FANTASTIC FOUR/X-MEN/X-FACTOR/NEW MUTANTS versus AHAB & THE HOUNDS
Days of Future Present Part 4: You Must Remember This (Marvel comics)
Where: X-Men Annual #14 When: 1990
Why: Chris Claremont How: Art Adams

The story so far...
For humanity there exists a dark potential future.
A time where mutants have been hunted to near extinction, and humanity lives enslaved by the robotic Sentinel armies that police the streets so vigilantly.

Franklin Richards and Rachel Summers, refugees from this dark time, escape back to seek protection in a more placid time where their parents stood triumphant and hopeful against these evils. Unfortunately for them, their time travelling escape is not the only shift made from this future.

Dr. Roderick Campbell, the man-Sentinel known as Ahab, follows the two mutant rebels back through the timestream, hoping to use the environment to manipulate a final showdown with his longtime targets. Unfortunately for him, the mutants are far from extinct in this time, and despite his advanced technology and many powers, he may find himself overwhelmed...

Previous Form:
X-Men [#1]: The X-Men have defeated the future's super-Sentinel, Nimrod; among others.
Fantastic Four [#2]: Killed in a future where Death's Head II became AIM super-weapon, Charnal.
Invisible Woman (#12): Prominent victories over Iconoclast, Frightful Four and others.
Cyclops (#45): Invaluable in the X-Men's defeat of Xorn, and Executioner.
Ahab: Making his debut in the Infinite Wars.

Tale of the tape...
Strength: Ms. Marvel 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Mr. Fantastic 6 (Genius)
Speed: Cannonball 5 (Super Speed)
Stamina: Ahab 6 (Generator)
Agility: Warlock 6 (Rubber)
Fighting Ability: Cable 4 (Trained Fighter)
Energy Powers: Human Torch 7 (Solar Power)


Okay, so if you're a regular reader you might be scratching your head, trying to figure out what Ahab has to do with Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Rightly so, too, since this is a late post for Monday's on-going celebration of the villains from the video game.

Well, we're closing evil clone month off with a positively epic entry! Pictured to the right, an assembly of the Fantastic Four and X-Teams of the time -- but wait! Can you spy two notable exceptions?

Yes, in his timespanning mission to capture and destroy Franklin Richards and Rachel Summers, Ahab has transformed one of each of their parents into dark versions of themselves -- turning them into sadistic, sinister versions of themselves.

The missing parents in question are of course Invisible Woman and Cyclops, and they're going to be front and centre amongst the nameless Hounds, representing Ahab with mad respect, yo. Days of Future Past style, can you dig?

It might not surprise you to know I'm thinking about folding this section up to include only the statistical information, because I think we're reaching a point where I'm just killing time in this section. There are sixteen heroes assembled in the attack on Ahab, and while that doesn't sound like a lot, and scenarios or predictions are only going to be more boring than they usually say.

Suffice to say, there's a tremendous advantage in the number of heroes, and I'm going to probably just go along with that.
Ahab; a super baddy cyborg from a future where mutants are on the brink of extinction and Sentinels patrol the streets, is a tough customer, but come on.
You've got all kinds of Mr. Fantastic, Beast, Forge combinations there, and the Human Torch, and She-Thing, and all kinds of muscle power there...

The Math: FF/X-Men (Total) Ahab & Hounds (Average)
The Pick: Fantastic Four/X-Factor/X-Men/New Mutants

What went down...
The massive collective of heroes sound Ahab's mutant detecting alarms as they burst into his hi-tech stronghold. Distracted from his torture of the former-mutant hunting hound, Rachel Summers, Ahab turns to face many would-be rebels already deceased in a future where he probably killed many of them.

Reed Richards recognises the green garbed humans by Ahab's side as the twisted forms of Scott Summers and Susan Richars -- Cyclops and Invisible Woman, respectively. Boastful of his powers, Ahab sets his Hounds on the invaders.

The armoured Cyclops is the first to do damage, unleashing his optic blasts with enough force to shake even the She-Thing, Ms. Marvel!

Mr. Fantastic steps up to use his elastine body to absorb the brunt of the plasma blasts, while Jean Grey does her best to telekinetically stem the flow of Invisible Woman's malicious invisible forcefields.

The move frees Ms. Marvel up to do more damage where she's better applied, against the nameless bruisers of Ahab's sinister collective of Hounds. The young mutant Cannonball struggles with the moral fact that many of the Hounds were innocent mutants before they met the control of Ahab's machinery.

Meanwhile, Jean Grey suffers moral conflicts of her own, struggling to battle Invisible Woman without inflicting any mortal injury on her during this murderous state. Recognising the issue, Mr. Fantastic taps Banshee to disarm his wife with the non-lethal means of his sonic scream.

Busy grappling with Grey, Invisible Woman is easily blindsided.
Meanwhile, Cable comes up with a plan to use Warlock's tech receptors to absorb the power from Cyclop's power blasts.

Warlock neutralizes X-Factor's jaded leader, while the battle rages onward around him. Cable and Ben Grimm do their best to use non-lethal weaponry to subdue the Hounds, while Gambit, Ms. Marvel and Boomer opt for more physical methods.

Cable, having subdued the Hounds in immediate opposition, sees a path to make a frontal assault on their half-Sentinel leader, Ahab!

Cable lunges at the suspiciously similar looking Ahab, finding himself a little out of his own cybernetic depth. Clutching at Ahab's harpoon staff in the defensive position, Cable soon discovers it is directly connected to Ahab's own power.
With his hands burning, Cable finds himself unable to let go of the weapon, forced to stare into the face of the enemy. Ahab taunts him, asking the mutant whether he sees someone he knows, before swatting him away with the staff.

Storm, suffering the youthful affects of a previous encounter with The Nanny, finds her way to the imprisoned adult Franklin Richards. She does her best to summon Franklin's senses before Ahab can act, but it turns out his trump card affects more than the pod-bound son of Mr. Fantastic.

With the push of a button, Ahab levels the playing field of both his enemies and allies. An energy field attacks the heroes and Hounds alike, attacking their living tissue to the point of incapacitation. Only the mega-powered Franklin Richards is left standing, glowing with incredible mutant energies.

Ethereal, Franklin destroys Ahab's machines of harm with but a gesture.
Unsure and intimidated by the threat he's faced with, Ahab summons his Hounds to heel, including Rachel Summers. Courageously Summers defies her former master, prompting him to toss his harpoon spear for her defiance.

Franklin and Jean Grey intervene, stopping the spear in mid-air with their respective powers. The pressure situation proves more than the adult Richards is able to deal with, impeding his ability to exert his fantastic powers over the mechanical weapon. Likewise, Jean Grey struggles to maintain her telekinetic hold over it.

As Ahab's weapon propels itself gradually closer, Jean Grey unleashes all of her energy, diving between her daughter from the future and the weapon in a last ditch effort. Exhausted in her daughter's arms, Grey is successful.

Seemingly out of tricks, Ahab finds himself surrounded as Reed Richards declares his imminent defeat. The cyborg from the future taunts Richards with the promise that regardless of his fate in the past, Ahab has the last laugh in battle with the heroes. With that he teleports away, leaving the gift of his mark on their loved ones; Cyclops and Invisible Woman.

The hammer...
Woof, well, after all of that, your winners, the Fantastic Four, X-Men, X-Factor and New Mutants. Since everyone is seen to be active in at least panel dressing, I think I'm forced to hand the win to everyone, regardless of the weight of individuals like Franklin Richards. Rachel Summers proved uninvolved in this fight, but for provoking Ahab to seperate from his harpoon, an assist stat.

So, with the pleasantries out of the way, we can finally wrap this one up.
Y'know, it actually turned out to be a lot more straight forward than I felt like it was going to be. I guess part of the issue was that it probably wasn't until the advent of the Fox/Saban cartoon series that I really became a fan of X-Men.

I could be wrong, but this might just about be the first X-Men comic I ever owned, and even then it was probably more because of the story running through from the Fantastic Four annual. Even so, I have to admit to fond memories of this particular issue. Crammed full of characters and action, it actually ranked considerably higher with me at the time than the more subdued FF instalment.

It introduced me to characters like Cable, who was appearing with the New Mutants, a book I was even less interested in than the more recognisable X-books. I mean, I had a passing interest in Wolverine, and Cyclops, and Colossus, and some of those characters, but the New Mutants were barely on the radar!

I couldn't say why that really was. Long before the internet blogosphere, I was pretty removed from the reading public, so I certainly didn't indulge in the Liefeld sensation, or the general X-boom. I can't say if it was all the tail-eating future stories, or the boring similarity amongst the costumes, but something just turned me away from that X-corner of the Marvel universe.

Of course, it's not like there weren't convolusions across the board at the time.
Ben Grimm was finally cured of his rocky predicament, metaphorically passing the curse to Sharon Ventura, who was mutated in much the same way, becoming the affectionately referred to -- She-Thing.
If you've been reading the Infinite Wars recently, you'll know Sharon Ventura eventually showed up, in her human form, to woe the emotionally conflicted Grimm who had again become the Thing [Fantastic Four #367]. If you stay tuned, we'll be filling in some more of those gaps in the coming month.

Fortunately, the combined brilliance of Forge, Beast and Reed Richards, all exibit expertise in fields of mechanics and genetics, are able to use intelligence from the wreckage of Ahab's abandoned facility to return their loved ones back to normal.

The story of Ahab, however, would never enjoy that kind of satisfaction. There are many fabled tales of editorial changes made throughout Chris Claremont's legendary affiliation with the X-Men, and the Ahab character is one of the many.

The reference to seeing someone he recognises during Cable's attack on Ahab alludes to the conceptual conclusion that Ahab was in fact the unfortunate progression undertaken by Cable. The trademark skunk streak, scarred eye, and expanded cybernetics were all indicative of a corruption at some point in the mysterious Cable's future.

Cable would undergo many permeatations, absorbing new pieces of his history and future to eventually become one of the many maligned creations of the X-Universe. His close association with Rob Liefeld and subsequent pad/weapon/pocket heavy design also made for a shakey relationship between fan and character coming out of the declining nineties.

I don't know if you could rightly call this comic fantastic.
It's got that event-heavy action packed quality of the time, with an execution typical of Claremont, occasionally creeping into the embarassingly explanatory.

At the same time Art Adams' artwork is thoroughly effective, and really sticks out in my mind for a lot of reasons. Quiet moments have an odd energy about them, but likewise carry a consistent emotional weight that's prevelant even in the action scenes. His style is beautifully complimented by a slew of inkers, and colours by Brad Vancata which somehow seem to exceed what was typical of the era.

I find myself searching for a reason to call this one of the most enjoyable comics you could ever read, but it's just so hard. Maybe I'm tainted by vague, fond memories from 1990, I do not know. I think what ultimately shines through here is everything positive about this kind of nineties comic book, still sporting the musk of the less spiteful decade of the eighties.

There's playful mystery to the characters, dynamic action sequences, and a pretty clear line between the heroes and the villains. It's not about the internal conflict, even though two heroes are turned to fight against their fellows. It's just about an evil killer cyborg from the future, and a massive collection of heroes culminating their efforts in one big battle.

I'm going to borrow from Bully's criteria, and just call this comic fun!

The Fight: 4.5 The Issue: 6
[Days of Future Present ran in the 1990 annuals of the titles starring the four respective teams involved. The story played off of the previous decade's famous X-story, Days of Future Past, detailing a dystopian future where mutants are hunted to the brink of extinction. The Claremont/Byrne story from 1981 remains one of the most popular alternate universe tales, heavily influencing the grim future depicted in the recently returned NBC series, Heroes.]

NIMROD versus JUGGERNAUT & X-MEN
"Juggernaut's back in town!"
Where: Uncanny X-Men #194 When: June 1985
Why: Chris Claremont How: John Romita Jr.

The story so far...
Recovery from battle with the Hellions is cut short.
When news reports make their way to the X-Mansion, hailing the return of the Juggernaut; Colossus, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, Rogue and Phoenix must ready themselves for battle.

Little do they realise, the Juggernaut will not be their greatest enemy this day. Anti-mutant forces from the future have sent their agent of death into the timestream, and he is also about to reemerge.

Tale of the tape...
Quite a formidable collection of X-Men are the subject of our update this week. Not just members of the day, but also an unlikely individual who would join the team some twenty years later - the Juggernaut.

Strength: 6 (Invincible)
Stamina: 7 (Unstoppable)

On paper it's tough to find anyone who can topple the Juggernaut.
He is the irresistible force and the immovable object, all rolled in to one giant, rust coloured package. This guy has given the very best a run for their money; the Hulk, the X-Men, Thor and even the New Warriors.

Nimrod, of course, is no slouch.
As the ultimate Sentinel from the future his skills are specially designed to combat all potential mutant threat. This includes incredible strength, regenerative abilities, and various other special skills.

Strength: 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: 4 (Tactician)
Stamina: 7 (Unstoppable)
Energy Powers: 5 (Lasers)

One on one it might be a close fight. If Juggernaut and Nimrod were to face off in a fight to the finish, it might even never have a decisive conclusion.
Of course, when you factor in the combined talents of Wolverine, Colossus, Rogue, Nightcrawler, Rachel Summers and Kitty Pryde, suddenly you start to tip the scales.

On paper; even a machine as indomitable as the Nimrod cannot possibly match up to the might of those X-Men combined. I could not in good conscience suggest otherwise.

What went down...
The X-Men split up into teams of two to monitor the actions of Cain Marko, aka. the Juggernaut.
Kitty Pryde and Rachel Summers monitor his civilian actions inside the First United National Bank of New York, wherein rather mundane transactions occur.

Outside on a rooftop nearby, Nightcrawler, accompanied by Rogue, gives the order to leave Juggernaut be if his motivations are pure. An order motivated by fear, but supported by Wolverine, who coaches his partner, Colossus, on the virtues of avoiding violence whereever possible (Hah! My, how times change!).

The urban hum of mundanity would not last long, broken by a "ZAM!" that would signify the arrival of Nimrod: Sentinel of the Future!
The Sentinel recognises potential public threat in allowing criminals; Juggernaut, Shadowcat and Phoenix to remain at large. Each are adjudged "enemies of humanity." The penalty for which, apparently, is death.

Juggernaut takes the brunt of Nimrod's blast and bursts out of his civilian clothing, while Rachel Summers uses her telekinetic abilities to shield both Kitty Pryde and herself from the attack.
As Juggernaut dons his conveniently foldable helmet, Pryde phases Summers into the bank vault below ground. There, she leaves Phoenix to grapple with the panicking citizens, whose frantic thoughts invade her psychic mind.

Nimrod continues to fire energy blasts at the lumbering Juggernaut. Strategically the Sentinel sends Juggernaut hurtling out of the bank, out into a nearby construction yard, where he seeks to pacify the magically powered villain without probable civilian casualty.

Juggernaut survives impact, disintigration beams, and 1.37 kilotons of steel I-beams, before the X-Men arrive.

The dielmma facing the X-Men is one most perplexing. Do they aid in the arrest of one of their oldest foes, or do they challenge the mechanical mutant hunter from the future? Their answer is swift.
Nightcrawler teleports himself and Colossus closer to the situation, where Nimrod is able to extrapolate their destination and incapacitate them with more energy blasts.

Wolverine leaps into action, calling upon the aid of Rogue for a fastball special!
Unfortunately Nimrod's personal force field is one of the few substances known that can repel the assault of razor sharp adamantium claws. Wolverine is flung back - knocked out cold by the impact.

Nimrod refocuses his attentions on the Juggernaut by knocking his protective helmet away, leaving only the psychic shielding of his skullcap. The calculating Sentinel stuns the Juggernaut with a tight-beam, ultra-high frequency sonic blast. The pain is said to render Juggernaut unable to think, much less act.

Act, Kitty Pryde does, trying to revive her fallen comrades.
She's able to phase her way through a plasma bolt, before reaching into the Sentinel to discover whether it contains mere man, or mechanics that she can disrupt.
Though her answer is the latter, she finds herself unable to make an impact. Nimrod's energy field deflects the phasing mutant, and impacts her with a nerveshock that renders her body impotent.
The intervention of the flying Rogue saves Kitty Pryde from further reprisal.

Rachel Summers; unable to communicate telepathically due to Nimrod's psionic inhibitor field, uses her head for a physical offense. She places telekinetic shields over the unconscious X-Men and attempts to dump the pile of I-beams, previously used against Juggernaut, on Nimrod.

While the Sentinel is forced to battle his way free of the steel, Rogue thinks fast, emlpoying her ability to absorb the powers of others to combine the might of the unconscious X-Men.
Sucking up the powers of Colossus and Nightcrawler, the Southern belle's skin turns to steel, while her hair and face shade to a familiar blue.

She teleports behind the Sentinel as it emerges from the rubble, bringing down a thunderous blow with one of the I-beams.
The attack continues as she grapples with Nimrod's arm and uses Nightcrawler's talent in an offensive fashion, teleporting the arm away from the machine's center.

With the machine vulnerable, and her own strength combining with Colossus' to keep her on her feet, Rogue seizes the opportunity to strike. Plunging her fist into the heart of the beast, she shatters Nimrod into pieces.

Nimrod pulls his compotents together, but he is too damaged to fight-on. Nimrod disappears in a flash of light to function to fight another day.

The bruised and battered Juggernaut staggers to his feet. Though ungrateful, both he and Rogue silently agree to allow the other to leave.

The hammer...
All hail Rogue, and her punk-rock eighties hair style!

I didn't personally invest in the X-Men until the 1990 Annual, which featured a story that crossed over with the Fantastic Four. It's safe to say I was more than a little late to the mutant parade, and in times current, I'm again somewhat anti-mutant.
This decade around, however, I would put my absence down to distain for the mismanagment of the product, rather than ignorance.

That said, during the nineteen ninties I was able to familiarize myself with these unique and interesting characters. As a fan of the cartoon series, and comics in general, I was aware of Nimrod, and got a kick out of this simple little story.
I don't know how obscure it is in the scheme of things, but it struck me as a fun inclusion for Secret Wars on Infinite Earths.

Obviously it features the unmistakable flavour of X-Men legend, Chris Claremont, but it also carries the charms of an underdeveloped John Romita Jr.
As a man who has since made his mark on X-Men, Iron Man, Punisher and Spider-man with such a unique style, it's fun to see this filtered version of the man. Particularly where some images hint at the squarer beats, and liney details that would become his trademark.

It's also fun to reflect on the twenty-year gap between this issue, that sees the X-Men and Juggernaut teaming up, and the ultimate association the characters would have. For those unaware, Juggernaut is currently a member of the Excalibur team, but formerly made the switch from villain to hero under the watchful eye of the much maligned, Chuck Austen.

The Fight: 3.5 The Issue: 3
Additional stats:
Rogue - Critical strike (Nimrod)
Juggernaut - Assist
Rachel Summers - Assist
Wolverine - Assist
Nightcrawler - Assist
Colossus - Assist
Shadowcat - Assist

NEXT FIGHT: After the monthly punch-up, stay tuned for Marvel vs DC action as Spider-man takes on Superboy in a battle of the clones!

WOLVERINE versus THE X-MEN w/ CAPTAIN AMERICA
Where: Wolverine #25 When: April 2005
Writer: Mark Millar Artist: John Romita Jr.

The story so far...
Mark Millar's Enemy of the State six part storyarc has seen Wolverine come under the control of Hydra, as part of Baron Von Strucker's last play as the head of Hydra.
The resulting story is akin to a Hong Kong revenge flick, or a video game, as Wolverine graduates through the levels of opponents before finally arriving at freedom.

This long and arduous road has seen Wolverine face off against SHIELD, the Invaders, Daredevil, Elektra, and even the Fantastic Four. Leading him to the next logical step.

Seeking the means to locate the President of the United States, Wolverine's quest leads him to his home, the X-Mansion, where under HYDRA's control he intends to enlist the aid of Rachel Summers, a formidable psychic, to locate PotUS.

Tale of the tape...
Over the years Wolverine has gained something of a reputation for being an unstoppable killing machine, equipped with mutant healing factor, and unbreakable Adamantium claws. Of course, in the context of fight specifics, this is probably farthest from the truth. As an equalizer, his unique ability to recover from almost any injury has made him one of the most wreckless fighters in the Marvel universe, and his wanton disregard for injury has left him the worse off in many-a battle.

Against an arrangement of X-Men that includes; Rachel Summers, Kitty Pryde, Cyclops, Beast, Havok, Northstar, with the assistance of agents of SHIELD, Captain America and Iron Man - Wolverine never really stands a logical chance.

On the right day, there's no doubt Wolverine has the tools to overcome the odds. His stylish application of hairspray wasn't what earned him a place in the hearts of fanboys worldwide, it was his irrepressible Canadian underdog attitude.

Intelligence: 4 (Tactician)
Stamina: 6 (Generator)
Fighting Ability: 6 (Warrior)

Against the powerhouses he faces, the above three are likely his greatest chances for victory. His keen skills as a tactical operator, coupled with his hightened senses give him the ultimate in Predator-esque strategies.
In the woods of the Westchester X-Mansion, it's the perfect place for Wolverine to divide and conquer opponents that are likely holding back because of emotional attachment.

With guys like Havok, Cyclops and Iron Man in the field, Wolverine's greatest vulnerability is high impact long range attack. Though capable of taking a lickin', it's been proven in the past that enough energy stops him tickin', for a while.

What went down...
Things begin real subtle, as Kitty Pryde shares a midnight chat with Rachel Summers, before phasing through the cieling. Of course, little does she realise an invisible Wolverine is perched on the sofa, with a terra-former gadget designed by Reed Richards to populate uninhabitle locales with the necessary elements of life.
As Wolverine gladly points out, the destruction that kind of ecological change could unleash on Westchester could be insurmountable. HYDRA's utilization of Wolverine gives a slightly unique view of the character, making use of the technologies bestowed upon him, in ways that in todays climated would brand him a terrorist.

Battling the inner monologues of the HYDRA controls, Wolverine is distracted enough for Summers to escape his clutches, and alert her fellow X-Men.

HYDRA are quick to act, bouncing their agent through the mansion long enough for him to reach the hangar, where he crashes an X-Jet through the mansion, to the neighbouring woods. Woods he knows better than anyone else.

With various X-Men out in full force, Wolverine goes about taking out two nameless SHIELD agents, and taking a sizable slice out of Havok, who's just too darned scared to shoot straight, apparently.
Despite the distraction, Wolverine is able to dispatch of the far stronger Beast, before making another hop, again giving him the element of stealth.

Of course, it's here that the money shot arrives.
In the lead up to, and throughout the series there was plenty of teasing as to which "significant" X-Man would fall before the six blades, and phasing at the last second, Kitty Pryde escapes a skewering, leaving Northstar to take it in the chest - like a bitch.

Shadowcat is able to get the jump on the warn out Wolverine, and a hefty blast from Cyclops, a somewhat less reluctant Summers brother, puts Wolverine on the ropes.

It's no small wonder that when push comes to shove, it's the sentinel of liberty himself that puts his man down.
He's sometimes dismissed as a cornball fossil, outdated in these modern times of complex characters, anti-heroes and deconstructions; but here Captain America proves himself in all of his awe-inspiring glory.
Metal meets metal as the shield of the red, white and blue comes crashing down on the laced skull of Wolverine. Taken out, maybe not like a bitch, but quite surely none the less.

Unfortunately my chosen format for images doesn't lend itself to this particular image. Say what you will about John Romita Junior, but this is one heck of a full page splash.

The Hammer...
All in all, not a bad fight to start things off with. Purely a pick off the top of the pile of comics that happened to be sitting around. Of course, I'm sure other chapters in Millar's Enemy of the State will come up, because as this fight shows, it's an action movie.

This storyarc arguably personifies the very type of thing I hope to embody and explore on this webpage. It's especially favourable because, unlike some superhero battles, there's a clean winner.

I don't think anyone could deny Captain America and the X-Men finished the job, and so they should with odds like those. While Wolverine gets deprogrammed, I'll leave you with some additional info while I ready myself for the next article, which is not-so random. Cheers!

The Fight: 5 The Issue: 5.5 [July 17]

Stats:
Rachel Summers - Subdues Wolverine with the Phoenix force.
Wolverine - Destroys X-Mansion with jet plane.
Wolverine - 2 kills (SHIELD agents).
Wolverine - Severe injury (Havok).
Wolverine - Subdues Beast.
Wolverine - Kill (Northstar).
Kitty Pryde - Critical blow to Wolverine with tree branch.
Cyclops - Critical blow with optic blast.
Captain America - Subdues Wolverine with shield.