Following the tragic events of both the Genosha Massacre and the Earth nearly getting flattened by Asteroid M, everyone believes the X-Men are dead. Bishop and Forge are at odds over the team’s fate. Forge fears the X-Men are truly dead while Bishop thinks it’s less about where the X-Men are and more about when they are (in other words, they’re no longer in the 1997 timeline).
Meanwhile, Jubilee and Roberto (Sunspot) have joined Cable’s new squad called X-Force. He’s not thrilled with the new recruits and makes it very clear that this is not Xavier’s school. These two are not students or heroes, they are soldiers.
A Rough Start
To help get his point across, Cable puts Psylocke in charge of training them. She doesn’t hold back either, knocking a blindfolded Jubilee around and kicking Roberto in the face hard enough to leave a mark.
Forge stands alone in a quiet room, staring at a board covered in missing-persons files. Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, Beast, Magneto, Jubilee, Professor Xavier, Rogue, and so many others have a red stamp across their photo. “Missing, Presumed Dead.” “AWOL.” “Off World.” As far as Forge is concerned, the X-Men are gone for good.
Bishop isn’t buying it, though. He reminds Forge that the X-Men have “died” plenty of times before. To Bishop, the real question isn’t where they went, but when. He believes someone or something yanked the team through time, and he’s determined to bring them back. He even warns Forge that hanging around this empty house is just a quick way to wind up six feet under himself. Though he does suggest Forge could always go back to his old government team, X-Factor.
That hits a nerve. Forge points out that X-Factor isn’t his team anymore. Under its leader, Val Cooper, X-Factor has turned into a government outfit tasked with hunting down and rounding up any mutant deemed a security risk. That wasn’t what Forge signed up for but Bishop shakes it off. There are plenty of new players on the field now, but until they find the missing X-Men, all of it is just background noise.
A Desperate Plan Across Time
So, what’s the plan?
Bishop pulls up a temporal wristband that can carry him through time, but it needs a major power boost to bring back the whole team. He also needs to pinpoint the exact time periods where everyone is stuck. We get glimpses of the X-Men scattered across history. Cyclops, Jean, and a young Nathan Summers (Cable) are trapped in a ruined industrial wasteland. Meanwhile, Professor Xavier and Magneto are seen standing near En Sabah Nur in Ancient Egypt.
To pull off the rescue, Forge offers his secret, off-the-grid laboratory. It doesn’t have Xavier’s high-tech resources, but it has one huge advantage: nobody will be able to track them down.
Tensions Rise in Central Park
Across town in Central Park, a candlelit vigil is underway. A framed photo of the X-Men playing basketball sits among flowers and candles as mutants in the city mourn their alleged deaths.
Jubilee stands near the photo, wiping away tears. Her boyfriend Roberto (Sunspot) tries to comfort her, explaining how the gathering is meant to make sure people don’t forget who the real heroes were on E-Day. But the mood is tense. A crowd of anti-mutant protesters holds up signs reading “No Mutants? No Problem!” and shouting vile insults, saying the Sentinels should have finished the job.
Jubilee and Roberto strike up a conversation with two scared young mutants, Rusty Collins and Skids. The kids ask Jubilee how she keeps moving forward when every step toward peace seems to get pushed right back. Jubilee admits that the world just won’t let mutants have a single win without punishing them for it.
The Return of X-Factor
It isn’t long until the heckling turns physical. A bigot punches a mutant in the crowd, but that guy turns out to be the terrorist Pyro, who blasts a stream of fire at the crowd. Suddenly, an angry mob armed with bats and crowbars swarms in, shouting slurs and screaming for revenge. A few aggressive background mutants step in, looking for a fight of their own.
Jubilee finds herself wondering what her the X-Men would do. She thinks Cyclops would say to protect civilians and run a tactical evacuation while Wolverine would stand his ground and fight. Deciding Cyclops has the right idea, she tells Roberto to get the civilians to safety while she tries to calm down a blue-armored mutant picked up in the brawl. She tries telling him that fighting back is exactly what the bigots want, but it’s too late as the riot is underway.
Suddenly, a red jet marked with an “X” lands right in the middle of the park. It’s the government’s team, X-Factor, stepping in to restore “law and order.”
While Val Cooper watches from a remote command center, X-Factor deploys Havok, Polaris, Multiple Man, Strong Guy, and Wolfsbane. Pyro sneers at them, calling them government lapdogs, but Polaris shuts him down with a wave of her magnetic powers. Strong Guy and Multiple Man tackle the other brawlers, while Wolfsbane takes down a muscular attacker.
A panicked Rusty and Skids hide behind a fountain, trying to explain that they were just attending the vigil. But Havok doesn’t take chances. Following Val’s orders to keep the kids “safe,” he fires energy rings around them, capturing them both as the crowd scatters.
Cast Out With Nowhere to Go
Jubilee and Roberto slip away into a nearby alley, panting and exhausted. Without the X-Men’s jet available, they have no idea where to go. Luckily, a sleek limousine pulls up, and Roberto’s wealthy mother Nina Da Costa steps out.
The last time Nina saw her son was back in the season 1 finale “Tolerance is Extinction,” when she turned him over to the Prime Sentinels after he told her he’s a mutant. It looks like Nina might have come around, but the reunion turns sour fast. She hugs him, then scolds him for appearing on the news during a “mutant riot.” She warns him that associating with mutant causes will ruin the family business, adding that after months of waiting for him to come to his senses, she’s had enough. Effective immediately, she cuts off all his funds so the family isn’t linked to “terrorism.”
Jubilee steps in, furiously mocking the woman’s cold attitude. But Nina remains firm. She tells Roberto that if her investments into a mutant “cure” ever pay off, he’ll be welcomed back home.
As the limo drives away, Jubilee offers to blast its tires out, but Roberto talks her out of it. He takes her hand, sadly admitting he shouldn’t be surprised by his mother’s behavior. But with the mansion locked down and no money left, the two teenagers are completely on their own.
Watching them silently from a rooftop, a figure in a visor with a star-shaped scar murmurs to himself. It’s Cable, keeping tabs on them from the shadows.
Later that night, deep in the city, three followers of the villain Apocalypse, Stinger, Tower, and Timeshadow hurry through an alleyway. They step into a local bar to meet an ally from Clan Akkaba, hoping for news about their master’s return.
Instead, they walk straight into a trap. The contact turns out to be a tied-up decoy, and before they can react, Cable gives the order to attack.
Glass shatters as Psylocke and Archangel drop into the room. Psylocke knocks down Timeshadow, while Archangel’s metallic wings loom over Stinger. Cable blasts Tower with his rifle, making it clear that they aren’t here to play nice. When Stinger nervously asks if they’re going to spare them because they’re the X-Men, Cable gives a chilling response: “We’re nothing like the X-Men.” They don’t care about heroics; they just want information on Apocalypse.
A New Shepherd Emerges
Meanwhile, on a highway upstate, an armored prison convoy speeds through the night. Inside heavy restraint tubes, the mutants captured at the park (including Pyro, Avalanche, Rusty, and Skids) protest their arrest, arguing that being locked up without a trial is illegal. Multiple Man’s duplicates just laugh it off, assuring them they’ll get due process once they reach the facility.
Suddenly, a massive crash shakes the convoy on a high bridge. A golden bubble of energy lifts the prison van right off the asphalt. Two mysterious figures attack the guards: a woman in a gold-and-blue outfit and a gray-bearded man wearing golden gauntlets. They break open the van and shatter the restraints. Then, a caped figure wearing a dramatic headpiece floats down in a burst of energy.
“I am Exodus,” he announces, extending a hand to the newly freed mutants. “And I come as an emissary to a better life, a ferryman to a new world for mutantkind. Join me… and become my acolytes!”
