X-Men #150

Publisher
Marvel
Year
2004
Month
2
LastChanged
2/3/2024 8:22:30 AM
Planet X

Conclusion
Phoenix Invictus
Summary

  Jean asks Logan if his eyes have grown back, as the Phoenix blazes away from the sun. He asks what's going on, and she explains he released the Phoenix consciousness by killing her, and she used the asteroid and the sun's energy to build and power the liquid metal transport they're on. "Total telekinetic control of matter at the molecular level. I had to die to come back, Logan. But I don't know how long they'll let me stay."

  Hank and Emma sit on the wreckage of the X-Plane in the middle of the Pacific, bickering about who gets credit for their last-minute survival. Hank scratches equations on the metal, but she's distracting him and he's ruining his claws. Emma says he's dehydrated and delirious, and then she telepathically senses someone coming; a liquid spacecraft hovers: "It's bloody Jean, showing off again."

  The president's staff discusses Magneto, desperate enough to consider dropping neutron bombs to kill all mutants while keeping the architecture intact.

  Toad informs Magneto he needs to do something soon or lose support; he's still probing the weak spots of the magnetosphere before he can invert the magnetic poles. Ernest says Martha thinks he's waited too long, and now he's going to die. Magneto raises a hand to her, but Angel intervenes: she doesn't want to see a murdering junkie ruling the world. Esme is furious at him for using her, and Beak arrives with a baseball bat to defend his children, but Magneto mocks him, grabs the titanium bat away, and orders Esme to pacify him, but she tells him to do it himself.

  Fantomex flies in on EVA, shoots out the windows, and jumps in. Magneto orders an attack, but the Brotherhood doesn't want to get shot. Only Toad lunges, so Fantomex shoots out his kneecaps. Magneto diverts the bullets he thinks were meant for him, but they pierce the tank holding Xavier. Magneto pulls the building apart and wraps Fantomex in metal, but Ernest warns, "Here he comes!" just as Scott blasts up through the floor. He's angry that he trusted Xorn, and he pummels Magneto with his fists. He's no longer running from all the bad feelings Apocalypse brought out in him (Search for Cyclops LS) and he's letting loose on Magneto, blasting directly into his helmet to burst it. Scott sees he's seriously burned him and hesitates; Magneto knocks him out with the Xorn helmet.

  At street level, the Cuckoos telepathically control the crowd, but they sense bombers approaching. They welcome Xavier; Magneto, sensing something in his head, thinks it's him, too, but it's Esme squeezing his mind. Magneto pulls the metal earrings off her, forms them into spikes, and impales her through the ears. She falls; he asks the future to forgive him and dons the Xorn helmet.

  The bomber pilots see a second sun, telling them not to drop their payloads. It's Hank, on Phoenix's ship, telling them the X-Men have Magneto under control. He's put in contact with the president, who's skeptical, but Hank insists all mutants are not their enemies, and he has discovered a way to repair the terminal gene in humankind.

  Emma finds Esme near death and lifts her up, mourning her while with her last breath, she denies being anything like her teacher. Scott recovers, and he and Emma explain what's happened to each of them lately. Scott's made his decision between her and Jean, but the Cuckoos interrupt, saying Magneto's doing something strange to gravity and time. Magneto hovers over the crowd, saying he's ready to shake the foundations of the earth, but they don't believe it's him in the Xorn helmet. Foster bravely tries to arrest him, but Magneto just levitates him and orders the mutants to kill him. Phoenix shows up and rescues him, while Hank tackles Magneto with two syringes to neutralize the Kick in his system. He then realizes Xorn is really Magneto and gets stuck with his own needles, and Logan is up next, daring him to remove his adamantium again (iss. 25). Jean floats in with full-Phoenix fire and dares him to make his pitch for world domination, and he is angered when the crowd murmurs against him. He takes off the Xorn helmet to convince them he's really Magneto, and Xavier arrives in a walking chair, saying he was a legend in death but is now seen to be an old man with outdated ideas. "I think we've all had enough." Magneto agrees and collapses, and Jean bends and touches his shoulder, but he grabs her hand and discharges the power he had built up: "a lethal electromagnetic pulse." He wants death to make him immortal; Logan obliges with one stroke, and the Xorn helmet bounces away. The Cuckoos say something's gone wrong with the universe, while Scott runs to Jean, panicked, and Hank restrains a feral Logan. Scott apologizes to Jean for hurting her; the Phoenix says she understands; Jean tells Scott to live: all she ever did was die on her. She passes away.

  150 years later in the Blue Area on the moon (X-Men I:137), a man in a spacesuit finds what Corona was looking for: a Phoenix egg.

  Note: Jean died crashing into Jamaica Bay (X-Men I:100), on the moon as Phoenix (X-Men I:137), and at the Hellfire Club ball (X-Men I:181).

Summary

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