Posted in: Comics, DC Comics, Marvel Comics, X-Men | Tagged: 3K, Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, cyclops, Hellfire Club, hellfire gala, Hellfire Murder, Hellion, kitty pryde, krakoa, Ozymandias, Psylocke, rorschach, Sebastian Shaw, storm, Watchmen, wolverine

The Hellfire Murder Changes The Future Of Marvel's X-Men (XSpoilers)

X-Men: Hellfire Murder by Saladin Ahmed, Erica Schultz, Aaron Kuder, Cory Smith, Federica Mancin, Joelle Jones, Luciano Vecchio,Tony Daniel

It can't just be about which mutant is kissing whom when it could be about which mutant is killing whom. This is X-Men: The Hellfire Murder #1 by Saladin Ahmed, Erica Schultz, Aaron Kuder, Cory Smith, Federica Mancin, Joelle Jones, Luciano Vecchio and Tony Daniel, published today by Marvel Comics. Though Storm and Kitty Pryde debate with Sebastian Shaw and Toad about who killed who, Sebastian Shaw looks like he may have a classic trope villainous desire for a certain Hellion…

With Psylocke and Cyclops having more than what I teased last night as some kind of Psyclops mash-up on their mind… instead, as the good, the bad, and the beautiful of mutantkind gather under Sebastian Shaw's mutant power-dampening mansion, they have murder on their mind…

And since the fall of Krakoa, those who die stay dead. Even when they have been around a while and have, indeed, died a few times in the interim. And, yes, Cyclops is fine with that now. But it seems mutants plan and God laughs…

As Wolverine (yes, that's him) and Jubilee (yes, that's her) debate costume kink…

…only to find Sebastian Shaw's body (yes, that's it) in the library, but without the lead piping. Sebastian Shaw, created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, and named after British actor Robert Shaw. A self-made billionaire and industrialist, he is a mutant with the ability to absorb various forms of energy and convert them into enhanced strength, durability, speed, and longevity. The Black King and sometimes Lord Imperial of the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle, itself modelled on the sixties TV show The Avengers, seeking world domination through influence, wealth, manipulation and groovy style, baby.

Astra and Magneto clone Joseph there, folks. It's handy that the mutant terrorist group 3K, planning to kill all of humanity, are the main suspects, putting a target on them from all mutantity, X-Men or otherwise. Even as everyone ignores Mister Sinister, also in the room. But it was never going to be easy. Trust Wolverine to eventually sniff out the real killer.

Toad. Okay, not just Toad, but it was good to have an inside mutant for the plan to succeed. Welcome to the new Brotherhood Of Evil Mutants.

With OG member Toad and Martinique Wyngarde, the new Mastermind and daughter of the first Mastermind, Jason Wyngarde, also a Hellfire Club associate of Sebastian Shaw, also Brotherhood Of Evil Mutants OG member, named after British actor Peter Wyngarde, who played Jason King in the British 60s spy show Department S.

Alongside later Brotherhood of Evil Mutants members and refounders, Mystique and Destiny. And their new member, Empath, born into an ancient Castilian noble family in Spain, a member of the original Hellions, who can detect and read the emotional states, intentions, desires, and truthfulness of others nearby, then manipulate them. Handy when a murder investigation is going on, and all in all, making the perfect murder circuit of mutants, read the comic for the how, we're here for the why.

Destiny nuked it from space; it was the only way to be sure. X-Men: The Hellfire Murder has some smart folk. Things happen, but without the usual villain logic and trope. The moral lines are blurred all over the place. The heroes may not have committed murder, but they were planning to. The villains may have committed murder, but only to stop genocide. They are not here to take over the world… They even have a way to deal with their discovery by Wolverine, and it's all very Watchmen. You've read Watchmen, right?

Well, Wolverine is not Rorschach, despite a number of attempts to reframe him in that fashion. Rorschach never compromises. Wolverine's life is a compromise, aided by the right tipple along the way. In Watchmen, Ozymandias showed Rorschach the present and how fragile it was, and the future that would follow, if the truth was revealed, one of armageddon. Destiny shows Wolverine their similar futures, and a mutant genocide once more.

Welcome to The Hellfire Brotherhood, saving mutantity via capitalism. And a new mutant power base in the Marvel Universe to sit alongside the two X-Men teams, 3K, and wherever the hell Doug Ramsey is right now. Of course, as a murder mystery, there's a prestige to come, but Wolverine will need another drink or three for that one… X-Men: The Hellfire Murder by Saladin Ahmed, Erica Schultz, Aaron Kuder, Cory Smith, Federica Mancin, Joelle Jones, Luciano Vecchio and Tony Daniel is published today by Marvel Comics.

X-Men: The Hellfire Murder #1 by Saladin Ahmed, Erica Schultz, Aaron Kuder, Cory Smith, Federica Mancin, Joelle Jones, Luciano Vecchio, Tony Daniel
HOMICIDE AT THE HELLFIRE GALA! When an iconic mutant power player is murdered at an exclusive masquerade hosted by SEBASTIAN SHAW, it falls to WOLVERINE and JUBILEE to solve a locked-room mystery that has dire consequences for all mutantkind. Everyone is a suspect. And the party isn't over yet…

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