Rise of the Powers of X #1 - Review/Spoilers

[lefthanded]

Has anyone read Gillen's Die comic? Its a Jumanji-esque fantasy D&D story, but is extremely meta and references fantasy authors. One story thread is about trying to prevent the Die game itself from coming to be, with the game itself affecting time to ensure it comes into existence.

The page of this issue where Enigma is speaking to the reader, feels like a copy of what Gillen already did in Die. It makes this feel like been-there-done-that.

[Frobisher]

Only thing I have to say at the moment is that it wasn’t a Dominion that came to Earth in PoX#5. The spiky ball ships (as also seen here) were Phalanx sent as emissaries, so the plan with the Sun doesn’t seem to make sense. Dominions are Titans living in black holes and can’t just pop back into normal space time.

Also agree that Moira won’t actually be killed as a child because even pre-retconned human Moira was absolutely instrumental to a lot of X-Men history. Time travel is a mess now because it creates branching timelines unless the writer says so for story reasons. Also, Moira’s past timelines are annihilated by her power so they shouldn’t be able to go back to them.

[D.Z]

Depower her before as a child and erase all of her other lives memories?

[HomoSuperior]

Everyone saying “Awww. That was a nice Mystique and Gambit moment…”
Me: She’s smiling because she manipulated him into blowing himself up — and got to watch.

[Til]

I really, really liked this issue. It's a big, mind-bending story to close out the era, and I love that. It's exactly the kind of event comic I was hoping for. I'm very excited for the next issue. Regarding timeline resets, it's not going to happen. First, there have been so many crossovers and references to Krakoa in non-X-Men comics that if it were to be wiped away, they'd have to reset the continuity of ALL Marvel comics. That's not going to happen. And second, one of the main underlying threads of the entire era has been that Xavier's arrogance is his mortal weakness. He simply cannot let other people be in charge and make decisions. It was subtext in Hickman's X-Men, and literal text in Gillen's Immortal. They're not going to close out the era with, "lol never mind, Chuck was right to act unilaterally on his own. The End."

Only thing I have to say at the moment is that it wasn’t a Dominion that came to Earth in PoX#5. The spiky ball ships (as also seen here) were Phalanx sent as emissaries, so the plan with the Sun doesn’t seem to make sense. Dominions are Titans living in black holes and can’t just pop back into normal space time.

As much as I love Gillen, he isn't above retcons. He did it before when he made it so that Krakoa was dependent on imports from human countries, and that without them the whole nation would collapse in weeks, even though Hickman's original concept of Krakoa was that it was entirely self-sustaining. And he did it with Hickman's machine god hierarchy, which as you pointed out is now pretty different. I'm not wild about it, but it is what it is.

[Agent Grayson]

This issue was awesome. It was dense, complex, action-packed, and mind-boggling all at once. The art was stellar and even Sinister fatigue didn’t kick in. I love the idea of Xavier pulling together a strike force to stop the Dominion across space-time while the other X-Men are completely oblivious to this and locked in their own war with Orchis. Everything feels important and substantial again. I’m excited and ready for whatever Gillen has in store!

I can’t wait for whatever Avengers: Endgame portals-esque moment sees the X-Men reunite to kick ass.

As a side point, I much prefer Gillen’s Rasputin IV to Duggan’s. She feels like a more compelling character with an independent streak and a drive to do what’s right, as opposed to her appearances in X-Men, where it felt like she was a bit of a caricature.

[Wolverine12]

Really great issue today. It felt like a successor to HoX/PoX more than Inferno did tbh. I like Gillen’s Sinister(s) but I hope that it’s not the only thing we see in this series, the SOS timeline was enjoyable but I don’t really want to do that all over again. I loved the art, just looked so great, and I especially loved two scenes, Logan doing what he does to Sinister and Syncpocalypse (or should we call him •-|S|-• )punching Nimrod in the face.

This really raised the bar for Duggan imo. I enjoyed Fall, but this was next level.

Also, if they kill/de power Moira before 13 then that means only the people in the No Place and WHR would remember Krakoa right? That would give the mutants all the knowledge of what Krakoa can bring good and bad and they could fix their mistakes before they happen and have a literal paradise on Earth or Arrako.

[Havok83]

Really great issue today. It felt like a successor to HoX/PoX more than Inferno did tbh. I like Gillen’s Sinister(s) but I hope that it’s not the only thing we see in this series, the SOS timeline was enjoyable but I don’t really want to do that all over again. I loved the art, just looked so great, and I especially loved two scenes, Logan doing what he does to Sinister and Syncpocalypse (or should we call him •-|S|-• )punching Nimrod in the face.

This really raised the bar for Duggan imo. I enjoyed Fall, but this was next level.

Also, if they kill/de power Moira before 13 then that means only the people in the No Place and WHR would remember Krakoa right? That would give the mutants all the knowledge of what Krakoa can bring good and bad and they could fix their mistakes before they happen and have a literal paradise on Earth or Arrako.

If they depower Moira before age 13, it should create a divergent timeline when she would have contracted the Legacy Virus. Presumably everything would proceed the same. She wouldnt get the Legacy Virus thus leading her to make different decisions, leading to its own butterfly effect. If they kill her as a child, then everything should change

[Mutant X]

The last few issues of Immortal had made me doubt Gillen's talent. But here he showed he is capable of delivery a Hickman-level story.

It's amazing how it resonate with Moira's 6th life, but at the same time it goes in a completely different direction.

I'm very excited to see what comes next here, just hope Duggan's series does not jeopardize Gillen's work when both get connected.

[cranger]

Only thing I have to say at the moment is that it wasn’t a Dominion that came to Earth in PoX#5. The spiky ball ships (as also seen here) were Phalanx sent as emissaries, so the plan with the Sun doesn’t seem to make sense. Dominions are Titans living in black holes and can’t just pop back into normal space time.

While we are at it, I want to point out that Hickman had "the trickster Titan" send OS back, but here Gillen writes it as "the Trickster Dominion".

[JThree]

I’m hoping that this will act as a stealth Moira X mini as the focus returns to her. But really I hate turning her from a morally grey character to someone who doesn’t bat an eye at the fact that mutants had a chance to win. She devoted several lifetimes to mutantkind and that doesn’t mean a thing?

I haven't read every issue of the Krakoan saga, but what happened that turned Moira? How did she feel betrayed?

==jthree

[charliehustle415]

While we are at it, I want to point out that Hickman had "the trickster Titan" send OS back, but here Gillen writes it as "the Trickster Dominion".

Oh snap didn't catch that all.

Because a Titan is lower than a Dominion because they still exist in the current timeline, hence the sending back of Omega Sentinel.

But my question throughout all of this is:

if a Dominion exists outside of time and space why is it reacting linearly?

Shouldn't it already know things are happening before it happens and before the invention of the of No Place?

[Mutant101]

i have a theory what will happen.

They will not kill Moira, just inject her to be a human, removing her mutant power, and then will back to the OLD Clairemont (90's) where Moira is just a human.

[Til]

Because a Titan is lower than a Dominion because they still exist in the current timeline, hence the sending back of Omega Sentinel.

Not quite. A Dominion isn't a distinct entity. It's an alliance of Titans. Kind of like the X-Men aren't a single being, but rather a group of mutants working together. Gillen has essentially retconned what Dominions are.

[Bruce Wayne]

Not quite. A Dominion isn't a distinct entity. It's an alliance of Titans. Kind of like the X-Men aren't a single being, but rather a group of mutants working together. Gillen has essentially retconned what Dominions are.

I think the definition and terminology of what a dominion has really been blurred since Hickman left since you also had Mother Righteous trying to achieve dominion status via the White Hot Room and the Sinister Dominion seems to be more a singular intelligence instead of a gestalt.