Wild Thing in X-Men '92: House of XCII

 I’ve taken a hiatus from the blog recently and today’s post will only be brief. With the X-Men ’97 animated series releasing soon as a continuation of the iconic X-Men: The Animated Series, I thought it might be nice to take a quick look at an MC2 character who made a surprising appearance in that world…well, sort of?

 

The X-Men: The Animated Series has at this point had various continuations which inevitably exist as alternate universes. In 2022 Marvel Comics published one such example in the form of the mini-series X-Men ’92: House of XCII which sees the story of the cartoon continue by adapting elements from the recent ‘Krakoa Era’ of the numerous X-Titles.

 

We learn in X-Men ’92: House of XCII #1 that the sentient island Krakoa became a safe-haven for all mutants following the tragic death of Jubilee. However, the account of Jubilee’s death is greatly exaggerated, as she is kept hidden on the island by Professor Xavier and Magneto, maintaining her status as martyr.

 

As it turns out, Jubilation Lee aka Jubilee discovered she had the secondary mutation ability of ‘Explosive Reality Reset’ (meaning she lived multiple lifetimes) after she was initially killed by Sentinels. Having died multiple times by the mutant hunting machines and learning that her remaining lives were finite, she faked her final death and in the process unified Mutantkind against the Sentinels (X-Men ’92: House of XCII #2).

 

During her ninth life, Jubilee led a Generation X team whose members included the recently deceased Morph (aka Kevin Sidney), Genesis ( aka Evan Sabahnur, a clone of Apocalypse), Cable (apparently Nathan Summers merged with Krakoa), Diamondheart (aka Emma Frost), another unidentified member and Wild Thing aka Rina Logan (X-Men ’92: House of XCII #2).

 

 

When the Generation X team faced the Nimrod Sentinels, it was revealed Jubilee had only one remaining life left, leading to her aforementioned final bid to ensure Mutantkind survived. Inevitably, Jubilee’s own survival in her last life was revealed and she ultimately sacrificed herself using the Phoenix Force to reset the universe once more, albeit with no recollection of her past lives. Series writer Steve Foxe intentionally left the ending vague, with one potential interpretation being that Jubilee reset the universe to the one of X-Men: The Animated Series (X-Men ’92: House of XCII #3-#5).

 

So, a version of Wild Thing exists in an X-Men: The Animated Series-adjacent universe, if nothing else! Artist Salva Espin does a fantastic job rendering Rina in a style which is so close to the animated series, it’s uncanny.

Until I get back on my feet and give some attention to this blog, I remain

 

frogoat

 

Video Games in the MC2

 

For today’s post, I wanted to try something a little different, by taking a look at video games and how they are referenced in the pages of MC2 comics. Video games, like comics are another often overlooked part of the pop culture landscape which gets little respect so this cross-pollination of media is an interesting lens to look through and get a glimpse of the world as it was at various points in the MC2’s publication history. This is Video Games in the MC2.

 

First up, we have an unidentified (and possibly fictional) video game that J2 aka Zane Yama is seen playing in A-Next #9. J2 tells Mainframe he is playing ‘one of those first person shooters’. Playing the game helped him decide how he would vote when the team were debating whether to make the perilous journey to another universe. Notably, the console’s controller has a retro design with only two face buttons which are contrasted by other elements; it is wireless and has a small screen and works in conjunction with what appears to be either Virtual Reality glasses or 3D glasses.

 

Next up, we have another video game device which Rina Logan aka Wild Thing enjoys playing. This one is a hand-held console that uses a VR headset. If Elektra is to be trusted on matters of up-to-date gaming technology, this unidentified console uses cartridges rather than disks. Rina has hacked and modified the fighting action game, allowing her to customise the main character’s appearance to resemble her costumed alter-ego, Wild Thing. This was apparently for a computer class project for which Rina received an ‘A’ grade. Kuroyama, the villainous assassin of the Hand, now rebuilt as a cyborg with a built-in attack computer that uses a virtual reality matrix is inadvertently defeated with one hit after appearing within Rina’s video game (Wild Thing #2).

Apparently in keeping with the MC2’s tradition of ‘themed months,’ we get another video game reference in another second issue. This time in Fantastic Five (vol. 1) #2 we are introduced to Doctor Lenny Gilcrest, a genius who designed a best-selling video game while still in high school who now works for S.H.I.E.L.D.  Gilcrest’s first project for S.H.I.E.L.D. is a Super Android dubbed Superoid which the Fantastic Five help field test. When Lenny is captured, the Superoid is quickly hijacked by the Wizard’s Warriors thanks to Gilcrest’s habit of using the same programming command structure for all his video games. I am curious if one of Lenny’s video games was among those played by J2 or Wild Thing?

 

Just two months later in the pages of Wild Thing #4 we see J2 playing what is almost certainly a Sega Dreamcast console, judging by the distinct controller. The Dreamcast would have been a very relevant console to reference, given its North American release in September 1999, mere months before this issue was released. Not a lot of lead time for artist Ron Lim, but the Dreamcast had already debuted in Japan the year before making it more plausible. I initially thought Juggie Junior was playing Doom, but having checked online, it appears the title never officially came to the Dreamcast. Suffice it say, the game appears to be another first-person shooter in the same vein as the Doom series.

 

The Wild Thing series is apparently the unlikely focus for this post, because in the very next issue we get a throw away reference to Rina’s school crush Colin Brewster’s father. According to Colin, his dad created a computer game with a giant robot that resembled their crash-site discovery: The Iron Despot. After his initial excitement, Colin soon realizes this is no game and eventually the day is saved when Wild Thing tricks the Iron Despot into a sinkhole (Wild Thing #5).

 

In Avengers Next #1 we glimpse yet another first-person shooter that J2 and Bluestreak are playing together in Avengers Compound. The controllers appear to be Xbox 360 controllers given their shape, design, and wireless status. This suggests they are playing on an Xbox 360 console, which was first released in late 2005 which fits with the Avengers Next mini-series which came out a year later in late 2006 Notably, the game display on the television has three player screens, so presumably Bluestreak is multitasking. We can also see three gamertags listed: 896-T, 569-BStreak and 998-J2.

 

That is it for today’s post but if I scrounge up enough material, I may produce a sequel to this post. I think it is interesting to look at the MC2 through the lens of the video game industry and see what was in the zeitgeist during the imprint’s run. It is fun to think the MC2 saw VR games as the future for the video game industry way back in the late 90’s and I had a blast trying to figure out what consoles were real and which were fictional. Special thanks to arias-98105 and the Video Game Console Library, I could not have produced this post without their help.

 

Until I learn how to mod old video games to add custom Spider-Girl player models, I remain

 

frogoat

 

 

Professor Charles Xavier in the MC2

 

While I haven’t covered this character in detail for this blog, I have previously made two related MC2 Family Trees back before I began providing more detailed entries. For reference those were The Yama Family Tree and The Xavier-Marko Family Tree which should clue you into who today’s post is about: Professor Charles Xavier aka Professor X, the founder of the X-Men.

 

In the unlikely event you didn’t already know, Charles Xavier made his comic debut in the original X-Men #1 as the leader and mentor to the original five members of the titular mutant team. As for the first appearance of Professor X in the MC2, Charles only appears in flashbacks, with the first being J2 #7. These flashbacks show major events in the life of Cain Marko aka The Juggernaut, the step-brother of Charles Xavier. One such event shown depicts Marko’s origin, specifically the moment he and Charles discovered the lost temple of Cyttorak while serving in the military together and Cain transforms into The Juggernaut for the first time as originally recounted by Xavier in X-Men #12.

 

We also see Cain’s first clash with Xavier’s original X-Men team as seen in X-Men #12-#13 and a later clash with the All-New All-Different X-Men team from X-Men #101-#103. For comparison, here are the original relevant covers and pages:

 

The only other direct mention of Xavier comes in a back up story in Wild Thing #5 where his early life being bullied by Cain is recounted as depicted in the aforementioned X-Men #12 and later it’s stated that after his reformation, Cain Marko ‘made peace with Xavier and even joined his stepbrother’s team!’

 

What’s unclear is the fate of Professor Charles Xavier in the MC2’s present. We could infer from the recently rescued former Juggernaut Cain Marko’s throw away comment to ‘pull a Charlie Xavier’ that ol’ Chuck is still around but there’s nothing solid to be sure either way (Wild Thing #5). What is clear is that after the various sacrifices of the X-Men over the years, mutant kind is more accepted by the general public, meaning Charles Xavier’s dream remains alive in the MC2 (J2 #2).

 

Once again I find myself wishing we’d seen an X-People series published. Maybe there’s still hope for it someday?

 

Until I stop trying to tie-in to MCU movies to encourage readership, I remain

 

frogoat

 

      

Doctor Strange in the MC2

 

Now that Spider-Man: No Way Home has come and gone, the most anticipated Marvel Studios movie release is Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness so now is an excellent time to take a look at Doctor Strange in the MC2.

 

While Doctor Stephen Strange first appeared in Strange Tales #110, his MC2 counterpart makes his debut in the pages of A-Next #3. Right off the bat, this appearance provides a number of insights into Stephen’s new status quo, starting with the issue’s opening page which pretty well confirms the Sorcerer still resides within the Sanctum Sanctorum located at 177A Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village. We also learn that Doc Magus aka Dormagus has replaced Strange as the new Sorcerer Supreme (as Dormagus puts it) ‘ever since The Vishanti fired [Stephen’s] butt.’

 

Having foreseen a world-threatening tragedy that will unfold in the near future, Doctor Strange takes matters into his own hands and recruits his former Defenders teammates Namor the Sub-Mariner and the Incredible Hulk in an apparent attempt to save the day using extreme measures. Doc Magus attempts to warn off Strange and when this fails, he takes his mentor Deacon’s advice and approaches the newly formed Avengers team for help. Soon enough the two teams clash in Arizona until Dormagus uses the Eye of Agamotto to uncover Doctor Strange’s true motives were three-fold: to make Namor proactive once more, ensure the Hulk is able to fulfill his destiny and provide the new Avengers team a ‘baptism of fire’.

 

While Doctor Strange himself does not appear, he is alluded to in J2 #4 While in an unknown dimension alongside the Avenger J2 battles a Darkling posing as the original Juggernaut, the dark lord Nemesus taunts Dormagus’ about the mystic’s strained and dysfunctional relationship with his own father. When he is thwarted and retreats, Nemesus’ parting words to Dormagus are ‘give my regards to your own dear father!’.

 

Ignoring a warning from Doctor Strange to wait for reinforcements, Dormagus and Zane Yama aka J2 make their way to a pocket dimension to rescue Cain Marko aka Juggernaut. Despite reuniting Zane with his father, Nemesus appears and reveals Doc Magus had fallen into his trap and closed the heroes gateway home, trapping them. Fortunately, Doctor Strange appears alongside his fellow Defenders the Hulk and the Sub-Mariner and aid in escaping from Nemesus’ dimension before they are all swarmed by legions of Darklings. This story makes clear some unexplored history between Nemesus and Strange (J2 #12).

 

Around this time, Doctor Strange made an appearance in Wild Thing #0 where in he is called upon by Wolverine to attempt to remove the cure of the Wendigo from the land around Hudson Bay. Meeting Wild Thing, Stephen makes a knowing comment to Wolverine: ‘Independent children can be such a trial, eh, Wolverine?’ With the aid of the Hulk, Wolverine and Wild Thing, Doctor Strange successfully lifts the curse.

 

When the demonically empowered vigilante Darkdevil is stabbed through the chest by the Venom Symbiote bonded with Normie Osborn, Doc Magus is called upon to save him. Struggling to save the hero, Dormagus admits he is out of his depth and accepts the help of Doctor Strange just as the demon Zarathos appears and warns the two mystics to leave Darkdevil’s body as he claimed it as his own. Unable to perform a conventional exorcism, the two are forced to journey into Darkdevil’s mindscape and restore the balance between the three vying avatars within the hero: the spirit of vengeance Zarathos, the ghostly spirt of the costumed hero Daredevil and the boy Reilly Tyne (Spider-Girl #83-#84).

 

With a string of superheroes going missing, Doc Magus sets out to find them on his own, once again rejecting the aid of Doctor Strange, only to wind up defeated in his astral form by a disguised Loki and fall under the villain’s thrall immediately afterwards when reunited with his mortal form and abducted (Last Hero Standing #2). 

 

While attempting to resolve the mystery of the missing heroes, Doctor Strange is instead attacked by the culprit Loki himself, who mentions Stephen’s ‘fall from grace is well-known to [him]’ before making short work of the Sorcerer. Still enthralled and falsely believing he knows who kidnapped him, Doc Magus leads the other heroes to Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum only to be confronted by a Loki-controlled and enraged Hulk who makes short work of the assembled heroes indiscriminately. Upon finding that Doctor Strange was seemingly in a coma, Dormagus was unable to detect Loki’s handiwork thanks to the dark spell’s effect (Last Hero Standing #4). Asgard’s Grand Vizier reveals the truth to Doc Magus and Doctor Strange is shortly after present to witness the death of Captain America (Last Hero Standing #5).

 

Unless I’ve missed a cameo somewhere, that’s the last time we see Doctor Strange in the MC2. I find the still-unresolved mystery of how and why Doctor Strange lost the position of Sorcerer Supreme to be a most tantalizing plot thread. I sincerely wish we learned the details of this massive development.

 

Until I learn to master the mystic arts and become Sorcerer Supreme only to lose the job under unrevealed circumstances, I remain

 

frogoat