Planet Size X-Men review *spoilers*

[CoCoBandz]

The only people I can think of who have canonically said mutants aren't the next evolutionary step for mankind are avowed bigots. The guy you cite is a post-human from a culture that finally succeeded in subverting nature's plans for mankind, rewrote evolution and did it all by artificially sacrificing the last vestiges of their souls in the process. Rasputin even said, 'Humanity lost their souls long ago', which was seen by some as evidence of 'reverse racism', but was proven true by the time of Life 6.

And in the end, all humanity subverting evolution did for themselves was...cause the death of literally all of humanity. 616 Humanity's uncontrollable, inescapeable hubris and racism led to its downfall and extinction at the hands of the Phalanx, which Humanity had come to believe would be their transcendence. Instead, as a race, they were pruned from existence, their uniquenesses catalogued, and - had that reality continued - Humanity would be a universal footnote in a galactic computer, and have no further impact.

Hooray for them, I guess...?

Anyway, I wouldn't say that Life 6 Zookeeper/Librarian guy was a reliable source for ANYTHING when it comes to human/mutant relations or evolutionary science other than the anti-mutant, pro-machine/human hybridization narrative he and post-humanity/Homo Novissima embraced and made into a child-mutilating death cult/religion...

Yes. THIS.

It's almost like people have forgotten what's at the end of that Homo Novissima rabbit hole and why life 10 is even in existence to begin with. Hickman showed us exactly what happens to humanity(or the lackthereof) without Mutants.

[gonnagiveittoya]

I mean, would humanity be any less of a universal footnote if it went the mutants way?

[CoCoBandz]

I mean, would humanity be any less of a universal footnote if it went the mutants way?

Dunno, but what we do know is that the last time the Phalanx fked with the mutants they got burned and with the mutants around the Phoenix(one of the few things these blackhole mega minds fear mind you) will always be around humanity.

Even the precursor post-humans(the real enemy) view baseline humanity as a non issue at this point.

[gonnagiveittoya]

I mean honestly how much distinction, for the humans, is it from being replaced by the Phalanx in a few centuries or replaced by the mutants in maybe a few centuries, possibly less. I don't see the humans really caring about which since they're extinct either way. What's the difference to them of going extinct because of the Phalanx vs being dominated/outbred/succeeded by the mutants?

Like for them, the choice is either give up and go extinct thanks to mutants or fight back and go extinct thanks to themselves/the Phalanx.

[zinderel]

I mean, would humanity be any less of a universal footnote if it went the mutants way?

As long as humanity persists, chance is always a thing, but in the case of Homo Novissima, we'll never know what humanity COULD have been. Instead, by subverting evolution and wiping out their 'freak' children, and then forcibly hybridizing their 'normal' children into half-machine nightmares who casually discuss how great genocide is with its only survivors, they stunted their possibilities to one option: assimilation. They gave up their chance to shine because they thought they could do better than nature.

[gonnagiveittoya]

As long as humanity persists, chance is always a thing. By subverting evolution and wiping out their 'freak' children, and then forcibly hybridizing their 'normal' children into half-machine nightmares who casually discuss how great genocide is with its only survivors, they stunted their possibilities to one option: assimilation. They gave up their chance to shine because they thought they could do better than nature.

I'm not sure what you mean by "gave up their chance to shine". I see how the way it goes down is important to the mutants, but to humans what's the difference? They either get replaced or replace themselves. They lose in the long run either way.

[zinderel]

I mean honestly how much distinction, for the humans, is it from being replaced by the Phalanx in a few centuries or replaced by the mutants in maybe a few centuries, possibly less. I don't see the humans really caring about which since they're extinct either way. What's the difference to them of going extinct because of the Phalanx vs being dominated/outbred/succeeded by the mutants?

Like for them, the choice is either give up and go extinct thanks to mutants or fight back and go extinct thanks to themselves/the Phalanx.

Mutants are the natural evolution of mankind, though. They are what humankind is becoming. Hating them because they are 'replacing' you makes as much sense as hating your children because they're going to outlive you.

I'm not sure what you mean by "gave up their chance to shine". I see how the way it goes down is important to the mutants, but to humans what's the difference? They either get replaced or replace themselves. They lose in the long run either way.

By choosing to subvert nature and stunting themselves into assimilation, they gave up any chance to do better or matter more. They chose their end, their hard stopping place. They COULD have embraced that life is change, that evolution and biology always produce new generations to replace the old ones. They could have chosen to celebrate, support and uplift their children, no matter what they look like or shoot out of their eyes.

Instead, they stopped evolution by committing genocide, replaced biology with machinery by forcing it on infants, replaced souls with circuitry, and gave up their chance to ever matter because they stupidly fear being 'replaced', as if that isn't what happens to literally every generation in the whole of the history of life...

Imagine if humanity instead worked to make the world better for all of its children, even the scary freaks. Imagine what could be if humanity didn't resort to genocide or war every time a wind blows too strongly. Because they chose to end evolution and bottleneck themselves into having only one inevitable ending, we'll never know.

[gonnagiveittoya]

Mutants are the natural evolution of mankind, though. They are what humankind is becoming. Hating them because they are 'replacing' you makes as much sense as hating your children because they're going to outlive you.

Well we saw with House of M that Mutants in control isn't necessarily a peachy keen deal for the humans. A utopia under mutantkind isn't any more guaranteed than any other of the alternate futures weve seen in X-Men.

By choosing to subvert nature and stunting themselves into assimilation, they gave up any chance to do better or matter more. They chose their end, their hard stopping place. They COULD have embraced that life is change, that evolution and biology always produce new generations to replace the old ones. Instead, they stopped evolution, replaced biology with machinery, and gave up their chance to ever matter because they stupidly fear being 'replaced', as if that isnt what happens to literally every generation in the whole of the history of life...

I'm not sure how this lines up with the idea of humans and their way of life being immediately outmoded. If Mutants take control, rule the Earth with a regent, literally make themselves the center of the universe...what the hell is humanity as a whole going to contribute to the world from now on other than dying out to "get out of their way"

[zinderel]

Well we saw with House of M that Mutants in control isn't necessarily a peachy keen deal for the humans. A utopia under mutantkind isn't any more guaranteed than any other of the alternate futures weve seen in X-Men.



I'm not sure how this lines up with the idea of humans and their way of life being immediately outmoded. If Mutants take control, rule the Earth with a regent, literally make themselves the center of the universe...what the hell is humanity as a whole going to contribute to the world from now on other than dying out to "get out of their way"

House of M was the result of decades of mutant oppression being flipped on its head by a mentally unstable woman with more power than she could handle.

HoX/PoX is about a traumatized woman carrying her trauma forward to the next generation. Trauma inflicted by humanity (okay, okay, and also Destiny and Pyro...as a result of her self-loathing driving her to create for the abusive parents that are at the root of ALL of this a better weapon for beating their children with). Trauma she (and Erik and Charles) wants to turn around on those who victimized her people.

Neither is a healthy situation, and both happen because of the trauma humans inflict on mutants for the sin of existing.

99.999999% of mutants arent Moira, Charles or Erik. The vast majority of mutants are working to better their future with no idea what Krakoa's Trinity have planned. Of course, because of how humanity has raised them, they have adopted the 'all or nothing' mindset of their abusers. This means that, even with the best of intentions, that mutants are going to replace humanity, and quickly, rather than letting nature play out. Moira saw it go one way, so she's pushing it in the other direction. After all, nothing else will ensure mutant safety than removing their perpetually abusive parents from the equation.

Now, imagine the other way things could have gone.

What I'm saying is, that an earth where humanity EMBRACES and supports their mutant children - not worships - instead of actively slaughtering their children could be a world of limitless possibility. Instead, humanity has raised several generations of traumatized children and are freaking out now that their victims are doing well for themselves and paying their abusers back by killing them with kindness...

And, as seen in X1000, they never, ever, ever learn. And as a result, wipe themselves out, one way or another. Because of hubris, fear, and ignorance.

[ospfwildcard]

Sorry but didn't like it. Arakkoans on earth was ripe with story potential but now they are on Mars. That seems to be a recurring thing with this era. Writers are introducing plot elements with huge potential but without exploring them they use them to get to new plot elements. It's continously building towards something without paying off anything. I hope they explore Arakko on Mars but I'm doubtful.

dawn of x should be called prelude to x, its all been one long setup volume. the payoff will be in 3 or 4 years if this is a 5 year plan.

Agreed completely. I was blown away. Can't wait to see how the rest of the Marvel U reacts.

all things considered, there will be no mention anywhere about this in any other marvel book.

Yes exactly! I mean to someone like storm or Vulcan the new definition changes little to nothing. They have limitless control over their respective forces weather and energy. That was what their omega power always alluded to Vulcan more than storm though lol before the offical anouncement that she is omega. Also did we just see storm control an entire planetary climate from scratch without hope or anyone amping her!

yes. they ignored 50 years of her history of having limitations.

Boring issue. I've found the Arakko mutants to be boring, so while I'm glad they're gone now, a big "planet-sized" issue to explain how they got gone is still going to bore me to tears in the middle of the previously already boring Hellfire Gala.

Sigh. Let's just fast-forward to Inferno so I can get the story that Hickman wanted to tell before editorial decided to pad out this Hickman era with boring filler trash by non-Hickman writers, with the exception being my beloved Hellions written by my beloved Zeb Wells, one of the few writers in comics who should be allowed to use humor.

we are on the same page. this run cant have come from the same man that wrote hox/pox. it has editorial dictate all over it. dirty icecream and cake fingerprints.

Eh one it's comic books so everything is convenient.
2. We know that Krakoa has several contingencies/substitutes for mutants.

3. The plan was ALWAYS to terraform mars the arrival of Arakko just sped up their time table.

4. Last but not least their are MILLIONS of mutants living on Arrako it's not far-fetched to think that at least two or three of them would have powers that would help them terraform a planet.

3. there was no build up to this issue. thats the problem.
4. conveniently they were all on the council. would have been better if mags had been looking for just the right mutants over the course of multiple issues, maybe during x of swords. but nah, he pulled up to the council pickup window, ordered four mutant specials and a large diet coke.

I wonder if Arakko will get a book. This could be a huge development or just a way to move the Arakki mutants aside.
This book would have been even more powerful had they shown the mutants from Arakko actually cause big problems in their interactions with humans, but this plotline has been mostly ignored since they were brought to Earth in the first place. We never got any exploration on what it meant to have the two islands reunite and now they're apart again.

dont put it past the x-office to pump out one more book to milk 3.99$ out of your wallet.


im glad others see or starting to see the utter lack of story cohesion (more thoughts on this below) this run has been and how it ended with a bloated gala and grand idea that came out of nowhere with no stakes or difficulties.

however, im a little more optimistic about the future after this issue. for me the last 10-11 were a complete slog and now with this issue it has finally turned a corner and its up up and away from here on out with a more concise streamlined story. i do hope that as the future unfolds that this run will be about more world building than actual telling a cohesive story. to illustrate this i was watching a youtuber review issue 21 of x-men and he created a graph (photo) showing all the issues and how to view them from a top down perspective. at first i was mad that something like this would be necessary and explained why each issue was so jarring and disconnected from a whole over arching narrative. but seeing as they have a 5 year plan maybe this was neccessary and the plot points they touch on will be fully fleshed out later on. if not i dont think i can take another 2 years of what was just produced. hopefuly x-men legends will stick around that long to scratch my x-men itch. never would have thought that a hickman x-men would cause me to long for 90's inspired stories.

xreading.jpg

[gonnagiveittoya]

So if it's already too late, what does it matter what the humans do, in relation to themselves? At this point it's a lost cause,nthey go extinct at the hands of the mutants, or go extinct at the hands of the Phalanx. As far as they're aware/concerned there's no difference. Whether it's the Phalanx, bring outbred, or the mutants just moving to Mars and then blowing the Earth up behind them, it all ends the same way

[Sutekh]

So anywho, I get that they (particularly Magneto, it seems, although some non-Omegas like Emma and Monet seems impressed by big showy spectacles as well) wanted the 'flex' of just having a dozen or so Omega mutants do the terraforming deed, but *I* would have loved if instead they had shown up en masse. Instead of Vulcan (and Hope) blasting a hole for Magneto's new iron core, a bunch of geokinetic sorts like Magma, Petra, Rictor and Avalanche could have opened up the tunnel to the core, and instead of Magneto moving the iron by himself, Polaris, Jean, Exodus, Hellion, etc. could have helped, and instead of his magnetism somehow compressing the core to heat it, a combination of Sunfire, Thunderbird 3, Magma, Firestar and Vulcan could have heated up the millions of tons of metal. Need to create an entire ecosystem worth of micro-life, people like Plague and the Horseman Pestilence could have served, as well as those Arakki mutants.

The whole 'showing off our Omegas' thing felt a little much for me.

[zinderel]

So if it's already too late, what does it matter what the humans do, in relation to themselves? At this point it's a lost cause,nthey go extinct at the hands of the mutants, or go extinct at the hands of the Phalanx. As far as they're aware/concerned there's no difference. Whether it's the Phalanx, bring outbred, or the mutants just moving to Mars and then blowing the Earth up behind them, it all ends the same way

They could admit they messed up. They could work to improve the lives of their children instead of funneling obscene amounts of resources into genocide. The decline of humanity is inevitable. But humans dont HAVE to go out badly, the way they seem determined to do. They are CHOOSING to by stubbornly insisting they know better than all of biological existence and abusing their children. And, in the face of rapid change, rather than acknowledge the role they played in getting themselves here...they double down on it.

I think it's very clear that, for most mutants, a genuine apology and a show of faith and effort on the part of their parents would go a LONG way towards mending fences. Just like how, in the real world, children grow into being their parents never predicted and go on build their own metaphorical worlds and families and leave their parents behind, mutants COULD have healthy, positive relations with their parents. They could do family dinners, Sunday brunches, barbecues.

Instead, just like children who escape from abusive parents, mutants have built new families, new worlds, with no place for their abusers. Some abusive parents recognize what they did and take steps to rectify their wrongs. Their children will always be wary, but when good faith effort is put in, the chance for reconciliation before death is always there. And sometimes, an abusive parent maintains their abusive behavior after their child leaves home. Or escalates it. And then they die, and their victim, assuming they survive, shows up to the funeral in a red dress, tosses a lit cigarette in the grave and walks away.

Humanity is inarguably a DEEPLY abusive parent to their children, in this metaphor. And when faced with their child succeeding despite their best efforts to break their child down, they are escalating instead of reaching out. Damning themselves with VIOLENT extinction instead of simply accepting that all things die, all generations pass.

It's too late for humanity in 616, because nature has decided mutants are the best fit for the cosmic ecology of the time. They could have accepted this, but chose not to. They could have chosen to be better, but humanity has chosen to make their end as petty and violent and stupid and loud as possible, instead of being decent and accepting it with dignity. X1000 shows the end result of that behavior. We haven't seen a world where mutants were accepted and supported instead of hated and feared and hunted.

That should be Moira's last life, when she realizes that for EITHER side to have any hope of peace, they have to come together.

[Kurolegacy]

As long as humanity persists, chance is always a thing, but in the case of Homo Novissima, we'll never know what humanity COULD have been. Instead, by subverting evolution and wiping out their 'freak' children, and then forcibly hybridizing their 'normal' children into half-machine nightmares who casually discuss how great genocide is with its only survivors, they stunted their possibilities to one option: assimilation. They gave up their chance to shine because they thought they could do better than nature.

Let’s be real, would humanity ever actually be acknowledged as anything other than screwups and bigots within the X-books? The likes of Reed Richards, Tony Stark, or T’Challa could do great things for humanity yet in the end nothing about humanity will ever be positively shown on the X-Men side of things.

[Lucyinthesky]

Mutants are born from humans and humans can be born from mutants, they are part of each other and part of the humanity collective, sadly Mastermold seems to be the only one to see this in it´s fullest expression because of his logic, when he was progamed to end all mutant lives back in the silver age he also targeted humans because they are the ones who comunicate the mutant gen and give birth to mutants.

The Phalanx are just interested in eating to add to it´s collective, everybody is just food, that´s why Warlock betrayed his father when he was send to conquer Earth the first time around.

The Phalanx has assimilated the technology of 100,000 worlds and slaughtered 200,000 races.[1] The Phalanx have existed for 100,000 life cycles and have the collective knowledge of previous generations.[4] When the Phalanx conquer a world, they infect the population and feed off the world until all sources of nutrition and power are gone.[5] Their ultimate goal is to consume the whole universe.