Two mutant teams facing off in the fight of the series! Now this is an issue I can get behind
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A thick fog that has been obscuring the vision of everyone aboard an ocean liner suddenly lift, revealing a giant iceberg directly in their path! The crew of the ship prepare for a collision with the giant floating iceberg, when twin blasts come of out nowhere and pulverize the ice. The ship is safe to continue on it's travels.
A very tired Scott Summers, aka Cyclops collapses on the deck of the ship. He used his optic beam to destroy the iceberg and save the ship. After using this blast at full power, Cyclops is totally drained of energy and Iceman helps him retreat to his room to be put under the care of the X-Men.
Not a few minutes into his recovery, Cyclops' mental state is rocked by a telepathic message from their former leader Professor X! The professor informs Scott that he has found Lucifer's secret lair, and that should anything happen to him, the X-Men need to find Lucifer and stop him at all costs. Professor X also informs Scott that this foe is particularly important to Xavier, because Lucifer is the reason that he is paralyzed!
Lucifer, deep in his cave, detects Xavier traversing the dangerous cave with aid from his spelunking specific wheelchair. He sends a dust devil after Xavier, and brings him right to his lair. Xavier acts quickly, and surprisingly, as he draws a pistol and fires at Lucifer. Lucifer quickly begs Xavier to stop, explaining to him that should anything happen to Lucifer, causing his heart to cease beating, the world will be in immense danger.
Lucifer has rigged a gigantic bomb to detonate in Antarctica should his heart stop beating.
Back on dry land, the X-Men have arrived in a small town in the Balkan mountains...along with another superhero team, The Avengers! Guided by Thor's hammer, which senses a great evil presence, The Avengers start to search the area for the source of this immense evil.
Lucifer activates a massive energy beam, and shoots it directly at the X-Men's location. Professor X mentally projects himself and speeds off to warn the team...and he gets there just in time. Just as Professor X warns the team, they jump out of the way and the beam of power explodes where they were just standing.
As Xavier mentally explains the situation regarding Lucifer and his bomb, The Avengers stumble upon the mutants. The Avengers explain they are looking for a great evil and are preparing to destroy it. In typical X-Men fashion, Cylops explains that they should hear the X-Men out on why they shouldn't destroy Lucifer...but they do that while performing a full on attack to stop the Avengers, giving them no time to discuss the situation.
The Avengers - comprised of Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Wasp, and Giant Man, spring into action and a full on battle erupts between the two teams. Each team saying how they don't want to fight one another the whole time.
Back underground in Lucifer's lair Professor X wracks his brain to try and think of a way to stop Lucifer without affecting his heart. He decides that it would be best to use his great mental powers to probe Lucifer's brain. With great precision Xavier targets Lucifer's medulla oblongata...and with great success, Lucifer falls to the ground unconscious.
Confirming that Lucifer's heart is in fact still beating, Xavier beams his consciousness up to the surface, and he connects with The Avenger Thor. Thor understands his message and the teams instantly stop fighting. The Avengers apologize for trying to move in on The X-Men's battle, and they go back to New York.
The X-Men, guided mentally by Professor X, enter a large cave system and find Lucifer's cave. Xavier explains the damage this bomb could cause, and why they need to find a way to disarm it. So Cyclops and Xavier climb up the bomb and, using Cyclops' optic beam on full blast, they are able to blast out the detonator inside of the bomb and disarm it. The bomb, and Lucifer's plan is now totally useless.
Lucifer wakes as Xavier releases his hold on Lucifer's medulla oblongata. He is upset to see that ten years of his life has been disrupted so quickly. The X-Men then allow Lucifer to leave his cave warning that should he ever try something like this again that they will be watching. Xavier also reminds Lucifer that though his plan is foiled, the two are not in any way even. For though Lucifer lost ten years of his life's work, Xavier has lost the use of his legs for the rest of his life.
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While The Avengers are cool, let's direct our focus back to the X-Men, more specifically to Xavier.
I had proposed a theory in the first issue of X-Men about why Xavier was paralyzed...well I was totally wrong. Xavier was not paralyzed in an accident during the testing of the first atom bomb, but was paralyzed in some unknown fashion by Lucifer. However, I still believe that Xavier gained his powers by an accident that happened with the atom bomb.
Xavier did confirm that there was an accident during that time period that affected him. So since we know that it isn't his legs, we can only deduce that it was him gaining his mutant powers.
Changing gears slightly, I love how the X-Men have this shoot first and explain the situation while shooting, hoping that the other side would see reason. How American of them.
I found it a little odd that Xavier went in search of Lucifer, who is apparently this great and powerful villain he has a personal grudge with...but they never explained if he had powers or not. Sure he had a bomb wired to his heart which would detonate in Antarctica...even though he and the bomb were in the Balkans (I suspect a tunnel through the Earth to reach Antarctica or some logic like that behind this).
Also - Xavier's plan to incapacitate Lucifer sounds great. Like it sounds like a solid plan. His plan is "oh man I better not mess with his heart, so I'll kick his brain in the balls. That'll stop him!" So Xavier carefully chooses, of all the parts of the brain, the medulla oblongata. Little did Xavier know that the medulla oblongata helps regulate breathing, blood vessel function, digestion, sneezing, swallowing, and oh yeah heart function! It's also what makes alligators so ornery.
I also love that Xavier can determine to pinpoint the medulla oblongata and incapacitate it, but then when he goes to check on Lucifer's heart to see if it's still beating he says "His heartbeat seems regular, but I am no physician."
So let me get this straight Professor. You're comfortable monkeying around in people's brains and playing with different areas and can expertly navigate the brain so as not to totally lobotomize someone...but listening to a heart requires you to suddenly have a PHD? Something isn't right in your logic dude.
So using his Bobby Boucher logic, Xavier almost destroys apparently Antarctica from a friggin cave in the Balkans.
I can see how this issue is an important one for Jack Kirby art collectors. Two of his most famously drawn teams are facing off. This means there are lots of awesome pages of panels with that amazing Kirby action.
To go on a Jack Kirby tangent, I love how Beast always looks like he is break-dancing when he moves in panels. His legs are always flailing outwards as he props himself on one hand. Beast loves break-dance fighting. Just a funny thing to note.
Issue 10 is next...holy smokes I've actually done this every day for 10 days...I'm proud of myself!
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