Dark Web: X-Men #3 Review *spoilers*

[Triniking1234]

No. The soul sword coming to Kitty was a complete surprise to Illyana and had nothing to do with permission. In the 90s when they wanted to have Amanda Sefton to take the sword and were willing to **** on everything Illyana ever was to do it they started having the sword corrupt Kitty out of nowhere and tried to say that it was what corrupted Illyana - therefore a trained sorceress like Amanda was needed to handle it. These were some truly horrible retcons that have mostly been undone, but they happened.

Ah. Thanks for the correction.

[Mercury]

Honestly I feel like the Spidey side is even worse because of the massive tonal dissonance and characterization issues.

I'm not well-versed on the Spidey side, but I'll take your word for it.

I feel like any poignancy is undercut by the execution and the huge leaps in logic. But obviously the writers don't seem to be taking it too seriously.

As for Jean and Madelyne, as far as I'm concerned, it all tracks. During the beginning of this event, Madelyne made it clear that she was unleashing Hell on Earth "to test" the X-Men, making it clear that "how they react will author our story's end." Moreover, her feelings regarding Nathan and her desire to have Jean's memories of raising him ring true, especially if one considers that she was and is likely still grappling with trauma, which the demons of Limbo capitalized on while incessantly taunting her. In a sense, one can deduce that they, coupled with her unprocessed feelings, pushed her over the edge. Ultimately, she was in a compromised state and testing her value among those who claimed to care for her while succumbing to the primal urge to get something any mother who could probably would. (This wasn't so much about wanting to take down or make Jean pay as much as experiencing the moments with her son she lost out on. I'm sure her guilt over trying to kill him played a part in this, too.) Lastly, as for Jean's reaction to Madelyne and the revelation that she pushed for her resurrection, I've sufficiently shown that more than tracks. And I'm glad they fought it out and shared a poignant moment. It was a good beat for both of their stories.

With good reason, to be honest.

I feel like this is destined to be either a love it or hate it story and probably one that will go down as "oh, that happened, huh?"

Well, I think they'll look more fondly on this story if Ben gets the same ending Madelyne has gotten. And I pray that he does!

[sunofdarkchild]

I thought it was hardcore he skinned himself to get what he wanted. Also i've read many Belasco stories on the x-side and outside of menacing pedophile i can't really say i've ever taken him that seriously.

This is the man who single-handedly escaped a dimensional prison, fought limitless armies of demons, defeated the ruler of Limbo and banished her to earth with mortal injuries, took the mansion to Limbo and tortured and murdered the New X-Men only to bring them back to life to do it again, then merged Limbo and earth, all because he got a hint that something he wanted was out there in the universe and he was that determined to get it. Now he's reduced to essentially asking Mary Jane and Black Cat to find a toy the Elder Gods took away from him. After meeting him once, the X-Men were so intimidated that they didn't even want to face him as a Danger Room simulation. It also completely undermines the soul sword that there was another soul sword already in existence beforehand. Now she no longer created a new spell by combining different forms of magic and did something that even Dr. Doom could not duplicate, she just did something that was already done, and it makes no sense that Belasco ever wanted to steal Illyana's soul sword since he could have just made a new one all along. He wouldn't even need to use his own soul since Illyana was able to create a second soul sword with Pixie's soul.

2007 Belasco would slaughter Madelyne, the X-Men, Chasm, and pretty much every demon in Limbo with ease powered by nothing more than rage and desire and without any special weapons. 2023 Belasco is a complete joke who needs the help of freaking Black Cat and Mary Jane to give him the slightest chance of doing what used to be child's play for him.

[jwatson]

This is the man who single-handedly escaped a dimensional prison, fought limitless armies of demons, defeated the ruler of Limbo and banished her to earth with mortal injuries, took the mansion to Limbo and tortured and murdered the New X-Men only to bring them back to life to do it again, then merged Limbo and earth, all because he got a hint that something he wanted was out there in the universe and he was that determined to get it. Now he's reduced to essentially asking Mary Jane and Black Cat to find a toy the Elder Gods took away from him. After meeting him once, the X-Men were so intimidated that they didn't even want to face him as a Danger Room simulation. It also completely undermines the soul sword that there was another soul sword already in existence beforehand. Now she no longer created a new spell by combining different forms of magic and did something that even Dr. Doom could not duplicate, she just did something that was already done, and it makes no sense that Belasco ever wanted to steal Illyana's soul sword since he could have just made a new one all along. He wouldn't even need to use his own soul since Illyana was able to create a second soul sword with Pixie's soul.

2007 Belasco would slaughter Madelyne, the X-Men, Chasm, and pretty much every demon in Limbo with ease powered by nothing more than rage and desire and without any special weapons. 2023 Belasco is a complete joke who needs the help of freaking Black Cat and Mary Jane to give him the slightest chance of doing what used to be child's play for him.

Let me start by saying no sarcasm at all. I am not sure how to respond to this as i feel it's information and your valid view but i feel i need to acknowledge i read it and i did.

[Jwyatt]

Feels like this story has gotten progressively dumber as it's gone along.

Zeb Wells' Spidey side has been stupid nonsense. He's tried several attempts at humor that have fallen flat. The demon that looks like Spidey has named himself Rek-Rap (Parker backwards). I don't buy that Eve's Frankenstein mask should give her the power to just shove Maddie off a ledge and take her scythe. The Daily Bugle as hell -- all of it, cringe.

[Lukmendes]

Funny you say that bc the overall consensus that Ive gathered from Spider fans are that its terrible on their end primarily bc of what is perceived as the nonsensical destruction of Ben Reilly

Well this is the third time Ben has made into a villain, and this is at his whiniest and most annoying yet, so yeah, Ben fans have a lot of reason to complain.

Hell one of the big problems with this is how much of a little bitch he's being, he acts like nobody would help him when Spidey quite clearly does want to do so, and he has no reason to think Spidey wouldn't want to help, since on the 90's there was tension between them, but once Spidey stopped having garbage characterization, they had each other's backs, and even in Clone Conspiracy where Ben was a villain, Spidey wanted to help him, and then in Beyond, the story that caused this Charm nonsense had Spidey wanting to help him again, and considering this whole thing is only happening because Ben is acting like Spidey wouldn't help, when he would, and Ben should know this, Ben's being an idiot for the sake of this whole mess to happen.

Like Madelyne has a similar issue, but at the very least you can see where she's coming from when she thinks nobody cares about her, since X-Men do at times ignore she exists, and she even only got resurrected as a glorified gift for Alex and she was clearly pissed with that, but Ben has no reason to think like that, and while losing most of his memories is definitely tragic, it's hard to care for him once you know the context of why he's acting like this.

All I know about the Spider-Man side is that the Mary Jane and Black Cat book managed to ruin Belasco and the soul sword at the same time and need to be treated as if the book never existed if Belasco is ever to be taken seriously again.

While I'm not familiar with Belasco, this did remind me of the Black Cat mini where Felicia's bad luck tech inexplicably counters magic like it's nothing... Also by MacKay, so there's a pattern lol.

Zeb Wells' Spidey side has been stupid nonsense. He's tried several attempts at humor that have fallen flat. The demon that looks like Spidey has named himself Rek-Rap (Parker backwards). I don't buy that Eve's Frankenstein mask should give her the power to just shove Maddie off a ledge and take her scythe. The Daily Bugle as hell -- all of it, cringe.

I would argue you don't even need a magic mask to shove Madelyne if she forgets about her powers .

[Uncanny X-Man]

Zeb Wells' Spidey side has been stupid nonsense. He's tried several attempts at humor that have fallen flat. The demon that looks like Spidey has named himself Rek-Rap (Parker backwards). I don't buy that Eve's Frankenstein mask should give her the power to just shove Maddie off a ledge and take her scythe. The Daily Bugle as hell -- all of it, cringe.

I've generally enjoyed Wells' Amazing Spidey run so far but Dark Web has indeed been pretty mediocre aside from the stellar Ed McGuinness art. The Dark Web: X-Men chapters have been the best part of the crossover and I don't have much hope for next week's concluding one-shot.