Fall Of The House Of X #5 Put Away Those Toys, It’s Krakoa’s Bedtime!

It’s the final battle against Nimrod as the end of the Krakoa Era is just issues away in Fall of the House of X #5, written by Gerry Duggan, art by Lucas Werneck & Stefano Caselli, colors by Bryan Valenza, and letters by Travis Lanham.

Scott Redmond: As the Krakoan era continues to crawl towards a corporate mandated speed-run death, the final couple issues haven’t gotten better, unsurprisingly. Well, okay, to be slightly fair, there have been worse issues than Fall Of The House Of X #5 so it’s at least got that going for it. Still a pretty deflating way for such a well-received, “as close as we’ll ever get to Marvel letting the X-Men evolve” era to end. 

But at least I get to ride out this final issue by chatting it up with one of my oldest friends and fellow X-Heads (if that’s not a thing, it is now). Ready for this Tony?

Tony Thornley: New phone, who dis? (I mean, we’re wiping the slate clear, so if there was ever a time to make that joke…)

What Happens To A Nimrod When It’s Struck By Lightning?

Scott: Nimrod has been a growing threat since the moment we were introduced to a variation (within one of Moira’s lives) back in the days of House Of X/Powers Of X (oh to be able to read those for the first time again). Orchis has been taken over by the forces of A.I., as has been destined all along. Therefore, it’s not surprising that this beefy machine was going to be one of the final bosses of the era. Stories like Inferno showed that even the mightiest of mutants failed time and time again to dispatch Nimrod, the machine coming up with contingencies and learning from every attack. 

Tony: Here’s my thing about Nimrod — he needs to be scary. I’m not sure about the timing of his first introduction (given Claremont’s predisposition to write what movie he saw last weekend into his Uncanny run), but he definitely should feel like the Terminator whenever he shows up. He should evoke pants-peeing terror.

Even with his more human personality, I felt like early Krakoan stories still had that weight. Just because he acted like a dorky Gen Z kid doesn’t take the weight out of his appearance. I think it even made him more scary. Hickman wrote that so well in the first year plus of Krakoa.

Since last summer’s gala, he just has just done nothing but lose that impact. He’s just… Bastion at this point. And maybe even less scary.

Scott: Guess they should have just tried making him into a lightning rod from the beginning! Okay, there is more to it, somewhat, but I have to say the way that Duggan essentially speed runs the defeat of Nimrod is beyond disappointing. From uber villain to typical sentinel dispatched through a mutant circuit (probably one of the last we’ll see) of Magneto/Polaris and Storm/Synch.

Tony: I think your criticism is valid, but I did like a few things about this more than in previous issues. First, Cyclops being the predicted last X-Man standing is perfect. Scott is one of the more vulnerable X-Men, frankly — he’s just a dude with laser eyes. But we’ve seen him make up for that over decades. Through his character growth, his relationship with Jean, his strategic mind, all that. It’s just a cool thought to consider “Scott Summers is the Omega mutant.”

Storm’s entrance meanwhile is rad as hell. Yes, the problem with “why not just hit him real real hard” is a major plot hole [Ed. Note: also, none of Nimrod’s billions of calculations ever predicting that Storm, a fully alive and active mutant who can generate electricity, might show up and hit him with…checks notes…electricity seems like a big whiff]. I’m not even going to say “why didn’t they try it sooner?” because I’m certain they did. If I’m remembering correctly, that was the whole deal with Jean turning Juggernaut into, essentially, a rail gun projectile during the Gala. But a rad page is a rad page.

And Magneto’s entrance/defeat of Nimrod was also very cool. Magneto is and remains the best X-Man.

But really a bunch of cool moments only go so far. Did they elevate this issue? A little. Did they completely make “we’re going to win by punching him REAL hard” work? Nope.

Scott: That last part could sum up so much of the final stretch of the Krakoa era. A bunch of cool moments that only go so far. For every cool moment there were numerous others that were groan worthy, made no sense, or threw all plot and logic out the window for speed. Fall of the House of X #5 being the best issue out of the five is a damning thing as well. I would say being stretched between three books all handling aspects of the Fall might have been a problem. But the give and take of Duggan is not a new thing in any of the discussions we have had about the man’s run as the sort of lead X-writer. 

Tony: Along those lines, to back us up a little. Fall of the House of X #5 felt VERY distinctly like we missed a full issue of story, right? Like, there seems to have been a massive fight on Sentinel City that happened entirely off panel. Cyclops doing some stuff, Nightcrawler doing some stuff, all of that.

Scott: Oh 100%. Sentinel City went from this massive Death Star-esque looming threat to something that was brushed aside like nothing. It doesn’t help that for a couple of issues now Duggan has been way more into telling than letting the artists show us things. Which, to be fair, the whole era has really screwed artists with tight deadlines, apparently. Hell, the rescue of Colossus might have been cool to see (even seeing him get beat out of the room), but nope, just captions telling readers about it.

Call Me Karima

Scott: Nimrod isn’t the only A.I. foe that the X-Men are able to just flick aside like nothing in Fall of the House of X #5. Omega Sentinel, Karima Shapandar, was also there at the start of this era. A lot of mysteries surrounded her and how the heel turn came for the character. Over time, those things were answered. She was a future version of Karima that was sent back by the Enigma Dominion to take over the past version. But also, her presence kind of diminished to make her just a side character to Nimrod, Moira, and others. 

In a move that smacks of a need to clean up all the toys and try to put them back to factory standard as much as possible, the “evil machine” Omega Sentinel is gone. All that remains is Karima. Psylocke/Kwannon (acting a lot like Betsy Braddock) somehow uses her psychic blades to wipe out the Sentinel part and leave behind the human part of the brain — despite that not being how telepathy or psychic blades has ever worked in the X-Men at any point that I can recall in my many many years of reading. They left her alive, forcing her to relive all she had done and feel guilt over those things. 

Tony: Yeah, first of all — you’re right. Kwannon was really just Betsy again. Her slightly colder personality was significantly softened here. It didn’t feel at all like the Psylocke we’ve seen grow into her own character since day 1 of Krakoa.

This definitely felt like putting the toy back in the box, fixed. Karima has long been an interesting side character and her complicated sci-fi heel turn worked for me. But she’s another character like Nimrod that hasn’t totally worked for me since Inferno. The psychic knife killing the machine part of Karima really smells of comic book science taken too far. 

This could have probably been redeemed with a different explanation. Maybe the shock of Kwannon’s psychic knife was enough to allow “our” Karima to gain control. Make her a conflicted character that’s fighting her literal dark side again. But no, it’s just “I stabbed her, she’s good now.”

Scott: Seriously. Allowing the version of Karima we ‘knew’ before Krakoa would have been a solid way to go. Instead, it’s this other Karima just forced to be all sad about what she has done. Not only was it clearly part of a “toys back in the box” moment, but it was seemingly set up to be a way to make the X-Men merciful again after half of Duggan’s recent books being blood fests. Which also does not feel earned. Especially since they try to also offer that mercy to freaking Nimrod before they destroy him. 

As good as the cool moments are that we referred to are, the fact that so much of the end of this era is sweeping things under the rug and jumping to the conclusion without actually exploring the middle is sad. So much potential is wiped away and run around in the name of a corporate driven relaunch for bigger media reasons (not a judgment of the stories to come, just a statement of fact behind the relaunch as noted by those behind it).

Orchis Dies, Krakoa Lives, Phoenix Burns?

Scott: So, outside of the big fights with the machines, there are some bits in Fall of the House of X #5 that are meant to lead into the final two issues of this era. We see Xavier, after making a deal with the machines and murdering (and worse) humans, hides himself from Shadowkat (and everyone else) who is hunting for him. Despite her deciding not to go after Xavier and Wolverine taking over in a Duggan-written issue (not the first time Duggan has ignored his own work). One can assume whatever happens here he is likeliest to end up as the mysterious “Prisoner X” being held in the Xavier Mansion-turned-prison in the new era. But at this point, I’m not sure I really care what happens to him. 

Tony: Yeah, exactly. There was the recent interview with Jordan D. White that stated the big bad of Krakoa wasn’t originally anyone we’d expect. A few people said Xavier, and this plot line frankly makes it a little too obvious. I’ll be surprised if anyone but Charles is Prisoner X. I’ll be curious to see how the story from X-Men #34 ends, to see if the timeline goof is resolved.

Some may say that I might be a little too into strict continuity by saying that, and I’m normally not. But here, these stories are giving the appearance of being tightly plotted. An error like this, especially when both stories are by the same writer, is just glaring. Maybe it backs up how much of this may have been a editorial dictate (and/or rushed). I don’t know.

Scott: Also, apparently Apocalypse using the Crucible to murder other mutants to feed Krakoa blood has paid off. The island is back together, and needs some energy, but is alive. Which begs some big questions. The new era is very much about how Krakoa is gone. Mutants are scattered, back in their homelands, being hated and feared and hunted to extreme new levels. A swath of mutants were left abandoned in the White Hot Room living on the Atlantic Krakoa. 

That means that either this new revived Krakoa is going to be wiped out in Rise Of The Powers Of X #5 or X-Men #35/Uncanny X-Men #700. Maybe eaten by Phoenix to power up? Or mutants en masse just decide to abandon the island and live where they are hated just for fun or something. Maybe Krakoa itself decides they are more of a problem than a boon. But that seems less likely since it eats mutant energy to thrive. Either way, it’s bizarre to ‘save’ Krakoa — the full mutant paradise island version, not just the Groot-esque walking tree version — right before abandoning it in some way. 

Tony: If I had to make a prediction, I think Charles is going to be outed for what he did. That’s what makes Mutants public enemy #1 again. It’s a logical step for why mutants become hated and feared again (after stopping the robot apocalypse).

But man, this ending just hits with a thud. Ending this series with Scott Summers, wife guy, monologuing to his wife, who’s merged with his adopted granddaughter, who is also now kind of his daughter, hoping she hears him…

I’m a Scott/Jean shipper. I’m not hardcore about it, but I like them together. But one of the bigger problems with her continued link to the Phoenix is that one of the most important cosmic forces in the Marvel Universe is tied to how much this duo loves each other. It’s a bit of a cliché, and I hope that it lands better in Rise’s conclusion.

X-Aminations

• Just because Nimrod called Cyclops the Omega mutant, doesn’t make him an Omega Mutant. Hickman defined that really well, and there are other beings in the universe that punch things with their eyes better.
• I feel a little robbed by the tell-don’t-show here, particularly with Nightcrawler doing cool stuff. More Nightcrawler doing cool stuff, please.
• Is it just me or would anyone else like to have seen even a short sequence in previous issues where Nimrod ran those simulations that ended with Scott as last man standing?
• Since I’m a fan of unusual adjectives being used to title series, wouldn’t The Last X-Men be a cool as hell series title?

Scott Redmond

Scott Redmond is a freelance writer and educator fueled by coffee, sarcasm, his love for comic books and more "geeky" things than you can shake a lightsaber at. Probably seen around social media and remembered as "Oh yeah, that guy." An avid gamer, reader, photographer, amateur cook and solid human being.

Tony Thornley

Tony Thornley is a geek dad, blogger, Spider-Man and Superman aficionado, X-Men guru, autism daddy, amateur novelist, and all around awesome guy. He’s also very humble.