This week in the Fall of the House of X, Ms. Marvel reunites with some surprising allies, and one X-Man sacrifices themself for the cause.

PRELUDE TO THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF X

Just two issues this week: Ms. Marvel: Mutant Mayhem #3 and X-Men: Forever 43.

RECAP OF THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF X

After returning from space with Lila Cheney, Ms. Marvel is reunited with Dagger, her friend (and love interest) from Karachi. While hiding out from Orchis agents, they reconnect and almost kiss, but they’re quickly interrupted by a zombified Cyclops, reanimated from one of his old corpses with his mutant abilities fully operational. They defeat him and finally kiss, but are then faced by additional X-Zombies who need to be taken down. Once they’re settled with, Kamala’s powers start corrupting, and they’re greeted by a few familiar (and surprising) faces: Medusa, Karnak, and Lockjaw of the Inhumans.

Between Sentinel attacks, Mr. Sinister suggests to a forlorn Destiny that she may be able to prevent their deaths after all. Destiny approaches Mystique and says she fully trusts her wife in whatever she may or may not do, taking her directly to Xavier. When they find him, Destiny demands her psi-block toward Nightcrawler be removed; he complies and she’s overwhelmed with maternal feelings for her son. This allows Nimrod an opening to attack, but Exodus teleports them away before anything happens. Elsewhere, Hope prepares to kill the Phoenix, but is interrupted by a disturbance in the timeline: Dominion propositioning Hope’s biological mother to help him change the future through keeping both of them alive. Jean senses this and confronts Dominion, successfully convincing Hope’s mother to not do what he says. She wipes her memory of this encounter, ensuring Hope is born exactly the way she is supposed to, and Hope dies with the Phoenix. When the Phoenix is reborn, it declares its willingness to help the cause… after it eats. Meanwhile, the survivors of the battle whisked away to the White Hot Room decide they’re the new Quiet Council.

ANALYSIS OF THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF X

Not an especially eventful week, but not one without some interesting developments. In Ms. Marvel, we finally see the Inhumans again, after what has been a very long absence since Death of Inhumans. I’m fairly certain none of them have appeared in anything in the five years since, so whatever their role in the story that remains will be very interesting. Aside from that, there’s notable development in Kamala’s relationship with Kareem, but we’ll probably have to wait and see where that leads.

X-Men: Forever corrects what I deemed to be a main flaw of the last issue (too many stories, not enough focus on any of them) by mostly zeroing in one two plots —Destiny/Mystique and Hope/Jean— and executing them. They still feel a bit abrupt, but they provide some much-needed character moments that the last act of this event has been missing. I also appreciate the issue ending on a fraught, but optimistic note of having several lower-tier mutants deciding they need to make the best of their current circumstances through the power of community. (Which, accidentally, is a perfect metaphor for the state of the X-Men comic book fandom as Krakoa winds to an end…)

NEXT IN THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF X

Just one, but a biggie: the finale of Fall of the House of X #5