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...

Madelyne's Mean Mind Control part III: X-tracting The Worst.

Assuming the role of the Goblin Queen during Inferno changed Madelyne Pryor.

A lot.

For one thing: she developed certain abilities... No doubt because she was a clone of Jean Grey, one of the world's premiere telepathic minds. Maddie's mutant powers however, focussed more on moral corruption... mind control, by any other name.

At the height of Inferno, she orchestrated a meeting between the X-men and X-Factor... An encounter rife with tension, because X-Factor didn't know the X-men were still alive (nor were they easily recognisable due to Inferno's demonic corruption).

And as far as the X-men were concerned, X-Factor was little more than a team of mutant bounty hunters. Hardly what professor Xavier had in mind when he assembled his first group of students.
It made for tense moments... and having Maddie there in the opening pages of X-Factor # 38 didn't exactly help matters.

And ow yeah, she had already overpowered Jean Grey. Of course, this was signified by Jean wearing a slave collar made of energy. Anyhoo... She gleefully revealed the nature of her new powers...

"I bring out the demon in things... and in people... as I have in all of you." 

Makes sense.

After all... What could keep the X-teams from attacking the Queen? Well, apart from a virtually unending horde of demons... mostly their own teammates, of course.

Y'see, remember how Madelyne had already started to corrupt the X-men well before she even turned into the Goblin Queen? Back in Uncanny X-men # 242, Alex finally and most willingly made the decision to serve as Maddie's lover...

 "Spoken, lover, like a true Goblin Prince!"

That explains why he was at her side, tattered costume and all, when the Queen confronted the X-people in Central Park...

"I offer...the spotlight! Center stage. The starring role!"

Bless Madelyne for knowing just how to seduce the already influenced X-men. After living with them for an extended period of time, she's fully aware of their deepest desires. Dazzler always wanted to be a world famous singer, before her mutant powers forced her out of the limelight. And Longshot, while not a mutant per se, was genetically engineered to be *the* star of Mojo's many movies.

It only makes sense their life with the X-men, living in the obscurity of the Australian outback and being believed dead by most of the world at the time, left them longing for... well, recognition. And they were more than willing to do anything for that spotlight.

"The world is watching! So play your parts like the stars I know you are!"

Dazzler and Longshot brought down X-Factor charter member Warren Worthington, formerly the Angel. But after Apocalypse gave him a pair of techno organic wings and pressed him into service as one of his horsemen, the now blue skinned Warren reinvented himself as the much more volatile and deadly Archangel...

Just the right tool for a mind controlling woman intent on causing carnage...

"We have been tainted by evil. But evil is the price of power."

The Goblin Queen managed to corrupt Archangel... somewhat. But his initial corruption by Apocalypse took precedence, in a way. His techno organic wings refused to obey Madelyne's commands long enough for him to inadvertently free the others, which led to a big fight between the two X-teams and Maddie.

Who won was never really in doubt...

"X-men and X-Factor confront Mr. Sinister!"

And indeed they did... As we covered *here*.

But there was even more mind control, courtesy of Mr. Sinister... As we'll cover in the next entry.

Madelyne's Mean Mind Control Make Over Part II: Inferno Infers The Inconceivable

The Goblin Queen just might be Chris Claremont's most stereotypical creation ever.

"It appears your devices have limits. And I don't."

Yes, the Goblin Queen is 'Claremont concentrate' when it comes to the way he writes villains and powerful women. A driven, determined and strong willed woman who wields considerable power and dresses provocatively in black leather... radiant in her glory all the way through.

Goblin Queen started out as Madelyne Pryor, the self reliant pilot wife of Cyclops who was also a dead ringer for Scott's first love Jean Grey. They shacked up, had a baby boy and then it all fell apart. Cyclops abandoned her, the Marauders tried to kill her, the X-men rescued her but before long she was forced to sacrifice her life in a fight against the Adversary...

After being revived by Roma, Madelyne stayed with the X-men, tending to the advanced computer systems in their new Australian base. Those systems showed her what had happened to her husband: Scott had joined the other original X-men into forming X-Factor... With Jean Grey!  

Driven insane by jealousy, anger and grief... Madelyne slowly went down the path to become the fearsome Goblin Queen, after getting influenced by Limbo demons S'ymm and N'astirh. But before she put on the tattered, black thong bikini, she had already started to corrupt the X-men.

"No more, dear heart... nor less... than I."

Madelyne slowly started to seduce Havok, better known as Scott's brother Alex Summers. On the eve before her ascension, she slept with him... Which would lead into a plot point later in the Inferno crossover. But before that, Madelyne had another score to settle...

"I want the Marauders found... so that the X-men can pay them back..."

And in Uncanny X-men # 240, the X-men did just that. Sneakily teleporting into their base in the Morlock tunnels, the team proceeded to clean the villain's collective clocks. Their fight eventually moved to the surface and there... they noticed the city of New York was right in the middle of a demonic infestation... and the X-men weren't immune to its effects!

The Marauders were pretty much routed in Uncanny X-men # 241, when all of a sudden a new threat entered the scene...

"We are well aware of your abilities, Dazzler. There's no need to boast."

During their confrontation, Colossus noticed his teammates were rapidly changing. Becoming more rough, unhinged, lethal and yes... demonic. 

"Work ain't done, heroes... So long as a Marauder's left! Let's bust some heads!"

Storm and Wolverine are already falling prey to the Inferno lit by the Goblin Queen. The other X-men share their fate, slowly giving in to their nastiest, most undesirable impulses... Like when Longshot tries to make love to an anything but cooperative Dazzler.

"Your eye... that glow... Makes me feel...okay, lover."

Yes, they all succumbed to the madness of Maddie's Inferno. Everyone, except Colossus...

"In my heart and soul... I burn. I want to join the others... let myself be consumed..."

Colossus lumbers off by himself, eventually playing a part in the New Mutants chapters of the crossover, before returning right in time for the finale.

Speaking of which, when next we see the X-men, they've met X-Factor for the first time. There's quite a bit of distrust between the two teams, not in the least because the X-men have been fully consumed by the Inferno...

All that right around the same time the Goblin Queen finally makes her appearance as well, as we'll see in part III of Madelyne's Mean Mind Control: X-tracting The Worst.

Excalinferno Part II: Go Go Goblin Princess!

It took the rest of Excalibur the better part of a day to reach New York, but it only took a few minutes for Meggan to lose control of her mind. Y'see, Meggan's a magical faerie creature capable of transforming herself to please whatever prevalent mood or mindset she finds herself in. She has no real control over this power, so guess what happens to her when she's hovering over a demon infested city of millions that reeks of evil? 

Yeah... You guessed it.

Quickly forgetting she ever was a good guy to start with, Meggan dumped Nightcrawler and sought out the leader of the demon horde N'astirh... who was ever so pleased with his new follower.

Just take a minute to really read the dialogue. It just oozes pure S&M roleplay. "This will hurt", the master warns his slave... "I don't mind", she answers to her master's pleasure. "Even better." Remember how Marvel used to market this as an all ages fun and games book? ... Sigh.

Thus was born... the Goblin Princess. Not quite as evil as the Jean Grey clone turned sour Madelyne Pryor, but still pretty nasty as she soon proved while tormenting her teammates.

Now, precious... I have you forever!"

The Goblin Princess is basically still Meggan, with all her insecurities about herself and her relationship with Captain Britain intact. So it makes sense she would focus her newfound might on him first, by mind controlling him.Shadowcat phases inside the movie theatre and quickly realises she might be in wayyy over her head.

Yup, that's Captain Britain as the Goblin Princess' champion, a warped amalgam of 80s movie icons  like Rambo (the guns & headband), Freddie Krueger (the fingerclaws) and an axe from any generic horror slasher, but lets say The Shining.

Yes, yes, we're still reading Excalibur: the all ages fun book. Try and explain that to your children when they come crawling into bed with you, crying about nightmares after reading this issue.
Also: nice slice of strawberry cheesecake there, Kitty...


Meanwhile, Nightcrawler found himself under attack by the weirdness of Inferno, which caused inanimate objects to come to life and attack the living. In this case, all the mannequins in a department store who attacked the living in a zombie like frenzy. Nightcrawler coulda sworn he saw Rachel in a wedding dress in the store window, but look who is assaulting him...

Using his teleportation powers, Nightcrawler freed the Phoenix-like mannequin from the horde of dolls, ready to unite the doll with the real Rachel. But Kurt'd better hurry up, because the demonic priest who was ready to marry Rachel with the demon Crotus is about ready to join them together in whatever passes for holy matrimony...

Still, Kurt wasn't the only member of Excalibur who was having troubling cutting through the Inferno madness. Luckily, Kitty found herself with a sword. Thanks to her close friendship with Limbo's former ruler Illyana Rasputin, Kitty manifested the Magik armour ánd the enchantment ending soulsword. One swipe of that blade can end any and all magic spells. Alas, sometimes the sword is nowhere near as quick as the spoken word...

Ahh, talk about an almost perfect case of mind control... The Goblin Princess suffers from an ever so convenient spell of weakness while transforming Kitty into an actual Shadowcat, giving her enough time to use her soulsword fascimile...

One slice of the sword reverted the Captain back to his old self, and another hurl of her blade did the same for Meggan...

With Meggan reverting back to her old self, all that's left is getting Rachel back from her marriage to the demon Crotus. Take it home, Nightcrawler...

Having Kurt throw the evil book on the equally evil fire somehow caused Meggan to revert back to her old self. With all of Excalibur free from mind control, issue # 7 had a happy ending. But, wait... weren't they supposed to rescue baby Nathan? Wasn't that why they travelled all the way from Great Britain to New York? 


Nope, unfortunately, Excalibur played no part in the final episode of Inferno. That was all up to the X-men and X-Factor. Fortunately, Claremont wrote this little scene in issue # 8, as a coda of sorts...

Yep, and that's all the influence Excalibur had on the Inferno... The only member who didn't end up mind controlled was Nightcrawler, who was already a demon to begin with. Great start for the new team, people!