Three’s Company
At
the end of Uncanny X-Men #295, chapter five of X-Cutioner’s Song, Cable heads
to the awesomely-named Canadian Intelligence group Department K because
who-cares-why, where he runs into Wolverine and Bishop, also there for reasons
I don’t remember, and super pissed because they think this dude shot Professor
X. The next week in X-Factor #85, it’s a showdown for the ages, as the two
X-Men throw fists, claws and energy blasts at Cable’s giant guns, with Jae Lee
drawing all the gory details and black blood flowing freely. After Wolverine
slices up multiple weapons, the two X-Men agree Cable didn’t do the dirty deed
and head up to his space station where they spend the next couple chapters—both
Wolverine and Cable pass the time through whittling while Bishop stares out the
window and no I’m not joking—before getting bored and going after Stryfe. Years
later, Bishop would forget all about this sitcom-ready set-up and spend decades
trying to kill Cable and his daughter.
Killer Archangel Moments
There
are three instances in X-Cutioner’s Song where Archangel—who I knew next to
nothing about as a kid other than that he had an action figure—comes off
awesome and totally won my young heart over. The first is when Mutant
Liberation Front member Kamikaze tries to sneak up on him from behind, he
extends his razor sharp wings to get ready to fly, and unknowingly decapitates
the dude (then angsts about it for like three issues). The second is when
Apocalypse, his “father,” shows up to cure Professor X, and when the other
X-Men think the whole thing has gone bad, he raises up his wings to block them
from interfering, making them all think he’s gone evil, until a few seconds
later where Xavier is saved. Lastly, on the moon, in the final chapter, after
Apocalypse has been beaten nearly but not quite to death by the Dark Riders, he
asks his “son” to mercy kill him, and Archangel just walks away like a stone
cold bad ass, not willing to give him the satisfaction—harsh!
Crying Havok
I
wrote a more lengthy post that covered this already, but Alex Summers got to be
a stone cold bad ass during X-Cutioner’s Song. Cyclops usually took command
during most crossovers, whether his brother was leading X-Factor at the time or
not, and in lieu of that, Storm got the reins, but with the X-Men besieged by
so many enemies, some of their biggest guns captured and a personal stake
involved for Havok, the reluctant hero had no choice but to step up. With the
main teams still in disarray following Xavier’s shooting, Havok keeps a clear
head and goes after X-Force, bringing them in and then getting Cannonball to
cooperate in the search for Cable (and later Stryfe). His diplomatic skills
proven, Alex then has his most rad moment on the moon, where that nasty force
field barring anybody without Summers (or Grey) DNA prevents most of the good
guys from doing any damage, and leaving Havok to play cavalry and help Cable
save the day. Now that he’s leading an Avengers A-squad in Marvel NOW!, the time
has never been better to check out Havok’s first major rodeo.
Stryfe
You
can have your Magnetos, your Apocalypses, your Sinisters, your Mojos and your
Empyreans (look it up!); there was NO X-Men villain more awesome—at least to me
in the 90’s—that m’f’n Stryfe, baby. At the time of X-Cutioner’s Song, we didn’t
know the guy’s motivation for sure, we just knew he had the most dangerous
looking armor ever (how did he walk around without impaling every person he
came close to?), the same face as Cable, and the ability to deliver
Shakespearean soliloquies that would make Hamlet go “Damn, that’s good.” One of
the coolest thing the brain trust behind the franchise at the time did was
elevate him to the A-list almost out of nowhere, since he went straight from
being a terrorist who gave X-Force a hard time to the guy who took out
Professor X, kidnapped Cyclops and Jean Grey, beat down Apocalypse and
outwitted Sinister in the course of 12 issues; something about the fact that he
had been almost hiding in plain sight to that point just increased his
coolness. I also dug that he was arrogant and clearly had a master plan, but no
matter how much time he’d put into his scheming, the raw emotional hurt he felt
towards Cyclops, Jean, Apocalypse, Cable, etc. could take over at any time and
he’d rant away with tears flowing from his eyes; he had incredible power, but
you always knew he was about two seconds away from self-destruction, and that
kept things interesting. I wish Stryfe had a longer and more enduring shelf
life, because I feel like too many people felt like once his full past and
relationships were out there he lost his edge, but I disagree and think the
intensity of his hatred and his penchant for chaos remain key components to a
great villain. There’s a reason you can yell “Stab his eyes!” at any 90’s X-Men
fan and get a knowing smirk and nod.
Lasting Consequences
In
the final page of X-Cutioner’s Song chapter 12 (aka X-Force #18), Mr. Sinister
has his assistant open a canister from Stryfe that purportedly contained DNA
info on Scott Summers and Jean Grey, but it’s empty; Sinister stomps off
annoyed, his assistant coughs. What was in the canister? The Legacy Virus.
Sinister’s assistant would be the first to die, kicking off a subplot in the
X-Men books that last nearly a decade, claimed the lives of many heroes and
villains, and ultimately took a tremendous heroic sacrifice by Colossus to
stop. More fallout from the story: X-Force breaks out on its own, Rogue and
Gambit get together, Archangel starts moving past his depressed stage and Cable
becomes an essential part of the franchise—just to name a few lasting
consequences.
Also,
I became a huge comic book fan and eventually start working in the business; so
it was an important story.
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