Since 2024, a central mystery of the “Shadows of Tomorrow” X-Men relaunch has been the identity of an unknown character at Graymalkin Prison, “Inmate X.” Earlier this week, Austin Gorton and I reviewed Uncanny X-Men #29 which wrapped the most recent arc, “Who’s Been Sleeping in My Bed?” and put an end to the suspense.
Because this reveal happened over 29+ issues of this volume (including the 2024 Free Comic Book Day issue, a break for Unbreakable X-Men and this year’s Annual), the Inmate X story has simmered for long enough to make it easy to forget what the deal was.
I like to give credit where it’s due, so now that we know Inmate X’s identity, I wanted to go back and see how Gail Simone led up to the reveal in Uncanny X-Men and what was going on with the AI security system Perimeter in this most recent arc.
Let’s start with this scene from X-Men Vol. 6 #35 (aka UXM #700), where we see the first reference to Perimeter, the AI which is used in Graymalkin Prison, and its P-shaped icon.
We see our first reference to “Inmate X” and another to Perimeter in Free Comic Book Day: Blood Hunt/X-Men. At this point, readers were led to believe Inmate X could be anybody, likely post-Krakoa Charles Xavier, but we now know Warden Ellis was talking to her brother, Oscar.
By UXM #2, we learn the Perimeter AI is “the most powerful security system on Earth” and that it can “liquefy football stadiums,” likely referring to a later reveal of sonic satellite space lasers. This is then reiterated in UXM #3.
In UXM #4, we learn Ellis has a 17-year-old brother, and that Perimeter is not giving reliable info. It was unclear why. Is it the first arc’s antagonist, Sarah Gaunt? Not sure. Oscar’s age is presumably what got Ellis to warn the Nawlins crew of Gaunt’s arrival.
By UXM #8, we learn that Xavier (revealed to be one of five “Avians” — in no particular order: Xavier, Scurvy, Harvey X, Cassandra Nova and Oscar Ellis) is not Inmate X. Ellis claims to the X-Men that her brother Oscar is dead, threatens them with aforementioned space lasers, and says the X-Men will “finally see [Oscar]. The last Avian.”
Three issues later in UXM #11 (part of “X-Manhunt”), we see the Perimeter logo for the second time. Perimeter is still wonky but has detected a virus among the guards. We also see that Perimeter is capable of monitoring and in the case of Xavier sedating inmates.
Because of the narrative mess of “X-Manhunt,” this scene at the time seemed to indicate that Xavier’s mutant tumor was making the guards have visions that made them kill their families. Upon reread, it’s pretty clear this is Oscar’s doing. I wish this kind of thing had been revisited because it was one of the scarier things in this run and would have helped anticipate how scary Oscar can be.
We get a big break before we get back to this story in UXM #20. When we do, Graymalkin prisoner Monet St. Croix claims she’s befriended Oscar telepathically and says Inmate X is “waking up.” This conversation is specifically structured to name drop both but also to obfuscate that they’re the same person.
There’s another big break (“Age of Revelation,” anyone?) before we get back to the story again in UXM #27. Scurvy, aka Phillip, is dying and says while he’s been using his powers to hold Inmate X back, once he dies, “[Oscar] will have his revenge.” Which is exactly what happens.
Next issue, in UXM #28, Scurvy’s dead body is possessed by Oscar, who is revealed to have been Inmate X all along and demands to be called Perimeter, suggesting he has full control (though it’s unclear how) of the Perimeter AI security system.
In this week’s issue, UXM #29, we see our only glimpse of the actual Oscar, throwing away his meds. (It’s notable that of the five Avians, Oscar is the only mutant of color in the batch with the rest being bald and white. I still don’t really know what an Avian is per se aside from being telepathic and infected with mutant brain tumors. The name implies Shi’ar descent of some kind. How this fits with Cassandra Nova being a Mummudrai is truly a head scratcher.) We learn Oscar not only killed Ellis’ cat, but also their parents. Now he’s pumped to start killing mutants for funsies.
After Gambit teleports the Nawlins X-Men to the prison, Wolverine stabs the Scurvy corpse in the head, sending Oscar back into his own body and shutting down his control of the Perimeter AI. Why Oscar doesn’t just pop into another body is unclear. Rogue suggests the Perimeter system will control him, even though Oscar was controlling Perimeter up until that very moment.
In the final panels of the issue, Oscar is confirmed to still be alive and trapped inside the Inmate X cell. Rogue and Monet really don’t know what to do with the guy and are unsure if he can be rehabilitated.
Still unanswered (to me) is how the Perimeter system was capable of physically removing the Outliers from their beds and building an entire “AI” reality that was controlled psychically by Oscar. Where the heck were they? And what was Oscar trying to accomplish by sending the Outliers to a simulated alternate reality and siccing an evil version of the New Mutants on the Nawlins X-Men? He easily could’ve just space lasered all of them!
Altogether, the pieces mostly fit. It’s just that the way they were doled out over such a long period of time didn’t give readers what they needed to connect the dots or much of a reason to be compelled by the ongoing mystery. That said, read altogether, it makes a lot more (if not complete) sense, and I’m glad I went back and pieced all of what was there together. Hopefully this was helpful to you as well.
Adam Reck is the cartoonist behind Bish & Jubez as well as the co-host of Battle Of The Atom. Follow him @adamreck.bsky.social.
