Comic Browser:

#142
#143
#144
#145
#146
#147
#148
#149
#150
#151
#152
#153
#154
#155
#156
#157
#158
#159
#160
#161
#162
#163
#190
#191
Selector

The Uncanny X-Men #145

May 1981
Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum

The Uncanny X-Men #145 cover

Story Name:

Kidnapped!


Synopsis

The Uncanny X-Men #145 synopsis by Anthony Silvestro
Rating: 4 stars

Storm attends the Britain ballet with Stevie Hunter at Lincoln Center, a gift to Stevie from Kitty. They enjoy the show, rather awkwardly in Storm’s case, as she still has misgivings about Stevie, when suddenly the curtains close around their box. They are both tapped on the neck by Miss Locke, associate of Arcade, revealing that she’s dosed them both with a quick-acting temporary poison. Stevie falls unconscious and as Storm begins to feel the effects as well, Miss Locke explains that her boss Arcade has been captured by Doctor Doom due to a perceived insult. Miss Locke further explains that she’s kidnapped many people close to the X-Men including the Greys, Moira MacTaggert, Candy Southern, Amanda Sefton, and Illyana Rasputin to hold hostage as incentive for the X-Men to rescue Arcade from Doom. Storm succumbs to the poison and when she awakens, Miss Locke is gone, having captured Stevie as well. Storm flies to Amanda’s apartment and the Greys’ house to find they have all indeed been kidnapped.

Back at the mansion, the X-Men contact Beast, hoping he can give them any information the Avengers may have on Doctor Doom. Wolverine balks at the idea that Professor X seems to be giving in to Miss Locke’s demands, saying that they can’t submit to blackmail. Storm agrees, and states that she has a plan to rescue both Arcade and their loved ones. Professor X then mentally reaches out to Havok and Polaris and urges them to return to the mansion. He then does the same with Iceman, and when he reaches out to Banshee, he finds Sean already heading back, having been alerted of the danger by Moira’s kidnapping. Xavier notes that he couldn’t contact Cyclops, due to strong magnetic interference, possibly the work of Magneto, straining his mental abilities. Speaking of Scott, we find him washed ashore the Bahamas, without his protective ruby-quartz glasses. It seems he and Lee Forrester had been tossed overboard their ship the night before and now the two find themselves on an island, unsure how far they are from civilization.

With all of the X-Men assembled, Xavier and Storm detail the plan. Storm will take the main team to confront Doom and rescue Arcade, while the reserve team of Havok, Polaris, Iceman, and Banshee will head to Murderworld to rescue their kidnapped loved ones. Storm and the others head out after saying a quick goodbye to a bed-ridden Kitty Pryde. The X-Men arrive at one of Doom’s castles in New York, and Storm loudly makes her presence known at the front gate. Doom meets her and offers to discuss the matter of Arcade’s release inside. While Storm keeps Doom occupied at the front, the others sneak in elsewhere. Angel carries Nightcrawler high above the castle, where Kurt then teleports, taking out two guards at the top tower, and leading the way for the others to make their way there as well. They make their way inside to where their intel says Arcade’s cell is. Colossus smashes the door down to find the cell empty! The group is then ambushed by armored guards, and a huge battle ensues!

In the main dining area, Doom treats Storm to a banquet and she can’t help herself but be fascinated by the man. Meanwhile, Doom has been watching the others since they arrived, on secret surveillance screens, as he watches the fight unfold. The X-Men quickly turn the tides, Wolverine slashes apart one armored guard and Nightcrawler teleports, causing two of the others to blast each other. The remaining guard flees, and Doom notes that he’ll have to punish him for his insolence. Doom then reveals that Arcade is here as his guest, not as his prisoner, and Storm realizes too late that the whole thing has been a trap! Doom hits Storm with a small sphere, that quickly turns her into chrome, leaving her as a living statue! The X-Men bust down the door but are quickly taken out as well by Doom’s defenses, all except Colossus, who Doom takes out personally with a neural disruptor to paralyze him. The trap has been sprung and the X-Men are defeated, now at Doom’s mercy! To be continued!


 

Review / Commentaries


The Uncanny X-Men #145 Review by (October 16, 2024)

Review: Doctor Doom has seemingly kidnapped Arcade, and the X-Men are incentivized by their own loved ones being kidnapped by Arcade’s associates to help rescue him! They really pull out all the stops for Doom, as pretty much every current and former member of the X-Men appears in this issue, split into two teams. The main team goes to rescue Arcade from Doom while the reserve team heads to rescue their captured loved ones. We’ll see more of the reserve team next issue. Obviously, things don’t go to plan and the X-Men are defeated by Doom and captured, after revealing that Arcade was actually working with Doom the whole time (who ever could’ve seen that coming?) Lots of kidnapping this issue, thereby justifying the title. It is puzzling why Doom would bother working with Arcade or why he would care about the X-Men (though this does receive an answer later that I’ll get into in a couple of issues). Cyclops also finds himself stranded on an island, which sets up an important subplot, leading into the monumental UXM #150 a few issues from now!

Comments: The new X-Men’s first encounter with Doctor Doom (kind of). The X-Men’s first battle with Arcade is incorrectly annotated as UXM #122 and #123, when it was actually #123 and #124. Dave Cockrum returns as regular artist for a bit.



> The Uncanny X-Men comic book info and issue index

Elektra

Excelsioring your collection:
Diamond Select Toys Marvel Gallery: Beast PVC Figure, Multicolor
Holy smokes, Batman!
(The Boy Wonder)

Main/1st Story Full Credits

Dave Cockrum
Joe Rubinstein
Glynis Wein
Dave Cockrum (Cover Penciler)
Joe Rubinstein (Cover Inker)
Joe Rubinstein (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Letterer: Joe Rosen.



Characters

All stories. Listed in alphabetical order.

Angel
Angel

(Warren Worthington III)
Banshee
Banshee

(Sean Cassidy)
Beast
Beast

(Henry Phillip McCoy)
Colossus
Colossus

(Piotr Rasputin)
Cyclops
Cyclops

(Scott Summers)
Doctor Doom
Doctor Doom

(Victor Von Doom)
Havok
Havok

(Alex Summers)
Kitty Pryde
Kitty Pryde

(Kate Pryde)
Nightcrawler
Nightcrawler

(Kurt Wagner)
Polaris
Polaris

(Lorna Dane)
Professor X
Professor X

(Charles Xavier)
Storm
Storm

(Ororo Munroe)
Wolverine
Wolverine

(James Howlett)
Plus: Lee Forrester, Stevie Hunter.

Thor

The Marvel Heroes Library is a fan Marvel Comics site
Version 14.8.33 (Dec 10, 2024. VS22)

Copyright © 1997-2024 Julio Molina-Muscara (creator, webmaster)
Site content is a collective effort by the MHL team and Marvel aficionados

Characters are copyright © Marvel or their respective owners. All portions of this Marvel fansite that are subject to copyright are licensed under a creative commons attribution 3.0 unported license All rights reserved