Immortal X-Men #17 Spoiler Recap and Review

[PyroFN]

-Krakoa-

We open the scene with Charles Xavier, walking up the stairs to his quarters. He psychically speaks to what looks to be no one.

“So…….you are still within me, Sinister.”

Charles exposits that this control is not like before. During the day, Xavier is himself. At night though, it is when Sinister comes out to play. And he has been making Charles do unspeakable things, referencing the bloodied Orchis infiltrators that were spoken of earlier. Charles walks towards his and looks down, where his room is high above Krakoa’s trees.

“By sunset, you will be gone. One way or another. I know one way. Do you know an alternative?”

It is with that last threat that Sinister appears in a ghostly form, apologizing and pleading.

-The White Hot Room. Nowhere and nowhen-

We center on Jean, lying still with a torrid of memories from her lifetime flooding her very mind. Her iris and pupils take the form of fire. Yet, despite Jean’s state……the memories that come to Jean’s mind seem to parallel the scene taking place.

The scene goes back to where we left off last issue, with Apocalypse asserting that the fate of the future lies in Exodus and Hope passing their test. Hope asks Exodus what the White Hot Room is. Exodus explains to Hope that the White Hot Room is a higher spiritual realm. A similar position to that of the Tiphareth from the Kabbalah, which speaks of the levels of spiritual steps one takes on their journey to connect with God. He deduces that because Jean Grey has a connection to the Phoenix Force, her being here must means she is disassembled.

Hope puts together that the Wolverines and Bishops they faced were of Hope’s own memories of them attempting to kill her in the past. Just as Exodus is putting together Exodus’s role, Apocalypse confirms he represents Exodus’s Satan.

Apocalypse and Exodus cause explosion of power from Exodus’s telekinesis and Apocalypse’s sheer strength. When the dust settles, Exodus admits that what Apocalypse said is true. Apocalypse is Satan in Bennet’s mind. He is what Exodus would always oppose. Exodus forms a psionic cross-blade and stabs the head of the fake Apocalypse…..but it takes no effect.

Apocalypse proceeds to turn the tide of the battle, clapping both hands over Exodus’s head to crush it. Exodus’s blood spews over Apocalypse’s hands. Apocalypse states that Exodus believes that he cannot beat Apocalypse. That he is not stronger than his own faith in himself. Apocalypse asks Exodus what he does he believe in that could overcome his weakness?

Exodus answers weakly, yet simply.

“I believe in hope.”



A great explosion blasts the ruins, crumbling everything in the surrounding the area. Hope describes her experience as feeling Exodus’s faith in her and a connection with the Phoenix Force suddenly appearing. A callback to Jean Grey vol 2 #4. Before they can get their bearings though, Jean, for the first moment of full awareness, cries out to them.

“Hope. Exodus. You have to help me. I’m- -”

Before she could finish, Jean begins to seize as she speaks aloud to Exodus and Hope the jumbled of statements from Jean and the Phoenix’s lifetime. With seemingly, one line that did not exist.

“Jean is the house where I live- and I am the house where Jean Grey lives. The White Hot Room is where the Phoenix lives.You’ll learn more about me, boys, in time! I hope I wasn’t too rough……”

Seeing Jean not quite in her right state of mind, Hope declares that they need to get Jean to Krakoa (Atlantic) quickly.

-Krakoa (Pacific)-

We change back to our scene with Xavier and Mister Sinister speaking to one another. Sinister explains to Charles that he is indeed still in the Hole and this is only part of Sinister that still resides. Charles laments that Forge’s cure didn’t work.

Sinister corrects that it did work in Emma, Hope, Destiny, and Exodus. Charles has had prior run-ins with Sinister’s experimenting as a child. A callback to X-Men: Legacy vol 1. That older work allowed his genome to reattach itself to Charles. Still, it’s old tech Charles had beaten before. Sinister could only take control while Charles sleeps.

Charles is not pleased with learning that Sinister had used him to commit murder. Sinister finds an irony about it. Sinister had access to the most powerful mind on the planet, yet he only had need and access to Charles’s literal physical body.

Sinister shifts the conversation to the very thing he had been trying to tell Charles and the Council since they put him in the Pit. One of the Sinister’s had become a Dominion, a being whose intelligence is at the highest, to the point that it gives the power that transcends to a cosmic level, existing outside the bounds of reality.

Once more, Charles expresses skepticism, given Sinister’s history of saying anything to get what he wants. Sinister then does something he would never do normally.



Charles confirms Sinister’s words about Forge and telepathically calls Emma Frost. He tells her that she no longer has any Sinister left in her. Emma gives her thanks to Charles. She then asks if he is as clean. Charles confirms to her that he is not and ends the conversation.

Charles believes Sinister about the Dominion. He also learned that Sinister has no real back-ups. Whatever leftover would not measure. Sinister had tried to hide that for how worthless they are. Charles begins to step on the railing of the balcony. He states he trusts that his X-Men will handle the threat of the Dominion and that he had to let go of control.

Sinister begs Charles to rethink that option. He looks terrified, getting down on his hands and knees. Sinister says he knows of this Dominion because his other timeline led to his self coming face-to-face with the Dominion. It let him see enough to know it is real and a Sinister, but not he himself. It was why he was working at night when Charles slept and wasn’t committing murder. Charles states he was also working on a way to stop the Dominion. But he was also working on a way to take Charles over permanently.

Sinister admits to Charles he is correct, as Charles starts to sit on the ledge. Of course he was planning such a play. He is Mister Sinister. He also lost. Though Charles can’t trust Sinister, he can trust Sinister’s spite he would give and say anything to get Charles to believe him. Even speaking the truth.

-White Hot Room; Krakoa (Atlantic)-

We cut to Destiny, sitting alone. Mother Righteous walks behind her. She confirms to Destiny that Hope and Exodus are back and that they had brought Jean Grey with them. Destiny is surprised by that. Jean Grey has died at the Hellfire Gala. She was not among those who had escaped.

Mother Righteous reveals that Hope and Exodus had learned they are located in the White Hot Room. Because it is a realm existing outside of everything, there is no past or future. It is why Destiny’s powers were not working. Though Mother Righteous cares more about all that Destiny knew already. As Destiny contemplates this revelation of where they are, Mother Righteous pulls out a knife.

Destiny realizes that “it” cannot see her. Destiny tries to explain to Mother Righteous that she has to stop. Mother Righteous ignores her pleas and stabs Destiny. Mother Righteous attempts to finish her off and hide her body so that she cannot be brought back, only for a mutant to walk in to tell Destiny the news. He witnesses Mother Righteous standing over a bleeding Destiny and runs. Mother Righteous attempts to kill him with a magic bolt from her orb. She barely misses. So, she decides to cash in on the promise made to her from Hope for all of Krakoa. She then does her best Zatanna impression.

“.suoethgiR rehtoM, uoY knahT”

The young mutant arrives to the room where Jean lies, still trapped within her mind full of memories of hers and the Phoenix’s past. He tells Hope and Exodus what Mother Righteous had done. Before they can act though, Mother Righteous’s spell takes effect. Roots and plants from Krakoa start attacking the residences. Exodus deduces this is Mother Righteous’s doing as a witch. He complains about always being the one to compromise, in which Hope shuts him up and tells him they need to concentrate on saving people.

As they are preoccupied with the chaos, Morher Righteous walks into Jean’s room and speaks to Jean.

“You look like someone who would like to be somewhere else, right? Wanna go there?”

-Krakoa (Pacific)-

We are on the beach with Charles and the apparition of Sinister. Charles throws a contraption into the water that contains Tempo’s and Unus’s powers to create a frictionless bubble that will take them anywhere they need to go.

Charles confirms to Sinister that leaving will not be an issue. Relieved that Charles is going along, Sinister reveals their destination: Muir Island.

-[B]The White Hot Room; Outskirts of Krakoa (Atlantic)[\B]-

[PyroFN]

I liked the issue. A bit filler-y, but seeing Sinister grovel and lose all sense of advantage and dignity is a nice change to the arrogance of always being one step ahead. Mother Righteous continues to be underrated. She has a great design and an interesting take on how her magic works. The Exodus bit was good, but Hope could have had more of her own introspection. She is in the realm of the Phoenix.

The most disappointing bit is Jean Grey being mostly benched. Her bit is the most interesting part for me for obvious reasons to me. I am always gonna want the best for Jean. Overall, I can’t wait to see more.

7.5/ 10

[Keno]

This whole FoX felt like filler. Let alone this issue. I think the intention was to finish FoX by December and move on to next era. But then Brevoort was announced as editor so they decided to push this back to FCBD May.

[Aeon]

It bothers me quite a bit that it seems that out of all 200 or so trained X team members, no one is to be seen except Hope, Exodus, and the usual blue/green/red skinned background mutants.

[PyroFN]

It bothers me quite a bit that it seems that out of all 200 or so trained X team members, no one is to be seen except Hope, Exodus, and the usual blue/green/red skinned background mutants.

I have a feeling they are most likely with the Realm of X team, on Earth, or on Arakko. If you’re an X-Man, you most likely know the Red Triangle Protocol. Or, you know, they are captured by Orchis.

[BobbysWorld]

I have a feeling they are most likely with the Realm of X team, on Earth, or on Arakko. If you’re an X-Man, you most likely know the Red Triangle Protocol. Or, you know, they are captured by Orchis.

Except JDW and the writers keep claiming that if we don't see known mutants in the casts of other books, its to be assumed that they're among the mutants in the desert.....which means tons of Academy X kids, Acolytes, MLF members, a lot of former members of X-Factor, X-Force and other affiliate teams, SWORD personnel, etc. And if they're going to claim that, they're opening yourself up to criticism when they continually act like this mass of 250K mutants is largely helpless or non-combatants aside from Hope & Exodus.

One thing I will NOT miss about this era is the plot contrivance and the extremes of suspension of disbelief they keep demanding in order to make their Big Picture plots work. Every era has it to some degree or another but several of the writers in this era are way too casual about it. Oh well.

[Sutekh]

Except JDW and the writers keep claiming that if we don't see known mutants in the casts of other books, its to be assumed that they're among the mutants in the desert.....which means tons of Academy X kids, Acolytes, MLF members, a lot of former members of X-Factor, X-Force and other affiliate teams, SWORD personnel, etc. And if they're going to claim that, they're opening yourself up to criticism when they continually act like this mass of 250K mutants is largely helpless or non-combatants aside from Hope & Exodus.

One thing I will NOT miss about this era is the plot contrivance and the extremes of suspension of disbelief they keep demanding in order to make their Big Picture plots work. Every era has it to some degree or another but several of the writers in this era are way too casual about it. Oh well.

Yeah, they've got like five transdimensional teleporters (like Pathway/Laura Dean) not named Ilyanna that could get them out of wherever they are, even the White Hot Room, which a bunch of mutant teleporters breached back in SWORD to get Mysterium in the first place. But everyone not explicitly part of the plot is just randomly useless.

Big concepts. Big ideas. Very intriguing and thought-provoking and idea-generating. For the readers, anyway, if not the writers. Then it falls down in the execution because it didn't seem to fire their imaginations as much as ours.

[Uncanny X-Man]

I think this was another excellent issue - the Charles/Sinister part was strong and easily the highlight. I loved the callback to Project Black Womb, that was a fun deepcut from Gillen.

Exodus and Hope were also a lot of fun. I wish we got a bit more of Jean and in a way that was a bit more straightforward since we're coming off 4 months of her talking to herself in the White Hot Room... but I can't deny I'm extremely intrigued by what's happening and I can't wait to find out what Mother Righteous' exact plan with the Phoenix is.

[Nicoclaws]

I think this was another excellent issue - the Charles/Sinister part was strong and easily the highlight. I loved the callback to Project Black Womb, that was a fun deepcut from Gillen.

Exodus and Hope were also a lot of fun. I wish we got a bit more of Jean and in a way that was a bit more straightforward since we're coming off 4 months of her talking to herself in the White Hot Room... but I can't deny I'm extremely intrigued by what's happening and I can't wait to find out what Mother Righteous' exact plan with the Phoenix is.

The fun fact is, the Black Womb callback was actually already in the story, during the Mystique-led issue, where we saw Raven and Irene fight over the latter involvment in the project.

[Kingdom X]

Yeah, they've got like five transdimensional teleporters (like Pathway/Laura Dean) not named Ilyanna that could get them out of wherever they are, even the White Hot Room, which a bunch of mutant teleporters breached back in SWORD to get Mysterium in the first place. But everyone not explicitly part of the plot is just randomly useless.

Big concepts. Big ideas. Very intriguing and thought-provoking and idea-generating. For the readers, anyway, if not the writers. Then it falls down in the execution because it didn't seem to fire their imaginations as much as ours.

An earlier issue of Uncanny Spider-Man seemed to imply that all the missing teleporters (like Lila) were actually killed in the initial onslaught from Nimrod and Orchis. Idk how much I buy this and I would have much preferred they just show them in Immortal and say they can’t teleport out of the White Hot Room because of it’s unique properties.

My thoughts on the issue as a whole:
I feel like every time I start to really like this book it takes a turn that doubles down on the things I didn’t like about it in the first place. I was so HYPED for this to be a Jean centric issue, since it apparently needed a four issue mini-series to set up. But instead we saw Jean speak in old quotes and get dragged around like a rag doll.

In it’s place we once again returned to the Sinister well, which I personally think has dried up. Even when SoS didn’t wrap up all the Sinister’s it seemed like we could at least shut the door on Diamond Sinister. At this rate Gillen will make the conclusion of the era ABOUT Sinister when that clearly wasn’t the original intention. I just feel like there are so many interesting characters (both on the heroes and villains side) that can be driving the plot without always going back to Sinister.

[Hephoenix]

Hope destiny makes out alive. I was hopping a more acting Jean.

[davetvs]

I loved this issue, I'm along for the ride even if I too am tired of Sinister at this point. Mother Righteous too, but I am excited to see her get found out/defeated. Hope as the Phoenix Angel was amazing, that sword was cool as hell.

[Uncanny X-Man]

The fun fact is, the Black Womb callback was actually already in the story, during the Mystique-led issue, where we saw Raven and Irene fight over the latter involvment in the project.

Oh yes, that's true! Gillen has been reading a lot of back issues evidently, as seen also with his many quotes from Jean's past.

[Mutant X]

This FoX is so bad that not even Gillen and Ewing are writing well.
Very messy issue.
The religious plot involving Phoenix, Apocalypse, Exodus, and Hope is not appealing.
Destiny became a useless character.
This wretch Sinister is not even the shadow of the villain he used to be.
I was expecting Xavier's suicide, that would be very bold and surprising.
But Gillen wasn't brave enough to do it.

[Keno]

This FoX is so bad that not even Gillen and Ewing are writing well.
Very messy issue.
The religious plot involving Phoenix, Apocalypse, Exodus, and Hope is not appealing.
Destiny became a useless character.
This wretch Sinister is not even the shadow of the villain he used to be.
I was expecting Xavier's suicide, that would be very bold and surprising.
But Gillen wasn't brave enough to do it.

I think the actual plan was to finish this before December and then start the next era but then Brevoort was announced as editor and so they decided to stretch this for another six months.