The Uncanny X-Men (1981)

Who stopped the Juggernaut?

Archangel is contacted by Charlotte Jones in response to a hate crime, mutant on human. Meanwhile, after a movie, Beast and Bishop witness Juggernaut fall from the sky. They, and later Psylocke, investigate and find a now-stoppable Juggernaut. He's frenzied and warns the X-Men of a being that could throw him from Canada to New Jersey: Onslaught.

Synopsis

When a mutant-on-human crime happens at a dance club, Charlotte Jones calls Archangel in to get his take on the situation. Tensions are high at the crime scene, with some cops feeling the need to exact revenge on any mutant. Upon entering the club, Archangel is met with a grisly scene - humans ripped apart and sprawled across the dance floor, which is only made worse when he flies over the scene to get a full picture of it all. He has never seen anything so terrible.

At the Xavier Institute, Storm wanders the grounds musing on Rogue and Gambit. She finds Wolverine and tries to talk him into rejoining the team inside. The two are interrupted by Siryn, who informs her that while Cable and Professor X discuss some things, X-Force is available to help. The two women head back.

In Hoboken, New Jersey, Beast and Bishop exit a screening of "Pulp Fiction" and Beast tries to explain the idea of escapism. The two are surprised when the Juggernaut falls like a comet into the neighborhood. He appears to be unconscious.

Meanwhile, Cyclops and Jean Grey visit her father. She expresses regret for being unable to save her sister from the Phallanx. Mr. Grey assures her that all is as it should be. As Cyclops and Jean leave, an ominous figure watches unnoticed.

Back in New Jersey, Psylocke joins Bishop and Beast in inspecting the apparently dead Juggernaut. Juggernaut quickly snaps out of it and lashes out at the X-Men. Psylocke is able to get a reading of intense fear, and Juggernaut backs this up with paranoid talk about an unknown foe coming to kill them all. Bishop channels enough electricity into the already weak Juggernaut, which motivates the villain to start talking rationally. The X-Men learn that Juggernaut had encountered a new enemy in Canada and that this enemy had apparently punched Juggernaut so hard that he flew from Canada to New Jersey. The enemy's name: Onslaught.

Marrow, the leader of the Gene Nation, has tagged innocent civilians with explosives that can go off at any minute. The only way to deactivate the devices is to stop Marrow's heart. As the former leader of the Morlocks, Storm steps up to take Marrow down.

*spoilers*

Our story opens with a friendly baseball game involving members of the X-Men and Generation X. ( Which as you can imagine makes normal baseball seem like a cakewalk!) We see Jean and Scott, Cannonball, Jubilee, Bishop, M, beast, Skin, Storm and Wolverine as they play their match. Once things become a human mountain with skin entangled everywhere while our precocious M sits atop, the long absent Colossus teleports inside the mansion’s grounds. (Same colossus who when his sister died he defected to Magneto’s team “The Acolytes”) Not only does he teleport in, he is carrying an injured/unconscious Callisto.

Not the type to refuse friend or foe assistance Callisto is quickly moved into the med lab so she can receive medical attention. When she regains consciousness, she informs the X-Men that a group of second generation Morlocks, calling themselves Gene Nation, are planning to kill a human for every Morlock who died during the “mutant massacre” ( in essence a slaughter of their people orchestrated by Mr. Sinister). The X-Men rush to Manhattan where they hope to stop the would be re-enactment. Gene Nation however have already set their plan in motion and hold a group of humans hostage in the subways. Their young leader, Marrow going so far as even, attaching incendiary devices to them, linked to her own heartbeat. (She’s just a peppy little bundle of fun isn’t she?)

After a brief skirmish between Storm and Callisto in the tunnels where tempers flare and egos (the size of bananas) are roused they encounter the first casualty of the day. A man is killed and his bicycle is wrapped around him and a sign painted in blood points the x-men toward our villains (Creepy stuff). Marrow’s teammates attack with Vessel taking Wolverine, Hemingway taking colossus and Callisto taken down by a bullet through the shoulder by Glass. Storm saves Callisto and finally locates Marrow. Their Marrow reveals the nature and origin of her hate, Storm has failed as leader in her eyes, she recounts how as a child she witnessed Storm defeat Callisto. Storm “the bright lady” and Calisto “the dark” and how she had such hopes for her and her people to finally be free of the tunnels but storm eventually did nothing and that lead to the “massacre” and from that she was born.

Marrow then challenges Storm to a fight, as payback for Storm’s shortcomings when she was the leader of the Morlocks. Storm intent on rescuing the civilians (typical Xavieret behavior) takes up the challenge and they begin a vicious battle. Storm draws first blood while Sarah slices off ½ her hair on one side of the face and cuts her cheek. As the battle rages on marrow and storm seem evenly matched and her compatriot Reverb interferes only to be killed by storm. As Marrow grabs storm and has her face the soon to be exploding civilians she loses it completely, she goes crazed with madness in her eyes and she lets her guard completely down. Storm realizing that she has no choice and that the only way to prevent the bombs exploding and killing all the civilians is to stop Marrow’s beating heart. Storm break free and before marrow even knows what happens she rips out her still beating heart, from her chest, thus she disarms the bombs, but kills Marrow in the process.

Meanwhile…….

Gambit receives a phone call from Rogue, she’s with Iceman who happens to be her traveling companion for now (their actually on a road trip but hey that sounds lame). While they talk Gambit senses that she may be remembering things that she absorbed during their kiss (which only happened because of the crystal wave…but that’s a story for another time) He heads out to try and speak with her. Shortly there after, Mister Sinister (the Goth mutate man himself) is informed by Threnody (a sexy black succubus mutant) that Gambit is traveling to Seattle. Turns out she was asked to inform him if Gambit ever went there (so she has been keeping tabs? I wonder what “things” she’s seen our Gambit do when he thinks no one is looking?) . However, Sinister seems a bit preoccupied and is busy worrying if all his well-laid plans are heading towards certain ruin.

Iceman, still afraid to change back into his human form, goes to Emma Frost for help.

Iceman takes on Emma Frost, still angry about her possessing his body and wants her to show him how to better use his powers since he's been stuck in Ice mode with a hole in his torso. She makes him hallucinate and see his ex Opal and father William and tells him to push his powers further. Banshee and Jubilee look on.

The Dark Beast accidentally blows up Beast's lab and X-Force makes a cameo dusting him off, not knowing he's a fake.

Cyclops and Jean Grey are on the trail of Post.

Gambit and Bishop are visiting Archangel and still don't like each other.

Are the X-Men prepared for the unstoppable return of the Juggernaut?

Today the X-Men being to face the battle of their lives, Juggernaut has come to them for the questions about a foe that could mean the end to all life on earth, Professor Xavier's mysterious behavior has took a turn for the worse something cannonball cannot possibly shake of his shoulders, Betsy's newly aqquired Crimson Dawn Tatto begins to trouble her newly found relationship more and more, but one question still remains.....Who is Onslaught?

The X-Men must stop Havok and his Brotherhood from killing J. Jonah Jameson!

Spider-Man (Ben Reilly), at first mistaken for an intruder by Bishop, advises the X-Men that the Daily Bugle is investigating Graydon Creed. Later, at X-Factor's headquarters, Mystique plots Creed's death and discovers Bobby Drake has infiltrated Creed's campaign. At the same time, J. Jonah Jameson takes a flight to London to meet with Nick Bandouveris, a reporter who has learned the truth of Creed's background and now fears for his life. Jameson tells Beast, who is the same flight, he is aware the X-Man is there to tail him, while elsewhere on the SST, Scott Summers more successfully maintains his civilian guise. Storm and Joseph follow in the cloaked Blackbird.

Nearing England, the Concorde is attacked by Havok. Scott tackles Havok, disabling the latter's anti-gravity unit, and the two plummet to the coast below. As they freefall, Havok tells Scott that, for the first time, he is doing as he wants, not acting under another's influence. As Joseph magnetically sees the SST safely to Heathrow, Havok teleports away, and Storm rescues Scott at the last moment.

In London, as Bandoveris awaits Jameson, the reporter is killed, and the Creed file taken, by Bastion.

When Iceman's cover as a member of Graydon Creed's group is blown it will cost him dearly...

Graydon Creed has Iceman's father William Drake beaten for not giving up Iceman and he's hospitalized. As Bobby sits bedside, they are visited by Storm and Gambit. She and Bobby go to the hospital roof to discuss events privately.

Cannonball, undercover in Graydon's campaign for president, has a conversation with Creed about Sam's father. Creed becomes angry when asked about his father.

Outside the hospital, Wolverine says hello to some of Graydon's supporters there to kill the mutants within.

Back at William's bedside, Bobby informs Ororo he is leaving the X-Men.

Cannonball versus Gladiator! Plus, Joseph has a special gift for Rogue.

On Christmas Eve in New York City, Sam Guthrie thinks of the tragedies of the past year while shopping for his family. Rogue and Joseph take a carriage ride together, and Hank McCoy and his girlfriend, Trish Tilby go to dinner, while Gambit and Bishop each prefer to be alone. In a toy store, Gladiator suddenly attacks Sam, and they battle throughout the neighborhood.

Atop the World Trade Center, Joseph demonstrates the device he's finished, one that will enable Rogue to touch others without stealing their memories and abilities.

Using a new trick with his kinetic field, Sam bests Gladiator as the rest of the X-Men arrive at the scene.

Able to finally request the mutants' aid, Gladiator teleports all but Sam into a Royal Starcruiser which will take them to the heart of the Shi'ar Empire.

The X-Men come upon a massacred Shi'Ar transport headed for the heart of the empire. The only survivor needs their help.

Having been teleported aboard a hurtling Shi'ar space cruiser, Beast, Rogue, Joseph, Gambit, Bishop and Trish Tilby struggle to pilot the out of control craft. Beast finally manages to do so, but then announces their path to the Shi'ar stargate must take them through an asteroid belt. With Joseph using his magnetic power, they navigate the belt and reach the gate.

While back on Earth, the rest of the X-Men express concern for their missing teammates, the Shi'ar cruiser arrives at a destroyed Starstation. Exploring the ruins, they find one survivor: Deathbird.

The Phalanx have infiltrated the X-Men by assuming the identities of several members. To save themselves, the team must allow their ship to be destroyed. Stranded in space, the X-Men must hatch a daring plan to survive.

In the sick bay aboard their cruiser in the Shi'ar Empire, the X-Men (Beast, Bishop, Rogue, Gambit and Joseph) treat Deathbird, the sole survivor of a starstation devastated by the Phalanx. Deathbird and Bishop are nearly attacked by two Phalanx posing as Gambit and Joseph, but she shoots them down.

Elsewhere on the ship, Phalanx have boarded and captured Gambit and Joseph. Rogue fights the aliens, but begins to succumb to a techno-virus, when Gambit breaks free and rescues her and Joseph.

In an interlude on Earth, Bastion arrives at his base with his captive, Jubilee [see Generation X #25].

Having defeated the boarders, the X-Men continue toward the heart of the empire, but their cruiser is destroyed by a Phalanx ship. The mutants and their allies, safely huddled in a pod held together by Joseph's power, drop to a planet with a Shi'ar outpost. From there, they teleport to the Shi'ar Throneworld.

The X-Men battle the Phalanx in the Shi'Ar royal palace!

In the throne room of the Shi'ar Empire, the Phalanx celebrate their victory, while, hidden nearby, the X-Men (Beast Bishop, Rogue Gambit and Joseph) and Deathbird plan their next move. Deathbird leads Bishop to the 'Nest' to protect the yet-unborn next generation of Shi'ar.

On Earth, Henry Peter Gyrich and Senator Robert Kelly discuss Operation:Zero Tolerance.

Back on the Throneworld, Joseph, flashing back to his youth in Nazi-occupied Europe, unilaterally opts to attack the Phalanx. While the rest battle the aliens, Beast uploads a viral program that effectively eradicates the techno-organic invaders.

After tasting victory, the X-Men head straight into another disaster. Meanwhile, someone or something has been tailing Joseph…

Part 1 - In Guatemala, Sister Maria de la Joya is pursued by a cybernetic ape seeking Joseph. The cyborg is subdued by two large slug-like creatures belonging to a strange man who also wants to find Joseph.

On the Shi'ar Throneworld, Lilandra hosts a celebration for their liberation from the Phalanx by the X-Men. As Joseph expresses to Rogue his displeasure with the festivities amid so much death, Gambit cathartically digs a grave for the fallen, but can't let go of his guilt for deeds unrevealed.

The next morning, Lilanda sees off the X-Men, as they board a transport for home, guided by Deathbird.

Part 2 - During a lull on the voyage home, Deathbird, having admired Bishop's prowess in battle, attempts to seduce him, but the ship is caught in the gravitational wake of a massive war vessel Deathbird believes is headed toward Earth. Beast, at the controls, tries to reach the stargate before the warship, but can't make it before the portal is destroyed.

With X-Men missing… Marrow goes wild! And Spider-Man makes a special appearance!

Not trusting the television reports about the X-Men attacking Operation Zero Tolerance aircraft, J. Jonah Jameson assigns his staff to get the true story; Jameson may not care for costumed super-beings, but he hates government supported witch-hunts and civil right violations even more. Peter Parker has been assigned to get photos of Henry Peter Gyrich, whom he finds under attack by Callisto and Marrow.

In an interlude on a distant planet, Gambit wonders how he and his fellow X-Men will get home.

Back at the Daily Bugle, Jameson is visited by Bastion, who offers the publisher a disc containing many of the X-Men's secrets.

On the streets nearby, Spider-Man's fight with Callisto and Marrow gets complicated when Gyrich's bodyguards reveal themselves as Prime Sentinels. Callisto is stunned, but Gyrich and two arriving police officers gun down the Sentinels. Marrow tries to attack Gyrich, but Spider-Man talks her down, and she departs, carrying Callisto's unconscious form.

Back in Jameson's office, the publisher refuses Bastion's offer, telling the mutant hunter he trusts him not one bit, and he destroys Bastion's disc.

The X-Men are lost in space!

After the cockpit of their starship plummeted through a damaged stargate, Beast, Gambit, Rogue, Joseph and Trish Tilby find themselvesseparated and scattered about what appears to be an alien landscape. Gambit is captured by bounty hunters Spat and Grovel (a giant reptile), whom he had betrayed in Madagascar in the past.

In the sewers beneath Manhattan, Callisto recuperates from her wounds and encourages Marrow to aid the X-Men.

Joseph and Rogue determine their environment is illusory, and Joseph's power overwhelms the illusion created by Spat and Grovel's ally Landscape. The actual locale is a cavern somewhat familiar to Joseph.

In Pine Bluff, South Carolina, Maggott is still tracking Joseph, and has a run-in with some rednecks, who are frightened off by his truck-eating slugs.

Eventually, Spat, Grovel and Gambit cross paths with Joseph, Rogue and Landscape, then all are confronted by Magneto's Nanny robot (thought to have been destroyed in the Antarctic base of Magneto).

As Operation Zero Tolerance rages on, Rogue, Joseph, Gambit, Spat, and Grovel find themselves in the custody of the robot called Nanny.

In an Antarctic cavern that was once Magneto's base, the X-Men Rogue, Gambit and Magneto and the bounty hunters Spat and Grovel, are confronted and depowered by the robot, Nanny. Unable to fight, they surrender.

Somewhere in space, Deathbird treats the injured Bishop, falsely telling him his fellow X-Men died when their ship was torn apart.

While Nanny's prisoners are chained, Rogue suddenly re-enacts a memory Gambit has of Sabertooth. Elsewhere, Nanny shows the frustrated Joseph news reports about Operation: Zero Tolerance. For some reason, an image of Moira MacTaggert instills in him a craving for revenge. Soon, Beast is captured by Nanny's cyborgs.

In New York, Archangel and Psylocke return to their apartment from their adventure in the Crimson Dawn; however, she spots something outside the window and vanishes.

Back in the cavern, Spat taunts Gambit about the unsavory deeds he committed, and for which she was hired to capture him, while a sleeping Rogue acts out a memory of Gambit comforting and apologizing to someone named Sarah. Rogue awakens and asks Remy what the memories mean, but he refuses to answer. Instead, finally able to touch each other without the negative effect of Rogue's powers, they spend the night together.

Prison break! Rogue and Gambit battle Nanny for freedom!

In New York City, Maggott has traced Joseph's trail to the roof of the World Trade Center.

In the Antarctic caverns, Trish Tilby finds a de-powered Hank McCoy, while Remy LeBeau broods about his dark past.

On the streets of NYC, Maggott is accosted by Psylocke, while Archangel tries to find her.

The caverns: Rogue tries to make sense of the shadowy memories she had absorbed from Remy, while Joseph, having escaped his bonds, frees the rest.

NYC: the fight between Psylocke and Maggott continues. When Psylocke strikes him with a psychic knife, the feedback stuns her as well as Maggott, and he loses control over his slugs. Archangel arrives in time to bat back the creature.

The caverns: the X-Men and the bounty hunters try to find their way out, when Nanny arrives and converts to battle mode. But as Nanny is not equipped to sense normal humans, Trish Tilby decapitates the android with a crowbar.

determined to finally face his past, Gambit gives himself up to the bounty hunters.

Gambit's greatest secret is revealed! And some sins can never be forgiven...

Spat and Grovel take the captive Gambit to a fortress in Antarica as he recalls the assignment given to him years ago by Mr. Sinister. Rogue, Beast, Joseph and Trish Tilby assemble a rickety vehicle to follow them.

In New York City, Psylocke is determined to investigate Maggott’s darkness and shadow-teleports him, herself and Archangel away.

In the Antarctic, as their vehicle dies, Joseph painfully senses something or someone, and raises the huge fortress from below the ice. They enter, finding various symbols of justice. Strangely, Psylocke, Archangel and Maggot emerge in the same Antarctic fortress, albeit in separate areas. Maggott meets Joseph, who is attacked and defeated by an unseen foe. Maggott seems to know the attacker and as part of an old debt he agrees to play along. One by one, the rest of the X-Men are subdued, it is finally revealed, by Erik the Red.

Meanwhile, over Pennsylvania, the other half of the X-Men team are flying home from Bastion's New Mexico base. Phoenix is using her telekinesis to keep the bomb implanted in Cyclops' body from exploding.

In the Antarctic fortress, the X-Men are chained in a jury box, with Archangel forced to play defender as Gambit is put on trial by Erik the Red. Erik presents testimony that before joining the X-Men, Gambit had performed two jobs for Sinister, assembling the Marauders and then guiding them into the Morlock tunnels, leading to the Mutant Massacre. Gambit's teammates express utter shock and Archangel, whose wings were mutilated in the Massacre, is outraged.

Erik forces Rogue to steal Remy's remaining memories of the event: Remy watched in horror, then rescued a Morlock girl named Sarah (who would become Marrow).

With Rogue now wielding Gambit's powers, she frees the X-Men. They try to fight Erik, but he causes the building to collapse and escapes. Rogue drags Gambit out of the fortress in time, but then abandons him in the Antarctic, while Psylocke teleports the X-Men to New York.

Safely aboard his transport, Erik sheds his armor is exchange for true uniform: that of Magneto.

Cecilia Reyes tries to return to her life as a "normal" human. But an encounter with Pyro may force her to reconsider.

Cecilia Reyes takes her leave of the X-Men and the Xavier Institute to attempt to get her life back together. Logan gives her a ride into the New York City's Mother of Mercy hospital on his motorcycle. She meets with chief of staff Dr. Gibbons to explain her absence and to ask for her position back. Although not prejudiced against mutants himself, Gibbons warns her that other hospital employees and some patients may not be so understanding. Nonetheless, Gibbons offers Cecelia her job, and she accepts.

Meanwhile, aboard an airliner bound for Anchorage, Jean Grey and Scott Summers make friends with Alaskans Chris and Staci Murphy. Their conversation, however, is interrupted by a mental intrusion into Jean's mind by something in the cargo hold.

Back at other of Mercy, Cecelia is about to begin a surgery when she is pulled away by Gibbons; the patient's family does not want her in the operating room. She then learns someone on the operating team informed the family she is a mutant. After storming away, she comes across a boy awaiting treatment for a gunshot wound. His mother begs her for help, and she performs an emergency operation.

At lunchtime, Cecelia joins some old friends at their table, but they get up and leave. Later, she is called to perform emergency surgery, and arrives to find her patient is Pyro, who was shot while robbing a bank. Also suffering from the Legacy Virus, Pyro's flame burns out of control. Still, Cecilia treats his wounds successfully and has the strapped-down Pyro moved to an observation room over the protests of the police.

That same afternoon, at a dockside warehouse, something green and reptilian bursts out of a recently delivered crate.

Cecilia's day proceeds as she encounters a variety of cases and attitudes. At one point she is surprised by Daredevil, who enters through a window and asks her to treat an infected gunshot wound in his side. As she works, they discuss having super powers, and Daredevil tells her she should not deny her mutant gift.

Later, after being thanked by the family of the boy who was shot, she checks on Pyro. Convincing Cecilia he's in pain from his bonds, she loosens them, and he escapes. Cecilia confesses her error to Gibbons, who promptly fires her. She returns to Xavier's, and after being welcomed back by Logan and Storm, she collapses onto her bed, exhausted.