Rogue and Cyclops Get Mind Controlled: The Sinister Way

When one thinks of Inferno, it mostly summons up images of an unending horde of demons invading New York.

And while a lot of that did indeed go down, back in 1989, during the finale of Inferno, there were no more demons to be fought, only those ephemeral inner ones. Limbo's merger with Earth was halted well before the finale... Heck, even the Goblin Queen was defeated before that. Meaning the end game was played between just the X-men, X-Factor and... Mister Sinister.

I guess that explains this particular house ad...

With S'ym and N'astirh vanished and gone, the X-teams faced Mr. Sinister in X-Factor # 39. It was the first time the mastermind behind the Marauders, among other threats, fought Xavier's children head on. In an added, sadistic twist, their confrontation took place on the site of Professor Xavier's wrecked school for gifted youngsters...

One by one, the X-men and X-Factor tried to take down Sinister and the Marauders' leader Malice, who was still in control of Polaris. They didn't exactly have the best of luck, Sinister brushed off most of their assaults... And when Rogue tried to take him out by draining his essence... This classic example of reverse mind control happened.

"YOU... absorb me, child? Never. I am strongest... by far the dominant personality...
And I have become YOU!"

Yup, Sinister's physical form may have been incapicated, his mind is in control of Rogue's far more powerful form. He takes over her mind and knocks out Cyclops, who he's had a special interest in from the get go, which readers of Classic X-men (or this blog) already knew.

"On your knees to me, your master!"

Bless Sinister for posing like a cheesy 1950's movie villain... But he wasn't too wrong, after all he'd been subtly influencing young Scott Summers from the moment he was unfortunate enough to end up in an orphanage run by Sinister.

The master villain immediately realised Scott's genetic potential and just how he could put it to his advantage... But what's the one rule of creating a super weapon? Why, making sure you can't be harmed by it's effects, of course!

And in Scott's case, it involved a fair bit of mind control.

"How wonderful, child. How... deadly."

The Inferno crossover revealed it wasn't professor Xavier who first came up with the ruby quartz glasses that kept Cyclop's optical blasts in check... It was Sinister all along. For some reason, the seemingly omnipotent villain feared Scott's power and made sure he couldn't be harmed by it.

"Cyclops is under some form of mind control."

Storm was right... Or, as Rogue points out: he can't use his optic blast against Mr. Sinister. But leave it to the formerly mind controlled Havok, Scott's brother, to sort him out. After Jean uses her power to restrain Cyclops, Alex confronts his brother... And he's being a right diva about it.

"Well, well, well... look at poor Scott, all helpless! What's the matter, brother of mine?"

Hitting his brother senseless didn't exactly help him snap out of it... But luckily, Scott was able to rid himself of his conditioning it when he saw this...

"You see, Scott? He has Jean!" You know what he'll do to her!"

And that was enough to snap Scott out of his mind control madness. He rushed up to Sinister and took control... mostly by opening his visor wide...

Done and done? Oh, lord no...

But I don't mind controlling my wise ass'ed ness. Why ruin the moment for Scott and co?

Backdoor Brain Befuddlement aka Mind Control Madelyne Style

Sometimes, even Chris Claremont doesn't know he's writing mind controlled characters.

Case in point, January 1986's Uncanny X-men # 201 in which Claremont gave the team time to catch their breath and reflect.

In this prototypical classic 'downtime' issue, the X-men were reflecting the many changes thrust upon them after Uncanny # 200, which featured the departure of professor Xavier, the arrival of their former archenemy Magneto as the new headmaster and...

The birth of Cyclops and Madelyne's first child: Nathan Summers.

Which was a little weird for Rachel Summers, the redhead telepathic future daughter of Scott from an alternate timeline. Here we have a touching scene between Kitty and the Summers siblings.

"Wow That's beautiful!"

It's hard to imagine just how 'beautiful' the thoughtprocess of a newborn is, considering they can't even recognise their own fingers yet. 

Still, years later during his Excalibur run, Claremont remembered this psilink, established between Kitty, Rachel and young Nathan. At the start of the Inferno storyline, Nathan was kidnapped and Rachel flew to his rescue, dressing Kitty up as a baby in the process... 

"Long story. Later."

Getting back to the actual story... Uncanny X-men # 201 saw the X-men and their former leader Cyclops returning to the mansion after some adventures in Asgard and Paris, France. Their recent experiences had left Scott with the nagging notion that he should take over as teamleader. Storm had been a more than capable replacement after he left in the wake of Jean Grey's death... But Ororo had recently lost her powers.

Scott felt this no longer made her fit to lead, forcing him to step up, especially in light of the professor's absence and Magneto's presence. Madelyne didn't really agree.

"Or... are you afraid... they really can get along without you?"

... For someone who just gave birth, Maddie Pryor sure is in amazing shape. Bye bye excess baby weight, hello skin tight mumus. And, quite understandably, she wants Scott to leave the team and be a father to his son. After all, would you prefer a husband who abandons you on a regular basis to court death? With, from her point of view, a band of strangers no less?  

Their argument led to a fight Storm broke up by offering a resolution.

"One of us must lead. The best way to choose, I feel, is a duel..."

And what better place for a duel than the X-men's holographic Danger Room?

"Hadda happen."

In a truly classic 1980s scene, the X-men and the New Mutants (along with Magneto dressed in hot purple pink in the far right) huddle in the Danger Room's control perch to witness the confrontation that's about to take place. Doug 'Cypher' Ramsey programs an environment that compensates for Storm's lack of powers. And while the two X-men leaders throw down, Madelyne has a quiet moment with the baby...

"I want Scott to lose, so he'll be coming with us. Except losing will break his heart."

And ow dear... he *did* lose...

"I don't believe it. I'm dreaming! This isn't happening! I lost"

Scott doesn't know the half of it. He leaves the team to be with his wife and son, but before long he abandons them after learning his first love Jean Grey was still alive. Along with the former original X-men, Scott and Jean formed the new team X-Factor, took a hold of baby Nathan... While Madelyne was abandoned and, well... let's see how she fared?

After some decidely convoluted doings, Madelyne was almost killed by the Marauders... This assassination attempt only made sense, considering their leader Mr. Sinister was the one who created Maddie, a clone based on a genetic sample of Jean Grey.

When Jean returned, Madelyne had become superfluous to the evil genius' plans... Not in the least because she had already gave birth to a child that contained Mr. Sinister's ideally imagined bloodlines: Jean & Scott.

But poor Maddie would soon become essential to the schemes of Limbo demons S'ym and N'astirh, who ultimately transformed her into the Goblin Queen during the 1989 Summer crossover Inferno.

The X-men and X-Factor gathered to oppose her, but in X-Factor # 38, Louise Simonson had the Goblin Queen drop a little truth bomb...

"I didn't know that till later, that my nascent powers had awakened."

It may seem like a bit of a cheat of a convoluted cop out, but it actually makes sense. If you clone a telepathic telekinetic, it only makes sense you end up with a clone that has at least a similar genetic potential.

But Scott kept things in perspective.

"Stop! ENOUGH!"

Mind controlled or not, the X-men and X-Factor joined forces to stop the Limbo demon's invasion and Madelyne didn't survive the experience...

All's well that ends well, but with Maddy revealed as the reason Cyclops lost... one does wonder who would win: Cyclops or Storm?

Any thoughts?

Mind Control: Quickie Cliffhanger style

Chris Claremont really knows his way around mind control.

Whether he uses it to help along running plotlines, set up shocking story twists or... in this tale from X-men Forever... spice up a cliffhanger. But before we get to the 'to be continued' moment, let's get started.

In the alternate reality of the X-men Forever series, the mutant population was plagued by a lethal disease called 'Burnout'. In essence, having mutant powers burns up the body, leading to premature deaths.

The older mutants like professor Xavier and Sabretooth were already feeling the effects. Charles los his ability to walk and Sabretooth's healing factor was starting to give out, which left him blind and without a hand. The feral mutant was staying with the X-men at the time (long story) when the mansion was invaded by the Morlocks who took him ánd Moira McTaggert prisoner.

Even in an alternate reality, their leader Masque was as sadistic as ever...

How unlike Masque to... lend a hand... to someone who helped kill many of his fellow Morlocks. After all, Sabretooth was a member of the Marauders during the Mutant Massacre. But as Sabretooth explains, it wasn't him.

Years ago, he had handed Mister Sinister a sample of his DNA and the evil mastermind used this to make as many Sabre-clones as needed. The real one had never actually been a Marauder. Besides, that's not why Masque dragged Sabes and Moira to the sewers.

"So save us, doctor... Or suffer."

Masque wants Moira to work on a Burnout cure, using Sabretooth's healing factor as a template. Which was exactly what the doctor was already doing... in the X-men's fully equipped, highly advanced laboratories, ya know, the one with the alien Shi'ar medical technologies a few centuries beyond human development...

And now she has to do the same job underground where the most advance piece of technology available is that lone little lightbulb dangling in the back. Smart move.

It was equally stupid to break into the X-men's home through the sub-basement and leave a trail of destruction that led the team right to Masque's doorstep. Shadowcat, doing her best Wolverine impression, ordered Masque to stand down and let everyone go free, but he's a sneaky one...

"Why won't they stop screaming?!"

Well, little 'Ro, if you think a single, mumbled 'aarrrgh' from Cyclops is a scream, I wonder what you're doing on the next page...

Oh my! Masque's touch apparently mind controlled both Gambit and Cyclops, turning them against the team, as the now monstrous men lunge for the young child. Will they catch her? Will Masque change her too? What a cliffhanger!

X-men Forever vol. 2 # 5 opens with a recap of the events I just recapped... While 'Ro is chased through the sewers by Gambit, Cyclops and some other Morlocks. That kills a few pages and just when they catch up with her...

"Show over, Masque! We... both back in control of our bodies."

... Well, that didn't take long. Usually this takes at least half a dozen issues and big speeches about mind, body and soul to get it all sorted out. To quickly dismiss the mind control angle after playing it up in the cliffhanger almost feels like cheating the readership... Then again, it ís a refreshing change of pace.

Either way, this brought Masque's mind (or body, come to think of it) control shenanigans to an end. He next showed up in Genosha, along with one of the many, many Storms that Claremont starred in this particular title.

First New X-men issue, first Mind Control

Granted, this is a bit of a stretch seeing as Chris Claremont didn't even write Giant-Size X-men (we have Len Wein to thank for that)... But consider it an eery preview of things to come when Chris Claremont properly starts writing the book.

Who is this Krakoa then? Well, after extensive nuclear testing on an uninhabited atol, the collective flora and fauna of the small island mutanted into a single consciousness that called itself, you guessed it. The birth of the living island caught the attention of Charles Xavier, who sent his original team of X-men to investigate.

The team was easily beaten and only Cyclops managed to escape... But, with good reason, or so Krakoa reveals: he wanted Cyclops to lure some more mutants.

Or, as Scott so poetically says: "You used me like a lousy judas goat". 

Naturally, this gets even more silly when you take into account what the 2006 miniseries Deadly Genesis revealed about the Island That Walks Like A Man.

Turns out, it wasn't sentient at all, the voice of Krakoa was a ruse by Xavier to cover up the fact that he'd sent in Cyclops with four other mutants who all died on the island.

So, reread Krakoa's lines again and realise its actually Xavier who is using the monster like a ventriloquist dummy.

Not too hard to believe Charley turned evil once or twice over the next couple of decades... He talked the talk, even if his wheelchair prevented him from walking the walk.