This issue sets the stage for the upcoming Inhumans vs. X-Men mega-event! Learn who the major players will be, plus the seeds of the incredible plan that will unfold in IVX #1. Beast and Iso travel the world to learn a desperate truth, the X-Men assemble their ranks and the Inhumans prepare for the war to come. It all begins with one choice — see it here.
Death of X Recap
In the aftermath of Death of X which found Scott Summers the revolutionary leader of the X-men who had brought their race back from the brink of extinction during the Avengers Vs. X-men event was left dead from the M-pox. This was a side effect of mutant genes coming in contact with the Terrigen cloud which causes Inhumans to undergo Terrigenesis. Despite Scott being dead however Emma Frost his last love and the person with whom he saved mutant kind thought his death was not fitting of the revolutionary used her powers to project a finale image of Cyclops who insisted mutants to rise up and destroy the Terrigen clouds. She was successful in destroying one cloud but in the process the mutant alchemy was killed. Her projected image of Cyclops was then killed by Black Bolt King of the Inhumans Transforming Cyclops into an Idea, transcending his simple death. Unfortunately Emma herself seems to have suffered a mental break.
Summary
Beast and Iso continue working on a cure to the M-Pox while Emma Frost trains her ability to transform to diamond. The Stepfords are concerned because Emma seems to think her ruse where Scott was killed by Black Bolt was real. In the months leading up to the conflict with the Inhumans she visited Magneto and his X-force Squad which includes her former student Monet St. Croix. She also visits with the time displaced young X-men with another part of her plan. Emma later visits the Hellfire club about another part of her plan.
In the present Beast informs Medusa that he still has not found a solution through science for the M-Pox. After leaving her chamber he overhears Medusa conspiring with Black Bolt, Crystal and other Inhuman leaders about being ready for the eventual mutant attack, Beast is shocked. Returning to his lab Beast gets an update on a probe he planted in the Savage land which points to the world becoming saturated by Terrigen which will make Earth uninhabitable by Mutants, he hides these results from Iso his Inhuman assistant.
Emma Frost visits Storm at the X-haven in Limbo about how she is here to save the day.
What I thought
I love the cover! Medusa the Inhuman Queen vs. Storm the current leader of the X-men while Henry McCoy/Beast is all but broken at their feet is quiet poetic. Here we have the level headed leader of the X-men and the Inhuman Queen who had signed a treaty at the end of Death Of X now about to kill each other. All this while the linchpin for the two groups Beast has been unable to find a cure for the issue and thus could not stop the conflict. This issue is a decent jump on point for those who may have been out of the X-men game for awhile. As far as set up goes I prefer this issue over just about anything related to Civil War II so that is a step in the right direction for Marvel.
I give this issue 3/5 stars
