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  

Wolverine in the MC2

It’s been a good year to be an X-Men fan with the animated revival series X-Men ’97 and the upcoming third Deadpool movie in the series with Deadpool & Wolverine due for release in mere days. As you’d expect by now, today’s post will be focused on the MC2 incarnation of the mutant who’s the best there is at what he does: Wolverine in the MC2.

 

The short, hairy, Canadian mutant known as Wolverine first appeared in a cameo on the final page of Incredible Hulk #180 before making his first full appearance in Incredible Hulk #181, where Wolverine reveals to the Hulk his claws are ‘forged of diamond-hard Adamantium’.. We first see Wolverine without his mask in X-Men #98, which is also where we first learned his claws came from within his body, not his gloves. His current name ‘Logan’ was first used by a leprechaun in X-Men #103, as odd as it might seem.

 

Logan clarifies he has a healing factor in X-Men #116 and mention is made of his ‘unbreakable bones’ in X-Men #124 before X-Men #126 has Logan outright state he has ‘a skeleton made of about three million bucks worth of Adamantium’. We see this ‘Weapon X’ experiment play out in the pages of Marvel Comics Presents #72-#84. Logan survives the experiment due to his mutant healing factor but loses his memory.

 

Then we come to the X-Men storyline known as Fatal Attractions, during which Magneto returns to his villainous ways and uses his powers to rip the Adamantium from Wolverine (X-Men (vol. 2) #25), nearly killing him and shortly afterwards revealing Logan had bone claws beneath the Adamantium the whole time (Wolverine (vol. 2) #75).

 

The final major point I need to touch upon is the fact that despite the mini-series Wolverine: The Origin being published after the MC2 universe branched from the Main Marvel Universe, it’s revelations can or may be considered canon to the MC2 version of the character as it is the resolution to a pre-existing and long-running plot about Wolverine’s origin and past. The main take away for now, barring any future implementations from ‘Origin’, is Logan’s real name was James Howlett and he really is Canadian (The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes 2005).

 

Now let’s get our claws into Wolverine in the MC2! With the introduction of Rina Logan aka Wild Thing we also saw the arrival of her father, Wolverine in J2 #5. Here we learn that Logan is in a relationship with to Elektra Natchios when he heads to New York to find their daughter after she targets J2 to learn what he knows about the fate of the original Juggernaut. Logan arrives to end the fight in his full classic yellow and blue costume (notably without his X-Belt) and tells J2 that Jubilee has vouched for him.

 

 

 

The next time we see Wolverine is in a flashback where, after a few references to the original mutant team in the series, we get our first glimpse of the X-Men in J2 #7 via a flashback to 'The Last Days of the Original Juggernaut'. It's here we learn Cain Marko aka the Juggernaut reformed and joined the X-Men, eventually being lost on a mission while at the Crossroads of Infinity though some details would remain unrevealed. Wolverine leads the X-Men team that Cain Marko joins and other teammates included Wolfsbane (Rahne Sinclair), Synch (Everett Thomas), Siryn (Theresa Cassidy) and 'Hopper'. As Rina mentioned in J2 #5, Logan feels responsible for the disappearance of Marko.

 

Aside from single panel flashbacks to his early X-Men adventures, Wolverine next appears in a fun two-page story from J2 #9 where he spars with Wild Thing, demonstrating just how proud he is of his little girl.

 

We get a great issue featuring J2 on the road with Wolverine when they journey to Madripoor seeking Logan’s daughter Rina after receiving word she was there and assuming she’d been kidnapped. Zane, a huge Wolverine fanboy, gets a very different experience than he bargained for teaming up with his idol. The pair eventually learn Rina is safe and sound with the mutant Daze and the mistress of magnetism Magneta, with the latter attempting once again to recruit other mutants in hopes of forming a super team (J2 #10).

 

In J2 #11, alongside Cyclops, Logan and Elektra watch on Rina runs the gauntlet against Jubilee’s team, the X-People. After Wild Thing proves herself, Jubilee declares she has passed the initiation and may join the X-People as a probationary member. Rina declines, stating she only did it because her father asked her to which Cyclops remarks she reminds him of Logan.

 

In Wild Thing #1 briefly appears after Rina as Wild Thing stops the kidnapping of her classmate Cameron Bryce-Jones. Picking Rina up on his Harley Davidson bike, he assures her that if she were ever kidnapped he would track her down himself and let nothing stop him.

 

Around this time, Wolverine made an appearance in Wild Thing #0 where in he calls upon Doctor Strange to attempt to remove the cure of the Wendigo from the land around Hudson Bay. With the aid of the Hulk, Wolverine and Wild Thing, Doctor Strange successfully lifts the curse.

 

Rina and Logan spend some quality father-daughter time together embracing their animal instincts until they encounter a member of the other-dimensional demon race the N’Garai in the middle of Central Park. The two manage to drive it back and destroy the cairn it used to arrive before they head home (Wild Thing #4).

 

While bonding with his daughter Rina by tracking her through the New Jersey Pine Barrens, Logan is the first super hero to be abducted in a plot secretly masterminded by the Asgardian Loki (Spider-Girl #85, Last Hero Standing #1-#2).

Under the dark influence of Loki’s enchantment, Wolverine is among the super heroes who are returned to Earth and filled with malice, engage their fellow heroes in battle. When Loki enthralls and enrages the Hulk he fights the various assembled heroes including Wolverine. In the end the sacrifice of Captain America ultimately saves the day and Wolverine is among those present to witness his death (Last Hero Standing #3-#5)

 

With Galactus enacting his final solution to resolve his hunger and in the process destroy the universe, the combined forces of the super hero community working to penetrate his force field and combat his doomsday weapon’s launch. Wolverine is among the heroes who inadvertently inspires The Vision to finally join the fray, going against orders from President G.W. Bridge. This issue also appear to be the only time Logan interacts on-panel with his son, Hudson aka Sabreclaw (Last Planet Standing #4). Wolverine soon after witnesses the birth of a new entity composed of the Silver Surfer and Galactus which could harness a new form of energy known as The Power Essential (Last Planet Standing #5).

 

Wolverine’s last appearances are also cameos in the pages of Avengers Next #4 and off-panel in #5. When Loki's daughter Sylene attempts to restore the devastated Asgard by recreating it on Earth, she creates energy duplicates of various super humans to serve her purposes. Logan is among those rendered comatose in the process of creating these duplicates. When Sylene is defeated, Wolverine’s duplicate dissipates, and Logan is presumably restored.

 

I know I’m not alone in hoping we see more from the MC2 incarnation of Canada’s favourite son, especially given the Wild Thing series was abruptly cancelled so we never got to see Sabreclaw, Wild Thing and Wolverine together.

 

Until I can get early tickets to see Deadpool & Wolverine to get ahead of spoilers, I remain

 

frogoat