Issue Details

Release Date: April 30th 2008.
X-Men Legacy #210 review on CBR

Writer: Mike Carey
Artist: Scot Eaton
Guest Artist: Greg Land

In the past, Greg Land has pencilled the X-Men: Phoenix Endsong

miniseries and the 2008 FCBD issue of X-Men. He has gone on to become part of the rotating art team on Uncanny X-Men with issue 500.

Story Title: None given.

Issue Synopsis: Xavier and Exodus fight telepathically, while Xavier and Omega Sentinel look on, unable to intervene without attracting Exodus’ attention. Confronting Xavier with his past failures, Exodus hopes to defeat Xavier. The psychic backlash alerts Emma that Xavier is alive and active again. Upon his defeat, Exodus explains that his reason for bringing Xavier back to life was to have him lead the Acolytes and help find the Messiah Child. Xavier declines, and leaves with Magneto and Karima, before heading off alone. Two epilogues follow, showing Rogue motorbiking through the Australian outback to parts unknown, and Sebastian Shaw at the Hellfire Club being alerted to a potential problem…

Annotations
Cover: Part 3 of David Finch’s 5-part panorama depicts the “Dark Phoenix” roster of the Lords Cardinal of the Hellfire Club Inner Circle  – from left to right, the figures are Jean Grey/Phoenix (the Black Queen), Harry Leland (the White King), Sebastian Shaw (the Black King), Emma Frost (the White Queen) and Donald Pierce (the White Bishop.) The sky is full of Sentinels, and the two figures in the foreground are generic Hellfire Club henchmen.

Page 1: The panels on this page reference some of Xavier’s less defensibile decisions. Cyclops is asking why Xavier lied about knowing that Vulcan, Scott’s brother, existed. The second panel depicts Danger, the Danger Room-android from Joss Whedon’s second Astonishing X-Men arc, Danger. She is asking Xavier why he ignored (and, indeed, imprisoned) her growing sentience even when he detected it. The third panel shows David Haller (Legion) Xavier’s now-deceased son, referencing the fact that Xavier left his mother Gabrielle and by extension, his unborn child. The fourth panel shows Petra and Terra, whom Xavier sent to their deaths in the X-Men: Deadly Genesis miniseries. The red figure across all 4 panels, if it wasn’t clear, is Exodus, who is manifesting these doubts in an attempt to weaken Xavier’s resolve. It should be noted that these are not actual memories, though they do reflect real doubts Xavier would have about his choices.

Trask and Xavier debate Sentinels, Uncanny X-Men #14

Page 4: This page (except Panel 3) replicates a scene from Uncanny X-Men #14 (shown right), which featured the original appearance of Dr. Bolivar Trask and the mutant-hunting Sentinel robots he created.

Page 5: In Panel 3, Xavier references Bolivar Trask’s death from Uncanny X-Men #57.

In Panel 4, Exodus is quoting from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet:

CLAUDIUS: Have you heard the argument? Is there no offence in’t?
HAMLET: No, no, they do but jest, poison in jest, no offence i’th’world.

Exodus is old enough to have actually seen Hamlet as originally performed, so he’s probably a big fan.

Page 6-7: Both pages reference the events of New X-Men #115 (shown below) where a giant Sentinel re-activated by Xavier’s twin sister, Cassandra Nova, attacks Genosha and kills almost all of the 16 million mutants living there under Magneto’s rule. Notably, she was able to command the Sentinels by copying the DNA of Donald Trask, believed to be Bolivar’s last surviving relative…

Giant Sentinel destroys Genosha, New X-Men #115

Page 8: …which is why Exodus now asks why Xavier didn’t track down the rest of Trask’s family and kill them.

Page 9: These characters are Cyclops and Emma Frost, currently attending some posh engagement while “on vacation” from the X-Men following the events of Messiah Complex. Nothing else in the scene is of particular significance, though.

The "secret" second X-Men team confronts Krakoa, X-Men: Deadly Genesis #6

Page 10: Yet another reference to X-Men: Deadly Genesis, as Moira and Xavier discuss the sanity of sending these largely untrained X-Men to rescue the originals from Krakoa. This is behind the scenes of the original mini.

Page 11: This is a replication of a scene from X-Men: Deadly Genesis #6, showing the same new X-Men fighting Krakoa and not doing very well at it, having just rescued Cyclops and sent him home. This version adds dialogue not seen in the original.

Page 12: Panels 1 and 2 are referencing the classic Uncanny X-Men #137, in which Jean sacrifices herself on the moon to prevent the Phoenix from taking control.

Panel 3 shows Jubilee reading from Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Matchstick Girl” to a comatose Illyana Rasputin, who is close to death as a result of the Legacy Virus infection that later claims her life. The full story, which includes this scene, can be found in Uncanny X-Men #303.

Colossus injects himself with the Legacy Virus Cure, Uncanny X-Men #390

Panels 4 and 5 show Colossus’ moment of self-sacrifice as he injects himself with the cure to the Legacy Virus, which will release the cure to the rest of the mutant population, but kill him. Taken from Uncanny X-Men #390.

Page 13: All of the characters on this page have died in service to Xavier. Banshee was killed in X-Men: Deadly Genesis #2. Thunderbird died fighting Count Nefaria in Uncanny X-Men #95. Emma did briefly die in [New] X-Men #139, though the main relevance here is that it replicates a scene where she is carrying Sophie, one of the Stepford Cuckoos, as she did when they were killed in [New] X-Men #137. In the bottom left is Doug Ramsay, a New Mutant who was shot and killed in New Mutants #60. In the bottom right is Icarus, who was mortally wounded in New X-Men #27 (death confirmed in New X-Men #28).

Page 16: The “Messiah Child” referred to in Panel 2 is the baby that appeared during Messiah Complex. Her story can be followed in the pages of Cable’s current ongoing series.

Page 17: As explored last issue, Amelia most certainly IS one of the people Xavier hurt. See Uncanny X-Men #309 for details.

Page 20: Rogue is in Australia – while it’s not currently been revealed, chances are that she’s there to take a look at the X-Men’s old base in the outback, where she emerged from the Siege Perilous in Uncanny X-Men #269.

Page 21: Roberto da Costa is, of course, Sunspot of the original New Mutants team, finally a member of the Hellfire club. “Ms. Cabot” is unlikely to be connected to the mutant-hating Cabot family, who have an ongoing feud with the Guthries). Her name is more likely a reference to the navigator and explorer John Cabot, who was the first European to reach the North American continent.

Marvel Digital Comics:

New Mutants #60
New X-Men #27
New X-Men #28
[New] X-Men #115
[New] X-Men #137
[New] X-Men #139
Uncanny X-Men #14
Uncanny X-Men #57
Uncanny X-Men #95
Uncanny X-Men #137
Uncanny X-Men #269
Uncanny X-Men #303
Uncanny X-Men #309
Uncanny X-Men #390
X-Men: Phoenix – Endsong LS
X-Men: Deadly Genesis LS

Last Issue: X-Men Legacy #209

Last updated: 26th July 2008
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