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The Uncanny X-Men #152

Dec 1981
Chris Claremont, Bob McLeod

The Uncanny X-Men #152 cover

Story Name:

The Hellfire Gambit


Synopsis

The Uncanny X-Men #152 synopsis by Anthony Silvestro
Rating: 4.5 stars

After being alerted of their escape, Emma Frost, in Storm’s body, chases Storm, in Emma’s body, driving quickly from the Massachusetts Academy, an unconscious Kitty Pryde in the passenger seat. Kitty awakens and, startled by apparently being captured by Emma Frost, phases right out of the moving car! When Storm tries to reach for Kitty, she loses control of the car, driving right off the road and crashing into the valley below. A huge fire springs forth from the wrecked car, engulfing Emma. She uses Storm’s powers to create a strong wind to blow her to safety, but her lack of control has her being sent careening much farther than intended. Kitty picks herself up and inspects the burning car, finding who she thinks is an unconscious Emma Frost not far away. Kitty wrestles with what to do, thinking that Emma may try to control her if Kitty saves her, but knows that as an X-Man, she’s supposed to be the better person.

Emma flies back to the Xavier Institute, landing in Storm’s attic garden. Emma is furious over apparently losing her original body, but Sebastian Shaw convinces her that she will continue to be a queen no matter what appearance she has. Meanwhile, Kitty has tied up “Emma” and remains distrustful of Storm’s attempts to convince Kitty that it’s really her. Storm tells her that the Hellfire Club is planning an attack on the X-Men and easily slips out of the knot. Kitty is startled, Storm having been the one to teach her that knot and decides to go along with her for now. Meanwhile, Harry Leland watches over the captured X-Men until Shaw and “Storm” return, the X-Men in disbelief at her apparent betrayal. Wolverine speaks out and some of the guards, the same ones he brutally sliced up last time they fought the Hellfire Club, drag him away to pay him back. Professor X tries to appeal to “Storm”, but she and Shaw remain convinced of their victory. Nightcrawler, however, thinks to himself that they have an ace in the hole that the Club is not aware of, his girlfriend Amanda Sefton!

Meanwhile, Storm and Kitty have enlisted the help of Stevie Hunter to drive them to the mansion. Kitty phases her head out of the car to get a better view and Storm admonishes her for her recklessness, making Kitty think that maybe she’s telling the truth after all! They park near the secret entrance to the hangar and Storm and Kitty make their way there, while Stevie is quickly found by Shaw and Emma! In the Danger Room, the guards are laying into Wolverine until Wolverine fights back. Leland increases Wolverine’s mass more and more until Wolverine is apparently killed from the effort! Leland informs the X-Men of Wolverine’s apparent death, while Amanda secretly continues to cast a spell. Back with Kitty, she phases into the hangar and Storm telepathically helps Kitty with picking the lock to open the hanger door. They are successful, narrowly avoiding being caught by Shaw and Emma.

Inside, Storm remains to hold them off while Kitty makes her way to the mansion. She’s suddenly found by Wolverine, who reveals that Amanda had cast a spell only giving him the appearance of death and letting him sneak around undetected. They go free the others, allowing Colossus and Cyclops to deal with the guards while Nightcrawler takes out Leland. Wolverine corners the last guard, who tells Wolverine to just kill him, his bionic parts from Wolverine’s previous attack leaving him more machine than man. Wolverine says that he should just be grateful to be alive, that humanity comes from something else entirely and killing him wouldn’t be worth the effort. The X-Men are then found by Shaw and Emma and a battle ensues. As the battle rages, Emma’s control over the savage weather that has erupted from her misuse of Storm’s powers slips more and more, until an errant lightning bolt takes out Shaw. Storm and Emma are pulled up into the air, where Storm uses the Persona Exchange Module to switch their bodies back, calming the storm and catching Emma. Storm is furious, ready to kill Emma for her transgressions, but Wolverine stops her, not wanting Storm to destroy herself over this. Emma promises that the Hellfire Club won’t bother them anymore while Shaw is out of commission but promises to herself that she won’t rest until the X-Men are dead!


 

Review / Commentaries


The Uncanny X-Men #152 Review by (October 30, 2024)

Review: The X-Men triumph over the Hellfire Club once again in this great follow up to last issue. Storm and Emma Frost get their bodies switched back and there’s some great action when the X-Men fight the Hellfire Club. There’s also the reveal that the guards Wolverine seemingly killed back in UXM # 133 survived with new bionic parts. Jim Shooter apparently forced Chris Claremont to add this change, due to his belief that heroes don’t kill. Speaking of that, there’s also a bit of a theme this issue of the heroes not killing when they have the chance to. Kitty saves who she thinks is Emma even though she’s her enemy, Wolverine purposely doesn’t kill the guards when he could, and later he also convinces Storm not to kill Emma. Makes me wonder if this was also suggested by Shooter, as a way to reinforce his reason for the aforementioned change. I’ve also noticed that maybe Storm is the real one with the rage issues, rather than Wolverine, as she was ready to kill Magneto two issues ago and almost kills Emma here. That’s a lot of almost killing from someone who swore she would never kill. To be fair, this was a huge ordeal for her and feels like the kind of thing you’d think would be hard for her to forgive when Emma becomes an X-Man years later.

Comments: The Hellfire Club guards that Wolverine seemingly killed in UXM #133 are revealed to have survived, with most of their bodies replaced with bionic parts.



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

Elektra

Excelsioring your collection:
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Holy smokes, Batman!
(The Boy Wonder)

Bob McLeod
Joe Rubinstein
Don Warfield
Bob McLeod (Cover Penciler)
Bob McLeod (Cover Inker)
Additional Credits
Letterer: Janice Chiang.

Characters

Listed in alphabetical order. All stories.

Colossus
Colossus

(Piotr Rasputin)
Cyclops
Cyclops

(Scott Summers)
Kitty Pryde
Kitty Pryde

(Kate Pryde)
Nightcrawler
Nightcrawler

(Kurt Wagner)
Professor X
Professor X

(Charles Xavier)
Storm
Storm

(Ororo Munroe)
White Queen
White Queen

(Emma Frost)
Wolverine
Wolverine

(James Howlett)
Plus: Amanda Sefton, Harry Leland, Hellfire Club, Stevie Hunter.

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