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X-Men: Alpha Vol 1 1

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 Xavier had a dream...a vision of racial unity. With his dying breath, he entrusted the deliverance of his dream to me. Twenty years later, I imagine him looking down from the heavens at what his world has become...and wondering why I have failed his trust so miserably. 
—Magneto

Appearing in "Beginnings..."

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Adversaries:

Other Characters:

Locations:

Items:

Vehicles:

Synopsis for "Beginnings..."

In Seattle, a hooded man climbs atop a pile of corpses after the massacre of the city’s population by Infinites, Apocalypse’s genetically engineered soldiers. A young girl runs screaming into his arms just before the squad pursuing her arrives. When their leader Unus tries to crush the hooded man with his force field powers, the man absorbs the field’s energy, revealing himself as a mutant. Unus orders the man’s death, but Magneto and his X-Men—Blink, Iceman, Morph, Nightcrawler, Quicksilver, Rogue, Sabretooth, Storm, and Wild Child—intervene and wipe out the Infinites. Unus tries to shoot Magneto with a plastic gun, but Iceman freezes Unus’s body and shatters it, killing him. Mourning the millions of dead, Magneto confesses to Quicksilver he too once believed in mutant supremacy, but his late friend Charles Xavier convinced him otherwise twenty years ago. Sabretooth unmasks the hooded man, and Magneto recognizes him as Bishop. Bishop rants at Magneto, blaming him for Xavier’s death and changing history for the worse. The X-Men are puzzled by the accusation, but Magneto sedates Bishop with his powers, claims not to know him, and orders the team back to their base.

In Manhattan, mutant Fred Dukes breaks free of his restraints and attacks Beast, Apocalypse’s sadistic geneticist, for experimenting on him. Havok, one of Apocalypse’s prelates, enters and wounds Dukes with a plasma blast. As Dukes lunges at both of them, Havok’s brother and commander Cyclops arrives and knocks out Dukes with an optic blast. Cyclops berates Beast for continuing his experiments in violation of a pact with the humans and threatens to report him to Apocalypse. Angered by Cyclops’s interference, Havok talks back until their adoptive father Sinister enters and invites Cyclops to walk with him. Sinister cryptically warns the world is ending due to the madness of one of their own. When Cyclops asks what he is talking about, Sinister says Cyclops must find out on his own and walks away.

In the high-rise club Heaven, its proprietor Angel assures his mutant customers they are safe from a squad of human-made Sentinels flying overhead and introduces his singer Scarlett. Once she takes the stage, his assistant Karma informs him the rebel Gambit is waiting for him at a back table. Calling in a favor Angel owes him, Gambit wants to know how to find Magneto. Angel agrees to tell him on the condition he never return to Heaven. Both are unaware Sebastian Shaw is watching them.

At the Xavier mansion north of the city, Rogue visits the nursery where the android Nanny cares for Rogue and Magneto’s toddler son Charles. Magneto joins them, and they tuck Charles into bed. Afterward, they find Nightcrawler and Sabretooth outside trying and failing to interrogate Bishop. Bishop demands Magneto reveal what really happened to Xavier, and Magneto responds by striking Bishop in the gut with a magnetic pulse. With no telepath on the team, Magneto tells Rogue to use her tactile absorption powers to probe Bishop’s memories.

Elsewhere, Sinister and two of Apocalypse’s other Horsemen—Abyss and Holocaust—gather to meet with Apocalypse. All note the conspicuous absence of the fourth Horseman, Mikhail Rasputin. Apocalypse says Rasputin will be dealt with later, declares it is time to cleanse the planet of humans, and gloats that the recent pact is a ruse to make them complacent. When Sinister warns that full-scale war could wipe out mutantkind as well, Apocalypse questions his loyalty. Indifferent to the fate of the general population, Apocalypse asserts that the fittest will survive and become his army. Later, Sinister disappears, infuriating Apocalypse, and Holocaust sends operatives to track him down.

In London, former X-Men Jean Grey and Weapon X are carrying data rods Sinister secretly passed to them. A gang of street toughs ambushes them, but Logan scares them with his claws and demands to be taken to their leader. Soon, he and Jean meet with Moira Trask and the Human High Council in Big Ben and hand over the data rods. After Moira leaves to decode them with Brian Braddock and Emma Frost, Jean questions her and Logan’s decision to work with Sinister. Logan reassures her, and they kiss, unaware a woman is watching from the shadows.

Back at the mansion, Magneto uses his magnetic powers to help Rogue absorb Bishop’s memories, and they see flashes of an alternate timeline where Xavier lived and Magneto became a villain. Gambit has arrived and, seeing Rogue in pain, pushes her away from Bishop. Sabretooth threatens Gambit, but Quicksilver backs him down by explaining Magneto asked Gambit to come. Based on what he saw in Bishop’s mind, Magneto wants to speak with Nightcrawler’s mother Mystique and dispatches Kurt to find her. As Gambit demands to know why Magneto summoned him, Rogue dismisses Bishop’s memories as delusions and reiterates the X-Men’s need for Magneto’s leadership. Magneto responds that Apocalypse should never have come to power and resolves not to betray Xavier’s trust. Later, the X-Men and their allies gather in the estate courtyard to hear Magneto speak. He is shaken by the alternative version of himself he saw in Bishop’s mind, but Rogue assures him he is not that man.

Meanwhile, a crystallizing wave spreads through deep space toward Earth.

Notes

  • This issue is the start of the "Age of Apocalypse" crossover event. The story continues from X-Men Vol 2 #41 and continues in Astonishing X-Men #1.
  • This issue is reprinted in:
    • X-Men: Dawn of the Age of Apocalypse trade paperback (1995);
    • X-Men: The Complete Age of Apocalypse Epic vol. 2 trade paperback (2005);
    • X-Men: Age of Apocalypse Omnibus hardcover (2012);
    • True Believers: Age of Apocalypse #1 (Jun. 2015);
    • X-Men: Age of Apocalypse vol. 1: Alpha trade paperback (2015).

Trivia

  • The story of Sinister, Cyclops, Havok, Beast, Angel, and Scarlett continues in the Factor X mini-series.
  • What Mikhail Rasputin is up to and the activities of the human resistance are explored in the X-Universe mini-series.
  • The adventures of Weapon X and Jean Grey continue in the Weapon X mini-series.
  • The backstory between Gambit, Rogue, and Magneto is revealed in X-Men Chronicles #2.
  • Nightcrawler's search for his mother Mystique is portrayed in the X-Calibre mini-series.

See Also

Recommended Reading

X-Titles: Recommended Reading
X-Men • X-Factor • X-Force • New Mutants • Generation X

  • Uncanny X-Men Vol 1
  • X-Men Vol 2
  • Astonishing X-Men Vol 1
  • Astonishing X-Men Vol 2
  • Astonishing X-Men Vol 3
  • X-Factor Vol 1
  • X-Factor Vol 2
  • X-Factor Vol 3
  • X-Force Vol 1
  • X-Force Vol 2
  • X-Force Vol 3
  • Bishop Xavier Security Enforcers Vol 1
  • Bishop the Last X-Man Vol 1
  • Cable Vol 1
  • Cable Vol 2
  • Cable: Blood & Metal Vol 1
  • Cable & Deadpool Vol 1
  • Deadpool: The Circle Chase Vol 1
  • Deadpool: Sins of the Past Vol 1
  • Deadpool Vol 1
  • Deadpool Vol 2
  • Gambit Vol 1
  • Gambit Vol 2
  • Generation X Vol 1
  • New Mutants Vol 1
  • New Mutants Vol 2
  • New Mutants Vol 3
  • Wolverine Vol 1
  • Wolverine Vol 2
  • Wolverine Vol 3
  • Wolverine: Origins Vol 1
  • Wolverine: First Class Vol 1
  • Young X-Men Vol 1

Links and References

References

  1. ↑ First and only known appearance to date besides flashbacks
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