Illyana Rasputina/Magik Appreciation 2023

[Uncanny X-Man]

Realm of X #1 exclusive retailer variant by Tiago da Silva.

I know covers have often no bearing on the actual content of the comicbook but this reminds me how Kate was saying she doesn't know where Lockheed is in X-Men #25... I'm now wondering if he ended up in Asgard with Illyana perhaps? Although I don't recall seeing him in the preview art.

[wlfking]

Realm of X #1 exclusive retailer variant by Tiago da Silva.

Very nice. Love her left glove. Really want to be reading this book right now!

[sunofdarkchild]

Realm of X 1 preview is out.

I think all of Illyana's powers are on the fritz, not just her teleporting, because she should be summoning her soul sword and leaping into the fight otherwise regardless of the state of her mutant power.

[Thirteen]

Where is the Soulsword? And does Illyana's eldritch armor manifest without it now or is she wearing ornamental costume "jewelry" as part of her gala look?

At the Hellfire Gala...


After escaping the attack Gala...

[sunofdarkchild]

Realm of X is just a worse version of the Midnight Suns comic from late last year and early this year. Illyana's role has been switched to Nico's role from Midnight Suns, and Curse is in the Zoe role. It's kind of shocking how much they are ripping off a story that started less than a year ago, since Midnight Suns started in September 2022.

[rcaguy]

Realm of X is just a worse version of the Midnight Suns comic from late last year and early this year. Illyana's role has been switched to Nico's role from Midnight Suns, and Curse is in the Zoe role. It's kind of shocking how much they are ripping off a story that started less than a year ago, since Midnight Suns started in September 2022.

It's still better than the Dark Web and Ander's bullshit.

[Havok83]

I liked the issue overall but hated how useless Magik was. I get that her powers werent working but that doesnt mean she cant fight. Dani was powerless for years but that didnt stop her from running into battle and kicking ass. Magik acted ike she couldnt throw a punch or pick up a stick and swing it.

[juan678]

KENDRICK KUNKKA Death of The Venomverse #5 Venomized Magik

https://twitter.com/TheComicAwakens/...88578608279579

[LoganAlpha30X33]

Should Illyana date more or at all or should she stay the single warrior monk kind of role, as I don't think that she has much of a dating history. For obvious reasons for much of that time.

[sunofdarkchild]

With the way romances are written in current comics I am very against the idea of Illyana dating anyone. I have no trust whatsoever that any writer would write a romance in a way that develops naturally or fits with her character. It's all but guaranteed to be something shallow that detracts from the character and her struggles rather than anything of narrative or character value. It's rare to see a new romance that isn't shallow, rushed, and all-around badly written in any comic from Marvel and DC the last few years.

[sunofdarkchild]

Illyana does something unexpected in today's Magneto.

[Zaja]

Instead of having Magik dating, I think it would be far more interesting and much less potentially cringey to explore platonic bonds and relationships she could create with other characters outside the usual circles.

Say, now that I think about it, I think some time ago I wrote a draft on a potential 'Magik as Earth's Sorceress Supreme' origin story/prequel disguised as a sort of Ghost Rider/New Mutants AU team-up where she would have interacted quite briefly in a sort of aloof-ally to kinda mentor-protégé scenario with Ghost Rider. Granted, the story itself would be a bit dark, and its ending no less so, depending on your views.

The Midnight Suns game kinda inspired to do this, but so far I have not had the time nor the will to write the story beyond this rough, several-months-old outline.

[sunofdarkchild]

What are people's thoughts on Illyana using Cerebro?

[wlfking]

What are people's thoughts on Illyana using Cerebro?

Seems alright to me. It had something to do with psychics never being able to read her mind, right? And they aren't saying she could do it with a huge cost to herself.

[sunofdarkchild]

I've posted an outline on Twitter/X for a 'Magik-cut' rewrite of Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. I have no plans to actually write a full story on this like did for the New Mutants movie, but I got a couple of requests and had some thoughts on how it could have worked.

The story opens with an alternate Dr. Strange chasing Illyana through a magical dimension, seeking to keep her from getting the Darkhold when he is attacked and mortally wounded by an eldrich monster.

The monster, Illyana, and the wounded Dr. Strange fall into a portal into 'our' earth, where the prime Dr. Strange gets involved and sees Illyana flee through a stepping disk. After defeating the monster, the dying doppelganger warns Strange to stop the Darkchild.

After some research, Strange enlists Wanda's help and follows the dead doppelganger's path through the multiverse, meeting the Illuminati. Wanda is not yet revealed to be the villain and there is no slaughter of sorcerers.

Xavier, the leader of the Illuminati, explains that Illyana was kidnapped to Limbo, conquered that dimension, killed the X-Men who tried to rescue her, and is now seeking the Darkhold to conquer every universe, and has caused the incursions to get it.

But Reed Richards has doubts, since with her teleporting and control of Limbo, the nexus of reality, Illyana doesn't need the Darkhold to travel between universes, and thinks Xavier is blinded by grief over the loss of the X-Men.

While the Illuminati have doubts about working with Strange and consider him dangerous, they still send him after Illyana, and he corners her in a universe where memories can be made manifest and sees the truth.

He sees that Illyana's killing some of the X-Men was a mercy killing and not murder, and that out of guilt she didn't defend herself when Belasco revealed that she had killed them to Xavier, turning him against her.

He also sees that rather than being behind the incursions, she's trying to figure out what's really causing them. At the same time, Reed discovers that Wanda is the villain, and she begins to massacre the Illuminati.

Strange contacts Xavier telepathically and reveals the truth to him just before Xavier is killed. Now filled with remorse for targeting her for things she didn't do, with his last breath Xavier asks Strange to save Illyana, his last student.

It is revealed that in her studies of the universe, Wanda learned of Limbo and its connection to all reality, and that if she ruled it she could go to any universe where her children were real, so she orchestrated the incursions to make it seem that they were coming from Limbo.

Her plan is that by killing the Darkchild, she could claim Limbo for herself and be hailed as a hero for stopping this threat while having access to any universe she wants.

In the final confrontation in Limbo, after learning this, Illyana is prepared to let Wanda kill her since the only person she cared for who is still alive hates her, but a desperate Strange reveals that Wanda killed Xavier, sending Illyana into a rage.

She transforms into the Darkchild and fights Wanda for a while, eventually turning back when she realizes Strange deliberately goaded her into her darker personality, and teleports Wanda to Earth 838 where her children are.

Strange explains that he couldn't let Wanda kill Illyana because of his promise to save her when Xavier died, and lays blame on all of them for what happened. It's his fault for not helping Wanda so she never went down this path, Xavier's fault for pursuing the wrong person and Illyana's fault for being so full of guilt and self-hate that she didn't defend herself and let Xavier think she was an evil monster, blinding him to the real threat.

Strange asks Illyana to come back to his world with him, seeing this as a chance to redeem himself for failing Wanda and Illyana's potential since she didn't fall as Wanda had, and Illyana agrees, becoming his apprentice on the main MCU Earth.