How did Cassandra Nova come back from the dead, and why isn't she evil?
What happened to her between her defeat in "Imperial" and her apparent return in the future of "Here Comes Tomorrow"? And what's the connection between her and Ernst? Is it just a coincidence that Ernst is named after Cassandra's favorite artist? Even if Cassandra was somehow reformed, how is she still alive that far into the future?- This one is easily explained. At the end of "Imperial," Cassandra was locked inside Stuff's synthetic brain, which Xavier notes was programmed to reeducate her into a contributing member of society. Future Cassandra also mentions her time studying at the Xavier Institute. The obvious implication is that Cassandra's reeducation was successful.
Why did Sublime choose Beast as its host?
In "Here Comes Tomorrow", we learn that Beast was possessed by Sublime because he became addicted to Kick, and that Sublime used him to conquer Earth. But previously, Quentin Quire and Magneto both became addicted to the drug as well, but it only made them act violent and erratic, and ultimately made them bring about their own deaths through sheer recklessness. Both of them are Omega-Level mutants with vast destructive powers, and Magneto is a well-known mutant leader with a huge army of followers. Though no pushover, Beast's only mutant powers are enhanced strength, agility, and senses. If Sublime was really hell-bent on taking over the world, why would he use Beast as his host instead of Magneto or Quentin Quire? And for that matter, how did Beast manage to take over the world without any of Earth's superheroes stopping him? How did Wolverine get trapped on Asteroid M?
We never see how he ended up on the asteroid after Weapon Plus' space station blew up, so it gives the impression that he just drifted through space and landed there by coincidence, then tells us that it was a death-trap set by Magneto. Even if this was planned by Magneto, how did he plan it if he had no way of knowing that Wolverine would be on the space station? Remember, Cyclops and Wolverine went there after Fantomex went out on his own and drafted them into an independent mission—none of the other X-Men knew about it.- It's an easy-to-miss line, but Wolverine mentions in issue #148 that Magneto moved the asteroid into place to catch him. As for how he knew Wolverine would be on the station, best guess is that since everything was part of Sublime's plan, the creepy doctor aboard the station (working for Sublime) could've informed Magneto (possessed by Sublime) that he was there off-panel.
- That would seem plausible...except that we never actually see Magneto taking Kick until issue #147 (two issues after the explosion), when Esme has to persuade him to take the drug, and he acts as if he's taking it for the first time. If Mags really built Feng Tu as part of his plan (as he claimed he did), he would have been plotting the X-Men's demise long before Sublime ever could have possessed him. As all-powerful as Sublime is, it seems unlikely that he was involved with that part of the plan.
- Actually, he says upon being given the Kick, "just this once more," implying that he'd been taking it the whole time. In addition, there's good money he was the one leaving the Kick in the forest for the students.
- More than "good money;" the Kick dealer is the person who ambushes and electromagnetically wipes Sage's "computer brain" in "Murder In The Mansion," and makes a driverless car escort Esme to safety. She next turns up with Magneto in New York. And Sage? The only thing she babbles about her assailant is "the sun in a box," a loose description of Xorn.
- That would seem plausible...except that we never actually see Magneto taking Kick until issue #147 (two issues after the explosion), when Esme has to persuade him to take the drug, and he acts as if he's taking it for the first time. If Mags really built Feng Tu as part of his plan (as he claimed he did), he would have been plotting the X-Men's demise long before Sublime ever could have possessed him. As all-powerful as Sublime is, it seems unlikely that he was involved with that part of the plan.
How did Magneto's infiltration plan work?
Morrison has claimed that there's plenty of foreshadowing about Xorn's identity in early issues. I've never been able to find any, but there seem to be a few details that actually contradict it. Specifically:- If Magneto wasn't really in Genosha during the Sentinels' assault on the island, who was that tall, white-haired man in the capital building?
- Magneto was there; he never claims otherwise in Morrison's run. He presumably survived the attack. The idea that he had enough power to record everyone's memories on that "black box" but not enough to save himself is a hint that the "death scene" doesn't add up.
- Why did the guards at Feng Tu prison try to sell Xorn to the Sublime Corporation if they knew his true identy and were working with him to bring down the X-Men?
- See below. Magneto notes in #146 that he set the whole thing up with his mutant supporters in China. Notice that the Feng Tu setup allows him to bring in the X-Men to dismantle Sublime's mutant-killing operation there, for example. (And this assumes Magneto isn't already under Sublime's influence at this point.)
- How did the guards pull off that demonstration of his powers that they gave to Sublime? At the very least, shouldn't Sublime have been surprised to see that "Xorn" was a white-haired Polish man when the guards pulled his mask off?
- It's a big electromagnetic energy discharge with an attractive force inside it. All well within Magneto's powerset.
- Sublime set the entire thing up, so he probably knew exactly who was under there before the helmet was taken off. The jailer, Ao Jun, was presumably low enough on the conspiracy's totem pole to not know Sublime was Playing Both Sides.
- Additionally, when Magneto reveals himself he says that Feng Tu was created by his "mutant supporters" in China. Ao Jun is a mutant from China. Presumably he's one of the supporters Magneto mentions.
- When Emma scanned Xorn's mind and saw memories of his childhood in China, whose memories was she really seeing? How did Magneto create a set of fake memories?
- The same way he created the magnetic "black box" of memories with the computer virus on it seen in #132 and discusses during "Planet X." Morrison seems to treat electromagnetic and psionic energy as related at several points in the run, even before Magneto is exposed.
- Given how he more or less explicitly reverts Magneto to his original characterization from way back in the very first X-Men comics, he might further be subtly referencing the idea (also prominent in those) that Magneto has psychic powers himself, and quite strong ones at that.
- How/why did he have that conversation with the old man in Chinatown about his childhood in China?
- He doesn't necessarily have that conversation, and we only know about the conversation via Xorn-as-narrator. Reread the issue in question and you'll see that all the narration in that issue is a letter "Xorn" writes to Professor X, so it's presumably a very distorted account of what we're seeing in the otherwise silent panels. What Xorn does in Chinatown makes sense without the narration as Magneto trying and failing to rescue a mutant child, and then pragmatically ending the conflict. Indeed, it's an early hint that Xorn isn't who he claims to be; why else wouldn't Xorn have healed the dying child given his supposed powers?
- How did he heal the X-Men when the nano-sentinels were infecting them if he didn't really have healing powers?
- Nano-Sentinels are made of metal; presumably, he just turned them off.
- He wouldn't even have to turn them off. He could have just knocked them offline with a small electromagnetic pulse, since EMPs shut down electronics instantly. To someone who didn't know that he had magnetism-based powers, he would look like a mystical healer.
- This is stated explicitly in the first issue of "Planet X," where he explains that he manipulated the nano-Sentinels to restore Xavier's spine and is now turning them off again. Xorn never heals anyone at any other time in the arc; the closest he comes is "reviving" a dead bird that flies around inside an energy bubble for a few panels, something well within Maqneto's established powerset. (He's been levitating nonmetals since at least the Claremont/Byrne Uncanny X-Men #112, wherein he flies a wooden circus wagon to his Arctic base with the X-Men inside.)
How was Magneto able to kill Jean?
Granted, Magneto's a powerful mutant, but how is he powerful enough to kill someone who's bonded to the Phoenix Force? How is it that she could survive being thrown into the sun, but was easily killed by Magneto (who, at that point, had just taken a full-power force beam to the face from an enraged Cyclops)? How is it that Rachel Grey could beat Galactus in a fight when she was imbued with the Phoenix Force, but Jean couldn't defeat a guy with magnetic powers?- "Magneto" mentions throughout the arc that he'd been saving up magnetic power within himself in order to reverse Earth's magnetic poles. When he realized his number was up, he sent all of that power into Jean's brain. Enough to kill a Phoenix? Probably debatable, but certainly among the more impressive displays we've seen from the guy (whoever he was).
- Doylism: Comics powers are just inconsistent. But trying for Watsonian: Phoenix's powers fluctuate In-Universe as well, as depending on factors the human cast can't always accurately measure or predict. Magneto has beaten Phoenix before, going all the way back to the late 70s before she became Dark Phoenix.
- In this case, being thrown into the sun and digging her way out not too long before probably used up a fair bit of Jean's powers first, so it's not unreasonable that she'd be weaker than usual. Also, Magneto (Xorneto, whatever) was amped up on magic mutant drugs that boosted his powers.
