MAGNETO versus APOCALYPSE

Back in the USSR Part 2: Clear And Present Danger (Marvel)
Where: Adventures of the X-Men #6 When: September 1996 Why: Ralph Macchio How: Ben Herrera

The Story So Far...
The destruction of Asteroid M sends a furious Magneto back to Earth on a mission of vengeance against a humanity that has betrayed peace!

With his mastery of magnetism Magneto turns the weapons of the world against itself -- invading a Russian base with The Brotherhood of Mutants -- to launch a nuclear missile strike targeting the United States.

With his retaliation comes the dire realization that it was not any nation that attacked his orbital base, but rather the maniacal Apocalypse -- who has manipulated Magneto into an act of war that will assure the mutual destruction of two global powers, scorching the Earth so only the fittest will survive!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Apocalypse 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Draw 5 (Professor)
Speed: Draw 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Apocalypse 7 (Unstoppable)
Agility: Apocalypse 6 (Rubber)
Fighting: Apocalypse 4 (Trained)
Energy: Magneto 6 (None)
Total: Apocalypse 36 (Metahuman)

Season 2 of X-Men '97 pits these mutant titans against one another in a dramatic battle in ancient Egypt, but long before Disney+ launched their animated series revival, there was Adventures of the X-Men -- a companion series published while the final season of the original X-Men cartoon was airing in 1996 into '97.

Adventures ditched direct episode adaptations for all-new original stories, with this version of Magneto differing slightly from animated and comic book counterparts of the time, possessing all the classic abilities of the Master of Magnetism, while having formed a version of The Brotherhood of Mutants with Toad, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver.

Magneto and his Brotherhood crossed paths with the X-Men many times in early issues of the mainline comics, notably coming undone when Magneto's attempt to recruit the Sub-Mariner backfired in X-Men (Vol.1) #6.

Inter-personal relationships with his erstwhile children and underlings have also often proved troublesome for Magneto. Things got violent when he reunited with his children in the moon city Attilan, and Quicksilver was against him again during the X-Men's siege of Avalon.

It's not all family turmoil for the "House of M", though. When Scarlet Witch began to experience a mental breakdown, he patched things up with his daughter & son, bringing them successfully together against Iron Man. Significant as Scarlet Witch will tag along for today's featured fight -- but it's really all about the showdown between Magneto and the awesome ancient might of Apocalypse!

Both are major players in shaping the fate of mutantkind, but they haven't crossed paths as much as you might think. One of their most notable collisions came when Apocalypse conquered the world in the alternate-reality timeline of Age of Apocalypse, resulting in the heroic Magneto making a final stand against the tyrant with a shocking realization of his fullest magnetic powers!

Don't be fooled, though. Through his natural mutant gifts, and techno-organic enhancements from Celestial technology, Apocalypse has almost total control over his molecular composition. This allows him to endure and resist significant physical damage, and adapt his body into a variety of weapons and even vehicles. Useful talents when facing an adaptable opponent, such as the High Evolutionary.

Apocalypse is also a keen strategist, with a wealth of tools and followers amassed over the centuries, allowing him to secure victory even in the most dire of circumstances, as seen in his victories over the Norse god Loki, and the X-Men.

Circumstances and dramatic thrust have a major role to play in any encounter between these two. If Magneto can utilize the fullest of his powers he may secure victory, but it's hard to imagine either mutant backing down. Let's see how it goes!

History: Magneto (1-0-0)

The Tape: Apocalypse Ranking: Magneto (#91)

What Went Down...

Magneto angrily leads the Scarlet Witch to the exterior compound of the Russian nuclear base he seized mere moments earlier. There, Apocalypse waits to greet him with pontifications of rebirth through the ashes of a thermonuclear fire -- ignited by his intent -- and the missiles Magneto has launched against the world!

This time The Master of Magnetism does his best to curb his fury, ordering Scarlet Witch to stay safely behind, while he chooses a more deliberate show of power.

As he calls forth large heavy lids from missile silos to direct in a volley of projectiles -- it remains to be seen if he has withheld his anger.

Apocalypse transforms his left hand into a studded club and effortlessly swats aside the heavy metallic discs!

They are a mere annoyance to the ancient mutant who has survived the rise and fall of civilizations by nothing but his own will and incredible abilities!

Magneto stands his ground, claiming intent while keeping up the irritation -- he hurls tiny metal fragments at the large frame of his towering opponent. Apocalypse grows increasingly impatient...

Apocalypse charges toward Magneto, switching the studded club to his other hand while shifting the shape of his muscular left arm into a large mechanical pincer!

He raises both arms, bringing the weapons crashing down towards Magneto in an overhead strike. It's all The Master of Magnetism can do to stifle the blow as his magnetic field projections struggle to have any real influence.

Magneto tries to hold Apocalypse's arms back, but the ancient mutant looms over him with superior strength and a determination to dominate not only Magneto's body, but also his egotistical claims to being leader of mutant resistance in a war against humanity.

At last the strain is too great and Apocalypse is able to clasp his techno-organic grapple around Magneto's chest and arms!

He effortlessly lifts Magneto off the ground and begins to tighten his grip!

The upper hand belongs to En Sabah Nur -- but suddenly his grip is broken as a concussive beam blasts into his mid-section and staggers him back!

Cyclops leads the X-Men and Brotherhood of Mutants out of the nearby building.

With intercontinental nuclear missiles on a course for the United States of America -- Cyclops rightly identifies that Magneto's fight with Apocalypse is risking the fate of the world. He must withdraw, to use his powers to avert disaster and save the planet from nuclear war. A mission for peaceful coexistence with humanity, much to the amusement of Apocalypse, who mocks Magneto for heeding the behest of one of Charles Xavier's students.

The Hammer...

If you're anything like I was when this issue hit shelves back in the day, you were drawn in by that energetic Andy Kuhn cover, and the promise of a rare battle between two of the X-Men's greatest villains -- but even if we say Apocalypse had the upper hand, it's an inconclusive result that sends Magneto on a more pressing mission, setting us up for another fight, between Apocalypse and the X-Men!

Before we move on and look ahead to that match-up, we should also chalk Cyclops up for the assist. His well-timed optic blast from off-panel frees Magneto to save the world from mutually assured nuclear destruction. A surprise move he also pulled against Juggernaut and The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants to end a crossover with DC's Teen Titans. I wonder how many times he's done that...

Today it's all about the X-Men, from a time when "Adventures" was synonymous with TV exploits, and the end was near for the much-loved animated series that ran from late 1992 to 1997.

I was already a dyed in the wool comic book reader, but it's fair to say the cartoon cemented my interest in the X-Men, which become more intense in the early to mid-nineties, and included actively collecting action figures, video games, and the entire first series on VHS tapes that featured two episodes per box (an improvement on the single episode tapes common to the United States).

The show had aired on weekday mornings before school, but even found its way into weekend primetime, much to my chagrin as Wolverine and Storm faced the time-traveling antics of Fitzroy as I was ushered out the door with a friend for dinner at Pizza Hut.

Fortunately, the entire series now streams on Disney+, where fans can recapture some of the excitement along with the first two seasons of revival series, X-Men '97. I can even enjoy the luxury of owning it all on DVD thanks to British released box sets that were obscenely cheap just a decade ago. Not so back in 1996!

The only hope an eater of meatlovers pizza had back then was anecdotal accounts from friends (who mostly weren't watching), prospective re-runs or VHS that never happened, or an adaptation of episodes in the pages of X-Men Adventures.

It was interesting to see how episodes were condensed, and sometimes slightly different on the page, but with a fresh mind that recalled minute detail & exact dialogue from regular TV viewings -- with hope of one day seeing all the episodes on home formats -- I was always a little bit snobbish towards adapted works.

Comic book artwork put Adventures series a step above novelizations, but it was still a slightly lame, second-hand, played out experience when all was said and done. So when the series was replaced with the slightly re-titled Adventures of the X-Men -- I was reserved, but pleased. It was still cheap, easy to access X-Men comics, but now there were a few surprises in store, and a fresh approach!

The simplified art style that became synonymous with cartoon-inspired series may have cost them a little street cred at the time, but over the years I've gained much more appreciation for the alternative offerings.

I've become particularly fond of Andy Kuhn's contributions, but Ben Herrera contributes a nice "animated" energy in today's spotlight issue, sharing duties in today's spotlight issue with Roberto Flores in the back half. Artists like John Hebert offered tendons & muscle more in keeping with the post-Jim Lee house style of the time in earlier series, while Alex Saviuk showed a stripped back, refined graphic expanding on his work on Spider-Man.

In another quirk from the age, my copy of Adventures of the X-Men #6 is one of the flipbook versions, which has the corresponding Adventures of Spider-Man #6 on the other side -- a deviating spin-off from the Spider-Man Adventures comic. We might also take this moment to acknowledge and celebrate Marvel Adventures, which opened the toy box up to other Marvel cartoon characters of the time, including Hulk, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, and even Silver Surfer.

In hindsight, one of the pleasures of these series is that they were unburdened from the stunts and stages of comics at the time. This isn't a story about Joseph, or a catatonic post-Fatal Attractions Magneto. It's basically just the classic Master of Magnetism, and all the characters you know and love, with less of the nonsense. That's something I can appreciate a lot more, these days.

In the age of Disney and Marvel Studios, we're strangely used to malformed versions of characters in much the same way of the disappointments of adaptations from earlier decades. One of the things that made the X-Men animated series work so well in the nineties was its effort to reflect the look and style of the comics, with the intuitive wisdom and refinements of thirty years of publication to draw upon.

I shamefully admit that I often regarded the cartoon versions of Apocalypse and the Sentinels for being distillations of what makes those characters great, without the baggage of some of the clumsier efforts of seminal comic book appearances, and later distractions and missteps. The first series, in particular, did it very well.

The scope of Apocalypse and Magneto in the mainline Marvel Comics meant they were often out of sync, in a state of flux, and perhaps just too big to have a lot to do with each other. It was nice that Adventures could facilitate the meeting of their iconic selves, although Apocalypse is maybe skewing a little Saturday Morning in his manipulations and general depictions here, but I suppose it recalls the scenes of a giant-size Apocalypse stomping through France in Series 1.

How important were the cartoons and these comics to your fandom? I'd be interested to know. You can drop a comment below, hit me up on social media, or take the next step in human evolution by supporting the cause on Patreon. That's one way you can help encourage a follow-up for the X-Men/Apocalypse battle!

Secret Wars on Infinite Earths has been serving superhero smackdown for well over 750 fights, while ranking more than 1000 of your favourite characters with detailed information resources and reviews -- all free for your convenience!

You can find much more by diving in to the Secret Archives! That's a complete index of every featured fight in order of publisher, series, and issue number. Or simply follow links throughout each feature to find more from your favourite characters, series, and subjects. That's how you become the ultimate fighter!

You can also get daily recommendations inspired by popular topics of the day by subscribing to X (aka; Twitter)! Don't forget to smash that like, fave, and share to help boost the signal -- and keep your eyes peeled for the week's top trending battles every Sunday on X & Discord! The lively Discord chat is one of the bonuses of becoming a Patreon subscriber. Ring the bell and get in the ring!

Winner: Inconclusive (Draw)
#91 (--) Magneto [+1 draw]
#127 (+3) Apocalypse [+1 draw]
#93 (--) Cyclops [+1 assist]

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.

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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.

Get free daily links to fights inspired by the topics of the day by subscribing to Twitter! 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 & Discord! The lively Discord chat is one of the bonuses of becoming a Patreon subscriber.

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!

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

COLOSSUS & X-MEN versus OMEGA RED

Red Death (Marvel)
Where: X-Men Adventures #4 When: May 1994
Why: Ralph Macchio How: John Hebert

The Story So Far...
At a snow-covered base near the Black Sea, somewhere in the Caucasus region between Ukraine and Georgia, a sudden power surge disrupts a signal relay, which in turn causes critical failure of complex computer circuitry designed to contain a living weapon!

With this subtle act of electrical sabotage a sleeper is awoken: Omega Red is unleashed upon a former Soviet Union to be a tool of military hardliners committed to restoring their empire.

Omega Red's violent path of conquest takes him towards a small farming region once home to Russian expatriate and mutant Piotr Rasputin. Having sought the aid of the X-Men - but only found Jubilee - Colossus accepts a desperate flight to his homeland in the hopes of rescuing his beloved family!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Colossus 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Omega Red 4 (Tactician)
Speed: Wolverine 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Wolverine 6 (Generator)
Agility: Rogue 3 (Acrobat)
Fighting: Wolverine 6 (Warrior)
Energy: Storm 5 (Lasers)
Total: Wolverine 26 (Metahuman)

The X-Men are: Wolverine, Storm, Rogue, and Jubilee, with Colossus.

Fans of the animated series will know Colossus wasn't a full-fledged member, but an acquaintance of the X-Men, who befriended him after a case of mistaken identity in Series 1 episode "The Unstoppable Juggernaut", which was also adapted as X-Men Adventures (Vol.1) #8.

Otherwise he's the hulking hunk of Russian organic-steel you know and love, and although he initially only has Jubilee to rely on, a note left at the mansion quickly gets the attentions of the other X-Men - particularly one who knows what they're up against!

Arkady Rossovich was a murdering scumbag even before he developed a mutant "death factor" that protected him from execution for his crimes.

The disgraced Spetsnaz GRU agent fled to Europe, but was soon reclaimed by the KGB, to be submitted to the Cold War era Soviet Super-Soldier program. Mutant healing abilities would allow Soviet scientists to implant cybernetic enhancements, as well as retractable, prehensile tendrils made of carbonadium: a Soviet alternative to the more costly and difficult adamantium metal.

Carbonadium is radioactive, but Omega Red could resist lethal poisoning with his mutant ability to absorb life force from other humans. He also possesses super-human strength, stamina, durability, and can emit "death factor" pheromone spores capable of weakening, or killing, anyone in his close proximity.

Colossus out muscles Omega Red, having stood toe-to-toe with the likes of the Juggernaut, Apocalypse, and Ord. He'll be a good compliment once Wolverine is on the scene, bringing past knowledge of Omega Red from his days with Team X, and razor-sharp adamantium claws that've cut plenty of cyborgs down to size!

Wolvie's healing factor is also useful when resisting Omega Red's life-draining, but it's unclear if he can inflict enough damage to negate a stale-mate similar to Wolverine (Vol.3) #50. We've also seen both Colossus and Wolverine taken out of the fight by having their energy absorbed in Uncanny X-Men #194.

Who did they willingly turn their essence over to? The power-absorbing Rogue, of course! She too could resist Omega Red's life-draining if she can get her hands on him and take his power. Making it all the easier for her and the rest of the team to put a serious hurt on! Will it happen that way? Let's find out!

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

What Went Down...

Having learned of the imprisonment of Colossus' parents from his sister Illyana -- the mighty metal mutant, and Jubilee, follow her to a Stalin era gulag reopened under the commission of Omega Red!

Jubilee channels X-Men leader Cyclops to consider a strategic option, but Colossus has no patience for looking at "angles" while his blood boils at the raw sight of injustice.

He quite literally "steels" himself, activating the natural-given skin that allows him to fearlessly charge towards the gulag -- welcoming the oppressors to fire at will!

The soldiers' bullets ricochet harmlessly off Colossus' metallic hide and even an artillery shell fired from a tank cannot stop the righteous Russian!

He runs all the way to the heavy machine, and tackles it head-on, turning the weapon against its masters by tossing the tank straight through the gulag gates!

Jubilee begrudgingly joins the charge, blasting plasma fireworks at any incoming soldiers as she storms the gate. "Okay -- looks like we'll save the subtlety for another day! Thanks for listening, Petey! You dork!"

Colossus does not respond, or join Jubilee in her dash. Instead, he is transfixed by the horrifying presence that has cast its shadow behind him -- Omega Red, with one of his coils of death wrapped around the young Illyana Rasputin.

The second coil snakes around Colossus' body, lifting him off his feet as his strength is slowly drained and he fights against the tendril's crushing squeeze.

It seems Colossus is alone to face his fate, but salvation arrives not a minute too soon. The X-Men are here -- and Wolverine has come to settle an old score!

Omega Red immediately drops Colossus and turns his attention to the voice from his past -- sending his wrist-tendrils looping around the charging Wolverine!

They tighten before the X-Man can reach his target and make good on threats.

Wolverine struggles to resist, but machismo gives way to a fading spirit as the coil begins its deadly draining of life energy. Omega Red taunts.

"Perhaps I shall have your corpse stuffed -- mounted in Red Square... A symbol of my triumph over... Eh? That shadow! What can it be?"

Wolverine is no more alone than Colossus! Rogue arrives overhead with a tank in hand to bring it slamming down on Omega Red's body!

The X-Men regroup under the scornful eye of field leader Storm. She worries for the recklessness of Rogue and Jubilee, while Wolverine clues Colossus and the team into his long history with the "Soviets' Super-man".

At that moment, Omega Red pushes the tank off his body!

Colossus and Wolverine race to meet him, but once again Omega Red's long reach holds the mighty Russian at bay and snatches Wolverine into the air!

The X-Man desperately tries to rake his claws across Omega Red's eyes, but his futile efforts aren't for nothing!

With his tendrils occupied, Omega Red is wide open to the flying figure of Rogue!

She drives her shoulder into his back like a battering ram, and he drops his weakened prey to instead wrap both deadly coils around her!

To the Soviet Super-Soldier's shock -- Rogue is completely unfazed by the life-draining attack! Her own mutant power to absorb life force appears to completely cancel out Omega Red's deadly ability!

Unaffected, Rogue is able to shrug the binding cables off with her super-human strength, but before she can resume the attack -- Darkstar arrives in the sky!

Omega Red orders his flying comrade to take care of Rogue, but Darkstar does not share his violent vision for Russia's future.

Having observed Storm's apparent command of the weather, she implores the X-Woman to summon the deepest cold if she's able and direct it at Red.

Rogue obliges Storm with a full nelson to hold Omega Red in place while the weather goddess directs the arctic winds to blast a bitter cold directly at him!

The villain can only shout broken dreams of glory as his body temperature begins to cool and he's returned to the icy frozen state that held him before saboteurs ended his suspended animation. The terror on the Caucasus is ended.

The Hammer...

The intervention of Darkstar not only handed Storm the means to end Omega Red's rampage, but also ensures his collaborators in the attempted coup will be brought to justice by modern Russia.

You may've noticed a colouring error [above] that makes it seem as if Storm is shouting to herself. The center panel is obviously intended to be a close-up of Darkstar, who I always wished could've had a more active role in the story, but is reserved for a final act twist.

Everyone has a bit more to do in the animated episode, which spreads the action over two separate battles, allowing Darkstar to get involved much sooner and witness everyone's abilities, to more intuitively suggest an outcome to Storm.

If you thought it was a little off that Rogue's powers would cancel out Omega Red's without any contact to her skin -- you won't be surprised to find that she actually does succumb to the life-draining coil in the animated version. Granted, this only raises further questions about how the tendrils actually work.

In this instance I'm not sure the source material is entirely helpful at clearing anything up. The exact details of Omega Red's abilities generally feel a little slippery in the mainline comics, as well.

The Cold War inspired villain had immediate appeal on the strength of a bombastic Jim Lee design, but a hodgepodge of oh-so nineties invulnerabilities and death-dealing powers have arguably made the character unwieldy in a narrative context, leading to inconsistent conclusions throughout the years.

Putting him back on ice was a clean way to wrap up a robust done-in-one story, but the way it comes about feels a little bit dubious. Maybe if Iceman were on the team it would be an easier sell, but even that speaks to the difficulty of leaving Omega Red in play.

There are a lot of interesting differences between the November 1993 broadcast episode and its X-Men Adventures comic book adaptation.

Despite the episode name appearing on the cover, the comic story is titled "Red Death", wielding that most taboo of words as far as Saturday morning cartoons of the era were concerned. An otherwise trivial difference -- especially for a series that dealt with death in its very first plotline! This one's for you, Morph!

More substantial is Omega Red's release from suspended animation: an act of sabotage in the comic, while in the animated series, anonymous hands confidently manipulate the controls. A deliberate escalation contextualized by scenes of tanks and storm troopers invading a city already under siege.

The comic version also flirts more specifically with the geo-politics of the story, establishing a slightly more deliberate locale than the ambiguous Russia of the cartoon. We still don't quite know which "sovereign nation" Colossus and the Rasputin family come from, but the comic-given geography of a "small city in the Caucasus" of the former USSR seems to imply it's probably Georgia, or Armenia.

Despite the narrative-driven change to Colossus' Siberian comic book upbringing; trifling with the specifics of Communist politics probably wasn't high on anyone's agenda. The Cold War had ended a few years prior, and Rocky IV was almost a full decade behind us. American comic books will always love a good Russian villain, but most people were probably hoping to just move on from the looming threat of mutually assured atomic destruction.

That might be the reason Omega Red is ultimately depicted as hostile to almost everybody -- including the Soviet Generals he's supposed to be serving!

This version of Arkady Rossovich is harder than hardline. He intends to install himself as the iron ruler of a new empire. An expressed delusion of grandeur that seems to be a catalyst for the reserved Darkstar to finally reveal her true allegiance, and act against her military superiors. Russians aren't all evil, buddy!

All in all, both the comic and cartoon do a good job of cramming a whole lot of stuff into a pretty succinct story. There are things I like about both versions. The Series 2 episode was always a memorable favourite, but I think the twenty-two page comic does a good job of amending some of its pacing issues.

Marvel's Ralph Macchio [not THAT one] always did a good job on the various Adventures titles, and the intensity of John Hebert's pencils really helped push back against the innate second-class status of a book adapting a cartoon. His work, with its straining tendons and broad muscle, feels right at home with the look of the show, and contemporary X-artists like Lee, Andy Kubert, and maybe even Leinil Yu, while also being very identifiable.

Macchio later took the series into original stories in Adventures of the X-Men, and bridged the animated shared universe with Marvel Adventures. Continuations well worth your time, especially while you're eagerly anticipating the upcoming revival of X-Men '97 on Disney Plus -- which recently added definitive Wolverine voice actor Cal Dodd!

Dive deeper into your favourite characters by following links throughout this post, and discover more from the multiverse by exploring the Secret Archive for a complete index in order of publisher, series, and issue. You can also catch up on the 2021 Rankings Recap and Top 20 Fights of Season 2021!

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Winners: Storm & Rogue (w/ X-Men & Darkstar)
#34 (+4) Storm
#46 (+26) Rogue
#446 (+5) Darkstar [+1 assist]
#5 (--) Wolverine [+1 assist]
#435 (--) Colosssus [+1 assist]
#369 (+23) Jubilee [+1 assist]
#361 (+9) Magik (Illyana Rasputin) [+1 assist]
#967 (new) Omega Red