Today, Marvel Comics introduced a brand new team of X-Men in the pages of Astonishing X-Men #13. While five of the team’s members were previously revealed, the team’s sixth and final member didn’t appear until the issue’s final page.
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SPOILERS for Astonishing X-Men #13 follow.
Astonishing X-Men #13 sees the new creative team of Matthew Rosenberg, Greg Land, and Frank D’Armata jump on board and begin a brand new story that is totally detached from the one told in the previous twelve issues. The issue’s cover reveals the first five members of the new X-Men team: Havok, Beast, Warpath, Colossus, and Dazzler.
The issue follows Havok, aka Alex Summers, after the major change in him that happened to him in the pages of X-Men Blue. Now that he isn’t “inverted,” Alex is trying to rejoin the X-Men, but his time spent as a terrorist means he isn’t being welcomed with open arms.
After Kitty Pryde kicks Havok out of the Xavier School, Alex heads to Harvard University where Beast is teaching. Beast had a falling out with the X-Men and has voluntarily sidelined himself from the superhero scene, but Havok tries to convince him to join a new team of X-Men. Their argument is interrupted when Skullbuster and the Reavers show up looking for Beast and open fire.
Havok and Beast try to fight them off, but there are too many of the Reavers. Beast has an idea, possibly a bad one. He warns Havok to cover his ears and opens another door to his lab. A loud noise pours through, and then:
Banshee, the too often forgotten member of the original All-New All-Different X-Men, is back. So where has he been?
Banshee was dead for a good while, having died to try to stop the Blackbird from colliding with another plane during X-Men: Deadly Genesis. He made a few appearances as one of the dead during stories like “Necrosha” and “Chaos War,” but he didn’t return from the dead until The Apocalypse Twins got ahold of him in Uncanny Avengers.
Rather than recreate the Four Horsemen, the Apocalypse Twins decided to create four Horsemen of Death using four Death Seeds. They chose to resurrect four dead heroes or villains for this purpose: Sentry, Grim Reaper, Daken, and Banshee.
Banshee fought the Avengers and once he was subdued he was turned over to the custody of the X-Men. Beast began working on undoing Banshee’s transformation but warned that it would take years and some highly advanced technology before they would see results.
That would explain why Beast had Banshee hidden somewhere in his Cambridge laboratory. Banshee’s face also hints that he may not be entirely cured of the Death Seed’s influence. Fans will have to wait until the next issue to see exactly what this all means for Banshee and the X-Men.
Astonishing X-Men #13 by Matthew Rosenberg, Greg Land, and Frank D’Armata is on sale now.
