What’s Covered?
Astonishing X-Men # 13 - 18
Roster Watch
Synopsis
Astonishing X-Men # 13 - 18: Emma's Betrayal
Writer - Joss Whedon
Pencils - John Cassaday
Ok, so...Holy shit. Cassandra Nova created Emma’s secondary mutation to help her survive the Genosha attack. This is huge news to randomly drop in a Joss Whedon comic.
We see flashbacks of Emma talking to Shaw, Nova, and Negasonic Teenage Warhead. I'm sure this is going to end up with "Emma was setting all this up as a trap and she's still good" but there seems to be, at the very least, an awful lot of lying going on here!
W teaches the remaining mutant kids how to fight by turning off the lights and beating them up. Classic. Armor is pissed because he tried to stab her and only guessed that his claws wouldn’t go through. She yells at him in Japanese and he yells right back. Awesome.
Kitty is cuddling with Peter, so it looks like they are pretty much together. She has a dream where her dad blamed her for what happened. Damn. Later, they kiss. Making out, making out! Later, Kitty phases through the ground as she’s having sex with Piotr. Damn girl, slay!
Maria Hill pissed off at Agent Brand (green hair) from SWORD for keeping Ord with them. I'm glad someone is disappointed with SWORD for working with this mutant terrorist.
Emma turns into a Jean outfit to seduce Scott.That's fuckied up. Emma fucks with Scott by making him appear as Wolverine and her as Jean. She calls him (Wolverine) the (true) love of her life. It really pisses Scott off. Emma tries to say that X only chose Scott as leader because he had nothing else that made him special. Emma's being a huge bitch and this is making it hard for me to forgive her. She better cut it out! I wonder if this will be the end of their relationship. Aren't we due for a jean revival yet? It's been a few years, hasn't it. Actually, I don't even want that, so not sure why I'm putting it out there. (I genuinely don't know what comes next, FYI). The big revelation is that Scott choose not to control his powers as a boy, however, I really don't understand what the big deal is about this, but apparently it is effective in leaving Scott comatose, which I guess was her end goal. I really don't like this!
After Emma disables Scott, the rest of her posse (say it aint so) starts breaking into the mansion and attacking others. Cassandra Nova challenges Beast, preying on how she turned him feral during New X-Men. Beast goes feral but Armor expands her armor, knocks him around, and scares him off.
Nova reverts Wolverine to a childlike state
Negasonic in the mansion too and makes Kitty keep phasing into the earth. After stopping far underground, Kitty remembers that Emma brought her in to keep her in check, however this just really isn't working for me!
Danger, the sentient danger room, breaks out Ord. Bro, we don't need need more "Danger." Are we sure Astonishing X-Men is supposed to be this revered run? Danger tells Order which X-Man is prophesized to destroy his homeworld...and it was Colossus. Lolz, Coloussus, the mutant Ord saved from death years earlier. Dumbass one note villain.
Kitty phased back to the mansion, beats Emma, and strands her under the earth. Go Kitty girl!
All along there was a hidden person in mansion and we finally see that the Hellfire Club’s secret person is…The White Queen? Courtney Ross? That's the big reveal. That's obvious. And she's just a human. Why is this a big deal other than it's a "new" White Queen.
Nova goes into this whole brainwashing effort with Kitty (kind of like how Xavier was tricked in X-Men 2) and tricked Kitty into thinking she had a son that was being stored in the mansion. It was actually Nova’s formless, gelatinous body! Oh shit, I almost forgot about that!
Nova threatens to kill all her peers. Scott shoots the White Queen with a gun. That was...unexpected! Having just shot the White Queen, Scott Summers is attacked by Cassandra Nova. However, he's prepared for her and shoots her as well with a smile. This is really just all dumb, in my opinion.
Elsewhere, Blindfold (It's been a week since I read this and I already forgot who she is) is confronted by the feral Beast, but she has been instructed on how to handle him, per a plan put into motion months before by Cyclops and the Beast himself: a ball of yarn.
Elsewhere in the Institute, Danger and Ord are met by both Hisako (Armor) and a mentally-recovered Wolverine. Though both manage to hold their own, it is the mentally recovered Beast who defeats the two with a device he had constructed to use against Magneto.
Moving down to seek out Scott, the trio meet up with Scott, Piotr & Armor– as well as Kitty and Emma, whom Scott ordered Kitty to rescue from her makeshift prison below the Institute’s foundation.
To their surprise, Scott informs them that they are not really facing the Hellfire Club, but manifestations of Emma’s telepathy, caused by a telepathic suggestion by Cassandra when she was imprisoned so long ago.
As the X-Men discuss this, they are unaware that the still-mentally controlled Emma is telepathically downloading Cassandra Nova’s consciousness into the unwilling Armor. Just as the transfer is complete – and just as Ord and Danger press their attack – all of the players are transported aboard a SWORD spacecraft, which begins to rocket toward the Breakworld. Left behind, the prophetic Blindfold informs a fellow student that not all of the X-Men will return…
Comments