X-FORCE #4 Preview

[yogaflame]

Doug is there, is that a mistake or did he use a gate to jump back to Earth.

Mystique's line doesn't really work for me, didn't she act as a spy for Xavier for a brief time.

That was bugging me too. I thought for a moment the scene was a flashback from before he left with the other New Mutants. But I guess he somehow came back for this meeting? :/

I like Raven thinking the CIA thing is 'gross'. She was a DARPA director for a long time, she's seen the underbelly of the beast. Even if her own hands have plenty of filth under the nails, it is good for her to point out how gross it is to Charles.

Does Krakoa even understand what’s going on? He looks bored.

Storm telling people to shut up is everything.

I love Krakoa's face. I still need a reason why there is a Krakoa anymore when the X-Men explicitly threw it into space in 1975; and I never understood Kid Krakoa either. It's amazing how Hickman just skipped all of this, added thousands of years of backstory(Giant Sized's Krakoa gain sentience only as a result of nuclear weapons testing), and everyone's just onboard with it.

I need Storm to do more on this Council. She's actually been a head of state before, she's actually worked with the UN Security Council. She actually has fostered relationships with humans all over the world all her life. She should be a more nuanced and provocative voice in these meetings. That said...

Oh nice some Council shenanigans. I'm loving Jean being bossy. And Storm telling Shaw to shut up!
I'm glad that the Council knows about X-Force. We don't need too much sketchy behavior.

Storm checking Shaw is fun. (Remembers Uncanny 152 when she almost killed him subconsciously with a lightning bolt after he and Emma raped her).

And I am glad the X-Force mandate is openly known in the Council. I thought that under-the-waterfall-meeting last issue might mean they meant to keep it secret.

Krakoa and Doug are mods. Still waiting for them to unban Sabretooth.

I'm glad you're back Vegan Daddy!

Exodus has handed entire Xteams their collective ass in the past by himself. Im sure he's not concerned about humans with guns and hoodies.

I gotta be missing something because I cant think of an easy way readily available to humans to KO every telepath on Krakoa. Like, Shadow King or Nova could do it maybe. But not baseline flatscans. There are some anti psi measures like sonic attacks but none that could affect every one of them at the same time to the point of permanently neutralizing them.

As much as any story has to take certain liberties to work, it is hard to accept that mutants are so challenged by humans, when there are literally several handfuls of mutants that could kill every human alive within a day, or even with a single thought. The idea that they are fated to struggle for centuries before being defeated by machine/men is a bit of a reach.

But it isn't a question of ability. I have no doubt that Emma, Quentin, Rachel, Betsy, Kwannon, or Exodus could manage it assuming that they knew how - but they didn't and don't. When Jean did it, she was winging it. Charles hadn't shown anyone else how to bring someone back yet.

What if they tried, collectively, and failed? Xavier, their figurehead, is gone forever. So is his dream with him.

To me, it seems like Cerebro[with Forge's modification] is really doing the hard work of digitally storing the data. The telepath just has to transfer it from the machine to the biological brain/body.

Yeah I do agree that it's weird that they made it a big deal out of whether Jean could do it or not and then she does it like it's really simple.

then this whole resurrection thing is just stupid to me now. If any run of the mill telepath could do i really don't get it. IT makes no sense when i look at it from that view so i guess we can agree to disagree. It just has no logic in it. What if Jean died that night too?

Jean did something similar in Morrison's run when she housed Xavier's consciousness in her head, and used Cerebro to split it into small pieces in the world's population. There's precedence for Jean being skilled enough to do what she did which wasnt the case for others. She just connected to Cerebro from outerspace in HoX and has been reaffirmed to be an omega telepath

^ Exactly. When Hickman first introduced this resurrection concept, I kind of balked, because it reminded me of real people who think you can download a person into a computer and that would actually be them, like, actually them, not just an algorithm that would reproduce outcomes like the real them. But then I remember scenes like when Moira 'did die', and Xavier was with her soul/psyche in the Astral Plane and almost died with her. Or when Jean found Ororo's psyche in the Astral Plane when she almost died in X-Treme X-Men and they met with Ororo's parents. Or even when Jean's telepathy first manifested and she kept Anni Richardson from dying for a little while just with the strength of her will(and nascent Phoenix connection?). So, the precedence for telepaths being able to actually interface with the soul/spirit of a person(or anima as Hickman specifies), not just their algorithmic thoughts, makes the whole Cerebro resurrection protocol a bit more digestible for me. And given it's almost a reflex for strong telepaths(think of how Shadow King survives bodily death, or when Jean hopped into Emma's body when the Sentinels got the best of her that one time, or how Betsy reformed her own body recently), I don't think it should be construed as overly difficult. Especially not for someone like Jean who has been trained by Xavier with Cerebro since she was a teenager.

This is one place where the resurrections are flawed for me. Xavier died...so what? Why cant a telepath go yank him from the Astral plane and put him in his new body ala his last resurrection in Astonishing X-men? They have the body so Elixir could resurrect him as well and Hope is there to stabilize his powers if he is adversely affected from doing that

Again, literary limitations. Of course the mutants all working together should be nigh-unstoppable, but I guess people can't relate to such stories for long.

[MechaJeanix]

Yet we didn't saw it. Just a 2 min moments probably

I think the panic Jean is describing is how she, Wolverine, Beast, and Black Tom felt when the attack was going down and also how they felt to arrive too late to save Xavier and he was basically shot between the eyes.. so there's that. Which is all normal/natural.

[spirit2011]

I enjoyed the preview a lot. I love the quiet council and I appreciate that all the characters have a distinct voice. It works well. I also like that they just give us two pages for a preview. Previews should be a tease that get us talking and speculating . It makes it all the more interesting and exciting.

Now about the discussion about Jean... I think the debate is all wrong. It serves no one to do the "any telepath could do it" or the "Only Jean could".. the fact remains that the writer chose Jean to do it. They didn't even show it on panel because they wanted to move the story along.

We know from the data pages in Hox/pox that skilled telepaths will need to be taught how to use the new cerebro. Jean is such a skilled telepath. The others mentioned in this thread are powerful telepaths so they should be able to be taught. Jean and Quire are still omega telepaths and outclass all these other telepaths mentioned. It doesn't make Emma, Exodus, Xavier or whoever less important because they aren't omega telepaths so no need for being salty.

Just my two cents.

Seems like a reasonable answer.

[tuck frump]

As much as any story has to take certain liberties to work, it is hard to accept that mutants are so challenged by humans, when there are literally several handfuls of mutants that could kill every human alive within a day, or even with a single thought. The idea that they are fated to struggle for centuries before being defeated by machine/men is a bit of a reach.

The thing is the XMen wouldnt let it happen tho. Unlike humans, mutants have internal strife going against them.

I think the panic Jean is describing is how she, Wolverine, Beast, and Black Tom felt when the attack was going down and also how they felt to arrive too late to save Xavier and he was basically shot between the eyes.. so there's that. Which is all normal/natural.

But her stating Sinister or Apocalypse would share their distress is where she jumps the shark. We saw Sinister after the attack in FA #1, he was having his fun. So her dramatic monologue falls flat.

[houndsofluv]

jean invented the dramatic monologue. rest assured it will be given regardless of her audience lol

[Handsome men don't lose fights]

Percy has a great grasp on the villains voice but Jean really needs to shut up.

Damn! Who's gonna speak sense if you let the mass-murderers and mad scientists dominate the preceedings?

[tuck frump]

jean invented the dramatic monologue. rest assured it will be given regardless of her audience lol

I think it makes her relatable that she tried to speak in public but it came off cringey. Ive definitely been in similar situations.

[Havok83]

Simple because it would make of the purpose of The Five moot. But considering Elixir is on the Omega list I'm sure Hickman hasn't forgotten him just seriously narrowed down his powers.

No it wouldnt. The Five are resurrecting mutants en masse with no toll on Elixir. Tasking him to be the one to resurrect everyone would be too much for him. The Five can do it much faster than he would be able to do it on his own. On a single case like Xavier, it shouldnt be an issue for him to do it on his own

[Hi-Fi]

Can't wait for Captain Kate to join the discussions.

[MechaJeanix]

Can't wait for Captain Kate to join the discussions.

I keep waiting for her to join the council. I'm tired of that empty seat already. Bring on Kate Pryde!

I mean she can use Gateway to get there, right? Or is Shaw and Emma still fighting over the seat?

[houndsofluv]

omg Shaw is not prepared for shwasted Kitty pulling up 15 mins late to the meeting just to call him on his ****...and he thought storm was bad

[Havok83]

I keep waiting for her to join the council. I'm tired of that empty seat already. Bring on Kate Pryde!

I mean she can use Gateway to get there, right? Or is Shaw and Emma still fighting over the seat?

She's with Bishop on a mission

[Handsome men don't lose fights]

"I know you felt the same grief and panic that I did" while adressing Mystique, Apocalypse, Sinister and Shaw lol yes she really needs to shut up. Or at least bring it on down. Not everyone is an emotional mess.

Mystique is a self-destructive troll who actively spent the last eight years crusading against mutant rights just because she got sick of X-brand teams handing her her own ass. Shaw is a cokehead libertine who lost his empire while wallowing around his bedroom in a pair of leather pants while giggling about turning Emma into earrings. Sinister is never the same man from issue to issue, mostly because of all the self-administered assassinations.

Apocalypse is a Dungeon Master nerd. And a wizard! But mostly a nerd. That entire block of emotionally unstable children roleplaying as accomplished super-villains needs a nap.

[tuck frump]

Tbh its dumb they re having their meetings in an actual conference room instead of the astral plane or sthg. Xeno have already infiltrated Krakoa through that dumbass Colossus. For all they know the room is wired. Or set to blow up.

[MechaJeanix]

Tbh its dumb they re having their meetings in an actual conference room instead of the astral plane or sthg. Xeno have already infiltrated Krakoa through that dumbass Colossus. For all they know the room is wired. Or set to blow up.

I loved the telepathic meeting rooms and I do miss them. I can't even recall the last time they were used. They really have no excuse with all the telepaths on the council.