Ultimate X-Men (2001) #37-48

[Kevin Van der Borght]

Ultimate X-Men # 37
November 2003

http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/ultxmen37t.jpg (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/4images/details.php?image_id=5969)

Story Arc: Block Buster
Story Title: Chapter Four

Writer: Mark Millar (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=17655&highlight=millar)
Penciler: David Finch (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14740&highlight=finch)
Inker: Art Thibert (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=15101&highlight=thibert)
Color: Dave Stewart (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=17974&highlight=stewart)
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14348&highlight=eliopoulos)
Cover Penciler: David Finch (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14740&highlight=finch)
Cover Colorist: Richard Isanove (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14956&highlight=isanove)
Assistant Editor: Nick Lowe (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=21867&highlight=lowe) & MacKenzie Cadenhead (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=20183&highlight=cadenhead)
Associate Editor: C.B. Cebulski (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13408&highlight=cebulski)
Editor: Ralph Macchio (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=16649&highlight=macchio)
Editor in chief: Joe Quesada (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=12902&highlight=quesada)

First Appearance Tara and her accomplices, Sirius 9

At the Xavier Institute, after establishing psychic contact with him, Jean warns the other X-Men that Wolverine is in danger, but nobody knows where he is.
Meanwhile, in Hell’s Kitchen, Daredevil asks Tara and Sirius 9 to put their guns down. Just as they start firing, Spider-Man shows up but has to be saved himself by Daredevil, taking cover behind one of the vans. But they aren’t save there either as it’s about to explode.
Hiding in one of the dark alleys, Wolverine is finally able to heal from being shot in the head.
Thanks to Daredevil’s hearing, Wolverine finds out what Tara’s next step is going to be. As Tara heads for one of the roof-tops, she finds Wolverine already there waiting for her. After a short struggle, Wolverine asks her again who she is but all she tells him to do is to kill her. At that moment the two helicopters show up again. Spider-Man, who went with Logan, is able to outmanoeuvre the bullets but Wolverine gets shot. Tara uses the oppurtunity to escape via one of the helicopters.
Because Wolverine is again very badly hurt, Spider-Man wants to take him to a hospital but Wolverine refuses as going to a hospital isn’t his way of dealing with things. When Spider-Man suggests calling the X-Men, Wolverine doesn’t want that either as he knows that he is somehow responsible for all that has happened to him and that he doesn’t want to burden Charles with any of it. Just as Wolverine passes out, Spider-Man tells him that he is going to be angry with him as he earlier on already called the X-Men.

Characters:
Beast (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7350)
Colossus (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7365)
Cyclops (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7367)
Daredevil
Iceman (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7378)
Marvel-Girl (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7416)
Nightcrawler (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7419)
Shadowcat
Sirius 9
Spider-Man
Storm (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7519)
Tara and her accomplices
Wolverine (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7324)

<hr>
Ultimate X-Men # 38
December 2003

http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/ultxmen38t.jpg (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/4images/details.php?image_id=6613)

Story Arc: Block Buster
Story Title: Chapter Five

Writer: Mark Millar (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=17655&highlight=millar)
Penciler: David Finch (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14740&highlight=finch)
Inker: Art Thibert (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=15101&highlight=thibert)
Color: Dave Stewart (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=17974&highlight=stewart)
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14348&highlight=eliopoulos)
Cover Penciler: David Finch (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14740&highlight=finch)
Cover Colorist: Richard Isanove (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14956&highlight=isanove)
Assistant Editor: Nick Lowe (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=21867&highlight=lowe) & MacKenzie Cadenhead (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=20183&highlight=cadenhead)
Associate Editor: C.B. Cebulski (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13408&highlight=cebulski)
Editor: Ralph Macchio (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=16649&highlight=macchio)
Editor in chief: Joe Quesada (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=12902&highlight=quesada)

Back at the Institute, Xavier forces Wolverine to relive the moment when Wolverine broke loose at the Weapon X-complex. It’s only now with the help of Charles that Wolverine is able to take the time to concentrate on all the persons who were present when he undewent the adamantium-process. And it is only now that he doesn’t only see John Wraith there but also the blonde woman that has been chasing him. Charles also explains why Tara and her accomplices resent him now that he is famous and that they were decommissioned by the government.
Then the Professor asks him about his behaviour, leaving the day after he was welcomed back by the X-Men. Wolverine tells him that they said they had forgiven him but that their behaviour towards him told him otherwise. Xavier replies that the X-Men are mere children and that they need reasons to trust and respect him again and that he doesn’t do that by leaving.
After his session with Wolverine, Charles contacts Fury and brings him up-to-date. Fury is surprised as the soldiers of the Weapon X-program were psycically evaluated and approved before they were decommissioned. As the conversation continues, the two discuss who’s going to handle the situation from that point on, but Fury forbids the X-Men to interfere as Fury doesn’t know how widely spread the situation is.
Meanwhile Wolverine tries to join the rest for supper but when he sees the animosity on their faces, he decides to eat outside.
A little later Jean goes to talk to him. She tells him that she hasn’t forgiven him for what he did to Scott and that if he even dares to think about her in any romantically way at all, that she will kill him.
Then suddenly Jean turns around and heads for an approaching helicopter. Some of Tara’s accomplices have decided to destroy the Xavier Institute. As they see the Phoenix approaching, the decide to turn around but it is already too late. Moments later, Phoenix blows up the helicopter, killing its passengers.

Characters:
Beast (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7350)
Captain America
Colossus (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7365)
Cyclops (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7367)
Iceman (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7378)
John Wraith (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7321)
Marvel-Girl (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7416)
Nick Fury (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7371)
Nightcrawler (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7419)
Professor X (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7423)
Rogue (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7456)
Shadowcat
Storm (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7519)
Tara
Thor
Wolverine (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7324)

<hr>
Ultimate X-Men # 39
January 2004

http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/ultxmen39t.jpg (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/4images/details.php?image_id=6980)

Story Arc: Block Buster
Story Title: Chapter Six

Writer: Mark Millar (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=17655&highlight=millar)
Penciler: David Finch (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14740&highlight=finch)
Inker: Art Thibert (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=15101&highlight=thibert)
Color: Dave Stewart (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=17974&highlight=stewart)
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14348&highlight=eliopoulos)
Cover Penciler: David Finch (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14740&highlight=finch)
Cover Colorist: Richard Isanove (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14956&highlight=isanove)
Assistant Editor: Nick Lowe (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=21867&highlight=lowe) & MacKenzie Cadenhead (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=20183&highlight=cadenhead)
Associate Editor: C.B. Cebulski (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13408&highlight=cebulski)
Editor: Ralph Macchio (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=16649&highlight=macchio)
Editor in chief: Joe Quesada (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=12902&highlight=quesada)

After the explosion in which a helicopter was blown up and its passengers killed, all caused by Phoenix, the other X-Men find Jean lying in the grass. As they take care of her, she loses control over her powers as she isn’t able to block out her team-mates’ thoughts about her. On demand of Charles, Jean is teleported bak to him at the Institute by Nightcrawler.
Meanwhile the other X-Men decide to help Wolverine to take out the former-Weapon X- soldiers, including Tara.
Somewhere in an hangar in Woodstock, New York Tara is in the middle of a heated discussion with her boss who informs her that she failt and that he is pulling the plug now that Wolverine falls under the protection of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the president. He also advises her to grab her things and leave the country. But before she and her accomplices are able to decide what to do, the X-Men already arrive. In the moments to follow Tara first kills her accomplices and then herself.
A few moments later S.H.I.E.L.D. arrives. Commander Dugan tells them that the X-Men weren’t allowed to take actions but now that they have, S.H.I.E.L.D. isn’t able to to trace down the people who employed Tara and her men.
When Storm asks why they were after Wolverine, Dugan tells them that Wolverine was the perfect example of how bad mutants can be and therefor he is the weak link in the world human/mutant politics.
That evening Jean is struggling with the fact that she killed two men and wonders how she can live with that.
Outside Wolverine is sitting on the steps with the wedding-ring in his hand, that Cyclops gave him before he came back to the X-Men

Characters:
Beast (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7350)
Colossus (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7365)
Cyclops (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7367)
Dugan
Iceman (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7378)
Marvel-Girl (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7416)
Nightcrawler (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7419)
Professor X (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7423)
Shadowcat
Storm (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7519)
Tara and her accomplices
Wolverine (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7324)

<hr>
Ultimate X-Men # 40
February 2004

http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/ultxmen40t.jpg (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/4images/details.php?image_id=7033)

Story Arc: New Mutants
Story Title: Part 1

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=11741&highlight=bendis)
Penciller: David Finch (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14740&highlight=finch)
Inker: Art Thibert (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=15101&highlight=thibert)
Color: Dave Stewart (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=17974&highlight=stewart) & Morry Hollowell (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=25836&highlight=hollowell)
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14348&highlight=eliopoulos)
Cover Penciller: David Finch (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14740&highlight=finch)
Cover Colorist: Richard Isanove (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14956&highlight=isanove)
Assistant Editor: Nick Lowe (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=21867&highlight=lowe) & MacKenzie Cadenhead (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=20183&highlight=cadenhead)
Associate Editor: C.B. Cebulski (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13408&highlight=cebulski)
Editor: Ralph Macchio (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=16649&highlight=macchio)
Editor in chief: Joe Quesada (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=12902&highlight=quesada)

First appearance: Angel
Join: Angel

Charles Xavier and Jean Grey are at the Worthington mansion to talk about Warren Worthington. Instead of meeting his parents, they have to do with Jarvis the butler and a man who’s been given full power of attorney. When talking about the absence of the boy’s parents in his life, Charles is told that his mother can’t deal with the mere sight of her son and that his father was thinking of surgery to resolve their problem. As the conversation progresses the man tells Charles that he is only there to become Warren’s legal guardian, so that his parents don’t have any obligation left towards their son.
After meeting Warren, Jean and Charles take him to the Institute where he meets the others, who are just having a barbecue. After a few moments the professor notices how Rogue is staring at Warren. When he asks her what the problem is, she starts raving over the fact that they are surrounded by an angel, i.e. Warren, and a devil, i.e. Kurt, and she wonders what the biblical meaning of it all is. After Charles tells her that they’ll talk about it later on, Warren is shown to his room.

Two days later a religious gathering takes place at the front gate of the Xavier Institute. When Professor Xavier, although he already knows, asks who’s responsible for the leak to the media, Henry starts to speak but is quickly interrupted by Ororo, who tells her fellow team-mates about the existence of their fansites and that Henry participates on the forums, giving the people inside news. When Hank tries to defend himself that he didn’t think that the news would get this far, Jean angrily responds that he should have known since the internet is world-wide. Suddenly Charles picks up that Warren has left the mansion. He asks Ororo to go after him as Xavier believes that Warren will listen to her because he’s attracked to her.

When Ororo finds him, he tells her that he doesn’t want to be in a place where he’s regarded as the most repulsive thing they’ve ever seen but Ororo tells him that the girls and maybe even Colossus find him stunning. She also tells him that she kind of understands how he must be feeling when people only see the mutant and not the person behind the powers. He asks her how she copes and she anwers that she loves to write poems and one-act plays. When he shares the fact that he loves to fly, Ororo talks a bit enviously because she can’t fly on her own. As she touches one of his feathers, he tells her not to do so. He then rapidly starts to explain how he disgusts his father. Ororo responds that it is his father’s bad luck if he can’t see what a miracle his son is.

Not knowing what he is supposed to do at the Xavier Institute, Storm tells him that he can fly there and that he’ll get the chance to confront people and tell them that he is willing to fight for both human and mutants’ right to be different. Ororo believes that people will listen more easily to him than her since he looks more like a ‘messenger’.

When Warren arrives back at the Institute, he confronts the gathered group at the gate and lets them know that he’s a mutant and not an angel.

Somewhere in a diner, Henry is reading an article about Warren’s speech when he is approached by someone who tells him that he or she wants to help him.

Characters:
Angel (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=41665)
Beast (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7350)
Colossus (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7365)
Cyclops (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7367)
Iceman (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7378)
Jarvis
Marvel-Girl (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7416)
Nightcrawler (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7419)
Professor X (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7423)
Rogue (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7456)
Shadowcat
Storm (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7519)
Wolverine (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7324)

<hr>
Ultimate X-Men # 41
March 2004

http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/ultxmen41t.jpg (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/4images/details.php?image_id=7079)

Story Arc: New Mutants
Story Title: Part 2

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=11741&highlight=bendis)
Penciller: David Finch (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14740&highlight=finch)
Inker: Art Thibert (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=15101&highlight=thibert)
Color: Dave Stewart (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=17974&highlight=stewart) & Morry Hollowell (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=25836&highlight=hollowell)
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14348&highlight=eliopoulos)
Cover Penciller: David Finch (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14740&highlight=finch)
Cover Colorist: Richard Isanove (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14956&highlight=isanove)
Assistant Editor: Nick Lowe (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=21867&highlight=lowe) & MacKenzie Cadenhead (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=20183&highlight=cadenhead)
Associate Editor: C.B. Cebulski (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13408&highlight=cebulski)
Editor: Ralph Macchio (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=16649&highlight=macchio)
Editor in chief: Joe Quesada (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=12902&highlight=quesada)

Death: Blond boy, blond boy’s girlfriend and 265 men, women and children

After being awoken by his alarm-clock, a blond boy goes to the kitchen to get some breakfast. When he doesn’t find anything to eat, he calls his mom but she doesn’t answer. The only thing he finds are some clothes of her lying on the floor.

As he walks to school he passes not a single person or animal, all he notices is a collar on the pavement. Eventually he’s relieved, almost thinking he’d gone mad, when he sees some people at a crossroads. But as he turns his back, the people start to vaporize.

When he arrives at his school, his girlfriend comes to him, asking why he didn’t call her. When he starts to explain why he wasn’t able, her eyes start to widen as she sees how the other school-children start to vaporize. Seconds later, she too undergoes the same fate and just before she turns into smoke, she tells him that he’s responsible.

At night Wolverine enters a dark cave. From the dark a voice tells him that he has to get out but Wolverine doesn’t listen and starts to make a fire. After opening a beer, the blond boy shows himself and he immediately recognizes Wolverine. Wolverine explains that he has a healing-factor so that the boy doesn’t have to worry about killing him. When Wolverine associates the boy with being a mutant, the boy finds out that he caused the death of 265 men, women and children. When the boy asks how he did it, Logan explains to him that his mutant-power basically kills organic tissue.Dealing with this information, the boy utters that he can’t live with himself , which is something Logan already figured out. Thinking back, the boy realises that he should have done more stuff in his life.

In the end, when the boy starts to cry even more, Wolverine tries to comfort him with the fact that no-one will ever know that he was the reason for the deaths as the world would round up every mutant, if word got out that a mutant was responsible for this tragedy. When Logan tells him to finish his beer, the boy tells him to just do it. By day-break Wolverine leaves the cave.

Characters:
blond boy
blond boy’s girlfriend
Wolverine (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7324)

<hr>
Ultimate X-Men # 42
April 2004

http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/ultxmen42t.jpg (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/4images/details.php?image_id=7188 )

Story Arc: New Mutants
Story Title: Part 3

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=11741&highlight=bendis)
Penciller: David Finch (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14740&highlight=finch)
Inker: Art Thibert (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=15101&highlight=thibert)
Color: Frank D’Armata (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=26015&highlight=d%27armata)
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14348&highlight=eliopoulos)
Cover Penciller: David Finch (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14740&highlight=finch)
Cover Colorist: Richard Isanove (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14956&highlight=isanove)
Assistant Editor: Nick Lowe (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=21867&highlight=lowe) & MacKenzie Cadenhead (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=20183&highlight=cadenhead)
Associate Editor: C.B. Cebulski (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13408&highlight=cebulski)
Editor: Ralph Macchio (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=16649&highlight=macchio)
Editor in chief: Joe Quesada (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=12902&highlight=quesada)

First Appearance: Karma, Dazzler, Emma Frost

At the White House the President and his wife are against the involvement of a young woman, called Xi’an Coy Mahn, even though she belongs to the higher ranks within the S.H.I.E.L.D.-organisation. In the end, after the president’s wife has left the room, Xi’an starts to use her power on the President himself.

At the Xavier Institute Jean and Scott are sitting in the garden when Scott finally starts to talk about what Jean did a week before, killing the two men who were heading for the Institute with the intention to destroy it. When Scott keeps saying that she killed them, she tells him that she isn’t taking it lightly, although it was an accident and that they were about to kill them. She just doesn’t know how she’s supposed to react on the event. After he tells her she can’t control her powers, he asks her what the professor did to her, when only last week she was falling apart and that she now seems fine. She replies that Charles is helping her, just like he does with everybody else, and that Cyclops doesn’t need to be jealous as he too is helping her. As they embrace eachother they tell eachother that they’ll be there for one-another.

Later on, the X-Men are called to the professor’s office where he informs them that a ‘performer’ is about to out herself as a mutant. Charles, however, doesn’t know how she’s going to do that and wants some of them to go talk to her to find out. When Kitty asks if the ‘performer’ is someone famous, he shows them a leaflet with the name Dazzler on it.

In the evening, Scott goes with Peter and Kitty to see Dazzler’s performance. After the show the three X-Men head for the back-entrance and start talking to her. Just as Scott is talking about who the X-Men are, she tells them that she already told another mutant-group that she’ll sign with whomever gets her a record-deal.

The next day Ororo is practising her powers. When she succeeds in controlling a small lightning-bolt, she heads for Hank’s bedroom, which she finds empty. At that moment a tear appears in her eye together with dark clouds over the Institute.

In the only psi-proof room of the White House, the President has a meeting with his staff. When the President notices that Fury isn’t present, his appointed Director of Intelligence brings up the matter of the President’s new pro-mutants policies and how his mind may have been influenced by Charles Xavier himself. The Director also explains that it was for that reason that he was examined by Xi-an Coy Mahn earlier on. This together with some MRI brain-scans has proven that the President hasn’t been influenced by anyone. When the President fails to understand what the problem is, his staff explains that there will always be some people that will believe that his mind was indeed influenced by Xavier. And it is not only this fact that may cause problems but also Charles’ choice in mutants to join him, such as Wolverine. They have proof that Wolverine, presumably sent in by Fury, was involved in the chemical accident which caused the death of 387 people. At last the President understands the uncomfortable situation he is in.

Because the President can’t abandon his new pro-mutant policies, his staff suggests that he surrounds himself with some new mutants, thus distantiating him from Xavier. To accomplish this they have to call in the help of a woman called Emma Frost.

Characters:
Angel (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=41665)
Beast (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7350)
Colossus (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7365)
Cyclops (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7367)
Dazzler (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=42323)
Emma Frost
Iceman (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7378)
Karma (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=41402)
Marvel-Girl (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7416)
Nightcrawler (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7419)
President of the USA
President’s wife
Professor X (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7423)
Shadowcat
Staff of the President
Storm (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7519)

<hr>
Ultimate X-Men # 43
May 2004

http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/ultxmen43t.jpg (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/4images/details.php?image_id=7333)

Story Arc: New Mutants
Story Title: Part 4

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=11741&highlight=bendis)
Penciller: David Finch (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14740&highlight=finch)
Inker: Art Thibert (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=15101&highlight=thibert)
Color: Frank D’Armata (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=26015&highlight=d%27armata)
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14348&highlight=eliopoulos)
Cover Penciller: David Finch (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14740&highlight=finch)
Cover Colorist: Richard Isanove (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14956&highlight=isanove)
Assistant Editor: Nick Lowe (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=21867&highlight=lowe) & MacKenzie Cadenhead (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=20183&highlight=cadenhead)
Associate Editor: C.B. Cebulski (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13408&highlight=cebulski)
Editor: Ralph Macchio (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=16649&highlight=macchio)
Editor in chief: Joe Quesada (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=12902&highlight=quesada)

First Appearance: Lorna Dane, Alex Summers
Quit: Beast (X-Men)

Over the Xavier Institute a big storm rages on, caused by an angry Ororo, who just found out that her boyfriend has left without a word. In the kitchen the other X-Men try to find answers by questioning Ororo. After Jean asks if they had a fight, the room turns as black as night with only a big light-bolt to be seen out of the window. When Cyclops asks Charles if he picked something up psychically, Charles tells him that he doesn’t enter one’s mind without permission since that would be immoral. He can however use Cerebro to track Hank down.

In the psi-proof ‘Situation Room’ in the White House, the President meets Emma Frost, who after admitting she’s a mutant, gets her head smacked on the table by security-agent Kraken. Emma is released when agent Kraken is ordered to stand down. Asked by the president, Emma Frost starts to talk about who she is and the education seminars she has given. But the President interrupts her as he only wants to know what mutant-power she has. While glowing, she explains that her skin turns into a crystal-like substance, making it very difficult to break it. The President continues his questionning and brings up her past as being one of Xavier’s former students. She even admits to have been his lover as well but that that relationship ended when they started to disagree on mutant-related issues. She tells the President that she disagrees on the fact that mutants should set themselves up as a police-force. She believes that the answer lies in education and that mutants should become role-models.

After being shown to his room by the bell-boy, who was even to scared to accept Hank’s tip, Hank is contacted by a mental projection of Charles himself. When Charles asks why he left, Hank accuses Charles that he has already read his mind to find the answer. But Charles denies this fact after which Hank still refuses to tell him his reason for leaving. Charles then mentions how devasted Ororo is but Hank knows that she’ll find someone to take her mind of him. Then Hank finally tells Charles that he doesn’t want to risk his life anymore for people like Wolverine and that he just doesn’t want to be there anymore. After this Hank asks the professor to leave.

Back at the White House, Emma Frost shows ten mutant-candidates of which one is Dazzler, who got her record-deal. Amongst the others are Beast and Scott’s brother Alex. But when the President learns about Lorna Dane’s magnetic powers, he demands that Lorna is to be dumped, even if that means breaking her up with Alex. At the end of the meeting the President chooses five mutants, including Xi’an Coy Mahn a.k.a. Karma. He also decides that he’ll present them on the steps of the Capitol.

After the President leaves together with Emma Frost, some of his stuff stay behind and discuss the President’s choice of mutants. They utter also their beliefs that Xavier has manipulated the President and that he has succeeded in having a mutant within the walls of the White House. The men decide that they have to make a stand against the President.

At the Institute Charles has another meeting with Ororo, Jean and Scott. He asks the latter to tell him once again what Dazzler told him about the other mutant-group that had contacted her. When Ororo asks what’s going on, he tells her that Hank isn’t coming back any time soon. Suddenly Jean and Charles feel a helicopter approaching but they aren’t able to determine who it is as the helicopter is shielded. As it lands, Fury steps out and tells Charles that they need to talk.

Characters:
Agent Kraken
Alex Summers
Beast (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7350)
Bishop
Colossus (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7365)
Cyclops (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7367)
Dazzler (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=42323)
Emma Frost
Iceman (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7378)
Lorna Dane
Marvel-Girl (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7416)
Nightcrawler (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7419)
Professor X (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7423)
Rogue (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7456)
Shadowcat
Staff of the President
Storm (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7519)
The President of the USA
Wolverine (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7324)

<hr>
Ultimate X-Men # 44
June 2004

http://www.x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/covers/ultxmen44t.jpg (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/4images/details.php?image_id=7412 )

Story Arc: New Mutants
Story Title: Part 5

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=11741&highlight=bendis)
Penciller: David Finch (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14740&highlight=finch)
Inker: Danny Miki (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13115&highlight=miki)
Color: Frank D’Armata (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=26015&highlight=d%27armata)
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14348&highlight=eliopoulos)
Cover Penciller: David Finch (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14740&highlight=finch)
Assistant Editor: Nick Lowe (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=21867&highlight=lowe)
Editor: Ralph Macchio (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=16649&highlight=macchio)
Editor in chief: Joe Quesada (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=12902&highlight=quesada)

Carefully watching Warren, Wolverine suddenly jumps out of a tree, his claws ready. With a scream Angel lets himself fall to the ground after which Logan asks what he’s doing. Warren explains that he doesn’t want to fight. As he is shutting down the Danger Room-session, something else catches Logan’s attention as he smells bad news.

In Charles’ office Nick Fury asks Ororo, Jean and Scott to leave the room but the professor sees no problem as he has nothing to hide. Then Fury starts talking about S.H.I.E.L.D.’s investigations after their run-in with former-Weapon X agents, who had been hunting down Wolverine. For the moment it looks like the trail is leading back to the higher ranks within the White House. Nick Fury informs them that the people, responsible behind the attack on Wolverine, are convinced that Xavier has been influencing the President and now that the President is pro-mutant, they feel that they have to counteract. When Charles asks who’s behind it all, Nick tells him that he has some good guesses but that he lacks the proof. Therefor Nick’s hands are tied and asks Charles for help, especially now that the President is about to go public with his new mutant education program, led by Charles’ former lover Emma Frost and her team of mutants, which include Alex and Beast.

On the steps of the Capitol the President starts his introduction by quoting Martin Luther King Jr. and stating his own belief that mutants and humans can come together through education. As the X-Men follow the press-conference in the crowd, the public meets Emma Frost and her team. Suddenly a Sentinel appears out of nowhere. The President’s bodyguards start to bring him to safety, just as Charles orders his X-Men to save both the President and Emma Frost’s team. With a first shot from the Sentinel, Beast gets hit by some pieces of stone. When Angel tries to understand what a Sentinel is, Wolverine orders him to take him up in the air. In mid-flight the Sentinel is able to shoot off Wolverine’s foot, after which Angel drops Logan way too early for him to destroy the Sentinel. Meanwhile Storm heads for the steps to save the mutants but as she flies over them, she sees Beast lying underneath a pile of stones.

Characters:
Angel (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=41665)
Beast (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7350)
Bodyguards of the President
Colossus (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7365)
Cyclops (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7367)
Dazzler (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=42323)
Emma Frost
Iceman (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7378)
Karma (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=41402)
Marvel-Girl (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7416)
Nick Fury (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7371)
President of the USA
Professor X (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7423)
Rogue (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7456)
Sentinel
Shadowcat
Storm (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7519)
Wolverine (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7324)

<hr>
Ultimate X-Men #45
July 2004

http://www.x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/covers/ultxmen45t.jpg (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/4images/details.php?image_id=7628)

Story Arc: New Mutants
Story Title: Part 6

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=11741&highlight=bendis)
Penciller: David Finch (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14740&highlight=finch)
Inker: Danny Miki (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13115&highlight=miki), John Dell (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14255&highlight=dell) & Jon Sibal (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=17932&highlight=sibal)
Color: Frank D’Armata (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=26015&highlight=d%27armata) with Justin Ponsor (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=33499&highlight=ponsor)
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14348&highlight=eliopoulos)
Cover Penciller: David Finch (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14740&highlight=finch)
Assistant Editor: Nick Lowe (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=21867&highlight=lowe)
Editor: Ralph Macchio (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=16649&highlight=macchio)
Editor in chief:Joe Quesada (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=12902&highlight=quesada)
Special thanks to C.B. Cebulski (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13408&highlight=cebulski)

Death: Beast

When a Sentinel appeared at the Capitol, he struck immediately at the President and Emma Frost’s mutant-team, partially burrying Beast under a pile of stones. As Storm lands and holds Hank’s head in her arms, the professor tells her that he is gone. Enraged by grief Storm gets airborne and strikes at the Sentinel with a might no-one had ever seen. But what Storm doesn’t realise is that she is about to drop the Sentinel on the people beneath it. In a joint effort Marvel Girl and Professor X try to get the people out of there. At the same time Charles orders Storm to stop but it is only after he tells her to go to sleep that her rampage stops. But the X-Men aren’t out of the woods yet as the Sentinel still stands and continues to attack them. Shadowcat then asks Nightcrawler to teleport her up on the Sentinel’s head and as she phases through it, the robot starts to crash. When the Sentinel is about to fall on the ground, a little girl is still standing underneath it. Colossus is able to rescue her by lifting the robot in the air.

After the fight Charles tells Emma that this is exactly why they need to do more than just educate. When the President’s bodyguards return for Emma, she holds them back as she cries over the dead body of Hank McCoy. At the same time Karma contacts Nick Fury who’s already on his way with his troops, but when they arrive Xavier and the rest seem already gone. And although Fury knows that they’re still around, he lets them go so that they can burry Hank. After Fury has put himself in contact with the President, who has survived the attack, asking his permission, Fury goes after the ones responsible.

In the Situation Room of the White House, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretary of Defense think that the President didn’t survive the attack. The Chairman tells the Secretary that they have to inform their country that the President has become a casuality of mutant hostilities. Suddenly the Secretary tells the Chairman how he’s amazed that the two of them have succeeded in destroying the human/mutant relations. Amazed that these words are coming out of the mounth of the Secretary, the Chairman learns that Karma has taken possession of the Secretary. At the same time Fury appears on the television-wall and tells him that he is under arrest. Meanwhile Karma lets her control over the Secretary go and enters the room. The Chairman attempts to kill himself but Karma is too quick.

At the Xavier Institute Hank McCoy is being burried, after which Charles gives Emma, Alex and Dazzler a safe place to sleep tonight. Having a difficult time coping with the violent world she has first-handedly experienced today, Charles tells Emma that it isn’t her fault. At the same time he invites her to bring her ideas to his school as he now realises the error he made years ago. Elsewhere in the room, Alex is also struggling as he feels bad that he and his powers froze during the battle.
In the end, when Scott asks Xavier what they are going to do now, he has to admit that he doesn’t know.

Characters:
Alex Summers
Angel (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=41665)
Beast (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7350)
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Colossus (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7365)
Cyclops (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7367)
Dazzler (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=42323)
Dugan
Emma Frost
Iceman (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7378)
Karma (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=41402)
Marvel-Girl (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7416)
Nick Fury (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7371)
Nightcrawler (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7419)
Professor X (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7423)
Rogue (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7456)
Secretary of Defense
Shadowcat
Storm (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7519)
Wolverine (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7324)

<hr>
Ultimate X-Men #46
July 2004

http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/ultxmen46t.jpg (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/4images/details.php?image_id=7892)

Story Arc: The Tempest
Story Title: Part 1

Writer: Brian K. Vaughan (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=18152&highlight=Vaughan)
Penciler: Brandon Peterson (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=16197&highlight=peterson)
Colorist: Justin Ponsor (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=33499&highlight=ponsor)
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14348&highlight=eliopoulos)
Cover Artist: Brandon Peterson (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=16197&highlight=peterson)
Assistant Editor: Nick Lowe (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=21867&highlight=lowe)
Editor:Ralph Macchio (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=16649&highlight=macchio)
Editor-In-Chief: Joe Quesada (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=12902&highlight=quesada)
Special thanks to: C.B. Cebulski (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13408&highlight=cebulski)

First Appearance:Jean-Paul Beaubier, Mister Sinister

On the roof-top of the Stuyvesant High School in New York, a crying Jean-Paul Beaubier loses his balance as he is startled when Nightcrawler teleports behind him. Luckily the falling Jean-Paul is rescued by Angel. In mid-flight Jean-Paul starts to call him a freak, although Angel was expecting a thank-you for saving his life. Landing on the roof-top again, Kurt and Warren learn that they have made a mistake, namely that Jean-Paul wasn’t committing suicide at all. After apologizing, Warren explains that they are mutants but Jean-Paul doesn’t see what that has got to do with him. When Kurt reminds him of the mile he ran just under three minutes the other day, Jean-Paul finally understands that he too is a mutant. Out of nowhere, Jean-Paul suddenly reveals that he is not only a mutie but also gay. When Warren continues, inviting him at the Xavier Institute, Jean-Paul tells them that they are as bad as his mother. She wanted him to go to a school where gay people will not be harrassed because of whom they are. In an attempt to persuade him, Nightcrawler tells him that his school might not be safe but Jean-Paul asks sarcastically how safe the Xavier Institute really is, knowing that Beast was just killed. Eventually Jean-Paul tells the two to leave him alone after which he runs away.

At the Xavier Institute, Colossus and Wolverine are training in the danger-room. Defeating their last opponents, Wolverine asks if he wants to try the expert-level but Colossus wants a real work-out and wants Wolverine to come at him. At first Wolverine refuses but when he is hit hard, he attacks Colossus.

From up-above, Emma Frost and Charles Xavier witness the fight. Emma orders Charles to stop the fight as she thinks it is barberic, but he tells her that they are just dealing with the death of Hank. When Emma, at a certain point, speaks of Colossus as ‘the Rasputin boy’, Charles asks her to use his mutant name. Startled by the usage of mutant-names, she asks him what is wrong with him as mutant-names only distantiate mutants even more from humans. As he reveals that he and his way of working have recently changed, Emma tells him that she knows him better and that he is refusing to deal with the death of one of his students. At the end of their conversation Emma explains that she can’t do anything for him or his school as long as he doesn’t start dreaming again.

A little later, outside the school, Scott and Jean witness how Alex Summers goes along with Emma to her school. To take his mind off his brother, Jean suggests that they take an unusual stroll, one in Scott’s mind. The two end up in a world called ‘Corsair’, which Scott created when he was seven. In this world, Scott thought off numerous strategies in the battle between monsters and space pirates. Jean reveals that she wanted him to see what a great leader he is and that it wasn’t his fault that Hank died. Suddenly Scott puts his finger on her lips to silence her after which he kisses her.

At the school’s pool, which has been turned into ice by him, Bobby is teaching Rogue to skate. Showing her how to, Bobby in the mean time asks Rogue if she knows at what age several famous singers died but Rogue fails to see what he is getting at. Thinking of Beast, he wonders why all the talented people must die young. Suddenly Bobby’s name is shouted by Kitty as she was planning to go for a swim. After leaving the two, Kitty heads back to her room but finds the door locked. After trying to convince her room-mate to open the door, she phases through it as she hears a strange noise. Once in the room, she finds a trashed photo of Hank and Ororo. As she turns around, Kitty looks shocked at the sight of Ororo’s new look.

By night-fall, Jean-Paul Beaubier is walking around in New York, when he is called at. Although he tries to walk along, the stranger hypnotizes him with his red eyes. Just before he is shot, Jean-Paul is able to read the name ‘Sinister’ which is tattoed on the man’s arm.

Characters:
Alex Summers
Angel (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=41665)
Beast (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7350)
Colossus (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7365)
Cyclops (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7367)
Emma Frost
Iceman (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7378)
Marvel-Girl (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7416)
Mister Sinister (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=41990)
Nightcrawler (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7419)
Northstar (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=41867)
Professor X (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7423)
Rogue (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7456)
Shadowcat
Storm (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7519)
Wolverine (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7324)

<hr>
Ultimate X-Men #47
August 2004

http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/ultxmen47t.jpg (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/4images/details.php?image_id=7893)

Story Arc: The Tempest
Story Title: Part 2

Writer: Brian K. Vaughan (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=18152&highlight=Vaughan)
Penciler: Brandon Peterson (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=16197&highlight=peterson)
Colorist: Justin Ponsor (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=33499&highlight=ponsor)
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14348&highlight=eliopoulos)
Cover Artist: Brandon Peterson (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=16197&highlight=peterson)
Assistant Editor: Nick Lowe (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=21867&highlight=lowe)
Editor:Ralph Macchio (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=16649&highlight=macchio)
Editor-In-Chief: Joe Quesada (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=12902&highlight=quesada)
Special thanks to: C.B. Cebulski (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13408&highlight=cebulski)

After being shot at by a man named Mister Sinister, Jean-Paul Beaubier is merely seconds away of having a bullet entering his lung. Suddenly the bullet stops moving because Marvel Girl has entered his mind, telling him that they’re taking a walk down memory lane and that he will be shot within a millisecond. She also explains that thanks to his mutant powers, he is still alive, though in a coma. Jean-Paul also finds out that he was lucky to have survived as the guy has killed four other mutants that same night. When Jean asks him to show her the killer’s face, Jean-Paul is afraid and tells her that he just wants to wake up. Jean tells him that that is only possible if he faces Mister Sinister again. A few moments later Jean-Paul wakes up, having Jean and Peter stand beside his bed. When Jean explains that Peter watched over him all night, Jean-Paul asks if Peter is still single. The question causes Peter to turn himsef into his armor-form.

In mid-town Manhattan later that day, two police-investigators are examining the room of one of Sinister’s victims. As the two examin the place, it becomes clear that the policeman isn’t too sad about the murders as they were just mutants. As they leave the room, Wolverine enters it through the window after which he picks up a bullet-case and sniffs it. Outside the room, the police-woman reveals to her collegue that she has twenty-six ribs and that she is technically also a mutant. Suddenly the woman stops talking as she hears a noice in the room but when they enter it, there is nobody to be found.

On the school-grounds of the Xavier Institute, Rogue is hit in the leg by an optic blast after which Cyclops explains that if it were a real bullet, she would be dead as it would have hit an important artery. After this, Cyclops turns his attention towards the sky where Angel is carrying a ‘bomb’. Suddenly he drops it as he has to protect himself from the ice that Iceman throws at him. After grabbing the ‘bomb’, Iceman freezes Angel’s wings when the latter tries to retrieve the ‘bomb’. As Iceman tries to make a joke about the fallen Angel, he loses his concentration which gives Shadowcat the oppurtunity to phase her hand unnoticed through him, taking the ‘bomb’ from him and giving it to Cyclops. But he tells her that it would have exploded because her phazing would have disrupted its electronics. After the session Scott tells the four students that they need to train even harder if they want to catch the killer.

With the help of Cerebro, Charles Xavier asks Nick Fury telepathically for help in order to find Sinister but Fury tells him that it isn’t his jurisdiction. Even when Charles tells him that the man has some kind of hypnotic power but that he isn’t able to track him, Fury still can’t help him because Charles hasn’t any proof. When Charles brings up the death of Hank and that he has to bring his other students into the battle to bring this man down, Fury tells him that no-one is making them do this. Begging him again, Nick states that it is a difficult time for S.H.I.E.L.D. to use their resources for one special interest group only. Although Charles wants to discuss this new information, Nick tells him goodbye.

Meanwhile a storm is building up over the Xavier Institute. Suddenly Nightcrawler teleports himself up on the chimney where he is able to talk to Ororo, the causer of the bad weather. Although she tells him to go away, Kurt informs her of the assembly that is about to start. Again Ororo orders him to go away, this time threatening him with a lightning bolt. When Kurt brings up the hurt she must be feeling because of Hank’s death, Ororo replies that he might want to replace Beast as her new furry boyfriend. On his turn Kurt tells her that there is no need for cruelty, although he has to admit that he doesn’t know how much she must be hurting right now. Yet this doesn’t mean that Hank’s death and her grief should result in her becoming a killer which would sadden Hank if his death would do just that. Just before teleporting away, Kurt tells her that she still can join the fight as there are still mutants who are being killed. After leaving her alone on the roof-top, rays of sun are coming through the clouds.

Just as the meeting is about to start, Storm enters the room. After this, Scott starts talking about tactics to neutralize the killer but to everyone’s surprise, Charles tells them that no-one is permitted to leave the school. When Marvel Girl tells him that the guy isn’t the biggest threat they have come up against, Charles thinks that it is why it is better for the police to take care of him. At that moment Wolverine enters the room, telling them that the police will not do much about it. He also informs them that he has visited the crime-scenes but that he didn’t come up with anything, not even a scent which makes the guy practically invisible. When Rogue asks how they are going to find him, Wolverine tells them they will have to use the old fashioned way by combing out the city. After this new information Charles agrees to look for Sinister but that only the senior class can, with the exception of Iceman. After making three groups of two, Charles warns them not to approach him when they spot him.

Somewhere in a darkened room, Mister Sinister is reviewing his kills, concluding that he did them according to his master’s instructions. Suddenly a voice speaks to him, telling him that he only delivered four innocent souls instead of the ten. But Mister Sinister promises to get the other six very soon as he kneels in front of a person he refers to as Lord Apocalypse.

Characters:
Angel (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=41665)
Browning
Colossus (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7365)
Cyclops (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7367)
Iceman (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7378)
Marvel-Girl (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7416)
Mister Sinister (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=41990)
Nagra
Nick Fury (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7371)
Nightcrawler (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7419)
Northstar (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=41867)
Professor X (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7423)
Rogue (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7456)
Shadowcat
Storm (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7519)
Wolverine (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7324)

<hr>
Ultimate X-Men #48
August 2004

http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/ultxmen48t.jpg ( http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/4images/details.php?image_id=7894)

Story Arc: The Tempest
Story Title: Part 3

Writer: Brian K. Vaughan (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=18152&highlight=Vaughan)
Penciler: Brandon Peterson (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=16197&highlight=peterson)
Colorist: Justin Ponsor (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=33499&highlight=ponsor)
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14348&highlight=eliopoulos)
Cover Artist: Brandon Peterson (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=16197&highlight=peterson)
Assistant Editor: Nick Lowe (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=21867&highlight=lowe)
Editor:Ralph Macchio (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=16649&highlight=macchio)
Editor-In-Chief: Joe Quesada (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=12902&highlight=quesada)
Special thanks to: C.B. Cebulski (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13408&highlight=cebulski)

First Appearance: Sunspot

In the Danger Room, Iceman, Rogue, Angel and Shadowcat are fighting alien monsters, which were created out of holograms, but Iceman is bored with them and asks the Professor, who is monitoring the exercise, why they are fighting these creatures instead of going after Mister Sinister. Charles responds that it is because of Iceman’s flip attitude with which he approaches the danger room-exercises, that he wasn’t allowed to go with the others in search of Sinister. When Iceman tells Charles that if he would have been allowed to go with the rest, that he would already have put Mister Sinister in deep freeze. But Rogue goes even further, as she would drain the last bit of life out of the guy. When Angel responds to Rogue that they wouldn’t be any better than Sinister, Rogue remains with her opinion that some people don’t deserve better than to be killed. When Shadowcat brings up Rogue’s own past, when she was working for Magneto, Rogue replies that she was still a kid back then and that Magneto isn’t as bad as Sinister because Magneto doesn’t go around killing his own people. At that moment a drunk Dazzler enters the Danger Room.

Somewhere else in a dark room, Mister Sinister is holding a rat upside down, when the voice of Apocalypse, his master, tells him to leave the creature alone because they have bigger things to do. Apocalypse reminds him that he still has to deliver six souls but according to Sinister, the six mutants are about to be handed right to them.

On one of the rooftops in Harlem, the elder X-Men, who are sent in search for Mister Sinister, receive final instructions from Cyclops. He warns them not to approach Sinister, whose image Marvel Girl uploaded into all of their occipital lobes, if they spot him because of Sinister’s hypnotic power. To cover the entire city the X-Men are split up into three groups; Colossus and Cyclops will search midtown Manhattan, while Storm and Wolverine head for downtown New York. Marvel Girl and Nightcrawler will stay in Harlem.

Starting their search, Nightcrawler teleports Marvel Girl and himself to another rooftop where they start to talk about Cyclops and how uptight he is, but Jean reminds Kurt of what happened to Beast. When Kurt continues, he asks Jean how she can be attracted to such a grim person. She explains to him that men are never what they seem to be, just as she knows how Kurt daydreams of Kiera Knightley, an actress from the movie ‘Pirates of the Carribean’. Surprised that Marvel Girl knows of his fantasies, Marvel Girl explains that she wouldn’t be able to get any work done, if she tried to block out every dirty thought of all the masculine X-Men.

Speaking of work, Marvel Girl starts to focus again on the job, that they are supposed to be doing. As she informs Nightcrawler that Harlem has the densest concentration of mutants in all of Manhattan, she believes that Sinister will try his luck most definitely there. Suddenly, they are surprised when a mutant stands behind them. Apparantly the mutant has been waiting for them to come on his turf and attacks them but Nightcrawler is able to evade the attack, after which Marvel Girl hits the mutant hard. She then asks the mutant who he is. He reveals that his name is Roberto DaCosta and that he is of the neighborhood watch. When Roberto accuses Marvel Girl and Nightcrawler of killing the murdered mutants, Marvel Girl tells him that they are X-Men and that they are there to help. Although Roberto has heard of them, he informs them that he and the mutants of Harlem don’t want their charity, as the X-Men never came to their aid in the past when they needed them.

Meanwhile midtown Manhattan, Cyclops and Colossus are engaged in a fight against Colossus’ former friends, the Russian mafia. When one of them is able to capture Cyclops and puts a gun against his head, the man intends to kill Cyclops as the X-Men took Colossus away from him. But Peter tells the man that it was his own decision to leave the mafia and that if the man wants to kill someone, that he should take Colossus’ life. Surprisingly Cyclops agrees and shoots an optic blast at Peter’s forehead, which ricochets off of Colossus’ steel skin, hitting Cyclops’ capturer on the head and taking the man out.

While searching for Mister Sinister downtown Manhattan, Ororo uses the oppurtunity to thank Wolverine for not trying to ‘fix’ her like everybody else have been doing since the death of Hank. Wolverine tells her that it isn’t his place to judge her if she changes her look drastically. As he looks around on the street and notices some punks, he shows her that she isn’t the only one that has been hurt. Just as the punks, Wolverine thinks that Ororo doesn’t want to be ignored but that she doesn’t want other people to get too close to her either. As Logan looks at the punks’ clothes, he just realises how their clothes resemble more to a uniform than what Charles makes them wear. After Ororo is able to stop Wolverine’s rambling over their uniforms, Wolverine tells Ororo how truly sorry he is about everything Storm has had to go through.

As Ororo and Wolverine walk by a tattoo shop, Wolverine wants to go check it out, as he knows that this tattoo shop’s letters resemble to those which were tattooed on the killer’s arm. When Ororo asks him how he knows that, he explains that he has had a few dozens done, so that he could impress women with them. But his tattoos, which are basically scars, have been cured by his healing factor.

Once inside, the shop owner refuses to give the information, even though Wolverine threatens him with his adamantium claws. At that point Storm takes over, threatening him with ball lightning, acid fog and other weather phenomenon. In the end, the shop owner gives in and tells them that a man called Essex got the word Sinister done a few weeks ago but the shop owner doubts that Essex is the killer because Essex is a stuttering geek.

A little later, Storm and Wolverine storm Essex’ house from two sides. As they enter, Storm almost immediately starts to scream because she is startled to find a strange-looking, blue dummy with a big ‘A’ on his stomach. When Wolverine continues to investigate the room, he comes across a wall with ten pictures on it, of which four have been crossed out. The six other pictures are those of Professor X, Angel, Dazzler, Shadowcat, Rogue and Iceman. Wolverine immediately understands that Mister Sinister isn’t in Manhattan anymore.

Meanwhile, Mister Sinister stands in front of the Xavier Institute.

Characters:
Angel (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=41665)
Colossus (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7365)
Cyclops (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7367)
Dazzler (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=42323)
Iceman (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7378)
Marvel-Girl (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7416)
Mister Sinister (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=41990)
Nightcrawler (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7419)
Professor X (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7423)
Rogue (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7456)
Shadowcat
Storm (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7519)
Sunspot
Wolverine (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=7324)

Ultimate X-Men #25-36 (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=29604) | Ultimate X-Men #37-48 | Ultimate X-Men #49-60 (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=41453)