X-Men Just Brought Back A God-Tier Mutant Missing For Years (& It Could Be Huge)

The X-Men comics have introduced readers to some of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe, and they did it from the beginning. Professor X was the most powerful telepath on the planet, and while Magneto wouldn’t get the godlike powers he has right now right away, he was still powerful enough to fight a whole team of heroes on his own. Since then, we’ve met powerhouses like the Living Tribunal, Storm, Jean Grey becoming the Phoenix, Legion, Jamie Braddock, Magik, Iceman becoming a god of ice, and many more. Power levels have continually gone up over the last few decades, though, so it’s hard to call any mutant the most powerful mutant. Folks like Storm and Magneto can control electromagnetic energy, and Jamie Braddock and Proteus can change reality to suit their wants. Jean Grey is a cosmic being. However, we’re getting the return of a mutant that was able to make even them look somewhat weak.

X-Men of Apocalypse Alpha #1 ends on a big return, as members of the Age of Apocalypse universe travel to what is supposed to be the main universe. The first person they meet is someone that is very familiar to fans of 1995’s The Age of Apocalypse — X-Man. X-Man was the Cable of the Age of Apocalypse universe, created by Mister Sinister as a weapon against Apocalypse. X-Man would escape that universe when he stabbed Apocalypse’s son Holocaust (who also returned in the issue), the two of them making their way to the 616 universe. This was before the rise of the X-Men’s Omega class mutants, but back then, X-Man was considered the most powerful mutant ever, and his actions afterwards shows the truth of this statement. However, is there a bigger reason he’s returned?

X-Man Took a Winding Road Through the Marvel Universe

One of things people forget about Cable is that before he was given the techno-organic virus, he was supposed to be the most powerful mutant ever. The combination of Cyclops and Jean Grey’s DNA (in the form of Jean clone Madelyne Pryor) created a child with limitless psionic power. X-Man was created from Cyclops and actual Jean DNA and never had the virus, so he had access to his full power. X-Man came over to the 616 universe in X-Men Omega #1, his miniseries becoming an ongoing.

He met Madelyne Pryor, who was resurrected by him subconsciously, and the two of them ran around trying to keep out of the X-Men’s way. X-Man would battle the X-Cutioner and Holocast, as well as Exodus, in pretty great fights drawn by Steve Skroce. Eventually, Sinister would get involved, and X-Man would end up escaping him with his servant Threnody. They made their way to New York City, X-Man made friends with Spider-Man (Skroce became the artist on The Amazing Spider-Man for a short time, and the issues looked sensational), and became the superhero of lower Manhattan, hanging out in Washington Square Park. Onslaught would capture him to use his powers, alongside Franklin Richards.

So, at this point, X-Man was considered the same level as Franklin Richards, a character who would go on to create a universe. X-Man would spend the rest of the ’90s going downhill, captured by Apocalypse to use in “The Twelve” in order to make himself a god. X-Man’s book would end with “Counter X” line of X-Men books in the year 2000, when he became a shaman trying to lead the world into a better tomorrow, eventually saving the Earth before dying.

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X-Man would of course return, battling the Dark X-Men and the Dark Avengers, and would later join the New Mutants, his powers diminished after years of being used as a reality altering psi battery that could open portals to other dimensions by villains like Mysterio and Sugar Man. The end of 2018 would see him become the main villain of “X-Men Disassembled”. His powers were restored to their godlike levels, and he wanted to fix the world by creating the opposite of the Earth he grew up on.

He was able to take control of Legion’s powers, and used the combined energies to create his own universe in the story Age of X-Man. It was a utopia of sorts, but emotions were meant to be tightly controlled so that people wouldn’t go crazy. Eventually, the X-Men remembered their past lives and convinced him to release them back to the 616 universe. However, Nate stayed, and that was the last time we saw him until now. X-Men of Apocalypse Alpha #1 doesn’t look like he did the last time we saw him, and is more like the one that we saw in the original X-Man series. This, combined with the fact that the AoA X-Men came to the 616 because they believe that their universe is the actual correct universe, could be leading things in a very interesting direction.

Will X-Man Doom the 616 Marvel Universe?

So, one of the things you realize about X-Man by looking back on his history is that he’s definitely a reality-altering mutant. He’s created his own universe, and has been able to open portals to other dimensions. That’s true power, and X-Man could be the key to the book’s main plot. See, in the Age of Apocalypse universe, Mister Sinister talked about the idea that their universe is the main one, and that they needed to restore it. We also learn that this part of an evil plot, because Sinister is working with Holocaust. There could be a reason that Forge’s machine, which was built while he was with Sinister, took the X-Men to X-Man — to overwrite the 616 universe with the Age of Apocalypse universe.

If they can convince X-Man that their universe is the true one, then the plan could be to convince him to use his powers to make the Age of Apocalypse universe into the main one. X-Man does have that power level even on his own. This could be the scheme that Sinister manipulated the X-Men into facilitating, and it could make things very interesting. That’s also before we even get to the question of when in time the AoA X-Men turned up. Could they have gone further back to X-Man when he was confused about the universe he just came to? This is a cool direction to take things, and we’ll see where it leaves.

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