SUNFIRE versus DARKSTAR

Chapter 2: First Contest: Frenzy in the Frozen North! (Marvel)
Where: Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions #2 When: July 1982 Why: Mark Gruenwald, Bill Mantlo & Steven Grant How: John Romita Jr

The Story So Far...
Across the universe there exist immortal entities whose very being determines cosmic reality. The Grandmaster is one such being: an Elder of the Universe whose taste for games inspires a Contest of Champions!

Snatching the world's heroes from a temporarily frozen Earth; The Grandmaster drafts a team of twelve to represent him in a contest of life and death! His team must race to find segments of a golden artifact scattered to the four corners of the Earth. The Grandmaster's ultimate prize is the restoration of his immortal brother: The Collector!

Killed by the mad man-god Michael Korvac; The Collector's demise is beyond even the vast cosmic reach of a fellow Elder. Thus, The Grandmaster's challenge is issued to the ultimate opponent - Death herself!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Draw 2 (Average)
Intelligence: Draw 2 (Average)
Speed: Draw 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Sunfire 4 (Athlete)
Agility: Darkstar 3 (Acrobat)
Fighting: Draw 4 (Trained)
Energy: Sunfire 6 (Mass Destruction)
Total: Sunfire 23 (Champion)

We're back in the Contest of Champions, which means two teams of three represent The Grandmaster and Death in a race to claim portions of a golden artifact. The contest is interesting -- but what we're really here to see are the inevitable battles that break out between competitors from opposing teams!

Sunfire represents Death, fighting alongside Invisible Girl and Iron Fist -- not that you'd necessarily know it. The hot tempered Japanese mutant has no time for teamwork. His narrow focus on victory fuels a fiercely individual burden.

That's a quality that could work in the favor of Darkstar, who fights for The Grandmaster's team beside Daredevil and Talisman. Her first major deployment to the United States was to recover and return Black Widow to the Soviet Union, but she wound up temporarily defecting to the ranks of The Champions of LA.

Collaboration continued to be a hallmark of Laynia Petrovna's career, even after she returned to the USSR. Her mutant mastery of the darkforce was applied as a member of The Soviet Super-Soldiers, and later The Winter Guard.

Darkstar's powers are related to the same other dimensional energies used by Cloak, but her unique mutant connection allows her to fly, teleport, and project solid constructs made of abysmal darkforce energy. These can also absorb light.

Sunfire's powers are very different, but he shares some similar experience. He first entered the world stage as a hostile threat, using his atomic flame to enact a doctrine of loathing for American power, and its influence over modern Japan.

Sunfire fought the X-Men in his first outing, but was soon recruited to join them as one of the famous international lineup from Giant-Size X-Men. A redeemed Shiro Yashida later became a high-profile member of Japan's premier superhero team, Big Hero Six, while maintaining some loose affiliation with the X-Men.

Sunfire's self-sustained flame and aggressive nature make him a serious threat to Darkstar, but if she can keep her distance and use darkforce constructs to defend from afar -- she might just be able to take care of him!

The Tape: Sunfire Ranking: Draw (Not Ranked)

What Went Down...
A bitter arctic chill whips through the competitors as they discover themselves in the snow of the North Pole. Pleasantries between The Grandmaster's team are soon cut short as Sunfire takes to the sky -- prompting Darkstar to follow!

The hot-blooded hero sees his opponent approaching and seizes the opportunity to eliminate the competition with two searing spears of fire!

Darkstar nimbly navigates a path between the jets of flame and summons the energy of the Darkforce to return fire. A massive black hand forms from her outstretched fist, reaching to engulf an unprepared Sunfire!

The fist closes around Sunfire, surrounding him in darkness. Its massive fingers pin his hands by his sides, while the dark energies absorb the light of his fire into the cold void of another dimension.

Contemplating his samurai spirit, Sunfire stirs the raging inferno that burns within him -- and unleashes a blazing atomic explosion from all his extremities!

The stunning explosion blasts Sunfire free of the darkforce's suffocating grip and cracks the icy plane below!

The strain of the awesome outburst puts Darkstar on the back foot, allowing Sunfire to arch his back and resume an offensive. He sends a volley of three fire streams at Darkstar -- but her powers are still able to defend against their heat!

The shattered ice below suddenly reveals the golden prize at the centre of their contest.

Sunfire spots it first and abandons the battle -- making a beeline for the exposed water below in an effort to assist Invisible Girl in claiming victory for their team. Darkstar remains airborne, extending a giant black pincer in a race with Sunfire as a new struggle begins!

The Hammer...
The rules and objectives of the Contest of Champions ultimately outweighs the conflict between Sunfire and Darkstar. They become involved in the final mad dash to secure their golden prize, abandoning the battle without conclusion.

It's somewhat interesting to note that both featured characters are mutants. In fact, all three of the Contest of Champions battles we've covered thus far have included at least one mutant: Wolverine and Storm, the others respectively.

The Contest of Champions was originally conceived to tie-in with the Summer Olympic Games, so the international flavor is fairly deliberate, but the choice of adding lesser known heroes, and newly created obscurities, is a creative one.

It would've been very easy to overrun The Contest with X-Men. I'm not sure there's a more worldly bunch of heroes in the Marvel Comics canon to this very day. Wolverine, Storm, and Sunfire were all part of Professor X's global mutant recruitment drive in 1975, seen in the series defining Giant-Size X-Men #1.

There are two heroes representing the Soviet Union in The Contest, but neither is the famous X-Man Colossus. Along with Darkstar is her brother Vanguard, who debuted fighting Iron Man with his sister and the Soviet Super-Soldiers, in 1978, and competes later in The Contest on the side of Death's team.

Over the years I've often thought it might be a more exciting comic with the likes of Colossus in place of Vanguard, but there's something to be said for the world building Contest achieves, and the more sporting tone of its brand variety.

Of course, Darkstar has loose ties to the X-Men, most notably serving with Angel and Iceman as one of The Champions. Long time fans might remember her as an unrequited romantic interest for Iceman before the team went their separate ways. The pair share a tender moment together during the gathering of prospective competitors at the start of Contest of Champions #1.

The Marvel Age was rooted deeply in the Cold War era, so the majority of Soviet characters have tended to be villains. I like the way Darkstar and her comrades embellish a heroic side to the other side of the iron curtain.

In Contest of Champions, I think we see Darkstar in her best design. Like her heroic bearing, she eschews the standard Soviet colour palette of red. Sure, there's a gold star, but the black and yellow athletic stripes down the side give her the look of a general, legitimate Marvel super-hero. I like it!

Sunfire has a pretty spiffy design himself, if a little more obvious. I suspect he's a character we'll return to, to explore more deeply in the future.

In the mean time: Darkstar is currently appearing in our unofficial sequel to Contest of Champions. You should check out The Contest: Green Lantern vs Darkstar for an intriguing match-up you can now view with more context. It's a closely contested result that deserves a closer look.

If you'd like to discover more battles like the one featured today, or explore more from the worlds of comics, dive in to the Secret Archive. There you'll find every featured fight indexed by publisher, series, and issue number.

Secret Wars on Infinite Earths has documented well over 600 battles and counting! If you like reading about superhero smackdown, you can help make it all possible by subscribing to Patreon. Patrons receive illuminating schedule updates, special request options, and voting polls.

Subscribe to Secret Wars on Infinite Earths on Twitter and Facebook to receive daily links to fights inspired by the topics of the day. Don't forget to like and share posts, and look for pinned Contest polls to vote and have your say!

Winner: Inconclusive (Draw)
#448 (new) Sunfire
#449 (new) Darkstar (Laynia Petrovna)

THE CONTEST: GREEN LANTERN versus DARKSTAR

It had to happen! The Grandmaster has watched the Secret Wars on Infinite Earths for many years and now he comes with a challenge: I must select 12 heroes & villains from the DC Universe to do battle against his Champions of the Marvel Universe! Grandmaster's team competed in the first Contest of Champions and set an allowance of 5000pts based on fixed Fight Club Rankings. Each battle will be decided by you in fantasy fight polls held on Twitter, Facebook and Patreon!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Draw 2 (Average)
Intelligence: Draw 2 (Average)
Speed: Darkstar 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Draw 3 (Strong Willed)
Agility: Darkstar 3 (Acrobat)
Fighting: Draw 4 (Trained)
Energy: Green Lantern 7 (Cosmic Power)
Total: Draw 22 (Champion)

The last battle flipped the lead in my favour, but The Grandmaster still has a lot more spending power for the battles ahead. Today he's got another strong 0pt selection on his team, but unlike the battle with Blitzkrieg, this time I'm conserving points with an equal challenger I think is a perfect match!

The Grandmaster didn't go for one of Russia's well known physical power-houses when he recruited for the original Contest of Champions. Instead, he chose the complex personal ethos and versatile super-powers of Laynia Petrovna: better known to the world as Darkstar!

She was raised from childhood to harness her mutant ability to wield the other-dimensional energies of the Darkforce for the Soviet Union. This is the same power connected to Cloak, but her expertise allows her to fly, teleport, and project large solid objects. We haven't yet documented these powers in action, but she's used them to go toe-to-toe with Magneto, Doctor Doom, Hulk, and Sentinels!

Darkstar and energy constructs? That sounds like something right up the Green Lantern's alley!

In the DC Universe the Darkstars are a rival organization of intergalactic lawmen. We caught a brief glimpse of Hal Jordan butting heads with one in Green Lantern #40, but to match The Grandmaster's unranked bargain recruit, I'm looking to a Green Lantern we haven't yet featured on Secret Wars on Infinite Earths: Jessica Cruz!

Before she became a charter member of the Green Lantern Corps, Cruz had the unusual distinction of wearing the Ring of Volthoom: an interdimensional ring possessed with an entity that fed on the wearer's internalized anxiety and fears. Fear was something Jessica had plenty of, having escaped killers who murdered he friends when they stumbled upon them disposing of bodies.

Darkstar's darkforce energy can absorb light into its dimensional void -- which could be a problem even for a Green Lantern. Encounters with the New Gods and Darkseid have only increased Jessica's powers, which is why I think she could be perfectly suited to match and destroy the shadowy constructs of Darkstar. They've both faced the other side of death. I think Jessica Cruz is the one who came back stronger!

The Verdict (Updated May 11th)...

It boiled down to a battle of light against darkness. I put my chips on the light, hoping Green Lantern's willpower could outshine the abysmal constructs of Darkstar's dark force power.

Green Lantern started strong, no doubt benefitting from strong brand recognition -- but the battle soon heated up, to become one of the closest match-ups The Contest has seen so far!

Nazar Talk Comics jumped in early to advocate for Green Lantern. Jessica Cruz is still a relatively new ringslinger, but the anxious temperament that defined her early appearances has been offset by newer adventures. A temporarily fatal encounter with Darkseid left her able to project Omega Beams from her hands -- a unique ability that may've be on the minds of people voting for her!

Writer David Gallaher knows a bit about both characters, having written Convergence: Green Lantern Corps and Darkstar and The Winter Guard. It was exciting to hear his perspective, which came down to one simple deciding factor "by a hair": Darkstar absorbs light!

During the week we saw Darkstar's light absorption give Sunfire trouble in a spotlight on Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions #2. Sunfire was able to burn his way out of the black void with his atomic flame, but there's no guarantee a Green Lantern would do  the same.

With Facebook polls still not functioning,, it was looking like it might end in a split draw -- until the Twitter vote was broken at the eleventh hour! In blackest night Darkstar took victory with 54.2%!

That means Round 4 goes to The Grandmaster in another nail biter!

We'll be back for Round 5 later this month! Keep your eyes on The Contest for the latest battles and past results. Hit up Twitter, Facebook, and Patreon for regular updates and new voting polls. You can also let me know what you think about the result in the comments or on social media!

Winner: Darkstar

The Grandmaster: - 2

Secret Wars on Infinite Earths: - 2

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HSU HAO versus KENSHI

Blood Ties: Prelude (DC)
Where: Mortal Kombat X #1 When: March 2015
Why: Shawn Kittelsen How: Dexter Soy

The Story So Far...
While under deep cover with the Red Dragon clan, Special Forces agent Kenshi learned of the existence of a son living in Thailand. Abandoning his post, and the search for cultist Daegon, he raced to Lampang, where he arrived to find a bloodbath and the boy's dead mother: Suchin.

Finding his son in the next town, Kenshi must take the boy on the run as the Red Dragon pursue the double agent across Asia. The chase takes them to the wilderness of The Himalaya, where Hsu Hao leads a search right on his tail! With arrows soaring above, the fight is on!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Hsu Hao 4 (Enhanced)
Intelligence: Kenshi 3 (Straight A)
Speed: Kenshi 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Kenshi 4 (Athlete)
Agility: Kenshi 3 (Acrobat)
Fighting: Kenshi 5 (Martial Artist)
Energy: Hsu Hao 5 (Lasers)
Total: Kenshi 24 (Champion)

Most MK fans will tell you the writing's on the wall for this one...

Hsu Hao remains one of the great unloved characters from the series' 27 year history! If you're looking for him in the latest game, you'll only find a billboard reference to Hsu Hao watches, and Erron Black carrying his decapitated head!

The meta-text spells swift death for Hsu Hao, but in the arena of kombat he isn't necessarily a slouch! He's a physically powerful grappler, balancing his preference for close-quarters hand-to-hand fighting with a cybernetic heart capable of firing deadly energy beams. Think Bane with a touch of classic Metallo and you've got a rough idea of what this guy can do.

In his original video game appearance Hsu Hao was accomplished enough to infiltrate the Special Forces of the Outer-world Investigation Agency. In truth, he was a member of the ancient Red Dragon clan -- rival criminal organization to the better known Black Dragon. He was supposedly killed on debut once discovered by Jax, but Mortal Kombat is now existing in a new, rebooted timeline. So here he is -- for the first time all over again!

Blind sword saint Kenshi is undoubtedly a more skilled fighter than Hsu Hao, but faces overwhelming odds against the Red Dragon's innumerable foot soldiers. He's on the run - having spent time undercover with the clan in a reversal of roles with Hsu Hao. The necessary abruptness of his exit means he's burdened with the safety of a young son: Takeda. That could slow him down.

The once arrogant Kenshi wandered Japan, challenging warriors to prove his superiority as a swordsman. He was blinded when Shang Tsung tricked him into breaching the tomb seal of his warrior king ancestors. From this adversity, Kenshi learned to see with his mind's eye, mastering telekinesis and intuition that allows him to commune with the spirits of his ancient ancestors.

Hsu Hao missed the all-in melee of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon's opening sequence, but Kenshi featured, going 1-from-2 in fatal encounters with Sheeva, and Quan Chi. The intro offered a brief showcase of his swordsmanship.

Kenshi should be the favourite, but he enters the battle already under attack from overwhelming numbers, and fatigued from being on the run. His friends in the Special Forces won't be here to save him. Let's see what happens...

The Tape: Kenshi Ranking: Kenshi (#355)

What Went Down...
In the wilderness of the Himalayan ranges, Kenshi dashes across the grass with his son on his back. The small boy notices a volley of arrows, calling his fathers attention to the incoming threat. With a simple gesture, Kenshi cuts the arrows out of the air with his telekinetically guided sword!

The leaping sword saint lands heavy -- one arrow found its way into his leg!

He orders his son to run as Red Dragon soldiers arrive upon them on motorcycles. Hsu Hao leads, gloating that even the impressive mind of Kenshi fatigues when he's been running all night. They trade threats. Kenshi strikes!

Once again Kenshi's sword takes flight, but before it can pierce the cold heart of Hsu Hao its blasted out of the air by his cybernetic laser!

Somewhere nearby, Kenshi's son runs afoul a wayward member of the Red Dragon. Looming over the child, the foot soldier points to a scar he received from the boy's father. He contemplates selling Takeda into Outworld slavery -- only to be punished for his wicked words when a chain and kunai suddenly explode through his throat!

Hsu Hao is unaware of his minion's fate as he stands over Kenshi with blood running from his fists. He mocks the sword saint for failing to kill them, for hiding instead of fighting. Almost too beaten to speak, Kenshi croaks an ominous correction: "Not... hiding... Trespassing."

Again the mysterious kunai on a chain flies out of nowhere -- smashing through the lens of Hsu Hao's cybernetic enhancement! The spear-like weapon catches inside, launching Hsu Hao off his feet as its master pulls it back!

The flaming fist of Scorpion greets Hsu Hao with deadly accuracy! The force of the blow drives his fist straight through Hsu Hao's head -- spraying blood across the battlefield! The ninja barks a familiar command: "GET OUT OF HERE!"

A Red Dragon archer challenges the lone ninja, positing even he couldn't defeat them all. The point is rendered moot as a group of Shirai-Ryu ninja emerge from the surrounding wood behind their master. Scorpion wins!

The Hammer...
A dangerous plan plays out as Kenshi lures the Red Dragon into a Scorpion victory! Had the ninja arrived a second later - it would've been a very different result! Still a reasonably impressive showing for the losers, particularly considering Hsu Hao's notorious infamy!

The fight comprises the opening five pages of Mortal Kombat X #1, and was used to promote the launch of the series in digital and print formats. It ticks the boxes in terms of action, but had me feeling trepidatious upon first impression.

The importance of blood & guts to Mortal Kombat has always been exaggerated. Kung fu standards and character-driven finishing moves are a fun trademark of the games, but within a narrative setting it just wouldn't be satisfying to see all the characters killed. That isn't what makes Mortal Kombat worth following.

I say that knowing full well that the series has made a habit of temporarily killing off a chunk of its cast, particularly in the most recent installments.

Indeed, much of Mortal Kombat X deals with the fallout from 2011's Mortal Kombat, which retold and rewrote elements of the original canon, most notably concluding with the mass deaths of a majority of original trilogy heroes.

Liu Kang, Kitana, and all the iconic favourites were immediately restored, and made playable in MKX as revenants serving Quan Chi. A dubious solution that quickly stripped any dramatic tension from the threat of death, and weakened the unique status of characters like Scorpion and Noob Saibot by also redefining all fighters returned from the Netherrealm as "revenants".

Long time fans will remember Scorpion as a "spectre" whose personal tragedy drove him to return from Hell to seek vengeance against his killer. His Ghost Rider-like flaming skull, and lust to avenge the murder of his family & clan, gave meaning and distinction to what a spectre's curse could be. Even the revelation that his murdered nemesis, Sub-Zero, had returned as Noob Saibot, contributed something new and unique to the mythology: a rare example of a "wraith".

Case in point: I'm not strictly opposed to characters escaping death, but you can only play that card so many times before you kill the gimmick. It should be an exception to prove the rule, used as scarcely as death itself.

Notoriously unpopular Hsu Hao seems like a perfect candidate for permanent execution, but I'm reminded of Mysterio's demise in Daredevil #7, where the choice to knock-off an unfashionable villain nixed potential for a strong rethink.

I've long thought Mortal Kombat could gain something much more valuable by leaning in to Hsu Hao's bitter unpopularity, repurposing him as Frankenstein's Monster meets Kenny from South Park. A character comically destroyed each game, who returns stitched together with new Red Dragon tech and magic.

MK's checked a lot of boxes when it comes to movie references and archetypes, but there hasn't really been a Frankenstein type. I think Hsu Hao could suit that niche quite nicely, and become a more beloved character in the process.

After today's battle it seemed quite impossible. It's kind of hard to rebuild a guy once his head's been completely exploded. However, the tenuous premise that MKX comics would be tie-ins that actually matter has pretty much gone out the window. Hsu Hao makes a cameo in Mortal Kombat 11 as a very much intact, but decapitated head, during one of Erron Black's fight intros.

Hope springs eternal that Hsu Hao might get a second shot, but the series has come a long way since Daedly Alliance, and Mortal Kombat always has a tendency to relive material from the seminal titles of the early nineties. The next opportunity might not present itself for quite a while.

In fact, Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge will take the series back to the tournament of the first game when the animated feature streams next week - April 12th! A home release follows later in the month, which you can order below using the Amazon link provided.

You can also find today's featured fight collected in Mortal Kombat X Vol. 1: Blood Ties. Using Amazon purchase links provided will not only get you a good deal - it helps support the site at no extra cost. So get over here!!

You can find more Mortal Kombat by following links throughout this post, or by diving into the Secret Archive where every featured fight is indexed by publisher and series. Scroll past the DC and Marvel lists to find more from MK!

If you like what Secret Wars on Infinite Earths is all about and want to see it succeed, you can support the project by signing up to Patreon. You can also easily connect with the site by subscribing via Twitter and Facebook. There you'll receive daily links to fights inspired by the topics of the day. A share and a like goes a long way to helping keep the wars infinite!

Winner: Scorpion (w/ Kenshi & Takeda)
#140 (+274) Scorpion (Hanzo Hasashi) [+2 kills]
#346 (+9) Kenshi [+1 assist]
#581 (new) Takahashi Takeda [+1 assist]
#909 (new) Hsu Hao

NEW MUTANTS versus HELLFIRE CLUB

King of the Hill! (Marvel)
Where: New Mutants #75 When: May 1989
Why: Louise Simonson How: John Byrne

The Story So Far...
When an attack on the X-Men's home turf led to the inevitable defeat of The Marauders -- an explosive device planted in the X-Mansion allowed Mister Sinister to strike the ultimate revenge against his enemies!

Unaware of the events that transpired; the New Mutants return from battling an alien called Gosamyr to make the shocking discovery that their school is in ruins!

A brief skirmish with an injured Sabretooth gives them a taste of what transpired, but there's no time to dwell on the past. A new threat arises when former Headmaster Magneto returns with The Hellfire Club at his side!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Sebastian Shaw 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Magneto 5 (Professor)
Speed: Cannonball 5 (Super-Human)
Stamina: Sebastian Shaw 7 (Unstoppable)
Agility: Warlock 6 (Malleable)
Fighting: Mirage 4 (Trained)
Energy: Selene 6 (Mass Destruction)
Total: Magneto 28 (Metahuman)

The New Mutants are: Cannonball, Sunspot, Wolfsbane, Mirage, Warlock, and Illyana Rasputin.

This is a young team, facing the challenge of a once trusted mentor, but that doesn't mean we should count them out. They'll all go on to great things, and already show signs of their future promise -- even at this early stage. On their way here they dealt with a short-lived challenge from a weakened Sabretooth.

The Hellfire Club are: "White King" Magneto, "Black King" Sebastian Shaw, "White Queen" Emma Frost, and "Black Queen" Selene.

The Inner Circle clearly have experience on their side - none more so than Magneto. His admission as White King comes with his intimate knowledge of the New Mutants, having served very recently as their Headmaster.

We've seen Magneto withstand the coordinated powers of the adult X-Men in X-Men #113. He's clearly a major threat all on his own, and even the telepathic assault that took him out in X-Men #25 is covered by his Hellfire Club support.

Emma Frost hasn't developed her diamond form yet, coming to the fight strictly as a powerful telepath. Sebastian Shaw offers super-human muscle, able to absorb any impact against him and convert it into strength. Selene rounds out the group with mastery over inanimate objects and life-draining.This one really comes down to team dynamics and execution of strategy. For the New Mutants to have a real chance they'd need to clearly identify the strengths and weakness of themselves and their opponents.

This is long before Emma Frost will develop an invulnerable diamond form, so taking her telepathic powers out of the battle early with a frontal assault could be a good use of Cannonball or Wolfsbane. Removing Sebastian Shaw without powering him up could be a job for Warlock, who could eject him similarly to Nimrod in Uncanny X-Men #209. Wolfsbane could claw Selene, while Mirage's empathic image casting is free to attack Magneto at his core.

The New Mutants could also try to turn Magneto against his new teammates. Will the perfect scenario play out for them? Let's see how it went...

The Tape: New Mutants Ranking: Cannonball (#115)

What Went Down...
Hovering above the ruins of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters: Magneto and The Hellfire Club survey the damage. Angered by their former headmaster's return, Sunspot grabs a massive hunk of damaged machinery and hurls it!

The steel equipment is effortlessly deflected by The Master of Magnetism, who also holds his clubmen afloat. He allows Black King, Sebastian Shaw, to descend and match Sunspot on the ground. He attacks with a devastating left hook!

Cannonball leaps to his teammate's defense for the second time this day, but finds his path to Shaw suddenly cut off by a rising wall of wreckage. A defensive measure courtesy of Selene, she who commands all that is inanimate!

Cannonball smashes into the wall and falls to his hands and knees!

He's too stunned to resist The Black Queen, who lingers over the fallen firebrand with sinister intent. She traces her hand over the back of Cannonball's neck, preparing to drain his life-force -- when she suddenly becomes a decrepit hag!

The transformation is a mere illusion plucked from Selene's own psyche by the empathic powers of Mirage! The young mutant makes her inner most fear a tangible reality, but she's soon undone by a psychic assault from Emma Frost!

The White Queen mentally forces Mirage to release Selene from her influence, inciting Warlock to bare massive fangs in defense of his teammate!

The techno-organic creature notes his imperviousness to Emma Frosts' telepathic bolts, but fails to consider his absolute vulnerability to the Master of Magnetism! His cartoonishly distorting body is swept toward the rest of the new Mutants, who find themselves collectively surrounded by twisting metal!

Tired of their rebellious opposition, Magneto holds his former students encased in a ball of metal to end the battle.

The Hammer...
With the New Mutants at his mercy: Magneto quizzes them about the young mystery girl in their company and their missing member. He's surprised to learn his once promising student, Illyana Rasputin, has chosen to become a child to avoid succumbing to her own darker impulses.

Despite their defeat, the New Mutants defiantly refuse to return to their former headmaster's tutelage. The team has simply seen the former villain make too many compromises to ever accept him as their teacher again.

This effectively concludes Magneto's four years as New Mutants Headmaster, and a member of the X-Men. He'll return to villainy shortly thereafter, rebuilding Asteroid M, and joining the cabal of conspiring villains in Acts of Vengeance. We saw how that led him to battle Spider-Man in Amazing Spider-Man #327.

The split from the New Mutants has immediate consequences within the pages of New Mutants #75, where Sebastian Shaw seizes the opportunity to challenge Magneto's position as White King. In the end it always comes down to in-fighting and power struggles with these people.

Shaw claims Magneto was elected into the Inner Circle as a leader of both the X-Men and New Mutants -- but now controls nothing. Magneto takes that about as well as you'd expect, and the two throw down for the main event battle hinted at on the cover of the issue [see; top]. You can be certain we'll return to take a closer look at that fight some time in the future!

Today was supposed to mark the long-awaited wide release of New Mutants in theatres, but FOX's final X-related film was once again delayed, by the closure of cinemas, and unprecedented measures to curb global spread of COVID-19.

These are strange days, but I figure Secret Wars on Infinite Earths can do its small part by continuing to feature some of the characters who would've been in theatres around this time. It's been a good time to do some extra reading while we're all self-isolating, and hopefully it provides a fun distraction.

As I've mentioned before, even as a young reader, I was never one to buy-in to kid heroes. That meant the New Mutants weren't really on my radar until a year later, when they got a major overhaul from the style guide of Rob Liefeld.

The revamp did a good job of shaking off the impression these were the geeks of the X-Men universe. I appreciate the effort to present them as authentically youthful and in training, but I've never been a big fan of this iteration of their matching black & gold uniforms. The update was well timed.

I appreciate that today's featured fight showed the New Mutants coming into their powers, but ultimately outclassed by their opponents. It moved necessary storylines forward, and avoided the dubious trope of kid-heroes overcoming unfathomable odds. This time the bad guys won and that feels credible.

Star pupil Cannonball did manage to violently kayo Sabretooth on the way to this fight, after Sunspot withstood a full rake of his claws. That was another well weighted way to give the team a win before they took a loss. It also set up a future rematch that we can officially add to the To Do list.

You can discover relevant past, present, and future fights by following links throughout this article, or by diving into the Secret Archive. That's where you'll find every battle indexed by publisher, series, and issue number! Or subscribe to Twitter and Facebook for daily links to battles inspired by the day's topics!

Secret Wars on Infinite Earths has featured well over 600 battles and counting! If you like superhero smackdown and want to see the service continue you can contribute via Patreon. Patrons gain insider access to the schedule, and can get involved with special feature articles and polls. Not to mention fostering my eternal gratitude and continued survival!

If today's battle has whetted your appetite, you can get the full story collected in Epic Collection New Mutants: Curse of the Valkyrie. Shop using the Amazon purchase link provided and you'll find yourself a good deal at a safe distance -- while Amazon supports the site at no extra cost! Nice!

Winners: Magneto & Hellfire Club
#81 (+60) Magneto
#182 (+288) Emma Frost
#390 (+508) Sebastian Shaw
#391 (+506) Selene
#128 (-13) Cannonball
#341 (-187) Sunspot
#353 (-156) Magik (Illyana Rasputin)
#357 (-128) Warlock (Phalanx)
#589 (-44) Mirage
#907 (new) Wolfsbane