From: decesd@rs6407.ecs.rpi.edu (Daniel Stephen De Cesare)
Subject: Mutant Crossovers
Reply-To: decesd@rpi.edu
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY.
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 01:57:44 GMT

In response to Davide Henry and Chris Holly:
In article <Bz7vsF.Dso@ns1.nodak.edu>, dhenry@plains.NoDak.edu (David Henry) writes:
|> >Has anyone noticed that sincer he travelled through, Colossus no longer has
|> >any trouble switching between forms.  Pre-Siege his normal form was
|> >metal... Post-Siege he can once again transform(in fact, his normal form
|> >is human as was seen during the point before his memories were returned
|> >during the Shadow King Saga).

Going through the Siege Perilous was supposed to right what was wrong in the
X-Men's lives.  In Colossus's instance, it gave him control over changing
between flesh and steel and made him and artist which is something he had
always wanted.  For Rogue, it meant finally separting her from Mr. Marvel.
The only problem was that Ms. Marvel was already dead and only one of them
could have a soul.   It probably also made Storm one with nature again.

|> Pre-Siege his normal form was what it always was:  a fleshy human. It was
|> only because wounds he took during that first mutant crossover, in the
|> 210s (X-tinction? Fall of the Mutants? I just can't keep them separate any
|> more!), coupled with Magneto's attempt to heal him while in metal form, made
|> it impossible, if not downright unhealthy, for him to return to human form.
|> The Siege just let him reset to his original power abilities.

	The crossover you are referring to is the Mutant Massacre, and it is
not the first mutant crossover.  However, there have been so many of them,
and even Wizard #14 got them mixed up, so I'll give the run down as completely
as I can to try to clear things up.
	The first crossoever the X-Men were involved in was the Secret Wars.
I know it involved more than just the mutant teams, but it had some far
reaching effects.  First of all, the X-Men joined forces with Magneto,
preparing for his eventual, but temporary, joining of the X-Men.  In addition,
Rogue finally came to terms with joining the X-Men instead of being evil
mutant and became the dedicated soul she is today.  Also, Colossus, who had 
been in love with Kitty Pryde, fell in love with the alien Zaji.  When they 
returned, Colossus broke up with Sprite (aka Kitty) so Kitty left for a little 
bit, leading into the Kitty Pryde and Wolverine limited series where Kitty 
changes her name to Shadowcat.  In the middle of the limited series, Forge
also strips storm of her powers.
	The next official crossover was Secret Wars II.  It began with the
X-Men working with Magneto again, and ended by focussing on the Phoenix's
(Rachel's) powers as she tried to kill the Beyonder.  Boom Boom was also 
introduced during Secret Wars II.  In the middle of the Secret Wars II was 
the first solely mutant crossover, now called the Asgardian Wars.  The story 
began with the X-Men/Alpha Flight limited series where the X-Men get Loki very 
upset.  So Loki steals the New Mutants, and a Storm (who had been turned into
a kid the age of the New Mutants), who had just defeated the Shadow King, and 
take them to Asgard.  The X-Men, with Cyclops back again, go to Asgard and rescue the New Mutants and have Storm returned to her normal size.  While all 
this is happening (and right in the middle of Secret Wars II, too) the 
Brotherhood of Evil Mutants reform to become Freedom Force, and Professor X 
becomes infected with an incurable disease.  He decides to leave with Lilandra 
and the Starjammers to see if the Shi-ar can cure his disease and leaves 
Magneto in charge of the New Mutants.  Then a powerless Storm fought Colossus 
for leader of the X-Men and Storm wins.  (This is also the infamous issue with
the first appearance of baby Nathan.)  So Cyclops left, but the Avengers 
discovered Jean Grey was still alive and he leaves his wife and baby to see 
her.  Madelyne told him that he'd never see either of them again.  When Scott 
sees Jean again, he forms the team X-Factor with Cameron Hodge, and the pose 
as humans hunting mutants and sending them to jail.  However, instead of 
sending them to jail, X-Factor keeps the mutants and trains them in how to 
use their powers.  Very soon after the team formed, Beast was defurred so the
team resembled the original X-Men.
	The next crossover, although it was not really a crossover, was the
Mutant Massacre.  None of the teams appeared in each other's books, but all
three had to fight the evil mutant team known as the Marauders.  The X-Men 
finally beat them, but the cost was great.  Havoc was in inner turmoil because
the woman he loved, Polaris, was possessed and fighting for the Marauders.
Nightcrawler was spun around in a circle so many times that he fell into a
coma for a year.  Colossus received the injuries mentioned above which took
a long time to heal.  And Shadowcat was hit with a lance that would not let
her unphase.  This lead into the X-Men/F.F. crossover in which Dr. Doom of
all people finally saves Shadowcat.  During the this time period, the Longshot
limited series also hit the stands.  At the end of this great series, Longshot
joined the X-Men.
	That was probably the last good X-Men story for many years.  I would
recommend reading Spider-Man or the Hulk during the intermittent time period.
However, X-Factor had some interesting twists.  Cameron Hodge turned out to
be a very strong anti-mutant supporter, and he had Angel stripped of his
fortune and then had his wings cut.  He then placed Angle in a position that
made it look like he committed suicide.  Caliban joined X-Factor in his place.
X-Factor then fought a battle against Apocalypse's three horsemen.  During 
this battle, the Beast was touched by Pestilence, and instead of dying, he
became super strong.  The only problem was the more he used his strength, the
dumber he became.  The team then fought a battle against Cameron Hodge and
the Right.  The only important things to happen in X-Men was the Storm left
with Forge's teacher, Naze, to get her powers back, leaving Wolverine in
charge, and Madelyne Pryor, after losing her baby joins them.  And in the New Mutants found a half-bird, half-human creature who they named Bird Brain and
tried to civilize.  Also, Sunspot and Warlock left the New Mutants for a time 
to have their adventures with the Fallen Angels in the Fallen Angels limited 
series.
	The next crossover, called the Fall of the Mutants, was not a cross-
over either, but a series of important changes in all of the teams.  It began
when the Mutant Registration Act was passed.  In the X-Men, Storm finally
finds Forge, and Naze (who is actually the Trixter, chaos incarnate) banishes
both of them to another world.  The X-Men, tracking Storm, meet up with all
the chaos the Trixter is raging in Dallas and wind up joining forces with
Freedom Force.  Colossus, recovered from his injuries, also manages to join
them there.  In the meantime, Storm recovers her powers again, and she
and Forge return.  The reunited X-Men sacrifice their lives to kill the 
Trixter.  However, Roma resurrects them ("for such as the Trixter must never truly be banished.") and the X-Men begin their undercover, Australian adventures.
As a result of the X-Men's supposed death, Shadowcat, Nightcrawler, Psyloche's
brother and his girlfriend, and Phoenix (who returns from being imprisoned
by Spiral) form Excaliber.  In the New Mutants, the team go back to the island
Bird Brain came from and wind up fighting Cameron Hodge and the Right.  Although
they win and Cameron Hodge supposedly dies and Sunspot and Warlock return,
Cypher dies and Magneto is not very happy.  At the end, the New Mutants,
believing the X-Men dead, change uniforms and try to take the X-Men's place.
In X-Factor, Angel returns as Death, the fourth horseman.  X-Factor fights
Apocalypse and the horseman again, and manage to break Death, who later changes
his name to Archangel, from Apocalypse's grasp.  However, New York city
get devastated in the process, and Caliban betrays them to join Apocalypse.
At the end, they receive new costumes and a new base (Apocalypse's ship) and
they let the world know that they are actually mutants themselves.
	After the Fall, Beast, who has the brain of an adolecent at this point,
becomes infected with a disease, and the only cure is the give him the hairy
blue fur back again.  Doing this not only cures the disease, but gives him
his intelligence back while retaining his super strength.  They also fought
Cameron Hodge again, and Archangel, who still had not joined X-Factor,
supposedly kills him again.
	This lead to the first real mutant crossover in a while.  It even
included Excaliber in their first and only mutant crossover.  It began in 
the X-Terminators, who had been trained by X-Factor and Boom Boom was a part 
of, limited series in which the young team is captured by the evil demon,
Nastish.  It began with X-Factor finding baby Nathan.  However, the X-Men 
with Madelyne Pryde were also  searching for the baby and wind up fighting 
X-Factor for him.  Both teams find out that Madelyne is actually a demon queen 
who tricked them into fighting, and Jean Grey kills Madelyne and the teams free 
the X-Terminators and New Mutants, who had also been captured, and banish the 
demons.  Archangel finally joined X-Factor during the Inferno.  And Boom Boom
and Richter join the New Mutants.  And the X-mansion gets destroyed.
	The next crossover was not limited to mutants, but was the Acts of
Vengeance.  Although the Acts themselves was not the greatest storyline, 
they were probably the best mutant stories in a long time.  The X-Men,
specifically Wolverine, have to fight the Hand, under the control of the
Mandarin, only to discover that Psyloche had been given a race change and
was part of the Hand.  Wolverine broke their hold on Psyloche, and defeated
the Hand and the Mandarin.  In the New Mutants, Magneto had finally gotten
fed up with them and left.  They find Cable fighting the Mutant Liberation
Front and help him win.  Thus, Cable becomes their new leader.  It hit X-Factor,
in the middle of the Judgement War in which the team must fight Apocalypse's
Horsemen again, this time with new and improved Caliban.  It also showed
Archangel coming to terms, somewhat, with what Apocalypse had done to him.
	After this, the X-Men get really messed up and go through the Siege
Perilous.  They come back scattered, and missing some memories.  During this
time, several members of Freedom Force also die, and Jubilee is intoduced.  
The stories finally start  to get good again when Ororo comes back as an adolescent and finds Gambit.  Then Rogue returns and meets Magneto in the 
Savage Lands.
	Next came the X-tinction Agenda.  The three U.S. mutant teams go to
the small island country of Genosha where mutants are scientifically bred
and used as slaves.  The teams free the Genoshan slaves and discover that
Cameron Hodge was still not dead, but was a cyborg instead, and kill him.
During this time, Storm is turned back into an adult again, and Wolfsbane
is turned into a werewolf form permanently.  Havoc decides he has had enough
of war and decides to leave the X-Men to stay on the island.  Wolfsbane, who
had fallen in love with him, stays behind, also.
	Immediately after this, the teams go their separate ways again.  The
New Mutants are totally revamped into X-Force who are not seen for a while.
The X-Men journey to the Shi-ar empire and free Prof. X from the control of
Skrulls and return to earth with him.  X-Factor has a final battle with
Apocalypse.  The result is, Apocalypse is killed, and Nathan becomes infected
with a disease so he is sent to the future in hopes of being cured.  Then
X-Factor joins Prof. X to go to Muir Island to release the X-Men and the 
rest of the inhabitants, including Polaris who was no longer possessed, from
the control of the Shadow King.  In the final battle, Prof. X is crippled
again.
	After this came the Mutant Genesis.  It was not a crossover, but the
mutant teams all became revamped.  The Uncanny X-Men moved to the X-Men
comic.  X-Factor moved to the Uncanny X-Men.  X-Force made its debut.  And
X-Factor became a totally new team, led by Havoc, and working with Val Cooper.
	After about a year and a half of decent stories, all the creators that
made them great left Marvel, the people who had made the stories so great 
left, and the stories became stupid again.  Cannonball became immortal.  
It was revealed that Shatterstar was the son of Longshot and Dazzler.  Cable wound up leaving X-Force in search of the real Domino.  However, Marvel had 
a crossover anyways, the X-exutioner's Song.  It began with the Cable
limited series, delving more into Cable's past and what made him work.  The
basic story was that Stryfe shot Prof. X with a disease that made him appear
dead.  The X-Men and X-Factor went in search of Cable (thinking him to be
Stryfe because they look exactly the same) by finding X-Force, battling, and
then capturing them.  Meanwhile, Stryfe brought Apocalypse back, and Cable
returns to fight Stryfe.  Cable and Stryfe disappear, and Apocalypse heals
Prof. X.
	That's all the mutant crossovers I know of to date.  However, we can
be sure that there will be more because Marvel has made it an annual thing.
Who knows what's in store?  I, for one, am sick of crossovers, and have stopped
buying them.  All I know about the last few is what I've heard from friends
and read in the aftermath.  My primary concern was to explain the initial ones
so that people will stop confusing the Mutant Massacre and Fall of the Mutants
and say that the wrong crossover was the first one.

/Interesting how Lt. Shea's favorite singer is Lila Chaney in First Flight
and Grounded!/
Dan DeCesare
decesd@rpi.edu
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.xbooks