The Shadow King could get amped up to such a degree he takes over the mind of every human on Earth, removing humans from the equation and having them assist mutants in fighting Orchis/sentinels. Magik could open a time portal and send all the mutants to live in the distant past or distant future, or an alternate reality Earth where all life had been wiped out.

The Marvel universe is such a big, beautiful, powerful, weird place, there are many more options outside of these limited ones.įranklin Richards could create a new world like Counter-Earth and send all mutants to live there. But for long-time comic fans, it's ludicrous that he's presenting us with such limited options at all.

Then, if he finds a way to surprise us with an element outside of the narrow list of options he presented us with, it feels like a satisfying twist. The way his writing style works is that he is trying to manage our expectations, convincing us that there is only a specific list of options. Or possibly an alliance of human/machine supremacy. Mutant supremacy, human supremacy, or machine supremacy. The writers simply introduced a brand new character we had never heard of before, informed us that she and Cypher aren't just a couple but freakin' married, and we are ordered to care about their relationship.Ģ) Hickman wants us to believe that there are only 3 possible outcomes. That is setting aside my ongoing issue with the fact the Cypher/Bei marriage was the ultimate example of Marvel writers choosing to forego 'earning' relationships for readers anymore. He wasn't even threatening them with his own fighting prowess, but rather, with the assistance of Warlock and Bei. And while I like Cypher, I don't understand why his great comeuppance in this story concludes with him standing around threatening Mystique and Destiny. It's possible that his 'translation field' that writers rarely ever mention might cause some sort of interference, but that is not spelled out for the reader. Why is Cypher set up as some sort of -benevolent?- spy? There is no explicit reason why Destiny should have any trouble perceiving Cypher. And while I can work with this Krakoa era, because it is interesting, and I like having every mutant ever available again, this story is not being managed correctly.ġ) Cypher. I just care about where the story is going. Some people want to praise Hickman, when I care nothing for the writer whatsoever. This was an inconsequential conclusion to the Hickman run on X-Men that concluded nothing. (I became a huge fan of Magik in the early 90s, shortly after she had died, and appreciated Inferno as back issues.) Hell, the name doesn't even make sense on its own nothing much having to do with fire happened with this story. Let's set aside the fact I actually enjoyed the original 'Inferno' event from 1990, and this miniseries had nothing to do with it.

Inferno hickman hardcover