Exiles #12

Background

The Timebroker, a mysterious all-powerful being, plucks heroes from various realities to create a team of Exiles, charged with the duty of repairing anomalies that threaten to collapse divergent timelines with the promise of their safe return home upon completion. Among his first recruits are the teleporter named Blink from the reality known as the Age of Apocalypse; Calvin Rankin, called Mimic because of his abilities to duplicate the powers of others he comes in contact with; Magnus, the son of Magneto and Rogue; John Proudstar, aka Thunderbird, transformed into an engine of destruction as one of Apocalypse's four horsemen; T. J. Wagner, aka Nocturne, with a combination of powers similar to that of her parents Nightcrawler and the Scarlet Witch; and the shape-shifting Morph.

Through recent ordeals, the team had lost Magnus in death and Thunderbird to a coma from severe injuries. They were quickly replaced by the Timebroker with Mariko Yashida, the fire-powered X-Man Sunfire, and Heather Hudson, who served the Canadian Government on Alpha Flight as the bestial Sasquatch.

Together, they are sent from reality to reality, guided by a device called the Tallus that tells their leader what the mission is. Only by completing that mission can they repair the timeline to move on to the next, and ever closer to their ticket home.

Story Details

The mission begins like any other; the Exiles are transported to a reality ready to accomplish the mission that brought them there. However, these are not the Exiles we all know; they are Weapon X! Sabretooth, Peter Parker aka The Spider, Ororo Munroe aka Storm, The Vision, Deadpool and Jen Walters aka The Hulk. While they examine their new surroundings and discuss their last mission, Sabretooth checks his Tallus for their mission, finding no information. Vision proceeds to do a proximity scan to discover they are the only super powered people within 12 miles. That is until the real Exiles arrive right next to them, also discussing their last mission.

The two teams are surprised to see each other, but not as surprised as when Sabretooth recognizes Blink. Indeed, this is the Sabretooth from her reality and Blink immediately runs and embraces her mentor, leaving the others to wonder what's going and who each other are while the two enjoy their happy reunion.

The Exiles and Weapon X exchange stories, Weapon X telling them that they were comprised of mostly Weapon X participants that gradually were lost on missions leaving only Sabretooth and Deadpool. During this exchange, Sasquatch begins to feel the Florida heat and transforms back into her human form, surprising The Spider by being a woman and Hulk by being black. Storm, however, had no clue who she was. Sunfire decides to invite TJ, standing by herself, to join all of them as they wait for instructions. TJ declines, finally revealing she lost hers and Thunderbird's baby a couple of nights ago. Sunfire tries to offer help, but TJ blows her off.

Meanwhile Heather tells Morph that she doesn't care for this group. Hearing about the ruthlessness on their missions make her uneasy, as well as the knowledge that every Sabretooth in every reality is a cold-blooded killer, not a father-figure like he seems. The musing is cut short when the Tallus finally gives instructions for both teams. In this world, the Mutant Registration act was passed and Sentinels were sent out to kill or imprison mutants. Soon, that was extended to other powered individuals resulting in a great war. Eventually, all powered people were captured and the rest of the world allowed to live freely in safety in a desiccated war zone. The only hopes lies with the son of Franklin Richards and Rachel Summers, David Richards. He will grow up to become the most powerful person on Earth...if he survives. Free the boy, save the world.

The teams unite and strike against the Sentinels. Vision, refurbished with a combination of parts from the original Human Torch, Ultron, Stark Enterprises and the Kree, are able to infiltrate the Sentinel databases effortlessly allowing him to coordinate the teams to best exploit their weaknesses. He was able to track David Richards down to the camp he's being held in, allowing them to make their full-on rescue attempt. Inside, Blink teleports them to the holding area to discover it completely full of children. Vision identifies David and Creed readies them to go, but because of her own upbringing in her hell of a world Blink refuses to leave any of the kids behind.

They make it back outside just as the Tallus gives them the rest of their mission, which Blink and Creed can't believe. Blink goes back for the rest of the teams, but they don't tell them what the Tallus has said. They choose to let them enjoy the company of the children for just a while longer before revealing that David Richards must die.

General Comments

A good start to the story. Weapon X proved a good foil for the Exiles in their first appearance, and continue to do so. At least by description alone, as in this issue they're almost as likeable as the regular team if not for the tales of their prior missions. Some interesting new variations on classic characters, especially by giving Spidey the Carnage symbiote to make him The Spider. The only real negative of this book were the horrible designs for the modern Sentinels in this reality, not that great at all. Also, Sabretooth goes from having a full beard to his usual muttonchops and stubble. But, a couple minor nitpicks in an otherwise continually good read.

Overall Rating

4 Webs. A good story with some great characters and artwork to back it up.

Footnote

For the first appearance of Weapon X, check out Exiles #5.

In every issue, Morph takes on some familiar and unusual forms. Here, we'll try to chronicle as many as we can in a section we'll call: MORPH'S MORPHS!

Morph's morphs: Nick Fury, Sherlock Holmes, a naval officer, classic Heather Hudson, a wizard, a missile, Superman