Marvel Comics’ Death Of X #4 Spoilers and Review follow.
The Terrigen Mists that create Inhumans now kill mutants in Marvel. This is the crux of the tension between the Inhumans and the X-Men during Marvel Now 2016 and beyond as clouds of Terrigen Mists move across the globe.
That leads to a confrontation between the original X-Man Cyclops and Black Bolt the leader of the Inhumans.
Black Bolt protects his Inhumans from Cyclops and kills him the in process as Inhumans and X-Men look on including a younger time-displaced Cyclops now a charter member of the Champions.
However, all is not as it seems. It is revealed that the original Cyclops who has played a big role in Death of X has been dead for some time already. It was Emma Frost using her physic powers that made the world think he was alive so his death would have meaning.
Cyclops ignominious death is revealed as it happened off-panel all the way back during Death of X #1; Cyclops died due to the Terrigen.
Here is scene where Cyclops died in Death of X #1.
What’s next?
Inhumans vs. X-Men #0…
…and IVX #1.
So…
Looks like the X-Men and world think Black Bolt killed Cyclops. Has Death of X #4 set Emma Frost up as the villain now behind Inhumans vs. X-Men? Will Emma Frost battle Storm for ultimate X leadership?
With the death of the original Cyclops, Death of X not only serves to put Marvel on the path to IVX and Resurrxion, but cleans up some continuity confusion in Marvel Now 2016 caused by the time-displaced All-New X-Men; the original X-Men as teenagers now in modern day Marvel. The original Jean Grey has been dead for some time and now the original Cyclops follows her to the grave. That leaves the teen Cyclops and Jean Grey as THE core X-Men in Marvel rounded out by the teen Beast (human-looking not the blue furred older version), teen Angel (with non-metallic wings unlike older Angel) and teen Iceman (who is more a Snowman than his older jagged Iceman look). Beyond Jean Grey and Cyclops the other original teen X-Men are visually different enough from their older selves that there isn’t too much confusion in Marvel readership over the multiple versions of the characters.
I hope the older Cyclops’ death was not based on an editorial edict to clean up X-continuity / doppelganger confusion, but I did find Death of X #4 satisfying particularly on art and am intrigued for Inhumans vs. X-men and Resurrxion. 7 out of 10.