House of X Reveals Why the X-Men Targeted Nimrod

House of X #3 held plenty of interesting developments in Jonathan Hickman’s ongoing X-Men saga, and one of the biggest revelations had to do with what their ultimate plan is. We’ve seen teases of it in past issues of House of X and Powers of X, but here their main goal is spelled out clearly, and it all has to do with Nimrod. That might seem like a no-brainer if you’ve been reading the series, as he seems to be a major villain in Year 100, but it’s not that he’s the threat that’s the most interesting aspect of this story, but why and how that can affect the future.

Spoilers incoming for House of X #3, so if you haven’t read the issue yet you’ve been warned.

Early on in the issue, we see Cyclops gathering a force of X-Men to head to Orchis’ space station, where they are developing a Mother Mold in secret. Being that this is Moira’s 10th life, we know these X-Men know about what happened in her previous life, which came to an end after Apocalypse’s X-Men managed to get the data regarding Nimrod’s origin and when he first went online.

Hickman spells out the exact plan of Xavier, Magneto, and the rest of the X-Men through a timeline of Moira’s 9th and so far 10th life, and reveals Moira X learned that while emergent A.I.s are unavoidable (man-machine army, sentient Sentinels, etc), Nimrod is not. The specific wording states “an anti-mutant Nimrod is not. It is a product of a particular intent — manufactured for a purpose.”

The only way to stop Nimrod’s creation is to destroy any Mother Molds before they are fully operational, as that is needed to create a Nimrod in the first place. That’s why in the issue this team of X-Men heads out to destroy an early Mother MOld model, but that previous statement reveals their supposed Plan B.

The statement says that an anti-mutant Nimrod is avoidable, so perhaps by going after this station’s Mother Mold the X-Men have an ulterior motive. Sure they could just destroy the station and postpone another Mother Mold being created, but they could also plan some sort of seed within the process that removes the anti-mutant aspect of Nimrod, changing the landscape moving forward.

Perhaps that’s why in the year 1000 we see the Librarian with a peaceful and quite delightful version of Nimrod, as the intent of its original creators was removed. The X-Men’s major mission has been made clear, and crazily enough opens up even more questions, but we can’t wait to see how it all plays out.

House of X #3 is written by Jonathan Hickman and drawn by Pepe Larraz with colors by Marte Gracia, letters by VC’s Clayton Cowles, and design by Tom Muller. You can check out the official description for the issue below.

“Superstar writer Jonathan Hickman (AVENGERS, SECRET WARS, FANTASTIC FOUR) continues reshaping the X-Men’s world with Marvel Young Gun artist Pepe Larraz (EXTERMINATION, AVENGERS)!”

House of X #3 is in comic stores now, and let us know what you thought of the issue in the comments! You can also hit me up on Twitter @MattAguilarCB for all things comics!