Ultimate X-Men #7

Issue Date: 
August 2001
Story Title: 
Return to Weapon X - part 1
Staff: 

Mark Millar (story), Adam Kubert (art), Art Thibert (inks), JC (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft's WCE Abbott (letters), Pete Franco (assistant director), Mark Powers (editor), Joe Quesada (editor in chief), Bill Jemas (president)

Brief Description: 

After they have defeated Magneto and his Brotherhood, the X-Men have returned to their mansion. They discuss their new lives and their new friends. The X-Men have a new teammate, Bobby Drake, aka. the Iceman and a very powerful ally by the name of Logan. This mutant has a shady past with Weapon X and tries to find out where their secret base has moved to. Professor X tries to help Logan get his memory back to what it once was. Cyclops, Colossus and Storm head to Tokyo to speak on a TV talk show about the recent mutant hysteria and try to convince them that not all mutants are bad. Once outside, a female mutant known as Rogue touches Colossus' armoured skin and learns where their secret school is. She passes on the info to Colonel Wraith of Weapon X, who has some plans for the X-Men.

Full Summary: 

Alarm lights go off and security guards, search hounds and guards on snowmobiles run out of the facility. It's obvious they're looking for something. An unknown mutant with three fingers on each hand, three toes on each foot and a pointy tail is running away. One of the guards with a snowmobile spots the mutant and starts shooting at him but misses. Then, the mutant suddenly jumps right into the guard's face and pushes him of his snowmobile, stealing it from him. The mutant picks up the Guard's gun and shoots at the other guards, killing them. At the facility, Dr. Cornelius and his crew are watching. The Dr. commands that Kurt must be brought back alive, even though he has killed three of their colleagues. He also commands only to shoot to wound, not to kill. Dr. Cornelius can't believe this is the same German boy who was wetting his bed only a few months ago. Kurt is riding on the stolen snowmobile and heads toward a cliff! He jumps off the cliff, and he uses his teleportation ability, disappearing. The guards believe he committed suicide and climb down the cliff, to find Kurt's body. Once on the ground, Kurt reappears from his teleport, still riding at full speed. A helicopter arrives with Colonel Wraith in it. Wraith angrily reminds his men that "Nightcrawler" is a teleporter. Cornelius orders Wraith not to shoot, but he does and hits Kurt in his shoulder, who falls off his snowmobile. Wraith lands the helicopter and congratulates Kurt for escaping. He tells him that he is the very first mutant since Wolverine to have got this far outside. He also noticed that when Kurt teleports, it takes a lot out of him, so probably wouldn't have got any farther. Kurt stares sadly at the night sky and sees a plane. Wraith says not to even think about trying to teleport to the plane, because he would shoot it down, with no thought for the passengers. Wraith kicks Kurt and orders his men to burn the soles of his feet and torture the girl in the next cell who sings for him every night. Wraith smiles, lights up a congratulatory cigar, and his shoulder patch is brought into view. It says "S.H.I.E.L.D."
New York, Arizona. Wolverine looks over the former headquarters of Weapon X which has been fully destroyed. He's talking to Professor X telepathically. Xavier can't believe this is the 3rd address that has been shut down, in the 6 weeks since they have started their search. Xavier believes that the President has kept his word and shut Weapon X down by himself but Logan thinks differently, most of NATO's bases would still be available to Wraith's program. Xavier shudders as he thinks of the program that is the antithesis of his whole dream, and empathises with Wolverine. Logan then gets a memory flash, one where he lies on a surgery table and doctors put something in his stomach. Logan says that this is the only memory he has got left.
Back at the Institute, Jean is giving Beast a check-up. Hank wonders why Xavier left his name on the sign outside the school, but Jean says that thanks to the Professor's powers, outsiders see a chapterhouse of Jehovah's Witnesses. They discuss there absent team-mates. Iceman is visiting his parents, Colossus, Cyclops and Storm, are in Japan being interviewed on a talk show as part of Xavier's media plan, and Wolverine, whom Jean says she doesn't ever want to see after Xavier helps his out with his Weapon X problems.
Meanwhile in Tokyo, Cyclops, Storm and Colossus are the guest in a live talk show. Colossus is talking with the host and explains why humanity shouldn't discriminate against mutants, and that the X-Men are in Japan to prove that not all mutants are pure evil. When they leave the show, Storm teases Peter that he can speak English very well, since he's only been in America for '10 minutes'.
Peter explains that he was smuggled into America when he was 9. Once outside the studio, the group is surprised to see half of Japan waiting for their autographs. Colossus signs autographs , and a girl takes of a glove and touches Colossus' armoured skin. Cyclops' can't handle it anymore and summons up the Blackbird plane, who beams the team up. Storm notices that Colossus's skin looks a bit dulled and asks if everything is OK. Peter believes he is fine, and maybe is more jet-lagged then he thought he was.
Back at Finland, we see the Weapon X agent, Rogue passing new info to Colonel Wraith. By touching Colossus' skin, she has now learned everything about the X-Men and the location of their school. Wraith orders Rogue to come back to their headquarters. Rogue asks to Wraith if they are pleased enough to not break her arms and legs when she returns, but Wraith tells her that it depends on how bored they get. Wraith is happy that Weapon X will be able to increase their members and get some payback aswell ...

Characters Involved: 

Beast, Colossus, Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Storm, Professor X (all X-Men)

Wolverine (as their ally)

Colonel Wraith (of Weapon X)

Dr. Cornelius (who works for Weapon X)

Nightcrawler, Rogue (Weapon X members)

The Talk Show host (unnamed Woman)

Story Notes: 

This is the first appearance of Rogue, Nightcrawler and Dr. Cornelius in the Ultimate Universe.
Wraith has still got the three scares on his face that Wolverine gave him with his claws in Issue #2.

Issue Information: 
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