All-New X-Factor #18 Spoilers

[Quicksilverfan]

Doug kept saying "I was sleeping IN" not "I was sleeping". If you note that distinction, the scene reads with less vagueness to me.

English isn't my first language. What's the difference between "sleeping in" and "sleeping"?

[Spasticat]

English isn't my first language. What's the difference between "sleeping in" and "sleeping"?

When you're sleeping in, you're awake but being a lazy bum and staying in bed.

[Spasticat]

I should amend that to say "awake but staying in bed; if you're a man you may be sporting nocturnal penile tumescence."

Doug very well may have been experiencing said condition when Danger wandered in and hit on him. Dunno about y'all, but I'm not exactly the sharpest when I first wake up. It's easy to make bad decisions before that first cup of coffee, lol.

[Neko]

Doug's comfortable around machines and technology. The fact he was willing and would again just means he sees Danger as a person and not just a robot. And was attracted to her as well. Thats a nice thing to be shown, adds to Dangers humanity as it were. imo.

[Mattarchy]

such a thought provoking issue this was, excellent work if you ask me. marvel should have realized they really had something special here.

[Neko]

such a thought provoking issue this was, excellent work if you ask me. marvel should have realized they really had something special here.

I agree, but I'll admit I like character driven stuff. And there isn't enough of those fans. And I absolutely loved the art in this book. Just loved it.

[Sea Hound]

I'm a bit late to the party, but I really enjoyed this issue. Admittedly I took the sex as being unexpected but consensual from Doug's pov. (He did clearly say afterwards he was willing and would go even again afterwards.). Lots of zingy one liners and the whole thing crackled along perfectly.

Anyone else think Sunfire was originally slated to join the team as Quicksilver's replacement? If so I regret the cancellation even more. He's not had a huge amount of development over the years.

Agree with you Neko about the art. (Except the colours, but that's an old gripe). Very clever this issue, with some really interesting perspectives and angles. Like here where Warlock swallows the grenade, and is shown as an outline.

image.jpg

The line before made me laugh too. "Grenade." "Thank God." We've all had those awkward conversations Warlock.

[Quicksilverfan]

Anybody else was surprised by Danger saying "Darling" to Doug? I thought all Danger wanted was to have sex, not actually be in a loving relationship with someone. Or maybe she's trying to be polite, like "it's a social norm, to call the people you have sex with Darling".
Does Danger actually love Doug? Is he her BAE?

[Neko]

Anyone else think Sunfire was originally slated to join the team as Quicksilver's replacement? If so I regret the cancellation even more. He's not had a huge amount of development over the years.

I would have loved all of this. Sunfire joining for a variety or reasons. Mostly the connection with Gambit and Polaris.

Agree with you Neko about the art. (Except the colours, but that's an old gripe). Very clever this issue, with some really interesting perspectives and angles. Like here where Warlock swallows the grenade, and is shown as an outline.

The line before made me laugh too. "Grenade." "Thank God." We've all had those awkward conversations Warlock.

I think I give the colors a pass because I've seen so much bad coloring in the past, I think I just don't notice anymore.

As for the “grenade” - that was pretty classic. I loved it.

Anybody else was surprised by Danger saying "Darling" to Doug? I thought all Danger wanted was to have sex, not actually be in a loving relationship with someone. Or maybe she's trying to be polite, like "it's a social norm, to call the people you have sex with Darling".
Does Danger actually love Doug? Is he her BAE?

I don't think Danger loves Doug (or is more amorous than the situation would call for), I think she's trying out or going through the algorithm of a relationship. She thinks based on her knowledge as the Dangerroom, that these comments are the norm, so she went with it. I hope it makes sense. I am not sure she means it but is expressing it because she is actually trying to figure it out.

[Captain Buttocks]

Doug should change his code-name from Cypher to Nocturnal Penile Tumescence

[Sea Hound]

Doug should change his code-name from Cypher to Nocturnal Penile Tumescence

Or "Morning Glory"?

P.S. Welcome back cap.

[Captain Buttocks]

Or "Morning Glory"?

P.S. Welcome back cap.

Mourning Glory?

Thanks - hopped back on the book for Longshot's appearance. Figure I will see it out til the bitter end.

[Starfish]

Anybody else was surprised by Danger saying "Darling" to Doug? I thought all Danger wanted was to have sex, not actually be in a loving relationship with someone. Or maybe she's trying to be polite, like "it's a social norm, to call the people you have sex with Darling".
Does Danger actually love Doug? Is he her BAE?

Looking back at the previous issues in the series, I think Danger actually shows more affection towards Doug than towards anyone else on the cast - in her own socially awkward way, at least.

For example, she called him out on the fact he was lying when he claimed not to have suicidal thoughts. After freeing Georgia from her adoptive father, Danger approached her to speak out on Doug's behalf and asked her not to blame him for her unhappiness. Now after their tryst came to light, she took his side without question, to the point where she lies to Warlock (or tries to, anyway) because he asked her to. In fact, she protected him took the full blame for what happened.

By contrast, Danger didn't show any interest in Warlock until he showed a clear sexual interest in her. When he got cold feet, however, she moved on as well. After finding out she slept with Doug, he asked her how she could have done this when she appeared to care for him before, to which she replies 'in so so far as he served a purpose'.

Does that mean Danger loves Doug? Hard to tell, but I'd definitely say she cares more about him than she's letting on. And I think that's what Warlock is really concerned about: Not only has his best friend slept with the girl he likes, but she is starting to take his place at Doug's side.


I believe what makes her behavior tricky to interpret – and what may be the reason why there are so many differing views on their morning after scene – is that unlike Warlock, who expresses his current emotional state in an almost cartoonish way, Danger keeps her feelings very close to herself. She rarely uses any kind of body language or facial expressions. We see what she says, but how she says these things is always open to the reader's interpretation.

To give an example, one thing I noticed about the after-sex scene, is that many readers felt Danger was pressuring Doug to retroactively consent to their intercourse, and assumed that she initiated sexual activity before she even knew if he was really willing. That's not how the scene played out in my mind, however, and I wondered why that was.

During the entire scene, Danger is just lying there motionless and talking. In fact, she isn't doing as much as lifting a finger. Nothing in the panels informs us about her mindset or outward demeanor; and instead we're required to draw on the context of the current issue and what we previously know of her character.


Certainly, the following is an entirely valid way to read the scene in question:

Doug (awkward): Thanks... I guess.
Danger (pressing): Were you unwilling?
Doug (awkward): Well, I... uh...
Danger (more pressing): Were you?
Doug (insecure): No. Not in the least.

And so is this:

Doug (awkward): Thanks... I guess.
Danger (concerned): Were you unwilling?
Doug (awkward): Well, I... uh...
Danger (unconvinced): Were you?
Doug (reassuring): No. Not in the least.

One way of reading the same scene gives the impression that Danger forcefully initiated intercourse and later badgers Doug for consent after the fact. Another way of reading it implies that she was certain he was comfortable with her presence until he started showing to have second thoughts, then assumed she may have made a mistake and asked him to make sure she didn't.

Personally, I read the scene in the latter way, because it felt more in line with what we know of her character (she never pressed the issue of sex before when her prospective partner didn't reciprocate her interest), and with her and Doug's interactions in the rest of the book, where she comes off as entirely compliant to any of his requests, bordering on acting submissive.

I think Danger in this book is written a lot like a teenager – she believes to already have the answer to anything thanks to her superior cognitive abilities and vast theoretical knowledge, when in fact she lacks any real experience and still has so much to learn about how the world and its people work. She's confident that her biometric readings can tell her anything there is to know about a person, but their feelings regularly confuse her. She displays the emotional maturity of a child and has problems when it comes to impulse control. Her method of learning about social customs is by studying the humans around her and parroting their behavior.

If you then put that naïve but curious young robot in an environment where her role-models in the field of romantic interaction come down to Gambit, Linda, and the Snows, things like the above happen.