battle in this issue. The rest takes place sometime before this crossover.)
In
Dark Avengers #8
the X-Club scientists raised from the ocean floor off the coast of San Francisco an island with buildings on. The
X-Men
have teleported all mutants to it, and Cyclops declared it a mutant haven. They now await the response of Norman Osborn who has arrived as
Iron Patriot
in a flying craft with his
Dark Avengers
and the remains of his
Dark X-Men
. He tells
Mystique
to stay behind in disguise as
Prof X
to talk to the inevitable reporters (we don't actually see her/him until the end of this issue). Then he drops some of the others onto the island.
Cyclops watches with
Angel
,
Armor
,
Colossus
, Emma Frost,
Iceman
,
Sub-Mariner
,
Wolverine
and
X-23
(and
Dazzler
?). He sends
Logan
and
Laura Kinne
y to take down
Weapon Omega
(of the DXM) and
Daken
(of both DXM and DAv), and Angel to deal with
Dark Hawkeye
(
Bullseye
) who is firing arrows at
Anole
,
Mercury
and
Rockslide
.
Warren Worthington
swoops down and carries Bullseye off.
Bling
,
Frenzy
and
Nekra
pile on
Dark Ms Marvel
(
Moonstone
) to get revenge for her attack on them at the Castro in
DAv/UXM: Utopia
, while Colossus,
Magma
and
Match
tackle
Dark Spider-Man
(
Venom
(
Mac Gargan
)). The 2 fire powered mutants engulf Venom in flames but Colossus just goes in with his armoured fists. He too has a grudge against Venom since that same issue.
And now we see X-23 and
Dark Wolverine
(Daken) slash each other with their claws (as depicted on the cover of
DAv#8
) while Wolverine closes in on Weapon Omega who his lashing out with all the energy he absorbed from mutant prisoners via
Dark Beast
's
Omega Machine
. But Wolvie just stabs him in the stomach in payback for him killing most of
Alpha Flight
(in
New Av #16
when he was the
Collective
). Angel has taken Bullseye to the woods of Marin County and attacks him in his metal-winged
Archangel
/
Death
form - it's arrows vs flechettes.
His advanced troops aren't doing too well so Osborn decides to join in as Iron Patriot with his other 2 big guns
Ares
and
Sentry
.
Namor
meets Sentry head-on and their battle in the sky takes them through several San Fran skyscrapers before they land and Subby throws a bus at
Bob Reynolds
. IP and Cyclops exchange blasts from gauntlets and optic visor. Ares just starts smashing walls. Osborn has Summers' body raised above his head to dash him to the ground when
Dani Moonstar
arrives as a
Valkyrie
to challenge Ares on her winged horse
Darkwind
, flanked by her old
New Mutants
colleagues
Cannonball
,
Karma
,
Magik
, Magma and
Sunspot
. (The horse, a magic sword and her returned Valkyrie-ness are obviously what she got from
Hela
in
DAv#8
.)
Meanwhile Dark Beast of Osborn's Dark X-Men is enjoying slashing Dazzler and
Northstar
until
Psylocke
and X-Club scientists
Dr Nemesis
and
Madison Jeffries
attack *him* in revenge for his treatment of fellow X-Club'er Beast. Colossus and Venom are still battling it out surrounded by Match's flames. Iceman knocks DXM'er
Mimic
out of the sky and X-pupils
Graymalkin
,
Loa
, Mercury,
Onyxx
, Rockslide,
Surge
and maybe others pile on him to keep him down. And Armor and
Pixie
join X-23 to help her with Daken.
The real
Professor X
was rescued from Alcatraz along with all the other mutant prisoners in
DAv#8
. But he's now in a hospital bed in a bad way. Emma Frost goes to see him for help with the last component of Scott Summers' plan - they must take the uber-powered Sentry out of the equation. She reminds
Charles Xavier
how she created a
White Room
in in Bob Reynolds head (
New Av #9-10
except she didn't call it a White Room then, but it *was* white) to bring him back to sanity. She needs Charles' help to get in there again (as we see Sentry pounding Sub-Mariner into the pavement).
Next instant we see Emma (changed from her DXM
Dark Queen
outfit to a
White Queen
version) in the White Room. But the images of Bob's life that papered the wall are now all blank white, except 1 black square. Peering through this she sees Bob Reynolds in a black version of the room (with 1 white square framing her head). Bob says he's been in there so long he thought everyone had forgotten him and he doesn't know how to get out. Emma pulls him through the white/black hole into the White Room. She reminds him that this is a safe place where he can regain control of his body while she holds his evil alter ego the
Void
at bay.
Bob opens Sentry's eyes and sees the destruction around him, and flies away. (But Subby seems to be standing unharmed.) However in the White Room Ms Frost can't control the Void. She's suddenly back in reality with Xavier as the Void exits Sentry's mind through hers and gives chase to 'his' body. White Queen has reflexively transformed to her diamond form, and Prof X tells her to stay like that because a bit of the Void is trapped within her.
Iron Patriot and Cyclops see Void chasing Sentry into the distance, and Scott says that's 1 of Osborn's pieces off the board. Norman says he still has Ares the God of War, but Cyclops knows/hopes he has a successful counter-goddess. And just then they see Moonstar thrust her sword into Ares and declare that she's more than a Valkyrie now - she was made to stop gods. And Ares does appear to be stopped.
Elsewhere Wolverine is battling his way through the storm of power Weapon Omega is throwing at him. The 3 X-females strike Daken simultaneously, but he guts X-23 with his claws as she does the same to him. Mimic is wilting under a multiple assault. And Void and Sentry are out in space.
Iron Patriot still defeats Cyclops but it's a hollow victory. Moonstone reaches him and shows him the assembled mutants arrayed against him. She says if they kill 1 mutant they'll have to kill them all - and genocide won't play well for the TV news cameras. Scott reminds Norman he gave him a chance to give up and leave San Francisco (
DAv#7
) before things fell apart. Now IP has to take his troops and flee.
Now Cyclops makes a statement to camera. This new island is now the mutant homeland. They won't menace humans. In fact the X-Men will continue to fight super-menaces for them as before. But they will also defend their space.
Norman Osborn calls his own press conference with his DAv and DXM including 'Prof X'. He announces that they have driven Scott Summers' mutants off American soil, and they must stay imprisoned on their island. Now that his job here is done the curfew will be lifted and he and his teams will leave San Francisco.
Next morning on the island they're calling
Utopia
the work of making a home begins. Emma reminds Scott the last time they lived on an island things went wrong. But they have hope for the future.
Review / Commentaries
Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Exodus #1 Review by
Rob Johnson
(
November 14, 2017
)
This is the last part of the Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia crossover event.
Mike Deodato is the main artist with Justin Ponsor colouring in. But the Terry Dodson/Rachel Dodson/Christina Strain combo do some bit:- The Beast/Cyclops/Emma Frost opening, Emma and Bob Reynolds in the White Room, and the last 3 pages starting with Norman Osborn's press conference.
This issue doesn't actually say that the raised Utopia is Magneto's original Asteroid M which was sunk in the original X-Men #5, but editor Nick Lowe has said that it is. Magneto created several later versions of his asteroid base after that.
The last time the mutants lived on an island was on Genosha. But that ended when Sentinels killed most of them in New XM #116.
Emma Frost is still in diamond form at the end. We will learn that she has to stay that way to stop the Void sliver in her mind taking her over. But the X-Men need her telepathy which she can't use in this state. So in UXM#518-519 Scott Summers will find a way to remove the Void.
We never find out how Sentry avoids/deals with Void this time, but he returns some time later in DAv#9 as Sentry. Norman Osborn, Victoria Hand and the DAv are all in their #9-12. The only app in between is NO in Deadpool (2008) #17-18 (with a cameo from Bullseye in #17). Osborn gleefully stirs things up as Deadpool tries to persuade the X-Men to let him join by trying to kill Mercury's father who is trying to get his daughter away from them.
Much later NO will send the remaining Dark XM in their own #1-5 after Nate Gray/X-Man who has reintegrated since his demise at the end of his own series. But before that Mystique has her own adventure in Ms Marvel (2006) #49-50 (the final issues). She finds 1 of the many Skrulls programmed to duplicate the original Captain Marvel for Secret Invasion and sets him against Carol Danvers.
I'm not going to track the myriad X-Men from this issue. I'll just mention 3 main players plus Cloak, Dagger and Sub-Mariner who have defected from the DXM to the XM (but Cloak doesn't stay).
Sub-Mariner is with Cyclops, Emma Frost and Wolverine in UXM#515-516 as mutants settle in to Utopia. Then Magneto turns up. The big 3 move on to XM: Legacy Annual #1 where Emplate kidnaps Bling and the story continues in XM:L#228-230. Then they're together in he Deadpool story mentioned above in DP#16-18, with Dagger in #16. Meanwhile Namor has popped over to Captain America: Reborn #3 to check Cap's body is still where they buried it at sea.
Cyclops appears in New Mutants (2009) #5 while Wolverine is in Hulk (2008) #14-17 and the Psylocke mini-series. Then the big 3 cameo together in Nation X #1 story 1 where Magneto helps Mercury. Finally I'll mention that after that Cyke and Namor have bit parts in the C&D (2010) 1-shot where Dagger learns conclusively that she isn't a mutant and leaves the X-Men to rejoin her (also non-mutant) partner Cloak. Namor will continue as an X-person for a while, and even bring the Atlanteans to Utopia.
>
Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Exodus comic book info and issue index
::: click cover to ENLARGE it :::
Excelsioring your collection:
Holy smokes, Batman!
(The Boy Wonder)
Matt Fraction
Mike Deodato Jr.
Mike Deodato Jr.
Justin Ponsor
Steve McNiven
(Cover Penciler)
Steve McNiven
(Cover Inker)
Additional Credits
Letterer
:
Joe Caramagna
.
Editor
:
Nick Lowe
.
Listed in Alphabetical Order.
Angel
(Warren Worthington III)
Ares
Beast
(Henry Phillip McCoy)
Bullseye
Colossus
(Piotr Rasputin)
Cyclops
(Scott Summers)
Daken
Iceman
Iron Patriot
(Norman Osborn)
Mimic
Moonstone
(Karla Sofen)
Mystique
(Raven Darkholme)
Professor X
(Charles Xavier)
Psylocke
(Betsy Braddock)
Sentry
(Robert Reynolds)
Sub-Mariner
(Namor McKenzie)
Venom
(Mac Gargan)
White Queen
(Emma Frost)
Wolverine
(James Howlett)
Plus:
Dani Moonstar, Dark Beast, Weapon Omega (
Michael Pointer
), X-23 (
Laura Kinney
).
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