The Future Man Is In The Now in X Deaths of Wolverine #2

Moira’s chase continues as Omega Wolverine enters the story proper in X Deaths of Wolverine #2 by Benjamin Percy, Federico Vincentini, Dijjo Lima, and Cory Petit.

Cassie Tongue: Wolverine has finally shown up in the series bearing his name – or has he? That’s one of the questions we’re facing in X Deaths of Wolverine #2, which continues, as you and Liz pointed out with Issue #1, Chris, to be a Moira X book in disguise. It’s a welcome counter to X Lives, which sure does focus on the hairy warrior.  

Chris Eddleman: I’m starting to wonder if the Wolverine described in the title is not our favorite Logan but in fact, the Omega Wolverine that gets a bit more of a center stage role in this issue. He does an awful lot of killing (X Deaths anyone?) and honestly not a lot of anything else. But regardless, I’m thrilled to have a Moira book, so let’s dive headfirst.

Cancer. Krakoa Rising.

Cassie: The stakes are even higher in this issue than they were in the first, and #1 had already established a cracking pace. This is a book that really knows how to move, and its propulsive nature is really effectively rendered by Percy’s plot, Vicentini’s kinetic approach to panels, and the explosive, expansive approach to SFX and lettering (by VC’s Cory Petit). It means that when Moira is on a call with Jane Foster (using a burner phone she picks up while robbing a gas station), and we learn as she does that her cancer is floronic – a little twisted ‘gift’ from the No-Place biome – it’s like everything begins to accelerate. It’s such a killer pace, there’s almost no time to sit with that fact, so: let’s make some time for it now. 

Chris: So the more I thought about this, the more I thought that this seems a little bit like a set-up. “Floronics” is definitely a buzzword that we’ve been seeing throughout the current run on X-Force, namely as something that is used by both our Krakoan pals in the form of their cool sentient island, but also something that we see villains taking advantage of. Now, while I’m completely confident that Magneto/Xavier/Mystique would do something like give Moira cancer as a revenge mechanism, the timing seems a little too perfect. But, all we’ve gotten is that Moira is convinced the mutants are giving her cancer, so that’s what we have to work with. How did this new twist hit you, Cassie?

Cassie: Honestly, in this era, I don’t trust anything that appears straightforward, so I suspect that you’re right. I also think that the weaponisation of Krakoa is often complicated – or even mitigated – by Krakoa and the Krakoans who are at the core of the nation, like Doug. There are a lot of competing ethical stances here, and a lot of questions about timing, motive, and purpose. What’s more interesting to me, as a reader, is Moira’s (entirely justifiable) paranoia. Of course she thinks this is what happened. When you’re already embroiled in conspiracy, isn’t any new threat easily incorporated by way of confirmation bias? At any rate, she’s not going to let anyone catch up to her if she can help it, and that’s a hell of a story hook: it leads so easily to extremes.

Chris: Yeah, as I noted in our look into the last issue, this story is definitely X-Men by way of super-spy stories, and this issue and this reveal specifically add to that feeling. It’s an interesting contrast between House of X #2, the introduction to Moira’s story, which read a bit more like a far-flung temporal science fiction tale, with Moira in a zoo a thousand years later. Now she’s robbing gas stations and hiding out in motels. We’re certainly getting some versatility in our X-Men these days. Our break-neck pace takes a bit of a backseat for a tiny bit of this issue though, as Moira figures out, or at least thinks she has figured out, how the Krakoans are tracking her. 

A Farewell to Arms 

Cassie: Firstly, if I may: holy MOLY.

Okay, okay. But Moira methodically preparing to deal with the issue of being tracked while Mystique is hot on her heels? Breathtaking.

She’s got a cheap hotel room with a bathtub. She’s got an iron. She’s got iodine. She’s got a knife and a lighter and whiskey for pain relief (truly the most Wolverine, and the most metal, part of the book). That artificial arm is coming off. Not since Yellowjackets Episode 2 has a wound been more shockingly, yet casually removed and cauterised.

Moira has been long been one of my favourite X-personalities. I loved her when she was casually giving Cable shit and mother-hen-ing around all matter of mutants, pausing only to take Xavier to task for being an idiot or do some impressive science. I loved her when she changed the entire mutant game with that dream that wasn’t a dream if it was real (she reminds us in this issue it was her dream, too). And I love her as a complex action-thriller antihero. I loved this part. No thoughts. Just vibes. 

Chris: This bit was absolutely gnarly. As I was reading it at home, my 6-year-old ran over and I quickly hid it, which of course made him want to know what it was even more. Holy heck Moira. I’m going to take this moment to make a very brief complaint- specifically being, how did we go from the Moira of Inferno, who seemed to have very little agency, to this motorcycle driving, limb-hacking super-spy badass? I mean, the answer is probably “who is writing this, what does this story demand” but it’s honestly slightly jarring for me. I’m not complaining about the direction per se, I think having Moira be capable prey is frankly a very cool hook but, it’s just a little bit strange juxtaposed to the non-entity of mere months passed.

We get her thoughts here, specifically that Krakoa was her dream too. After Inferno, I’m not certain if Krakoa was meant to be a setup to get every mutant in one place, ripe for the curing, or if the mutant cure was Moira’s kind of “backup plan” in case the great state of the deathless ended up tanking. After seeing her as a monster not that long ago, it’s interesting being in the position to feel sorry for her, or at least see things from her perspective. Do you think it’s effective, Cassie?

Cassie: I do think it’s effective. I think that, especially in the grand tradition of X-villains, it makes sense that we are being asked to interrogate the question of perspective or to side with a villain as they face up to another villain. So often the formative mutant stories are about gradations of good and evil, of potential and redemption, of perspective and endings that turn into beginnings.

Do I think you could argue that Moira has always had the capacity to operate at this level, given the right motivation and a chance to regroup? Sure. Do I think giving characters who carry a book – especially women who have been stripped of it, whether justifiably or not – more agency to do so is a good idea? I absolutely do. Do I think that both of those things don’t forgive someone for their wrongs? Definitely. I think it’s important that there are still questions about that cure and its role in Moira’s plan. I love that it’s still murky. Frankly, I love that I’m rooting for people on all sides of this debacle. 

Just not this Omega Wolverine.

Is This Just Terminator? 

Chris: So as we saw in our last issue, there is a newcomer to the island of Krakoa, who came through a strange kind of pod or tumor that popped right out of the ground. This is Omega Wolverine, who is absolutely not our pal. So, we get some tantalizing hints about this enigmatic figure in our issue today but, there’s a lot that’s shrouded in mystery. It seems pretty evident though, that he’s here to hunt Moira, and he’s covered in Phalanxy stuff. In fact, there’s a data page that attempted to “translate” his speech, and it ended up proclaiming our Omega Wolverine as a Phalanx. 

As our subject line asks, is this Terminator? Well, we do have a killer robot sent to kill someone. However, Forge analyzes the pod that Omega Wolverine emerged from only to find that while it’s Krakoan, it’s at least one thousand years older than Krakoa. That either means that in fact, Omega Wolverine has been hanging out in a pod for thousands of years, pre-dating Krakoa (seems unlikely), OR that this is from a Krakoa that has existed for one thousand years more than our current plucky island, which would put Omega Wolverine at one thousand years in the future. Now this is all dumb speculation on my part but, I’m kind of excited about the mystery deepening, even if Omega Wolverine feels a little boring to me as an individual. I guess he’s a plot device made manifest, if you will? 

Cassie: Moira muses in her caption boxes that she never thought the future would get here so fast, which lines up with this theory about our phalanx-y Wolverine (And wherever he’s from, they’ve really simplified their Phalanx look. Hardly any yellow circuits! It’s more like a suggestion of a Phalanx presence. If that has later implications for his behaviour – if it indicates an evolved specimen or whatever – that’ll be interesting. But if not, why not go big and go hard with circuits? Yes, I’m here to talk about the important things: hot women who aren’t afraid of pain, and Phalanx fashion). 

Largely, Omega Wolverine does what Wolverines allegedly do best: he shows up being Death himself (per Destiny), killing anyone who stands in the way of his murderous goal. Of course, he doesn’t get Moira right now – she’s managed to stay one step ahead – but it doesn’t look like this guy can be easily avoided. That means that hopefully soon we’ll know a little more about his origins, and what, exactly, kind of threat he represents. Want to make any wild guesses, Chris?

Chris:  I think there’s some timeline shenanigans, and while we’ve seen the Omega Sentinel timeline where mutants team up with humans to annihilate the interstellar machine gods that live in black holes (comics kick ass), I think this Wolverine is from some “machine ascendant” timeline and they don’t want Moira interfering with their plans. Do they know that she’s currently human? Is this going to convince her that she should help her mutant pals instead of being a big ol’ traitor? I don’t know! But honestly, I’m pretty in on the X Deaths train even as I find X Lives to be kind of by-the-books X-Men treading some well-worn territory. And you know, 50% is a fine rate for a comic book, to be honest. 

X-Traneous Thoughts

• Jane Foster is just a real pal here, huh?
• It’s good to have Destiny back. Her enduring, loving relationship with Mystique – the precog and the mutant “certain enough in herself to see the future as negotiable” – is a winner, and it carries over to this title with depth and dimension.

Chris Eddleman

Chris Eddleman is a biologist and co-host of Chrises On Infinite Earths.

Cassie Tongue

Cassie is an arts and culture writer living on Gadigal land in Australia. For 10 years she’s been working as a professional theatre critic, and is delighted to finally be writing about her other love: comics, baby.