Planet X

• Writer - Grant Morrison
• Penciler - Phil Jimenez
• Inker - Andy Lanning
• Colorist - Chris Chuckry
• Lettering - Virtual Calligraphy
• Lettering - Rus Wooton
• Ass't Editor - Stephannie Moore
• Editor - Mike Marts
• Editor in Chief - Joe Quesada

Phoenix in Darkness

Summary

  Magneto has set up huge crematoria and herds humans into them. Beak objects, wondering when they became Nazis; Magneto, angered, says it's a new world and no time to be squeamish; Beak says there's nothing new about these ovens; Esme says humans are a lower form of life and don't feel pain; Beak says even carrots feel pain; Magneto backhands him (always an effective way to end debate) and says Mother Nature designed him to prey on humans; Basilisk makes a fart joke; Magneto uses his power to choke him and accidentally kills him. He orders Toad to dispose of the body, orders Beak to be killed with the humans, and flies up. Beak is forced into a car, and Magneto raises a collection of vehicles skyward; Beak, panicking, jumps out of the car and tries to fly; he crashes down and lies sprawled on the pavement in Mutant Town; a gang beats him and steals his shoes. He's determined not to be Magneto's soldier, and when he gets up, he finds EVA in an alley.

  He wakes among the students who haven't allied with Magneto; Phoebe now leads the Cuckoos and knows Magneto used Johansson's brain to influence his students. Beak asks if there's anyone there who can fight Magneto; Scott and Fantomex show themselves; NYPD mutant liaison Foster is there, too. Magneto has shut down broadcast media, so telepaths are the only effective communication, but his mind is shielded. He lured all the heroes out of Manhattan with a fake bomb threat and then erected a magnetic bubble. Only a Super-Sentinel can break through; luckily, Scott has two; Beak reports the rest of the X-Men are gone, and Xavier's in a bottle. Scott prepares the students for battle; Fantomex thinks that's nuts; Scott refuses to let Magneto start a species war and doesn't believe the X-Men are dead. Beak says Magneto is planning to reverse the earth's magnetic field; Scott says that would kill mutants, too, and Magneto doesn't have the power; Beak says he's using Kick.

  Magneto takes Kick, bothered that he killed Basilisk by accident; Esme tells him to lay off the drugs and switch the magnetic fields now; she wonders if he wants to be stopped. She wonders what happened to the charismatic mutant she fell in love with; Magneto says she's just a child and a means to an end; she storms off angry. Magneto hears a voice predicting his downfall; it's his Xorn persona, which he made too well in the image of his own idealism; he attacks the Xorn helmet and confronts Xavier in the tank, checking that his mind is still blocked. He wonders why the children only listened to him when he was Xorn; he plans to free Xavier when there are no humans to save, so he can admit Magneto was right. Ernst enters with Johansson on a chain, saying Magneto is boring and old-fashioned; it's all coming to an end.

  Xavier is telepathically contacted by Jean, sitting on the ruins beside Logan's corpse.

Summary

  Cover name was changed to "New X-Men" for Issues 114 - 156.