X-Men Unlimited #126 - Fall of X #6 - Review/Spoilers

[davetvs]

This feels like it should be happening in a regular monthly. Thanks for the recap!

[dragon1440]

Thanks for providing us these updates.

I don't subscribe to this online comic, but I'm enjoying seeing the return of my two favorite boys so much I might just start! I find the artist seems to be enjoying the team-ups as well. The art for the Proudstar boys was pretty rough in comparison. I wish the Marvel office could make up their mind about 'Star's teleportation and remove the need for an anchor entirely. It used to be reserved solely for intimate partners and family (Rictor, Layla Miller and Longshot.) Tini Howard added Bei (with absolutely no context how) and now Dani and Betsy are included in the roster? I wasn't under the impression it was an ability that could be altered or directed by a telepath, but I suppose anything is possible nowadays.

As far as telepath extension. Once he uses Betsy as an anchor point ahe is using her telepathy to send that anchor out. For instance she could be astral projecting herself to an extended point, and since the body is only a shell the anchor attachs to the astral projection thus extended range. Thats my guess at least.

[Solitaryhawk]

As far as telepath extension. Once he uses Betsy as an anchor point ahe is using her telepathy to send that anchor out. For instance she could be astral projecting herself to an extended point, and since the body is only a shell the anchor attachs to the astral projection thus extended range. Thats my guess at least.

That's a great explanation!

[JB]

This feels like it should be happening in a regular monthly. Thanks for the recap!

My pleasure. I'm enjoying this story so very much.

That's a great explanation!

It's a really cool, subtle and creative use of her powers. I loved it. I wish the Steves could write this story forever!

[Dante Milton]

This sounds good, but my nitpick is that's not how Star's teleportation works. He needs an anchor nearby to activate his teleportation, but he can teleport anywhere when he has an anchor around him, he isn't limited to only teleporting to places where one of his anchors happens to be. With Rictor, and now Betsy I guess, with him he would be able teleport into that camp without any telepathic projection necessary. At least, that's how I always understood it to work.

I love Rictor's new costume, and I am simultaneously attracted to and repulsed by the f*ckboy mullet they gave him.

[BobbysWorld]

I actually REALLY think Dani might be canonized as an External by the end of this story.

Walk with me:

The Externals debuted in a story where they were searching for a new one, that they said represented/embodied hope for the mutant race, and they thought this External might be able to help them survive the Legacy Virus which they were inexplicably vulnerable to. They didn't know WHO the new External was, just by some mechanism they knew/sensed there WAS a new one, and for some reason they felt this new External was linked to hope the way Absolom is to Despair, Nicodemus to Wisdom, Gideon to Opportunity, etc. Something the Steves have made a point to focus on in their dialogue in this new story, cementing those ties between Externals and attributes. Having Nicodemus talk about teaching these young mutants a lesson, Absolom ranting about the futility of everything, Gideon 'rescuing' those young mutants and telling them it was an opportunity for them, etc.

Originally, Gideon got close to Roberto, thinking he might be the new External, until Sam's inexplicable resurrection after being killed by Sauron in X-Force made the Externals pivot to him, taking this as proof that he was the one they'd been looking for. But later Selene mocked the idea that Sam was an External and the takeaway for years was that Cable had somehow faked Sam's death and resurrection in order to throw the Externals off the scent of the real one. But that still meant that there was a new External out there, and they'd still never identified them. (Years later Sam did seemingly die again or at least was grievously injured and Hank mentioned something about him being immortal but Prodigy even said he wasn't sure whether he was joking or not, and the whole event was very lightly touched on/glossed over, so its not really the 'proof' of Sam's External-ness that a lot of fans want it to be and reads to just as many ppl as more of just a joking homage to a past story).

But point is....the new External of Hope is a dangling plot thread that goes back to the 90s, because one way or another, it was never explicitly confirmed to be Sam with him treated as the new External as a regular characteristic of his stories & characterization, but neither was anyone else of his generation confirmed as the new External in his place. And if ever a story was going to resolve that plot thread, it would be this one, IMO.

Which makes the fact that one of the co-writers of this story is also writing Sam over in Dead X-Men, with no mention of his past resurrections even when bringing up Ali's, seem very pointed. Almost like they made a point to write this story while Sam WASN'T around to be involved in it.....thereby making me think if we are getting the Hope External resolved finally, its almost definitely not going to be him.

Based on their roles in Unlimited so far, I'd argue that makes Dani and Beto the two most likely prospects, (I assume Roberto is the figure sitting in the ball at the heart of the X-Corp island, powering it), but Dani's role and leadership makes it FAR more likely to be her, thematically. She's literally bringing hope to the scattered mutant survivors and refugees. Aside from that, there's also the fact that Beto has died frequently, and always been brought back by other means rather than under his own power, as an External would likely have done at least once by now, as well as died in the futures of recent storylines like Sins of Sinister and seemingly stayed dead...whereas I don't think Dani has ever actually died on-page? Which means there'd be no opportunity yet FOR her to resurrect under her own power, and reveal her as an External. She wasn't among the New Mutants who died in the Rosenberg run just before Krakoa, she is one of the only depowered mutants to get her powers back pre-Krakoa, without having to go through the Crucible or Waiting Room, etc. She's actually a PERFECT candidate for the unknown External, all things considered. In fact, her Valkyrie storylines could even be tied into it, something about how she was such a good candidate for the Valkyrie power/bonds BECAUSE of her own unique (albeit still unknown to HER at the time) relationship with death/immortality as an External herself. There's also even a little-remembered or talked about story where Dani literally defeated an avatar of Death, unrelated to her Valkyrie stuff, to defend a friend of her parents she'd known since she was a kid, which fits in perfectly with External themes.

Anyway, latest Bobbysworld theory: we're finally getting the explicit canonization of the Hope External the others were searching for way back when, and its gonna be Dani.

[BobbysWorld]

Course, cautionary addition: if this is correct, it means we're almost inevitably going to get a cliffhanger where it looks like they've killed off Dani....because that's basically the requisite precursor to a subsequent issue showing her resurrecting by herself. So just throwing that out there....if we get Dani dying on page in a future Unlimited issue, that might not mean the same things as if any other character dies on-page in this story.

[Dermie]

Betsy suggests that Shatterstar could do with a few more friends saying that his portal'ing would be more versatile if it wasn't stuck bouncing between her, Rictor, Dani, and Layla as anchors. He jokes that Thunderbird seems like a promising new companion and Julio is like hey now.

I wonder if the flirtations between Shatterstar and Thunderbird are going to pay off at some point in Thunderbird getting outed as gay or bisexual. As far as I am aware John's love life is still pretty much a blank slate due to the years he was left killed off. When the arc started with Somnus staying on the reservation with Thunderbird and Warpath I started to wonder then if it was going to turn out that John and Somnus had something going on.

[JB]

Course, cautionary addition: if this is correct, it means we're almost inevitably going to get a cliffhanger where it looks like they've killed off Dani....because that's basically the requisite precursor to a subsequent issue showing her resurrecting by herself. So just throwing that out there....if we get Dani dying on page in a future Unlimited issue, that might not mean the same things as if any other character dies on-page in this story.

Your theory is fantastic and now I think we could very well indeed be looking at the tying up of that long dangling plot thread. I love it.

[BobbysWorld]

I've been looking through Dani's dialogue to see if she says hope the way the Externals have all used their attribute in their dialogue at least once, seeing if the Steves use that to hint at anything. But if the other Externals were wrong about WHO the new External was, in theory they could be wrong about what the new one's attribute is too. And in Unlimited #124, when Dani brings Thunderbird to the X-Corp island, she places a big emphasis on building a culture of defiance, with Thunderbird even piggybacking on that phrase to further emphasize it. So if the plot twist isn't just that the External is Dani but that they were wrong about them being the External of Hope (something I could see them moving away from because while it worked back in the 90s, these days an External of Hope would be easily conflated/mixed up with Hope Summers), then my money's on Dani Moonstar, External of Defiance.

[davetvs]

That would be dope. BobbysWorld for X-Office Editor.

[jwatson]

The inclusion of the X-Men candidate Unlimited stories with the Hellfire Gala trade has me hopeful that most(?) of these incredible Unlimited Fall tie-in's will also see print within the Fall trades.

This issue is terrific! So rich with continuity. Also really nice to see the bonds that grew between these three over the Krakoan era continue here.

If you go to discover as well on unlimited for instance Fall of X, they have suggested reading order and the firestar unlimited stories are in there as well so i am pretty sure they will be printed in at least the trades since they made the reading order.

[Kingdom X]

That would be dope. BobbysWorld for X-Office Editor.

Yes please!

[Solitaryhawk]

I wonder if the flirtations between Shatterstar and Thunderbird are going to pay off at some point in Thunderbird getting outed as gay or bisexual. As far as I am aware John's love life is still pretty much a blank slate due to the years he was left killed off. When the arc started with Somnus staying on the reservation with Thunderbird and Warpath I started to wonder then if it was going to turn out that John and Somnus had something going on.

Huh. I got the impression that Shatterstar’s innuendos were entirely rebuffed by Thunderbird who was obnoxious and rude in response. He was deliberately written by Len Wein to be an “obnoxious loudmouth,” a role filled by Wolverine at the time which made it very easy to kill him off (THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE.) At that time, he had the disgruntled Rambo-vibe of a war veteran returning from the Vietnam War and by the time Xavier recruited him, he was an a*hole nobody could warm up to.

Where am I going with this? John strikes me as that uber macho, Alpha-type male who shares the arch-type ideals of a homophobe. He has been dead for a very long time and times have changed while he’s been “gone,” especially the representation and variety of LGBTQIA+ mutant characters that have made their appearance since his initial introduction. The only character on record (to my recollection) who had difficulties accepting a gay team-mate was Strong Guy. The overall blanket acceptance of sexuality among the mutants, while heart-warming, is entirely unrealistic. I’d like to see at least one character have a personal issue with this and I think Thunderbird fits that bill. I’d like for him and ‘Star to really have it out (and I really think ‘Star could knock John senseless before he could even manage a blink), and see John come around. He still strikes me as a man out of his time and, thanks to some intensely f’ed up shenanigans, Shatterstar shares that feeling. I think they eventually could become good friends (and friends-ONLY).

[dragon1440]

This sounds good, but my nitpick is that's not how Star's teleportation works. He needs an anchor nearby to activate his teleportation, but he can teleport anywhere when he has an anchor around him, he isn't limited to only teleporting to places where one of his anchors happens to be. With Rictor, and now Betsy I guess, with him he would be able teleport into that camp without any telepathic projection necessary. At least, that's how I always understood it to work.

I love Rictor's new costume, and I am simultaneously attracted to and repulsed by the f*ckboy mullet they gave him.

So the marvel fandom wiki says this, "This is accomplished by having a living "anchor", with whom he must have a connection, visualize their destination before opening a portal". Which makes it even easier combo. Betsy just uses astral projection to see/scout the place. Then she just pictures what she saw when astral projecting.