Issue Description

Original Solicitation:

The superstar team of Warren Ellis and Simone Bianchi take the X-Men to the "Second Stage"!

" Messiah Complex" pulled the X-Men team together, " Divided We Stand" tore them apart. Now the X-Men are back to business -- with a new look, a new base of operations, and a mystery to solve that will take them into previously uncharted territory and test them to their core. It all starts on a spaceship hovering 300 hundred feet above the twisted wreckage of Chaparanga Beach. Its sole inhabitant: the mysterious Subject X. Five minutes -- just five minutes is all he needs, all he’s asking for.

Can the X-Men afford to give it to him?

Synopsis:The X-Men – Cyclops, Emma Frost, Storm, Armor, and Wolverine – touch down on Chaparanga Beach, a junkyard for abandoned spaceships. They are hunting Subject X, who murdered a mysterious artificial mutant in San Francisco.

Emma quickly zeroes in on their quarry, holed up in one of the few ships still aloft. Armor launches Wolverine at the ship with a Fastball Special to scout ahead while Storm lifts the rest of the team into the air.

Wolverine crawls through the bowels of the ship, discovering Subject X tinkering with a box connected to the ship's power supply. Subject X lights Wolverine aflame with a single touch and goes back to his box to power it on. When Wolverine recovers and presses his attack Subject X incinerates the air around them!

Storms arrives with the rest of the team in tow and repels the flames, but they're too late to stop Subject X from bringing his box online. When mysterious figures manifest around the now-glowing box, Cyclops orders the team to abandon ship and Storm to strike it once they're clear.

Storm's lightning bolt spits the space ship in two. It crashes to the ground in an impressive plume of flames, scattering the salvage workers on the beach below.

As the team makes their way into the charred hull of the ship, Ororo worries she might have killed Subject X. Scott cuts her off, insisting the ends of preserving the mutant race justify any means necessary.

Their argument is interrupted when they discover the prone-but-conscious form of Subject X. He insists, “you can't stop the Annex,” and then immolates.

Astonishing X-Men (2004)

Publisher

Marvel

Volume Description

Astonishing X-Men Volume 3

This would be the third series that runs by this name, but the first ongoing series. Astonishing X-Men is a volume that was started in 2004 by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday as part of the X-Men: Reload event. It was meant to become the prime X-Men series, and was so for some time. It featured the return of fan-favorite X-Man Collossus, the introduction of S.W.O.R.D. and Breakworld among others. The series lasted for 68 issues and was the only series that did not receive the Marvel Now logo, even though it was published during that time. It was recently cancelled and then replaced by Amazing X-Men Vol.2 as part of Marvel Now.

Collected EditionsAstonishing X-Men: Gifted (#1-6)X-Men: The Adamantium Collection (#1-6)Astonishing X-Men: Dangerous (#7-12)Astonishing X-Men: Torn (#13-18)Astonishing X-Men: Unstoppable (#19-24)Astonishing X-Men Omnibus (#1-24)Astonishing X-Men by Whedon and Cassady Ultimate Collection (#1-24 & Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men #1)Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Box (#25-30 & Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Boxes #1-2)Astonishing X-Men: Exogenetic (#31-35)Astonishing X-Men: Monstrous (#36-37, #39, #41)Astonishing X-Men: Children of the Brood (#38, #40, #42-43)Astonishing X-Men: Exalted (#44-47)Astonishing X-Men: Northstar (#48-51)Astonishing X-Men: Weaponized (#52-56 & Astonishing X-Men Annual #1)X-Men: X-Termination (X-Treme X-Men #12-13, Age of Apocalypse #13-14, X-Termination #1-2 and Astonishing X-Men #60-61)Astonishing X-Men: Unmasked (#57-59 & #62-68)Motion Comics

Marvel Knights has released motion comics based on this series, being released through video services; iTunes, Playstation Store, Hulu, and Netflix, and released on DVD/Blu-ray through Shout! Factory. The series collects the entire run by Whedon, and Cassaday, adapting issues 1-24.

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Status: Not in Collection