278: UXM # 487 - 491, XMV2 # 200 - 204 (Pre-Messiah Complex)

Matt Campbell
Jul 23
7 min read

Updated: Aug 1

What’s Covered?

UXM # 487 - 491, XMV2 # 200 - 204

Roster Watch

Synopsis

UXM # 487 - 491: Extremists

Writer - Ed Brubaker

Pencils - Salvador Larocca

A splinter group of Morlocks—Masque, Callisto, Erg, Bliss, and a shockingly radicalized Skids—kidnap Leech and declare war on the surface world. Their goal? Use Leech to reactivate Magneto and fulfill a future foretold on the walls of their tunnel sanctuary. This isn’t just rebellion—it’s prophecy turned insurgency, and it’s unsettling to see former allies become zealots.

Storm leads a strike team—Hepzibah, Warpath, Caliban—into the sewers to find Leech and stop the extremists. The arc captures Storm’s balance of compassion and fury, while Xavier’s storyline shows a man increasingly willing to bend minds and rules alike. He defies Valerie Cooper, further distancing himself from O.N.E., which I can't wait to end) and manipulates allies while leaning hard on his powers—raising real questions about his moral compass post-M’Kraan (when he got his powers back.)

There’s a budding intimacy between Hepzibah and Warpath—an unexpected but poignant through-line. Their playful banter (including a crack about her “Yoda-speak”) gives way to heavier moments. Hepzibah even clears the air with Cyclops to affirm her respect for Corsair’s memory. It’s a grounded subplot that adds warmth to an otherwise grim setting. Also, they bang.

Skids reemerges as a wildcard. Claiming to be working for S.H.I.E.L.D., she questions the X-Men’s role while simultaneously feeding prophecy to Magneto. Her allegiance is unclear, but her actions hint at deeper conflicts within the post-Decimation mutant diaspora. She believes Magneto’s still powered—and that the future may still be his to shape.

The arc crescendos with a brutal showdown in the tunnels. Storm is nearly buried alive, the team is outmatched, and Masque unleashes his full grotesque power. But Xavier forces Masque to undo the physical mutilation he inflicted, and Storm ends the conflict with authority. Still, the future looms uncertain. With the book of Morlock prophecies in hand, Magneto is once again poised for resurgence.

Extremists may not be the flashiest arc, but it’s a quiet, tense reckoning with power, identity, and prophecy. It raises moral questions, revives classic factions, and builds a bridge toward Magneto’s inevitable return. Brubaker’s take is cerebral and layered—and a fitting reminder that not all X-Men battles are fought in the open.

XMV2 # 200 - 204: Blinded By the Light

Writer - Mike Carey

Pencils - Chris Bachalo (200), Humberto Ramos, Mike Choi (204)

Story Arc: Blinded by the Light

Mike Carey doesn’t ease into this arc—he detonates it. Blinded by the Light marks a full-scale turning point for Rogue’s strike team as the Marauders ambush from within, alliances fracture, and the line between loyalty and betrayal completely vanishes. This is the X-Men at their most vulnerable—and most explosive.

1. Rogue’s Team Implodes

Rogue is barely holding it together—literally. Still reeling from absorbing 8 billion minds during the Hecatomb mess, she’s glitching in speech and judgment. She brings the team back to her childhood home for recovery, but there’s no rest here. Karima is secretly infected by Malice. Mystique and Lady Mastermind (Regan) quietly open the door for the Marauders. Then Mystique shoots Rogue in the chest. Welcome to issue #200.

2. The Marauders Are Ruthless—and Strategic

Sinister’s crew isn’t just on a rampage—they’re on a mission to erase the future. The targets? Cable, Blindfold, and Vargas: anyone or anything that can see what’s coming. Exodus, and the Acolytes join in (which includes Gambit and Sunfire), ripping through Kitty and Colossus while Cannonball gets attacked by a brainwashed Sunfire. Blindfold "dies" touching Josh’s hand (but spoiler: she self-stases). Even Cannonball gets yanked out by Emma, who sees the writing on the wall.

3. Every Betrayal Is Personal

Mike Carey knows how to twist the knife. Mystique and Gambit might be double agents, helping Sinister to ultimately save Rogue. Mystique also fakes killing Iceman, only to secretly let him go. It's messy, layered, and full of emotional landmines. Meanwhile, Iceman and Cannonball team up to destroy the (fake) Destiny Diaries, buying time and space—but the damage is done.

4. Cable's Dead, The Diaries Are Gone, And The Team Is Toast

The epilogue in #204 shifts tones hard. Mike Choi’s polished art underscores the emotional fallout. Cannonball is in critical condition. Cable is presumed dead. Rogue’s MIA. And Scott Summers, grieving and quietly defeated, sums it up with brutal clarity when Bobby asks what happens next:“You’re talking as if the team still exists, Bobby. It doesn’t.”That line hits like a gravestone.

5. The Future Just Got Foggy

Sinister’s goal becomes clear: kill the prophets, erase the Destiny Diaries, and control the future. Exodus only backs him because he thinks it’s the only way to reboot the mutant population. And with Providence gone, Cable down, and the team scattered, it’s clear: whatever’s coming next—Messiah Complex—will not wait for them to get their act together.

Final Thought:Blinded by the Light is Carey at his tightest: visceral action, razor-sharp betrayals, and a creeping sense that the future just slipped out of our hands. It's a brutal takedown of a once-promising squad and a necessary storm before the coming of hope.

Endangered Species

A Grief-Soaked Descent into Scientific Obsession

Endangered Species is less of a story arc and more of a slow, aching spiral—an extended crisis of purpose wrapped in one mutant’s desperate refusal to accept extinction. There are no battles here. No epic showdowns. Just a funeral, a question, and the unraveling of one of the X-Men’s greatest minds.

It Begins with a Funeral

A young mutant boy dies—randomly, mundanely. No Sentinels, no villain, just the cruel reality of being human again. The scattered remnants of the mutant community gather to mourn him, but Beast walks away with something heavier: the realization that extinction isn’t coming. It’s already here.

So he sets off, determined to reverse the effects of M-Day—not with hope or unity, but with science, no matter where it leads him.

Looking to Monsters for Miracles

Beast goes to the only beings who might have the knowledge he needs: the villains. The High Evolutionary points him toward the "source" (a clear Wanda-shaped clue), while cryptically revealing that someone else already asked the same questions. Rao, the former “cure” scientist, tells him the X-gene isn’t dormant—it’s gone. Forge confirms it’s missing even in alternate timelines. There is no safe pocket. No backup plan.

Every road Beast follows turns into a dead end. Every corpse he examines—on Genosha, at Neverland—is just that: a corpse. Even mutant growth hormone is inert. The data doesn’t lie: mutation is no longer a part of this world.

Dark Beast, Dark Thoughts

Enter Dark Beast. Tempting, mocking, enabling. He offers Hank tools, shortcuts, and forbidden knowledge—including a memory-altering drug from the Age of Apocalypse. And for a moment, you wonder: how far will Hank go?

Their partnership shatters when Dark Beast experiments on one of Lucinda Guthrie’s children without consent. Beast saves the boy just in time, but it’s a line he came dangerously close to crossing. His grief is curdling into something darker, and the only thing keeping him sane is how much he still cares.

The Magic That Changed Everything

From Spiral to Strange, the message is the same: this wasn’t just genetics—it was reality itself, rewritten. Wanda’s spell is woven into the fabric of existence. Undoing it would mean unraveling everything.

So Beast finds her. And the woman who once whispered "No more mutants" now speaks in riddles, as if she no longer remembers who she is—or perhaps simply doesn’t want to. She warns him gently: tampering with what remains could make things even worse.

Final Thought:

Endangered Species is a quiet tragedy. It’s not about solving a mystery. It’s about watching someone refuse to let go of a broken world. For all his intellect, Beast can’t science his way out of grief. This is his slow-motion breakdown—and in that breakdown, a mirror for mutantkind itself.

There’s no answer here. Just the uncomfortable truth that some wounds don’t heal. They scar.

My Connections and Creators

Boring or Great?

Ed Brubaker's little arc is meh, so let's get to Mike Carey's explosion! Rogue's team is a complete disaster. Mystique and Regan (Lady Mastermind) might have continued to be evil all along, turning on the team. Karima is taken over by Malice, but I get the feeling she'll stay evil even after this. Cable is supposedly dead. It's crazy town and I can't wait to dive into Messiah Complex.

Thoughts on Art

Salvador Larroca brings a sleek, digital polish to The Extremists arc that feels simultaneously refined and a bit detached. His linework is crisp, his facial expressions often hyper-real, and the colors (by Jason Keith) lean cool—matching the arc’s somber, subterranean atmosphere.

The Morlock tunnels are rendered with oppressive grays and murky greens that sell the mood of decay and desperation.

But here’s the thing: while Larroca nails composition and visual clarity, there’s a slight stiffness in the figure work. Characters often look like posed mannequins rather than people in motion. That said, the aesthetic fits Xavier’s morally gray headspace and the suffocating weight of the Morlock prophecy. Highlights include Storm’s confrontation with Masque and the emotionally raw close-ups when Xavier uses his powers with disturbing ease.

Verdict: Visually polished, thematically on-point, but emotionally reserved. A strong tonal match, but lacks warmth or kinetic grit.

The X-Men arc is a visual rollercoaster—sometimes chaotic, sometimes clean, always emotionally charged.

Chris Bachalo (#200): Launches the arc with his signature blend of dense layouts, bold shadows, and kinetic energy. His pages are packed, almost overwhelming, but that’s the point. The Marauder ambush feels disorienting and dangerous, and Bachalo’s visual clutter reinforces how fast things fall apart.
Humberto Ramos (#201–203): Ramos brings his expressive, exaggerated style—full of sweeping lines, stretched anatomy, and big emotion. While not to everyone’s taste, his work injects a sense of chaos and velocity that serves the escalating stakes. Action is dramatic, though sometimes at the cost of spatial clarity.
Mike Choi (#204, Epilogue): The shift in tone is immediate and welcome. Choi’s art is grounded, emotional, and cinematic. His realistic anatomy and subtle facial acting bring weight to every panel. Cannonball’s injuries, Bobby’s concern, Scott’s despair—all hit harder because Choi slows things down and lets the quiet moments breathe.

Larger Impacts and Things to keep an eye on

Is Cable really dead!? (That's not a serious question)
Are Mystique, Mastermind, and Karima going to be evil from here on out? Will the latter two even appear anytime in the future?
How long will Rogue be this messed up?
Will Caliban stick around for a while?
Super fun to see Hepzibah and Warpath hook up. These two characters had never interacted before a few issues ago, so this is a testament to Ed Brubaker's writing style. But will this last? Will Hepzibah even stay with the X-Men?!
Looks like Magneto is back and his powers, so here we go.