Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Uncanny X-Force #18 Spoilers

Spoilers: Deathlok reasons his way out of War's spell, which prompts Dark Beast, War and Pestilence to run away from him and the Amazing X-Men. Dark Beast orders Ship to leave immediately for they must protect Archangel's heir inside Pestilence's womb. Meanwhile Fantomex and Psylocke confront Archangel. Warren stabs Fantomex in the head. Psylocke attacks Archangel, but hesitates to kill him. Warren knocks her out. Fantomex calls Ultimaton at the World and tells him to let the Apocalypse boy clone out. Meanwhile, Sunfire struggles to deal with the remaining villains. The Apocalypse boy has been programmed to believe he's a hero, and Ultimaton tells him he needs to save all of them and defeat Archangel. The boy calls himself Genesis and fights Archangel; however he's easily defeated by Warren. Psylocke surprises Archangel and stabs him with the seed. Sunfire, on the other hand, cannot contain Genocide's flames and explodes. Warren comes to his senses, and Betsy tells him everything is going to be okay. Psylocke uses her telepathy to make Warren believe they had a wonderful life together with their two daughters and growing old together, endind up in Warren's peaceful death. Fantomex, Deathlok and Ultimaton retrieve all the remaining X-Force and AoA X-Men members and take them to E.V.A. Jean tells Psylocke she knew she could do it. Betsy thanks her for... Warren. Warren shows up nude confused. Betsy runs to him and kiss him. Warren only asks who she is...

10 comments:

jarim77 said...

Did you guys notice how the Angel that shows up in the end has "normal" skin but metal wings?

nicce said...

a great conclusion in my humble opinion, action and emotion are well ballanced, the art is simply perfect and psylocke absolutely shines.

Vigmed said...

@jarim77: Yeah, did notice that. I like it and hope it stays.

[spoilers ahead]

This arc ended near-exactly how I thought it would, though I did not expect Warren to lose his memory. I've never liked the whole amnesia bit, so I'm only just a tad disappointed with that. I wonder how much he's forgotten, and I think we've all guessed that if he survived he would be leaving to do some soul searching.

This issue did something odd for me and that was to both make me like, and dislike, Fantomex even more. I like that he's manipulative, but this cat has too many outs. Maybe I'm wrong, but I fully believe that he counted on kid-Apocalypse being killed in front of Psylocke. It's both great, and pretty messed up! lol. But if he could land some blows and then stab Warren with a knife, why not the life seed?

Psylocke was simply beautifully written in this issue. I have always strongly felt that Warren and Betsy were great for each other, so I never doubted that she did love him. But this issue surprised even me with how much, how deeply, she truly loves him. I was saddened by the moment, then happy at the return, then sad again at the memory loss. This was my favorite couple in Marvel, and now with the memory loss, I am fully expecting Bets to push Warren away - at least stay away from - to protect him from the ugliness of what she and X-Force does to allow him a clean slate. She will do it out of love (aww) but really Marvel just wants her to be single again (sigh).

And I could go on and on. A very great read and an excellent conclusion to a very long arc. Excited for the next arc!

Selene said...

Vigmed,you have summed up my feelings on this issue better than I could. :-) I'm sure that Warren's memories will resurface sooner or later.

It remains to be seen though if Betsy acts on her attraction to Fantomex(hopefully she doesn't).Her love for Warren is pure and ideal and I'd hate it to see it strained by a third person again.

JD said...

@Vigmed

Agreed, if Psylocke was in control of her life...after that ending, I feel like she would leave the X-Men and help Warren.

It was a beautiful issue and great story.

Eduardo said...

Simply excellent...The moment when Betsy uses her telepathy to show how everything could have been...so emotive and intense...And the end leaves a new question: what comes now?
I appreciate a lot that Warren did not die. I wanted Betsy to have a new chance with him after so much sacrifice to save him.

Selene said...

I suppose what's so beautiful about Psylocke and Angel is that they bonded over their suffering at the hands of manipulators,hence why the writers repeatedly focus on the tainted and dangerous aspect of their relationship.After the Crimson Dawn and the Dark Angel Saga they should be given some time to find happiness together.

Selene said...

As Betsy would probably say...Bloody hell.

"I might regret doing this, but I saw a few things here I figured I'd clear up for the folks who enjoyed the story.

Warren did die. His mind is 100% gone, he's dead.

What/who was that at the end?

The AoA spin off series and the creative team involved are incredible, miss it at your own peril. Marvel isn't launching new ongoings lightly. The team have crafted an exciting and smart comic.

Hurling casual insults, judging a book before you read it, it's called "contempt prior to investigation" and it's a bad thing to do. Give that first issue a read, you'll see.

Rick"

FSaker said...

So, according to Remender, Warren is dead because his mind is gone. Well, I don't think it's so impossible to bring his memories back somehow. If people can die and revive in comics, memories should be able to be restored as well.

This ending was fantastic! And it made me support the Psylocke/Angel relationship. Even though I like Fantomex much more than Warren, this issue shows how much Betsy loves him. I used to think she just returned to him out of an emotional convenience (to feel needed again, to have someone by her side), but this ending showed that what she felt for him was really true and intense. As much as I like the idea of Betsy and Fantomex as a couple, it's not worth throwing away all this amazing love story Remender presented in DAS just to separate her from Angel and couple her with Jean-Phillipe.

But if Remender does that, how could we complain? He showed us how he can do anything with these characters and make it convincing!

JD said...

I really think Marvel needs to do an animated film on this story arc. Its one of the best stories they have produced in a long time.