"Mutant Massacre" | |||
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Cover of X-Men Mutant Massacre (2001), trade paperback collected edition.Art by Terry Dodson. |
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Publisher | Marvel Comics | ||
Publication date | October – December 1986 | ||
Genre | Crossover | ||
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Creative team | |||
Writer(s) | Chris Claremont Louise Simonson Walter Simonson |
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Penciller(s) | John Romita Jr. Walter Simonson Sal Buscema |
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Inker(s) | Dan Green Bob Wiacek Sal Buscema |
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Letterer(s) | Tom Orzechowski Joe Rosen John E. Workman Jr. |
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Colorist(s) | Glynis Oliver Petra Scotese Christie Scheele |
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Collected editions | |||
Mutant Massacre | ISBN 0-7851-0224-8 |
"Mutant Massacre" was a major Marvel Comics crossover storyline, which took place during the fall of 1986. It primarily involved the superhero teams the X-Men, X-Factor and the New Mutants. Power Pack, Thor, and Daredevil crossed over for an issue in their own comic books.
Contents |
The mysterious Marauders attack a mutant named Tommy and her Hellfire Club boyfriend in Los Angeles for the purpose of following her back to New York and finding the location of the underground mutant community known as the Morlocks. The Marauders kill Tommy and hundreds of Morlocks before the X-Men and X-Factor teams arrive separately and fight them, avoiding the total slaughter of the Morlocks. The two teams however do not meet during the battle and suffer crippling losses: X-Factor's Angel is crucified by the Marauders while the X-Men's Colossus, Shadowcat, and Nightcrawler are all severely wounded. X-Factor's casualties are less due to the arrival of Power Pack and Thor, who help save the horribly wounded Angel and the rest of X-Factor from suffering any additional harm.
Thor uses his powers to cleanse the dead from the Morlock tunnels with fire, which causes problems for the X-Men, who briefly believe that the firestorm was caused by the Marauders and believe that the New Mutants died in said fire.
Meanwhile Wolverine saves the Power Pack from the Marauder Sabretooth. After the fight, Sabretooth follows Logan home to the X-Mansion. He destroys Cerebro, but is kept from hurting the other Morlocks when Psylocke engages Sabretooth in battle. Wolverine and the rest of the X-Men arrive and Sabretooth falls off a nearby cliff in order to escape the X-Men, pursued into the water by Wolverine. As the fight continues in the ocean, Psylocke is able to glean some information about the Marauders from Sabretooth's mind.
Uncanny X-Men
X-Factor
Daredevil
Daredevil (vol. 1) #238 is an unofficial crossover issue set after the events of the Mutant Massacre. The issue features Daredevil fighting Sabretooth after his escape from the X-Mansion.
Here is the list of Morlocks that were killed during the Mutant Massacre and the issue they were killed in:
Character | Death | Mutant power | Method of death |
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Annalee | Uncanny X-Men #211 | Empathy | Shot by Scalphunter. |
Berzerker | X-Factor (vol. 1) #11 | Electrical powers | Cyclops' optic blast knocked him into the river where he electrocuted himself. |
Blowhard | X-Factor (vol. 1) #11 | Wind exhaling | Shot by the Savage Wolf Gang leader. |
Cybelle | Uncanny X-Men #211 | Acid sweat | Killed by Harpoon. |
Piper II | Uncanny X-Men #211 | Controlled animals using music | Killed by Scalphunter. |
Scaleface | X-Factor (vol. 1) #11 | Transforms into a large, lizard-like creature | Shot by the police. |
Tommy | Uncanny X-Men #210 | Two-dimensional ability | Killed by Harpoon. |
Zeek | X-Factor (vol. 1) #10 | Unknown | Killed by Harpoon. |
Hundreds of other Morlocks were killed, but were not identified in the comics.
Uncanny X-Men writer Chris Claremont originally conceived "Mutant Massacre" as a stand-alone storyline that would run in the pages of Uncanny X-Men.
Claremont’s original intention was for the future Sentinel Nimrod to merge with the alternate universe hero-killing android The Fury and gain its abilities. Nimrod would massacre the Morlock community, critically injuring Nightcrawler in the process. Shadowcat would drive Nimrod away by phasing through it, only to be trapped in her phased form as a result. Nightcrawler and Shadowcat would be sent to Muir Island to recuperate along with Colossus, (acting as a bodyguard), and new character Longshot, with the four of them joining up with Captain Britain and forming Excalibur. Soon after, Mad Jim Jaspers would ally himself with the recovered Nimrod/Fury and create a "Jaspers' Warp", causing reality to break down. Nimrod would go on a killing spree, causing mutants to flock to the X-Mansion for protection and forcing the X-Men, led by Magneto, to ally themselves with the Hellfire Club. The X-Men would confront Jim Jaspers in Dallas and join forces with Forge to send Jaspers and the Nimrod/Fury hybrid into the Siege Perilous. The X-Men would return from the Siege Perilous retaining the changes each of them had undergone. Afterwards, Uncanny X-Men would become a darker comic and Excalibur would become a light-hearted comic. The X-Factor and New Mutants teams would rebuild human/mutant relations.
However, Claremont was forced to rewrite his initial outline due to Alan Moore’s legal dispute with Marvel Comics over UK Doctor Who strips appearing in the US Doctor Who magazine and decided to split the story into the written version of "Mutant Massacre" and "Fall of the Mutants", using the Marauders and the Adversary in place of Nimrod/the Fury and Mad Jim Jaspers.[8][9]
The storyline has been collected into a trade paperback:
A new hardcover collected edition was released in 2010. This edition collects Uncanny X-Men #210-214, X-Factor (vol. 1) #9-11, New Mutants (vol. 1) #46, Thor (vol. 1) #373-374, Power Pack (vol. 1) #27, and Daredevil (vol. 1) #238: