I originally typed this up last night, woke up this morning, and thought it wasn’t needed. Then the spoiler thread that had been up mysteriously vanished. So here’s a summary of what happened that will hopefully do it justice.


It opens with Magneto lounging in bed with tits out like the silver fox he is. He immediately picks up on Xavier’s telepathic surveillance, and calls him out. Hope answers him instead, apologetic as she peers at him, the size of a giant amid Escher-esque stairs.

Meanwhile, back in the waking world of the Healing Gardens of Krakoa, Hope questions Xavier on the ethics of enhanced psychic interrogation and keeping the matter from the Five. She isn’t comfortable with the whole situation, and wonders why Emma or Jean isn’t doing this instead.

However, Emma and Jean have their hands full already. Jean is greeting the Avengers that just disembarked from a Quinjet: Vision, Wasp (Janet), Captain America (Steve), and Iron Man. She hugs Vision and Wasp as Cyclops offers to take them on a tour of Krakoa before they retrieve Wanda’s remains.

As the tour proceeds through the various landscapes and territories that make up Krakoa, Polaris starts to see a problem with their route. Arbor Magna is ahead, and resurrection protocols are supposed to remain secret from the humans. She urges Jean to erase their memories to protect the secret, to which Jean counters that she isn’t comfortable committing such a diplomatic breach. Lorna reminds her that a major security breach is in the offing if she don’t, and Jean insists there alternatives.

It turns out that alternative is Emma Frost telepathically projecting a zoom background of a sunning area in the woods over the actual image of the hatcheries. The Avengers see only her and the Cuckoos getting a tan, remaining none the wiser.

Elsewhere, Northstar, Rachel, and Daken are holding counsel. They note the missing cerebro helmet, and surmise it has a connection to Wanda’s murder. Perhaps Magneto is trying to force her resurrection against the Quiet Council’s decree. Rachel chronoskimms the area, and sees Magneto taking the helmet himself.

An elaborate multi-arrow symbol with two tree spheres dominates most of the page. There’s an awful lot of words to quote, so here’s the image of it instead.

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One very long arrow points to these words: “Because magic rules itself. And mortality simply bears witness.”

It seems Wanda is trapped in some sort of purgatory in which she is being hunted, murdered, dies, is reborn, flees, then once again murdered in an endless loop. It sounds horrible, but the art makes it look a lot more sparkly than you would think purgatory would be.

In the land of the living, Hope telepathically awakens Magneto from his coma. Xavier has left them alone for a minute, and she wastes no time in telling Magneto not to let the Avengers see Wanda’s body. A psychic spark goes from Hope to Magneto’s temple as she tell him “Do you understand? Do not let them see her body.” Magneto answers he does understand.

At the Boneyard, the Avengers, the X-Men, and X-Factor talk among each other. Pietro sardonically remarks on this, about how a brutal murder could bring so many different people together. Steve corrects him and says it’s the grief bringing them together, across the political divide. Pietro thanks him and apologizes, as Steve comforts him with the knowledge that Wanda would appreciate him defending her even after death.

This causes Pietro to tear up, and Jean Paul starts to asks if he’s okay. Pietro tries to deflect, and Jean Paul offers a hug. Pietro says “F*ck you. Not that-“ and is cut off as he is wrapped up in a metallic mass by Magneto. Northstar almost meets the same fate, but is protected by Rachel’s shields.

Magneto hovers before the Boneyard and demands the Avengers be sent out to him. Iron Man, boasting of his magnet-proof suit, is eager to oblige. When he questions why Wolverine (Laura) was trying to stop him, Steve explains that the X-Men don’t want them to have to. Tony gives Cyclops ten minutes to conclude matters, and Polaris asks to confront Magneto first.

As she flies out to meet him, Magneto sneers at her design of the Boneyard and mocks her level of education. This is incredibly rich coming from him, considering that as far as I know, Magneto doesn’t have a degree from a higher institute of learning. You know who does? Lorna. Its a Ph.D and she did her thesis on a design for a sentient defensive structure. As she corrects him, Cyclops once again ignores her wish to let her handle it first and blasts him.

Northstar tells Prodigy to take point and protect the chain of custody from Magneto’s interference. Prodigy assembles X-Factor to do just that, while outside the Avengers join in the fray several minutes early. The fight rages in Magneto’s favor until, surprisingly, Kyle (?) walks out of a gateway. Magneto takes him hostage, and begins threatening Kyle’s life if the Avengers don’t leave Krakoa.

Northstar promptly turns around and tells the Avengers to get the f*ck out, which Wasp found to be rude. Jean counsels him to remain calm, but Northstar tells her he is more than ready to kill them all to save Kyle. Steve reminds Magneto that Kyle is an innocent, Magneto replies that he’s human, and Northstar counters with Kyle’s Krakoan citizenship.

Magneto finally lands and releases Kyle. Northstar rushes to his side, as Magneto stalks forward to the Avengers. He reiterates his demand for the Avengers to leave Krakoa. Steve in turn questions why Magneto would prevent the Avengers from taking Wanda’s body home. Magneto bellows that none of them knows what home means for Wanda. Pietro, finally free of Magneto’s earlier attack, counters that he does.

As a last ditch effort, Magneto finally makes a ‘confession’ to killing Wanda, and demands to be taken away by the Avengers before he continues to brings the place down. Steve only stares behind him, and Magneto wants to know why what he’s waiting for. After all, he killed the Scarlet Witch.

Wanda (!?) herself floats down from the sky, to respectfully disagree with this point. From the trees, Mystique watches and comments that this should be interesting. As Wanda lands and walks towards everyone, she greets everyone and thanks them for their help. In fact, Wanda tells them that she’s all right, everything is fine, and she just wants to put this whole thing behind her and let things get back to normal. At this last part, she goes up to Vision and throws herself in his arms, passionately kissing him.

Issue #3 will be released October 20.