This week in the Fall of the House of X: Professor Xavier is a Jerk! That pretty much covers it, but also some other bad stuff happens.

PRELUDE TO THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF X

This week: Dead X-Men #4 and Fall of the House of X #4.

RECAP OF THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF X

Not too long ago, the reality-hopping X-Men finally catch up to the cyborg Moira, trapping her in Askani’s psyche, where the latter reveals Xavier’s plan — murdering Moira in childhood before her powers manifest. Refusing to take this treatment from the X-Men, Moira fights back as Orbis Stellaris (one of Mister Sinister’s fellow clones) prepares himself to ascend towards Dominion status… until some quick thinking from Prodigy makes Orbis realize a Dominion has already been established. Taking care of the Moira-sized loose end, Juggernaut is deployed to destroy her once and for all. But the job isn’t done yet; the X-Men learn Xavier’s true intentions for the young Moira. Feeling betrayed by their old mentor, they find Xavier right before he kills the child and force him to hear them out (as seen in Rise of the Power of X #3).

Meanwhile in the present, Apocalypse realizes Krakoa —the sentient being— is dying, and that it requires mutant sacrifice to survive. Holding an impromptu gauntlet, he kills Kintar (an Arakki native) and Wrongslide (the corrupted Rockslide who returned from Otherworld during Swords of X), which is enough to revive Krakoa. Elsewhere, Xavier holds a private meeting with Nimrod, who is working with Orchis AI to destroy all of humanity. Xavier makes a tempting offer to Nimrod: spare some of the mutants, and he will help achieve their goal of human eradication. Nimrod agrees to those terms. Xavier telepathically warns Cyclops of the deal and proceeds to physically force the United States to launch nuclear missiles on Earth. Furious, Cyclops takes the fight to Sentinel City, where his forces are easily overpowered by Nimrod and Omega Sentinel… that is, until Storm arrives on the scene.

ANALYSIS OF THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF X

After what I said last week about the narrative stagnation in this event, Fall of the House of #5 finally moves the story a bit further and raises the stakes. Oops, Earth went bye-bye! (For now.) Xavier makes a shady deal with the enemy, really not fighting the “Professor Xavier is a Jerk!” allegations, but he purports to have a plan. Let’s hope he does! Elsewhere, the Apocalypse subplot is really interesting, introducing the idea that Krakoa could literally subsist on mutant blood if absolutely necessary, which is just as horrifying as it is obvious. RIP Wrongslide! Hope you come back normal again! By comparison, Dead X-Men #4 isn’t as momentous, but it fills in some gaps and delivers some good character work as it wraps up that series. I’d really like to see this team return in some capacity, but it doesn’t seem as though the “From the Ashes” relaunch will deliver that. C’est la vie!

NEXT IN THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF X

Wolverine #48, Avengers #13, Rise of the Powers of X #4, and X-Men: Forever #2.

6.8

Dead X-Men

7.0/10

Fall of the House of X #2

6.5/10

Credits

Writers: Steve Foxe (DXM), Gerry Duggan (FotHoX)
Artists: David Beldeón, Bernard Chang, and Vincenzo Carratù (DXM), Lucas Werneck & Jethro Morales (FotHoX)
Color Artists: Frank Martin (DXM), Bryan Valenza (FotHoX)
Letterers: VC's Cory Petit (DXM), VC's Travis Lanham (FotHoX)
Cover Artist: Lucas Werneck (DXM), Pepe Larraz & Marte Gracia (FotHoX)