1) [XM #1] Wolverine recognized Fabian Cortez's scent from some place. When did they meet?
Mystery: Magneto was approached by a group of mutant zealots who called themselves the Acolytes. The Acolytes arrived at Magneto’s Asteroid M and offered their services to him, among them being Fabian Cortez. Later, when the X-Men battled the Acolytes while Magneto tried to steal some nuclear weapons, Wolverine recognized the scent of Cortez, who made his first appearance in this issue.
Thoughts: Fabian Cortez was killed by Magneto in Magneto: Dark Seduction #1-4, leaving him unable to explain his connection to Wolverine. However, Wolverine regained all his lost memories during the House of M crossover, so perhaps this story will be touched upon one day.
2) [XM #11] What problems did the X-Men cause for Warhawk?
Mystery: Major Barrington sent his agent, Maverick, to retrieve Dr. Ryking who had refused to respond to a summons. He found Ryking on his island with the man known as Warhawk, who once battled the X-Men. Warhawk attacked Maverick, telling him that the X-Men were responsible for turning him into a monster. He would have still been a man if it weren’t for them.
Thoughts: Warhawk’s words are very confusing. First off, the first and only time he battled the X-Men was in X-Men (1st series) #110 and in that incident he was hired by the Hellfire Club. The X-Men were not responsible for the battle, he and the Hellfire Club were. At the end of that fight, Warhawk was arrested with no physical injury or disfigurement. It should be noted that Warhawk sought out Ryking, because he claimed his body was rendered useless by Barrington after his failed attack on the X-Men. Was Warhawk referring to the incident with the Hellfire Club, or something else? Answers may be denied, however, as Warhawk was killed in his battle with Maverick.
3) [XM #12-13] Was Brian Xavier responsible for Charles Xavier’s mutation and Wolverine’s involvement with Project X?
Mystery: Xavier received information regarding a file called “Project Xavier 1964,” in which it was revealed that Brian Xavier, while working in Alamogordo, was involved in some sort of mutant genetics program. However, when Xavier and the mutant Hazard explored the remains of this site, they found no answers. However, the X-Men did not notice a piece of paper about the Shiva Project, created to hunt down former members of Project X, which Brian Xavier’s name as one of the creators.
Thoughts: In X-Men Forever #4 it was revealed that Alamogordo did house a mutant genetics project, led by the Amanda Mueller of the Black Womb Project. However, whether Charles Xavier was ever used as a subject for this program was unknown, nor have any more details been revealed regarding Brian Xavier’s connection to Project X.
4) [XM #30] Did Cable hold a cure for the Legacy Virus?
Mystery: The moment that was years in the making finally happened - Cyclops and Jean Grey married. It was a joyous occasion at the Xavier Institute, where the wedding was held, and X-Men near and far came for the ceremony of the team’s oldest couple. After the wedding was over, Xavier went back to his office and sifted through some of his papers. Among them was a letter from Moira MacTaggert, who suggested that perhaps Cable could hold some answers to the cure for the Legacy Virus, though she did not elaborate.
Thoughts: While the Legacy Virus was cured without Cable, and Moira conducted her research without him as well, Moira might have inferred that Stryfe engineered this virus from his own genetic material. And Stryfe being a clone of Cable, his genetic make-up sure might have helped them to understand the virus better, if not to design a cure for it.
5) [XM #34] What did Mister Sinister intend to do with his accumulated genetic material?
Mystery: The X-Men found the location of Sinister’s hideout in Nebraska thanks to the captive Sabretooth. In this hideout, they happened Threnody, who was recuperating from her problems with Sinister. Further examining, the X-Men discovered a vast amount of genetic material from almost every known mutant. Sinister was not present and the X-Men could not press him for answers as to what he was doing with this material. In the end, much of it was destroyed by Threnody when the cloning machines went out of control.
Thoughts: Sinister is a known geneticist, so it is not surprising that he had samples of DNA. However, what he planned on doing with so many mutants DNA was unknown. It is known that he used the material of his Marauders to clone them when they died, but as of yet the experiments he conducted with the rest of the material is unknown.
6) [XM #36] Why couldn’t the Phalanx assimilate mutants?
Mystery: During the Phalanx Covenant crossover, the renegade Phalanx beings attempted to destroy all of mutant kind, as it was clear that mutants could not be assimilated. This was rather surprising, considering that the Technarchy, of whom the Phalanx were derived, had no such problems. The Phalanx hypothesized that something about mutants made them impervious to the assimilation process, but no scientific reason was offered as to why.
Thoughts: Despite additional appearances, no more information has been given to the assimilation problem. However, one explanation might be that the assimilation problem was caused by the changes that were applied to the techno-organic virus. In their attempt to create a living breed of Sentinels, the Friends of Humanity altered the programming of the virus, adding their hatred for all mutants to it. That may have caused a paradox – the Phalanx could not at the same time believe that mutants had no right to live, yet assimilate them into their collective.
7) [XM #38] Did Xavier ever retrieve his data from Commcast?
Mystery: After the Phalanx Covenant crossover, Xavier found that all his data had been destroyed by Banshee, who was trying to prevent the Phalanx from decrypting it and using it. Xavier, however, told Bishop that there was a mutant named Commcast who had the ability to know any kind of recorded data information. Xavier and Bishop agreed to seek out this powerful mutant, but nothing ever came of it.
Thoughts: While Commcast would later make many appearances and even became a supporting cast member of Cable/Deadpool under the guise of Black Box, there has been no mention of him retrieving Xavier’s data. By the time the Operation: Zero Tolerance crossover came, it was apparent that all the data was restored, as Bastion seized the mansion and began to decrypt all of Xavier’s files. How exactly these files were restored, whether with Commcast’s help or re-creating them from scratch, is still unknown.
8) [XM #43] Were Jean and Skids affected by the cosmic radiation in space?
Mystery: Cyclops and Jean Grey found themselves on Avalon, home of Magneto and the Acolytes. When the Age of Apocalypse survivor Holocaust emerged in this reality, he was brought to Avalon and eventually fought against Exodus. Their battle caused Avalon to crash towards Earth. While Cyclops led the Acolytes to an escape pod, Jean went back to find Skids, who was in a section of the space station that was about to break apart. As they descended to Earth, the two mutants pooled their powers to survive re-entry to the atmosphere, but they passed through cosmic radiation. Jean screamed as they were seemingly engulfed in them, but by the next issue no mention was ever made.
Thoughts: Many characters have passed through Cosmic Radiation, and they have been transformed somehow by it. Jean and Skids seemed to walk away from this incident safely. Popular theory has it that Skids’ powers protected them, screening out the cosmic rays. However, while the radiation was not mentioned again, Jean’s powers would later on act weird, as described below at Open Dangler 12.
9) [XM #44] Who had accessed the abandoned Australian Base?
Mystery: After the fall of Avalon, Cyclops found himself with a group of Acolyte survivors in Australia. Leading the mutants through the outback, Cyclops took them to the Australian base that the X-Men had been using during the time that the world believed them dead. Upon reaching the base, Cyclops found that Gateway no longer resided there and that someone had been using the base recently.
Thoughts: It has been speculated that Onslaught might have accessed the base, considering that Xavier was quick to move on from the subject and tend to other matters. However, there has been no stated resolution to this plot.
10) [XM #45] What was the significance of the theater in Seattle to Gambit?
Mystery: While on a road trip with Iceman to forget about her problems, Rogue wound up in Seattle. There, however, she couldn’t cope with her problems and went off to an abandoned theater that she recalled after absorbing the memories of Gambit. Gambit went after her, but refused to tell her what this theater had meant to him in the past. Right after Rogue left, Gambit was confronted by Sinister at the theater, who reminded Remy that he could not escape his past.
Thoughts While the connection between Gambit and Sinister would later be explained, the particular incident that Gambit is shamed to talk about that involved the theater is still a mystery. However, as the decapitated sign outside could once have read ”Essex Theatre“, it might have been one of Mr. Sinister’s many secret bases - and perhaps it was the place where Gambit would regularly meet his former employer to receive new orders.
11) [XM #59] Who was Carly Alvarez and what was her connection with the Askani?
Mystery: After Onslaught the X-Men had to contend against political powers that wanted to use the latest incident as a platform in the election. One of those men was Graydon Creed, a long standing thorn in the side of the X-Men. Cannonball and Iceman were sent to infiltrate his campaign committee and learn more about his intents. While Creed gave one of his speeches, Iceman spoke to another Creed campaigner, Carly Alvarez. When he asked her what she thought the odds were of Creed winning the presidential election, Carly replied “What is…is.” - the motto of the Askani.
Thoughts: Carly made several more appearances as part of the Creed Campaign, but no more developments were made. When Creed was assassinated in X-Factor (1st series) #130, fans speculated that the Askani were involved, and that was indeed the original plan for this story. However, it was left unfinished, and a few years later, a time-traveling Mystique was proven as Creed’s assassin in X-Men Forever. Carly’s current whereabouts are unknown and her supposed connection to the Askani has yet to be fully addressed.
12) [XM #61] Why did Jean suddenly see everybody disappear for a moment?
Mystery: The villain Candra was on the hunt for a child named Karima, who was being protected by Storm. While Storm stalled Candra, the other X-Men were on their way to the scene. However, when they rounded the corner on the streets, everyone except for Jean disappeared. As sudden as it happened, they all reappeared. Wolverine asked Jean what was wrong, but she declined to explain as they had more pressing matters.
Thoughts: Around that time in Uncanny X-Men #339, Jean found herself accessing the memories of Spider-Man even though she wasn’t even trying. Later, in X-Men (2nd series) #65 she is psychically pulled to the Heroes Reborn world and met Iron Man briefly. Clearly, there was something occurring with her. However, these incidents were never explained or followed upon.
13) [XM #71, 73] Who was the mysterious man approaching Sebastian Shaw and what did he want?
Mystery: After Operation: Zero Tolerance and his own battle against Cable and the mysterious Harbinger, Sebastian Shaw was contacted by a mysterious unseen man with the ability to stop the flow of time. This man gave Shaw a manila envelope with an Egyptian seal on it, and the contents shocked Shaw. Later, Shaw made some cryptic comments to Fitzroy that none of them would exist one year later. Later that night Sebastian accepted the deal that the mysterious man proposed and he was that his new life was going to begin.
Thoughts: The Egyptian emblem hints that this may have to deal with Apocalypse, but there was no direct proof of this. As Sebastian still lives, clearly whatever was going to happen that made him make such comments to Fitzroy never occurred. The mysterious man was never seen again, and this plot was not touched upon since then.
14) [XM 73] If Erik Lensherr was a forgery, what was Magneto’s real name?
Mystery: Sabra and Gabrielle Haller went on a journey to find Magneto and investigate his past. During their journey they discovered that Erik Lensherr was not Magneto’s real name, but a forgery created by an expert forger. They went to track the forger down, but were too late. Magneto found out about their little investigation and killed the forger before they could speak to him.
Thoughts: The revelation of Magneto’s real name is still unknown. Today, many writers still refer to him as Erik Lensherr or Magnus. It can be that many characters in the Marvel Universe don’t know it was a forgery, or have been accustomed to calling Magneto Erik.
15) [XM #74, 79] Who was stalking Callisto and Marrow and what did he want with them?
Mystery: After being struck down by Prime Sentinels, Callisto was taken back to the Morlock Sewers to heal, but her injuries were too great and Marrow could do little to help her. When Marrow and Archangel were attacked by the Abomination, a feverish and hallucinating Callisto was approached by a man who offered her medical aid, as he had plans with her and didn’t want her dead yet. Later on, after a squabble with Storm and Callisto, Marrow ran off and the X-Men gave chase, with the mysterious figure secretly observing the incident. When Marrow decided to remain with the X-Men, it seemed to be a decision that the mystery man was hoping for.
Thoughts: Non-canonically, it was revealed that the mystery man was Dark Beast. However, this was never revealed in the comics and the plot was never brought up again. Irregardless of the identity of this man, his plans for Marrow were ended up being dropped, as nothing came of this.
16) [XM #75] What was the connection between Maggot’s critters and the Ru’tai?
Mystery: The Ru’tai emerged from the N’garai cairn and began kidnapping and doing live dissections on people around the world. The nature of the dissections and other evidence pointed to the culprits being Maggott’s pets, Eany and Meany. When the Ru’tai revealed their presence and captured the X-Men, oddly enough the maggots seemed very akin to the Ru’tai, who did not harm them and allowed them to move freely through out their realm. The X-Men eventually defeated the Ru’tai and the maggots returned to Maggott, but no one knew what the connection was between the creatures.
Thoughts: Maggott and his critters never encountered the Ru’tai again. Later on, Maggott was killed in Weapon X (2nd series), though it one of his pets ended up in the care of Mr. Sinister.
17) [XM #76] What more horrors occurred in Maggott’s past?
Mystery: After the Ru’tai incident, Maggott went into hiding at the Institute, but was found by Wolverine. Logan confronted Maggott about his past, who confessed up about his origin, the true powers he possessed and his association with Magneto. However, in the end, Maggott admitted that his story grew worse, but Wolverine told him to tell him another time.
Thoughts: Maggott left the X-Men shortly thereafter, and was then killed in Weapon X (2nd series), leaving the rest of his story untold.
18) [XM 87] How did Astra know Nightcrawler when he was a child?
Mystery: During the Magneto War crossover, the X-Men had to fight a battle on two fronts. One was against the villain Magneto, the other against the mysterious woman known only as Astra, who had cloned the X-Man Joseph out of Magneto’s DNA. Nightcrawler went after Astra to disable her and free Joseph from her control. During their scuffle, the eccentric Astra made a comment to Nightcrawler that he grew up more handsome than she thought. Nightcrawler was taken aback by this, but by the end of the fight, Astra had escaped with nothing more than that tease about their shared past.
Thoughts: In X-Men Forever #4, shortly before the formation of the X-Men, Astra was spying on several mutants for Magneto, always looking for potential recruits for his Brotherhood. Among the people that Astra observed was also a “blue circus demon”, an obvious reference to Nightcrawler. Still, that scene is no sufficient explanation for Astra’s cryptic comments and Nightcrawler’s past is already colorful enough with characters such as Mystique, Azazel, and Margali, that it isn’t too surprising that another questionable person has had some dealings with him, whether he was aware of it or not. It’s not likely to be resolved, though, as during the Apocalypse: The Twelve crossover, Apocalypse hinted to have killed Astra.
19) [XM #97] What was the fate of the Horsemen of Apocalypse after Mikhail teleported them away?
Mystery: During Apocalypse: The Twelve, Apocalypse gathered a new group of Horsemen, consisting of Caliban, Ahab, Deathbird, and Wolverine. While a group of X-Men dealt with Wolverine elsewhere, the rest of the X-Men had to battle the Living Monolith, Apocalypse and the remaining Horsemen. Mikhail Rasputin used his powers to teleport himself and the Horsemen to an unknown location, leaving their fates in the air.
Thoughts: Of the four who were teleported away, only three have reappeared since, though with no explanation of what happened or where they disappeared to. Caliban was still under the thrall of Apocalypse when he next appeared in X-Men: The Search for Cyclops #1-4. He sought out Apocalypse, but was released from duty by him. Deathbird next appeared during the Maximum Security crossover back in Shi’ar space, no longer under the influence of Apocalypse, though a tad insane and seemingly suicidal. Mikhail would appear again years working alongside Sinister in X-Men: Colossus – Bloodline #1-5, again without any mention of what happened to him and the Horsemen. Only Ahab has yet to appear.
20) [XM #100] How did Psylocke gain telekinesis?
Mystery: After the Six Month Gap, the X-Titles returned radically changed, with new villains and different directions for characters. When Psylocke was next seen, she was in space working on a station with her fellow X-Men, and she now possessed telekinesis with there being no hints to her previous shadow-porting ability nor her telepathy.
Thoughts: When the Six Month Gap started, Jean Grey also found herself with a power change – she no longer had her telekinesis, but her telepathy was stronger than ever, even scaring some of her colleagues into thinking she was reaching Phoenix Force power levels. Jean’s astral form was all black, just like Betsy’s had been, and she sported a Phoenix symbol over her eye in the same spot where Psylocke had worn her Crimson Dawn mark. It was clear that there was a power switch, and it is believed to have been a unintended consequence of Phoenix trying to help Psylocke deal with the Shadow King who was imprisoned in her mind, as she had offered to do in X-Men (2nd series) #96. Betsy didn’t dare to access her telepathy anymore to not give the Shadow King a means to escape, but apparently something went wrong during the experiment, resulting in the two women’s power swap. The full story was supposed to be told in an Annual, but never saw print.
21) [XM #100] What happened in Genosha that darkened Shadowcat?
Mystery: After the Six Month Gap, a group of X-Men worked to repair a space station abandoned by the High Evolutionary. When on a space walk to repair parts of the girders, Colossus turned the attention of his comrades to Earth, as Genosha was rotating towards them. A moodier and more rebellious Shadowcat scolded Colossus for pointing this out, but Colossus told her that what happened there wasn’t her fault. Shadowcat simply told Colossus that he wasn’t there, and the issue was never brought up again.
Thoughts: The mystery of what happened to Shadowcat and how that changed her outlook of life was never addressed again she went missing at issue’s end and when she next showed up she reverted back to her normal self. However, there is a belief that the incident on Genosha had something to do with her father, Carmen Pryde, as he was a resident on Genosha, as seen in X-Men Unlimited (1st series) #36.
22) [XM #100] What became of the flirtations and intimacy between Colossus and Rogue?
Mystery: While working on the High Evolutionary’s former space station, Rogue acted just as broody as ever and distanced herself from others. Colossus, however, already dismayed by Shadowcat’s new attitude, refused to leave Rogue alone. He turned to his metal form and kissed Rogue, showing that she couldn’t absorb him in this form. Shocked and apparently intrigued, Rogue then posed for a portrait that Colossus began to draw, but the X-Men were then attacked by some villains.
Thoughts: The X-Men found themselves chasing one fire after another after being attacked in space, with close to no down time in-between for Rogue and Colossus to develop anything that had occurred in space. Afterwards Rogue was reunited with Gambit and continued the troubled relationship troubles with him, and Colossus perished not much later. However, that incident in space made it quite clear that a connection was brewing. When asked about it, Chris Claremont revealed that the plan was to give Rogue two options – to love a man she could not touch, or to touch a man she did not love. However, the story was dropped because of negative feedback.
23) [XM #100] Is Shadowcat one of the Neo, and what happened to her after the orbital station was destroyed?
Mystery: The X-Men were attacked by a group known as the Neo while working on the High Evolutionary’s base in orbit. The Neo were a sub-division of mutant kind that lived in secret, but their whole civilization was destroyed and they chose to wage war against both humans and the mutants that lived among them. The Neo sent Seth to sabotage the orbital station, and working there undercover, he was dating Kitty for some time. Finally, when he destroyed the station, he wished to bring her to safety, claiming that she was Neo. Kitty defeated Seth, who left the station without her. Kitty then found an extra space suit Seth left for her, and was at the mercy of its automatic pilot as it took her back to Earth, where she went missing.
Thoughts: It is unknown what Shadowcat’s relation to the Neo was or what happened to her after the incident in space. In regards to the Neo, in X-Men: Declassified some X-Men broke into a governmental facility and one of the files they accessed claimed that two decades ago, the Neo stole a baby from a hospital and replaced it with one of their own. However, none of the scenarios seen in that issue were verified and either the files were based on rumors and faulty reports, or some villain deliberately tried to mislead the X-Men into no longer trusting each other.
As for Shadowcat’s disappearance, that remains a mystery still. Some time later, in X-Men (2nd series) #109 she had the Viper deliver a message to Logan, letting him know that she was okay, and in the following issue she returned to the Institute to spread Colossus’ ashes. A limited series was supposed to shed some light on her activities in the meantime, but it was never released.
24) [XM #100] Why was Marrow no longer an X-Man after the Six Month Gap?
Mystery: During the infamous dangler creating period known as the Six Month Gap, the X-Men underwent many changes. However, there was one X-Man who had mysteriously disappeared - Marrow. The X-Men made no comments about Marrow or what had happened to her. Last seen she was a valuable member of the X-Men and was making headway in the use of her powers and her temperament.
Thoughts: Marrow would not appear again until the Spider-Man/Marrow one-shot. There, Marrow seemed to have lost control over her bone growth and was “ugly” again. She was a bit deranged and was not an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., though not voluntarily and had memory implants. Sharon Carter explained to Spider-Man that they found Marrow terrified in the Morlock Sewers. She had left the X-Men for some unknown reason. Sharon was convinced that the X-Men did something to Marrow, but Spider-Man refused to entertain the idea. Marrow later moved on to Weapon X (2nd series) and no mention of her leaving the X-Men came up. Some fans speculate that Marrow left because she discovered that Gambit was involved in the Mutant Massacre, while others believed something happened to make her lose control over her bone growth and she fled because of that.
25) [XM #105] Where are the missing Diaries of Destiny?
Mystery: When Senator Kelly announced that he was running for President, Mystique put together plans to eliminate the man once and for all. Sneaking onto Muir Island and taking over the identity of Moira MacTaggert, Mystique began to put together her secret plans, aided by several volumes of diaries written by her deceased comrade, Destiny, who wrote down her visions of the future. Mystique, however, possessed diary numbers 2, 5, 7, 10 and 11, meaning that she was missing many copies.
Thoughts: After her defeat, Mystique turned over her diaries to Xavier, and they were kept safe at the mansion. Somewhat earlier, Shadowcat had found volume 3 in X-Men (2nd series) #93-94. However, not sure if they Xavier could be trusted with that kind of knowledge, one group of X-Men left to find the other diaries in X-Treme X-Men, taking volume 3 with them. They later got another one from the aborigine Gateway. Also on the trail of the diaries was the villain Vargas, who already possessed a volume, and acquired a second one in Spain. The numbers of these volumes are unknown, though. For her own reasons, Shadowcat stole the five volumes given to X-Men by Mystique and has yet to return them or make mention of them. It is clear that there are thirteen diaries in total, with there being nine accounted for. The current location of both found and missing diaries is a mystery.
26) [XM #105] Who tried to assassinate Psylocke?
Mystery: Archangel and Psylocke were attacked in Warren’s penthouse by a group known as the Twisted Sisters. It seemed at first that the group was after Warren and Psylocke was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Eventually, the Twisted Sisters were defeated, but as the police took them away, a mysterious man watched from a far and commented on how everyone thought Archangel was the target, when it was actually Psylocke.
Thoughts: Writer Chris Claremont later revealed that the villain was Stryfe, who was angry at Psylocke for defeating him easily in X-Men Annual 2000. However, this plot was aborted as Claremont was taken off the book, and Betsy soon perished in X-Treme X-Men #2 in a fight against Vargas. Though Betsy has been resurrected since, Stryfe is now dead, and his involvement has yet to be canonically revealed.
27) [XM #110] What did Magneto do with the Neo?
Mystery: Magneto attacked the church that Domina and her clan of Neo were holed up in. Domina sent Rax and Salvo to take care of Magneto, but he easily killed them. Tired of mutants fighting each other, Magneto forced Domina and the Neo to bow before him, which they did. The Neo were never seen again.
Thoughts: The Neo never appeared in the Eve of Destruction crossover, which their recruitment by Magneto was leading up to. They were not referenced either. Rumor has it that the crossover was meant to be longer, but Grant Morrison’s arrival on the title shortened the crossover and at least one subplot of Dazzler and the Mojoverse was dropped. However, this was just an unsubstantiated rumor. It is possible Domina and the other Neo died in New X-Men #115 when the island of Genosha was destroyed by the Mega-Sentinels.
28) [XM #113] What became of Dazzler’s revelation that the Mojoverse was destroyed and Longshot was dead?
Mystery: During the Eve of Destruction crossover, the X-Men were contacted by a weary Dazzler who claimed that the Mojoverse had been destroyed by the baby versions of the Age of Apocalypse villains, and that Longshot had been killed by them. However, after aiding the X-Men in Genosha against Magneto, Dazzler left the Institute and turned down the X-Men’s offer to help her deal with the Mojoverse. She argued the action had occurred already and it was too late to do something about it.
Thoughts: Dazzler never contacted the X-Men again after this, and the X-Men never investigated what happened on their own. The Mojoverse had been seen again in the pages of Exiles very well in tact and with Mojo in charge. Longshot later joined the Exiles as part of a deal brokered by Heather Hudson, though he has no memories of his past life with Dazzler and the X-Men. Dazzler currently stars in New Excalibur, but has made no reference to her claims that the Mojoverse was destroyed and has yet to find out that Longshot is alive.
29) [NXM #132] How was Unus the Untouchable still alive?
Mystery: The last time anyone saw Unus the Untouchable, he suffocated to death as his force field was so strong it blocked out air. However, when Professor Xavier and Phoenix visited the ruins of Genosha with X-Corporation, they discovered the very much alive Unus on the island, though he seemed a bit traumatized over the destruction of the island.
Thoughts: Unus would later become a minor character in Excalibur (2nd series), though no explanation came for his resurrection. After M-Day, Unus lost his mutant abilities. Quicksilver arrived on Genosha with the Terrigen Mists and tried to re-power Unus in the Son of M limited series. With utmost irony, Unus’ temporarily returned force field was too strong and he died exactly the same way as he had before in Peter Parker, Spectacular Spider-Man #91, suffocating inside his own force-field, unable to turn it off.
30) [XM #153, 156] What happened to the missing Cassandra Nova and is she really Ernst?
Mystery: After the mansion was destroyed, the X-Men began rebuilding and quickly realized that in the destruction the cell containing Cassandra Nova was most likely damaged, leaving her free to leave. Cyclops and Beast investigated, but were quickly side-tracked by other problems as a damaged Danger Room robot was on the loose. Cyclops and Beast dispatched of the robot and then rushed to a riot at the X-Corporation center, but never completed their search for Cassandra Nova.
Thoughts: The situation involving Cassandra Nova became very complicated very quickly. Earlier, when Nova was originally defeated, she was trapped in the body of the Shi’ar Super Guardian, Stuff, who had the ability to change shapes. Trapped in that body Cassandra began a re-education program and wasn’t seen since, though somewhat later, a student name Ernst made her first appearance. In New X-Men (1st series) #153, which took place in the future, Cassandra Nova revealed she was still in the body of Stuff, but Martha asked her if she could still call her Ernst, implying that the student was Cassandra Nova. It has been speculated that Ernst was nothing more than the shape-changed body of Stuff, allowed to walk freely thanks to the re-education.
However, if this was the case, then it seems strange that Cyclops and the Beast would consider her to be still in a holding cell. And, if Xavier didn’t tell them the true identity of Ernst earlier on, one might think he should have done so before resigning from the Institute and leaving for Genosha, as he left a potential threat in the X-Men’s midst. Further speculation brought up the idea that the questionable and powerful Martha used her powers to cause confusion amongst the staff and made them “ignore” that Cassandra was their prisoner. However, none of this is substantiated with any facts. It should also be noted that in the future where Martha calls Nova by the name Ernst, she is suffering from Alzheimer’s.
In Astonishing X-Men (3rd series) #13-18 things became more confusing. Cassandra Nova reappeared, this time as a psychic projection to Emma Frost, who she implanted with a false memory before her earlier defeat in order to “convince” Emma that she would always be bad and could not redeem herself. This led to Emma having a mental breakdown of sorts, and Nova took advantage of this to get Emma to free her from her prison. It was then revealed that Nova was still in Stuff and the body was locked away in the basement in a special containment device – the location only known by Beast! This made things even stickier, as now it made no sense for Beast to have gone to the prison cells with Cyclops months ago if he knew where Cassandra Nova was the whole time. Worse yet, the student known as Ernst has appeared still as a student at the Xavier Institute. While there are many possible explanations, it is only fan speculation and nothing can be resolved until more facts are presented in this confusing case.
31) [XM #157] Did Annie and Iceman sleep with each other?
Mystery: When the new teams were formed, Havok was put in charge of one squad. Before the big meeting about this, he was with Annie and he asked her if she slept with Iceman before his prior failed wedding with Polaris. Annie was offended, and then asked Havok why it would make a difference now, but also asked if he would even be able to handle her answer. In the end, though, Annie didn’t answer the question.
Thoughts: Later on, Annie and Havok make up and Havok told her that he preferred not to know what happened between her and Iceman. However, no definitive answer had been given whether or not she did sleep with Iceman.
32) [XM #163] What became of Gambit’s pre-cognitive abilities?
Mystery: After an earlier battle in China, Gambit was left blinded. Kept in the medical room of the Institute until further help could be given, Gambit was there waiting when the reformed Brotherhood attacked the mansion. However, when Gambit pulled the bandage off his face and looked at one of his kinetically charged cards, he “saw” an image of the attacking Brotherhood.
Thoughts: During the time he was blind, Gambit never displayed this feat again. Later on in X-Men (2nd series) #165, Sage and Elixir work together to fix Gambit’s blindness, and they were successful. No visions from his cards have come since. Could be the case that Gambit’s vision was actually a telepathic warning by Carter Ghazikhanian, the son of school nurse Annie, but it was never mentioned as such.
33) [XM #164] Who was Carter’s not-so imaginary friend?
Mystery: When the Brotherhood attacked the mansion, Nurse Annie Ghazikhanian son Carter and fled, as she didn’t want him in harms way anymore at the mansion. As they were driving away from the mansion, Annie asked Carter why he was so quiet. He replied that he was speaking to his friend, that Annie took as an imaginary male one. However, Carter, with a wicked grin, announced that his friend was a she, and wasn’t imaginary. A pair of green eyes floated menacingly next to Carter.
Resolution: Writer Chuck Austen later revealed, non-canonically, that he intended for the green eyes to be Cassandra Nova. Annie and Carter have not appeared since this incident, leaving their fate and the identity of Carter’s friend a mystery.
34) [XM #174] Did Gambit and Mystique have an intimate moment?
Mystery: Upset that Rogue was dating Gambit, Mystique was bent on breaking the two up. She posed as a new student named Foxx, and decided to seduce Gambit. Gambit resisted, but at one point it was unclear what happened after Mystique offered herself to him while shape-shifted as Rogue. When Mystique was found by the other X-Men, she used her seduction attempts to harm Rogue’s relations with Gambit, though one question remained unanswered by both parties: what really happened between Mystique and Gambit?
Thoughts: No more revelations have come out of Mystique’s attempt to seduce Gambit and break him up with Rogue. The couple did end up splitting when Gambit became a Horseman of Apocalypse, so in the long run Mystique got what she wanted (although it was not because of her manipulations). However, what or better yet how much happened between her and Gambit is still unanswered.
35) [XM #180-181] Whor or what is Daap and what was its purpose?
Mystery: After being de-powered, Polaris fled the mansion in search of the creature she saw in space as she was convinced that it was coming to Earth soon. She and Havok went on this journey and discovered a creature called Daap near Apocalypse’s newly formed sphinx. Daap resembled the former X-Statix member Doop, who also spoke in a strange gibberish language. Polaris seemed to understand this creature’s language, or so she claimed, but was attacked by the Leper Queen. Daap grabbed both Lorna and the Leper Queen and disappeared, and the creature hasn’t been seen since.
Thoughts: The Leper Queen and Polaris were next seen in the captivity of Apocalypse. It seems that Daap brought them to Apocalypse, but he was not seen during the arc in which Apocalypse attacked and created his new Horsemen aside from when Apocalypse teleported the two women from it. No reference was ever made to Daap again, so what he was or what he wanted is a mystery, nor was his strange resemblance to the X-Statix’ member Doop ever explained. For now, it seems that the creature’s sole purpose was to get Polaris and the Leper Queen to Apocalypse.
36) [XM #185] What was the fate of the Leper Queen who was imprisoned by Apocalypse?
Mystery: After being captured by Apocalypse, Polaris woke up and found herself strapped to the machines that would convert her into the Horseman Pestilence. There, Apocalypse spoke to her and explained that he chose between her and the Leper Queen, but the latter wanted it too much so he denied her, instead imprisoning her in his dungeons. The Leper Queen was not mentioned again.
Thoughts: When Apocalypse’s sphinx crashed into the river it began to sink and fill with water. It is quite possible that the Leper Queen drowned, and since Polaris was unconscious at the time no one else would even have known that she was in the sphinx. However, no body was seen, leaving her fate a mystery.
37 [XM #186] What did the Celestials want from Apocalypse?
Mystery: After being defeated by the X-Men, Apocalypse passed through a chamber which opened a hole in space and time for him to escape. After passing through he was overcome by memories of when he first discovered a Celestial Ship and began to build his fortress. The Celestials told him that one day they’d come back to him to collect their debt, but it might entail great suffering. Apocalypse agreed then, and as he went through the hole, he was taken by the Celestials, who told him that it was time for him to pay up on his contract.
Thoughts: Only time will tell what the Celestials want from Apocalypse.
38) [XM #187] What plans did Sinister have for Gambit and Sunfire?
Mystery: After being transformed by Horsemen, Gambit and Sunfire were freed when Apocalypse was defeated. The two agreed that they needed to stick together and then tried to recruit Polaris to their fold. Polaris refused and so the two Horsemen left, only to be approached by Sinister, who told them that he was their future.
Thoughts: The story of Sinister, Gambit, and Sunfire is about to continue in X-Men (2nd series) #200, with details being unknown.