Mutant X Annual '99

Issue Date: 
May 1999
Story Title: 
A World Gone Mad!
Staff: 

Jay Faerber (story), Paschalis Ferry (pencils), Andrew Pepoy & Paschalis Ferry (inks), Joe Adreani & Jason Wright (colors), Chris Eliopoulos (letters), Frank Pitaresse & Jason Liebig (editors), Bob Harras (editor-in-chief)

Brief Description: 

The Goblin Queen has sent her Sentinels into town, scanning everybody if they are mutants or not. The Goblin Queen and her group, beside Brute, leave for the Florida swamps, as she has sent Nick Fury and his S.H.I.E.L.D. troops in to look-out for a certain mystic swamp. Fury finds it and Madelyne prepares to take it over, but has to fight Dr. Strange first! Meanwhile, Havok has been rescued by Stingray and Yellowjacket, the only two Avengers remaining after the rest have been killed by the Sentinels. They call up the aid of Leonard Samson and prepare their move against Madelyne and the rest. After Alex learns from Brute where Madelyne has gone, they leave as well in the Avengers' Quinjet. Havok's group loses, of course, and Alex orders Strange to teleport everyone away while he destroys the Nexus of Realities with his powers. Alex thought this to be the best way to prevent Madelyne from winning, but at the same time destroys his possible only way home. Strange, Stingray, Yellowjacket and Samson decide to stay together and form the Defenders. Meanwhile while Havok was fighting Madelyne, super-heroes Firestar and Vendetta were out on their own defeating the Sentinels and breaking into the White House. Vendetta used his powers to get Madelyne out of the President's mind. After these events, Vice-President Robert Kelly decides to step down and has selected his new successor and new President: none other then Reed Richards!

Full Summary: 

A swamp just outside Citrusville, Florida.

A dog begins barking and its owner comes outside looking what it's all about. He looks up and sees a huge flying ship landing on the swamps. Troops come out running, led by none other than Nick Fury. Fury orders his men to clear the swamp inside out untill they have found what they are looking for. The man asks if he's Nick Fury from S.H.I.E.L.D., but Fury tells him to stand back because this is government business. The man is surprised because he thought S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't work for the government anymore, but Fury says now they do.

In New York, people can't believe what's happening. They thought things were getting better, not worse. Another person says they are, but not if you are a mutant. Sentinels land in the city and scan the passing people, and let the "normals" pass by. At the same time demons show up, and the Goblin Queen cheers for the city is all hers! The Fallen congratulates her and asks if Havok is really out of the picture. The Goblin Queen says since she blasted him and he's now sinking into a river, he's just a memory now. She points to Reed Richards, asking if he finds it fun in the dark, and realizes he was just wasting time fighting for the good all those years? Reed says he's just happy to be here.

Havok wakes up somewhere and two costumed people are around him, asking if he's okay. Havok panics and blasts out, scaring the two costumed people away. They introduce themselves as Stingray and Yellowjacket of the Avengers, his friends. Havok doesn't know Stingray at all, and he thought Yellowjacket was Hank Pym, a man and not a woman. Stingray and Yellowjacket don't know what to think, but explain he's in the Avengers Mansion now. The Avengers had been attacked off guard by the Sentinels. Yellowjacket was able to shrink to safety, but the other Avengers weren't so lucky and were all killed. Stingray was just returning from a mission in Atlantis and it was then when he found Havok and brought him here.
Stingray asks for Havok's situation and he explains Madelyne transformed into the evil Goblin Queen and took over the rest of the Six, and he has left Scotty with Elektra at the X-Mansion. Yellowjacket panics and says they'll need more muscle now, wich is rare to find nowadays considering what happened to Thor and Iron Man. Stingray finds it all too bad that Bruce Banner is cured from his Hulk form, something Havok finds hard to believe. Yellowjacket says not to panic because she thinks she knows someone who can help them with that.

In New York, a Sentinel scans a mutant and prepares to kill her. The mutant tries to run away but a heroine appears from the rooftops and fights the Sentinel. The hero frees the female mutant, but gets caught by the Sentinel, who finds difficulties scanning the hero. The Sentinel gets blasted with fire, which comes from the mutant, Firestar! She congratulates Vendetta, but he hasn't changed much since the last time she saw him, wich has been a long time. He's still the rascal. Firestar informs Vendetta that the Sentinels are out here to kill mutants, but Vendetta says they are also after the super-heroes, as word on the street has it they've already wiped out the Avengers and the Fantastic Four. Vendetta ususally isn't a team-player, but since the Sentinels are after heroes as well, he'd like to team-up with Firestar and she agrees.

Back at Avengers mansion, Havok gets impatient and wants the back-up Stingray and Yellowjacket have promised to arrive. Yellowjacket tries to calm him down and says he'll be here. But then an explosion takes place! The heroes survive, and prepare themselves. A really big green guy called Dr. Leonard Samson arrives, apologizing for the impact mistake he accidently made.

Citrusville

The S.H.I.E.L.D. troops have apparently found what they were looking for and report it to Fury. He comes over to see it and congratulates his boys. They have found what they were looking for, for sure, but it's way bigger then they thought it would be. Fury tells his men get their boss on the phone, as they've struck paydirt.

Back in Manhattan, Havok and the hulkish Doc Samson scout the Empire State Building, where the Goblin Queen and her crew have established their headquarters. The building is completly guarded by flying demons. Havok finds it'll be a waste of time to fight their way through on the streets, so they better go back to the top of the building where the Goblin Queen is. Doc Samson tells Havok it's okay to be psyched, after all it's his wife they're fighting, but Havok shoves him off because he doesn't need psychologie talk now. Havok warns Samson as he sees them all leaving: the Goblin Queen, Bloodstorm, Ice-Man, Johnny Storm and Sue and Reed Richards,only Brute is not with them.
Downtown, Firestar slams some more Sentinels and Vendetta just watches the show. Firestar gets mad at him for not helping, so Vendetta asks Firestar to help him break into the White House.

At the Empire State, Havok has made his way in and searches for Brute. He tries to reach out for his old friend, but a demon attacks him from behind, so Havok quickly slams it with his plasma blasts. Doc Samson rushes in with his defeated demon, saying they're all over this place. Brute shows up from behind, saying Alex isn't supposed to be here. Havok tries to convince Brute to come along with him and Samson, but Brute says that the Goblin Queen has told him Alex is a bad person. Havok tells Samson to do his thing because they have no time for this. Samson takes a very scare look on his face and as Brute looks in his eyes, but Brute is apparently unaffected by it. Brute panics and Alex makes it quick and orders Brute to tell him where his wife is!

Brute still doesn't want to talk, and Alex orders Samson, Stingray and Yellowjacket to leave. They don't want to, but Alex gets really mad and they go. They wait for a while, and then Havok comes out, saying Madelyne and the rest are heading to a swamp in Florida. They return to the destroyed Avengers Mansion and Stingray and Yellowjacket repare a Quinjet, which should bring them to Florida quickly. Havok tells the group he let Brute run away, and tells Samson that he's getting scared of himself for using all of these methods. Havok fears he might be falling into a darker place as well, like Madelyne. Havok realizes he never was this way back home. Samson doesn't understand as he thought this was Havok's home, but Havok explains to him he's from an alternate reality. Samson doesn't believe him of course and tells Havok to make an appointment with him personally after all this is over.

Madelyne and her group have arrived at the swamps and Fury tells them he doesn't know what they want with this place, but it's theirs. Fury asks Ice-Man what she wants, but he doesn't know. Goblin Queen says that this place is a really powerful and magic place, and once she has taken over it, there will be nothing that can stop her. The person Fury found steps in their way though, and orders them to leave quickly before harm comes to them, as it will if they don't leave: so swears Dr. Strange!

Back in Washington, Firestar destroys some guard's armors and Vendetta makes it into the President's office, wanting a moment of his time. At the swamps, Bloodstorm, the Fallen and Ice-Man attack Dr. Strange, but he fights back. Strange is trying to take it easy on them because it's not their fault they've been changed. Strange destroys Fury's men's weapons as well. Ice-Man tries to hit Strange with an ice-attack, but Strange redirects the attack right to the Fallen and he faints. Bloodstorm bites Strange, but as Strange takes off his mask, he reveals ugly appearance of the Man-Thing and informs he has no blood left to give!
The Quinjet finally arrives, surprising the villains because they thought they destroyed the Avengers.
Back in Washington, Vendetta grabs the President and tells him he knows that the Goblin Queen is inside his mind. Vendetta uses his powers on the President and he faints, releasing him at the same time. Havok orders his friends not to hurt them, Samson not understanding what the point to that is. Reed tries to fight Samson, but Samson quickly takes him out.

Yellowjacket shrinks and takes down Johnny Storm, but is grabbed by his angry sister Sue. Yellowjacket didn't notice her because she was invisible. Sue is about to crush her, but Samson rushes in and smacks Sue on the head, defeating her. The Fallen takes on Stingray and slashes his suit, and tells Stingray he better go back to the waters where he belongs. Strange cathes the Fallen into his magic grip and uses a spell to open an inter-dimensional doorway to trap the Fallen in, and asks Havok to cover his back. Havok does as told, but then reminds himself that his doorway could as well be his ticket to home! The Goblin Queen then attacks Havok and he tries to bring her back to himself, but she doesn't want to listen because she finds that she has been hiding her personality for too long. Havok frees himself from her clutches and asks Strange if he can teleport everyone but him to safety in Citrusville. Strange says he can and Alex orders him to do it.

Everyone is gone and Alex is the only one left. He concentrates on his powers, and then unleashes a real big explosion. Later in Citrusville, the heroes have gathered in a hangar and Yellowjacket tries to come up with a cool name for their new group. She thinks of maybe the Smashers or Yellowjacket and her amazing friends, but they don't like it. Havok returns, and thanks everybody for meeting him here. He asks where Madelyne and the rest are, and Strange explains that Madelyne was able to get over his spell and bring her group someplace else. Strange tried to warn Havok but he wouldn't listen. Samsons asks why Havok let Strange teleport everyone away.

Havok explains he used his powers to destroy the Nexus of all Realities. There's nothing left now, everything's a wasteland. Alex explains he realized that Madelyne was winning, and the only way he could think of stopping her was to prevent her from harnessing the nexus's power and to destroy it, but this also destroying the only chance he had to return to his own reality. Havok then asks if he could now what happened to Strange's face. Strange reveals that not too long ago, a local sorceress called Jennifer Kale enlisted his aid in eliminating a curse that had befallen her friend, Dr. Ted Sallis, once known as the Man-Thing. Strange was able to lift the curse, but the curse instead reflected onto him, making him at the same time the guardian of the nexus of time, wich Alex destroyed.

Havok apologizes, but Strange explains by destroying it, Alex also protected it from possible harm. Samson tells Havok that while he was away, they all agreed to stay together, and asks him to join as well. After all, since the Six and the Fantastic Four are under Madelyne's spell and the Avengers destroyed, the Earth could use a new team of defenders. Alex apologizes but says he needs to go back to Scotty now. Alex leaves and wishes them the best. Samson, Stingray, Strange and Yellowjacket then try to come up with a name, and Samson said it himself: the new name will be: the Defenders!

Two nights later, the local news reports in a local bar the attacks on the White House and that Kelly has decided to step down as Vice-President, and at the same time has named his successor and new President: none other then Reed Richards!

Characters Involved: 

Havok

Bloodstorm, Brute, Fallen, Goblin Queen, Ice-Man (the Five)

Reed Richards, Johnny Storm, Sue Storm Richards (former Fantastic Four)

Dr. Leonard Samson

Stingray, Yellowjacket (former Avengers)

Dr. Strange / Man-Thing

Firestar

Vendetta

Nick Fury

S.H.I.E.L.D. agents

Sentinels

Story Notes: 

This story has followed up from Mutant X #8 and continues in Mutant X #9.
SHIELD was shown to be an anti-mutant terrorist group in Mutant X #1.
This story explains that Dr. Strange is not imprisoned in a jail as stated earlier in Mutant X #5.
Havok complaining that he never had to face his dark side at home seems nonsense as in the issues of X-Factor preceding Mutant X - penned by the same writer to boot - Havok was brainwashed into becoming a villain and flirted with terrorism.
In the real universe, Yellowjacket is really a man, like Havok says. There his real name is Hank Pym, but he goes mostly by the name of Giant-Man nowadays, and Yellowjacket was just an alias he used a few times. In the real universe there too has been a female Yellowjacket, but it was a villain (who eventually reformed) named Rita DeMara.
In the real MU Ted Sallis was never cured from being the Man-Thing. Unlike the version here he is also complteley mindless.

Issue Information: 
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