Immortal X-Men #2 Review/Spoilers

[jwatson]

Wait, I thought the TO/TK symbiosis was already established canon? I've been operating under that assumption for years now. Don't tell me I've just been making stuff up this whole time lol

It has always read as Cable was using his TK to keep his virus in check from taking him over but in the latest issue it was set up that the virus actually keeps his TK in check and two rely on the other so it has become more of a biological function than an active mental one. Small change but big potential difference to cable as we saw by him using his tk to lift the station and how in this issue it was enough to take out a progenitor.

I'm starting to suspect somehow cables natural state is always having his tk on now.

[Jackraow21]

Wait, I thought the TO/TK symbiosis was already established canon? I've been operating under that assumption for years now. Don't tell me I've just been making stuff up this whole time lol

No. At least not that I recall in terms of being explicitly laid out like this. It’s long been established that Cable’s powers are nerfed by the need to contain the virus, and then later on they added that both Stryfe and X-man deteriorate physically and/or mentally due to the raw power running through their bodies. And then in the Cable/Deadpool series it was established that the same applies to him as well, when he purged himself of the T-O virus, which is logical. However, it’s never been explicitly stated that Cable’s body exists in this state of symbiosis where he needs the virus to contain his powers as much he needs his powers to contain the virus. It’s certainly a logical conclusion that could be drawn, and perhaps you’re smart enough to have drawn it a long time ago based on the above. But to my knowledge Ewing was the first one to explicitly state this (in Brand’s data pages talking about Cable).

So, like I said, I think that’s cool and especially in light of recent revelations about Apocalypse and his motivations… considering he’s the one who infected baby Nathan Summers in the first place.

[Antarctic]

Lol I just feel sorry for Gillen for having the guts for doing this, as Selene is a far more popular character I think and he insist on bringing Hope to the spotlight (and btw thank you for this Mr. Gillen).
Ahhh Sinister . I don't think anything in comics makes me smile so much.

[Micabe]

Yeah, I didn’t think Cable had a poor showing at all. He took out a godlike being after his techno-organic viral load was essentially consumed by said being, as his TK now rages out of control without the virus to keep it in check. So he turned his raw power on that MFer, unleashed it and “one-shotted” him as jwatson said. Which was awesome. Then another one of these Progenitors obliterated him, sure. But it’s not like mutant characters aren’t dying right and left in the comics these days (how many times have the members of X-Force died on missions now?). With the Resurrection Protocols in place, the mutants can be a bit more reckless I suppose.

Having said that, I find this new revelation about Cable’s body being in a state of symbiosis with the T-O virus (i.e., needing the virus to contain his powers as much as he needs his powers to contain the virus) to be a highly interesting development for a number of reasons…

1) It has already been established that Cable, X-man and Stryfe are not Omega level mutants (i.e., with no upper limit to their powers), rather just really powerful Alpha level mutants.

2) It has also been shown that their bodies and minds deteriorate over time due to the immensity of their power levels, and the more they use their powers to their full extent the faster they degrade… almost like their bodies just cannot contain the amount of raw power coursing through them, perhaps because they were genetically engineered by Sinister precisely to be so powerful and to act as weapons against Apocalypse. In other words, he wasn’t striving for perfection here, rather just combining genetics that would create a being with immense raw power. This has been shown many times in the comics, including one time in the Cable/Deadpool series where Nathan had Wade literally lobotomize him to keep his powers from burning out his mortal husk.

3) With the revelations in X of Swords regarding Apocalypse and the motivation for his “survival of the fittest” dogma causing us to question his relationship with the Summers family over the years (or even over the eons in the case of En Sabah Nur’s relationship with Nathan Summers), essentially implying that he was hardening them to face what he knew was eventually coming… combined now with this revelation that Cable actually needs the T-O virus to keep his powers in check as much as he needs his powers to keep the virus in check… this now throws everything into question, including why he infected baby Nathan in the first place! Emma Frost says something in the final issues of the Kid Cable series about how Apocalypse may have created Stryfe as a whetstone to sharpen Cable against… or something like that. Could he have also infected him not to kill him or even test him as an infant, but rather because he knew it was the key to preserving his life so that he could become the time-displaced warrior he eventually became? After all, Cable did play a key role in X of Swords in terms of helping to turn the tide against Annihilation and the hordes of Amenth.

Food for thought, but I find it fascinating.

And here all this time I was under the impression that Apocalypse infected baby Nathan in order to take over his body and powers.

[Malachi]

No. At least not that I recall in terms of being explicitly laid out like this. It’s long been established that Cable’s powers are nerfed by the need to contain the virus, and then later on they added that both Stryfe and X-man deteriorate physically and/or mentally due to the raw power running through their bodies. And then in the Cable/Deadpool series it was established that the same applies to him as well, when he purged himself of the T-O virus, which is logical. However, it’s never been explicitly stated that Cable’s body exists in this state of symbiosis where he needs the virus to contain his powers as much he needs his powers to contain the virus. It’s certainly a logical conclusion that could be drawn, and perhaps you’re smart enough to have drawn it a long time ago based on the above. But to my knowledge Ewing was the first one to explicitly state this (in Brand’s data pages talking about Cable).

So, like I said, I think that’s cool and especially in light of recent revelations about Apocalypse and his motivations… considering he’s the one who infected baby Nathan Summers in the first place.

With X-man he was designed with a fail safe in the shape of him burning out. Witch he fixed later on. Unless you are talking about something after his new mutants appearance witch I have less knowledge about.

Of course all of this is from old marvel lore where there was a clear difference in what a Nate Grey was and what a Nathan Summers was.

[Lukmendes]

Umm, wasn't the only way to kill Selene via her mother's bones? :P What's this unimaginative anti-magic bullet crap? And neck snap? Oh veyy, does Exodus think he's Emma, Wanda or Zack Snyder's Man of Steel?

Don't forget Wonder Woman.

But you should be a Cable fan. He's an awesome character with a lot of cool layers that have been added since his creation... from the Casey/Ladronn run to the Tischman Soldier X run to the Nicieza-penned Cable/Deadpool series that did some really cool things with him to, yes, the relationship with Hope that was established from Messiah Complex through the Swiercynski Cable series through Second Coming. That to me was one of the best layers. Perhaps because I became a father to a baby girl around that time and used to read her comics when she was little... but I digress. ;D

I got "Rift talking about Helion" vibes from this lol.

Every character is someone’s favorite. We should try to be respectful of that.

Does that include the cook vaguely talked about in X-Men#6? Is he or she someone's favorite? .

If we got a dollar for every time a threat to Krakoa could be solved by insert X mutant here we would both be many dollars richer and have no real threat to Krakoa at all short of ramping it up to the mutants doing something like declaring war on the One Above All. Or maybe Kang.

At least if they fought Kang, Cable would be of help lol.

If Xavier, Magneto and Sinister had half a brain each they would take the chance to eliminate Destiny and Mystique now that Irene's powers have gone haywire and she can't see them coming... but we know they won't, and they will sit and wait for Mystique and Destiny's next predictable and inevitable yet still shocking betrayal...

Sinister has save states, he has to become dumber otherwise he'd take over Earth in what's technically a day after doing trial and error a billion times lol.

Either way, I felt this issue was a drop of quality, Selene being killed by a convenient anti-magic bullet felt meh.

Also logically I don't see why they'd need to kill and resurrect her to get info on how to stop that monster, can't her backed up memories on Cerebro be checked to do so?

That doesn't mean it was bad though, IXM#1 was really fun, and while the way the threat of the monster was kinda meh, I still enjoyed this, Cyclops' data page was amusing, the third footnote about "Pass the command to someone else if you can't recognize a Sentinel" was amusing lol.

Also, this:



Has the same vibe as this:



.

[Rev9]

You know… you’re absolutely right. This girl’s whole platform was that she’d take out the corruption when it comes to resurrections and after getting hyped by a madman for 2.5 seconds she was ready to act up. Knowing damn well they could have gotten that knowledge from the Cerebro backup. I like that Hope has a lil edge to her but this was a bit much.

Honestly why even set up Selene with the Coven if she was going to get killed off? She’d make a great long-term villain. But nah we gotta clean the slate for Judgement Day *yawn*.

The issue was really entertaining so I’ll be buying again next month.

How would getting knowledge from the Cerebro backup help? Knowing the pathway to a file on your computer is useless if you don't have the keyboard to execute, whichever way Selene's mind had to be probed forcefully as she wasn't going to shut the creature down willingly. Breaking her neck is a different matter but I guess Exodus knows her better than most. That would be like complaining that Exodus blew off Sinisrer's head with tk after having a look inside. Are we really that surprised?

[Confuzzled]

How would getting knowledge from the Cerebro backup help? Knowing the pathway to a file on your computer is useless if you don't have the keyboard to execute, whichever way Selene's mind had to be probed forcefully as she want going to shut the creature down willingly. Breaking her neck is a different matter but I guess Exodus knows her better than most. That would be like complaining that Exodus blew off Sinisrer's head with tk after having a look inside. Are we really that surprised?

The main issue is that Selene, after oddly being hyped for this book since months, was used as a plot device for just two issues instead of being voted onto the QC or even being setup as a villain.

[Jackraow21]

I got "Rift talking about Helion" vibes from this lol.

Hey, I’ve been doing “Rift talking about Hellion” but stanning for Cable for waaay longer. Maybe I’m just more subtle about it and need to up my game…

[Rev9]

The main issue is that Selene, after oddly being hyped for this book since months, was used as a plot device for just two issues instead of being voted onto the QC or even being setup as a villain.

I don't disagree on setting her up as a long term villain being a better option..It's not like her villainy is suddenly in doubt ,if anything this makes the day she is resurrected one to watch, but then again maybe Gillen is turning her into a female Shaw

[Rift]

Hey, the world would be a better place if people talked like me. When we finally get a Hellion appearance, then you will realize

[WallStreeter]

What's the big deal? Dumb Hope left an intact body behind for Clan Akkaba to ressurect. When it comes to returning from death, Jean Grey simps for Selene.

Which had to be why Selene went there in the first place? She was resurrected by Amora the Enchantress after Necrosha.

Are people forgetting Selene an not only resurrect herself but others can magically resurrect her? There’s no big deal here to me. The council isn’t done with her by a long shot.

[WallStreeter]

Selene was called the mutant mistress of deception. So yes, let dumb Hope and Exodus think they have saved the day.

Oh, sadly for the QC, Magik is stepping down as sorceress supreme of Limbo. The throne is going to Madelyne Pryor.

Illyana has become a more powerful sorceress in earth, especially since Dr. Strange trained her but is dependent upon her soulsword which just got broken

[Rift]

Selene just swanning around London with a massive hole through her head.

I forgot to respond earlier, but I've been laughing at this for like three days straight now.

[Wolverine12]

I didn't realize Selene was so popular around these parts lol. I thought this issue was a pretty big drop off from issue one. First I'll go over the bad from the issue. I'll start with the mysterium bullet, what a handwave resolution. I'm guessing Gillen really enjoyed X-Men Origins: Wolverine because that was about the same as the adamantium bullet from that film. I know Gillen has written Hope a lot but this was felt like straight hero worship on the page (don't @ me with Percy and Logan). I'm guessing the point is to remind us of how important she is to not only the 5, but Krakoa in general because most likely she is going to get taken out immediately in Judgement Day. I get the build up but I don't have to like it.

Now on to the good stuff. I will say I am really digging the development of Exodus so that was a huge positive for me, I also really enjoyed that they brought back Selene, hit the off button and then 86'd her immediately. Finally Gillen should have immediate and unilateral access to write Sinister whenever and where ever, seriously its just the best. I know I'm a broken record here but the art in this book was just amazing. We X-Fan's are the luckiest group right now when it comes to art in the books.