Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Marvel Comics | Tagged: marvel, x-men, X-ual Healing - The Weekly X-Men Recap Column

The X-Men Moment We've All Been Waiting For in X-Men #15 [XH]

Welcome to the Thanksgiving edition of X-ual Healing. To give thanks to getting to take an actual day off from writing about nonsense like comics and pro wrestling, I saved up two weeks worth of X-Men recaps to publish on Thanksgiving while I'm gorging myself on Turkey, mashed potatoes, candied yams, and multiple versions of pie. That means there's six chapters of X of Swords recapped this week in X-Force #14, Hellions #6, Cable #6, X-Men #15, Excalibur #15, and X of Swords: Destruction #1. And take my word for it, my opinion on this beast of a crossover will change from one article to the next. In addition to that, there's Juggernaut #3.

But first:

Hey Bleedingcool, have been a follower since 2015, but what kind of reporting is this? Is this sarcasm, satire or just poor writing? Really hard to understand.

-A Twitter Follower complaining about a Fanboy Wrampage column

Why can't it be all of them at once?

Alright, enough yammering. It's recap time!

Sworn to sell comics for Marvel executives who feared and hated the fact that Fox owned their movie rights, The Uncanny X-Men suffered great indignities. Still, thanks to a corporate merger, a line-wide relaunch, and Jonathan Hickman's giant ego, the X-Men can finally get back to doing what they do best: being objectively the best franchise in all of comics for lovers of soap opera drama.

[MULTINAV]

X-MEN #15 XOS
SEP200552
(W) Jonathan Hickman (A) Mahmud Asrar (CA) Leinil Francis Yu
A great division. Bitter victories. Bitterer hearts.
Rated T+
In Shops: Nov 25, 2020
SRP: $3.99

X-Men #15 Recap

Scott Summers and Jean Grey prepare to save their son. They discuss how they fought for years when they had next to nothing, while now they have everything to fight for. But first, they visit the Quiet Council.

In Otherworld, Apocalypse convinces his wife to take off her mask before they fight. In Krakoa, Cyclops pitches leading a massive strike team into Otherworld to get their people back, since they believe Krakoa is losing badly in the tournament. They don't know, since their conversation with Cable was cut off, that the score is now tied and down to a final battle. Cyclops argues that they can get their people back and then shut down the gates using the technology Beast stole from Hordeculture.

It's a risky plan, and Exodus is concerned they might fail. But Scott says he's going no matter what. Jean is too. And Nightcrawler. And Kate. This moment right here is the first time these characters have felt like the real X-Men in a long time, standing up for what's right and not just blindly following the orders of Xavier and their former greatest villains.

Sebastian Shaw disagrees. He says they're a government and have to abide by rules. He calls for a vote, and Exodus, Mystique, Sinister, Xavier, and Magneto side with him. Shaw's motion wins, so if they leave, they're no longer on the council.

Scott and Jean insist they're going, but convince Nightcrawler and Kate to stay behind so it's not all villains on this thing. In a secret telepathic exchange, Emma agrees to send the Cuckoos to help. Exodus asks for another vote to close the gates after Scott and Jean go through, and the same people vote for it.

Cyclops says he understands why the Quiet Council is doing what it does, but the X-Men are heroes and they're gonna do what heroes do. Scott and Jean head off to save the day. Xavier and Magneto smile. A prose page reveals that the term "X-Men" was banned and the team forbidden when the nation of Krakoa was founded, you know, like good guys would do.

In Otherworld, Apocalypse miraculously defeats his wife, but refuses to kill her. Saturnyne says there must be a victor. Genesis puts back on the Annihilation helmet.

God damn, it's taken what, must be over a hundred issues of this X-Men reboot by this point, and we've just now seen, for the first time, the X-Men act like the X-Men. Heroes who, when the odds are against them and a situation seems unwinnable, do what's right regardless of personal cost. And based on that look from Xavier when it all went down shows he wanted it to happen. The fact that the X-Men were literally banned from being the X-Men says it all about Krakoa as not a utopia, but a dystopia.

Of course, there's still two issues to go, so maybe Cyclops will die and Sebastian Shaw will be proven right. We'll find out soon…

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