A Marvel Comics Event Spotlight: X-Men: Fatel Attraction

justinsayne

Cody Rhodes is an excellant
These are a new series of threads that I’m going to be doing, where I take an “event” from the comic book world and spotlight on it, I will likely be getting the majority of my information from Wiki, so if you’re reading a see something that is not correct please point it out, the first few spotlights will be things I’ve either read all or part of back when I was a avid comic collector in the early to mind 90s. The layout will basically be a quick summery of the event (I will be putting this in spoiler tags in case someone hasn‘t read it yet and wants), followed by a plot synopsis, aftermath, and depending on how big the event is a bibliography of which issues the story arc took place in, if the event in huge then I’ll just be covering the trade paperbacks (assuming it can be found in TPBs)

Any with that out of the way lets get started the first one, X-Men: Fatal Attraction…

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Quick Summery
"Fatal Attractions" is a major X-Men crossover written by Fabian Nicieza and Scott Lobdell, published by Marvel Comics in 1993. Spanning the entire line of books, it served to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Marvel's X-Men.

When Magneto and his Acolytes return, a new confrontation with the X-Men begins, with Professor Xavier tempted to cross a moral line to stop them.

Plot Summery
The Acolytes, now led by Fabian Cortez, attack Camp Hayden, the headquarters for Project: Wideawake, the latest government Sentinel program. The base is defended by government-sponsored mutant team X-Factor, and as the battle rages Cortez makes an offer to Quicksilver to be the Acolyte's new leader, accepting his role as Magneto's heir. The Acolytes leave after Quicksilver strongly declines.

X-Force is approached by the mutant Exodus, who brings an offer of sanctuary from an unknown greater power. It is revealed that the "sanctuary" (which is referred to as Avalon) is in fact Cable's former base of operations Graymalkin (now retrofitted with Shiar technology), and the "greater power" to be the mutant Magneto, who was presumed dead after the fall of Asteroid M. Cable teleports X-Force away from Avalon using the station's bodyslide technology, while he retrieves the sentient computer program Professor from the central core and activate the auto-destruct function. However, he is only successful in the former objective, as Magneto prevents him from fulfilling the latter, and Cable very nearly loses his life in a lopsided battle before teleporting himself out. The mutants Rusty and Skids, who were cured of their brainwashing at Stryfe's hands by Magneto, elect to stay aboard Avalon.

While the X-Men are burying Illyana Rasputin (who was killed by the Legacy Virus), Magneto and the Acolytes crash the funeral, stating their intentions to wipe out humanity from Avalon, their space station. Colossus, distraught over his sister's death and faltering in his faith in Professor X and his dream, joins Magneto and the Acolytes.

Magneto unleashes an electromagnetic pulse on the Earth that creates havoc on the world's electrical systems. Professor X dons a Shi'ar exoskeleton that enables him to walk, and assembles Jean Grey, Gambit, Rogue, Quicksilver and Wolverine to go to Avalon and stop Magneto. Arriving via Shi'ar teleportation device, the team boards Avalon and disables the station with a virus created by Beast. Magneto engages the X-Men in battle, and in a fit of rage after nearly being gutted by Wolverine, tears the adamantium out of Wolverine's skeleton. Professor X, enraged by Magneto's actions, mindwipes Magneto, leaving him in a coma. The X-Men race back to Earth to treat Wolverine, while Colossus stays in a devastated Avalon to care for the comatose Magneto.

As the Blackbird returns to Earth, it runs into rough turbulence. Flashes of Wolverine's consciousness are shown as he struggles to stay alive. The X-Men on Earth watch in horror as the crew frantically tries to stabilize the ship and care for Wolverine. The ship's hatch opens, and Wolverine sees himself "going towards the light", but he is pushed back. He awakens in time to prevent Jean Grey from getting sucked out of the Blackbird. The X-Men land on the Earth safely. As Wolverine recovers from his injuries, he and the X-Men learn that his claws were a part of his actual skeletal structure all along, as he now possesses claws made of bone.

On Muir Island, the X-Men use Shadowcat to lure in Colossus in an effort to heal his head wound (caused by the X-Cutioner), which they believed was responsible for his defection. The ruse works, and while Nightcrawler fends off the Acolytes' attempts to reclaim their ally, Professor X and Moira MacTaggert heal Colossus, using Cyclops' optic blast. Once again able to return to his human form, Colossus still elects to remain amongst the Acolytes, to keep them in check.

Aftermath
* This story lead directly into the Avengers/X-Men crossover "Bloodties".

* In wiping out Magneto's mind, Professor X unleashed an evil psychic entity, Onslaught, that festers in his own mind, leading to the Onslaught Saga of 1996.

* The mind-wiped Magneto did not return until 1999.

* In the story's most noted event, Wolverine lost his adamantium skeleton. He did not get it back until 2000, when Apocalypse rebonded it to his skeleton, shown through flashback sequences during Wolverine (vol. 1) #145, a tie-in of the "Apocalypse: The Twelve" story line.

* With the team in shambles, the three remaining members of Excalibur (Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, and Phoenix) decide to remain on Muir Island, abandoning their operations in Britain.

* After the destruction of Avalon, Colossus would later join Excalibur as part of his rehabilitation.

* The story line was the basis for the Arcade game X-Men: Children of the Atom.

* According to Peter David, the idea of Magneto pulling out Wolverine's adamantium came from the plotting of the X-Cutioner's Song crossover. He had sarcastically suggested the removal when they were considering bringing Magneto back, and supposedly it was never meant to be taken seriously.

Bibliography

1. X-Factor (vol. 1) #92
2. X-Force (vol. 1) #25
3. Uncanny X-Men #304
4. X-Men (vol. 2) #25
5. Wolverine (vol. 2) #75
6. Excalibur (vol. 1) #71

All six of these issues can also be found in the trade paperback X-Men: Fatal Attractions

Justin's Thoughts

I think this was the first "event" I ever collected every single issue for, I remember each issue having a hologram on the cover (which was prolly the biggest reason for me wanting all the issues at the time), and really the only thing I really remembered from the story was Magneto tearing out the adamantium from Wolverine's skeleton, and then Xavier essentially turning Magneto into a vegetable, funny story about that, when it happened my friend had heard about it and kept rereading the issue to try and figure out which vegetable Xavier had turned him into, this was the moment I realized my friend might just be the dumbest fuck on the planet. I also remember loving this storyline, it's been prolly about 17 yrs. since I last read this (god I'm old), I still remember the page where Wolverine's adamantium skeleton gets torn out vividly, anybody who loves a great X-men story should check this one out, if it's as good as I remember then I'm sure you'd love it
 
Great post Justin, and great storyline to review. I'm fairly well versed in X-History, but this is much more in-depth than I have ever been with my favorite team of superheroes.

I wonder how soon after Wolverine's adamantium skeleton was ripped off his advance healing factor kicked back in. After a while it was revealed that the adamantium was constantly poisoning his body and his healing factor was constantly working to take care of it. After the adamantium got removed, though, his healing factor worked much quicker, and he was able to recover from serious injuries in mere seconds.

It's pretty weird to think that Wolverine didn't have his adamantium claws for about 7 years. Hell, most deceased heroes don't even stay dead for that long. I mean, the first thing I think anyone thinks about when they think Wolverine is his adamantium claws, and to spend 7 years without that is kind of baffling.

Any idea what you're going to do for your next spotlight?
 
Great post Justin, and great storyline to review. I'm fairly well versed in X-History, but this is much more in-depth than I have ever been with my favorite team of superheroes.

To be fair, as I mentioned in the opening of the post I mostly take everything from Wikipedia, IDK if you've read Fatal Attraction or not, but if you're X-Men fan then you should definitely pick it up, it's a very good and entertaining storyline

I wonder how soon after Wolverine's adamantium skeleton was ripped off his advance healing factor kicked back in.

If I remember right it wasn't too long, though I think they had him leave for a bit after it happened, I distinctly remember a panel in one of the Wolverine books where he's sitting outside with Jubilee leaning against a tree, and he keeps pulling his claws out, she asks him why he keeps doing that adn he responds with something along the lines that everytime he contracts his claws back in that the holes where the come out heal shut instantly, and he's trying to slow the healing factor or something, I can't remember his exact explanation, but it's something along those lines

After a while it was revealed that the adamantium was constantly poisoning his body and his healing factor was constantly working to take care of it. After the adamantium got removed, though, his healing factor worked much quicker, and he was able to recover from serious injuries in mere seconds.

I was unaware of all this

It's pretty weird to think that Wolverine didn't have his adamantium claws for about 7 years. Hell, most deceased heroes don't even stay dead for that long. I mean, the first thing I think anyone thinks about when they think Wolverine is his adamantium claws, and to spend 7 years without that is kind of baffling.

7 yrs. is an eternity in comic book world, I think Jean's death is coming up on six year now isn't it?, I know Marvel has discussed her eventual return but has also said it's not something they want to rush

Any idea what you're going to do for your next spotlight?

Something from the DC Universe, I'm leaning toward either Batman: Knightfall, or Death of Superman, both also happened in '93, and where pretty huge events. My plan is to rotate between the DC universe and the Marvel Universe, I also might throw a a random spotlight from another comic company (likely Image or Dark Horse) though the vast majority will be from the two big companies, I also don't want to do two of the same character in a row (for example I just did an X-Men one, so the next time I do a Marvel event it'll be a different group of characters)
 
I've been a fan of the X-Verse for 20 years now. Those damn books can be so good, and then frustrate the shit out of me all in the span of two months. I've sworn the books off from time to time, but always manage to comeback. I have over 600 X-Books hiding out somewhere. I sense myself and JGlass could ramble for hours.

So onto the storyline at hand, Fatal Attractions. Fucking fantastic set of books here. The original story started a couple years before with the launch of the 2nd volume of X-Men. Magneto "dies", asteroid M is sunk, and the Acolytes are pretty much scattered.

I love how it includes every book with only one issue. Each issue for each book is a one shot for that book, but somehow it all ties together to tell a damn good story.

Wolverine getting his skeleton ripped out, Xavier crossing the line, Magneto a vegetable, those are the main things everyone remembers, and should. So much more though that doesn't get near the credit it deserves happened. Quicksilver denying his heritage and his birthright to lead the Acolytes to kick the entire storyline off was very well done.

My personal favorite was X-Force #25. We find out that Avalon is actually Graymalkin, not a huge, but interesting development. The biggest thing was the battle between Magneto and Cable. Sure, Magneto decimated Cable, but Cable wins with his big fuck you at the end. Cable has the New Mutants, and they are his X-Force, and Magneto will never get them back. it was simple, but awesome.
 
I don't know what is was at the time but the X-Books just had this streak of being the best comics going for a decade. The Lee/Claremont run was just superb and the creators kept the ball running after that with Ftal Attraction being a great example. I prefer the X-Cutioners Song to this and the Xtinction Agenda to that but Fatal Atractions was a great arc and stuff like Collusus for his betrayal, deciding to be Magneto's carer after he is brain wiped by Charles.

Also the statement that Xavier made when he said the only thing holding Wolverine's body in one piece was his telepathic powers.. to me put forward just how much pain the hero of the X-Men was in...
 
I'd never really been into comic books before this particular storyline. I'd been a fan of the X-Men due to the Fox animated series and Wolverine #75 was the first comic book I bought. I saw the cover of the issue with that cool hologram card and the artwork and just picked it up on impulse. This issue was the direct aftermath of X-Men #25, which was when Wolverine actually had the adamantium magnetically ripped from his skeleton by Magneto. I loved the artwork and the general drama of the storyline and this issue in particular. To my 13 year old mind, it was impossible to think that Wolverine, the toughest of the tough, had sustained injuries that shorted out his healing factor and was dying from them. The revelation of the bone claws at the end of the issue and his leaving the X-Men just hooked me. I've been reading X-books ever since.

Later on I was able to go back and find all the other titles in this storyline as I was older and got a little more organized about things. But Wolverine #75 changed the way I thought of comics. Before, I'd always sort of just thought of them as kid stuff with little cookie cutter stories and plot lines. I don't collect as many titles as I used to, comics can be damned expensive and run into a lot of money over time, but I always at least keep up with what's going on.
 

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