Throwback Tuesday: Ms. Marvel's Mind Control Turn

Now, strictly speaking, since Chris Claremont barely writes any new comics any more, every entry is potentially a throwback, despite the day it's published. But for now, let's roll with the meme, even if isn't Thursday. Today, we're covering the mess that is Uncanny X-Men I#269.

As regular readers of this all too infrequently updated blog already know, the events of this particular issue have already been kinda covered in this entry from late 08. Still, upon further examination, it turned out we barely scratched the surface of mind control weirdness. Let's start with the basics...

Uncanny X-Men I#269 tells the story of whatever happened to Rogue after she sacrificed herself dragging the lethal robot menace Master Mold through the Siege Perilous back in Uncanny X-Men I#247. The Siege is a mystical portal that leads to a conventiently undefined afterlife where higher powers examine who you were and use it as a basis for your next incarnation. It's like the John Lennon song Instant Karma without Yoko's backing vocals.

Master Mold would return years later as the mysterious, mutant hating Bastion but Rogue was the first one to come back... As, well, herself... So much for advancing along the karmic wheel. She was returned to her old room in the abandoned Australian outback town the X-Men had been using as a base when she went through the Siege. And the minute she returned, she was in for some bad news.

                "It has now been confirmed that Mystique, leader of the federal government's
                                          super-powered strike team... has been killed."

Talk about an ominous home coming... After learning her surrogate mother had been killed, not even noticing the dark, brooding figure of Jacob Reisz behind Val Cooper, Rogue rushed out to inform the  X-Men of Mystique's demise. But, much to her own surprise, she found the X-Men had long since been driven off by the town's former inhabitants: the Reavers. The cyborg mercenaries were ready to kill Rogue, regarding her as little more than the one who got away. But, she was rescued by the most unlikely of people...

              "Surprised, Rogue? Feeling's mutual. We have unfinished business, you and I."

I'll say... Not to mention unreal business. That's Carol Danvers, better known as Ms. Marvel... A woman whose powers, mind and memories Rogue infamously absorbed in between scenes of 1981's Avengers Annual I#10. The real Carol Danvers survived, though robbed of her personality, experiences and superhuman powers. Eventually, due to a supreme effort on Charles Xavier's part, she regained most of her mind and memories and the Brood would ultimately mess with her genetic structure to turn Carol into the white hole powered Binary.

So, in a sense, the one, true Carol Danvers was alive and well... Which left Rogue stuck with a copy of Carol in her mind. The two would often struggle and vy for control of Rogue's body, before she got herself sucked through the Siege Perilous. In the afterlife, Rogue and "Carol" were seperated, spewing both women back out as seperate individuals, because hey kids, comics.

"Carol" was ready to hand Rogue to a knuckle sandwich or two for having been trapped inside her head all those years and she didn't care if she had to punch a hole through the Reavers to do so. An added wrinkle: it seemed that Rogue no longer possessed Ms. Marvel's super strength and flight. All she had to rely on to keep her safe were her original mutant power and personality absorption abilities... Luckily she was able to think (and walk) on her feet: she headed for the teleporter Gateway sitting on the outskirts of town.

                                       "What you won't (ah hope, because you cant) give...
                                                          Ah'm afraid ah'll haveta take."

So, in order to escape from a furious victim of your mind control, you decide to... mind control somebody else? Well, that's one way to solve a problem and hey, it does give you one magnificent tan.

"The bull-roarer opens the gateway portal.
But you have my word, dear friend. I'll be back."

And with that, Rogue is gone moments before "Carol" can catch up. Rogue was able to teleport herself to the Savage Land where she was forced to fend for herself for an extended period of time. Without any powers other than her own, surviving in a dinosaur filled realm that time forgot, Rogue slowly regained her self confidence. But, whatever became of Carol?

           "Welcome to Muir Isle, Carol. How delightful t'see you seperated from Rogue at last."

... Without any explanation whatsoever, "Carol" finds herself on Muir Island where things aren't exactly as she remembers. Moira MacTaggert seems vicious and cold, the sorceress Amanda Sefton appears equally evil hearted and what's Polaris doing there strapped to a wall? All is soon made clear when "Carol" meets the villain to beat.

"Stop it, stop it... I just wanted to play with everybody's head!"

"Carol" quite correctly identifies the astral projection as being Charles Xavier's son David Haller... But, just like everybody else on Muir, the boy isn't himself. So, who's to blame for all these mind control shenanigans... Ow, you guessed it: the Shadow King. And he means business. So much so that he turns himself into a particularly penis nosed reptile to charm Ms. Marvel.

      "My province is the mind. As I claimed this boy, Legion... and all the others on this rock..."

Oh, you can guess what happened next, right?

The Shadow King made sure Carol was his to control, mind, body and soul forever. But just how she arrived on Muir Isle was never touched on in the actual comics. Well, as it turns out, Chris Claremont had planned this particular issue to be but a minor chapter in a larger Shadow King centered storyline that should have run all through Uncanny X-Men I#300. Along the way, it would have been revealed the King didn't merely control Moira and the people on Muir, he was also in command of both the Reavers and Gateway. This would have explained the fact Carol popped up in Scotland... *and* the Savage Land, moments after her conversion.

"We don't possess sufficient life-force between us to sustain two independent beings.
As one prospers, the other rots!"

Mind controlled by the Shadow King, "Carol" is determined to absorb Rogue's lifeforce in order to regain her full potential. All this in an attempt to be able to serve her new master even better. And as it turns out, even being near the monstrous Ms. Marvel's form infected Rogue with the Shadow King's deep, dark influences.

"Her face... she's like a walkin' corpse! Shoot... the same's happenin' to me!"

And, just when things seemed at their bleakest, salvation was at hand from the most unlikeliest of sources... That is, if you didn't spot his helmeted cameo on the cover a little earlier. But first, let's indulge "Carol" in what would prove to be the final speech she'd ever deliver...

"The Shadow King finally managed to track you down. Once you're dust, your powers added to mine... I'll be able to serve him that much better!"

And with a well placed magnetic force blasts, a certain magnetic mutant decided to involve himself. He chose sides and made his presence known.

                                                                       "I chose you."

A good half a decade before the Pokemon craze, Magneto already coined that franchise' most popular catchphrase. With "Carol" dead, Rogue was safe, even though she was roped into fighting the magnetically powered Zaladane along with Magneto, Ka-Zar and SHIELD. After that adventure, she'd find herself on Muir Island only to end up mind controlled by the Shadow King after all in Uncanny X-Men I#278.

                                              "This is wrong! 'Cept it seems so natural."

If only Rogue had told Magneto what she'd been going through, even before the final confrontation against "Carol" in the Savage Land. As it turns out in Uncanny X-Men I#275, the master of magnetism had his own run in with the evil entity. 

"At last I confront the Shadow King. Followed by sick shame at the awful cost of my survival."

Knowing Claremont, he would undoubtedly have revealed the circumstances of Magneto's initial encounter with the King, leading up to the proposed climax in Uncanny X-Men I#300. This anniversary issue should be marked with the death of Charles Xavier and Magneto taking over for the professor full time.

Alas, Claremont more or less willingly left Uncanny X-Men with issue 279, already co-written by Fabian Nicieza and Jim Lee. So a lot of plot threads were left dangling, though Claremont confirmed the connection between the Reavers and the Shadow King in 2001's X-Treme X-Men Annual. It's also not unthinkable he meant to reveal a lot of Magneto's horrendous, evil deeds were indirectly caused by the Shadow King's lingering corruption, which would have made Magnus' intended status quo a lot easier to digest.

Maybe someday we'll know for sure...

Anyone Mind Questprobe Taking Control part II: Ghosts In The Machine

When we last left the X-men in Marvel Fanfare # 33, the team had been surprised by the appearance of the alien Chief Examiner, a character from Marvel's shortlived 1984 videogame tie in Questprobe. The Examiner was on Earth to assess the abilities of superhumans in order to use their powers to defend his homeworld of Scadam from the invading Black Fleet.

After turning most of the team to statues, the Examiner somehow took over Magneto's mind and attacked Rogue who came to the party late. But as she escaped from this cage, Rogue was in for one more surprise...

"Suddenly got an itch to... va-MOOSE?!?"

After hitting the Chief Examiner's trademark dark portal, Rogue suddenly manifested the strength of the She-Hulk, the agility and spider sense of Spider-Man and the flame powers of the Human Torch. In earlier Questprobe issues, the Examiner copied their powers and apparently Rogue's mutant absorption gifts were able to tap into that as well. But while she fought a dressed up Magneto, the actual Erik Magnus Lensherr was somewhere else...

"Where... am I?! What am I?!? Not my living self, in any organic sense. I seem to have become a pattern of energy."

Gotta love that organic sounding exposition. We all narrate our own lives to ourselves in the third person, right? But Magneto found himself trapped inside a matter-energy egg with a chap called Durgan. He's the brain behind the Chief Examiner, who is revealed to be merely a computerised construct that. Wait, I could type up paragraphs of dry exposition, or I'll have Durgan tell you the same boring story himself... with pictures!

"I am master of magnetism. All electronics are vulnerable to my powers. Obviously, I disrupted the circuitry of your device and created a scramble feedback loop that trapped both our consciousnesses in its mnemonic system."

... Yeah, obviously.

Durgan and Magneto were trapped inside the Chief Examiner's operating system. But who was running the show then? 

"I felt another essence replace mine as I was drawn here. But whose...?"

So, if we can trust the omniscient narrator's explanation... Durgan didn't realise the seemingly decorative artifact he'd placed right next to his invaluable creation, was actually a sentient evil gem bent on taking over the Chief Examiner computer and use it for conquest and all that fine stuff. Ah, comics...

So how did Magneto escape? Simple. By convincing Durgan he was boss and demanding control of the device back. 

"I feel myself regaining control of the Chief Examiner, whatever force opposed us is now gone."

Now, isn't that might convenient? Whatever evil presence inhabited the Examiner or the gem it came from is just gone. And with Magneto back in his body, the Chief Examiner is ready to go on looking for suitable superpowers. But not before saying goodbye...

"Bozo's crazy"

When the mass murdering mutant master of magnetism starts quoting Ghandi and Jesus...  Worry. Or snicker. Or do a trademark Liz Lemon eyeroll. Whatever feels most appropriate.

Oh, and contrary to popular belief ánd common sense... this wasn't the last appearance of the Chief Examiner. The late great Mark Gruenwald, ever the champion of little known or used characters, brought in the Examiner during his run on Quasar. Still looking for super powers to poach, he homed in on Kayla Ballantine who had just become the unwitting host of the New Universe's uberpowerful Starbrand.

He asked to siphon this energy source and Kayla willingly agreed, figuring she'd be better off without them. It didn't go quite the way either one of them planned...

That's what you get when you try to make 1984 computer equipment compatible with anything more challenging than Pong.

Game over for Questprobe, but at least the Chief Examiner went out with a bang.

Anyone Mind Questprobe Taking Control part I: If I Mae Ask, Is That A Joystick In Your Pants*...

Today's entry couldn't be any more 80s if it tried... Consider this: what did just about every 80s kid love beside Marvel comics? Why, videogames of course!

So, why not combine the two and rake in the dough. Nowadays, with the Marvel movies dominating the cinema, having superheroes star in their own games is a no brainer. But it all started back in the mid 80s with Questprobe, a videogame series that incorporated actual Marvel heroes... in all their kinda 8-bit glory...

The guy in the middle with the purple gown and the Mysterio style headgear is the Chief Examiner. First appearing in comics in August of 1984, the Examiner's deal is to test Earth's heroes in order to determine whose powers are best suited for the defense of Scadam, his recently invaded home planet. By pitting hero against hero or villain and copying the victor's powers, the Examiner planned to form the perfect army.

As origin stories go, you could do worse. But if the Chief Examiner had truly investigated Earth's heroes, he'd have noticed their uncanny ability to lend a hand to just about every other race that came looking for help. Why not take everyone you can find?

Still, that tidbit of logic didn't stop Marvel from launching the Chief Examiner into his own series... It only lasted a handful of issues, yet he observed fights between Hulk and the US Army, the Human Torch and the She-Hulk and Spider-Man and his lookalike Mysterio. 

And then the series got cancelled. Because, well... having heroes and villains fight isn't that original and if you wanted to see most of the then current crop of bad & good guys duke it out in 1984, you'd just be better off buying Secret Wars. But no one told Chris Claremont, June Brigman and Terry Austin who produced an issue of Questprobe that never saw print. That is, until editor Archie Goodwin decided to run the story in 1987's Marvel Fanfare # 33.

By then, the status quo of the X-men and New Mutants had significantly changed. On the run, severly wounded after the Marauders and the Morlock massacre... Seeing them in their relatively carefree 1984 surrounding, on Magneto's Bermuda triangle island, was a welcome change of pace. Apart from the mind control, of course...

Yeah, such relative peace and tranquility never lasts too long. But even in 1987, it's nice to revisit the relative innocence of those three, short years gone by. Shadowcat and Colossus were still an item, as were Magneto and boat captain Aletys Forester, despite her ever so brief fling with Cyclops that led to her first meeting with the mutant master of magnetism.

If a story's called Shadows On The Soul, things tend to get weird fast. For instance, when the Chief Examiner appeared out of nowhere with his abduction portal all raring to go. Here we have Claremont indulge in some pretty hot tentacle porn featuring Storm... It left her hard as rock...

"She's petrified, a living stasis... suspended animation."

Unfortunately, Storm wasn't the only X-man who fell prey to this. Magneto watched helplessly as Colossus, Kitty, Wolverine and the others were turned to statues as well. Luckily, Rogue wasn't on the island when all this went down... That's why she was on hand to do this...

"Free! Miracle of miracles... at long last. I... am...free!!"

Somehow, the Chief Examiner had been able to gain control of Magneto's mind. What better way, after all, to defeat the cybernetic creatures dominating your homeworld than by possessing a mutant capable of controlling, disrupting or bending all things metallic to his will. 

Unfortunately for the Examiner, Rogue was still there, ready to stop him. But she didn't really have the best of luck...

So, after hitting the portal Rogue involuntarily took on the shape of the She-Hulk, unknowingly absorbing part of the jade giantess' essence already 'borrowed' by the Chief Examiner...

And that's just when the fun really began. Check back next time for part II of Anyone Mind Questprobe Taking Control: Ghosts In The Machine.

* Free after Mae West's infamous line from the 1933 movie She Done Him Wrong.

Subtle Brooding part II: Embry-whoa! 'tcherdoin' there?

When we last left the X-men, professor Charles Xavier had just woken up from a long, self induced coma... seemingly looking none the worse for wear.

"Professor, you're awake! You're all right!"

If only they knew that Xavier had been overcome by the very reason he put himself into a coma: the Brood egg growing inside him.

In fact, the only reason he woke up at all was the fact the alien embryo had gained control of Charles' mind. As would be revealed in later issues, a Brood zygote had superior regenerative abilities. So if Charles' coma had purely been the cause of a physical or mental injury, it would have cleared it right up. Since Xavier went into a voluntary coma, the fact he woke up with the embryo still inside him was definitive proof the Brood was running the show.

Speaking of the Brood being in control, a few days after the professor woke up, the Shi'ar royal cruiser Z'reee Shar appeared in orbit over Earth to take Lilandra home. But before she returned to challenge her sister Deathbird, a banquet was held on board the vessel to thank the X-men for their help.

Charles was still too weak to attend (which also ensured there would be at least one Brood still on Earth). But the other X-men and their houseguest Carol 'formerly Ms. Marvel' Danvers attended...

"We're among friends, so why am I on edge?!
I keep spottin' traces of familiar scents, but I can't place 'em."

Turns out Wolverine had every reason to be suspicious when Lilandra suffered a seizure halfway during her speech...

Sheesh, looks like the princess can't hold her liquour...

"Your courage does you credit, Cyclops... but your cause is lost."

And Deathbird wasn't kidding. A hidden explosive device took out the entire team, leaving them vulnerable to whatever the Brood were planning...

"Satisfied, clan master Ram'n'ehan?"

That Ram'n'ehan was, and then some... He promised the X-men would serve as host-forms for the spawn of their blessed ruler, the 'mother-of-us-all'. The Brood Queen by any other name... And when they came to in Uncanny X-men # 162, they were decidedly being mind controlled, thinking they were on the Shi'ar throneworld.

"Sleazoids! The Brood... we're their prisoners!"

Chalk it up to Logan's healing factor overcoming the effects of the mind control, but he got brief flashes of what was really going on. His fellow X-men and Carol Danvers were mostly oblivious to the actual reality of the situation, and even his partial clarity didn't save him from suffering this fate...

"Look into my eyes, hear my voice... am I truly so terrible to behold?"

And with that, the corruption of the X-men was done...  

Subtle Brooding part I: Controlling Banzai Charlie, Comatose Suicide Commando

In today's entry, the X-men are about to meet the alien parasitic race known as the Brood, but before that, they have to deal with Charles Xavier. He isn't doing so well.

That's an understatement, if ever there was one. Back in Uncanny X-men # 158, Charles tried to telepathically contact Kitty Pryde and Nightcrawler when he discovered something was wrong deep inside himself. At the time, no one knew he had sensed the growing Brood queen embryo, a creature so vile and horrifying touching its mind was enough to throw Xavier into a coma.

Back then, no one knew much about the Brood. They had served as Deathbird's henchmen in a plot against her sister Lilandra. The Brood fought the X-men and kidnapped Charles and Lilandra, probably implanting the egg behind the scenes in issue # 156.

"How's the professor?"

But because no one knew they were about to do a sequel to Alien without Sigourney Weaver, the X-men took Charles to their base in the Bermuda triangle. There, in spite of Moira MacTaggert's best efforts, he remained completely unresponsive to any and all outside stimuli.

In the old days, Jean Grey would have been able to telepathically connect with him, but she died on the Moon. That's why, in a clever piece of writing on Claremont's part, Shi'ar princess Lilandra called in the help of Oracle, the Imperial Guard's chief telepath. 

"Nothing much happens... as Oracle picks her way, cautiously, carefully... into Xavier's mind."

Ignoring the fact that Dave Cockrum basically gave Oracle the same face, hairdo and headband as Storm... the alien telepath soon made a connection with Charles' mind and the images she was bombarded with were a bit more... intense... than she might have bargained for.

"A curious duality to the man's psychic aura. A sense of hunger... insatiable, predatory, alien... coupled to so foul and evil a presence that the moment she perceives it... She denies it, forgets it."

In retrospect, it seems so clear that Xavier was turning into a Brood. But remember, the gruesome truth of this already rather obvious picture wasn't known. And having Oracle instantly forget what she'd learned, kept the others in the dark as well.

Plus, they had another threat to deal with anyway... Oracle herself.

"She's under his control! He's adding his power to hers, using the psibolts to attack the medical unit... and himself!"

Realising he was fighting a losing battle, Charles used his psychic rapport with Oracle to take over the young telepath's mind and force her to attack his helpless body. In effect, he was committing suicide, prefering death over eventually turning into a host body for the Brood.  

So, just like he'd done once before during the X-men & Micronauts limited series and years later in Grant Morrison's New X-men, Charles is ready to kill himself for the greater good. 

Also, having the mind controlled Oracle scream "KILL! To live... Must kill...I!" While it's generally assumed this was Charles' desperate attempt to tell his students what he was doing, consider this: it might also have been the Brood embryo pleading its case. In order to live, it had to kill as well.

Whoever was behind the wheel didn't succeed anyway. Wolverine's adamantium claws rather conveniently severed the mental connection between Oracle and the professor. Xavier slumped back into his coma for three more issues, finally waking up in # 161 after reliving his memories of meeting Magneto and fighting Baron Strucker over his nazi gold.

"Professor, you're awake! You're all right!"

The fact he woke up at all is a clear sign the Brood egg had gained the upperhand. Charles put himself in a coma to protect himself and his students. Waking up while the embryo was still inside, indicated he had lost and didn't even know it himself.  

Unfortunately, that was just the start of unknowing X-men with Brood embryos inside them, as we'll see in part II of Subtle Brooding: Embry-whoa! 'tcherdoin' there? 

Mind The Concealed Controller Part III: Oh Goth, Not This Again!

Y'know, every so often one has to feel a bit sorry for Chris Claremont.

Just this week, as I was compiling the third and final part of the X-men's war with the Neo, Uncanny X-men.net published a fascinating piece on how Claremont got treated by Marvel. Editors casually changed year long, already okayed storylines on him which caused him to think on his feet and still make the books feel organic. That takes talent, professionalism and a lot of patience.

"The comic that inspired X-men the movie"

The same editorial meddling occured in the Neo storyline. Originally, Claremont had planned to keep Wolverine's team seperate from Storm's X-men in their own titles. But all of those plans got trashed when the first X-men movie did surprisingly well at the box office and Marvel decided to capitalise on its success.

One problem though: even though Uncanny X-men had inspired the movie, the comic and the characters looked nothing like their movie counterparts. It would take Grant Morrison's 2001 New X-men to adapt the look and feel of the team to the movie with the introduction of all purpose black leather outfits.

But for now, the editors deemed it necessary to at least reunite the two teams and have them live at Xavier's school. And that's just what Uncanny X-men # 385 set out to do, in a workmanship style tale that tried to wrap up as many plotlines as possible while still relying on an awful amount of mind control.

Let's set the scene: several factions of the Neo had been kidnapping humans and X-men alike for the interdimensional slavetrade. Storm, Gambit, Cable, Colossus, Psylocke and Thunderbird had been abducted by the Neo clan known as the Goth. Eventually freeing themselves, the X-men struck a deal with the Goth and their fellow Neo the Crimson Pirates to work together, all the while planning to betray them at the first opportunity.

Meanwhile, X-men like Rogue, Wolverine, Phoenix, Beast and others had been searching for their teammates, unaware of the deal they'd struck. That's why when the two teams finally met in Madripoor during another slave razzia, they inevitably came to blows.

Unfortunately, the Neo weren't beyond mind controlling their X-men allies...

"You're being far too gentle. Let me help."

Beldame uses her powers to override Storm's control of her own powers and forces the weather goddess to push her abilities to the limit, thereby weakening Phoenix' defenses long enough for her to fall prey to the Neo slavers who recognise an opportunity when they see one.

"And that window of vulnerability is all Bess requires to affix a slaver cowl and take her prisoner."

But the Goth-allied X-men were less free than they imagined themselves to be. For instance, when junior member Thunderbird had trouble pretending to fight his fellow X-men, it seemed the Neo had a little assurance for cooperation built in...

"Thunderbird's wearing a slaver collar! Activated by remote control!'

Mind control made easy... It does make you wonder why the X-men didn't ditch their slaver collars the minute they escaped from the Neo's prison. The previous issue made it seem as if Gambit had convinced the X-men to simply play along and when the fight started in # 385 Phoenix claimed she didn't sense any mental coercion whatsoever... but let's see what happened next...

"Whoops?!"

Before Beast has a proper chance to investigate the workings of the slave collars, Colossus seems determined to kill him. Not exactly what you'd expect from a teammate who is actually working with you undercover. The same thing occured when Rogue finally had a moment alone with her paramour Gambit. She wanted to know what kind of game the ragin' cajun was playing. And the second he managed to win her confidence, this happened.

So, how mind controlled are they? It's never made clear. But for my money, if Gambit's team was uncontrolled the whole time, there's no reason they wouldn't have switched sides the minute the other X-men showed up so that the reunited team could take out the Goth, the Crimson Pirates ánd the Neo slavers at once. 

"It has nothing to do with Gambit's caper. This is something wholly within me!"

Ah yes, the actual story... Consider Cable's musings after defeating Wolverine. It seems he is being influenced from within. This might be the Neo, but it's more likely that Stryfe is inside him causing mischief. After Cable is able to knock out even Wolverine, Gambit's team takes Rogue and the others to the Goth's secret Chinese hideout and slaver distribution center. They present their captured teammates to slaver Tullamore Voge, the Goth and Killian of the Crimson Pirates.

"Dis how you treats your friends, Goth?"

Looks like the massive Neo known as Goth had all but forgotten the deal he struck with Gambit. And look, there's Colossus clearly enthralled and ready to as Sanguine claims 'once more embrace glory'. What could he possibly mean by that?

"You will rejoin your compatriots... as slaves!"

Things sure looked bleak for the X-men, still... it's always darkest before the dawn, as this scene proved between Beldame and Tullamore Voge, the gluttonous but ever indulgence ready slavemaster. 

"That sounds naughty. Like someone's breaking the rules."

Well, surprise, surprise... Beldame is actually Phoenix who used her telepathic powers to disguise herself as the Neo. The real Beldame was wearing a slave collar (even though it's never explained how  Jean was able to overcome the effects of the collar, but hey... comics). Naturally, this ruse meant Beast wasn't enslaved as well... and mama McCoy's favorite blue haired bouncing Beast used his scientific genius to do the thing everyone was expecting...

It's an interesting claim: thanks to Jean's telepathy Hank is now able to access the inventive genius of the mutant inventor Forge, which added to his own brain power, makes every task easily achievable. So unlocking a few slave collars really isn't that hard. Guess what effect that had in the Goth throne room.

"The X-men are now free!"

Talk about creating a diversion. With all of the X-men now uninhibited by mind control or slave collars alike, the Neo scrambled to defend themselves. While meanwhile in Tullamore Voge's control room, Psylocke made sure the Slaver's business would be critically crippled by destroying the operation's transmat teleportation system. Without it, they wouldn't be able to pop in all over the world and claim new victims...

But the Goth wasn't too impressed by this achievement and attempted one final, mind control heavy attempt at winning the day...

"I am darkness absolute, the avatar of iniquity! As I drain the brilliance of your lives, I shall lay waste to the landscape of your souls! Until you are but hollow vessels... aching to be filled with mine own corruption."

Gods of earth and air, that *is* an impressively verbose way of saying your evil is so intense and dominating it will eventually cause everyone to turn into a bunch of mindless vegetables willing and able to receive whatever programming you see fit.

It even makes you wonder why the Goth faction even needed other Neo or human agents for that matter. Wouldn't it have been far easier for them to simply use their transmat technology to transport the Goth into the middle of any mall in America? Just have the guy sit down at the food court, sit back and watch as his evil turns every shopper into a mindless zombie ready to be processed?

As the X-men are pelleted by the Goth's evil, Rogue kisses Gambit, takes over his mind and powers, learns of his secret plan to deal with the Goth and then proceeds to use both their mutant abilities to actually kill the big, bad Neo...

And that's the last we saw of the Neo in Uncanny X-men, the comic that inspired the movie...

Sort of.