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The X-Men #131

Mar 1980
Chris Claremont, John Byrne

The X-Men #131 cover

Story Name:

Run For Your Life!


Synopsis

The X-Men #131 synopsis by Anthony Silvestro
Rating: 5 stars

After being on the run from the Hellfire Club all night, we find Kitty Pryde running down a Chicago back-alley, a car hot on her heels. Just before it can reach her, Phoenix pops up out of nowhere and utterly demolishes the car, scaring Kitty just as much as her pursuers. Her frights don’t end as Nightcrawler suddenly teleports in front of Kitty, before scampering up a wall with her to safety. Phoenix is soon joined by Cyclops and Dazzler, both of them stunned and a bit afraid of Jean’s immense powers, while Scott also notes a definite character shift, and not for the better. Nightcrawler then signals the others up to the roof and tells them that Kitty dove right through the roof to escape him! Cyclops sends Jean in to look for her, being the most normal looking of the current group. Jean quickly finds Kitty, and though Kitty is hesitant at first, she soon collapses from gratitude once learning that she’s been found by the X-Men. Kitty and the others compare notes before Jean mind-scans the henchmen, discovering that the Hellfire Club is behind recent events, shocking her due to her supposed ancestor seen in her hallucinations having connections to the Hellfire Club, though she doesn’t share her worries with Scott.

Awhile later, a car containing the supposedly captured X-Men approaches Frost Enterprises and is let through the initial gates. Emma Frost is skeptical that the X-Men were really captured so easily and arranges for an escort to meet them, while she attempts to mind-probe Storm for more information. While attention is on the car with the “captured” X-Men at the front, Kitty phases through the wall in the back and frees Wolverine. Kitty tries to bring him up to speed, when she is suddenly blasted from behind by one of the guards, which Wolverine doesn’t take kindly to. Back with the car, they’re told to wait for the escort and the X-Men realize this is as far as their trojan horse will go. Jean stops controlling the henchman and they blast out of the car and begin to make their way through the headquarters. Emma Frost is alerted of the intruders and orders her men to take care of things. Before Emma can continue torturing Storm, Phoenix appears and challenges Emma, telepath to telepath.

The other three continue to make their way through, until Nightcrawler pulls a neat stunt by rapidly teleporting so as to deck three of their attackers practically at once. They are then reunited with the others, with Cyclops relieved to see that Kitty isn’t too hurt. Another guard appears with a high-powered rifle and Colossus shields the others before taking him out, leaving Kitty quickly enamored. Wolverine leads the others via Storm’s scent to where she’s being held, where the battle between Phoenix and Emma Frost is raging in full force. Storm looks on in awe and horror as it’s clear that Phoenix is just toying with Emma, her power building in intensity. Emma tries one last ditch effort to fight back, causing the entire lab to explode just as the others reach there! Cyclops desperately digs through the debris, until Pheonix bursts, unharmed, from the rubble with Storm, though Emma apparently wasn’t so lucky.

Professor X then joins his students, having hung back to observe, before suggesting they make a hasty retreat. The scene then changes to outside Kitty Pryde’s house where the group says their goodbyes to Dazzler. Xavier offers her to join the X-Men, but she declines, feeling that kind of life isn’t for her. Nightcrawler then drives her to the airport, and Kitty’s parents come out, her mother relieved that she’s okay and her father furious at Xavier. He tears into Xavier about her safety and what he thinks of his school until Jean has had enough and suddenly Mr. Pryde is happy and agreeable. Scott notes that this shocks Xavier as well and Jean admits that she psychically compelled Mr. Pryde in order to give a peaceful resolution to things. Scott and Ororo discuss their worries about Jean, with Scott noting that she never would have used her powers against an innocent person like this before. Ororo concurs that there’s a dark side to the Phoenix that’s been showing itself more lately, and they have to figure out who or what’s been encouraging this change, before it’s too late!


 

Review / Commentaries


The X-Men #131 Review by (August 28, 2024)

Review: The Dark Phoenix Saga continues in full force in this exciting and perfectly paced issue! Kitty is saved and helps the X-Men save the other half of the team, proving her usefulness and fortitude right away. Dazzler is also here. Ha. Honestly, she doesn’t do all that much and decides at the end of the issue that superhero-ing isn’t for her, which is odd since her appearances in X-Men were meant to set up her own series which begins not too long after this and runs for a number of years. Guess she changed her mind. This issue is exciting from start to finish, with top-notch art from Byrne and some great action that almost all of the characters get to participate in. There’s also a moment where Wolverine is more than implied to have killed a couple guards (though offscreen). Normally, this wouldn’t be weird but Jim Shooter, the editor at the time, would make a big fuss a few issues from now about Wolverine killing people, saying that heroes don’t do that. Makes you wonder how much he was paying attention this whole time as it’s not even the first time he’s “taken care” of someone. Oh well, Jim Shooter could apparently be weird like that.

The big event of the issue comes with the first meeting and face off between Jean Grey and Emma Frost. Well, more like a massacre really, as Phoenix has become pretty terrifying in her power and her slowly loosening morals. Given Jean and Emma’s, shall we say, awkward and tense history decades from this point, it’s very fitting in hindsight that this is their first meeting. Also interesting is that Emma is implied not to have survived, though obviously we know that’s not the case, and we don’t see any definitive proof, leaving her fate ambiguous for quite a bit. Speaking of Jean’s loosening morals, she psychically compels Kitty’s father to be more agreeable and let Kitty join the school, which is a real turning point in Jean’s character arc, foreshadowing worse changes to come. Scott and Ororo are certainly worried. Though it does result in Kitty being able to join outright a number of issues from now, so it’s hard to fault her too much.

Comments: Part three of the Dark Phoenix Saga. First example of Kitty’s phasing being able to disrupt electronics.



> The X-Men comic book info and issue index

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Main/1st Story Full Credits

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



Characters

All stories. Listed in alphabetical order.

Colossus
Colossus

(Piotr Rasputin)
Cyclops
Cyclops

(Scott Summers)
Kitty Pryde
Kitty Pryde

(Kate Pryde)
Nightcrawler
Nightcrawler

(Kurt Wagner)
Phoenix
Phoenix

(Jean Grey)
Professor X
Professor X

(Charles Xavier)
Storm
Storm

(Ororo Munroe)
White Queen
White Queen

(Emma Frost)
Wolverine
Wolverine

(James Howlett)
Plus: Hellfire Club.

Thor

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