The truth is we don't know. We can't rely on Destiny, and if she does reset the universe, and Cardinal certainly suggests this, then that may be a puzzle Moira will need to solve if she manages to get things in place. I doubt they are finite.
Solution 0: She creates alternative timelines. Problem solved far too neatly but 'alt-reality purists' will like it. I wouldn't. Its not really a solution so much as a lack of a problem to solve.
Solution 1: She dies before she is 13. Not a solution we can accept if she resets the universe in the previous iteration. We don't want to hard reboot every X-Book.
Solution 2: She can somehow stop her power ever being manifest before she is 13. That would nicely tie into the time she met Destiny and mean that in the primary MU Moira is no longer a mutant, so not even a real retcon.
Solution 3: She finds a way to live until the end of the universe. Which may be what she is trying in X^3, which could be the missing M6 or could still be the far future of M10.
Solution 4: She somehow depowers after she is 13. Perhaps that is what she was doing while she was supposedly dead. This feels a little hand wavy and not particularity interesting.
Solution 5: We just don't get an answer under Hickman. He reserves M11 if anyone wants to do some kind of reboot just in case everyone hates Dawn of X.
Solution 6: Her powers are finite. The problem with this one is how would she ever know? This doesn't sound like a solution and not even Destiny claimed this.
Last edited by JKtheMac; 08-21-2019 at 12:52 PM.
“And I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, 'If this isn't nice, I don't know what is.” ― Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
So I’m going to theorise the Phalanx timeline are the big threat here.
Somehow they’ll figure out Moiras powers, know what she’ll try and do, and infiltrate Year 10 to try and prevent it.
General thoughts:
Shoutout to ISnowNothin who may not have been the first person to suggest that the future stuff was life 9, but who I definitely credit with laying it out so compellingly that the story potential started to seem irresistible/inevitable.
And good point JKtheMac that positioning the 9->10 transition this early is totally the ingredient that lets this maximize its potential in linear cause and effect terms.
I’m still thinking that no revelations about any of Moira’s lives are going to make anything *less* important than we already think it is. E.g. there’s not going to be a reset button on the main story, all the pre-HOX/POX stories aren’t going to turn out to be life 6 or something, etc. I still think the main present story beginning in HOX1 is the same timeline as all the pre-HOX stories and that those are Moira’s 10th life, and that the universe isn’t going to reset if she dies. (If it’s as simple as Moira dying a normal death and not transcending mortality altogether, I’m thinking we’d just keep following the story with Moira dead, and then get a brief epilogue of young Moira XI resigned to her fate greeting Destiny, kind of like that Olenna/Jaime scene on Game of Thrones.)
Which brings me to... this issue compounded my worry (but like, the good worry that comes from investment) that Moira X’s plan may turn out to be less benevolent than we hope, or maybe “benevolent” in a way that is functionally villainous from our heroes’ perspective. What we know of her motivations and the advantages her knowledge gives her is starting to feel just a little too clean at not even the halfway mark for there not to be some kind of knife twist coming....
Oh yeah, and everyone saying “why would Apocalypse and crew care so much if the plan will only come to fruition in a different timeline/reality”.. I think it’s really as simple as, the scale at which Apocalypse has lived his life lends itself to bigger-picture thinking than just the outcome for himself as an individual. It’s very appropriately like a scaled down version of wanting to ascend in X^3 or a scaled up version of the X-Men establishing Krakoa in the present. It’s about being part of a conversation much bigger than yourself. We all can only contribute our finite lifetime but take solace in making a mark on a story that started before us will hopefully live far beyond us.
So this is just a clever metaphor for how repetitive the X-Men plots have been since House of M and that Moira, Xavier, and Magneto intend to shape the future into something new just like how Hickman plans on shifting the direction of the X-Men into something new.
Disappointed that we were given a Dane/Frost hybrid only to have him brutally taken away. Didn't even get to see him without the helmet. Also very rude that his costume didn't have revealing cutouts.
Then this Apocalypse is massively different than the one we've known. His Age of Apocalypse version outright said he didn't care about other realities, and the only important thing about them is whether or not he rules there.
Apocalypse was pleading to Archangel to be killed as "one of the strong" in X-Cutioner's Song.
He had to be told by Sinister of all people that his 19th century London plague would do more harm to evolution than help it in Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix.
Nothing about him, despite his bravado and talk, indicates he really cares about the big picture despite how much he claims otherwise.
It can be simpler than that as well. Apocalypse wants a world in which the strongest mutants rule. That is not that reality of Life 9 so if Moira can go back and create a world where mutants are the supreme race on Earth Apocalypse would do anything it takes to make that a reality.
Agreed
I also think that Age of X introduced the idea of Apocalypse having feelings for his Son as an introduction to Moira being his lover, Akkaba and mother to his followers in Life 9, maybe that is why we are seeing a more heroic Apocalypse in Excalibur, he stopped caring just about himself and his rule. Their plan always was to give Moira vital information to use in her next life so imo maybe 616 Apocalypse may have some information about that. it feels rare to be right about this Life 9 but I didn´t expect this story to end so fast maybe in next PoX issues we will see the future changed by Moira X.
You know, I can´t help but think how uncomfortable will be if Moira X effectively lives in Krakoa with Xavier, Magneto and Apocalypse given she was the lover of both of them in her past lifes but those relationships now feel more like missions for her. Who knows, maybe that is why she chose Banshee in her last life as a way of choosing someone for herself and not just her mission for the survival of mutants.
Can´t wait for next issue.
"To the X-men then, who don´t die the old fashioned way and no matter how hard we try, none of us die forever" Uncanny X-Men #270, Jean and Ororo
Magneto: The master of magnetism Appreciation 2022
Polaris: The Mistress of Magnetism Appreciation 2022
House of M Appreciation 2022
Wow absolutely speechless. Powerful ending and fantastic issue. I keep waiting for Hickman to drop the ball with this but he just continues to knock this one of the park. So at least we find out how Moria 9 ended up dying now. Now on to the mysterious timeline 6. Like some others have mentioned my only complaint is that I would have liked to have seen a touch more of the action sequences in this book. Shame to see Rasputin go but this won’t be the end of her. What an amazing final page. Absolutely loved the artwork and how accepting Miora was about it all.
This is just one off the wall fantastic comic book event that so far is exceeding the hype in every way possible me.