Wolverine Kills SPOILER In Powers of X

The X-Men revival at Marvel Comics threw fans for a major loop today with the release of Powers of X #3, turning the future of the mutants into a surprising alternate reality that some theories predicted after last week's events.

After weeks of epic moments and bad ass scenes with Rasputin, Cyclops, Magneto, and Moira MacTaggert, Jonathan Hickman's X-Men launch finally revealed the first major twist by showing the X2 timeline taking place 100 years into the future is actually in Moira's ninth life, when she allies with Apocalypse.

This is the period of time when Nimrod the Lesser and all of the other Sentinels have all but eliminated mutant life on planet Earth, and the remaining X-Men are attempting to figure out Nimrod's point of origin so they could maybe prevent it in Moira's next life. This leads to Wolverine having to dole out the hard action of killing her so that she could take this knowledge and possibly alter the future of the mutant race.

House of X has established that Xavier and Magneto need to unite in order for the mutant race to not only prosper but survive the impending ascendancy of artificial intelligence and the Sentinels — but this issue intimates that Apocalypse might be the missing piece to a sustainable future.

The previous issues of House of X have established that Orchis is a threat that portends the creation of Nimrod, and with the outcasts of the Marvel Universe's various intelligence agencies coming together to deal with the mutant threat, they actually have a major obstacle to overcome.

But Moira's death at the hands of Wolverine actually gives Xavier and Magneto a chance to eliminate the threat of machine supremacy before it can gain momentum. And while it's an interesting direction for the series to take, it also continues to force Wolverine to make some of the hardest decisions in Marvel history.

This is the same character that had to murder Jean Grey so she could be reborn as the Phoenix, who had to oppose the Phoenix 5 and mutants while siding with the Avengers, and who has continued to sacrifice his own happiness and identity for the sake of what's right.

The next issues seem to promise an assault on the incomplete Dyson sphere the Illuminati created to protect and/or destroy the Earth, one that has now been repurposed by Orchis and turned into a Mother Mold. Whether or not the X-Men succeed in stopping the creation of Nimrod remains to be seen.

Either way, it doesn't look like the Mutants will ever be able to escape their bleak future.

Powers of X #3 is now available in stores and online. The issue is by Hickman, R.B. Silva, and Marte Gracia.