A.X.E.: Judgment Day #4

This series just keeps running at high speed. But has it now hit a brick wall?

The 6 humans who were declared to be important in #2 don't seem to have been that vital. But then the voiceover said that everyone was important as well.


There has been an immediate tie-in to this issue in X-Men Red #6 which ends with Magneto and Storm (and others) preparing to take the fight to Uranos.
It mainly concerns Storm leading the fight against the sentient weapons Uranos left on Arakko. In particular we see her team up with Magneto to defeat 1 such weapon. Magneto is surviving without a heart by magnetically keeping his iron-rich blood flowing. We also learn that the Fisher King and new char Syzya Of The Smoke are the only survivors of the secret Seats Of Night group of the Arakkii ruling Great Ring. Now Earth mutant Sunspot joins them to fill the vacant seat. They all, alongside others of the Great Ring, swear to seek out Uranos and get the attacking weapons switched off. (And by implication that's what Magneto and Storm achieve in the main issue.)

XMR#7 starts with an extended version of Magneto's death scene in this issue. Then Storm returns to Arakko for a meeting of the remains of the Great Ring. They eject the traitorous Isca The Unbeaten after the Fisher King convinces her to resign, which earns her a thumbs-up from the Celestial. Storm resigns the Seat Of All-Around Us to Lodus Logos but takes Magneto's Seat Of Loss. Meanwhile in the SWORD Keep Cable and Whiz-Kid discover what Abigail Brand has been up to, setting up the next storyline.

Legion Of X #6 covers events ranging through AXEJD#1-4. It shows how Nightcrawler tricked Isca into falling into the ocean. Also the mental battle between Legion and Uranos in XMR#5 as NC tries to save as many people on Arakko as he can by hiding them in the Altar, a bubble reality inside Legion's mind. But Uranos later destroys the gate leading there (a replacement gate is built in Marauders #6). The Celestial then judges Legion and passes him as Magneto dies in AXEJD#4 and XMR#7.

Other later tie-ins that concern the Celestial passing judgement on folk could be attached to this issue:-

Avengers #60 stars Hawkeye as the Progenitor challenges him to prove he's more worthy than a humble mailbox. The Celestial appears to him as Black Widow, and then as Luke Cage when Clint Barton goes to the Mayor's office for advice. When the issue opens he's already made a mess of dealing with an alien monster in the sewers. Later he stops Crossfire committing an assassination and then finds out that the target was a black market arms dealer. In the end the Celestial decides he's OK because at least he tries to do better, which the mailbox can't.

Fantastic Four #47 is the 1st of a 2-parter that will end the current series. Reed Richards locks himself in his lab to solve the Celestial problem, leaving Sue Richards to look after the Baxter Building. Alicia has taken the kids to a 4th-dimensional bunker. Ben Grimm is making the building secure before joining them. Johnny Storm goes out for pizza. Sue meets a new accounting temp who turns out to be Oubliette who takes over the place with troops and Mindless Ones which she sends to fight Thing. Torch is locked out and Thing gets buried by combat debris. Invisible Woman fights on alone as the villain plans to break in to Reed's lab.

In FF#48 Oubliette sends a clone of her ex-lover Marvel Boy against Sue and he traps her in a Pocket Battlefield which she escapes. Oubliette then threatens innocent lives to get Sue to speak the password which will open Reed's lab, but instead it frees the HERBIEs from her control. Baxter Building staff free Thing from the debris and HT devises a way to break through the forcefield surrounding the building. Sue reveals to Oubliette that she's not *really* the daughter of Dr Midas which breaks her. And Reed leaves his lab with the answer that the best thing is to be with his 'family' at the end. And the Celestial gives them all a pass.

Amazing Spider-Man #10 has Peter Parker judged by Progenitor appearing as Gwen Stacy. He visits Aunt May (who is being judged kindly by Uncle Ben) and J Jonah Jameson (who is desperately apologising to everyone he may have wronged). He fails to contact Ben Reilly (missing since the end of the Beyond storyline) but touches base with Miles Morales (unlike the fake meeting in our issue). Next day 'Gwen' follows him to work at OsCorp with Kamala Khan (being judged by Captain Marvel). The Celestial judges him worthy because of his good heart, and rewards him by briefly resurrecting the real Gwen. Norman Osborn sees this Gwen and almost loses his grip on sanity. And he too is being judged by Gwen.

In the A.X.E.: Iron Fist 1-shot the new Iron Fist (Lin Lie) and Loki are both judged positively by Progenitor. And Lie completes his ascent to Iron Fist-hood by gaining the heart of Shou-Lao.

In Captain Marvel #24 the Celestial gives positive judgements to CM, her sister Lauri-Ell and Chewie her cat/Flerken.