This week in the penultimate Fall of the House of X, reports of the titular “fall” actually seem to be vastly overestimated…

PRELUDE TO THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF X

Two finales: Wolverine #50 and Rise of the Powers of X #5.

RECAP OF THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF X

Wolverine faces Sabretooth for their final battle. Although he is weakened —albeit in head-to-toe adamantium armor— Wolverine is able to keep up with Sabretooth, even after the latter traps him in The Pit, but Phoebe Cuckoo turns the tides by severing Sabretooth’s connection to Krakoa. More fighting ensues, and Wolverine finally defeats his brother, dismembering him beyond repair. He and the rest of X-Force leave Krakoa for the final battle against Enigma.

Some time later, with the Phoenix reborn, Jean seeks out Enigma for their own fight. Using its omnipotent control over every timeline, Enigma makes it so that Jean has to undo every temporal tangle that would prevent the X-Men from winning and saving the universe from extinction. Meanwhile, Xavier has one final conversation with Moira, hoping to convince her to help the mutants even after all he’s done to her. He’s ultimately able to reason with Moira, and she agrees to help him — by sending a signal to Jean and allowing herself to be immolated, effectively a massive crippling blow to Enigma. With Enigma weakened, Jean summons every active mutant with the Phoenix Force behind her, and they finally destroy Enigma. With the universe saved, Xavier allows himself to be arrested as penance for his crimes, and a new timeline —wherein Moira is not born a mutant— is created.

ANALYSIS OF THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF X

The Wolverine issue is kind of not worth discussing with so much to talk about in Rise of the Powers of X, even if the above summary is kind of short. While I’ve been growing restless with this event in the latter stage of it, I did really enjoy Rise #5 as a climax to the overall story, which admittedly does end on a triumphant note that any X-Men fan will likely approve of to some degree. As with a lot of the Krakoa era, it’s dense, but I think it wraps up the bulk of this event satisfyingly enough given all the hand-wringing about it.

There’s still a lot that has been answered here, though, and I wonder how much of it will be addressed in next week’s X-Men #35, serving as the official epilogue to the Krakoa era. The major cliffhanger here is the White Hot Room and how it holds most(?) of Earth’s mutants now, which I’ve seen some describing as a quasi M-Day situation. We’ll just have to see how that plays out, but I do think this will mostly serve as a function to give Marvel editorial a way back to Krakoa if the upcoming “From the Ashes” era severely underperforms. Always gotta have a backup plan! (Also, from a practicality’s sake, there are too many mutants to serve all of them adequately moving into this new era, so… scaling back a bit makes sense.)

I also do like the bookmarking of Moira’s role in these past five years, restoring her back to non-mutant status. She was obviously never going to retain her mutation, and it falls in line with the ethos of “putting all the toys back in the box” after an extended run with these universes. But even though it seems that the book is closed, you know… never say never.

NEXT IN THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF X

Just one more week to fully wrap things up with Ms. Marvel: Mutant Mayhem #4 and X-Men #35.

Fall of the House of X: Week 24

6.8

Wolverine #50

6.0/10

Rise of the House of X #5

7.5/10

Credits

Writers: Benjamin Percy & Victor LaValle (W), Kieron Gillen (RotPoX)
Artists: Geoff Shaw, Cory Smith & Oren Junior (W), Luciano Vecchio (RotPoX)
Color Artists: Alex Sinclair (W), David Curiel (RotPoX)
Letterers: VC's Cory Petit, VC's Clayton Cowles (RotPoX)
Cover Artists: Leinil Francis Yu & Romulo Fajardo Jr. (W), R.B. Silva & David Curiel (RotPoX)