X-Force #9 - Discussion / Spoilers (Rachel gets her groove back!)

[ClanAskani]

I don't want to be completely spoiled, so I won't read the spoilers but I'm so relieved it sounds very positive.

[RachelGrey]

Has she killed stryfe yet

No but she definitely torched his base and killed all of his telepath things.

[phoenixzero23]

I can't read this today but i'm happy to hear that Rachel finally did something. She was treated so bad the last few years.

[RachelGrey]

I can't read this today but i'm happy to hear that Rachel finally did something. She was treated so bad the last few years.

The only saving grace from this whole fiasco of her being a hound for so long is that she saved herself. Admittedly it was the consciousness of the timelost Mother Askani version of Rachel that helped Rachel wake up and it appeared that the two parts of Rachel merged. Perhaps this is going to be presented why Rachel's mind has been susceptible to control because her will was split and part of it stayed with the end of time Rachel and part of it went with Mother Askani Rachel. Now she has all of herself restored so now she can access the full potential of her power too.

I am probably reading more into this than is really there. At the very least Rachel saved herself and it looks like she is going to have to save Cable because Cable and his girlfriend are dying from the transmode virus and need a serious intervention to live at this point.

[Glio]

I am curious about how she comes out of this. It's obvious that young Rachel has now merged with older Mother Askani Rachel. That's one of the reasons I couldn't tell if she went Phoenix or if she went into some hyper Omega Mutant upper limit. She is definitely talking and acting like some kind of cosmic being at the end of the issue and she gets the glowing speech bubble to emphasize her awesome power.

Attachment 83339

That bubble is exactly the same as the ones possessed by the Phoenix.

[RachelGrey]

That bubble is exactly the same as the ones possessed by the Phoenix.

So the Phoenix herself isn't present in this comic. But after Phoenix/Rachel was exploring space and she fought with Galactus and realized that she was drawing too much power from the potential life force of the universe, she limited her power in Rachel and relinquished control back to Rachel. Did the Phoenix leave Rachel right at that point and Rachel has had her own shard of the Phoenix Force the whole time. When the Phoenix resurrected Rachel after Rachel defeated Necrom/Anti-Phoenix did she infuse Rachel with a permanent portion of the Phoenix Force. Is Rachel now the daughter of the Phoenix. Was she diminished when she got split in two in the time stream and now that both sides of her are back together is she restored to her full potential as the Starchild daughter of the Phoenix.

It's all speculation, I doubt they will completely explain it, but I am definitely looking forward to the next issue where Rachel saves everyone. That's the only good thing to come out of this series, Rachel just saved herself and now she is going to save her brother, Clan Askani, and X-Force too!

[PsychoEFrost]

Freaking finally. Let's go Rachel!

[cranger]

So the Phoenix herself isn't present in this comic. But after Phoenix/Rachel was exploring space and she fought with Galactus and realized that she was drawing too much power from the potential life force of the universe, she limited her power in Rachel and relinquished control back to Rachel. Did the Phoenix leave Rachel right at that point and Rachel has had her own shard of the Phoenix Force the whole time. When the Phoenix resurrected Rachel after Rachel defeated Necrom/Anti-Phoenix did she infuse Rachel with a permanent portion of the Phoenix Force. Is Rachel now the daughter of the Phoenix. Was she diminished when she got split in two in the time stream and now that both sides of her are back together is she restored to her full potential as the Starchild daughter of the Phoenix.

It's all speculation, I doubt they will completely explain it, but I am definitely looking forward to the next issue where Rachel saves everyone. That's the only good thing to come out of this series, Rachel just saved herself and now she is going to save her brother, Clan Askani, and X-Force too!

I have no doubt that she will save everyone and make sure the timeline is not altered by Cable going back in time "before he was supposed to" and killing his older self (Old Cable will be back.) This made for a fun story and I think it was only allowed to go off script as much as it did because it would be "fixed" at the end and with Hickman coming no one would feel like it just ended for no reason. We got some fun Kid Cable adventures that other people can use for inspiration for telling tales of Cable's youth. We got some weird Rachel Phoenix shenanigans that do not need to be explained as most things with these two should just be left to interpretation at this point. We got one last night out on the town for most of the old X-Force crew, too.

[RachelGrey]

I have no doubt that she will save everyone and make sure the timeline is not altered by Cable going back in time "before he was supposed to" and killing his older self (Old Cable will be back.) This made for a fun story and I think it was only allowed to go off script as much as it did because it would be "fixed" at the end and with Hickman coming no one would feel like it just ended for no reason. We got some fun Kid Cable adventures that other people can use for inspiration for telling tales of Cable's youth. We got some weird Rachel Phoenix shenanigans that do not need to be explained as most things with these two should just be left to interpretation at this point. We got one last night out on the town for most of the old X-Force crew, too.

I did like the issues doing Cable and Stryfe's back story. This was a time period that we haven't glimpsed at before when Cable and Stryfe were duking it out for control of that time period. I agree that was something I really enjoyed exploring in this series. I was hoping Rachel would get more agency, but honestly Cable got sidelined by the transmode virus too so it's no like both Summers kids had it rough in this series. Rachel is finally back, but it's like the tables have turned and Cable is just barely alive going into the final issue. Ed Brisson gave me the best gift in this issue, Rachel saved herself. I get that he portrayed it that Mother Askani was a separate consciousness from young Rachel, but I think the reason they can even talk to each other in Rachel's current state is because technically they are the same person. I can see where they went with this too, it wrapped up a confusion about whether the Askani timeline truly ceased to exist or not, it still exists, it still happened. So now the explanation is that when Rachel was lost in time she got split into two, one part to the end of time with Gaunt, and one time to the Askani timeline to become the Mother Askani. So now the two parts of Rachel are back together, it will be interesting to see where it goes from here.

I think you are right though, they have to repair the timeline. So Rachel is probably going to decide that she can't kill Stryfe because it will damage the timeline.
1. She probably wipes everyone in the Askani time period's memory of what happened, including Cable. (possibly burying the memory in Cable so he can remember later, similar to what the O5 did).
2. Sends X-Force back to the time they left, and possibly wipes their memories too, so they can't cause issues by recording/writing things down about the future timeline.
3. Rachel probably goes to the moment where kid Cable killed older Cable and maybe makes it look like Cable died and whisks him away and leaves a facsimile of older Cable in his place.
4. Wakes her brother up and helps him to remember everything that happened, then maybe they decide to team up and stay on X-Force together, or go try and help their Dad in Uncanny.

[Snoop Dogg]

I'm like a cat licking Tabby bathwater out of a bowl, would've like an extra two splashes and a double-spread of pointless what's-her face punching.

Cable looks like a boy his age at like 3AM, kudos to Brisson for taking his youth seriously.

Stryfe is so angry. Rachel's gonna eat the Krangs and he's just gonna cry.

[RachelGrey]

I'm like a cat licking Tabby bathwater out of a bowl, would've like an extra two splashes and a double-spread of pointless what's-her face punching.

Cable looks like a boy his age at like 3AM, kudos to Brisson for taking his youth seriously.

Stryfe is so angry. Rachel's gonna eat the Krangs and he's just gonna cry.

I don't know why I keep forgetting their name, I have been reading the darn comic and I just keep forgetting what they are called. So Krangs is the right name, at least you remember.

[fridric]

That bubble is exactly the same as the ones possessed by the Phoenix.

IMO it's closer to her old effects from the 1st time she joined the X-Men than PF effects.

[spirit2011]

About time Rachel being badass and getting possessed by...herself!

[Tycon]

Glad she kept her Hound marks. Also whew this Burnett art!!!!

[RachelGrey]

Glad she kept her Hound marks. Also whew this Burnett art!!!!

I really hate that art.

The only reason I am reading this book is for Rachel and because Ed Brisson is actually decent writer and he handled the back story for Cable and Stryfe really well. You can tell Brisson has read "X-Men: Phoenix" and "Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix" and he knows how to write Cable, Blaquesmith, Stryfe, and Rachel using their back history.