X-Men #11 - showing the hand *spoilers*

[HomoSuperior]

Editorial earns their salary as this issue’s exposition finally connects some random dots.

spoilers:

The x-ladies arrive on Gameworld while Rocket Raccoon narrates Gameworld’s purpose: it’s a place where the fate of planets is decided through gambling. Earth is on the table and being bet against (shorted), after mutants gentrified Mars. Jean notes this is capitalism’s final form. Laura gets the drop on some guards who are possessed by Cordyceps Jones fungi. He overwhelms Laura and possesses her too. Jean makes her way through the casino and threatens the gamblers who are betting against Earth. She reminds a kingpin looking gambler that she doesn’t take commands from anyone - not even Phoenix. Cordyceps suddenly appears with his moldy crew, including Laura, and begins to overwhelm Jean. On Earth, Cyclops and Synch navigate the sewers in search of Dr Stasis. They split up and Synch encounters Stasis’ tiger man who is cremating his fallen team mates / experiments remains. After some trash talk, Synch manifests wolverines claws (?!) and kills tiger man. He ends the moment by saying he’s been wolverine longer than anybody else (?!). Nearby, Cyclops takes on Dr Stasis, and blasts his helmet off revealing what looks like a Sinister clone. But with a black playing card club symbol on his forehead - instead of a red diamond. (?!)

end of spoilers

[Rift]

We start off with the scene in the preview, in which a clam lawyer tells Mojo that his shareholders got a fungal infection. To have their lives spared, they needed to give up their interest in Gameworld to Cordyceps Jones. Mojo tells the lawyer that they're going to making it look like they were shorting Earth. He wants the highest jackpot to be the home of the X-Men and Avengers. This is likely so the heroes will retaliate and bring them down.

If he can't have Gameworld, no one can.

Cut to Gameworld, where the X-Women have shown up in their first gala outfits. Laura's not walking in perfect sync, so she's ruining what could have been a beautiful diamond formation. But they're here to gamble, first and foremost. Rogue offers some Mysterium to the host, earning them a generous line of credit.

We get a flashback to Gambit's gambling den in the Treehouse. Rocket explains how Gameworld can bust out planets, as we've seen them try with Earth. Corporations come in, take what they need from the remains, and everything is laundered through Gameworld. Rocket talks about how strong the security is, but he's confident the X-Men will win out.

Back to Gameworld. The girls are in a room full of gambling and slot machine stripper robots. As per their as-of-yet unspoken plan, they split up. Polaris gets distracted by a pretty dress, which, to be fair, looks better than her current one.

Captain Marvel and Iron Man visit the treehouse and are like "The X-Men left Earth and you're on goalie duty." Sunfire is like "No lol. But if they did, the goalie is the most important member of the team."

Captain Krak and Synch are in the sewers of New Jersey, hunting down Stasis. Synch's listening in on the Treehouse with Jean's powers, and relaying them to Scott. Scott doesn't really care since he doesn't think they have to lie to the Avengers. Synch reveals that he's also synching with Laura, and has her enhances senses, and he's using them to track Stasis' path during the day he killed Cyclops.

Back on Gameworld, Laura is acting stealthy. She purposely "slips up" and gets seen, so she can be captured. Cordyceps grabs her and infects her with his fungus.

Back on Earthworld, Synch meets that tiger-headed guy who serves Stasis. He's throwing some monster bodies into a furnace to get rid of evidence. They fight and Synch wins, owing his centuries of experience using Laura's powers. Of course, if Hellion were here, he could have just thrown Bornan into the furnace and saved some time.

Back on Gameworld, Lorna bought the dress and is dancing. Rogue and Polaris reveal what they learned so far: Gameworld is run on slave labor, and Cordyceps will let people wager on their planets if the slaves get out of line. Gameworld's engines are black holes, so they can't sabotage them without everyone dying. With that exposition done, they cause a distraction for Jean: Polaris makes the slot machine stripper robots spot money out onto the audience, luring the security away from Jean. Jean makes a big, badass and over-flowery speech about how no one treads on Earth, how strong she is, and she's going to stop all these jerks. Some guy sasses her, so she breaks his hand.

Cordyceps shows up with some guards. He's also controlling Laura like a puppet, which you know Laura absolutely loves. /s Cordyceps then sprays his spores at Jean, eager to have such a powerful person under his control.

Data-page time: Dr. Statis is part of the Oblivion Institute, founded on the belief that co-existence is a lie. Since mutants took Mars, people have come to Stasis' way of thinking. He calls Captain America a race traitor for not having issues with Arakko. He then takes time to recognize the cat dude he's always with (and Synch might have killed, oops), which is really nice. I'm glad they're friends.

Back to Earth, Dr. Stasis is found and confronted by Scott. Stasis sees through the Captain's disguise and knows she's actually Cyclops. But Cyclops is already in his Cyclops costume, ready to confront him. Cyclops kicks his ass and breaks his mask, revealing Dr. Stasis' identity: it's actually Hellion, seeking revenge on the X-Men for forgiving the Scarlet Witch after she ruined his friends' lives.

Actually no, it's less interesting than that. Turns out that Stasis is a Mister Sinister with a club on his forehead.

Some notes:

• Jean says she was Marvel Girl, but is now Jean Grey. So I guess she dropped the moniker again?
• The narration around Laura says that she was trying to get captured on purpose, while Rogue tells Polaris that she should be back from scouting the security by now. Hopefully this will be explained in the next issue.
• Of course, if Hellion was on Gameworld, he would have protected everyone from Cordyceps' spores with his telekinetic bubbles.

[dragon1440]

Editorial earns their salary as this issue’s exposition finally connects some random dots.

spoilers:

The x-ladies arrive on Gameworld while Rocket Raccoon narrates Gameworld’s purpose: it’s a place where the fate of planets is decided through gambling. Earth is on the table and being bet against (shorted), after mutants gentrified Mars. Jean notes this is capitalism’s final form. Laura gets the drop on some guards who are possessed by Cordyceps Jones fungi. He overwhelms Laura and possesses her too. Jean makes her way through the casino and threatens the gamblers who are betting against Earth. She reminds a kingpin looking gambler that she doesn’t take commands from anyone - not even Phoenix. Cordyceps suddenly appears with his moldy crew, including Laura, and begins to overwhelm Jean. On Earth, Cyclops and Synch navigate the sewers in search of Dr Stasis. They split up and Synch encounters Stasis’ tiger man who is cremating his fallen team mates / experiments remains. After some trash talk, Synch manifests wolverines claws (?!) and kills tiger man. He ends the moment by saying he’s been wolverine longer than anybody else (?!). Nearby, Cyclops takes on Dr Stasis, and blasts his helmet off revealing what looks like a Sinister clone. But with a black playing card club symbol on his forehead - instead of a red diamond. (?!)

end of spoilers

That line about being wolverine longer then anyone else is awesome. They were in the vault for 537 vault years, and Laura died before upload so therefore doesnt have those decades of experience that Synch has. And logan is not over 537 years old.

[Glio]

That Stasis is a divergent Sinister is a good twist. We know that there were humans Sinister before the mutants. Also, it fits well with the casino thematic and his other obsession: Gambit.

[Diammandis]

with this new sinister it opens the door for other variants of sinister as well, with heart and spade Essex becoming possible

[loke13]

with this new sinister it opens the door for other variants of sinister as well, with heart and spade Essex becoming possible

And even better yet a KING or QUEEN variant. Gotta say I didn't see the Dr. STASIS twist coming I know a few people were betting on him being the other scientist dude whose name escapes me at the moment.

Also shoutout to Jean this issue. Coming in with the speech and power display and acknowledgment of the Phoenix. You don't just name drop Jean being a former Phoenix host and then have her get mind controlled next issue. Cordyceps bit off more than he could chew.

[HomoSuperior]

This was a fun issue.

Glad it connected the previous issues random introductions.

While also revealing some mysteries.

Seems like there is a natural connection between High Evolutionary and Sinister -- but what?

Seems like Chimera are back on the table if Dr. Stasis is actually Sinister and he somehow obtained Synch's DNA.

Seems like Sinister's playing card tattoos now align him with old school Hellfire Club heraldry. But how?

[Jackraow21]

This scene was hot fire…

259E4C3C-EA90-4719-8409-52E3D0CFCAC3.jpg

Great issue! I feel like this series is really hitting its stride. Between this book, Red, Immortal and Wolverine I’m eating good as an X-fan.

[Exodus]

And even better yet a KING or QUEEN variant. Gotta say I didn't see the Dr. STASIS twist coming I know a few people were betting on him being the other scientist dude whose name escapes me at the moment.

Also shoutout to Jean this issue. Coming in with the speech and power display and acknowledgment of the Phoenix. You don't just name drop Jean being a former Phoenix host and then have her get mind controlled next issue. Cordyceps bit off more than he could chew.

she will burn away what does not work. Clearly Jean is the new marxist queen who will finally destroy capitalism next issue!!!! About time!

#AmentotheMotheroftheSpaceChicken

[JB]

First of all, BRA-freaking-VO to BobbysWorld for calling Stasis as Sinister! What the hell games is he playing? Sinister is really becoming quite the antagonistic force of the era with his shady shenanigans.

I need a cigarette after the gorgeous art manhandled me and I don’t even smoke. Great seeing Rocket and I love that Remy’s gambling den is such a fixture of the treehouse.

Are we looking at a Fungi Laura and Fungi Jean versus Lorna and Rogue next issue? Let’s goooo!



Outstanding.

[Kingdom X]

And even better yet a KING or QUEEN variant. Gotta say I didn't see the Dr. STASIS twist coming I know a few people were betting on him being the other scientist dude whose name escapes me at the moment.

Also shoutout to Jean this issue. Coming in with the speech and power display and acknowledgment of the Phoenix. You don't just name drop Jean being a former Phoenix host and then have her get mind controlled next issue. Cordyceps bit off more than he could chew.

I saw someone speculate that she’ll use her psychic form from Bendis’ run to wreck **** once her body gets taken over.

[Grunty]

Why would they investigate the New York sewers just as pair and not with a few Morlocks as guides who likely know everything down there? Also why split up like idiots in horror movies?

[HomoSuperior]

Between this book, Red, Immortal and Wolverine I’m eating good as an X-fan.

I'm fat and happy. I've always wondered how Sinister / Essex (as old as he is) might have been affiliated with an original and/or 80s Hellfire Club. Seemed like an open, unexplored connection. Also wondered how Hellfire Club "industrialist mutants who want to enslave mutants...for profit(?)" might go about doing such a thing.

Ever since HC took up residence in Krakoa, the X-men have been producing and shipping exclusive commodities and expanding operations -- so it seems like HC plans are happening as events unfold.

[HomoSuperior]

Why would they investigate the New York sewers just as pair and not with a few Morlocks as guides who likely know everything down there? Also why split up like idiots in horror movies?

When Synch's w/you, you're more than just "a pair." Seemed like Cyclops split off because he knew Synch could handle it.

[dragon1440]

Why would they investigate the New York sewers just as pair and not with a few Morlocks as guides who likely know everything down there? Also why split up like idiots in horror movies?

Its been years since the morlocks lived there. Just like anything with a city, sewers change so really unless it was someone recent that was down there you would have a better chance asking a homeless person then a morlock to be guide. The population of homeless living in sewers is really large but theres no way to get an accurate count. But I would think that for Morlocks it had been a while since down there. Also many of the morlocks dont have powers that are offense so why put them in danger?