As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.

X-MEN: HEIR OF APOCALYPSE #2
Writer: Steve Foxe
Penciller: Netho Diaz
Inkers: JP Mayer with Sean Parsons
Colour artist: Alex Sinclair
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Editor: Tom Brevoort

APOCALYPSE

Despite being the title character, Apocalypse is barely in this issue. Aside from more brief flashbacks to show how he selected some of his twelve contestants, he doesn’t show up until two pages from the end, where he confirms that he did indeed lure Genocide to Egypt as part of his test – although Genocide isn’t in on it.

Apocalypse is unimpressed by his candidates’ performance against “my most despised child”. We’re not told why Apocalypse feels that way about Genocide – I don’t think the two have ever met – but the idea from the original Uncanny X-Force storyline which introduced Genocide was that Apocalypse viewed him  as a threat. It might also be that Apocalypse views Genocide as a moron who hasn’t understood his philosophy at all.

Apocalypse’s new base on Mars is an Egyptian-stye pyramid, albeit with more modern construction in the grounds.

THE CONTESTANTS

Armageddon Girl is willing to fight Genocide, because his powers damage the biosphere. Mr Sinister shuts off her powers and Genocide seemingly kills her. Several characters seemingly die in this issue, but since we don’t get any normal bodies, it’s a fairly safe bet that none of them really die – and I don’t think the story is seriously trying to convince us otherwise. Last issue, Forge said that Apocalypse specifically “promised [him] no duels to the death”, and we haven’t yet seen Forge’s recruitment flashback. A string of apparent deaths in the first post-Krakoa X-Men story is also probably not a coincidence.

A flashback shows us that Apocalypse invited Armageddon Girl because of her mercilessness, which fits with her depiction in X-Men Unlimited.

Mr Sinister has brought some little devices with him that can shut down mutant powers. He makes no attempt to fight Genocide and seems to see him as a useful opportunity to thin the competition. Sinister makes little effort to conceal what he’s doing, and the remaining contestants turn on him at the end of the issue.

Oddly, Sinister shuts down Exodus’s powers even though Exodus has just declared that he’s still suppressing the late Genocide’s “bioplasma energy”, which would kill everyone otherwise. Maybe he doesn’t believe Exodus, or maybe the idea is that he thinks the energy will all be consumed in killing Exodus (which seems to be what happens).

Exodus does make an effort to rescue bystanders from Genocide, but only after some prompting from Emma. And even then, his initial reaction isn’t to protect humans, but to attack Genocide harder. Later, he decides that it’s all part of Apocalypse’s test – correctly, as it turns out – and uses his powers to move all the humans within a mile’s radius to safety. He seems to see them as a bit of an afterthought, and he may be relocating them simply to stop them distracting the teammates, or even as a way of showing off as part of the test. He defeats Genocide by crushing him into a small ball, apparently killing Penance in the process. Emma flags that he could surely have moved Penance aside, and Exodus never gives a straight answer to that. Once his powers are shut down, he collapses and seemingly turns to dust (the only apparent cause being Genocide’s uncontained energy).

A flashback shows that Apocalypse approached Exodus precisely because he would stand up to Apocalypse and set his own agenda. Exodus really doesn’t like Apocalypse, viewing him as having abandoned mutants on Earth to “purgatory”. He refers to the Arakko mutants as “your people” and seems to regard them as no longer part of mutantkind proper.

Penance gets a recruitment flashback in which Apocalypse interprets her attitude as an example of holding her peers to a higher standard, and taming the “savagery within” (presumably meaning her actual Penance persona). On the face of it, she dies heroically while fighting Genocide, but again, there’s no body.

Rictor likewise seems to get incinerated by Genocide while doing regular hero stuff, but with no body.

Gorgon seems quite content to join the other contestants in fighting Genocide, and doesn’t really articulate why. Maybe he thinks it’s part of the test, maybe he sees it as self-defence. He certainly seems annoyed by Genocide insinuating that Krakoa made people soft.

Cable, Cypher, Emma Frost, Forge, Mirage and Wolverine all do general hero stuff while fighting Genocide. Interestingly, it’s Mirage and Emma who seem to be calling the shots, with Cable very much blending into the pack. Emma is infuriated at Exodus’ apparent lack of concern over the loss of life; Mirage sees the apparent deaths more as a sign that they should all have rejected Apocalypse’s offer in the first place.

VILLAINS

As noted, Genocide has been lured here by Apocalypse to provide a test for the twelve invited contestants, but isn’t a contestant himself. As the literal heir of Apocalypse, he’s not very happy about that. He calls himself as “the one true child of Apocalypse”, so presumably he’s never been told about the various Horsemen who are his half-siblings. He seems to want to confront Apocalypse hismelf, and only attacks the contestants in order to ruin the tournament.

As a teenager, he really doesn’t like being called a “child”.

The fact that Genocide never appeared throughout the whole Krakoan era is drawn to our attention, but with no indication as to what he’s been up to. He views Krakoa as something that weakened and diluted Apocalypse, and generally presents himself as a sort of Apocalypse Classic. None of which ultimately seems to matter, because Exodus squashes him into a little ball – and we do see the ball.

CAMEO APPEARANCES

Archangel shows up at the end to confront Apocalypse on Arakko, and try to stop him from picking an heir at all. That picks up on last issue’s scene where Archangel refused the invitation to participate, and evidently regarded the “prize” as something life-ruining, much as it was when he became Apocalypse’s heir in Rick Remender’s X-Force.

SPECIFICS

Page 11 panel 1: “I told Pietro I wanted tea…” Penance and Pietro became a couple in Uncanny Avengers.

Page 15 panel 1: “I let my people through the desert…” Exodus is probably referring literally to his role in Immortal X-Men with the Krakoans who were banished to the White Hot Room – although he’s undoubtedly aware of the parallels with the Book of Exodus. For Exodus, to complete what he sees as his ordained role only to find no promised land at the end is unacceptable – he evidently regards his people now as specifically Earth’s mutants, and takes no comfort in the survival of Arakko, or the utopian Krakoa in the White Hot Room.

Page 16 panel 4: “For Rictor, girls. And poor Lin Li too.” This certainly reads as though Emma wasn’t really that bothered about avenging Armageddon Girl but realised at the last moment that she should probably count.