Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Exodus

Background

After arriving in San Francisco to stop the mutant riots, Osborn starts on a war against the X-Men. He tried to portray them as the architects of these riots in an effort to force them to surrender. Cyclops, the current leader of the X-Men, knew Osborn had other motivations and refused to cooperate. Instead of surrendering they created their own island fortress from the salvaged Asteroid M in international waters. Cyclops broadcasts that this is now a safe haven for mutants and outside of Osborn's authority.

Osborn doesn't see it that way.

Story 'Utopia, Conclusion'

7 days ago: Beast (Henry McCoy) confronts Cyclops and Emma Frost over their secretive behavior. He states very clearly that once he returns from his mission with the X-Club, they will have a very long discussion. With that, Scott wants to discuss the blood on their hands but Emma refuses stating that keeping secrets doesn't bother her.

Now: The Avengers' Quinjet arrives, full of Osborn's Avengers and X-teams. Cyclops gives the orders to attack.

Wolverine and X-23 pair off against Weapon Omega and Daken. Wolverine is eager to avenge his former Alpha Flight teammates and runs Omega through with his claws.

Upon seeing Bullseye masquerading as Hawkeye, Angel is instructed to take him to a secure location, which he does. Angel then transforms into Archangel and prepares to give Bullseye a real fight.

Moonstone is attacked by a small group of mutants looking for payback from their battle at the Castro. Venom III resumes his fight with Colossus. Iceman and The Mimic square off.

Finally the heavy hitters (Ares, Sentry, and Iron Patriot) enter the fray. Namor attacks the Sentry. Ares is confronted by a re-powered Dani Moonstar who bartered with Hela to regain her Valkyrie powers. Osborn naturally wants to defeat Cyclops with his own hands.

Emma Frost returns to the medical bay and finds Charles Xavier awake after his torture while on Alcatraz. Working together they are able to contain The Void and restore Robert Reynolds as the dominant personality in the Sentry. Seeing the destruction he caused, he leaves the battlefield.

Despite the beating he's receiving at Osborn's metal hands, Cyclops is smiling. When Osborn demands to know why, Summers points out that he's been outsmarted. Osborn is livid and prepares to kill Cyclops in retaliation. He is stopped by Moonstone who reminds him that they're being televised live. If they kill him, the mutants won't stop until they're all dead. She reminds him that televised genocide will not go over well with the general public. Left with little choice, Osborn orders a retreat.

Cyclops address the public and reminds them that they have nothing to fear from mutants; this is a matter of survival. Osborn holds a press conference to claim a victory that the "militant mutants" have now been confined to their island and no longer pose a threat to America.

The next day Cyclops begins repairs to the newly-designated "Utopia" while welcoming in any mutants seeking asylum.

General Comments

Lots of fighting in this issue, which is good considering we've been waiting for a Cyclops/Iron Patriot showdown since the opening chapter.

Overall the fight scenes were well done and Cyclops' multi-layered strategies worked well against the likes of Ares and Sentry. Hopefully the bargain struck between Moonstar and Hela will be explored at a later date.

Overall Rating

3 webs. Good read, but I do wonder what happened between Archangel and Bullseye. They omitted that particular fight and it annoys me.

One other thing that was mildly irritating is the opening sequence where Beast confronts Cyclops and Emma Frost about their secret missions/agendas/whatnot. I know that it's supposed to be mysterious and encourage you to pick up yet another one-shot, but clearly the end result was "nothing happened" as they are still together and living on Utopia.

Great story-kill there.

Footnote

• Scott & Emma's "secret" conversation occurs in "Dark X-Men: The Confession". Scott admits he's turned X-Force into his black ops squad to eliminate major threats to mutantkind. Emma admits that she is a part of Osborn's Cabal as the mutant representative.
• After injuries suffered due to Wolfsbane's attack in X-Force (Vol. 3) #4, Angel learns that he still has a techno-organic virus in his bloodstream that allows him to change into Archangel. He was originally transformed into this form by Apocalypse in X-Factor (Vol. 1) #19.
• As you can imagine, Osborn will not accept this outcome. He has one final strike planned for the X-Men in Dark Reign: The List: X-Men