Uncanny Spider Man 5 review and spoilers

[Su_Whisterfield]

We start with the preview pages in The Vulture’s Orchis base.

He pays Sable and her team for capturing their mark and orders the men to assemble a firing squad to shoot their captive. “No headshots, of course. We’ll need a brain to dissect if we’re going to figure out how he hides from our scanners.” Lovely.

Sable’s team depart, apart from Kramer and Sable and the mind control device is mentioned. Kramer removes his helmet to reveal, as we all guessed, Kurt.

And the Kurt in captivity is, of course, Mystique, who can alter her appearance down to the genetic level, as revealed in Xmen Blue. She is also concealing weapons. Sable and Raven go on their happy rampage while Kurt goes looking for Warlock, who is the resource Orchis/The Vulture are using to enslave mutants and turn them into hounds.

The computer system is in accessible but Ghost Bamf has another idea; the Orchis operative reduced to a zombie when he tried to access Raven’s mind. Raven and Sable flirt. Ghost Bamf enters the mind of the Orchis guy and pilots him to get through the computer firewall, which frees…

Warlock! Hurrah!

Warlock reabsorbs his code, stollen by the Orchis Hounds, freeing them from Orchis influence too. But he can’t absorb The Vulture’s as he has the source code.

Vulture attacks, augmented, he takes down Warlock, Raven, Sable. But not Kurt’s hope sword.

“We won’t ever make it work, we won’t ever buy the dignity that puts us all on a level, instead of in layers, if we continue to normalise the hatred of bitter old men.”

The sword downs Vulture, allowing Warlock to reabsorb his code.

Wrap up. Warlock accesses the Orchis files, including ones exonerating Kurt. Orchis are massing outside the Gate in Central Park, Kurt needs to know where they are if he’s to ‘port them out, they could be off world for all they know. Warlock confirms that they are 2.63 metres below the X-men’s tree house, they are still in New York. Kurt uses the Orchis mind control gizmo they have planted on Rhino to summon him back and he takes out all the Orchis goons and Sentinels in a satisfying manner.

Kurt and Spidey have a heart to heart, I’ve got their first team up, from 1976, so they have a long history together.

Kurt and Raven part, Raven is planning to work through her trauma with nihilistic abandon, which is in character. She also has an invite to go for a drink with Cloak and Dagger. She wants to introduce her son to her wife… they hug. Mystique being nice to Kurt is weird. She goes off with Warlock.

Kurt has a final heart to heart with Ghost Bamf, confirmed as Legion. Or a facet of his personality and powers. He says that David is hiding in the safest place possible, in Kurt’s hope, whether this is actual or metaphorical, is up for debate, guessing the latter.

The book ends with Sable and Kurt sharing a drink on the top of a skyscraper.

Writing it up makes the plot seem thin, but there’s a lot of ground covered, no real surprises for those who have been following the book, but enough loose threads to give future plots. And Kurt/Sable is cute as hell.

Will be interesting reading all Si’s Kurt stories end to end, he has definitely grown into writing the character better and better, this feels like his swan song and is a fitting end.

[Proxy]

I really enjoyed this finale. Mystique and Kurt’s interactions are still awkward as hell which I think is a good thing. Nice wrap up of this little plot, but with some interesting openings for potential future stories too.

Kurt got to keep the Spidey suit with Peters blessing, so I’d love to see him ‘wall-crawling’ on mini-adventures (that suits too good to shelve!)

And while I wasn’t surprised that the BAMF ghost was a part of Legion; I was surprised that Legion, all of his personalities and reality warping worlds are lying dormant and safe inside Kurt. (Very cute that David, the all powerful mutant with god like power considers Kurt to be the safest place to hide) They say it’s inside the hole in his soul where Kurt’s hope forged the sword, so whether it’s his hope or his soul is a bit ambiguous.
It’s a great twist but seriously, what is it with people taking up space in Kurt’s soul without his knowledge or consent like it’s free real estate!

Legion’s presence has some interesting implications, the ghost Bamf appears to still be active and present so long as Legion is with Kurt, and he has assisted Kurt with reality bending abilities before. So Kurt literally has a little guardian granting him reality bending power. Will this be used in future stories I wonder?

I love that him and Sable are still dating at the end, so cute.

I’m going to miss this mini, wish it’d gone on for longer.

[Kingdom X]

Really liked this issue and this series as a whole. Si really managed to turn things around for me.

My ONE complaint/ nitpick is about the Mystique/ Kurt dynamic. Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve always been a fan of the found family dynamics of the X-Men. But since the retcon and learning that Kurt was a baby made out of love, and that Destiny is his bio mom it seems like they’re trying to smooth over how AWFUL Raven has been to Kurt for years.

I KNOW her initial memories of his birth were warped, but in all these interactions when they met as adults she not once felt the need to try to be a mom. I just felt like Raven had a lot of chances before this to make things right and didn’t. I know Kurt has the biggest heart in the world so it’s not out of character for him to embrace Raven again, but I’m a big “we don’t have to put up with BS from our biological family,” type of person so it just doesn’t resonate with me personally.

[Proxy]

Really liked this issue and this series as a whole. Si really managed to turn things around for me.

My ONE complaint/ nitpick is about the Mystique/ Kurt dynamic. Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve always been a fan of the found family dynamics of the X-Men. But since the retcon and learning that Kurt was a baby made out of love, and that Destiny is his bio mom it seems like they’re trying to smooth over how AWFUL Raven has been to Kurt for years.

I KNOW her initial memories of his birth were warped, but in all these interactions when they met as adults she not once felt the need to try to be a mom. I just felt like Raven had a lot of chances before this to make things right and didn’t. I know Kurt has the biggest heart in the world so it’s not out of character for him to embrace Raven again, but I’m a big “we don’t have to put up with BS from our biological family,” type of person so it just doesn’t resonate with me personally.

I agree with you on the found family and Mystique learning the truth doesn’t excuse her behaviour. But I didn’t get the impression things will be smooth sailing. They can show care for each other now, knowing it’s genuine; but Mystique still went out of her way to make meeting Kurt’s girlfriend super awkward and being her usual brash self. Kurt still seems wary of her too. He knows her well enough to know Mystique is still Mystique.

[rward777]

I agree with you on the found family and Mystique learning the truth doesn’t excuse her behaviour. But I didn’t get the impression things will be smooth sailing. They can show care for each other now, knowing it’s genuine; but Mystique still went out of her way to make meeting Kurt’s girlfriend super awkward and being her usual brash self. Kurt still seems wary of her too. He knows her well enough to know Mystique is still Mystique.

Plus, Kurt knows Spider-Man is Peter parker

[Master of Sound]

Someone needs to tel Destiny that Mystique cheayed on her and went doing things with Silver Sable.

[Kingdom X]

Someone needs to tel Destiny that Mystique cheayed on her and went doing things with Silver Sable.

Mystique and Destiny clearly have some degree of openness in their relationship. Raven was with both of Kurt’s potential dads and Destiny was a-okay with it.

[Proxy]

Plus, Kurt knows Spider-Man is Peter parker

Not sure if he already knew. Kurt and Peter have been causal friends for a while. But I don’t think we’ve ever seen Peter reveal his identity to Kurt.

[Frontier]

I feel like this was the FoX book that surprised the most people just coming off of Spurrier's last runs, it really turned into a fun and enjoyable romp and a great series for Kurt. And probably one of the surprisingly best Spider-Titles of the year.

I doubt any writer will acknowledge Kurt and Sable being a thing after this but it was still a cute relationship. Also, teasing a bi Silver Sable?

Kurt and Mystique seem to be making progress but I feel like that'll be upended the next time writers want Mystique to do something terrible. It'll probably always be a rocky relationship. And Destiny might make it more complicated.

Mystique and Destiny clearly have some degree of openness in their relationship. Raven was with both of Kurt’s potential dads and Destiny was a-okay with it.

Truly living up to the Krakoan ideal .

[Uncanny X-Man]

This was a fun mini overall, which I felt was much stronger than both Way of X and Legion of X, with the highlight being actually the X-Men Blue one-shot. I can't wait for Kurt to rejoin his friends now.

[HomoSuperior]

Really liked this issue and this series as a whole. Si really managed to turn things around for me.

My ONE complaint/ nitpick is about the Mystique/ Kurt dynamic. Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve always been a fan of the found family dynamics of the X-Men. But since the retcon and learning that Kurt was a baby made out of love, and that Destiny is his bio mom it seems like they’re trying to smooth over how AWFUL Raven has been to Kurt for years.

I KNOW her initial memories of his birth were warped, but in all these interactions when they met as adults she not once felt the need to try to be a mom. I just felt like Raven had a lot of chances before this to make things right and didn’t. I know Kurt has the biggest heart in the world so it’s not out of character for him to embrace Raven again, but I’m a big “we don’t have to put up with BS from our biological family,” type of person so it just doesn’t resonate with me personally.

I know right... on the one hand I'm like, she has clearly killed people and nearly killed X-men like Colossus (back in the 80s). How can he look past that sort of thing? But I guess if resurrection is on the table... all that killing is just her acting like another drunk uncle at a wedding.

[carmoc1234]

Not sure if he already knew. Kurt and Peter have been causal friends for a while. But I don’t think we’ve ever seen Peter reveal his identity to Kurt.

I think it might have been a mistake. The only x men that should know are logan because he’s told him and the psychics who just looked in his head like emma. Even Iceman doesn’t know and i would say peter is closer to him than kurt.
Also kurt said his real name in front of mystique which i imagine peter would not be happy about.

[Agent Grayson]

I liked this mini. I’ve not been a fan of any of Spurrier’s work with Nightcrawler up until this but Kurt felt much more like himself here.

This last issue didn’t land as well for me as I think it would have if I’d read all of Way of X and Legion of X - I didn’t really get and/or care about the Legion reveal, the Hope Sword stuff, or Warlock’s return. I’d like to see more of Kurt and Sable together though, and it’s always fun to see Kurt and Spidey teaming up.

The one big misstep for me was Mystique. The dynamic between her and Kurt seems so contrived now and her flirting with Sable was just weird. One of my big complaints about the Krakoan era is that certain elements have felt like fan fiction, and this is definitely one of them.

[HomoSuperior]

I hope they don't take Mystique's omega-level shape shifting too far... and have her start changing into random inanimate objects. Wait...what? Damn.

[Proxy]

I think it might have been a mistake. The only x men that should know are logan because he’s told him and the psychics who just looked in his head like emma. Even Iceman doesn’t know and i would say peter is closer to him than kurt.
Also kurt said his real name in front of mystique which i imagine peter would not be happy about.

Yeah it could just have easily been a mistake.