X-amining X-Men (vol. 2) #54

"Inquiring Minds"

July 1996

In a Nutshell

The identity of Onslaught is revealed! 

Story: Mark Waid
Pencils: Andy Kubert
Inks: Dan Panosian
Letterer: Richard Starkings & Comicraft
Colorist: Joe Rosas

Separations: Malibu
Editor: Bob Harras

Plot

Cyclops is consoling Cannonball, upset over the lecture he received from Professor X, when Gambit & Bishop, leading a charge of X-Men, announce that Juggernaut is somewhere on the mansion grounds. As Cyclops splits the group into search parties, Jean enters the psychically-shield Z'Nox chamber beneath the mansion with Juggernaut in order to dig into his mind and learn Onslaught's secret undisturbed. When she seals the room, Cyclops feels his telepathic rapport with Jean end, prompting him to seek out Xavier. As the rest of the X-Men continue the search, the real Beast breaks out of the prison where Dark Beast had been holding him, only to be confronted by two shadowy figures. At the mansion, Cyclops informs Xavier about Jean, and he promises to search for her. When Cyclops tells him about Juggernaut, Professor X tells Cyclops to lower the mansion's defenses in order to lure Juggernaut to his target, Xavier, at which point the X-Men can defeat him as they so often have before. As Jean works to open Juggernaut's mind, Xavier begins to search telepathically for Jean, but is distracted by his frustration over his many recent failures, until he finally expresses all his pent-up anger in a burst of rage. Below, Jean is able to pull Onslaught's identity from Juggernaut's mind; horrified, she tells him Onslaught is inside the mansion, and he needs to run as far away as possible. Juggernaut does so, but as soon as he emerges from the chamber, he is mentally snared by Onslaught, who leads him to Xavier's study, where a waiting Onslaught rips the gem of Cyttorak from Juggernaut, removing his powers, before revealing himself as none other than Charles Xavier. 

Firsts and Other Notables

This issue reveals that Professor X is Onslaught; more will be detailed on this in future issues, but the general idea is that Onslaught is all of Xavier's repressed anger & rage given sentience (something hinted at here) and later, form, thanks to Nate Grey's ability to pull beings from the astral plane (where Onslaught resides) to the physical world. Up to this point, Onslaught functioned liked a split personality (in the more classical dramatic sense vs. a psychological one), in which he operated independently of Xavier without Xavier being aware of said operations or the fact that the being the X-Men were chasing after was he himself. From this point forward, Onslaught is in full control of Xavier. 

Cyclops finds Xavier having been researching Franklin Richards, with no memory of doing so (because, of course, it was Onslaught conducting the research); Franklin will prove to be a key component of Onslaught’s plans and the vehicle for bringing the larger Fantastic Four universe into the story.

It is the "thunder of his failures" (great line from Waid), such as not curbing Sabretooth’s rage, preventing Wolverine's devolution, and wiping of Magneto’s mind, weighing on Xavier and contributing to the creation of Onslaught. 

Following up from last issue, Regular Beast does escape here (with Waid using Beast’s thoughts to cover for some of the plot holes inherent to the original setup), only to be caught again by somebody off-page (this will turn out be Fatale & Random, and Beast’s story will continue in X-Factor #126).

There’s an early (non-joking) “to me, my X-Men” (following from Wisdom's use in Excalibur #93) as Onslaught telepathically reaches out to the X-Men at the end of the issue and declares “come to me, my X-Men”.

A Work in Progress

This issue opens with Cannonball sitting in a tree outside Xavier’s study, screwing up enough courage to tell him off after their conversation in Uncanny #334, except you’d think the world most powerful telepath would sense the mind of someone creeping outside his window.

A footnote points out that Jean is wearing different clothes now than when she entered the Z’Nox chamber with Juggeranut in Uncanny #334, offering a No-Prize for an explanation of the change.

Juggernaut remembers the time in the Silver Age when Xavier faked his deaths (Juggernaut did indeed battle the X-Men during that time) and is impressed Xavier would lie to his students like that. When Jean points out he didn’t lie to her, Waid once again (obliquely) references the whole “Xavier has the hots for Jean” thing when Jean reacts to Juggernaut’s teasing.

Iceman and (Dark) Beast reminiscence about the first time the X-Men faced Juggernaut, and while Iceman has the right of it, this is another example of Dark Beast sucking at the whole “impersonate the real deal” thing.

Storm rightly points out that Juggernaut is not a mutant and therefore undetectable by Cerebro.

It’s been weeks, per a news report, since the events of X-Men: Prime.

A news story about one of Dennis Hogan’s killers (in which he insists he did nothing wrong because Dennis was a mutant and plenty of other people would have done the same) finally pushes Xavier over the edge, prompting him to release all the anger & rage he’s built up in his life, at which point he finally learns the truth about Onslaught.

Onslaught is able to remove the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak from Juggernaut, thereby rendering him mortal.

Austin's Analysis

Waid & Kubert pickup where Lobdell & Madureira left off, not just in terms of plot but also tone, as the ominous feeling of something big coming on the horizon continues this issue, capped off by the well-executed reveal that Onslaught is Xavier as "mounting dread" shifts to "dread" (and, for more than a few readers, including myself back in the day, genuine shock). That reveal is, perhaps, the most well-executed part of the whole story of "Onslaught", both on the micro level (Wait & Kubert effectively build tension as they cut back and forth from Jean & Juggernaut to the other happenings, and lining up the explosion of rage from Xavier with Jean knocking down the final mental block and learning the truth) and the macro level in the context of the larger crossover to come. 

For as much as later developments in the overall plot of "Onslaught" and the specific goals of the character won't quite gel with all the hints & teases seeded thus far, for the most part, this reveal does: from first targeting Juggernaut (an early source of fear & anger for a young Xavier) to the nascent Onslaught testing the X-Men in issue #50 (because Xavier thinks in terms of teacher/student relationships), to the attempted recruitment of Jean last issue (the first mutant student whom Xavier helped), the pieces, however unintentionally or the result of a happy accident, fit. And like the best reveals, the hints aren't so obvious as to ruin the initial surprise of the reveal, but become much more obvious after the fact. All in all, this is a strong finish to the heightened "prelude" that comprised the last two issues and Uncanny X-Men #334, one which effectively sets the stage for Onslaught: X-Men and the crossover to come. 

Next Issue

Tomorrow, Deadpool returns in X-Force #56. Friday, Wolverine trains with Elektra in Wolverine #103. Next week, The Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #1-4!

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