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The X-Men #127

Nov 1979
Chris Claremont, John Byrne

The X-Men #127 cover

Story Name:

The Quality of Hatred!


Synopsis

The X-Men #127 synopsis by Anthony Silvestro
Rating: 4.5 stars

Proteus bares down upon Storm, the hurricane she whipped up doing nothing to push him back. She attempts to fly above him, but he manipulates reality once more, causing the ground to hit her like a tidal wave, leaving Storm unconscious and helpless. Nightcrawler wants to help but Wolverine remains uncharacteristically paralyzed by fear. Just as Nightcrawler is about to teleport to Proteus, even knowing he can’t defeat him, Proteus is suddenly stopped by a warning sniper shot. Moira MacTaggert turns out to be the shooter, positioned atop a nearby knoll. Moira lines up her next shot to kill Proteus, before she is suddenly stopped by Cyclops. She retaliates, hitting him with her gun butt by surprise, causing Cyclops to hit his head on a rock on the way down, knocking him out. Moira checks on Cyclops and then predicts where Proteus is heading, as she heads off to arrive there first.

Later, the X-Men all reconvene, with the ones who faced Proteus struggling to pull themselves back together. Cyclops notices that Wolverine is particularly shaken up and takes measures to try and snap him out of it. Cyclops does this by picking a fight with him, even pouring a drink in his face! This has the desired affect and Wolverine attacks Cyclops, while Cyclops times every move perfectly so as to keep Wolverine off-balance and keep himself from getting killed in the process. Banshee tells Colossus to break up the fight, but Phoenix holds him back, saying to let Cyclops play his hand. Cyclops keeps Wolverine off-balance, even bouncing his beam off of Colossus to hit Wolverine, flipping him over into Nightcrawler. Nightcrawler teleports above Cyclops, fearing he’s been possessed by Proteus, only to be left wide open to get blasted. Storm has had enough and fires a couple lightning bolts before Cyclops stuns her as well.

Cyclops finally decides to reveal his ploy, calling for a truce and revealing that all of this could be considered a session in the Danger Room! He wanted to test those who faced Proteus, to make sure there weren’t any lasting psychological effects, being particularly worried about Wolverine, while also making sure his skills were still sharp, after having been taken out by Moira so easily earlier. Wolverine states a newfound respect for Cyclops while they try to get back on Proetus’ trail. Meanwhile, Proteus has now taken possession of a young woman, hoping that this will throw the X-Men even further off his scent. Hours later, Moira reaches Edinburgh, and stops in to see her husband, Joe MacTaggert. She tells him about their son, born after his and Moira’s violent falling out. She warns that their son is likely coming to kill him and he throws her out.

Unbeknownst to both of them, Proteus has reached there as well, and quickly confronts his father, in his own unique manner. Back with the X-Men, Phoenix suddenly feels Joe MacTaggert’s psychic death scream as his son possesses him, revealing that he gains power with each new body. Jean levitates everyone, flying straight for where Proteus is, as he, now in his father’s body, goes to capture Moira. The X-Men spot Proteus from the air and send Colossus down first, being the one mostly likely to be able to get to Proteus. However, before Colossus can reach him, he turns gravity 90 degrees, sending Colossus and everyone else on the block tumbling down the street. The rest of the X-Men land but before Phoenix can unleash her power, Proteus grabs Moira, warning that if they get too close, he’ll kill her. Although Moira is in danger, Cyclops knows that Proteus must be stopped, no matter what it takes! To be continued!


 

Review / Commentaries


The X-Men #127 Review by (August 21, 2024)

Review: The Proteus Saga continues, as he takes the X-Men apart rather easily with his reality warping powers, leaving them shaken. The highlight of this issue is undoubtedly Cyclops’ improvised impromptu “Danger Room” session, designed to test those who directly faced Proteus, particularly the uncharacteristically shaken up Wolverine, as well as himself. He does this by antagonizing and essentially taking on Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and Storm to some extent all by himself, keeping them off-balance with planned and perfectly timed moves, before revealing his ploy. Don’t let anyone ever tell you Cyclops isn’t cool (and there’s an even cooler example of this later in the series). Even Wolverine finds a newfound respect for Cyke, which is a nice moment considering Wolverine was the one he was most worried about. If only the movies had shown this side of Cyclops.

We are also introduced to Moira’s husband, Joe MacTaggert, who she split with on rather violent terms just before she found out she was pregnant. We don’t get full details but it’s enough to paint Joe as a very despicable person, making it hard to feel bad when he gets possessed by the son he didn’t know he had towards the end of the issue. Unfortunately, this has the added effect of making Proteus even stronger, leaving the X-Men in quite the bind. John Byrne’s art is also really at its peak, portraying Proteus’ wonky powers with creative pizzazz, making the reality warping look cool yet not too confusing. Tune in next time for the finale to this story as the X-Men figure out how to stop such a powerful foe while making sure no one gets hurt in the process!

Comments: Part 3 of the Proteus Saga. First and only real appearance of Moira’s husband, Joe MacTaggert.



> The X-Men comic book info and issue index

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Holy smokes, Batman!
(The Boy Wonder)

John Byrne
Terry Austin
Glynis Wein
John Byrne (Cover Penciler)
Terry Austin (Cover Inker)
Additional Credits
Letterer: Tom Orzechowski.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Banshee
Banshee

(Sean Cassidy)
Colossus
Colossus

(Piotr Rasputin)
Cyclops
Cyclops

(Scott Summers)
Havok
Havok

(Alex Summers)
Nightcrawler
Nightcrawler

(Kurt Wagner)
Phoenix
Phoenix

(Jean Grey)
Polaris
Polaris

(Lorna Dane)
Storm
Storm

(Ororo Munroe)
Wolverine
Wolverine

(James Howlett)

Plus: Proteus (Kevin MacTaggert).

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