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Friday, May 16, 2014

X-Men Legacy (2008 - 2012), (2012 - 2014)




The title began its publication in October 1991 as X-Men. From 2001 to 2004, #114 to #156, it is published as New X-Men. With issue #157, the title reverted to its original title. In 2008 with issue #208, the title was re-titled X-Men Legacy. The title is written by Mike Carey and pencilled by a rotating cast of artists. Writer Christos Gage and penciller David Baldeon took over the title with #260.1. The title ends with X-Men Legacy #275 and is relaunched with a new #1 in November 2012. The second volume of X-Men Legacy ended with #25 (renumbered #300) to commemorate the series.



The series was re-titled X-Men Legacy following the Messiah Complex crossover. Professor X was accidentally shot in the head by Bishop. While the X-Men presumed him deceased, his body disappeared and his whereabouts are unknown. 

Between #208 (2008) - #225 (2009), the title focuses on Professor X. 

In the Divided He Stands arc in #208 (2008) - #212 (2008), Exodus restored Professor X after which the latter went on a journey to recover lost memories. In Sins of the Father in #213 (2008) - #216 (2008), Professor X, Sebastian Shaw and Gambit fought off an attempt by Mr. Sinister to revive himself by taking over Xavier or Shaw. He then returned to the mutant island of Utopia to let Cyclops know that he is alive. In the Original Sins mini-crossover (X-Men: Original Sins one-shot, X-Men Legacy #217 - #218, Wolverine Origins #28 - #30 (2009)), Wolverine recruited Xavier to help his son Daken overcome Romulus's mind influence. At the same time, Daken was involved in a ploy by Sebastian Shaw and Ms Sinister to regain control over the Hellfire Club. Eventually, Xavier was able to undo Daken's mind influence while fending off Ms Sinister and Wolverine fought Shaw. In Salvage #219 (2009) - #225 (2009), Rogue isolated herself in the X-Men's former Australian outback base to deal with her powers. Danger, the physical embodiment of the X-Men's Danger Room, found Rogue and enveloped her in a series of scenarios meant to push Rogue to a personal crisis. Xavier and Gambit traveled to the Australian outback to help Rogue but found themselves immersed in the scenarios. After fighting off a crew of Shi'ar salvagers trapped in the scenarios, Xavier managed to deactivate Danger. With the help of a now pacified Danger, Xavier helped Rogue achieve control over her powers. Xavier returned to Exodus and his acolytes to persuade them to disband and join the mutant community in Utopia.



In issue #226 (2009), Rogue replaced Professor X as the central character. Having regained control over her powers, Rogue returned to the X-Men along with Gambit and Danger just in time to deal with the mutant riots in San Francisco during the Utopia cross-over. [#226 (2009) - #227(2009)]. Rogue helped students Trance (Hope Abbott) and Indra (Paras Gavaskar) deal with their powers during the riots. After the establishment of Utopia, Cyclops re-positioned her as mentor to the younger mutants.

In the Emplate arc (#228 (2009) - #230 (2009)), the mutant psychic vampire Emplate returned and kidnapped Bling! (Roxy Washington) as an energy source for himself. Rogue absorbed Trance's powers to enter Emplate's domain to rescue Bling! and defeat Emplate.

In the X Necrosha crossover (#231 (2010) - #233 (2010)), Rogue was part of a team led by Nightcrawler. The team traveled to Muir Island to check in on a warning provided by Destiny. The team includes Nightcrawler, Colossus, Rogue, Psylocke, Magneto, Husk, Blindfold and Trance. On Muir Island, they faced a revived Proteus, who used his powers to possess many of the X-Men. Proteus was eventually stopped by Rogue and Magneto. 

X-Men Legacy was part of the Second Coming crossover from #234 (2010) - #237 (2010). more..

In the Collision arc [#238 (2010) to #241 (2010)], Rogue brought a team including Magneto as well as Loa, Anole and Indra, all former members of the Alpha Squadron student squad, to escort Indra back home to Mumbai, India. Indra was due to be married to someone arranged by his family. In Mumbai, they fought the Children of the Vault after which Indra's marriage was annulled. 


In Fables of Reconstruction [#242 (2010) - #243 (2010)], Cyclops assembled a team to help San Francisco, which was ravaged by the battle between the X-Men and Bastion, with the rebuilding process. The team consists of Rogue, Magneto, Colossus, Psylocke, Omega Sentinel, Danger, Hope and Random. When Omega Sentinel's Sentinel programming went awry, affected by the virus the X-Men released to stop the Nimrod Sentinels during Second Coming, she attacked Hope. Hellion, who had his hands burned off by the Nimrod Sentinels during Second Coming, fought Omega Sentinel and severely injured her, earning a reprimand from Cyclops. 


The None So Blind story [#244 (2011)] focused on Blindfold as she witnessed events which would lead to the Age of X.


The Age of X arc is in [#245 (2011) - #249 (2011)]. more..

From #250 (Age of X aftermath), several personalities in Legion's mind went rogue, manifesting physically. Professor Xavier formed a team to bring these personalities in. The team included Professor X, Magneto, Legion, Rogue, Frenzy. Rogue used Legion's powers to stop the rogue personality Styx. After Styx was defeated, Rogue used one of Legion's powers to teleport herself, Gambit, Magneto and Frenzy into outer space to search for Havok, Polaris and Marvel Girl.

They ended up in a space station where the Shi'ar came under attacked by the insectoid Grad Nan Holt. Havok, Polaris and Marvel Girl were under the control of the Grad Nan Holt's Friendless who wanted to incite a war between Grad Nan Holt and the Shi'ar to decimate both races.




Following the schism between Cyclops and Wolverine, the X-Men and students split into two camps.

X-Men Legacy is under Wolverine's banner and the title features a group of X-Men serving as teachers and protectors in the Jean Grey Institute for Higher Learning. 

For more on Jean Grey School for Higher Learning faculty and student body, check here

For other teams under Team Cyclops and Team Wolverine, check out Regenesis.




X-Men Legacy focuses on Rogue as the main character, along with Gambit, Rachel Grey, Frenzy, Cannonball and Husk. Wolverine, Iceman and Beast also made appearances. 

In #260.1 (2012), the X-Men fight off an incursion by the other-dimensional demons, N'Garai. From #261 - #263 (2012), the X-Men faced Exodus who wanted to reunite the mutants forcibly. With the help of Cyclops' Five Lights team, Exodus was defeated. #264 - #265 (2012) saw the X-Men try to help Weapon Omega cope with his out-of-control powers. The X-Men failed and had to place him in stasis while they find a cure for him. Rogue managed to persuade Omega's good friend Mimic joined the Jean Grey School as staff member. 

The X-Men soon became embroiled in a battle against the Avengers as the Phoenix Force arrives on Earth. In #266 - #267 (2012), Avengers She-Hulk, Falcon and Moon Knight were sent to the Jean Grey School to keep the mutants from entering the conflict. A fight later ensued between staff members and the Avengers over disagreements and the X-Men managed to drive the Avengers away. 

In a fight between the Avengers and X-Men on the moon, the Phoenix Force was split between five X-Men (Cyclops, Emma Frost, Namor, Colossus, Magik) and they go about changing the world for the better. In #268 (2012), Frenzy participated in a mission to stop warlords, in the process saving a girl from her abusive husband. In #269 - #270 (2012), Rogue joined the Phoenix Five in changing the world. When Ms. Marvel attempt to persuade Rogue to be wary of the Phoenix Five, Rogue defeated Ms. Marvel and had her sent to Magik's prison. However, Rogue soon realized that the Phoenix Five had became and tried to rescue Ms. Marvel. Magik returned to stop the jailbreak and sent Rogue to an alternate dimension where she was recruited to help one of the alien warring factions. She eventually helped to unite the two warring factions and their new leaders help her return to Earth in time to participate in the final battle against Cyclops. [#271 - #273 (2012)] In the aftermath of the battle [#274 (2012)], Rogue and Magneto rescued trapped passengers in a train and they agreed to a break-up as Rogue picks up her life.

Rogue and Mimic help stop a prison breakout in the final issue of the series and Rogue imparts life lessons to Mimic who departs the teaching staff of the Institute. [#275 (2012)]



The second volume of X-Men Legacy is written by Simon Spurrier and mainly pencilled by Tan Eng Huat. It features Legion's journey to master his multiple personalities and his efforts to make the world better for mutants. In the process, he formed a relationship with the young mutant Blindfold and fought her evil brother Luca Aldine. To prevent his powers from spiralling out of control and causing the deaths of Blindfold and many others, he wiped himself out of existence but remaining within Blindfold's mind.
[X-Men Legacy #1 (2012) - #25 (renumbered #300) (2014)]

Cover of X-Men Legacy #300

Profiles


Rogue (Anna Marie)
Powers
Able to absorb memories and abilities through physical contact
History
Anna Marie was born in Caldecott County, Mississippi, to a happy family. When her mother disappeared after a failed attempt at using Native American mysticism, Anna was raised by her strict and authoritarian Aunt Carrie. She ran away from home as a young teenager. Eventually, she was taken in as a daughter by the shape-shifting Mystique and precognitive Destiny. She grew close to a boy named Cody Robbins. At a moment when she kissed Cody, her powers emerged, absorbing the life energies of Cody and leaving him in permanent coma. Traumatized by the experience, Anna started wearing body-concealing clothing that eliminated the possibility of body contact. In time, Mystique turned Rogue's loneliness, bitterness and despair into anger, recruiting her into the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

Rogue confronted the Avenger Ms. Marvel, intending to steal her powers. However, things went wrong when the transfer of psyche and powers became permanent. The shock of absorbing such a strong persona drove Rogue insane and she attempted to kill Ms. Marvel by throwing her off the Golden Gate Bridge. However, Ms. Marvel was saved by Spider Woman. Though Rogue felt guilt over the incident, she fought the Avengers using her powers. She also fought Dazzler and Angel (Warren Worthington) and the X-Men on separate occasions.

Unable to deal with her powers and Ms. Marvel's psyche, she turned to Professor X for help. Professor X was unable to help her immediately but recruited her to the X-Men, against the wishes of the members in the team. She gained the trust of the team after she protected Wolverine's fiancee, Mariko Yashida, in Japan; and risking her life to save Colossus in a fight against the Brotherhood. The X-Men relocated to the Australian Outback where she struggled with the Ms. Marvel personality. Rogue was pulled into the mystical portal Siege Perilous during a fight. Rogue returned to Earth, with the remaining portions of Ms. Marvel's personality purged and reconstituted as another entity. A powerless Rogue turned up in the prehistoric Savage Land where she faced the Ms. Marvel entity. There was not enough life-force to sustain both of them but Magneto arrived in time to destroy the Ms. Marvel entity and save Rogue. Rogue joined Magneto, Nick Fury and Ka-Zar to battle Zaladane who wanted to conquer the Savage Land. Though Rogue was attracted to Magneto, she parted ways with him when he killed Zaladane. Rogue rejoined the X-Men where she went on to share an on-off relationship with fellow teammate Gambit. 

She joined Storm's team to recover Destiny's Diaries. She requested teammate Sage to evolve her powers to the stage where she can use all the powers she had ever absorbed at once. After injuries sustained in a fight against the inter-dimensional warlord Khan, both Gambit and Rogue lost their powers. They left the X-Men to lead a life away from adventuring and explore their relationship. Both of them returned to the X-Men and regained their powers. However, their relationship became strained due to their inability to touch each other. The situation worsened when Mystique masqueraded as young mutant Foxx to seduce Gambit with the intention of breaking up Rogue and Gambit's relationship. Mystique tried to set up Rogue with another mutant Pulse but failed. Gambit eventually became Apocalypse's Horseman, believing he can defeat Apocalypse eventually. However, Gambit was brainwashed and he attempted to kill Rogue. After Apocalypse's defeat, Gambit left the X-Men. Rogue became leader of an X-Men team. Rogue's powers were amplified by the Strain 88 virus inflicted by Pandemic but she became comatose. She was forced to wake up by Cable to help in defeating the alien Hecatomb. In defeating Hecatomb, Rogue absorbed psyches of eight billion minds stored inside it. When the X-Men brought Rogue back to her old home in Caldecott to recuperate, they were attacked by Sinister's Marauders who captured Rogue.

A battle soon erupted between different factions when the first mutant baby was born since M-Day, on which most of the mutant population lost their powers. At the climatic battle, Mystique and Gambit captured the baby and placed the baby in direct contact with Rogue. All the psyches previously imprinted in Rogue was removed. She woke up to grab Mystique's face, absorbing her powers and consciousness, leaving Mystique incapacitated. She departed, asking Gambit not to follow her.

She went traveling, ending up in the X-Men's former Australian Outback base. She was trapped in the illusions of Danger before she was rescued by Professor X and Gambit. Danger was persuaded by Professor X to give up her plots of revenge against Professor X. Both Danger and Professor X helped Rogue to gain control of her powers. Rogue, Gambit and Danger traveled to San Francisco where they joined the X-Men. She became mentor to the young mutants and served in several missions with the X-Men. She formed a relationship with Magneto, which ended when she left Utopia to join Wolverine.




Frenzy (Joanna Cargill)
Powers
Superhuman strength and durability
Current Status
Active in an X-Men squad
Group Affiliations
X-Men, formerly Acolytes, Genoshan Assault X-Men, Femizons, Alliance of Evil
History
Frenzy was originally part of the Alliance of Evil team working under the mutant supremacist Apocalypse. The Alliance of Evil clashed with the original X-Factor (Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman, Angel) several times. The team was later recruited to bodyguard mutants Harness and Piecemeal, clashing with Cable and his New Mutants.

Joanna was later invited to join Superia's Femizons, which she accepted. She joined in the attack on Captain America and Paladin, then traveled to Superia's island to be one of her Femizons. She was once again imprisoned but was able to break free of the Vault prison to create problems for the superhero team Avengers.

She eventually joined the second incarnation of the Magneto-worshipping team Acolytes. She relinquished her codename and became known by her last name Cargill, as common among the Acolytes. Their first mission was to capture a child with latent mutant powers from Our Mother of the Sacred Heart, a school. During the mission, Cargill killed X-Men ally Sharon Friedlander before the X-Men arrived. Having history with Gambit since they met and clashed during a mission when they were mercenaries-for-hire, she went after him and Bishop. She was defeated by Gambit and the Acolytes escaped. Later, Cargill attempted to murder the mutant-hating Senator Kelly, but was electrocuted by Wolfsbane.

After Magneto was revealed to be alive having previously thought dead, Cargill was among the Acolytes who quickly turned on leader Fabian Cortez and joined Magneto in his mutant sanctuary, Avalon. When Avalon fell following its destruction at the hands of Holocaust, Cargill and her fellow Acolytes allied with the X-Man Cyclops to escape the destroyed space station in time. They crash landed in Australia but were given to the authorities. The Acolytes escaped prison and found the remains of Avalon, worshipping it and the return of Magneto. Exodus eventually took over as leader of the Acolytes, and Cargill participated in the attack on Mount Wundagore, base of the High Evolutionary.

After the Acolytes disbanded, Cargill became the ambassador of Magneto's mutant island nation Genosha to the United Nations. When Magneto seek to rally the mutants in his nation to launch a war on humankind, Cargill went on television declaring that every country that pledged loyalty to Magneto would be given some autonomy. However, she was captured by the government. Jean Grey of the X-Men went about recruiting mutants to form an ad-hoc team of X-Men to deal with Magneto. She freed Cargill and mind-controlled her, requiring her knowledge of Genosha to deal with Magneto. The team managed to infiltrate Genosha and defeat Magneto, after which Cargill was freed from her mind-control. She immediately left the Xavier's Institute.

Frenzy retained her powers after M-Day and joined a new team of Acolytes led by Exodus along with mutants Random and Tempo. On the team's first mission, they infiltrated the Helicarrier of the peace-keeping agency S.H.I.E.L.D. to free mutants Northstar and Aurora, defeating Rogue. Cargill was eventually defeated with the combined efforts of Mystique, Northstar and Aurora. The Acolytes joined Mr. Sinister's Marauders and attacked the X-Men in search of the prophetic Destiny Diaries. When the mutant messiah child was born, the Marauders and X-Men clashed a few times to claim the child. In the final battle between all parties involved, Professor X was accidentally shot in the head by Bishop. The Acolytes escaped with Professor X's body. Professor X was restored by Exodus. However, Frenzy did not want to do anything with him and wanted to kill him. After arguing with her fellow Acolytes over the issue, she confronted Xavier with the attention to kill him, but was stopped and severely injured by a depowered Magneto.

Xavier left and went on a journey to recover his lost memories. When he returned, he brought Frenzy out of her coma. Xavier persuaded Exodus to disband the Acolytes and Frenzy left angrily. She resurfaced in San Francisco to join in the riots against anti-mutant followers. After Cyclops established the mutant island of Utopia, Frenzy stayed, helping the X-Men fight off an attack by the super Sentinel known as Bastion. She relapsed to her old way, attacking a museum in San Francisco along with Nekra in protest of its exhibits. She was defeated by Dazzler and Northstar of the X-Men and captured by the police.

She was back in Utopia when the Age of X reality was created by Legion's Moria personality. In this reality, she is a hero married to Cyclops. When the Age of X reality was reversed, she retained her memories. She confronted Cyclops over their relationship but he rejected her. She decided that she liked her role back in the Age of X reality and seek to be an X-Man. She forced her way into Professor X's team put together to deal with Legion's rogue personality.






Legion (David Charles Haller)
Powers
Telepathy; ability to absorb the consciousness of others; telekinesis; psionic ability to start fires; many others
Current Status
Seemingly killed by a time-travelling Bishop; Recently returned
Known Relatives
Charles Xavier (father), Gabrielle Haller (mother, deceased)
Notes
David Haller was the son of Charles Xavier and Holocaust survivor Gabrielle Haller. By the time Charles learned of his son, the teenage boy had been overtaken by multiple personalities.
He was sent to the Muir Island facility to be cared for by Moira MacTaggart.
When the Shadow King attacked the Muir Island facility, he possessed David, using his powers to psychically increase the amount of hatred in the world and feed off this malignant energy. Shadow King was defeated by X-Men and X-Factor (original X-Men) after which David went into a coma. Few years later, he woke up with his fractured mind healed.
Hoping to help his father realise his goal of peaceful coexistence between humans and mutants, he travelled to the past with the intent of killing Magneto before he would launch his war on humanity.

However, he ended up killing his father when Charles selflessly dove in front of Magneto to save his life. This created the Age of Apocalypse reality in which Magneto became the one who formed the X-Men and the mutant warlord Apocalypse managed to take over North America. Eventually, Bishop managed to return to the point in time just before Legion was going to accidentally kill Xavier, taking the blow instead. Legion seemingly died as a result of the energies unleashed.

However, he did not die. He was brought in by the New Mutants X-Men squad and received treatment for his multiple personalities in Utopia. He was kept sedated along with other evil mutants in Utopia but was released to help the X-Men in repelling Bastion's invading forces. It was revealed that Legion was brought back to Earth by Magik to kill the Elder Gods.

A rogue personality in the form of Moira MacTaggert manifested, re-creating reality into the Age of X one in which mutants were isolated on an island and fought off anti-mutants on an almost daily basis. Legion's involvement was discovered and Legion accessed Moira's powers to return reality to its original state. Shortly after, several of his personalities managed to manifest themselves physically. Charles Xavier formed a team of X-Men to bring these personalities in.  

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