X-Men #84
Writing: Joe Kelly
Art: Adam Kubert
What Went Down: Reunited, Xavier holds Nina as the prime
Cerebro basks among the captured X-Men and Brotherhood members. Elsewhere, Nightcrawler has picked up Rogue,
Colossus, Gambit, and Renee. Using
tracking systems, Kurt is able to find the captured X-Men as well.
Cerebro explains his origins to Xavier. Its programming was shunted to a different
vessel when Bastion and a Prime Sentinel tried to use it. After gaining sentience, it analyzed its own
existence and realized it needed a dream and purpose. Creating the false X-Men from its own
detailed files, Cerebro wanted to create peace by cataloguing all humans and
mutants, imprisoning them forever.
Cerebro wants to use Xavier’s telepathy to catalog the entire planet at
one time.
Xavier argues that he still doesn’t have his powers after
Onslaught, but Cerebro knows that Nina can return those powers. Fortunately the remaining X-Men come to the
rescue. Xavier decides that it is time
for Nina to return his powers to him, just as the remaining X-Men are
captured. Using his powers Xavier is
able to free the X-Men, so Cerebro activates the Xavier Protocols—the files on
the weaknesses of every X-Man. The X-Men
are put through excruciating torments, but it is all revealed to be an illusion
from Xavier and Nina.
The X-Men tear apart the Cerebrites, and Xavier uses his
powers to show the Prime Cerebro the minds of humanity, not just their genetic
codes. Before it dies, Cerebro
apologizes to the X-Men for not seeing how unique and special the world
is.
How It Was: Well this issue concludes much as you’d
expect it: Xavier gets his powers back and Cerebro is vanquished. The main difference between this issue and
the previous ones is that Kelly and Kubert both have the entire team to utilize
in the fight, and they find a way to give every character a moment to shine. Interestingly,
the Brotherhood is never brought up at any point other than when they are shown
as Cerebro’s captives.
Probably the best moment is the double page spread where
the Xavier Protocols are used on the X-Men.
It’s a dark and striking visual that stands up even if the moment itself
is revealed to be a hoax. As with the
Machine Man/Bastion story, I am baffled by the idea that telepaths can use
their powers on machines to fool them, but whatever. It’s a standard X-Men solution, and Kelly
does try very hard to sell the idea of Cerebro gaining true sentience as a
response to Bastion’s attack.
The imagery in the astral plane makes for another amazing
visual, causing me to be more forgiving of the sad, redemptive ending that
comes out of nowhere. It’s hard to feel
sympathy towards Cerebro when he’s been such a bland villain…cataloguing people
by locking them into eggs. Still, it’s a
good concluding fight and some of Adam Kubert’s strongest work. Even if the Hunt for Xavier was too long and
stretched out, it had its moments. It’s
just a shame that it had to stick so close to its parallel structure, almost
devoid of novelty or surprise. But this
is still a solid conclusion.
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