Marauders #21 Review *spoilers*

[RamaBird]

The gala begins and Emma and her team are around to welcome the Avengers plus many human diplomats. Doom and the Fantastic Four arrive as well (welcome by Kate). Reed walks up to Xavier but what he says isn’t revealed but it seems to be important.

The ceremonies begin with Rhapsody performing a solo musical performance with Jean and the Cuckoos creating psychic butterflies to go with the song. The crowd is pleased.

While The Thing gambles with the Marauders team, Emma and Banshee have a sweet moment that is interrupted by Doom and Cpt. America facing each other. The Shiiar arrive and ease the tension. Emma then leaves for the big reveal.

Meanwhile, some diplomats seem to be scheming and Sebastian Shaw just happens to be nearby…

We then have a lot of small moments, before Emma gets to the big reveal of the night…

…which gets skipped over. We skip over to the end of the night, and everyone is leaving with an amazed/shocked look. The Avengers say this changes everything and they need time to process what happened. Cyclops and Emma look pleased with themselves.

Anyway, not much happened beside setup but it was great with little character moments/jokes and appearances.

[sunofdarkchild]

The highlight was Emma talking with Cap and Doom and her reaction to the real reason Steve is attracted to her.

The Shi'ar thing is weird. Going by X-Force the gift is something Krakoa already has, even if it is valuable, and doesn't seem like the sort of thing to build a mystery around with Emma not knowing what the gift is. I feel like there's got to be more there.

I have no idea what's going on with the Cuckoos and Wilhelmina. What did she forget that they want to make her remember?

And again, what is the big announcement that even Scott didn't know for sure about it? Obviously it's not the new X-Men team.

[RamaBird]

Yeah don't know if the Shiiar gift was anti-climactic or misleading? And of course, Beast's plan to spy one diplomats backfired and now there's a problem. They even had a data page where he compared himself to a God. Although since the night does end well, I'm guessing this problem will be taken care of.

Who is Wilhemina again?

I think the big reveal was prob them talking about Planet Sized X-Men? That would elicit amazed/shocked/kind worried about what you're doing responses.

[davetvs]

The highlight was Emma talking with Cap and Doom and her reaction to the real reason Steve is attracted to her.

The Shi'ar thing is weird. Going by X-Force the gift is something Krakoa already has, even if it is valuable, and doesn't seem like the sort of thing to build a mystery around with Emma not knowing what the gift is. I feel like there's got to be more there.

I have no idea what's going on with the Cuckoos and Wilhelmina. What did she forget that they want to make her remember?

And again, what is the big announcement that even Scott didn't know for sure about it? Obviously it's not the new X-Men team.

I'm assuming Wilhelmina is another of Emma's eggs harvested by Sublime or something.

[Krakoa]

Part of me is wondering if the implication was that Wilhelmina is a sixth Cuckoo.

[Dante Milton]

The issue accomplished setting up the introduction to the Gala, but I was hoping for more. I don't like that the vibe throughout, especially at the end, was mostly antagonistic towards mutants.

It was nice seeing Rhapsody, but the telepathic accompaniment seemed dumb. Like, I imagine that playing a musical instrument in concert is less a feeling of sublime transcendence and more workman-like.

I don't keep up with the hellfire brats, so I don't have any idea what's going on with Wilhelmina and the Cuckoos., and I'm not sure I want to know.

Fenris is still part of the HTC, I really need Emma to get rid of them.

Emma reminding Cap of his mother seems incredibly doubtful and a poorly thought out joke. He did look good, though.

I feel like Lolli put in a lot of cameos from real life people, but because his art is more simplistic rather than detailed, the only one I recognized was Conan O'Brian.

We finally got to see Christian and Shinobi's outfits and they are ... kinda boring. The jacket of Shinobi's is nice but dull, and Christian just looks like he stole something from Mystique's closet.

[Journey]

Christian's outfit compliments Bobby's I expected more but for what it is I like it. Doom was like the best part of this issue for me he just amuses me lol.

[Alex.]

Part of me is wondering if the implication was that Wilhelmina is a sixth Cuckoo.

Hopefully not. BTW, loved that they showed up.

[RamaBird]

The issue accomplished setting up the introduction to the Gala, but I was hoping for more. I don't like that the vibe throughout, especially at the end, was mostly antagonistic towards mutants.

You felt it was antagonistic at the end? It seemed all the diplomats were leaving amazed. Captain America said to Cyclops that he needed more time to think about it but that' not that antagonistic right?

I do agree the ending of the first issue felt a bit off though. Like it took a little suspense out of upcoming issues since we know the night ends well? So the incident Beast causes in XForce must be resolved easily?

[sunofdarkchild]

But if it ends well, what the heck is Magneto on trial for? Or is the announcement so monumental that all the world leaders and even Captain America and Dr. Strange just forget about whatever Magneto did?

[TheRealWashout]

You felt it was antagonistic at the end? It seemed all the diplomats were leaving amazed. Captain America said to Cyclops that he needed more time to think about it but that' not that antagonistic right?

I do agree the ending of the first issue felt a bit off though. Like it took a little suspense out of upcoming issues since we know the night ends well? So the incident Beast causes in XForce must be resolved easily?

We also know that there are after parties and that Magneto is going to murder someone. There is probably more drama after the diplomats leave.

[RamaBird]

But if it ends well, what the heck is Magneto on trial for? Or is the announcement so monumental that all the world leaders and even Captain America and Dr. Strange just forget about whatever Magneto did?

It could happen after the night ends. Or it happens during the event, but others manage to keep it quiet so the night goes well?

[Dante Milton]

You felt it was antagonistic at the end? It seemed all the diplomats were leaving amazed. Captain America said to Cyclops that he needed more time to think about it but that' not that antagonistic right?

Yes, I do. I feel like the main thing this issue did was unite all the enemies of Krakoa, and possibly create some new ones. The Brazilian diplomat at the end specifically says that humans will be more motivated to deal with the "threat" of mutants. And the other human guest seem to be in a panic more than awe struck admiration. Even Dr. Strange and Cap seem to be very wary of whatever the big revelation is.

[RamaBird]

^I went and reread that part and now agree with you.

And yeah the announcement must be about what happens in Planet Sized X-Men...

[Dante Milton]

To be clear, I don't mind the Gala being used to set up potential conflicts for future X-books, I just don't think the opening issue of the Gala was the place to do that. I would have preferred the party start big, fun, and optimistic.