312: Uncanny X-Force # 1 - 18 (Rick Remender, The Apocalypse Solution, and the Dark Angel Saga)
What’s Covered?
Uncanny X-Force # 1 - 18, Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force #1 -3
Roster Watch
Synopsis
Uncanny X-Force vol. 1 #1 - 4: The Apocalypse Solution
Writer - Rick Remender
Pencils - Jerome Opena
Deadpool stumbles onto a ritual involving some very bad people bringing an even worse person back to life, which is a pretty good way to kick off the new X-Force. Warren and Betsy are officially back together, with Psylocke helping him keep the Archangel persona under control before it completely takes over. Fantomex also wastes absolutely no time flirting with Psylocke, and it seems like there may actually be some genuine feelings underneath all of his usual bullshit. The big reveal is that Apocalypse has officially returned, except he has been reincarnated as a little blue boy who is being raised and tutored to eventually become the monster everyone remembers.
The team settles into their new base and spends most of the issue preparing for the inevitable confrontation with Apocalypse. Warren losing control of Archangel is becoming a serious concern, especially since everyone understands how dangerous he could become if Betsy can no longer reach him. There is a particularly dark Danger Room sequence where Psylocke practices killing Warren in case the day comes when she actually has to do it. Before they can worry about that for too long, their base is infiltrated by a new collection of Apocalypse servants calling themselves the Final Horsemen.
We learn that Ozymandias has spent hundreds of years collecting four incredibly powerful mutants, keeping them hidden away until the day they could be awakened as the Final Horsemen. Apparently all that preparation paid off because they absolutely kick X-Force's ass. Psylocke eventually relies on psychic tricks and misdirection to work her way through the chaos and get closer to Apocalypse. When she finally reaches him, the terrifying immortal villain they were sent to assassinate is still just an innocent little boy.
Deadpool gets one of his best moments of the arc when he literally starts slicing pieces of his own flesh off to feed Archangel so Warren can recover. Once the team finally corners the young Apocalypse, Psylocke starts arguing that they cannot murder a child for crimes he has not committed yet. Wolverine and Archangel eventually agree with her, deciding that whatever Apocalypse might become does not justify executing a kid. Fantomex apparently did not get the memo because he calmly raises his gun and shoots the boy in the head. Holy shit. X-Force technically completed its first mission, but nobody walks away from this one feeling like a hero.
Uncanny X-Force vol. 1 # 5 - 7: Deathlok Nation
Writer - Rick Remender
Pencils - Esad Ribic
Fantomex returns to The World and discovers that time has continued moving at an accelerated pace inside, allowing something sentient and dangerous to evolve while he was away. Apparently Fantomex has also shrunk the entire World down to bite-size and just carries it around with him, because of course he does. Meanwhile, Deadpool calls an X-Force meeting because he cannot sleep after what they did to the child Apocalypse, only for Wolverine to get pissed and complain that Wade is wasting his time when he needs to get back to the Avengers. Warren then drops the surprising revelation that Deadpool has not cashed a single one of the checks they have been giving him, which suddenly makes Wade's involvement with the team feel a lot less mercenary. Fantomex visits the woman he considers his mother, the person responsible for giving him some sense of morality, only for a group of cyborg superheroes to murder her and steal The World before EVA ignores Fantomex's orders and saves his life.
We learn that Lady Deathstrike and the Reavers are behind the recent attack, which immediately makes this whole thing feel a little more familiar. Fantomex also asks Psylocke if she is planning on having another change of heart, clearly giving her shit for getting soft when they encountered the child Apocalypse. The Reavers seemingly blow up Wolverine, Deadpool, and Fantomex, while Gateway transports the attackers directly to Utopia so they can destroy the island. Psylocke sneaks along with them and starts silently taking the Reavers apart before their plan can succeed. The slightly concerning part is that Betsy seems to be enjoying the killing a little too much.
Psylocke admits to her brother during a Danger Room session that she recently participated in a mission to assassinate a child, which is obviously still eating away at her. Fantomex battles the Deathlok versions of various heroes until the rest of X-Force and the real Deathlok arrive to help, and a future Captain America explains that humanity eventually rounds up superheroes, converts them into cyborgs, and supposedly becomes better off because of it. Fantomex takes the team into The World to kill Father, but things get messy enough that Fantomex and Deadpool even end up fighting each other before Wade finally reaches their target. Father manipulates Deadpool into acting like a child, but one overly loving and condescending comment snaps Wade out of it and he kills him, ending the Deathlok threat. Then we get the real WTF reveal: Fantomex secretly has a baby Apocalypse growing inside The World, and the kid is already 847 days old. I wonder what that could possibly be about.
Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force #1 - 3
Writer - Rick Remender
Pencils - Rob Williams, Simone Bianchi
The Fear Itself tie-in takes X-Force in a completely different direction as the Purifiers kidnap a super-powered youngster and broadcast the whole nightmare on television. Their new leader is Jonathan Standish, who has taken the worldwide panic surrounding Fear Itself and turned it into his own twisted religious crusade. Standish is actually encouraging people to commit suicide before the demons supposedly roaming the Earth can claim their souls. Needless to say, these lunatics have managed to get X-Force's attention.
X-Force begins hunting down Standish's new army of Purifier cyborgs as the cult becomes increasingly dangerous. Taking fanatical Purifiers and upgrading them with cybernetics is probably not going to make these guys any more reasonable. The whole thing fits X-Force pretty well because there is not much moral ambiguity about whether these psychopaths need to be stopped. At this point the only real question is how bloody things are going to get when Wolverine finally reaches the guy running the show.
X-Force eventually tracks Jonathan Standish down and brings his campaign to its inevitable conclusion. There is no lengthy trial or inspirational speech once Wolverine gets his hands on him. Logan just cuts his head off.
The Shadow King: Uncanny X-Force #8-10
Writer - Rick Remender
Pencils - Billy Tan
Betsy is still doing everything she can to keep the Archangel persona locked away inside Warren’s mind, but the Shadow King decides to make her life significantly more complicated. He lures Psylocke and the rest of X-Force into a trap, hoping to use the situation to make his escape. Instead, Archangel suddenly appears and kills the Shadow King before he can get away. The twist is that this was apparently Archangel’s plan all along, as killing the Shadow King gives him the opportunity he needs to escape from Warren’s mind without Betsy even realizing what happened.
Magneto approaches X-Force with a deeply personal request, asking them to track down and kill a Nazi war criminal who escaped justice after World War II. Wolverine takes the assignment and finds the old man, who is now living quietly with a family and trying to leave his past behind him. Logan listens to his story but ultimately decides that some crimes don’t simply disappear because enough time has passed. He kills him. And...that’s pretty much the entire issue.
Things get significantly more interesting when reporters begin investigating X-Force after being pointed in their direction by the Shadow King. Archangel takes care of the problem in the most Archangel way possible by going on a murderous rampage and eliminating the journalists before they can expose the team. X-Force realizes that Warren’s situation is getting much worse, so they spring Dark Beast from captivity in hopes that he can help. Dark Beast explains that with Apocalypse dead, Archangel has effectively become his heir, but claims there might still be a way to save Warren. Unfortunately, that solution involves traveling to the Age of Apocalypse universe.
The Dark Angel Saga: Uncanny X-Force # 11-18
Writer - Rick Remender
Pencils - Jerome Opena, Mark Brooks
X-Force arrives in the Age of Apocalypse looking for a Celestial Life Seed, the magical MacGuffin that might be able to save Warren. Nightcrawler steals the seed they need, while Sabretooth immediately picks a fight with Wolverine because apparently some things remain consistent across every universe. Betsy is able to calm things down because she actually knows this version of Sabretooth from her time with the Exiles. Dark Beast, shockingly to absolutely nobody, abandons the team and heads back to the 616 universe, leaving X-Force to ally with Sabretooth, Wild Child, Nightcrawler, and Sunspot. Logan also gets unexpectedly emotional being around another version of Kurt, and the team is eventually brought to the mutant resistance headquarters in Atlantis, led by Jean Grey and Magneto.
Things get even more emotionally complicated when Jean kisses Logan because, in her reality, the two of them were married. Their reunion is cut short when a Sentinel breaks into Atlantis and forces everyone into action. The heroes split into teams, with some going after additional Celestial Seeds while the others deal with the mysterious new heir of Apocalypse. Logan even asks Jean to leave this universe and come back with him, which certainly wouldn’t make things awkward back home. Meanwhile, we discover that this world’s Wolverine is apparently still alive, and he makes his return in horrifying fashion by killing his own daughter.
The big reveal finally drops as the Age of Apocalypse Wolverine is exposed as the new Apocalypse. Things quickly go to hell, with Blob ripping Wild Child’s arm off before everyone realizes that the entire mission has been a trap. Gambit sacrifices himself to give the others a chance to escape, providing one of the more emotional moments of the trip. Jean ultimately forces X-Force to return to their own reality while she stays behind, intending to destroy everything if necessary. So much for this being a quick field trip to grab a magic seed.
Back in the regular Marvel Universe, we finally get a look at what Warren intends to become as the new Apocalypse. Interestingly, he isn’t portrayed as a cackling supervillain and actually treats his followers with a surprising amount of respect, but that doesn’t make his plans any less terrifying. Archangel absolutely destroys X-Force when they confront him, with Betsy hesitating when she finally has the opportunity to kill Warren. Wolverine gets badly burned during the battle and the rest of the team is forced to retreat, but Betsy stays behind. Archangel then sends Genocide to wipe out an entire town, making it abundantly clear that Warren is very, very far gone.
Dark Beast and Archangel begin putting their plan into motion using the Life Seed and The World. Their goal is to create an entirely new civilization inside The World, accelerating evolution so they can effectively manufacture the species that will replace humanity. While Warren continues moving closer to becoming Apocalypse in everything but name, Betsy finally decides that she needs to escape. At this point, saving Warren is beginning to look significantly less realistic than simply surviving him.
Things get even worse when the possibility emerges that Betsy herself could become the next heir of Apocalypse. Warren’s full plan also becomes clear, and it’s somehow even more insane than what we had already seen. He intends to destroy life across Earth, replace humanity with an entirely new species, rapidly accelerate its evolution inside The World, and then release these beings onto the planet. Warren and his followers would essentially become gods to this new civilization. So yeah, Betsy probably needs to figure something out pretty quickly.
Fantomex finally returns with reinforcements from the Age of Apocalypse, bringing Nightcrawler, Jean Grey, Sunfire, and Sabretooth into the fight. Unfortunately, Archangel proves just how powerful he has become by tearing through his opposition one by one. Betsy has been brainwashed and turned against her friends, making the situation even more hopeless. Jean reaches out psychically and begins trying to break Warren’s control over her. With pretty much everyone else getting destroyed, Betsy once again becomes the team’s best hope of stopping Archangel.
Fantomex finally reveals the secret weapon he has been keeping tucked away this entire time: Genesis, the young clone of Apocalypse. Genesis confronts Archangel, but Warren quickly defeats him, eliminating what seemed like X-Force’s last chance. Betsy ultimately saves the day by tricking Warren long enough to stab him with the Life Seed, finally ending his transformation into Apocalypse. Warren survives, but the man who emerges is essentially a blank slate with no memory of his former life. After all of the death, alternate universes, Apocalypse nonsense, and moral compromises, X-Force technically succeeds in saving Warren, but not exactly in the way any of them hoped.
My Connections and Creators
Boring or Great?
This isn't my first time reading something by Rick Remender. I pretty much stopped reading comics between the age of 13 and 37, but his Seven To Eternity run on Image was getting so much buzz that I decided to check it out, and loved it. Dark, good characters, and super weird. Just like Uncanny X-Force!
I keep trying to decide how I feel about this run. I love X-Force. I loved Remender's past work. Everyone raves about this run. But...do I like it? There's something missing, and I'm not sure what. It's good. It's pretty entertaining. It's dark. Maybe it's just that we only have 5 characters and they can do more with them.
Wolverine is our leader, but he's not doing any of the things that we love. He's not mentoring anyone. He's not sparring with Cyclops, or really anyone. He's not being lovey dovey with Storm. He's just kind of a murderer. I can't even really think of any way in which he's interacting with the rest of the team, except at one point where he talks about how he used to hate Warren.
Warren and Psylocke are back together. I did like their relationship previously and it's ok here. There is a lot of focus on Warren's Archangel personality. It eventually gets interesting during the Dark Angel Saga, but I didn't really care at first. Psylocke seems pretty one dimensional as well.
Fantomex looks cool, and you can make an argument that he gets the most attention throughout this run, but I still don't understand what his deal is. It WAS nice learning about his "parents," so I guess that's something. It's fun to see him flirting with Psylocke though.
Deadpool is entertaining, but always seems a bit out of place. Comic relief, I guess.
Thoughts on Art
Jerome Opena's art is fantastic for this type of X-Force story, with heavy shadows, brutal action, and characters who constantly look like they are one bad decision away from completely losing it. The Final Horsemen are especially impressive, with each one looking genuinely disturbing and dangerous instead of like another collection of generic supervillains. The final confrontation with the child Apocalypse also works because the art makes him look so small and innocent, which makes Fantomex pulling the trigger that much more fucked up.
Esad Ribic gives Deathlok Nation a colder, stranger look that works really well once the story moves into The World and starts throwing cyborg versions of familiar superheroes everywhere. His characters have a slightly painted quality that makes the futuristic stuff feel genuinely unsettling without making the action difficult to follow.
Simone Bianchi brings a darker and more exaggerated style to the Fear Itself mini, which fits perfectly with the Purifiers, religious insanity, cybernetic monsters, and general end-of-the-world atmosphere.
Billy Tan’s artwork works especially well whenever Archangel takes over, giving Warren a much more sinister and physically imposing presence. Rich Elson joins him on issue #10, and while there is some visual inconsistency between artists, the increasingly dark tone of the story comes through nicely.
The Dark Angel Saga gets a major visual boost once Jerome Opeña takes over, and his detailed, cinematic artwork feels perfectly suited for the increasingly massive scale of the story. Mark Brooks does a strong job establishing the bizarre Age of Apocalypse setting, but Opeña’s issues are the ones that really make Warren feel like a legitimate end-of-the-world threat. Esad Ribić helping close out the finale is basically showing off at that point.
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