PRIME SENTINELS versus X-MEN

First Blood - Operation: Zero Tolerance Prologue (Marvel)
Where: X-Men #65 When: June 1997
Why: Scott Lobdell How: Carlos Pacheco

The Story So Far...
En route from a mission to wrest the cure for the Legacy Virus from the clutches of both Sebastian Shaw and The Kingpin -- the X-Men find themselves under assault from yet another lurking threat!

Operation: Zero Tolerance has stoked the fires of anti-mutant sentiment in the wake of the devastating attack by Onslaught that seemingly cost the lives of Earth's Mightiest Heroes - The Avengers and Fantastic Four!

The X-Men are primed to become public enemies once again as they find their plane under attack from Operation: Zero Tolerance -- with TV cameras capturing the battle -- and Henry Peter Gyrich on hand to brand it an act of terrorists.

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Wolverine 3 (Athlete)
Intelligence: Cyclops 4 (Tactician)
Speed: Cannonball 5 (Super-Human)
Stamina: Wolverine 6 (Generator)
Agility: Storm 3 (Acrobat)
Fighting: Wolverine 6 (Warrior)
Energy: Cyclops 5 (Lasers)
Total: Wolverine 26 (Metahuman)

The Prime Sentinels are a unique breed of cybernetic soldiers created by Bastion for Operation: Zero Tolerance.

Unlike traditional Sentinel robots; Prime models are actually human sleeper agents outfitted with nanotech implants, which can be activated remotely to turn them into heavily armed, armored attack agents.

They possess greatly enhanced strength & durability, concussive force blasts, flight, and some ability to impede mutant powers, with the added benefits of being able to blend in with humans when not activated.

The X-Men are: Cyclops, Storm, Phoenix, Wolverine, and Cannonball.

All of these X-Men are well versed in battling mutant-hunting Sentinels. We saw Cyclops and Phoenix do some damage during a Christmas attack, with Storm making a vital save when things got a little out of hand.

Cannonball, who is a still recent call-up from X-Force, fought the Sentinels as a member of the New Mutants. His invincible blast-shield generated while in flight makes him a good hand against the classic robots, and he's still riding the high of a proving-moment against Gladiator shortly before this issue.

We don't have any of those moments recorded at time of writing, but we have seen Cannonball join X-Force against the armored Iron Man during the second Contest of Champions. Results were mixed.

Sentinels have a bit of a mixed history when it comes to combat: The Tri-Sentinel super-charged by Loki was no match for a cosmically powered Spider-Man, but when a malfunctioning model sprung out of a scrapyard -- Falcon was caught by surprise!

In an alternate future, we saw scrapped Sentinels become instruments of death for Magneto, and yet another possible future produced the deadly Nimrod: a time-travelling Sentinel that forced the X-Men and Juggernaut to team-up, and later resurfaced to overwhelm both the X-Men and Hellfire Club!

How will the X-Men fare in their first encounter with the Prime Sentinels? Let's find out!

The Tape: X-Men Ranking: Wolverine (#5)

What Went Down...

Over a previously undisturbed wooded Colorado valley -- a sophisticated Operation: Zero Tolerance aircraft is more than a match for the loaner jet it unleashes its hi-tech weaponry upon!

A direct impact blasts open the cabin, and snaps one of the passengers -- Jean Grey, aka; Phoenix -- out of an unexpected psychic episode that briefly communed her with the believed-dead, sub-dimensionally lost hero: Iron Man!

It seems Operation: Zero Tolerance's weapons have had an unexpected effect on Phoenix's telepathic abilities, making it even more difficult for her to assist the X-Men as Storm battles rapid decompression with her command of the winds.

Things are going from bad to worse as Cyclops discovers the controls of the plane almost completely unresponsive. It's up to Phoenix & Storm to keep them aloft!

In desperate need of a clean landing and facing further assault from two fast-moving aircraft -- Cannonball leaps from the cabin to take them on!

His kinetic forcefield keeps him safe as he rips through the outer hull of the attacking vessels, but from within springs two human-shaped bogeys!

Cannonball finds himself joined in the air by three strange, man-sized Sentinels!

The young X-Man is so startled by their unusual appearance -- he doesn't even realise they're steering him towards an attack from one of the airships! 

Fortunately, he has Wolverine and Cyclops watching his back! Cyclops unleashes an optic blast -- nailing the aircraft before it can attack!

Unfortunately, there's nobody to save Cyclops when the jet is hit from another aircraft and he's thrown from the opening in the cabin!

The irony of ironies is that Cyclops' life is saved by the Prime Sentinels that catch him unconscious in mid-air, to be flown to future internment.

Wolverine can see the X-Men are being picked off, one by one.

This time Storm takes the initiative, leaping from the plane to take the fight to the Sentinels, but she was expecting more energy blasts -- and completely failed to anticipate the deployment of a rapidly expanding polymer!

The substance slowly twists its way along Storm's body until she's completely encased in the translucent substance -- helpless in a grip of claustrophobia and the inescapable encasement!

With the situation growing increasingly desperate -- Wolverine steers the shaking jet towards the trees and mountains below, urging the Operation: Zero Tolerance aircraft to follow as he takes Phoenix by the hand and plays for a hasty exit.

A holographic display shows the spectacular explosion of the crashing plane to Bastion, who relishes "... the X-Men's final flight from justice..."

While the Prime Sentinels carry a polymer-encased Storm back to their craft, more of their agents discover Cannonball unconscious in the nearby river, while others clasp a hi-tech cradle over Cyclops' head & eyes, and descend to retrieve Wolverine and Phoenix from rubble near the crash site.

The Hammer...

A shocking defeat for the X-Men as Operation: Zero Tolerance kicks off the full scale threat of Bastion and his Prime Sentinels!

As you might have noticed at the top of this entry -- we're back in 1997. A year I generally look back upon very fondly, and has come into vogue again thanks to the just-concluded first season of Disney's X-Men 97 animated series -- a revival of the classic X-Men cartoon.

I was still buying occasional X-Men issues from the newsstands around this time, and probably rewatching Season 1 videotapes of the cartoon as well, but the presumed grind of constant X-over events meant I was a little less focused on what was going on around this time. The end of the cartoon likely contributed.

It was probably another year or so before I really started to feel like X-Men's time had passed, and questioned their enduring place at the top of the monthly sales charts, but after the blockbuster of Onslaught, my focus was already transferred to the Heroes Reborn titles, most enduringly Fantastic Four - a perennial fave.

In 1997, the return to a meandering Sentinel-based danger, and purple-clad arch-villain, felt a little bit passe and "samey", but in hindsight, I think I'd be much more complimentary now. It was easy to be flippantly disinterested back then -- there were exciting things going on across pop culture, competing for time & dollars. There was a disposable exchange and we didn't always get it right.

Looking back on Operation: Zero Tolerance now -- it strikes me that it's a vibrant return to classic X-Men. A welcome centering after a couple of years of disruption, most notably with 1995's Age of Apocalypse, that moved things forward well after the drawn out mystery of Onslaught, and consequences of Heroes Reborn.

Artists like Carlos Pacheco and Salvador Larroca were giving tremendous energy to pencils amid the exit of Joe Madureira, and I'm also inclined to compliment the computer-assisted colours of Chris Lichtner, Aron Lusen, and Liquid!, however those duties might be divided. This work really pushes the nineties style to its apex, and is still very appealing.

The nano-tech twist on the classic Sentinels formula is also a fresh and topical of-the-time detail I overlooked. It would come back into focus brilliantly when Grant Morrison breathed new life into the whole thing with his 2001 New X-Men -- a welcome evolution of the X-Men that, at least as far as Nano-Sentinels are concerned, also further validates what was done here. A similar idea also consumed DC in 2006 with Project OMAC. If only I'd paid more attention in '97!

Then, and now, I have mixed feelings about the technology and concepts bridging the gap to Nimrod. At the time, the vague techno-connection was played up as a bit of a bigger deal than it really wound up being. A symptom of another push for a mystery identity ala Onslaught, with the trickiness of moving us closer to a future that was always presented as a bit more distant.

Here in 2024, that time crunch has been concluded, with Nimrod playing a big role in the recent Fall of X that has once again given us a re-centering moment, after a few years of the very niche Krakoa era. A moment that seems to have been rapidly overtaken by a slightly nostalgic revival, led by X-Men 97, and the influx of related merchandise into a market starved by Marvel Entertainment execs.

I have some slight misgivings about nostalgia, these days. It's been a steady few decades of inescapable, often vacuous, retreads of eighties and nineties pop culture icons in multiple mediums. We're starved for genuinely enjoyable, exciting, enduring things, but some of that comes from the tedium of post-millennial movements away from vibrant, colourful, enduring icons. In comics, this type of centered reset has felt overdue amidst the many deaths and distractions.

Whatever may come next -- I'm having a great time digging out those old X-Men back issues that have notoriously been neglected here on Secret Wars on Infinite Earths. The To Do List is always longer than the road, but I do feel like I especially left my X-Men fandom out in the cold for far too long.

If you'd like to help make it possible to dedicate more time to classic X-Men battles and curiosities - consider becoming a supporter on Patreon. I always appreciate seeing you hitting up our extensive back catalogue of articles, and it would help me tremendously to have your support for all that work.

Secret Wars on Infinite Earths has featured well over 700 fights and ranked more than 1,000 characters! You can find them all by diving into the Secret Archive for a complete index of battles in order of publisher, series, and issue, or by hitting up links to your favourites things found throughout each entry.

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Winners: Prime Sentinels
#368 (new) Prime Sentinels
#162 (-2) Jean Grey
#5 (--) Wolverine
#36 (--) Storm
#92 (--) Cyclops
#160 (-1) Cannonball

BEAST, CANNONBALL & KARMA versus SPIRAL

Bad Karma (Marvel)
Where: Beast #1 When: May 1997
Why: Keith Giffen How: Cedric Nocon

The Story So Far...
For too long the young mutant Karma has sought her missing brother & sister. Drawn into the seedy underbelly of Madripoor during her search -- she returns to New York City intent on taking matters into her own hands.

Karma telepathically possesses an unsuspecting Beast to launch a frontal assault on the Hellfire Club, but the X-Man returns to his senses just in time to prevent undue bloodshed, instead hacking into Hellfire databases to learn the children were handed over to Viper.

A psychic vision of The Body Shop reveals to Karma her lost siblings -- alive and undergoing genetic experimentation at the hands of Spiral. The six-armed free agent was recruited by Viper in her private war against Karma, and a security alert at the X-Mansion can only signal Spiral's inter-dimensional arrival!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Beast 5 (Super-Human)
Intelligence: Beast 6 (Genius)
Speed: Cannonball 5 (Super-Human)
Stamina: Cannonball 4 (Athlete)
Agility: Beast 5 (Cat-Like)
Fighting: Spiral 4 (Trained)
Energy: Cannonball 3 (Explosives)
Total: Beast 26 (Metahuman)

Two X-Men and two former New Mutants walk into a fight... Okay, those numbers don't quite add up, but that's the set-up when Beast & Cannonball offer assistance to the latter's old New Mutants teammate - Karma.

I guess that makes Spiral the walking, talking punchline. With six arms enhanced with cyborg components, the Mojoverse mutate can go hand-to-hand with her trio of opponents, fist for fist. Assuming that's her chosen method of fighting that is.

Spiral is known to favour swords when she enters battle, swinging multiple blades in a deadly dance that serves a dual purpose of weapons combat, and casting spells with her mastery of magic.

Spiral is best known for teleporting herself and others through time and space, but her versatile dancing spells can also project concussive blasts, conjure objects, interfere with others' abilities, and effect unconsciousness.

She can also resist mental interference -- directly nullifying Karma's mutant gifts of telepathy & mental possession, and has been known to breach the seemingly impenetrable field that forms around Cannonball when he takes flight.

There really is no limit to Spiral's versatility. She even puts Beast's expertise in genetics to shame, running The Body Shop in her spare time, where she experiments with flesh, fusing body and steel to create the likes of Lady Deathstrike and The Reavers. Will that knowhow help her in battle? Let's see!

The Tape: Beast, Cannonball & Karma Ranking: Beast (#55)

What Went Down...
Cannonball rockets Karma and Beast to the mansion grounds where they find Spiral lingering beneath the trees at the outer perimeter. With swords already drawn, she taunts them: "My, my. All this fuss over little old me?"

Karma demands to know where her twin siblings are, but before she can probe Spiral's mind -- the six-armed mystic mutate has swung her hands in a vogue that block's Karma's attack and forces her into unconsciousness.

Cannonball is the first X-Man to respond -- launching himself at Spiral!

Her swords are bunched overhead, but a rising knee begins the dance around the charging mutant, whose natural forcefield is penetrated by Spiral's otherworldly magic. With a simple gesture she blasts him in the face!

The counter-attack knocks Cannonball out cold, and Spiral mocks his lack of maneuverability as she tosses his limp body aside.

Maneuverability happens to be a skill Beast has in spades. He takes full advantage of Spiral's distraction with his fellow X-Man, bounding in to deliver a swift uppercut!

Beast further demonstrates his spectacular agility, swinging his feet into a low sweeping kick.

Spiral dances clear of the attack, thrusting three swords in the blue-furred X-Man's general direction, but he's already tumbled into a handstand press that keeps his body clear of the blades.

The swordsman lunges at her target, but he effortlessly leaps over her head -- landing behind her to lock in a firm full nelson!

Beast's mighty arms manage to pin three or four of Spiral's many arms behind her, but she isn't immobilized for long.

The mystic manages to slip clear with a simple teleportation that takes her out of the hold and back to the unconscious bodies of Cannonball and Karma.

Content that she has what she came for, Spiral abandons the battle to begin the dance to teleport her prey back to The Body Shop. Something the Beast isn't about to allow uninterrupted!

As the spell nears its completion Beast dives into the energy field -- joining his fellow mutants on their magical mystery tour to a destination unknown.

The Hammer...

Beast makes a valiant effort to save the day, but with both of his allies down, he can't quite turn it around. Spiral takes the win, but Beast will be on hand to keep the team in the fight when they regroup in issue two.

Beast's status as the last man standing is the strongest indicator that this is the first issue of his own mini-series. A surprise release that could've just as easily been sold as a Karma mini -- if something like that would have actually sold.

Somehow I just can't see myself running back & forth between money earned per bucket doing gardening work, and the newsagent that just happened to have this on a stacked stand, without the star power of an A-list X-Man.

It's nice to see Beast participating in the good fight. That's basically the reason I decided to dig this one out. A trip back to the good old days of a Hank McCoy who is erudite, full of good humor, and a magnificent combination of physical strength and gymnastic feats. The smart & funny one of the original X-Men.

Here in 2023 Beast has just been on the lethal end of Wolverine's claws as the latest victim in a decade of Marvel Comics killing their icons, and occasionally turning heroes into their own antagonists. It's slightly different. He was cloned before issue's end, but I still lament the days when comics were a bit more fun.

It's tough to reconcile the bounding hero on the cover of 1997's Beast #1 with the cutthroat, rat bastard that seems to have emerged in recent years. It almost reads like an entirely different character. Maybe it is..?

The Beast mini-series was only about a year removed from that odd little period when the Dark Beast of the Age of Apocalypse reality managed to infiltrate our universe, hold the genuine article captive, and secretly replace him.

It always reminded me of the saga of Roman Brady & John Black from daytime TV's Days of Our Lives. A soap opera moment with inter-dimensional doppelgangers as only superhero comics can provide. Prime X-Men territory, but if you don't know the reference, just ask your mother (or grandmother). Trust me.

The return of Dark Beast would be the kind of easy-way-out that could quickly restore Beast to his iconic, fun-loving self -- if only that wasn't a needlessly complicated rehashing of an old story that wasn't that great to begin with. The last thing I want to be doing right now is advocating for sloppy "multiverse" plots.

I don't want to fault the longform storytelling too much either, but is the entire original line-up of the X-Men really destined to take a turn at being raging jerks?

Jean Grey famously turned against the team during the groundbreaking Dark Phoenix saga, followed by Angel's transgression and periodic hostilities as Archangel. Then there were Professor X's various secret indiscretions culminating with the manifestation of Onslaught, and whatever nonsense reduced Cyclops to an unwaveringly miserable prick. Oy. Iceman better run while he still can!

I don't really love the idea of hastily sweeping away recent stories, but it's felt like Marvel (and DC) are shockingly overdue a restoration of their iconic characters in comics for a long time. The type of reset that used to keep these heroes centered and accessible, no matter how outlandish their adventures were.

That overdue sensation is likely only going to heighten when Disney+ brings back the much-loved team of the X-Men animated series in the appropriately titled X-Men '97. It's now rumored to be committed to multiple seasons, and as much as I wouldn't usually advocate for multimedia influencing the source -- this is referring back to a time when cartoons were notable for being directly inspired by comics!

Things change, but I hope we'll be able to enjoy Beast again in comics sometime soon, like the old friend he always was. That's kind of the pleasure of these enduring superhero icons. Failing that, we can always go back to the classics!

Secret Wars on Infinite Earths has featured well over 700 battles and ranked more than 1,000 iconic characters! You can find them all by following links throughout this post to find more from your favourites, or by diving into the Secret Archive for a complete index in order of publisher, series, and issue number!

Help make that archive grow by becoming a supporter on Patreon. As a thank you for supporting the project and all the work that goes into it you'll find additional updates and multiple tiers to sponsor even more featured content.

Get free daily links to fights inspired by the topics of the day by subscribing to Twitter and Facebook, or by becoming a freebie follower on Patreon. Don't forget to smash that like, fave, and share -- and keep your eyes peeled for the week's top trending battles every Sunday on Twitter & Patreon!

Winner: Spiral
#355 (new) Spiral
#55 (--) Beast
#153 (-11) Cannonball
#989 (new) Karma

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

SABRETOOTH versus NEW MUTANTS

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

The Story So Far...
When The Marauders attacked the X-Men on their home turf, the short-lived siege was seemingly thwarted -- but a hidden explosive device within the X-Mansion itself allowed Mister Sinister to make a final strike.

The combined ranks of X-Factor and the X-Men recovered from the blast to defeat Mister Sinister, but there was nothing they could do about the mansion's destruction.

When the New Mutants return home from battling the alien Gosamyr, they're shocked to discover the school in ruins. Unaware of the battle that transpired, they scour the wreckage for survivors. When Mirage senses someone clinging to life, they jump into action to rescue them from the rubble.

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Sunspot 5 (Super-Human)
Intelligence: Sabretooth 4 (Tactician)
Speed: Cannonball 5 (Super-Human)
Stamina: Sabretooth 5 (Marathoner)
Agility: Warlock 6 (Malleable)
Fighting: Sabretooth 7 (Living Weapon)
Energy: Magik 5 (Lasers)
Total: Sabretooth 28 (Metahuman)

Sabretooth is no stranger to stalking young mutants, and today he's got the scent of a fresh batch of students from Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters!

The New Mutants are: Cannonball, Sunspot, Wolfsbane, Mirage, Warlock, and Illyana Rasputin. The team is green, but not so untested that they can't rely on their powers to handle themselves.

There's an obvious parallel between Wolfsbane's werewolf-like, lycanthropic transformation, and the animal savagery of Sabretooth. He was quite lean in these days, but probably still holds a size and weight advantage over her -- something Wolverine had to contend with over the years, as in Wolverine #50.

Sabretooth also has a wealth of experience as a mercenary, but that hasn't always informed his fighting style. He typically relied on brute strength and malice against the speed and finesse of Iron Fist, narrowly coming up short in both Iron Fist #14, and Power Man & Iron Fist #66.

None of the New Mutants has the martial arts skills, or speed & agility of Iron Fist, but that might not be such a problem. in Adventures of the X-Men #7, he returned to the X-Mansion to stalk Jubilee, but was ultimately thwarted when she gave Professor Xavier enough time to recover from being attacked.

Mirage could use her empathic image casting to mentally soothe the savage beast with visions of something calming. Failing that, there's always the kinetic impact of Cannonball, or solar enhanced strength of Sunspot!

DC's Superboy combined both flight and strength to put Sabretooth down hard during a crossover battle with the Teen Titans in Unlimited Access #3! He won't have the tricks Deadpool used to ground Cannonball in New Mutants #98, or solar absorption that helped Iron Man win in Contest of Champions II #1.

Can the New Mutants stare down the intimidating sadism of Sabretooth? He's got the element of surprise, but also the bruises of recent battle. How will it all play out? Let's take a look...

The Tape: New Mutants Ranking: Sunspot (#155)

What Went Down...
Standing in horror amidst the wreckage of Xavier's decimated School for Gifted Youngsters, the New Mutants are alone and shell shocked.

As they consider the possibilities of who could've been responsible for such destruction, and who may've been present: Mirage detects the rising death glow of someone clinging precariously to life. Sunspot powers-up to investigate...

Sabretooth springs from beneath the massive piece of rubble lifted by Sunspot. He thanks his rescuer with the sharp side of his claws, raking them across his solar-powered face!

Seeing his friend in peril, Cannonball launches into action -- flying across the battlefield on a beeline towards the attacker!

The mutant missile collides with Sabretooth with unforgiving speed!

The force of the blow snaps Sabretooth backward, sending him tumbling head over heels back into the rubble. Face down and already exhausted, the fight leaves him as the New Mutants attempt to find out who Sabretooth is.

He introduces himself, gloating over the fruits of the Marauder's labour. It was their siege on the X-Men and X-Factor that led Sinister to destroy the mansion!

The taunts trail off -- seemingly Sabretooth's final words when Warlock detects his vital signs ceasing. Mirage senses no such passing, intuiting his inevitable survival through her "Valkyrie Gift" to see death coming, while the group resumes contemplating their present situation.

The Hammer...

Cannonball claims a pretty major scalp early in his career, even if Sabretooth was already pretty banged up by the X-mansion explosion.

Could it have gone any other way? It's hard to say. Despite his well earned and fearsome reputation; Sabretooth has a knack for being a bit of a punching bag -- especially during this period in the late eighties.

Even before the mansion was brought down, he'd been defeated with a psychic strike from Psylocke, in one of their first encounters. We also saw Mister Sinister brush him off pretty swiftly barely two years prior, in Uncanny X-Men #221.

Sabretooth is currently the lowest ranked character in the Fight Club Rankings at #961. The string of unanswered defeats doesn't seem adequately reflective of his stature, but it's difficult to deny a higher than average rate of losing.

Bad guys generally trend toward more losses than wins, and Sabretooth is one of the worst! He also has the added pressure of a healing factor, which means he can take a kicking and come back ticking. That gives writers license to knock him around. In fictional terms, it can also make him over confident and a bit sloppy. Similar can be said of Wolverine, who currently has a 52.5% win rate.

Appropriately enough: Wolverine is the only opponent on record that Sabretooth has managed to fight without losing. Even then, the Wolverine #50 tied result ended with both characters mortally wounded. He's decapitated and written off for several years by the end of the multi-issue struggle. Not a high point.

He seemingly died at the end of this battle, but as Mirage notes for the reader, death isn't coming for him. A pretty clear message that fans can look forward to more trouble from Sabretooth.

He will return in the pages of New Mutants, and I seem to remember something about Mister Sinister experimenting with Sabretooth clones, but that's a messy concept I'd rather not think about right now.

We shall simply commit this one to the books. It's a pretty obscure fight, easily overlooked in favour of two others, most notably the cover featured main event between Magneto and Sebastian Shaw. You can bet we'll be revisiting the issue to look more closely at both of the other battles at some time in the future.

If you want to read ahead to see the whole shebang for yourself you can find this issue collected in Epic Collection New Mutants: Curse of the Valkyrie. Use the Amazon purchase link provided and you'll get yourself a good deal and make sure Amazon supports the site at no extra cost to you!

You can discover more battles by following links throughout this post, or by diving into the Secret Archive, where featured fights are indexed by publisher, series, and issue number.

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Winner: Cannonball (w/ Sunspot)
#114 (+229) Cannonball
#153 (+2) Sunspot [+1 assist]
#961 (--) Sabretooth

DEADPOOL versus CABLE

The Beginning of The End: Part One (Marvel)
Where: New Mutants #98 When: February 1991
Why: Rob Liefeld & Fabian Nicieza How: Rob Liefeld

The Story So Far...
The time-travelling soldier known as Cable has come to the present to guide the development of a young mutant he believes will play a vital role in future events. As a guest of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Cable assumes the role of mentor for their newest mutants, training them in the hard truths of war.

 After working up a sweat training in the Danger Room with Cannonball; Cable retires to the school library where he soon finds himself under attack! You don't get to be a mysterious man of intrigue like Cable without making a few enemies! The mysterious Mr. Tolliver has a vested interest in Cable and he's willing to pay big money to see him hurt! Enter the mercenary killer Deadpool, who has a contract for Cable's head!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Cable 4 (Enhanced)
Intelligence: Cable 4 (Tactician)
Speed: Deadpool 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Deadpool 5 (Marathoner)
Agility: Deadpool 4 (Gymnast)
Fighting: Draw 4 (Trained)
Energy: Draw 4 (Arsenal)
Total: Deadpool 26 (Meta-human)

Deadpool Facts:
As featured on card #178 in Marvel Universe Series IV's Famous Battles!

It's one of the great love-hate relationships in comics and it's finally here on Secret Wars on Infinite Earths! The frenemy rivalry begins here with the first appearance of one of Marvel's biggest icons! Welcome back jerks who just click links when a movie tickles their interest. It's show time!

Deadpool is the Merc' with a Mouth who needs no introduction! His services are available to the highest bidder -- at least until a chance meeting with wealthy businessman Edward Lewis! Edward paid to outfit Deadpool with a new uniform, and after taking the mercenary to see La Traviata at the opera, Deadpool falls madly in love with him. DP breaks his "no kissing rule", but the two soon break up, because Edward is not Deadpool's time travelling knight.

That honor belongs to Nathanial Summers - the cyborg from the future called Cable! As the name might suggest, he's the son of Cyclops and Jean Grey, who was dropped off in the distant future to be raised in a time when every child was left behind! You know him as a pocket wearing, giant gun-toting bad ass with a metal arm, but he's also gifted with mutant telekinetic powers he uses to hold his techno-organic virus at bay, and occasionally levitate stuff and bend spoons!

Cable's from the far flung future, so it kinda makes sense our file on him isn't huge. We know he's got the goods to beat-up a turkey at short notice. We saw him team with Captain America in an accidental dimension jump, taking down MODOK & AIM in Captain America (Vol.2) #6! He also grappled with his nemesis from the future, Ahab, in X-Men Annual #14. Emotions got the better of Cable in that fight and he was outwitted by the powerful cyborg!

Of course, Deadpool's no slouch when it comes to taking down cyborgs! Smarts helped him overcome arch-nemesis Ajax in a raw final showdown [in Deadpool #19]! He also punked out the well kitted Taskmaster not once - but twice [Deadpool #2, Cable & Deadpool #36]! Who looks foolish now?! Well...

We've also seen Punisher use his arsenal of tricks to flash fry Deadpool in the mini-series Deadpool: Suicide Kings #2! His best efforts didn't leave a scratch on Juggernaut back in Deadpool: Sins of the Past #2! And everybody looks just a little stupid beating up Batroc The Leaper in a hotel room [Deadpool #20].

We know fighters with healing factors are always prone to a beat down, but when Deadpool's all-business he's a legitimately deadly mercenary. With guns, swords, speed and agility focused on the objective - can take on the Hulk and live to tell about it [Deadpool #4]! Mr. Lewis Mr. Tolliver doesn't like to be kept waiting. Let's just see who takes the famous first fight!

The Tape: Deadpool Ranking: Deadpool (#20)

What Went Down...
Xavier's School for Gift Youngsters, Westchester, 14:51. Cable retreats to the library for some light reading. He swears he's just interested in the articles, but we dig. Without warning -- the "bwompoom" of unexpected teleportation!

Cable falls flat on his ass as he's confronted with the arrival of Deadpool! The merc's been hired by the elusive Mr. Tolliver. Seems he wants Cable found - and killed! Cable says it's no hard feelings, but y'know. Mr. "Articles" over here.

Deadpool draws his gun and sends regards from his employer. Cable and Tollivar don't see their history the same way, but it hardly matters. Deadpool's ready to shoot -- if only Cannonball didn't swoop in from behind for the save!

Apparently the kid's head of the class when it comes to keep his mutant rocket powers running silent. Too bad for him Deadpool's well prepared, tossing a neural disrupted net that wraps Cannonball up nice, tight, and incapacitated!

Cannonball hits the deck hard -- but not as hard as Cable hits when he takes advantage of the distraction and smacks Deadpool in the face! He throws a second punch with his cyborg arm, scoring a "krak" from the impact!

Seems Deadpool's jaw broke, but he keeps the chatter coming. He throws a fancy free quip and a dagger that buries itself in Cable's leg. Ouchy!

Cable goes down and Deadpool once again moves in for the kill - only to be interrupted by one of those meddling kids and their stupid mutant power! This time it's Rictor, who sends a tremor right through the mercenary's path!

DP keeps his feet and identifies three junior targets: Rictor, Sunspot, and Boom Boom. All students at Xavier's school who've fallen under Cable's bad influence.

Knowing his enemies, Deadpool neutralizes Rictor's unpredictable vibration powers first with wires designed to contract the more he tries to shake them off!

Hothead Sunspot is next by request, but Deadpool's counting on the kid's arrogance to leave him wide open. Super-strength isn't always the solution, he says, espousing the virtues of finesse and subtlety as he draws three blades -- only to suddenly succumb to three in his own back!

It seems Cable put a call into an old acquaintance goes by the name of Domino. She's new in these parts, but arrived right on time - just like always. Oh, yeah. Just one catch: She ain't the real Domino. Not so lucky after all, Cable.

The Hammer...
It was a fight that had it all! Guns! Action! Youthful disobedience! Futuristic tactical weaponry! Action movie dialogue! Feet!

One thing it didn't have is Domino! The woman who sure could win the lookalike contest is actually shape-shifting mercenary Copycat! It turns out Mister Tolliver hired her to infiltrate Cable's mutant cadre to spy on him, in what was apparently a needlessly complicated double-bluff that involved knifing Deadpool in the back.

Worse still: Copycat is Vanessa Carlysle -- Deadpool's former girlfriend who he broke up with when he found out he had cancer!

I guess it's a story as old as time: Boy meets girl. Boy gets cancer and loses girl. Boy survives cancer via hideously disfiguring, life-altering experiments. Boy becomes mutant mercenary. Girl becomes mutant mercenary. Girl stabs boy repeatedly in the back. It's young love and we've all been there!

If you're one of those jerks who only reads about comics to pretend to your friends you know all about the characters in movies, you know a version of Copycat portrayed by Morena Baccarin. You're about to know Domino better, too, because Deadpool 2 is bigger, badder, and in theatres May 18th!

She isn't exactly comic book Domino either, but who really is? Well, the real Domino is, obviously... She eventually showed up for realsies a year later in X-Force #8. She became a recurring character in that book, developing into a far more integral part of X-lore than Copycat. That's called living well and finding success, which is really the best form of revenge.

If you really had your heart set on seeing Domino in action, I can offer you Contest of Champions II #1, where she kicked Iron Man in the head. If you stick around, we might have something fun coming up next week, too. I dunno! I don't have magical mutant luck powers! [Note: Domino does].

We've kind of buried the lede here, because if you've heard of New Mutants #98, it's undoubtedly because it's the first appearance of Deadpool!

Not exactly the fourth-wall breaking, madcap mercenary he'll become, but the groundwork of an interesting character is quickly laid. Liefeld leads with a strong visual distinct from some of his other characters. The story goes he wanted to draw a gun-toting, edgy kinda Spider-man. It doesn't sound like a great pitch, but it works! There's a simple cool factor to the design, and introductory fight that sets the table for what we know comes in the years that follow!

It might've been even better if the Copycat/Domino plot wasn't heaped on as well, but he had the better of Cable throughout, and that created intrigue. The layouts get a little sketchy, and story always seems to be vague and chaotic when Liefeld's around.

My previously established childhood bias against kid-heroes kept me pretty well away from New Mutants and X-Force, but Deadpool caught my eye like a lot of others! There was just something there. It was X-Men, iconic super-heroes, with something a little bit different. Once the Weapon X connection was established, that sure couldn't have hurt, either.

Today, I'd equate the added flavor to Larry Hama's GI Joe, or Ostrander's Suicide Squad. Vivid, cool looking characters with key weaponry, skills and objectives, entering into a world that completes them. It can fly off the rails pretty easily, and in the X-books it often did, but when it's good it's great!

As always - you can get a better impression of what I'm talking about by checking out the story for yourself! Shopping via the Amazon link provided will get you a fine collected edition - and support the site at no extra cost to you!

Dive into the Secret Archive to uncover more fights like this one, or follow links scattered throughout this post. You never know what you'll find! You can also follow Secret Wars on Infinite Earths on Twitter and Facebook for daily links to fights inspired by the topics of the day!

Fans of the Fight Club Rankings can look below to feast of fresh controversy! For her obvious role in finishing the battle, Copycat collects the win stat. Cable and the intervening New Mutants will all pick up assists -- even Sunspot and Boom Boom, who did technically provide the distraction that set Deadpool up to get knifed!

Winner(s): Copycat (w/ Cable, Cannonball & Rictor)
#311 (new) Copycat (aka; Domino)
#20 (--) Deadpool
#107 (+4) Cable [+1 assist]
#139 (+2) Boom Boom [+1 assist]
#143 (+19) Sunspot [+1 assist]
#318 (+5) Cannonball [+1 assist]
#533 (new) Rictor [+1 assist]