As
the news reports on the X-Men battling dinosaurs in Dallas, Phil Sheldon has
been stealthily visited in his hospital room by Maggie, the child mutant he
harbored many years ago, now older. Phil asks her what happened the night she
left; Maggie reveals that news reports of Sentinels hunting mutants convinced
her that the Sheldons were in danger because of her so she fled from place to
place, eventually arriving among a primitive tribe in Papua New Guinea. There,
she taught the children to read and became a healer because of her limited
x-ray vision and the tribe accepted her and hid her when anyone came searching.
She had heard that Phil was sick and risked exposure to thank him for saving her.
Phil doesn’t see himself as heroic, the only brave thing he did was to mention
her to a neighbor he thought he could trust to help find her when she left, and
the neighbor helped search for her. But Maggie insists he inspired her to help
others, asking, “What would Mr. Sheldon do?” And then he spots Marcia Hardesty,
reporting on the news from the Dallas crisis and the discovery that Cyclops and
Marvel Girl of X-Factor saved the city. Wolverine is interviewed as the X-Men
head into danger…and then word comes that the X-Men were apparently killed
stopping the threat to Dallas. And Phil is grateful that the mutants were
finally recognized as heroes. Then Doris and the girls return and there is a
warm reunion with Maggie. And Phil sees his real legacy: Doris and Bethie and
Jen, Maggie, and Marcia Hardesty. And he quietly dies, watching his family….
At
his funeral, many mourners speak to Doris about how much Phil meant to them: J. Jonah Jameson,
Joe Robertson, Ben Urich, Betty Brant, Peter Parker. Bennet
Schwed is worried that the book project hurt Phil but Doris assures him that
the book was what kept him going so long. Jen and Bethie promise to finish the
book and Marcia offers her assistance. And Marcia says she was late because the
parade honoring X-Factor was attacked by villains. And Jen thinks her dad would
have loved seeing a group of mutants being officially recognized as heroes….