The Untold Crisis

**"The Untold Crisis"** is an unproduced short story by Dave Sim and Chris Claremont that would have seen Cerebus meet Marvel Comics' X-Men.

## Summary

At the Regency Hotel, Cerebus, Prime Minister of Iest, complains to Henrot and the Regency Elf about a lack of powerful allies "like Cerebus" as they prepare for an invasion from the north. Henrot casts a spell intended to bring Cerebus "individuals with power, raw power...wherever the most power in all of time and space", but he "can't budge them", so he decides that if he can't bring them to Cerebus, he will send Cerebus to them. The Roach, acting as the Prime Minister's bodyguard, follows him into the spell's vortex.

Cerebus finds himself at the Waldorf Astoria hotel. The Hellfire Club is holding a party in the Grand Ballroom as a part of President Ronald Reagan's re-election campaign. Recognizing he's in another universe, Cerebus begins to drink heavily when he sees Kitty Pryde materialize through the floor and collapse. Cerebus fights Hellfire goons who attempt to capture Kitty when Sebastian Shaw and the Emma Frost arrive. Frost shows Cerebus his heart's desire, Jaka, which overwhelms him and he faints. Reagan arrives for the party, but Shaw orders that he be stalled by "showing him the last episode of *Falcon Crest* or something".

Meanwhile, in the dungeons, the X-Men are hooked up to a machine and the recaptured Kitty is added to their number. The White Queen arrives with Cerebus, and hooks him up. When activated, the X-Men are drained, while Cerebus begins to grow in size. Sgt. Preston arrives to rescue Cerebus and short-circuits the machine, freeing all. Cerebus wants to either destroy Shaw (still believing he has Jaka) or kill the Roach, who becomes X-Roach, imitating their powers before settling on Wolveroach. When the White Queen again attempts to show Cerebus his heart's desire, Rogue grabs her and absorbs her power. She explains to Cerebus how he was tricked, angering him.

### Alternate storyline

A variation on the story would see Cerebus transported to Professor X, instead of straight to the Waldorf Astoria. He reminds Professor X of "that duck that was supposed to have appeared out of nowhere in Cleveland a few years back". They determine that Cerebus is a "pure mutation", with no human genes at all.

## Characters

* Cerebus
* Henrot
* Regency Elf
* Hellfire Club
	+ Sebastian Shaw
	+ The White Queen
* X-Men
	+ Wolverine
	+ Storm
	+ Rogue
	+ Colossus
	+ Kitty Pryde
	+ Nightcrawler
	+ Professor X (alternate storyline only)
	+ Cyclops (alternate storyline only)
* Jaka Tavers (illusion)

## Locations

* Iest
* Regency Hotel
* Waldorf Astoria

## Production

A Cerebus/X-Men crossover was planned by Dave Sim and Chris Claremont on a "LONG flight" to Prince George, British Columbia. Although they had hashed out a basic plot and Dave made several tentative plans for production and promotion, he soon realized that Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter was not really interested in the project and was only supporting it to keep Claremont happy. Nonetheless, an article on the crossover appeared in *Cerebus the Newsletter No. 8*. Terms were drawn up for the series and sent to Sim, but according to Shooter, Sim never responded.

## Dave Sim on "The Untold Crisis"

* "The CEREBUS/X-MEN crossover, such as it was: my hastily scrawled notes as Chris Claremont and I discussed it on a LONG flight from Toronto to Prince George, British Columbia. By the time I got home, I could make neither hide nor hair of what I had written."

## References

 1. ↑ *A Moment of Cerebus*: "Dave Sim's Notebooks: Cerebus / X-Men Crossover", October 20, 2022
2. ↑ *A Moment of Cerebus*: "From The Archive: Marvel's Terms For The Cerebus/X-Men Crossover"
3. ↑ *JimShooter.com*: "A Comment and an Answer About Gene Day’s Death", August 29, 2011
4. ↑ *A Moment of Cerebus*: "From The Archive: Notes For The Cerebus/X-Men Crossover", May 10, 2015