BROTHERHOOD (BATTLE OF THE ATOM)

Written By: 
Image Work: 
Last Updated: 
30th March 2019

Members: Charles Xavier II, Raze, Beast, Deadpool, Lady Xorn, Molly Hayes, Ice-Hulk

First Appearance: X-Men: Battle of the Atom #1

BEFORE:

  • Mystique secretly conceived a child with Charles Xavier before he was killed by Cyclops. When the boy was born, she couldn't handle raising him and gave him up for adoption.
  • About a year later, Mystique also conceived a son from Wolverine, apparently without his knowledge or consent. She kept this boy and raised him as Raze Darkholme until he ultimately killed her and assumed her role as leader of Madripoor.
  • 25 years after the original five X-Men first came to the future, they still had not returned home. Most of their fates remain unknown, but young Jean Grey at least eventually became Lady Xorn, using the mask of Xorn to contain her otherwise uncontrollable psionic power.
  • The older Hank McCoy and Lady Xorn championed the idea of a mutant President of the United States, and reached out to Alison Blaire. The Disco Dazzler was one of the most popular and relatable mutants on Earth, and sure enough her presidential campaign was a success. Tragically, President Blaire was assassinated at her acceptance speech, and the catastrophe that followed claimed many lives. The incident ultimately broke Beast's faith in humanity.
  • The son of Charles Xavier accidentally killed his foster mother when his powers manifested. He went looking for his true family and discovered his half-brother, Raze.

CHRONOLOGY:

Xavier II and Raze located the reclusive Hank McCoy, broken and obsessively charting the ramifications of his influence on the timeline. Xavier was able to fix Hank's mind, restoring his coherence and also placing him under Xavier's telepathic influence. Xavier created his own Brotherhood by recruiting Lady Xorn, Deadpool, Molly Hayes and the Ice Hulk, one of Icemaster's avatars that had become quasi-independent. They were collectively manipulated as puppets by Xavier (with the possible exception of Raze), striking out at the X-Men for letting his father die.

After several years of failing to destroy the X-Men, Xavier and Raze became frustrated at their lack of success. Raze suggested they use Beast to travel back in time, striking at the X-Men before they became as powerful as they were in the future. Furthermore, they conceived of a failsafe where, if they were defeated in the past, they would send themselves a note in the future detailing what went wrong so they could try again. [All-New X-Men (1st series) #28]

The Brotherhood traveled into the past shortly after the arrival of the “original five” X-Men in that time period. They claimed they were there to save the future by ensuring the O5 returned to their proper place in time. To help sell their story, the Brotherhood told several lies about the horrors of the future, and Raze posed as an older Kate Pryde. Young Cyclops and Marvel Girl didn't trust the new arrivals and fled, forcing the others to track them down.

Scott and Jean reached out to the renegade X-Men led by adult Cyclops, leading to a psychic battle between Lady Xorn and Jean, Emma and the Cuckoos. In the end, Xorn showed Jean an image of the future (whether it was true or not is unknown) that compelled her to relent and submit to being sent home. When Angel, Cyclops and Marvel Girl were brought back to the mansion, however, the Brotherhood learned Iceman and Beast had left in the meantime. Xavier II and Raze showed their true colors, attacking the X-Men.

Iceman and Beast returned from the future with Magik and the real X-Men of the Brotherhood's time. Still, Raze's shape-changing caught them off-guard, and the O5 were all captured. Older Beast tried to send them back to their time period, but the time cube refused to accept them. Beast tested the cube on Raze, and determined it was functional, but for some reason would not activate around the original five X-Men. As the X-Men rallied, Deadpool was killed, Xavier II was crippled by future Colossus's Soulsword and the rest of the Brotherhood were forced to flee.

Going to Plan B, the Brotherhood launched an attack on Cape Citadel, starting a massive battle that drew the X-Men and S.H.I.E.L.D. They then took over the Helicarriers and revealed that S.H.I.E.L.D. had their own mutant-hunting Sentinels. In the battle that followed, Beast was killed and Lady Xorn over-exerted her powers and was consumed by the psychic energies at her disposal. What remained of the Brotherhood disappeared in the aftermath. [Battle of the Atom crossover]

IN-BETWEEN:

  • Just after conceiving their time travel plan, Xavier II and Raze received a note from their past selves, telling them what happened and how things went wrong. They then came up with a new plan to visit the past. [All-New X-Men (1st series) #28]

CHRONOLOGY, cont.:

Xavier II and Raze decided to attack the original five X-Men directly, targeting them at the New Xavier School hidden away in the Weapon X Program of Canada. Raze surprised and disabled the X-Men's newest member, X-23, out in the wilderness. He then posed as an injured X-23 to infiltrate the base and warn the team about a shape-changer before revealing himself to strike at and disable Christopher Muse, the team's healer.

Xavier II followed up with the rest of the Brotherhood, using his telepathy to overpower Mindee Cuckoo and turn her telepathy against the X-Men. He confronted Jean Grey in psychic combat, but was unprepared for her newly developed ability to absorb and command psychic energy from her surroundings. Xavier II stretched himself too thin and the X-Men realized the rest of the Brotherhood except for Raze were merely his puppets. The tide turned against the half-brothers and they were beaten down and defeated. Old Beast took his Brotherhood allies back to the future while Xavier and Raze were dropped off at a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility, drugged up and with their powers dampened. Unfortunately, Xavier II was last heard asking to write a note, meaning he intended to warn himself in the future to try yet again. [All-New X-Men (1st series) #26-29]

For their next plot, the Brotherhood decided to travel back in time to impersonate and replace the original five X-Men in the past, forging their own future in the process. The original five X-Men finally managed to return to the past, only to see the Brotherhood disguised by image inducers and fighting in their place. The X-Men were confused into believing they no longer had a place in this timeline, and thought they were free to remain in the present without temporal paradox consequences. [All-New X-Men (2nd series) #19]

The Brotherhood captured Charles Xavier and rigged him to their own version of Cerebro, keeping him contained and under their control. Their manipulation of the timeline began causing changes down the line. "The X-Men" killed Magneto and his original Brotherhood of Evil Mutants before seizing power and turning on the rest of mutantkind. These temporal rumblings reached the present and the original five X-Men saw reality changing around them. They used Magneto's time machine to visit altered versions of the year 2099 and the Generation X era in the past, created as a result of the Brotherhood's actions.

The original five X-Men eventually returned to their past and discovered the Brotherhood's ruse. They saved the past Magneto before the Brotherhood could kill him and joined forces to confront them at the X-Mansion. Young Beast used his time tech to retrieve Generation X and the X-Men 2099 to help them fight Xavier II and his Brotherhood, turning the tide of battle. Xavier and Raze once again escaped into the timestream with their Brotherhood. When the original five X-Men returned to the present, they found the timestream had stabilized. Once they told Magneto about what had happened, he covertly used his time machine to confront the Brotherhood in the timestream before they ever reached the past. The battle that followed was not shown, but it was implied Magneto killed the Brotherhood, thereby preventing their temporal machinations from ever taking place. [X-Men: Blue #16-20]

MEMBERS:

Charles Xavier II

First Appearance: X-Men: Battle of the Atom #1

All Appearances: X-Men: Battle of the Atom #1-2, All-New X-Men (1st series) #16-17, X-Men (4th series) #5-6, Uncanny X-Men (3rd series) #12-13, Wolverine and the X-Men (1st series) #36-37, All-New Doop #2-5, All-New X-Men (1st series) #26-29, X-Men: Blue #16,19-20

Powers: telepathy, telekinesis, carries Cerebro Spikes, an ingestible nanotech that temporarily gives his mind the power of Cerebro, enhancing his telepathy, able to detect mutants, and project holographic maps to locate and track his mutant targets

Notes:

  • Xavier II originally claimed to be Xavier's grandson.
  • Xavier was secretly born in the present era of the main timeline. When Xavier's will was read in Original Sin, it indicated Mystique had been Xavier's secret wife, lending further credibility to the idea of them having conceived a child before his death. When Eva Bell undid Matthew Malloy's birth, however, the reading of Xavier's will in the new timeline no longer mentioned Mystique. Extrapolated outwards, this suggests Eva's actions erased the birth of Xavier II as well as Matthew Malloy's.

Raze Darkholme

First Appearance: X-Men: Battle of the Atom #1

All Appearances: X-Men: Battle of the Atom #1-2, All-New X-Men (1st series) #16-17, X-Men (4th series) #5-6, Uncanny X-Men (3rd series) #12-13, Wolverine and the X-Men (1st series) #36-37, All-New Doop #2-5, All-New X-Men (1st series) #26-29, All-New X-Men (2nd series) #19, X-Men: Blue #16,19-20

Powers: metamorphic shapeshifter able to mimic various physical appearances, attributes, and clothing, sufficient to disguise his scent and identity from Wolverine, manifests organic bone claws from his hands

Notes:

  • Raze was the son of Mystique and Wolverine, apparently born without Logan's knowledge or consent.
  • It's not entirely clear whether Raze had claws in his natural state, or whether he consciously shape-shifted them in homage to his father.
  • Raze first appeared posing as a Days of Future Past version of Kitty Pryde. His true nature was only revealed in X-Men (4th series) #6.

Beast (Henry McCoy)

First Appearance: X-Men: Battle of the Atom #1

All Appearances: X-Men: Battle of the Atom #1-2, All-New X-Men (1st series) #16-17, X-Men (4th series) #5-6, Uncanny X-Men (3rd series) #12-13, Wolverine and the X-Men (1st series) #36-37, All-New Doop #2-3,5, All-New X-Men (1st series) #26-29, All-New X-Men (2nd series) #19, X-Men: Blue #16,19-20

Powers: regressive mutation gives him superhuman strength, speed, agility, endurance, reflexes, dexterity, acrobatic prowess, blue fur, claws, one horn, and a spined tail

Notes: Beast was killed by Sentinels in X-Men: Battle of the Atom #2. His death was reversed by Xavier and Raze's further time travel.

Deadpool (Old Man Wade)

First Appearance: X-Men: Battle of the Atom #1

All Appearances: X-Men: Battle of the Atom #1, All-New X-Men (1st series) #16, X-Men (4th series) #5, Uncanny X-Men (3rd series) #12-13, Wolverine and the X-Men (1st series) #36, All-New Doop #1-2,4, All-New X-Men (1st series) #26-29, All-New X-Men (2nd series) #19, X-Men: Blue #16,19-20

Powers: enhanced strength, agility, and reflexes, regenerative healing factor, carries swords and handguns

Notes: Old Man Wade died in Uncanny X-Men (3rd series) #13 fighting Magik. His death was reversed by Xavier and Raze's further time travel.

Ice-Hulk (Ice-Thing)

First Appearance: X-Men: Battle of the Atom #1

All Appearances: X-Men: Battle of the Atom #1-2, All-New X-Men (1st series) #16-17, X-Men (4th series) #5-6, Uncanny X-Men (3rd series) #12-13, Wolverine and the X-Men (1st series) #36-37, All-New Doop #1-5, All-New X-Men (1st series) #26-29, All-New X-Men (2nd series) #19, X-Men: Blue #16,19-20

Powers: quasi-sentient ice avatar created by Icemaster's powers, capable of independent action, superhuman strength and durability, and production of immense cold

Notes: It's not certain whether Ice-Hulk became independent of the future Ice Master on his own, or if it was encouraged by Xavier II.

Bruiser (Molly Hayes)

First Appearance: X-Men: Battle of the Atom #1

All Appearances: X-Men: Battle of the Atom #1-2, All-New X-Men (1st series) #16-17, X-Men (4th series) #5-6, Uncanny X-Men (3rd series) #12-13, Wolverine and the X-Men (1st series) #36-37, All-New Doop #1-2, All-New X-Men (1st series) #26-29, All-New X-Men (2nd series) #19, X-Men: Blue #16,19-20

Powers: superhuman strength and resistance to physical injury

 

Lady Xorn (Jean Grey)

First Appearance: X-Men: Battle of the Atom #1

All Appearances: X-Men: Battle of the Atom #1-2, All-New X-Men (1st series) #16-17, X-Men (4th series) #5-6, Uncanny X-Men (3rd series) #12-13, Wolverine and the X-Men (1st series) #36-37, All-New Doop #1-2,5, All-New X-Men (1st series) #26-29, All-New X-Men (2nd series) #19, X-Men: Blue #16,19-20

Powers: telepathy and telekinesis

Notes:

  • Xorn's psychic powers have grown so strong, she is unable to naturally contain them and retain her physical form. Her Xorn helmet helped maintain her powers at a controllable level.
  • Xorn died in X-Men: Battle of the Atom #2 when she allowed her powers to rage out of control and consume her. Her death was seemingly reversed by Xavier and Raze's further time travel. However, in All-New X-Men (1st series) #29, Xorn did NOT appear to be Jean, but rather a prop created by Xavier for some unknown reason. She was also referred to as a psychic construct in X-Men: Blue #20. It remains somewhat ambiguous whether a version of Jean Grey was ever really Lady Xorn when we met her.