Dark X-men 5: Review & Spoilers

[Frontier]

I feel like Warren and Alex were the most shortchanged by this series. And for a lot of this era, really (although Alex wasn't that bad in Hellions, I think?).

my favorite thing about this mini series and especially the conclusion is how I didn’t evolve in just sentimentality for Maddie. I love that there’s a slight ambiguity as to whether or not she’s ““ good. Gambit *thinks* she’ll come in for the Calvary but who knows? That last image made me LOL a little. The camp, the genuine horror and some nice superheroics made a string conclusion for a rushed mini.

Seeing warren in the bottom of the river was a serious twist of the knife, Foxe, damn.

She'll probably always seem like a bad guy to Spider-Man fans .

[Kurolegacy]

While I’m sure that quite a few are celebrating, I’m not really a fan of how Azazel was just quickly killed off like some kind of red shirt. I’m neutral on him as a character but the entire thing just felt completely wasteful and ridiculous. It reminds me of the stupid way of how Kurt died in the Ultimate Universe by being swept away by a wave; the character’s power is to teleport and they weren’t exactly taken by surprise mean g that the only way they died of that was to simply allow it to happen. Secondly, this required Azazel completely be nerfed to happen as he’s not just a mook, he’s one who has shown to be strong enough to take on an X-Men team alone but I’m supposed to believe that a mindless dragon Kurt just murked him like that? It’s just gratuitous death for the sake of it and I’m never a fan of that especially when you have to disregard everything about the character getting killed for it to happen.

[Uncanny X-Man]

This was a deliciously good finale and I appreciate how Foxe tried to write some closure for all his cast (those who survived, at least)

He also really sold me on Alex and Maddie as a couple and just generally wrote the strongest Madelyne since the original Inferno probably. I really hope there's no limbo for the Limbo Embassy next but that some other writer will pick up where Foxe left off sometime soon.

[Souther]

I wish they had six issues for this series, because the pacing was quite fast, but other than that...it's fine.

[Factor]

Solid ending. I really enjoyed this series. I was actually hoping Feint would stay with Maddie, I liked their dynamic and I think much more could be done with her as the Dark X-men’s rookie. I don’t see them giving her a distinct role in other books.
I actually would love a follow-up called Hellions where Maddie and Alex train a new team (including Feint), or even recruit the OG Hellions for a darker take on Gen X (with Maddie/Alex instead of Emma/Banshee).

[Thievery]

Well, I'm kind of mixed with how I feel about the last issue of this mini. I've only had a chance to read it once so far but this is what I think.

I'll start with what I liked.

The creative team did a mostly fine job. Foxe's character work was mostly good except for the rushed feel to the ending. The artist did some top notch work.

1) Gambit. It was nice to see him get a good rebound story after the dreadful Rouge & Gambit miniseries. He was the star of this comic in my mind, not Maddie.
2) Feint. She was really established as an interesting character. I think that this miniseries is going to set her up well for use in future stories. It was nice to see her help bring down the villain. Rehabilitated her from the poor (in my opinion) Children of the Atom comic.
3) Maddie. She made a decision to become a good guy( sort of) and was given some really helpful character work along the way. I thought that she was overshadowed by Gambit in the end though, and that isn't a good thing.
4) Maggot. It would have been nice if he lasted longer in the comic, but he served his purpose, he got a good role, got some of his mojo back, and hopefully someone will use him down the line. I'm a little less certain that he will be used later on, because it feels to me as if this was the role that Marrow was meant to play but she was given to the genuinely bad RoX comic instead.
5) Albert and Elsie Dee. I'm not as big on their story as some others are, but at least they are back in Circulation.

Now the bad.

I will start by saying that I agree with others that the comic felt rushed. It needed some more time. But I don't think that is a complete excuse for the things that I felt could have been better.

1) Havok. I don't understand why his status was left so uncertain. Is he alive? Dead? Undead? It wouldn't have been to hard to just use a couple of panels to explain what his deal is. Considering that he was meant to be a star of this comic it is disappointing. I don't buy the idea that this comic is used as a good way to set him up for future stories. This was a miniseries. Miniseries are meant to tell a story with a conclusion. Havok did not receive one. As he was meant to be a star of this series he should have gotten some closure.

2) Azazel. I still don't like this character, but the way that he was killed off was really lackluster. Why even let the character last this long in the story if this was meant to be his ending. Even worse is the fact that we don't learn what his pact with Marius was. In my mind this miniseries did nothing to make Azazel a better character.

I'm probably going out on a limb here, but I think that Azazel's role may have changed after the story was started. Once the decision was made that Destiny and Mystique were to be Nightcrawlers parents Azazel may have been deemed to be unimportant. You can't help but notice that it was a version of Nightcrawler that finished him off, sort of symbolically that Azazel would no longer be left to hang over Nightcrawler's head as a bad origin story. If that's the case Azazel should have probably been killed off by Mystique or Destiny. But this really is just a guess on my part and I could be way off target here.

3) M-Plate. Same reason that I gave for Azazel. It would have been nice to see what his debt to Azazel was, even if Azazel was meant to die. Now he just comes across as a replaceable character with no value to the story.

4) The two agents. Vails and the other guy. They ended up being pretty much a waist. Likely a result of what I am guessing to be a miniseries that ended up being to rushed.

5)Maddie's easy killing of AU Maddie. This is probably just me, but I thought that AU Maddie ended up being killed a little too easily given the large build up that she was given. But I have also only been able to read the issue once. This feels like a victim of the comic being too rushed.

6)Chasm. I know that he didn't appear in this comic, but his absence only made his previous appearance to feel even more pointless. His panel time could have been put to better use on other characters.

7)Archangel. I didn't really expect him to be resurrected in this comic. Having him brought back to life with some sort of magic would have undercut the idea of FoX. However, we got no mention or reaction of his death from the other characters. Not by Gambit, not by Rouge, not by Laura, even though Laura used to date the guy. That's pretty indefensible.

The statement that Warren's soul was beyond redemption was pretty crappy. Considering that characters like Apocalypse and Daken have been deemed to be redeemable this statement really p!$$ed me off.

I've seen theories that Warren's going to be replaced by Teen!O5 Angel. I've ven stated that I think that it could happen. I hope that it doesn't happen and I don't think that it will. I don't want Archangel to be replaced by a phony version with no memories of his adult self. Teen Angel was pretty easily the worst member of the time traveling O5 and I don't think that Marvel would waist their time trying to use the character again.
Given the panel that said thar Warren's soul was unredeemable I'm a little bit afraid that Marvel hates Archangel so much that they may try to make him a villain again.
That scene of Archangel's skull at the bottom of the ocean was pretty cool, though.

Overall, I really enjoyed the horror elements and had liked the miniseries.
Before the last issue I would have given it at least an 8 out of ten.
But I found the resolution and rushed nature of the last issue to be pretty poor. And miniseries should be judged on how the story ends, just like a story arch on a monthly comic would be.
So after one read of the final issue I give it 6 out of 10. Maybe a reread will change my mind but I doubt it.

[ARkadelphia]

Well, I'm kind of mixed with how I feel about the last issue of this mini.

I'll start with what I liked.

The creative team did a mostly fine job. Foxe's character work was mostly good except for the rushed feel to the ending. The artist did some top notch work.

1) Gambit. It was nice to see him get a good rebound story after the dreadful Rouge & Gambit miniseries. He was the star of this comic in my mind, not Maddie.
2) Feint. She was really established as an interesting character. I think that this miniseries is going to set her up well for use in future stories. Rehabilitated her from the poor (in my opinion) Children of the Atom comic.
3) Maddie. She made a decision to become a good guy( sort of) and was given some really helpful character work along the way. I thought that she was overshadowed by Gambit in the end though, and that isn't a good thing.
4) Maggot. It would have been nice if he lasted longer in the comic, but he served his purpose, he got a good role, got some of his mojo back, and hopefully someone will use him down the line. I'm a little less certain that he will be used later on, because it feels to me as if this was the role that Marrow was meant to play but she was given to the genuinely bad RoX comic instead.
5) Albert and Elsie Dee. I'm not as big on their story as some others are, but at least they are back in Circulation.

Now the bad.

I will start by saying that I agree with others that the comic felt rushed. It needed some more time. But I don't think that is a complete excuse for the things that I felt could have been better.

1) Havok. I don't understand why his status was left so uncertain. Is he alive? Dead? Undead? It wouldn't have been to hard to just use a couple of panels to explain what his deal is. Considering that he was meant to be a star of this comic it is disappointing. I don't buy the idea that this comic is used as a good way to set him up for future stories. This was a miniseries. Miniseries are meant to tell a story with a conclusion. Havok did not receive one. As he was meant to be a star of this series he should have gotten some closure.

2) Azazel. I still don't like this character, but the way that he was killed off was really lackluster. Why even let the character last this long in the story if this was meant to be his ending. Even worse is the fact that we don't learn what his pact with Marius was.

I'm probably going out on a limb here, but I think that Azazel's role may have changed after the story was started. Once the decision was made that Destiny and Mystique were to be Nightcrawlers parents Azazel may have been deemed to be unimportant. You can't help but notice that it was a version of Nightcrawler that finished him off, sort of symbolically that Azazel would no longer be left to hang over Nightcrawler's head as a bad origin story. If that's the case Azazel should have probably been killed off by Mystique or Destiny. But this really is just a guess on my part and I could be way off target here.

3) M-Plate. Same reason that I gave for Azazel. It would have been nice to see what his debt to Azazel was, even if Azazel was meant to die. Now he just comes across as a replaceable character with no value to the story.

4) The two agents. Vails and the other guy. They ended up being pretty much a waist. Likely a result of what I am guessing to be a miniseries that ended up being to rushed.

5)Maddie's easy killing of AU Maddie. This is probably just me, but I thought that AU Maddie ended up being killed a little too easily given the large build up that she was given. But I have also only been able to read the issue once. This feels like a victim of the comic being too rushed.

6)Chasm. I know that he didn't appear in this comic, but his absence only made his previous appearance to feel even more pointless. His panel time could have been put to better use on other characters.

7)Archangel. I didn't really expect him to be resurrected in this comic. Having him brought back to life with some sort of magic would have undercut the idea of FoX. However, we got no mention or reaction of his death from the other characters. Not by Gambit, not by Rouge, not by Laura, even though Laura used to date the guy. That's pretty indefensible.

The statement that Warren's soul was beyond redemption was pretty crappy. Considering that characters like Apocalypse and Daken have been deemed to be redeemable this statement really p!$$ed me off.

I've seen theories that Warren's going to be replaced by Teen!O5 Angel. I've ven stated that I think that it could happen. I hope that it doesn't happen and I don't think that it will. I don't want Archangel to be replaced by a phony version with no memories of his adult self. Teen Angel was pretty easily the worst member of the time traveling O5 and I don't think that Marvel would waist their time trying to use the character again.
Given the panel that said thar Warren's soul was unredeemable I'm a little bit afraid that Marvel hates Archangel so much that they may try to make him a villain again.

In regards to Azazel, all of his story potential literally evaporated last week with the new Nightcrawler lineage reveal. As such, to me it felt like the perfect time to kill him off.

[Thievery]

In regards to Azazel, all of his story potential literally evaporated last week with the new Nightcrawler lineage reveal. As such, to me it felt like the perfect time to kill him off.

Yeah, I know. I included that in my comments on the character. It's in the paragraph below the one you put into bold text.
I still think that it would have been nice to have gotten some kind of explanation as to what his bargain with Marius was.

I feel bad for Foxe about this one. If my theory is true than Mystique and Destiny being Nightcrawler's parents may have been decided on after Dark X-Men was being written. The poor guy probably thought he was working with something. It still seems strange to make this kind of decision during the middle of another writer's comic.

But I also still feel that it contributed to a bad ending for a miniseries.

[ZephyrSurf]

I dunno, I feel like this entire thing was lacking.

Unless you count Maddie, Gambit and I guess Feint, he rest of the roster felt like pointless fluff.

what can you actually say you go out of Angel? Or Empath? or Azazel? or Zero?

Maggot essentially existed to tell the team to **** off
Angel was just there to die pathetically
Zero and albert were comic relief(?)
Azazel just hung around and quipped while Empath grumbled
Alex was there

The only members who seemed like hey had actual story beats were Gambit, Maddie and Feint and in Feint's case it was almost all off screen. Like where were these teaching moments that lead to her and Maddie having a deep bond of fucked uppedness? They weren't in the book.
Also he primary villains amounted to nothing, less than nothing even. Can anyone even remember either of their names?

[EldonMaguan]

Why do the haters keep on insisting that Azazel is now not the father of Nightcrawler ?

He is STILL the father of Kurt , except that now Mystique is ALSO the father (and apparently so too is Baron Christian Wagner) of Kurt and Destiny is now the mother of Kurt (explaining his secondary mutation of precognitive visions in Way of X)

It is expressly stated by Mystique that she had to combine her own genes with that of Azazel (and again, apparently Baron Christian Wagner as well) in order to create her male-form (“malform” heh) sperm to impregnate Destiny.

It is expressly stated by Destiny that her plan to use Kurt to a lifelong-living counter/neutralizer to Azazel and his ambitions requires that Kurt be Azazel’s own biological flesh-and-blood heir.

Indeed , this in fact already happened in Amazing X-Men with Kurt binding Azazel to Earth (barring him from all of Earth’s Hell-Lords’ Nether-Realms in its collective UnderWorld) using primal familial Blood Magicks.

After all , Kurt was enough of Azazel’s son that Azazel was able to psychically mindcontrol him as one of his own biological offspring in the Draco storyline.

[Sutekh]

2) Azazel. I still don't like this character, but the way that he was killed off was really lackluster. Why even let the character last this long in the story if this was meant to be his ending. Even worse is the fact that we don't learn what his pact with Marius was. In my mind this miniseries did nothing to make Azazel a better character.

3) M-Plate. Same reason that I gave for Azazel. It would have been nice to see what his debt to Azazel was, even if Azazel was meant to die. Now he just comes across as a replaceable character with no value to the story.

Wow that deep dive into Emplate & Azazel, really gave them the Nanny/Greycrow treatment from Hellions or Nekra treatment from Sabertooth & the Exiles. /s

This was a Maddy story. Everyone else got little or nothing to do, and even Maddy just got to repeat the same tired 'I won't be used again! I do what I want!' line that she's been spouting since, oh, *the 80s!*

So, so over that 'Maddy makes a determined face and says she's not gonna take it anymore' storyline. Your past is an anchor chica, it's holding you back and slowing you down, and you need to let it go and stop dragging that **** around. It's old, and it stinks.

If you spend the rest of your life 'proving' that you aren't what Sinister made you to be, you are *still* letting him define your life. You're letting him win.

[CGAR]

When was the last time Azazel even appeared in a comic?