289: UXM 500 - 507, XM Legacy 215 - 218 (Manifest Destiny)
- Matt Campbell
- 2 hours ago
- 5 min read
What’s Covered?
UXM 500 - 507, XM Legacy 215 - 218, X-Men: Manifest Destiny # 1 - 5, X-Men: Manifest Destiny - Nightcrawler #1
Roster Watch
Synopsis
Uncanny X-Men # 500 - 507: Manifest Destiny
Creatives- Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, Greg Land, Terry Dodson
Issue #500: Title of Issue
The newly relocated X‑Men arrive in San Francisco and begin settling into their island‑off‑the‑coast HQ. During a city‑sponsored art exhibition featuring decommissioned Sentinel units, a figure posing as Magneto appears and activates the Sentinels, causing chaos and forcing the team into action. Meanwhile the true mastermind, High Evolutionary, uses the distraction to awaken a towering Celestial‑like entity and do something mysterious behind the scenes. Cyclops then broadcasts a worldwide telepathic invitation to all mutants, declaring San Francisco a mutant haven.
The X‑Men deal with fallout from the Sentinel activation and the new wave of anti‑mutant activity as a group calling itself the Hellfire Cult begins targeting mutants. Meanwhile the villains Empath and Red Queen are revealed as the forces behind the covert assault. Pixie and a mutant friend are attacked after leaving a nightclub, raising the threat level for even the less‑experienced mutants.
Cyclops orders a more aggressive pursuit of the Hellfire Cult after interrogating a captured member and learning their location. The Red Queen’s dominion over Empath is exposed, and the X‑Men mount a raid on the cult’s compound. In the aftermath, Pixie chooses to step outside the relative safety of the main team and returns to Oakland on her own, feeling driven to prove herself.
As the X‑Men chase Empath across the cityscape, he seems unstoppable — until Pixie steps into the fray in a climactic moment, using her soul‑sword to crack Empath’s skull and neutralize him. Meanwhile Cyclops experiences a deeply personal psychic confrontation with Madelyne Pryor (mistaken for Emma Frost) in his mind.
Colossus deals with his grief over Kitty Pryde’s death while encountering a violent Russian mutant gang during a night out. At the same time, Beast and Angel travel internationally recruiting Doctor Nemesis to join their mutant science team tasked with remedying the “House of M” jinx. In the mind‑scape, Emma delves into Scott’s secrets and discovers a locked black box containing his hidden past.
A mutant from Colossus’s path begins tracking him, and Colossus grudgingly agrees to help the tracker as part of his promise to Scott to continue fighting and make himself feel useful. Meanwhile Beast and Angel recruit Madison Jeffries into their science team; Emma increasingly pressures Scott about deploying the new X‑Force. Storm delivers a sharp rebuke to Emma: if Emma wants to lead and earn Scott’s trust, she must prove she can truly lead.
Colossus rescues a group of Russian prostitutes and brings them back to headquarters, showing his heroism and protective instincts. Beast finds a new scientist ally — though the scientist has a bizarre back‑story (and possibly made “Godzilla”?). These plot threads reinforce the humanitarian mission and unexpected alliances of the new X‑Men era.
Warren Worthington III returns as Archangel and flies through a massive creature called Leviathan, slaying it in spectacular fashion. Colossus and Emma take on Russian thugs together. Meanwhile the SF mayor accuses Cyclops of building an army, and the High Evolutionary’s usage of Celestial technology to restore Magneto’s (faux) powers becomes clearer.
X-Men: Legacy # 215 - 216: Trauma
Writer - Mike Carey
Pencils - Scot Eaton, Marco Checchetto, Phil Briones
These two are short and sweet. We begin with seeing that Rogue heads back to Australia and there old Outback stomping grounds. She's alone, but still has Mystique floating around in her mind. From what I understand, this series begins focusing solely on Rogue soon and actually gets good.
Meanwhile, Professor Xavier forces Cyclops to meet him in the woods. Cyke, once again, tells him that he’s pissed at him. Emma was secretly there too and brings Xavier into her mindscape. 216 is a whole issue of Emma forcing Charles to re-live all of the moments where he manipulated people.
Manifest Destiny
Creatives- Mike Carey, James Asmus, C.B. Cebulski Michael Ryan, Chris Burnham, David Yardin
The opening chapter sees Iceman (Bobby Drake) re‑connected with Opal (who turns out to be Mystique) after his move to San Francisco. Mystique, disguised as Opal, shocks him by blowing up a Blackbird aircraft and attacking him seemingly out of nowhere. Meanwhile, newer mutants like Tabby Smith (Boom‑Boom) cross paths with a mutant thief named Nuwa who puts people to sleep, and Shan (presumably a new character) is shown trying to wrest control of her life while reconnecting with her siblings and expressing that she misses Kitty Pryde.
The tension escalates as Mystique continues her assault on Iceman, now targeting him in a hospital setting. Meanwhile Juggernaut causes havoc with townfolk in a bar scene, underscoring the less glamorous side of mutant existence. At the same time, Emma Frost questions her standing among the X‑Men, feeling that she isn’t trusted — she cracks emotionally, but it’s Wolverine who offers the comfort and reassurance that she truly belongs.
A surprise character sheet: Graymalkin is revealed as a 200‑year‑old mutant who was buried alive by his father for being gay, whose powers awakened in the tomb: strength, agility, near invulnerability in darkness, but weakened in light. Meanwhile Colossus (Piotr Rasputin) is still mired in grief and mopey about Kitty’s absence.
Mystique tries again to eliminate Iceman (and fails). Meanwhile, Mercury (Cessily Kincaid) questions her identity — believing she isn’t human — until Laura Kinney (X‑23) lifts her spirits. Nightcrawler (NC) questions his purpose in the X‑Men as he too misses Kitty.
Iceman finally confronts Mystique about her attacks — he deduces that she’s attacking because she loves him and doesn’t know how to express it. Meanwhile the X‑Men locate Avalanche in San Francisco, but allow him to walk because mutantkind is already so thin. And nightlife in SF gets mutant‑sized as Dazzler performs on a plane, gets offered a residency in the city.
Nightcrawler quits the X‑Men and travels to Germany to visit a museum dedicated to him. He battles what appears to be a big red demon — the demon turns out to be a 16‑year‑old boy; however the boy kills himself and then Mephisto shows up to claim the boy’s soul. Ultimately Nightcrawler re‑joins the X‑Men.
My Connections and Creators
Boring or Great?
Pretty impressive re-boot here with the Manifest Destiny line in San Francisco. I feel like I have a hard time remembering with X-Men are on which teams...but then I also feel like the writers don't know either. Lol, like is Cannonball on the X-Men or not? is Wolverine just on every team?
Shan sure got a glow up, huh?
I know there is a lot of controversy over Greg Land, but I must say that I'm impressed so far.
I'm getting very tired of X-Men Legacy. We can shift away from Professor Xavier at any time now please.
Thoughts on Art
The art through these issues mixes sleek modern superhero visuals (Greg Land’s polished faces and glossy textures) with more dynamic storytelling in Terry Dodson’s issues. The relocation to San Francisco allows for a fresh aesthetic — coastal HQ, cityscape on an island, art‑installations gone wrong — which the artists exploit with bold compositions. The depiction of Pixie’s soul‑sword moment is particularly striking, giving her a cinematic entrance into the major player league.
The anthology nature in the MD series gives a range of art styles: Michael Ryan’s work anchors the main Iceman story with clean lines; Chris Burnham, David Yardin and others bring variety in backup stories. The contrast between bright SF settings, dark emotional origin scenes (Graymalkin), and hospital/mutant underworld tones works visually. Some panels — particularly Iceman’s confrontation with Mystique, and Graymalkin’s tomb awakening — stand out for mood and composition. At times the art can feel uneven due to multiple teams, but the energy is there.
Larger Impacts
The new San Francisco Status Quo
Will Magneto continue to be a recurring villain?
Will they continue to feature Pixie? Fingers crossed.
How long will Kitty stay away?