The Unique X-Mansion of the MC2

Comic books have gifted us many iconic superhero headquarters, and I wanted to cover another one today. I don’t have enough free time to take a deep dive into a major location like the Avengers Headquarters or even something like the Fantastic Four’s Pier 4 but I figured because it’s nearly X-Mas, I’d take a look at the X-Mansion of the MC2. Consider it my gift to all of you!

 

The X-Men of the Main Marvel Universe famously and most often operate out of the ancestral home of Professor Charles Xavier in Westchester County, New York which first appeared in the pages of X-Men #1, before being identified as Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters in X-Men #2, both published in 1963. The full address of the X-Mansion (as it is affectionately known) was revealed in the pages of X-Men #99 (1976) and X-Men #123 (1979): 1407 Graymalkin Lane, Salem Center, Westchester County, New York. The school would be renamed the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning in X-Men (vol. 2) #38.

 

Usually, these posts involve an in-depth history of the major events relating to the topic, however, unless I’m very much mistaken, the MC2’s most prominent mutant team the X-People don’t operate out of the Xavier Mansion located on Graymalkin Lane. The X-Mansion we first glimpse in J2 #1 is in New Jersey, in fact. We get our first full appearance of the X-Mansion in J2 #2 when Zane Yama (J2) pays the X-People a visit following an invitation from the team’s leader Jubilee in A-Next #1.

 

Having no other mode of transportation, Zane takes a bus to Saddle River, New Jersey, noting that the X-People have a higher public profile than the X-Men before them, with the X-Mansion’s location even being marked on tourist maps. The estate is encompassed by a wrought iron fence and entry gate with a cobbled driveway leading to the expansive three-story high brick structure. The grounds feature an assortment of large trees, a low brick wall and an in-ground pool (J2 #2).

 

Although the interior of the X-Mansion is not frequently depicted, it contains a version of the iconic Danger Room training facility, complete with holovision projectors, VR modules and direct sensory input transmitters (J2 #7, #11) According to Jubilee, the X-Mansion also has sensors which detected an overlooked Sleeper Sentinel activating at the nearby Upper Saddle River High School (Wild Thing #3).

 

 It appears that the newer team of mutants, the uncanny X-People, are overseen by members of the original X-Men, including Cyclops, who makes his first few appearances in the MC2 during training exercises in the Danger Room (J2 #7, #11).

 

Zane noted that thanks to the efforts and sacrifices of the X-Men, anti-mutant sentiment had been on the downswing for the past few years (J2 #2). Additionally, Rina seems to imply that both the X-Men and X-People teams currently exist (J2 # 10). The continued existence of the X-Men team is confirmed by Mainframe in Spider-Girl #92, suggesting Jubilee’s team is comprised of younger members from the student body in much the same way the New Mutants and Generation X functioned previously.

 

Wolverine refers to ‘the grounds at the old X-Mansion in Salem Center’ in Wild Thing #4 but we don’t learn the current status of the original School for Gifted Youngsters. Speaking of Wolverine, it seems likely that Logan and Elektra relocated to New Jersey to be closer to the X-Mansion, given their daughter Rina begins attending the nearby Upper Saddle River High School shortly after she successfully passes their trial and is offered probationary membership, which she characteristically declines (J2 #11, Wild Thing #1-#5)

 

Speaking of Gifted Youngsters, when Nancy Lu (aka the novice X-People member Push) visits Sara Hingle’s family to invite her to the ‘Xavier Institute’, we learn the school offers an external program for students who wish to continue a mainstream education with tutors visiting them in-home free of charge provide they attend on-campus training once or twice a month in their ‘Safety Rooms,’ no doubt the more official, less deadly-sounding name for the Danger Room  (Amazing Spider-Girl #22).

 

The recruitment and monitoring of young mutants is evidently an ongoing responsibility for the Xavier Institute, with Nancy herself having been first approached by Jubilee three years prior when her mutant abilities first manifested (Spider-Girl #22, #67). A former member of the X-People, Bluestreak has a less favourable view of Jubilee’s team, having quit to train under Hawkeye, forming the Dream Team and becoming a member of the new Avengers (American Dream #1-#5, A-Next #3-#4).

 

The prevalence of anti-mutant sentiment has sadly seen a return in recent times, as is evident in Last Hero Standing #2 when Jubilee believes a wave of recent superhero disappearances are primarily targeting mutants. The rise of ostracization and attacks on young mutants such as Nancy Lu (Spider-Girl #61-#67) and anti-mutant groups such as Humanity First gaining traction while targeting the likes of Sara Hingle further support this (Amazing Spider-Girl #19-#24). This raises concerns for the students and staff of the publicly known New Jersey X-Mansion.

 

The X-People are one of the most tantalizing aspects of the MC2 Universe, as the team has been around since the first year of the MC2 imprint, but has never featured in their own title. I would absolutely love to see Marvel publish an X-People mini-series, at least. I can’t be the only one who wants to see the mutant side of the MC2 more deeply explored. Mysteries such as how the X-Men saved the world and helped convince the public at large (albeit temporarily) not to hate and fear mutants, why did they relocate to New Jersey, where are the majority of the X-Men? I could go on!

 

Until I discover if the Blackbird jet still comes out of the basketball court, I remain

 

frogoat  

History of the MC2: Operation Zero Tolerance

 

Continuing with our run of X-Men ’97 tie-in content, today I’d like to turn your attention to the 1997 X-Men comic crossover event storyline Operation: Zero Tolerance and examine its effect and connections to the MC2 Universe. This entry is called History of the MC2: Operation Zero Tolerance.

 

At the conclusion of the massive 1996 Marvel crossover event Onslaught, the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, Dr. Bruce Banner and even Doctor Doom apparently perished saving the world from the psychic entity known as Onslaught, a massively powerful psionic manifestation of the combined consciousnesses of Professor Charles Xavier and Magneto (Onslaught: Marvel Universe One-Shot). In the fallout of this seismic event, Xavier voluntarily surrendered himself (X-Men (Vol. 2) #57) and was placed in a secret facility run by the mysterious Bastion (Onslaught: Epilogue).

 

Having allied himself with various well-placed government figures and anti-mutant groups, Bastion had quickly position himself into a place of power. To cover-up mutant-hating presidential candidate Graydon Greed’s history from the public, Bastion killed Daily Bugle reporter Nick Bandouveris (Uncanny X-Men #339).Shortly afterwards, Creed would be assassinated (by Mystique, as we learn in X-Men Forever), stoking anti-mutant sentiment and fast-tracking the implementation of Operation Zero Tolerance (X-Factor #130).

 

During the Operation Zero Tolerance event itself, Bastion captures and tortures Jubilee, orders his forces to shoot down a team of X-Men and invades the Xavier’s Institute for Higher Learning where he gains access to sensitive information on various mutants. With his government supported mutant-targeted initiative, Bastion had converted numerous humans into Prime Sentinel sleeper agents throughout the world using cybernetic nanotech implants, set to hunt down mutants when activated. During a confrontation with Iceman, Bastion is finally stopped when the government figures who approved Operation Zero Tolerance back out of their course of action and authorize S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to arrest Bastion and shut down the operation.

 

This brings us to the MC2, where we learn that Mr Woodhill, the social studies teacher at Upper Saddle River High was involved in a crash ten years prior, spending a year in the hospital as a result. While there Woodhill was transformed into a Sleeper Sentinel, including suppression implants to ensure he remained unaware he was a cyborg. Jubilee explains that the X-Men had years ago attempted to find all these Sleeper Prime Sentinels but some -such as Mr Woodhill- had gone undetected. Using a program devised by Dr McCoy and Forge, the Sleeper Sentinels would have their Sentinel activation nullified, allowing them to continue living out their lives believing they were ordinary humans (Wild Thing #3).

 

This acts to fill in more information about the history of the MC2. The most notable implication being that in the MC2, Bastion likely continued producing more of his Prime Sentinels using unwilling patients well after the events of Operation Zero Tolerance.

 

Furthermore, this could mean the fleshed-out (pun intended) origin for Bastion depicted in Cable/Machine Man Annual ’98 and Machine Man/Bastion Annual ‘98 is also valid in MC2.  After the strong hints in X-Men (Vol. 2) #69, we learn that Bastion is an amalgam of the Sentinel Master Mold and the future Sentinel prototype Nimrod resulting from a journey through the mystical portal known as the Siege Perilous during the events of Uncanny X-Men #247.

 

Operation Zero Tolerance also provides a few other connections to the MC2, with the Wolverine tie-in issues being the last written by MC2-alumni Larry Hama’s, bringing to end a nearly hundred issue run. The Generation X series tie-ins were followed by a fill-in issue written by MC2 co-create Tom Defalco. This adds some credence to the notion that these are the point at which these series diverge into the MC2’s own timeline. Notably, Jubilee continues to wear a version of her Generation X-era red costume beneath her iconic yellow coat in the MC2. 

It's always fascinating to me to look back and consider what elements from the Main Marvel Universe comics of the 90’s have an unexpected or surprising impact on the MC2. A huge thanks to arias-98105 for all the help on this and many other posts!

 

Until I go through a mystical aperture, merge with another being and emerge as something different, I remain

 

frogoat