X-Men: Age of Apocalypse #3

Issue Date: 
May 2005
Story Title: 

Akira Yoshida (writer), Chris Bachalo (penciler), Irwin, Leisten, Mendoza, Olazaba, Sowd & Vey (inkers), Studio F (colorist), Chris Eliopoulos (letterer), John Barber & Sean Ryan (assistant editors), Nick Lowe (associate editor), Mike Marts (editor), Joe Quesada (editor in chief), Dan Buckley (publisher)

Brief Description: 

The X-Men are bonding over a brutal game of football. It doesn’t last long, though, as an alarm sounds from the mansion. Cerebro has detected some important mutant signatures and everyone heads inside. The X-Men check it out on the monitors. It’s the Guthrie siblings and they’re at the White House. The X-Men arrive at the scene. After some verbal sparring they get to fighting. The first match up is Cannonball versus Weapon X. Everyone else takes on Amazon and their newly introduced brother Josh. At first the X-Men take a pounding, but they manage to gain the upper hand. After Amazon becomes severely wounded the Guthries retreat. The X-Men decide to head back to the mansion to see if they can track them. Meanwhile at the mansion, Xorn turns traitor and takes Rogue by surprise. Xorn reveals herself to be the thought-to-be deceased Paige Guthrie. She informs Rogue that she wants her revenge. They fight. A short time later the X-Men arrive and find Paige with both Rogue and Charles chained up behind her. They’re all shocked to see Husk alive. She’s not alone they discover when her other three siblings burst out of the wall behind her.

Full Summary: 

Dazzler has the football, but it’s only for a brief moment. Samurai, Nightcrawler, Storm, Rogue, Charles, Wolfsbane and Beak all collide going for the ball. It pops out of Dazzler’s hands and somebody yells, “Fumble!”
The X-Men are playing football! Silver Samurai snatches the ball and busts free of everyone’s hold. He charges down the field towards the end zone. Nightcrawler ‘ports in front of him and ends up getting trampled in the process. Dazzler and Storm leap onto his back. Samurai elbows Dazzler in the face, knocking her off. He then takes Storm by the head and smashes her into the ground. He’s almost at the end zone and starts to tease his opponents. Before he can finish his taunt someone’s foot trips him up. The ball is loose once more and everyone yells, “Fumble!” again.

The football flies right into X-23’s hands. She smiles at first, but upon seeing the charging crowd asks for a timeout. She’s swallowed up by the multitude of players. Limbs and heads are poking out every which way. Nobody seems to know where the ball is. A blue hand emerges from the pile with the sought after item. It’s Nightcrawler and he calls out, “First down!”

Samurai turns around to see who tripped him. He finds Weapon X standing there. Samurai walks over to him. Weapon X makes fun of him for “losing his footing”. As Rogue takes notice of Logan too, Nightcrawler teleports away. He reappears right behind Weapon X and brings a knife to his throat. He tells Logan not to move. X-23 pops her claws at Nightcrawler and tells him to let him go. She tells him that Logan is there to help. Storm intervenes and tells both of them to stand down.

Logan thanks Storm for the assist. Rogue then chides both Kurt and Kirika aka X-23 for acting so brazen. Logan looks at his daughter and repeats her name out loud questioningly. She replies, “You never asked.” Rogue, who now has the football, shoves it in Logan’s chest and complains that trouble always seems to follow him. In his defense he reminds her that he’s the one who was invited.

Samurai whips out his sword, points it at Logan’s chest and tells him he’s not welcome there. Weapon X, unfazed, tells everyone he can handle it. Samurai tells Logan they still have a score to settle. Logan reminds him that it was a long time ago and in another place. He tells him that they’re in America now and they should put the past behind them and relax. Samurai takes a swipe with his sword and cuts the football Logan is holding in half. He tells Weapon X that he will rest when Weapon X is dead. Logan goes from friendly to feral, snikting his claws and telling the Samurai to bring it on. X-23 jumps in between them and yelling in her native tongue tells them to stop it. She reminds the two would-be combatants that it’s time to put away grudges and look towards the future. They’ve all been given a second chance and they should move on with their lives. She tells them, “Besides… you’ve both got me now.”

An alarm sounds from the mansion. Rogue tells everyone to get inside, that Cerebro must have detected another mutant match. Samurai looks Weapon X in the eyes and lets him know that it’s not over between them. He walks toward the mansion leaving Logan to his thoughts. Logan just stares ahead and retracts his claws.

Inside, the X-Men are all standing around a monitor. Whoever they see on the screen has Dazzler excited. She wants some payback. Storm cautions her to be patient. Nightcrawler asks if it’s a live feed. Storm tells him it’s a live feed from the White House. Logan is excited too. There’re two more of Apocalypse’s people for him to put down. Nightcrawler wonders why they’ve chosen to come out in public when they know they’re being hunted down. Logan tells him they’re not the brightest bulbs around. Dazzler reminds them that their sister was on the X-Men’s side until she died. Storm tells everyone to stop talking and get moving.

Later, the X-Men arrive at the White House and approach the Guthries. Weapon X asks them why they’ve come out of hiding. Logan says, “What happened? Run outta moonshine?” Sam introduces the X-Men to his brother Jay. Elizabeth complains that Magneto isn’t there. She refers to the present X-Men as the “B-Team” and tells them they won’t be a challenge. Logan says, “I’ll give you B-Team” as he and his daughter both pop claws. Elizabeth replies, “Only if you get close enough.” Logan yells out, “Watch me.” and leaps towards her. Sam takes off with his rocket power, snatching Logan up and ramming him straight into the Washington Monument.

Both Storm and X-23 cry out for him. Amazon, who has doubled in size at this point, hears Kirika’s yell for her father and tells the girl that she just became an orphan. Kirika tells Amazon that the Guthrie family will soon be a few siblings shorter, not including Paige. This enrages the now twelve-story tall Amazon. She takes her proportionately large club and smashes it against the ground. The remaining X-Men, with the exception of Storm and Nightcrawler are sent flying back into the air. Amazon warns X-23 never to mention Paige’s name again. She accuses the X-Men of sending her to her death.

Storm tries her best to sneak up on Amazon through the air. She’s knocked out of the park, however, with a swift hard punch from the giant. Back on the ground, Kurt teleports in behind Dazzler, snatches her and teleports away. He does the same thing with X-23. He says he wants to try something different. Samurai gets up off the ground and remarks on how he hates blondes. An airborne Josh immediately knocks him back down.

About a mile away, Storm finally lands, smashing through a tall office building and landing on a few people. She doesn’t look happy.

Back at the main event, Josh is set for another round with Samurai who picks up his sword and tells the youngest Guthrie that it ends now. His words ring hollow as Josh cuts him down once again.

Up near Amazon’s shoulder, Kurt teleports in with Dazzler and X-23. Dazzler uses her light powers to blind Amazon. Kurt uses the opportunity to teleport X-23 to various parts of her body so she can slice and dice. Elizabeth calls out to her brother Josh for help. Josh catches Kurt mid-teleport with a swift kick to the chest. At this point Storm arrives back on the scene with roiling black clouds all around her. She yells, “Stay-- --down!” and casts a huge lightning bolt that pierces Amazon’s midsection. Amazon falls over and reverts back to her normal size.

Amazon looks up and sees Samurai standing over her. She says, “Oh, no.” to which he replies, “Oh, yes.” He takes the flat side of the sword and smacks her in the torso, sending her flying like a baseball.

Back at the Xavier Institute monitor room Rogue is watching the X-Men as they fight the Guthries. Xorn walk into the room and asks her how the team is faring. Rogue stands up and tells Xorn to take her seat. She proudly announces that the X-Men are near victory. Xorn says, “Really?” and suddenly Rogue is getting smashed into a nearby monitor. She asks Xorn what she’s doing. Xorn tells her it’s no longer playtime and kicks Rogue square in the jaw. She tells Rogue that she’s there for revenge. Rogue hits the ground hard. She looks up just in time to see Xorn take off her mask. She’s shocked to see the true identity of Xorn. She exclaims, “You?! But we thought you were dead?! How did you--?!” The mystery traitor cuts her off. She corrects Rogue, “’Left for dead’ would be more accurate…” She then tears away the flesh from her arms to reveal two sharp edged appendages. They go at it.

Meanwhile, Logan is up and angry atop the monument. He growls as he sees Cannonball coming straight for him once more. Logan dodges Cannonballs attack and manages to grab on to him with his claws. Cannonball reminds him that he’s invulnerable while he’s flying and that his claws will do him no good. Logan tells him that he’s not trying to hurt him only soak him. He twists Sam’s body so as he flies straight into the reflecting pool in front of the monument.

Logan gets up from the water with a smile on his face. Cannonball comes flying out screaming bloody murder. Before round two can commence Josh flies over with Elizabeth in his arms. He informs Sam that she’s in bad shape and needs help. Cannonball acquiesces and tells Logan they’ll settle the score later. The Guthrie trio takes off leaving Logan wondering if they’re up to something.

The rest of the X-Men show up. Logan asks Storm, calling her Stormy, if they still have a chance of catching them. She tells him that they’re too far away and also warns him not to call her “Stormy”. Nightcrawler suggests they see if Cerebro can still get a lock on them. Logan agrees and suggests they head back to the Institute.

Later, the X-Men arrive back at the mansion to find it in disarray. Storm calls out for Rogue and Dazzler calls out for Charles. Storm wants to know what’s going on. A voice from the next room over tells her not to worry and that Rogue and Charles are safe with her. They cautiously enter the room and are greeted by Paige Guthrie who says, “Welcome home, X-Men. Hope you’ll survive the experience.” Behind her strapped in irons are Charles and Rogue, the latter being unconscious.

Everyone is shocked to see Paige alive. They explain to her they were told she died in the Seattle Core. She tells them that she didn’t die, but was left behind. None of the X-Men ever came to look for her. She then says, “But you know how they say blood is thicker than water?” and the wall behind her explodes. It’s Sam, Elizabeth and Josh her two brothers and sister. “Don’t you just love family reunions?!”, she quips.

Characters Involved: 

Beak, Dazzler, Nightcrawler, Rogue, Silver Samurai, Storm, Wolfsbane(all X-Men)

Charles Lensherr

Weapon X

Amazon, Cannonball, Husk, Josh Guthrie (all Guthrie siblings)

Story Notes: 

All six covers of this limited series line up to make one giant picture.

On the opening splash page where the X-Men collide trying to make a tackle, the title “The Age of Apocalypse” can be discerned within the blades of grass.

“The score that needs be settled” according to Silver Samurai was shown in the AoA one-shot. In one of the stories Logan comes to the rescue of Mariko, the Samurai’s half-sister. When the Samurai showed up he was upset that Logan performed what should have been his duty. They fought only briefly as Logan easily beat him. Silver Samurai teleported away in disgrace.

The Guthries were another part of the crew that watched over Sinister’s pens. That is why Dazzler, a former pen captive, is excited to get a chance for revenge.

Josh has glowing wings and a shaved head unlike his 616 version. He should also not be present in the AoA. In the original crossover readers were led to believe that Amazon, Cannonball and Husk were the only surviving Guthrie kids, while the others had been culled by Sinister.

Husk was the last of the Gen X students to be seen alive during Generation Next. Colossus and Shadowcat left their surviving students behind in the Core to make sure their main objective of freeing Illyana came to fruition. Once outside the Core, Colossus went back for them.
Unfortunately, the entrance door started to close and he didn’t have enough strength to keep it open. His last images were of Husk fighting, but slowly and eventually being overcome by her aggressors. [Generation Next #4]
The Seattle Core where Husk was presumably killed was a place where humans were sent to work as slaves, mining and what not, kind of like in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”.

Issue Information: 

This Issue has been reprinted in:

Written By: