X-Men: Messiah Complex

Messiah Complex
File:XMMESSIAH001cvrinks.jpg Cover art to X-Men: Messiah Complex one-shot. Art by David Finch.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Publication date	October 2007 - January 2008
Main character(s)	X-Men X-Factor New X-Men Marauders Acolytes Purifiers Predator X Reavers Cable
Creative team
Written by	Ed Brubaker, Mike Carey, Peter David, Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost
Artist(s)	Marc Silvestri, Billy Tan, Scot Eaton, Humberto Ramos and Chris Bachalo
Penciller(s)	Covers by David Finch, Marc Silvestri, J. Scott Campbell, Jim Cheung and Simone Bianchi
Inker(s)	Joe Weems w/Marco Galli, Danny Miki w/Allan Martinez, John Dell, Carlos Cuevas and Tim Townsend
Colorist(s)	Frank D'Armata, Edgar Delgado and Brian Reber

X-Men: Messiah Complex is an ongoing comic book crossover about the X-Men which will run from October 2007 to January 2008, published by Marvel Comics. It is the climax of events that began with House of M, which lead to the decimation of mutants in the Marvel Universe.

Overview

The Messiah Complex storyline will be the climax of the events that started with House of M and will set the direction of the X-Men franchise and characters for the next several years. The storyline's main plot involves the birth of a child with the X-gene, leading the X-Men, the Marauders, the Acolytes, the Reavers, the Purifiers, and Predator X on a race to see who will find the child first.

Background

Since M-Day, the event where the Scarlet Witch depowered over 90% of the worldwide mutant population, Reverend William Stryker has reunited the Purifiers, an army of Christian fundamentalists who see themselves in a holy war against mutants, believing them to be the children of the Devil and thus worthy of extermination. They killed a number of students at the Xavier Mansion and ordered the creation of Predator X, a carnivorous creature capable of tracking mutants in order to kill them and feed on their remains.

Mister Sinister has reunified the Marauders, a mercenary group of mutants that serve as his personal strike force. They are best known for their involvement in the Mutant Massacre, in which they slaughtered the mutant community known as the Morlocks. This incarnation of the team includes Malice, who possessed Omega Sentinel after disguising itself as an email, and former recent X-Men who have all turned traitor: Lady Mastermind, Sunfire, Gambit and Mystique. Sinister also associate himself with Exodus and his Acolytes that includes Cargill, Tempo, Unuscione and Random.

Sinister sends Gambit and Sunfire to attack Cable's home island, Providence, where Cable is supposedly killed, while the Acolytes attack the X-Mansion to eliminate Blindfold, and has another group, led by Mystique, to eliminate the X-Men and capture Rogue. The attempts are only partially successful; as while they managed to capture Rogue, Blindfold manages to render herself in a deathlike coma to prevent her death at the Acolytes' hands while Cannonball and Iceman are able to escape and move to track down Destiny's diaries.

It is soon revealed after Cannonball and Iceman fail to recover the diaries that Sinister's motives are to destroy any information about the future and eliminate knowledge of alternate future timelines. The Destiny's diaries contained information that could potentially help the X-Men undermine his schemes; with the destruction of the diaries, the only way to access them becomes Rogue's mind.

Plot synopsis

Chapter 1: X-Men: Messiah Complex one-shot

Cerebra detects the birth of a new mutant in Cooperstown, Alaska, the first such birth since M-Day. Professor Xavier sends a team of X-Men consisting of Cyclops, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Angel and Emma Frost to Alaska to find the child. However, the Marauders and the Purifiers get to Alaska first and both groups fight each other over the child. The X-Men arrive on the scene to find that Prism and Blockbuster of the Marauders and some of the Purifiers have been killed and that the child is missing. Predator X is also shown to be hunting for the child and stops to feast upon Blockbuster's body.

Chapter 2: Uncanny X-Men #492

Cyclops has Emma Frost bring in Jamie Madrox and Rictor with Layla Miller tagging along, saying that she needs to be there for Jamie. Cyclops then asks Rictor to infiltrate the Purifiers, as he is still depowered. Everyone else is going to go see Forge. Professor X and Beast attempt to fix Cerebra, while Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Archangel, and Colossus hunt down former Acolytes Projector, Neophyte, Vindaloo and Gargouille to get information about the current whereabouts of Exodus. Predator X is still on the hunt for the new mutant.

Chapter 3: X-Factor #25

Rictor saves the Purifiers from Wolfsbane, in a ploy to gain their trust and infiltrate them. Cyclops officially tells the New X-Men that they are held back from action when they confront him. Storm and Nightcrawler go to Amelia Voght to ask her for information on the Marauders and the Acolytes. Multiple Man and Layla are sent to Forge by Cyclops. Multiple Man creates two dupes to investigate two alternate timelines that spiked when the mutant baby was born. As Forge sent the two dupes, Layla runs to one of them so as to accompany him. Forge reveals that it was supposed to be a one way trip with dupes being implanted with the knowledge that they had to kill themselves once they finish their missions so that their knolwedge is quickly transferred back to Madrox prime. Once Forge tells Madrox prime this, he is furious at Forge for the loss of Layla and passes out. Rictor also makes a startling discovery: the Purifiers' base extends beyond New York, including Washington D.C.

Chapter 4: New X-Men #44

While Jamie Madrox still remains in a coma after the events of the previous chapter, Layla and one of the Madrox duplicates arrive eighty years in the future to discover that the mutant race has been wiped out following a genocidal conflict with baseline humans, and that no reference remains to their existence in the public consciousness. As a team of X-Men led by Wolverine storm Mister Sinister's Antarctic base in the present (intent on reclaiming Rogue and the mutant baby), Rictor continues his infiltration of the Purifiers, discovering that the mutant-hating fanatics are massing troops from hundreds of allied churches around the world, and do not have possession of the baby. Meanwhile, Surge, furious that Cyclops has elected to leave the students on the sidelines and takes her anger out on Professor X when he offers to help. Surge organizes a team (consisting of herself, Hellion, Mercury, Rockslide, Anole, Pixie, X-23 and newcomer Armor) to assault the Purifiers' main church headquarters in Washington, D.C. in hopes of both finding some information on the baby and avenging the forty-five students murdered during the group's earlier rampage. Dust, Prodigy, and Elixir, concerned about Surge's vengeful mindset, opt to remain behind. While the attack is initially successful, the team suffers its first casualty of the conflict when Hellion is gravely injured by the Purifiers' new allies: Lady Deathstrike and her new force of Reavers. All the while, Predator X continues its pursuit of the baby, hunting down and consuming a fire-breathing Canadian mutant for sustenance.

Chapter 5: X-Men #205

In the future, Madrox and Layla try to figure out a way to enter the mutant internment camp. Back in the present day, the X-Men attack the Marauders with added telepathic help from Emma Frost, who blocks the team's minds against Sinister's probing. Wolverine threatens Gambit into telling him who has the mutant baby. He jams his claws into Gambit's stomach until Gambit gives up a name. The New X-Men are overwhelmed by Lady Deathstrike and her new Reavers, with the exception of X-23, who manages to destroy at least one by herself while defending the injured Hellion. Rictor quickly prompts Pixie to teleport them all to safety. Unfortunately, her spell goes wrong and the team is scattered across the country. Iceman volunteers to go search for them, but the shock of the students' transport distracts Emma enough that she loses contact with the team. When the battle begins to go against the X-Men, Storm orders Nightcrawler to find Wolverine while she covers their escape. Wolverine is ambushed by Omega Sentinel, Lady Mastermind and Scrambler and is severely injured. Nightcrawler rescues him, but is shot by Scalphunter before teleporting away. At the X-Mansion, Emma learns from Wolverine telepathically that the Marauders don't have the child either and that according to Gambit, it is in the hands of an X-Man. At the same time, the Sentinels surrounding the mansion are corrupted by an unknown force and they begin to attack the X-Men. Meanwhile, Cable is revealed to be alive and has the mutant baby girl with him.

Chapter 6: Uncanny X-Men #493

The X-Men work together to take down the Sentinels. Several X-Men are injured, including Gentle after knocking over one Sentinel, and the mansion is thoroughly destroyed. All the telepaths are knocked out. Beast learns that the Sentinel pilots were infected by nano-sentinels created by Cassandra Nova, which led to the attack on the mansion. Cyclops believes Cable may be responsible. As a result, Cyclops orders Wolverine to assemble the X-Force (a team consisting of Wolverine, X-23, Warpath, Wolfsbane, Hepzibah, and Caliban) to hunt down Cable and retrieve the baby by any means necessary.

Chapter 7: X-Factor #26

Professor X voices his concerns to Cyclops over his willingness to have his own son Cable killed by the newly reformed X-Force. Cyclops tells Charles that he will continue to argue with him, and he needs to leave the mansion permenently. Meanwhile, Cable is on the run with the mutant baby when he is confronted by Lady Deathstrike. Another mutant is killed by the mutant hunting monster, but not before calling X-Factor. Multiple Man continues his investigation in the future by capturing a guard from the mutant prison camps. X-Force is searching a Cooperstown Hospital to pick up the trail of the fugitive Cable. Wolverine doesn't trust Warpath will be willing to kill Cable should the need arise, and he asks Feral to keep an eye on him. Meanwhile Lady Deathstrike impales Cable's cybernetic arm, and he is conerd and defensless. Then in the future Jamie and Layla are captured by guards and taken into custody.

The story is ongoing...

Aftermath

At the Baltimore Comic-Con on September 10 2007, Marvel Comics announced that a new X-Force ongoing series (featuring Wolverine, X-23, Warpath, and Wolfsbane), with Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost as the writers and Clayton Crain as the artist, and a new Cable ongoing series (which will replace the Cable & Deadpool series), with Duane Swierczynski as the writer and Ariel Olivetti as the artist, will be launched after the conclusion of Messiah Complex in February and March 2008 respectively.

X-Men vol. 2 will be renamed X-Men: Legacy as of issue #208 in February. Mike Carey will remain as writer with Scot Eaton as the title's artist.

New X-Men does not appear in February 2008 solicitations. In addition, the writers of that title will be moving on the relaunch of X-Force (see above info regarding the relaunch).

Publication

File:Messiah Complex.jpg

Variant cover for X-Men: Messiah Complex featuring Mystique, Cyclops, Mister Sinister, Professor X, and Wolverine. Art by Marc Silvestri.

The checklist for the storyline is as follows:

October 2007

• Chapter 1: X-Men: Messiah Complex one-shot

November 2007

• Chapter 2: Uncanny X-Men #492
• Chapter 3: X-Factor #25
• Chapter 4: New X-Men #44
• Chapter 5: X-Men #205

December 2007

• Chapter 6: Uncanny X-Men #493
• Chapter 7: X-Factor #26
• Chapter 8: New X-Men #45
• Chapter 9: X-Men #206

January 2008

• Chapter 10: Uncanny X-Men #494
• Chapter 11: X-Factor #27
• Chapter 12: New X-Men #46
• Chapter 13: X-Men #207

External links

• X-Writers talk “Messiah CompleX”, Comic Book Resources, September 26, 2007
• X-POSITION Week 19: Mike Carey, Comic Book Resources, October 4, 2007
• On Messiah Complex 1: Ed Brubaker kicks it off, Newsarama, October, 12, 2007