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- The truth of the matter, my X-Men--is that we would be insane not to fight for a better world.
- -- Professor X
Appearing in "Racing the Night"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Blaquesmith (First appearance)
- Rory Campbell
- Valerie Cooper
- Excalibur
- Generation X
- Dennis Hogan (First appearance; dies)
- Robert Kelly
- Moira MacTaggert
- Mutate 01 (Edgerton) (Only appearance; dies)[1]
- Trish Tilby
- Pete Wisdom
- X-Factor
- X-Force
- X-Man (Cameo)
- Clay (First appearance)
Adversaries:
- Acolytes
- Rusty Collins
- Colossus
- Exodus
- Frenzy
- Isaac Javitz (Cameo)
- Francisco Milan
- Scanner (Cameo)
- Amelia Voght
- Arcade (Hologram)
- Beast (Earth-295)
- Gayle Edgerton (First appearance)
- Emplate
- Holocaust (Cameo)
- Hound (First appearance) (Appears in shadow only)
- Marrow (Sarah) (First appearance as Marrow)
- Mystique (also disguised as Valerie Cooper)
- Sugar Man
- Chevy (First appearance)
- Amy (Single appearance)[1]
- Arthur (Single appearance)[1]
- Lance (First appearance)
- Manny (Single appearance)[1]
Other Characters:
- Jim Davis (Only appearance; dies)[1]
- Niles (First appearance)
Locations:
- Marvel Universe
- Avalon
- Earth
- Hammer Bay, Genosha
- Switzerland
- United Kingdom
- United States of America
- Washington, D.C.
- Key Largo, Florida
- Snow Valley, Massachusetts
- New York
- Wyoming
- Belle Fourche Dam (Destroyed in this issue)
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "Racing the Night"
Two weeks after the X-Men’s battle with Legion in Israel, Phoenix finds Wolverine hiding out in the woods near the Xavier Institute. He tells her he will stay there as long as Sabretooth is held in the mansion. Inside, Bishop confides in Professor X about the horrifying nightmares he has had since returning from Israel. He says they feel like memories, but Xavier fears they are warnings of the future. In Yonkers, mutant Dennis Hogan visits a diner after days on the run. In Manhattan, TV reporter and Beast’s girlfriend Trish Tilby decides to reveal the Legacy Virus to the public after confirming its existence with a source connected to Muir Island. In Wyoming, X-Factor has tracked Mystique to the Belle Fourche Dam. Forge disarms a bomb she planted while Havok and Polaris evacuate the dam’s workers and Val Cooper follows Mystique into a nearby cavern. A shadowy figure wounds Mystique and leaves her for Val to find.
Back at the Xavier Institute, Bishop suddenly attacks Beast and Cyclops, accusing them of war crimes. They manage to overpower him just as he regains his sanity, and he wonders what is happening to him. Back in Yonkers, Hogan finishes eating, struggles to conceal his mutation, and hopes he can find the X-Men. In a sewer tunnel beneath the George Washington Bridge, the Morlock Sarah—now an adult called Marrow—kills a vagrant then performs the Ceremony of Light to summon the legendary first Morlock. At the Institute, Storm keeps vigil over Gambit in the infirmary. Rogue’s absorption powers left him comatose after the two kissed in Israel, and Storm wonders what Rogue saw in Gambit’s mind that drove her to run off. In a Key Largo night club, Iceman watches Rogue dance and stops a guy from touching her.
On a TV over the bar, Iceman sees Trish Tilby reporting her story on the Legacy Virus. Generation X in Massachusetts and Senator Kelly in Washington, D.C. see it too. On Muir Island, Moira MacTaggert and Rory Campbell watch as Tilby reveals Moira has the virus, disclosing its spread to humans. At the diner in Yonkers, a group of friends see Tilby’s story, joke about killing mutants, notice Hogan leave hurriedly, and suspect he is a mutant. At the Xavier Institute, the X-Men try to console Beast who feels betrayed by Trish. Realizing the story is likely to inflame anti-mutant panic, Professor X asks Cyclops to contact Cable. Just then, he and Psylocke are telepathically jolted by the entry of a powerful psionic presence into Earth’s atmosphere. In Switzerland, a fiery object crashes into a mountainside, and X-Man staggers out of the impact crater. Elsewhere, a mutant named Blaquesmith monitors the crash, notes it resulted from a temporal rift, and worries the world is in trouble.
In England, Emplate meets with paraplegic heiress Gayle Edgerton at her estate. She impales him with a fireplace poker, but he just laughs it off and suggests they discuss their mutual interest in Generation X member Chamber. Outside Salem Center, the group from the Yonkers diner runs down and corners Dennis Hogan. He panics, triggering his power to shift into a reptilian form, and they begin beating him. Professor X telepathically senses Hogan’s pain, orders Storm to fly him to the scene, and summons the other X-Men. In Murderworld, Domino is watching X-Force train when Arcade appears via hologram and starts counting down the complex’s self-destruct process. The team, including a Sunspot stripped of his Reignfire persona by Cable, narrowly escapes just before the complex explodes. Cyclops arrives and invites them to meet with Professor X. Back in Wyoming, Forge meets up with Val but quickly deduces she is really Mystique in disguise and knocks her out with a kick to the head. The real Val emerges from a cavern, and they prepare to leave in X-Factor’s jet with Mystique their captive, but Havok suddenly loses control of his powers and destroys the dam. Polaris uses her powers to carry him away from the ensuing flood and tells Forge and Val what happened.
In war-torn Genosha, Douglock, Shadowcat, Pete Wisdom, and the first Genoshan mutate visit the ruins of the late Genegineer’s home. In his papers, they uncover the original process he used to create the mutates. Unbeknownst to them, Sugar Man is remotely monitoring them. Deciding they have gotten too close to discovering his existence, he triggers a device which incinerates the first mutate and the Genegineer’s papers. In orbit, Colossus leads a squad of Acolytes on a spacewalk to investigate an object detected near their space station Avalon. Monitoring their progress, Exodus believes the object is a portent of good fortune, but Amelia Voght is dubious. Rusty Collins uses his pyrokinetic power to melt the ice covering the object. Inside, they find a humanoid figure encased in crystal, unaware it is Holocaust. In the tunnels beneath Manhattan, the first Morlock snuffs out the flame powering the Ceremony of Light, takes credit for creating the Morlocks, and approaches Marrow—he is the Beast of Sugar Man and Holocaust’s timeline. Marrow says she is part of a group ready to attack humanity on his order.
Near Salem Center, Professor X is unable to pinpoint Dennis Hogan’s location so he telepathically links his mind with Hogan’s, feeling every injury Hogan sustains. Having beaten Hogan unconscious, his attackers panic and drive away. Soon, the X-Men find Hogan, but it is too late to save him, and he dies in Xavier’s arms. Xavier tells the team they must fight for a better world against the fear and hatred that got Hogan killed.
Notes
- The story continues from X-Men Omega #1 and continues in Uncanny X-Men #322.
- This issue is reprinted in:
- X-Men: The Complete Age of Apocalypse vol. 4 trade paperback (2007);
- X-Men: Age of Apocalypse Omnibus Companion hardcover (2014);
- X-Men: The Road to Onslaught vol. 1 trade paperback (2014).
- The portion of this issue featuring Excalibur is also reprinted in the Excalibur Visionaries: Warren Ellis vol. 1 trade paperback published in 2010.
- The portion of this issue featuring Generation X is also reprinted in the Generation X Epic Collection vol. 1: Back to School trade paperback published in 2021.
Trivia
- The X-Men have detained Sabretooth at the Xavier Institute since X-Men Unlimited #3. In Wolverine Vol 2 #90, he tried to escape, but Wolverine stopped him and ultimately stabbed him in the brain.
- This story mistakenly locates the Belle Fourche Dam in Wyoming when it is actually in South Dakota.
- The identity of Mystique's attacker is revealed in X-Factor #123.
- Sarah AKA Marrow and the Morlock Ceremony of Light were introduced in Cable #15.
- Rogue kissed Gambit in X-Men Vol 2 #41. What she absorbed from his mind is revealed in X-Men Vol 2 #45. The secret behind it is eventually exposed in Uncanny X-Men #350.
- Moira MacTaggert learned she had the Legacy Virus in Excalibur #79.
- X-Man's story continues in X-Man #5, and Blaquesmith's story continues in Cable #21.
- Emplate and Gayle Edgerton's plot against Chamber comes to a head in Generation X #12-14.
- X-Force made Murderworld their headquarters in X-Force #40 and confronted Reignfire in X-Force #43. The true nature of Sunspot's relationship with Reignfire is explained in X-Force #79-80.
- Havok's struggle to control his powers continues in X-Factor #112-113.
- Excalibur's mission to Genosha began in Excalibur #86 and concludes in Excalibur #87.
- The Genegineer died fighting Cameron Hodge in New Mutants #97.
- When Mutate 01 dies, Douglock incorrectly refers to him as the original Morlock, presumably a writer error. In addition, Mutate 01 shares a surname with Gayle Edgerton, but that coincidence is never explained.
- The Acolytes' encounter with Holocaust plays out in X-Men Vol 2 #42-43.
- Marrow's attack on humanity begins in Uncanny X-Men #322.
See Also
- Write your own review of this comic!
- Discuss X-Men Prime Vol 1 1 on the forums
- Images from X-Men Prime Vol 1 1
Footnotes
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