Illyana's Beyond(er) Mind Control

Today's entry comes from the nine month period every Marvel comic had to get involved with Secret Wars II, which meant guest appearances by the Beyonder.

Ahhh, the Beyonder...

More often than not, the involvement of the one from beyond added little to the story. Some writers, like John Byrne in Fantastic Four, used the entity to further the ongoing storylines.

Either way, the Beyonder is basically just a tool. And a big one at that.

Chris Claremont managed to get at least some mileage out of the Beyonder over in New Mutants. Take issue # 36, in which he paid a surprise visit to Illyana Rasputin who was riding the subway in New York right when he popped in.

"Hello Illyana."

Naturally, the teleporting ruler of Limbo was ready to attack... But she didn't stand a chance. Luckily for her, he didn't want to hurt her. No, quite the opposite: he came to help her.

"This part of your being... you call it evil. You fear it."

And with good reason... Illyana lost parts of her soul to Belasco's bloodstone ritual. This gave her incredible magic powers, but she also lost part of her humanity in the process. Now, the Beyonder undid Belasco's handiwork and made the young Russian mutant whole again. Gone were her eldritch armor, soulsword and beatrice medallion...

But magic is a form energy... And energy can't be destroyed, it just exists in another form. Or in this case, another host. When the Beyonder removed the magics from Illyana, all her trinkets appeared on a rather shocked Kitty Pryde who was doing a little studying in New York's public library. Immediately recognising the armor, sword and pendant as Illyana's, she didn't have much time to adjust when a demon popped out of thin air and attacked her.

"Where's a Ghostbuster when you really need one?"

Ah, don't you just love the mid 80s?

While Claremont has Kitty think to herself in full detail just what the soulsword is (you're welcome new readers!), artist Bill Sienkiewicz once again knocked over his ink well to give the demon a distinctive, creepy appearance. But Kitty wasn't the only one dealing with a sudden increase in demonic activity...

"Dani... a monster!"

... Said the werewolf girl.

The New Mutants quickly deal with their uninvited pool guest and then... Illyana comes home... Using the subway.

"Take my hand, dear friend. Let me teach you what I have learned."

Apparently, Illyana also learned how to lift an entire metro train into the air and fly it over 40 miles to Westchester. Still, ignoring this super power we'll never see again... Illyana shares her 'insights' with Cannonball and meets the others after landing the subway train on the mansion's lawn.

"Join with a universal consciousness called 'the overmind'."

Illyana tells the New Mutants she wants them to join the Beyonder's cause, after all he has the best intentions for mankind... But the team is a little more concerned with their unexpected demonic visitor. Especially after Illyana rather casually identifies it as part of a large scale demonic invasion... And to think Inferno was still at least two years in the future at that point.

Surprisingly enough, Illyana's response is a rather glib 'no big deal.' According to her, these demons pale in comparison to the Beyonder so who cares. She's far more concerned with recruiting the New Mutants for the Beyonder's cause. All she has to do is touch them to make sure they see the light...

"Y'all don't understand! We got no choice but to show you!"

None of the New Mutants were too eager to have Illyana show them this new truth of hers. Karma was especially vehement in her refusal, which is understandable considering she'd only recently regained control of her body after the Shadow King mind controlled her.

So if politely asking doesn't work, try using force...

"Alarm... fundamental alteration in prime circuitry nets! Cannot inhibit... perceptions changing... thoughts... beliefs... data twist loop scramble dump purge...*"

For those who aren't fluent in mid 80s made up computer lingo: Illyana was trying to mind control the techno organic mutant Warlock.... And she would have succeeded too, if not for the fact a giant black demon (there goes Sienkiewicz's ink well again) showed up at the mansion, carrying an old friend...

"Now, with her lifesoul... and one more besides... shall the gateway at last be open..."

Yeah, poor Kitty. Even though she had 'inherited' all of Illyana's magical artifacts, she lacked the necessary skills to use them effectively. Now, she'd fallen prey to the demons who were planning to finish Belasco's bloodstone ritual and merge Earth with their dimension. And of course the New Mutants tried their best to stop the creature...

Mutants, stop him! Shan, can he be possessed?!"

It's a quintessential panel of Claremont's New Mutants and the way they approached a combat situation. Wolfsbane's on the frontlines clawing away at the demon's foot, while Dani Moonstar and Xi'an 'Shan' Coy Manh use their mental powers to inflict their own particular brand of mental domination.

While way in the back, Doug 'Cypher' Ramsey is feeling useless and a bit scared because a) he's halfnaked and b) being a mutant universal translator make him pretty much worthless in actual combat... a cipher if you will... 

In the end, the demon appears impervious to the New Mutants's powers. How can one scare, scratch or burn a creature from a hellish dimension, after all. No, it's up to Illyana to save the day by willingly embracing her evil once more...

"To save her, I've got to take them back. Become evil.
If I let her die though how can I call myself 'good'?"

Chris Claremont confronts Magik with an interesting no win situation. Illyana truly wants to do good, but what does that mean in this case? Either she embraces her demonic side in order to save her best friend, or she lets Kitty die so she won't be the 'Darkchylde' anymore... But can anyone who stands idly by and watches a fellow human being die truly be considered good?

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

In the end Illyana took back what was hers, cast aside the Beyonder's gift of a 'normal' life and rescued both Kitty and every single person on Earth from getting devoured by demons... And all it took was her own life and personal shot at happiness...

"Hey why so glum, roomie? I knew you'd save the day".

With one demon invasion stopped and one best friend saved, it would seem Illyana made the right choice. Even though 'right' is all but relative. Considering what happened in New Mutants # 71...

Would the life of Kitty have been worth preventing Inferno, the demonic infestation of New York city that killed dozens of innocents?

Discuss amongst yourselves...

Black Magikal Mind Control part II: Fiery Faux Felines

"I have restored her, Piotr Nikolaevitch... to the life and future that are rightfully hers!"

When we last left the alternate X-men series X-men Forever, a creepy Russian demon worshipper known as Cossack kidnapped Colossus' young sister Illyana and freed the demonic elements that were locked deep within her soul. Now she was Black Magik, heir to Belasco's throne in Limbo. 

And while those dark influences might have controlled Illyana's mind, she still longed for a connection with her past life... And she'd found it in her former best friend Kitty Pryde. But before we get to that, Cossack called in his lupine henchmen to deal with the X-men. 

Kitty was ordered to keep little 'Ro safe, but as she took the tiny Storm away from the battle she also ran into Black Magik who was ready to make her move.

"As soon as Cossack and I are finished with Shadowcat... It'll be your turn."

So, just what was Illyana planning to do to Kitty, you ask? Well... Magik had revealed she wanted Kitty as her companion for a long time, and now she finally had the means to do so. 

So, just what cán she become? The opening page of X-men Forever # 14 holds the tantalizing answer...

"You chose the name Shadowcat as the true expression of your soul, Kitty. But now behold that soul made flesh: You are not a mere "shadow", my heart... You are my FIRE-CAT!"

While that is a pretty speech and Kitty's new fiery, feline form is a wonder to behold... the transformation isn't quite complete. Not until she sheds blood, that is... But with all those X-men ready to oppose her, that only seems a matter of time. Especially when Illyana offers a little more moral support, swaying the rather confused Kitty to their side even further.

"Embrace who you are, stop being afraid of what you can become."

Ignoring the rather obvious lesbian undertones of this scene, Illyana does make a valid point. In the past few issues, Kitty has lost pretty much everyone she shared a special or even an emotional connection with. Storm betrayed the team, killing Kitty's father figure and mentor Wolverine... Add to that  Colossus shacking up with the Black Widow... who's left for Kitty? The answer might surprise you...

"I fought Ogun, I fought the Shadow King, I'll fight Cossack... and I'll win!"

Gosh, such a pretty little rhyme. Wolverine's presence served as a reminder to who she really was and forced Kitty to fight back, eventually succeeding in breaking the spell Illyana and Cossack put her under. But that didn't keep the ol' purple haired russkie to try the same with 'Ro...

"It will take but a moment to catalyze the darkness in the child's soul..."

Yeah, fraid not Cossack... There's far more to little Ro than meets the eye, as we'll cover in a future entry. She's able to withstand his transformation attempt, leaving him powerless in the process.

With the werewolf sidekicks dealt with as well, Illyana's defeat seemed imminent, especially because the other members of Russia's sanctioned superhero team the Winter Guard had arrived to help out Colossus and the Black Widow... But Black Magik wasn't quite ready to give in.

"You taught me well, X-men. Next time, you'll find out how well."

Unfortunately, the X-men Forever series was cancelled well before Black Magik could make good on her threat... but hey, how can you even top trying to mind control two X-men and killing your own brother in a first appearance?

Black Magikal Mind Control part I: In Soviet Russia, Mind Controls You!

When Chris Claremont launched X-Men Forever in 2009, there were some initial doubts about how viable a nostalgia act would be... Let alone if Chris would be able to resist indulging in his love for all things mind control.

But fair's fair, Claremont managed to refrain from any obvious forms of sultry seduction, unleashing dark alter egos or even enthralling the innocent for nearly 12 issues. Considering the book's biweekly schedule, that's almost six mind control free months. Good for him... But then X-Men Forever # 11 came around and this happened...

"A glorious destiny awaits you, young lady. The time has come for the rebirth of MAGIK!"

Continuitywise, the history of the alternate reality of X-men Forever is the same as the 616's, including the moment in Inferno when the teenage Illyana Rasputin encountered her younger self, still trapped in Limbo as Belasco's unwilling apprentice. The Darkchilde teleported the young girl home, sacrificing her own existence in the process. Lil' Illyana moved back home with her parents in Russia... In our reality, she would eventually die of the Legacy Virus, but here... she fell prey to the villain called Cossack, a servant of Belasco. 

"I want you to be all you can be."

When an old man with purple hair and a skull cane wants you to achieve your full potential, you just know it's not going to end well. But as luck would have it, a team of X-men happened to be in Russia, checking in on Illyana's big brother Peter...

"And I can assure you, Ms. Pryde, that Peter is just fine."

Yeah, in this reality Colossus and Natasha Romanova are lovers, despite her codename 'The Black Widow'. They joined Colossus in the investigation of Illyana's disappearance and when they located her and Cossack in an abandoned factory near Moscow, they were greeted by a rather hauting sight...

"But now you face... Black Magik!"

Lazy codenames aside, Cossack had managed to release Illyana's demon soul which changed her back into a teenage succubus style bad guy. It goes without saying that seeing her former best friend twisted back into an evil creature has a profound impact on Kitty Pryde... 

Who was already more than a little shaken by the loss of Wolverine, gaining one of his claws in the process, the discovery her surrogate mother Storm was responsible for Logan's death... and now her first love Peter was shacking up with the Black Widow... Talk about being put through the emotional wringer. 

"Whatever Cossack's done, you can fight it. You're so much stronger..."

Them's fighting words, but what Kitty and Little 'Ro (aka: Tiny Storm) don't realise... Illyana's not exactly suffering from mind control. 

"Don't you get it, Kitty? When you pulled me out of Limbo you didn't 'save' me...
I was supposed to pull you in."

... Well, that certainly puts a new spin on this classic scene from X-men 160...

So... This Black Magik was actually the real Illyana finally being allowed free reign? A fascinating twist, which would lead to far more mind control as we'll see in part II of Black Magikal Mind Control: Fiery Faux Felines

X-men Forever Mind Controlled: Lodged In Logan

Back in 2009, the creative eggheads at Marvel had a novel idea...

What if... the past 17 years or so had never happened? What if Chris Claremont had never left after writing the first three issues of X-men in 1991? What would he have come up with? The answer to that was given in a biweekly series called X-men Forever. And despite the fact it was a bit of a nostalgia act, the mind control wasn't all that obvious. At first.

The first issue saw the X-men dealing with the aftermath of X-men # 3. Magneto had seemingly perished when his asteroid home was destroyed, only Fabian Cortez, the criminal leader of Magnus' Acolytes escaped... but the team was on his case. Unfortunately, Fabian's mutant power regulating gifts proved more than a match for the X-men...

"Lady says you're hurting, little man! Be my pleasure to make things a whole lot worse!"

Kitty tried to use her phasing powers to free Jean and Logan... but her rescue attempt had some... unexpected... consequences.

"I can't pull us free... Never felt anything so awful...Loganpleaseohplease make it STOP!"

Just why Kitty felt so much discomfort wouldn't be revealed until X-Men Forever # 4. By then, a lot had happened... Wolverine had been killed by Storm, of all people. And when their fellow X-men confronted the wind rider, Ororo quite easily beat them back, until Kitty struck and popped a boner... of sorts.

"I'm going to find out who made you turn against the X-men, Storm..."

Yeah... Not to be a spoilsport, but it doesn't involve mind control. However, the situation with Kitty would involve a fair amount of controlled minds. Mainly her own... Because during that unfortunate merger with the dearly departed Wolverine, Kitty got more than that single adamantium claw lodged in her skeletal structure...

"Inside my head... I see Logan's face, I can hear his voice."

We'll cover the story behind that particular picture in the next entry... For now, let's suffice it to say Kitty wasn't exactly alone in her head anymore. Forget that adamantium claw she was able to pop out, she also had inherited a semblance of Wolverine's healing factor, enhanced senses and rough, dominating personality... Which made her question if she was even in command of herself at all... Scenes like these certainly don't make it seem an actual 16 year old girl was 'home'...

"It was a long time ago. I was just a kid."

In the issues that followed, Kitty was fighting a losing battle against Logan's presence in her mind. Despite her best attempts, she suddenly started to adopt his gruff demeanor and speech patterns, which might have been worrisome, if not for the fact it also felt like Claremont was grooming her to be the next Wolverine. That is, until Kitty received an unexpected surprise during a fevered battle with the Marauders.

"You're supposed to be DEAD!"

Yeah... 'a' Wolverine showed up during the fight with the Marauders, widely known as Mr. Sinister's cloned henchmen. Everyone assumed Sinister had simply obtained a DNA sample in order to clone his own Wolverine so he could shock and disturb his former teammates. That's why Kitty, after getting gutted, showed no mercy and left him for dead... 

Well, she tried at least.

After her initial confrontation with this 'faux Wolverine', Kitty experienced very vivid dreams of being stalked by him... And in those dreams, she felt like she was slowly being turned into him as well... 

Luckily, this was all still a dream... but her behaviour did become a lot more erratic. For one thing, this not close to legal girl suddenly started flirting with Gambit. A lot.

"The way he's looking at me... I haven't felt like this in so long."

Not exactly lines you'd expect from a super intelligent 15 year old girl... So who's been fuelling her attraction to Gambit, then? Surely, it can't be Logan's influences... Alternate reality or not, the man's as straight as they come...

... Or maybe not.

Luckily, even a thief like Gambit wasn't ready to steal a kiss from a minor.

"You talk 'bout instincts... You ready t' trust 'em, body an' soul?"

Yeah, it's safe to say Kitty Pryde is more than a little confused. Add to all this the fact she's also been thinking in Japanese for some reason... It's high time she went to Japan in order to get some answers. However, the teenage Storm and Lockheed snuck on board her ship and joined Kitty in getting some anwers. Y'see, she figured it might not be Wolverine who was mind controlling her...

"I'd been possessed... By Logan's old teacher Ogun. He tried to make me a master assassin."

Logan or Ogun... Just who was trying to control Kitty is never made clear, because the threesome gets caught up in the proverbial perfect storm of converging storylines. Not in the least because this guy showed up. Again.

" <...Logan will always be the hunter!>"

After getting chased by what is clearly not just a Wolverine clone, Kitty, Storm and Lockheed dash across Japan in order to seek refuge with Logan's highly influential former lover Mariko Yashida. While she does indeed manage to keep away the maddened crazy man with the bone claws, Mariko is also in league with the X-men's big bad: the Consortium.  

The last few issues of X-men Forever dealt with them and their global influence, leaving the Kitty Pryde/Wolverine plotline large unresolved. Was this feral, bone clawed creature 'but' a clone or actually the real Logan? All we know for sure, he wanted back whatever Kitty got from him... And this is the last substantial thing Kitty ever said on the matter before X-Men Forever was cancelled...

*SNIKT*

Th-th-that's all folks!

God Loves, But Mind Control Still Kills part III: Mind Control Is The Opiate Of The People

In the third and final part of God Loves, But Mind Control Still Kills, the mysteries surrounding Mount Haven are finally answered. Just why is the mutant hating reverend William Stryker after the inhabitants of this mountain town? How come Bishop and Shadowcat are the only two X-men who seem impervious to whatever is mind controlling everyone else and just what is the deal with minister Paul? Let's dive in...

                              

Issue # 29 opens with Lady Deathstrike standing triumphant over the unconscious body of her archenemy Wolverine. However, because her body is being controlled, lady Yuriko Oyama is unable to fully appreciate this victory...

Not that she would have had too much time to enjoy his death, because Logan's fellow X-man Cannonball races to the rescue... the sounds of which can be heard in Mount Haven, serving as a bit of a wake up call for the mind controlled Storm... However, the equally addled Sage tries to win her back...

Ah yes, when all else fails and the violent weather mirrors Storm's subconscious fighting back... Dial 'S' for either Sage or Sappho....the mind controlled mentat needed the X-treme X-men's team leader back in the game. After all, Bishop was still on the loose... So Sage resorted to this here.

Storm's near lesbian encounter had no effect on that cheerful, mindless grin on her face. In fact, it seemed prevalent in Mount Haven... all courtesy of minister Paul, as Kitty Pryde finds out in the labyrinth like catacombs of the city. 

Kitty finally realises Mount Haven's dirty secret. The place didn't exactly start out as a haven for mutants... quite the opposite in fact. The town was home to one of the largest mutant detention and research facilities in the country...Aaron Pankow, the convicted mass murderer William Ryker went to see in the opening issue of this arc, worked there and told the reverend about the atrocities in Mount Haven, causing Stryker to start up his crusade once again.

Long story short... Stryker has figured out just who minister Paul really is. Mount Haven did indeed house a government sponsored mutant R&D facility, outfitted with a top notch sentient computer system capable of sentient reasoning. During the many hours of supervising and facilitating horrific experiments on captured mutants, the 'innocent' A.I. started to see right from wrong and decided to take action. 

Taking over the form of one of the tortured mutants, Haven's A.I. used his body to reinvented itself as minister Paul. Soon, it figured out a way to protect everyone who wasn't a mutant, by unleashing swarms of nigh undetectable nannites into the air that infected everyone in town. Paul slowly killed every human within the city limits. This meant death came as an unexpected surprise to the general population and it also explained just why there were no adults, only mutant offspring running around carefree (and mind controlled). 

An apalled Stryker finally carried out his mission when he pushed Shadowcat into minister Paul. Her innate phasing abilities immediately short circuit whatever electronics they encounter... Not only did this ability make her impervious to the nannites, it also explained why the healer Cybil died after Kitty accidentally phased through here...

In this case, Kitty's phasing caused the computer controlling Paul to suffer the equivalent of a grand mal seizure, shutting down all the nannites in Mount Haven at once... Often with lethal results as Bishop discovered...

Yes, the entire town had been infected with the nannites that slowly turned their bodies into cybernetic organisms designed to be controlled by the not quite human cybernetic intelligence housing in minister Paul. When he short circuited, his followers paid the price... Only the most recent of arrivals lived to tell the tale.

In the end, Bishop was instrumental in ensuring all the X-men, including Cannonball, recovered from their bout with cybernetic mind control. In case you were wondering why Bishop wasn't infected himself... the answer is painfully obvious: coming from a future where cybernetic infestation is as common as chicken pox, Bishop was inocculated against nannites as a kid. A rather simple and effective deus ex machina... Speaking of machines of god...

'Paul' was left in a state of existential crisis. The only reason the evolved computer system did what it did was a rather silly misunderstanding. It believed the only real human beings were the ones showing 'the spark', actually meaning the energy flare indicative of mutagenic potential. Baseline human being were considered to be little more than vermin to be eradicated... after all, anything to protect the 'real human beings'.

The reverend Stryker offered a stunningly selfless solution for this dilemma...

Yup, here we have the mutant hating man of God, wearing a slave collar, freely sacrificing his life to keep a newly formed cybernetic intelligence in check. It's really one for the history books, if only future writers would have left the reverend alone...

Despite heavily relying on mind control, God Loves Man Kills II is a remarkable story that mirrors the original graphic novel in having William Stryker starting out as a protector of humanity, but eventually merging with a mechanized man hunter to safeguard both man ánd mutantkind in the process... It's a rare case of perfect symmetry and a worthy send off for the character of the reverend William Stryker. His story arc had reached a natural climax... what else could be done?

... *sigh*... Yeah, instead of leaving a powerful and unique character alone, granting him the story arc his creator had intended, you could of course turn the reverend Stryker into a platitudes spouting hate filled bigot stereotype, literally armed with a piece of the futuristic Sentinel Nimrod. Y'know, for shits and giggles...

"Oh heavenly father, forgive us our sins as we forgive those indebted to us" ... indeed. Thankfully, the X-men weren't too bothered with all of that after their experiences in Mount Haven.