X-Men: Deadly Genesis
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X-Men: Deadly Genesis is the name of a miniseries from Marvel Comics by Ed Brubaker and Trevor Hairsine with covers by Marc Silvestri. Starring the X-Men, this series celebrates the 30th anniversary of Giant-Size X-Men #1. The plot deals with the X-Men looking for Professor Charles Xavier, who went missing after House of M, as well as the appearance of a new, incredibly powerful mutant threat.
The plot of the miniseries also continues a plot thread that has not been touched since 1993, when writer Fabian Nicieza hinted that there were “other” siblings of Scott (Cyclops) and Alex (Havok) Summers in X-Men #23 v2, . [1]
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[edit] Synopsis
Deadly Genesis is a retcon of the classic Giant Size X-Men #1 story of 1974 by Len Wein. In that story, he used the abduction of the original X-Men by the living island Krakoa as an instrument to discard a larger part of the first-generation X-Men of 1961. Wein wrote that Professor X recruited international characters, most notably the quintessential Marvel Comics anti-hero Wolverine, who eventually substituted the original X-Men.
In Deadly Genesis, Ed Brubaker writes that this episode was only half of the truth: the international X-Men had been Professor X's second attempt to rescue the original X-Men. The first attempt to retrieve the missing X-Men was conducted with a team of young mutants (the energy-wielding Vulcan, time-manipulator Sway, the hyperadaptive Darwin and terrakinetic Petra) and ended in catastrophe, seemingly claiming all of their lives. However, Vulcan had survived, having absorbed the engergies from his fallen comrades. When Polaris blasted Krakoa into outer space in Giant Size X-Men #1, Vulcan was shot into space, too, but survived in a comatose state, thanks to Darwin's reactive powers. After the debacle, the X-Men, especially Cyclops, were deeply distraught and Professor Xavier decided to mind-wipe them in order to spare them the agony, and to clear his name.
After the House of M storyline (2005), a large surge of mutant energies was released throughout the galaxy. It awakened the comatose Vulcan and caused him to return to Earth, out for revenge. He kills the X-Man Banshee, easily defeats the X-Men several times in battle with his now semi-godlike powers, and reveals the terrible truth to the X-Men, in full view of Charles Xavier. When the X-Men attack him in order to avenge Banshee, Vulcan flees into outer space. Feeling deeply betrayed, Cyclops banishes Professor Xavier from the X-Mansion as punishment.
The storyline from Deadly Genesis continues in Uncanny X-Men #475 in a 12-part story called "The Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire".
[edit] Back-up stories
In addition to the main plotline about the X-Men and the Mystery Mutant, each issue of the series features a backup story introducing a new mutant character. In each of these, after the character learns of their powers, they use them to overcome a challenge in their life, which brings them to the attention of a woman who specializes in helping mutant youths. That woman is Moira MacTaggart.
- In issue 1, a young girl named Petra runs away to Central Park, using her power of terrakinesis to survive.
- In issue 2, a young boy named Armando Muñoz, becomes a scientific wonder when he is dubbed Darwin, the Evolving Boy.
- In issue 3, Suzanne Chan survives the crossfire of a gang war and solves her parents' murder by using her power to freeze and review time, taking on the name Sway.
- In issue 4, Gabriel, a young orphan in the care of Moira MacTaggart, learns of his mutant power to control and manipulate energy, while dealing with flashes of memory of his life treated as an outcast in the Shi'ar Empire (while under the rule of D'Ken). He then gains the codename Kid Vulcan.
- In issue 5, a young Emma Frost, following the events of the Emma Frost series has just begun working as a stripper at the New York Branch of the Hellfire Club (from here, she will go on to work her way up to the rank of White Queen). Xavier and Moira MacTaggart approach her about joining the X-Men, but she refuses. She briefly encounters Kid Vulcan outside the club before Xavier erases her memory of the encounter, which explains why in the current storyline of the same issue, Emma has a vague recognition of Vulcan.
In the current storyline, it is revealed in that Petra, Sway, Darwin, and Kid Vulcan were placed under the tutelage of Moira MacTaggart, much like the original X-Men trained under Xavier. When the original X-Men were lost during their fight against Krakoa the Living Island, Xavier appeared and psychically accelerated the training of Moira's students in order to send them to rescue his own. In the present, Vulcan claims that Xavier left his team to die on Krakoa (presumably, had Emma Frost accepted the invitation to join, she would have become the fifth member of this team and died on Krakoa as well).
[edit] What if...?
A one-shot comic published in December 2006, presents an alternate reality where Vulcan, the leader of the X-Men has become one of the most respected heroes in the world while his brother was secluded thinking about Jean, who died at Krakoa. The story is that Vulcan found all the X-Men dead and fled from the living island before it exploded. Krakoa is still drifting in space where it was found by the Silver Surfer. In it were the perfect preserved bodies of all the X-Men. At the end, Vulcan was left at Krakoa as punishment, and forced to relive that moment when he did what he did, but is told at the end that every time he sees it, he is feeling less and less guilty...
[edit] Trivia
- The title "Deadly Genesis" alludes to the caption on the cover of Giant Size X-Men #1. The cover of the first issue of the miniseries also features a homage of that cover, with all the characters turned into skeletons (save for Thunderbird).
- Adam X was originally intended to be the additional Summers brother, but the plans for this were dropped when Fabian Nicieza left Marvel's various X-Titles in 1995. Nonetheless, Vulcan - believed dead and in-stasis at the time of the original hint and thus in no danger from the Legacy Virus - does not fit the hint which started the plot, as of yet, at least.
