X-Men: Forever #4 - Review/Spoilers

[JB]

Oh man. Perhaps one of the Phoenix experts can fill in the implications and such, I'll just report what happened.

We open with the preview pages, Sinister and Destiny talking in the partially destroyed QC chamber. Basically Sinister tells Destiny that her hyper-focus on Mystique's future fate makes her overestimate Raven's deaths. He says she's off about fifty percent based on studying her predictions via the Moira engines. Destiny then goes to Mystique saying she'll guide her to Xavier so they can get him to unlock Destiny's love for Nightcrawler. Mystique is still angry at Destiny.

Hope and Legion and Jean are chatting as they're gearing up to "kill" the Phoenix. However in Alaska, Enigma is in a diner talking with the woman who will eventually be Hope's mom, nine months before her birth. He tells Louise that in nine months she will be dead, killed in the hospital by men with flamethrowers. He momentarily makes her experience the pain she will feel at that time. She asks him what he's suggesting and we see Hope holding her own head in pain.

Enigma says he can lift Louise from the timeline at the moment she is to die. In return he simply needs to be Hope's father. Hope is on the ground struggling so Jean keeps the Phoenix at bay for a bit and flys away to help Louise. Louise is close to accepting Enigma's deal and we see Hope look up, the Enigma crown symbol on her forehead.

Up in an Orchis base Mystique and Destiny break in, kill a bunch of soldiers and find Xavier. Destiny demands that he let her love her son. Xavier says he doesn't remember any of what he may have done to her but that he would have left a simple mental lock. He finds it and unlocks it. Destiny's eyes grow wide as she says, "My son. I abandoned my..."

Three Nimrod's suddenly appear and one of them grabs Mystique. Destiny begs Nimrod not to kill her, saying her vision was right about Mystique dying in this moment. Nope! Exodus appears via a portal and teleports the loving couple away. Sinister was right, Destiny's prediction was off and Mystique didn't die.

Jean appears in the diner and orders a milkshake. Just kidding. She appears and immediately works to convince Louise not to accept Enigma's deal. She tells Louise flat out that Hope was sent by the Phoenix to make the Phoenix, that that's what Louise will choose. Hope is destined to save mutantkind and everyone else, she tells her. Basically Enigma and Jean go back and forth trying to convince Louise which path to choose and Louise eventually tells Enigma to 'eff off.







:-(

The Phoenix is smaller now, reborn. It confirms to Jean, calling her "mother-me", that this is where it ends, begins and ends, begins and ends. It is the Phoenix, now and forever, an unbroken circle of fire. I can't help but laugh because it looks like one of those rubber chickens that make funny noises but I digress. It then tells mother-me that in order for them to fight Enigma it must feed.

Exodus returns to Krakoa with the couple of the year and Destiny runs to Nightcrawler and hugs him. At the same time his Hopesword appears in his hand and Destiny confirms that means Hope is dead. Exodus at first doesn't believe it then announces that Hope has returned to whence she came. "The word made flesh, the flesh made immortal. She is with Krakoa in exile in spirit." Nightcrawler says Krakoa is trapped in the WHR, lost forever. But Exodus, returning to the fight and attacking a Sentinel, says the people of Krakoa will return, that the Krakoan age will come again. Kurt asks Destiny if they can win but she still sees no victory. As for the fate of Krakoa she says

Krakoa in Exile, the White Hot Room. Mutants including the Five minus Hope and Jumbo are arguing around a table trying to figure out how they will function, who will do what, etc. Little Kafka gets annoyed and tells everyone to shut up. He tells the room that they have to be better than this, that they have no rulers, no leaders, no heroes. That they have to be the Quiet Council and that means they have to listen. He takes charge and starts working to assign tasks such as tuber supply, tutoring, teaching. It's a bittersweet last page as that little hero is determined to make Krakoa, despite being lost in the WHR, carry on.

The end.

The death of Hope made me sad even though many of us suspected it was coming. She fulfilled her destiny by rebooting the Phoenix and thus hopefully saving all of existence. Her brave sacrifice was powerful and I'm glad it was Gillen who wrote it. My heart also hurts for Atlantic Krakoa, knowing they are stuck in the WHR but still carrying on. Seeing Elixir, Egg, Proteus, and Tempus as part of that group made it sting even more.

[HeartofTheStoriesWeTell]

have not gotten to shop yet (may not make it till tomorrow) but this review makes it sound like FIRE!!

Can anyone confirm that hope is gone gone or reborn in phoenix or... what ever...


Also just a pet peeve is the down playing of the 5... Elixir and Porteous alone (like either one by themselves) can get resurrection 99% online...Hope never seemed to me (IMO) to be more then a chair leader.

[mugiwara]

The X-books never change.
Perpetual sacrifice of the new to save the old.

[BobbysWorld]

Ngl, the big question for me remains: what's the ultimate fate of the WHR Krakoans going to be, going into the next era, because this issue definitely leaves the impression that their story is concluded, that they're going to be remaining in the WHR indefinitely and are reforming/restructuring Krakoan society to fit their new surroundings.

Buuuuuuut I don't see how that possibly fits with Jean having a solo in the next era where she's literally acting AS Phoenix, to any degree.....given what we've been told about how the presence of living beings with their varying subjective realities impacts the WHR and the Phoenix, by extension. They shouldn't be ABLE to to remain in the WHR longterm without consequences, so that final beat with them, which seems designed to READ as though this is a bittersweet new beginning with them and we won't see them again until some future era finds a way to bring them back.....is more confusing than poignant. Like there has to be one more twist remaining for them in RotPoX #5 that either brings them back now anyway (which seems like it'd be pretty anticlimactic after this, not to mention make no sense with what we know of the new era....if there were 250K mutants back on Earth, intent on recreating/restructuring Krakoan society, none of the promos about mutants being scattered and mourning Krakoa instead of just...joining them....makes sense. Or alternatively, something happens that means they're sacrificed or killed in the WHR in RotPoX #5, which similarly feels like it'd be anticlimactic and pretty cheap, given it'd be happening at the final moment, after they'd already seemed to be written out by events of this issue.

Idk. I like what this issue resolved in terms of the Phoenix and Jean and Hope, but that resolution (or lack thereof) for the WHR Krakoans really makes it hard to view this as an endpoint for any part of the story, even though there's still like, three more issues elsewhere to conclude the whole Krakoan era. The sprawling nature of when and where they're wrapping up various storylines is ironically the opposite of the cohesiveness you'd expect from having all the books working so interconnectedly, IMO. Hard to describe what I mean there, not sure how else to put it.

[Dthirds3]

If Atlantic krakoa isn't restored I guarantee Exodus is the big bad for the brevoot era.

[JB]

Ngl, the big question for me remains: what's the ultimate fate of the WHR Krakoans going to be, going into the next era, because this issue definitely leaves the impression that their story is concluded, that they're going to be remaining in the WHR indefinitely and are reforming/restructuring Krakoan society to fit their new surroundings.

Buuuuuuut I don't see how that possibly fits with Jean having a solo in the next era where she's literally acting AS Phoenix, to any degree.....given what we've been told about how the presence of living beings with their varying subjective realities impacts the WHR and the Phoenix, by extension. They shouldn't be ABLE to to remain in the WHR longterm without consequences, so that final beat with them, which seems designed to READ as though this is a bittersweet new beginning with them and we won't see them again until some future era finds a way to bring them back.....is more confusing than poignant. Like there has to be one more twist remaining for them in RotPoX #5 that either brings them back now anyway (which seems like it'd be pretty anticlimactic after this, not to mention make no sense with what we know of the new era....if there were 250K mutants back on Earth, intent on recreating/restructuring Krakoan society, none of the promos about mutants being scattered and mourning Krakoa instead of just...joining them....makes sense. Or alternatively, something happens that means they're sacrificed or killed in the WHR in RotPoX #5, which similarly feels like it'd be anticlimactic and pretty cheap, given it'd be happening at the final moment, after they'd already seemed to be written out by events of this issue.

Idk. I like what this issue resolved in terms of the Phoenix and Jean and Hope, but that resolution (or lack thereof) for the WHR Krakoans really makes it hard to view this as an endpoint for any part of the story, even though there's still like, three more issues elsewhere to conclude the whole Krakoan era. The sprawling nature of when and where they're wrapping up various storylines is ironically the opposite of the cohesiveness you'd expect from having all the books working so interconnectedly, IMO. Hard to describe what I mean there, not sure how else to put it.

You raise very good points and now it makes me wonder if Jean will rescue the Krakoans in the WHR and return them to earth, with the landmass itself staying in the WHR? But that would kinda feel anticlimactic as well after what appears to be an ending for them in this issue.

[Galen Nycroft]

Hmmmm...if they ever get out of the WHR, what's stopping them from resurrecting Hope? Did the new Phoenix somehow stop resurrection? Before, they used Synch as a standin for Hope, also Tessa/Sage is a synergist (a forgotten power she has). Why can't they technically bring Hope back? I would think they'd have to kill Egg/Goldballs or Proteus in order to completely kibosh resurrection.

[Braxxer]

This issue is something. Idk what has happened to Gillen but its written horrible. Jean seems so emotionless and more like a plot device. What has happened to Jean Gillen wrote in AXE.

Hope’s death was shallow af.

Jean once tell hope she can’t kill phoenix and a few moments later jean tells hope to kill phoenix?? ��

Jean being phoenix or phoenix creator makes post new xmen phoenix stories kinda dumb, especially AvX.

So why hope hunted phoenix with a big legion gun?

[Braxxer]

Hmmmm...if they ever get out of the WHR, what's stopping them from resurrecting Hope? Did the new Phoenix somehow stop resurrection? Before, they used Synch as a standin for Hope, also Tessa/Sage is a synergist (a forgotten power she has). Why can't they technically bring Hope back? I would think they'd have to kill Egg/Goldballs or Proteus in order to completely kibosh resurrection.

I was thinking maybe hope is a part of that little phoenix or she’s that little phoenix and that’s why she can’t be resurrected

[danielsan52]

Krakoa should fly back into outer space and be joined by Arrako leaving Mars to form Planet Okkara.


Or just kill the High Evolutionary and have all the mutants move to Counter-earth.

[JamJams]

As an aside since this confirmed that Hope was born of Louise and the Phoenix is this how Jean and the Phoenix had Rachel? Phoenix gave her a little head touch and then nine months later out pops the Askani?

Also that was a pretty anticlimatic ending for Hope. So either she isn't staying dead and that is being concluded up elsewhere or Gillen just decided that Mystique/Destiny/Nightcrawler's storyline wrapping up was more important.

[Jackraow21]

This issue is something.

Agreed. My reaction upon reading the above was basically “what the absolute shit!?”

Hope’s death was shallow af.

Agreed again. A weak end to a great character. All in the name of simplicity and “back to basics.” *sigh*

[Master of Sound]

RIP Hupe Summers, I will miss you big time!

Seems Krakoa, Kafka, Jumbo, Phil, Tempus, Egg, Proteus and Elixir will be absent from the X-books for quite a while. I wonder if the new upcoming era will simply forget whoever are in the WHR, or if there will indeed be a follow-up story one day not to far in the future.

[Peace]

I miss something ...its arakko a things now o Will be erase in the ashes?

[Konja7]

As an aside since this confirmed that Hope was born of Louise and the Phoenix is this how Jean and the Phoenix had Rachel? Phoenix gave her a little head touch and then nine months later out pops the Askani?

Also that was a pretty anticlimatic ending for Hope. So either she isn't staying dead and that is being concluded up elsewhere or Gillen just decided that Mystique/Destiny/Nightcrawler's storyline wrapping up was more important.

Rachel being only Jean's daughter (with Phoenix) is a Claremont idea. However, it has never really been confirmed in comic pages.

That said, I wouldn't be surprised if Marvel decides to confirm the idea of Rachel being only Jean's daughter, since they have promoted Jean, Rachel and Hope connection with Phoenix.