House of X #5 (SPOILERS)

[MultipleMadrox]

Okay. I legitimately can't believe I'm about to type this, but here we go:

Spoiler: show

The "eggs" that the X-Men are hatching out of in House of X #1 are...

Goldballs' goldballs.

As Magneto explains to Polaris (thankfully without lowering himself to utter the name "Goldballs"), Goldballs' balls are actually unviable eggs, which are then made viable by Proteus. The eggs are then injected with the preserved DNA of a deceased mutant from Mister Sinister's library and are given life by Elixir. The aging process is then hastened by Tempus. All four of them are united and boosted by Hope Summers. And then Xavier, using Cerebro, imprints the stored memories of that mutant into the husk they've grown.

Storm leads the revived X-Men who perished at the Mother Mold out to the other Krakoan citizens, who cultishly chant their worship for the returned and for "the five" in charge of resurrection. Goldballs, Proteus, Elixir, Tempus, and Hope are said to be becoming inseparable and symbiotic. Since Proteus is constantly burning out his host body, he is given husks made out of Xavier's DNA. They haven't yet experimented with mixing and matching husks and minds. Their one rule of note is that they must prove that the person they are reviving is definitely dead before they create a clone.

Meanwhile, Emma telepathically manipulates the UN vote in the X-Men's favor, which Xavier is not just cool with, but thankful for. He has even bigger things in mind and two days later, all of the X-Men's mutant enemies are invited to Krakoa to officially become one people. Apocalypse is specifically welcomed by Krakoa itself. Apocalypse also kind of takes credit for pushing the X-Men to become what he always intended, which is the kind of revisionist history I would expect from him I guess. It ends on him and Xavier shaking hands.

That Xavier is solely responsible for copying and imprinting mutant minds seems to me to be the reason for the bizarre behavior of the X-Men. Not necessarily active mind-control, and maybe not even completely intentional, he's just slightly changing them to fit his vision of them? It's not specifically said that this is happening, but that's my read of the situation as it stands.

Also, I find it very worrisome that Proteus is being given Xavier clones.

Edit:

Spoiler: show

lol

[Blackcyclops]

....

[Blackcyclops]

I love two things here:
1) Goldballs is super important...and NONE of the internets geniuses guessed it lol

2) Hope is also super important...HAHAHAHA

One thing I hate:
This basically validates Bendis’s run because TWO of his creations and another he wrote in AvX are basically the most important mutants around

[tokenBG1009]

...Bless you, Hickman.

I'm not a huge fan of this whole thing, but every gripe I've had is worth it because it made Goldballs and Tempus vitally important to the X-Men. As one of the few lovers of Bendis's run...BLESS YOU, HICKMAN!

Also, Hope is important. Amazing that a talented writer can find a way to make her narratively important again.

[summerset]

Haven't read it yet but... What?!

[Gremlin]

Daaaaaamn, did not see that coming. I love the use of Proteus, Goldballs, Tempus etc. However, there does seem to be a lot of wiggle room for Proteus here...I can see some future stories coming up.

One minor gripe, it mentioned that Mimic was a mutant when referring to mutants who could replace one of the core resurrection team.

The scene with the villains stepping through the portal was cool. So many faces we haven’t seen in a while. I really hope Exodus gets involved as he’s one of my top five characters.

[das_boot]

I love two things here:
1) Goldballs is super important...and NONE of the internets geniuses guessed it lol

2) Hope is also super important...HAHAHAHA

One thing I hate:
This basically validates Bendis’s run because TWO of his creations and another he wrote in AvX are basically the most important mutants around

I haven’t read the issue and I’m not reading spoilers but I swear to fucking lucifer if this isn’t just you trolling me like the absolute agent of chaos that you are, i’m 100% done with this event

[Flapflop]

I love two things here:
1) Goldballs is super important...and NONE of the internets geniuses guessed it lol

2) Hope is also super important...HAHAHAHA

One thing I hate:
This basically validates Bendis’s run because TWO of his creations and another he wrote in AvX are basically the most important mutants around

Spoiler: show

The Pod-people

theory was correct, just not the details how. Hickman is genius.

Spoiler: show

Hope, Tempus, Elixir, Proteus and Goldballs are the new fab 5 and clone death x-men with help of Sinisters DNA-library and Xavier-Cerebro's mind

This was an amazing issue, lot of pieces of the puzzle are placed now, though still some questions come to mind

Spoiler: show

- Since we know there was a Schism in the Trirumvirate, where is Moira in all of this, and how does she think about it
- Since when did they start cloning? Just after Age of X-man and last Uncanny run or longer already? Hopefully the last two Powers of X issues will show more about the history how they came to this point since the beginning of the Trirumvirate.

Because we only have one House issue left and two Powers. I have a feeling this series is just building up to Dawn of X and not necessary concludes a story on its own. Apart from the how, when and what of this retcon and new status quo.

Time will tell but i love it anyway

[tokenBG1009]

...I mean, pretty much everyone predicted the pod people angle. Is Hickman REALLY a genius for that? I could completely retcon a person's powers to fit a story I want to tell as well.

Still, respect for making Bendis characters relevant.

[Flapflop]

...I mean, pretty much everyone predicted the pod people angle. Is Hickman REALLY a genius for that? I could completely retcon a person's powers to fit a story I want to tell as well.

Still, respect for making Bendis characters relevant.

The idea of pods isn't necessary the genius part, how it all folds out is

[Blackcyclops]

Oh, I meant using Goldballs. NO one would have picked ghat lol

[tokenBG1009]

Oh, I meant using Goldballs. NO one would have picked ghat lol

I'm just being contrarian as usual.

[Blackcyclops]

So seriously though, is this going to be the state of mutantkind at the end? If so, my biggest issue that we won’t have mutant villains any more and that sucks.

[Flapflop]

So seriously though, is this going to be the state of mutantkind at the end? If so, my biggest issue that we won’t have mutant villains any more and that sucks.

Who knows maybe some of the Villains won't obey the laws of the State of Krakoa and will bee outcasted and be villains again.

Its a little bite like the Utopia era, but on a much deeper and larger scale. Then Magneto (re)joined the X-men because he loved Cyclops plan of creating a Mutant State. The scene of Erik bowing for Cyclops has similarities in the scene of Apocalypse shaking hands with Xavier

[Nu-D]

I appreciate the new direction and the creative use of the characters and their powers. However, Hickman still doesn’t respect the personalities of these characters very much. Ororo is not the right person to engage in demagoguery. There’s no part of her that wants to get up in front of the masses and lead ritualized chants to mutant supremacy. It’s a disservice to the character to put here there.

[Blackcyclops]

Well if Xavier has been uploading minds, it’s very possible he’s changed some stuff about them...

And thinking about it: I just don’t know if they’re supposed to be the exact 616-version of the X-Men.

[Gremlin]

Yeah my biggest gripe about this new direction is the voices of the characters. Hardly any speak like they should. Only Monet is somewhat herself.

[Nu-D]

Well if Xavier has been uploading minds, it’s very possible he’s changed some stuff about them...

Sure. There are two possible explanations for the off-kilter characterization.

(1) it’s an intentional plot point. If so, I think it’s probably related to the cloning process. Probably, It’s intended to be a morality tale about the dangers of immortality and how it degrades your soul.

(2) it’s poor characterization because Hickman is more interested in the idea of a mutant society than he is in the X-Men as characters.

I prefer #2, honestly. I’m content to view HoX and PoX as set-up, and to let other writers and other titles tell personal tales of the X-Men in the new setting.

If it’s #1, it’s trite and predictable.

[Nu-D]

Yeah my biggest gripe about this new direction is the voices of the characters. Hardly any speak like they should. Only Monet is somewhat herself.

Oddly, I thought Scott, Jean, Logan and Monet were all spot on in this issue (for the first time in Hickman’s run). I particularly liked Monet’s “don’t touch me.” I haven’t read anything about her except PAD’s X-Factor, so I don’t know if that’s an established character trait, but it’s consistent with the character PAD wrote in an appealing way.

[Blackcyclops]

So is writing character’s so oddly lol...

But I guess we’ll find out at some point.

[tokenBG1009]

The more I read it the more I'm sure we're going to have something happen that wipes this world.

If not, then no one who enjoys this can speak poorly of Bendis's mischaracterizations again. I think Ororo's INTERACTIONS with each character were really well done, but being the hype woman of Krakoa is so out of character for her it almost erases everything else.

I also can't see some of our favorite mutants basically turning into Mutant Supremacists. It's one thing to have mutant pride, but this is something entirely different. This is some Klan shit.

[Blackcyclops]

Well you know who I liked? Apocalypse! He’s killing it

[Usernamenotimportant]

ALL HAIL THE MUTANT MESSIAH, GOLDBALLS! PRAISE BE!

[tokenBG1009]

Well you know who I liked? Apocalypse! He’s killing it

Indeed, and I think he's going to be the key to ending this.

[Nu-D]

The more I read it the more I'm sure we're going to have something happen that wipes this world.

I don’t know about “wipes,” but probably something will have to revise or change what we’re seeing and how we’re seeing it.

If not, then no one who enjoys this can speak poorly of Bendis's mischaracterizations again.

Well, yes and no. Bendis’ run was traditional superhero sopa opera fare. In that genre, the personalities of the characters are pretty important. I think we were justified in being disappointed with how he drew the characters, and there was nothing else in there to carry the story (the plots were ghastly).

OTOH, Hickman isn’t telling a superhero soap opera in HoX/PoX. Hickman is world building. With the exception of Xavier, Magneto and Apocalypse, the personalities of the characters are irrelevant. That’s why they’ve had so little dialogue or panel space. I can enjoy this run despite the bad characterization, because it’s not about the characters. I couldn’t enjoy Bendis’ run despite the bad characterization, because there was nothing else to it.

I think Ororo's INTERACTIONS with each character were really well done, but being the hype woman of Krakoa is so out of character for her it almost erases everything else.

+1000. The dialogue with Jean felt intimate. The shouting from the podium felt inauthentic.

I also can't see some of our favorite mutants basically turning into Mutant Supremacists. It's one thing to have mutant pride, but this is something entirely different. This is some Klan shit.

Yeah. I feel like this set-up would have driven a lot of the X-Men away. Or at the very least they’d be taking a wait-and-see approach instead of embracing it. I can see Ororo hanging out in the wings, trying to quietly guide and advise the others to avoid some of the excesses. I can’t see her jumping on the bandwagon like she did in this issue.