Avengers West Coast #101

Sep 18

Sep 18 Avengers West Coast #101

Bloodties Part III: Genosha, Me Amour

This story continues from X-Men (vol. 2) #26…

With a bloody conflict raging on the island nation of Genosha between its human and mutant populations, the Avengers arrive at the Untied Nations to demand why they are being prevented from getting involved.[1] Hawkeye is the most vocal of the Avengers and demands to know why the UN is not allowing them to get involved when there are lives at stake. The chairman of the UN reminds Clint that the Avengers are beholden to the United Nations, not the other way around.[2] Hawkeye then warns the council that if they won’t allow the Avengers to go to Genosha, they’ll rip up their charter. While this is a bolt statement, it gets an ugly look from the Black Widow, making some of the UN council wonder if they aren’t witnessing the end of the Avengers.[3]

However, some of the Avengers have managed to make it into Genosha where they have teamed up with the X-Men to help end the bloody conflict. At that very moment, Captain America, the Scarlet Witch, War Machine, the Black Knight, and Sersi are confronted by Exodus, who has taken over leadership of the Acolytes after Magneto had his mind wiped.[4] The Avengers try to reason with him about the kidnapping of Luna Maximoff, the daughter of Quicksilver and Crystal.[5] However, Exodus refuses to entertain having a dialogue with those who are opposed to his mutant supremacy agenda. When Crystal tries to stop him in order to find out where they have taken her daughter, Exodus easily swats her away with his psionic powers. That’s when War Machine barges in and begins brawling with the evil mutant. As the two fight it out in the air, the other Avengers have to deal with two opposing mobs and prevent them from slaughtering each other. This proves difficult to do without seriously hurting anyone until Crystal uses her elemental powers to blow the combatants away with wind. With the immediate crisis dealt with, Crystal and Scarlet Witch head off to look for Luna, leaving Cap and the others to deal with the mob.

While below the city, Professor X, the Beast, and US Agent are searching for the islands Mutate population. The Professor’s mental abilities are able to sense their presence nearby. Breaking through a tunnel wall they find all the Mutates have been hidden underground in deplorable conditions. The trio are horrified by this, leaving them open to an ambush by an human commando unit called the Magistrate Elite.

Just outside Hammer Bay, the rest of the X-Men — Cyclops, Jean Grey, Archangel, Storm, Rogue, Gambit, and Bishop — as well as Quicksilver are clashing with a group of Mutates who call themselves the Unforgiven. Although the Unforgiven are powerful, the X-Men quickly defeat them and nab who they think is former Acolyte leader Fabian Cortez, the mad man responsible for the war. However, it turns out that it was never Cortez at all, but an Unforgiven shape-shifter. This annoys Cyclops who vows that they’ll track down Cortez and put a stop to his madness once and for all.

Meanwhile, the battle between Exodus and War Machine rages on. Eventually, Exodus’ constant speeches about mutant supremacy gets the better of War Machine. This leaves him open to Exodus’ psionic attacks, shorting out his armor and sending him falling to the ground. However the battle is far from over as Sersi takes to the air to match her Eternal powers against Exodus’ mutant abilities to see who is the stronger of the two!

… This story continues in Uncanny X-Men #307.

Recurring Characters

Avengers West Coast (Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, US Agent, Spider-Woman, War Machine), Avengers (Captain America, Giant-Man, Vision, Black Widow, Black Knight, Hercules, Sersi, Crystal), Quicksilver, X-Men (Professor X, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Archangel, Beast, Iceman, Storm, Rogue, Gambit, Bishop), Exodus, the Unforgiven, Genoshan Magistrates, SHIELD

Continuity Notes

The Avengers wanted to get involved because Fabian Cortez of the Acolytes kidnapped Luna, daughter of Quicksilver and Crystal. They were barred from going to rescue her by Nick Fury and SHIELD as seen in Avengers #368 and X-Men (vol. 2) #26.
At the time of this story, the Avengers had been under UN jurisdiction since Avengers #329.
They kind of are as the Avengers West Coast will end up getting disbanded next issue.
Magneto’s mind was wiped by Professor X in X-Men (vol. 2) #25 allowing Exodus to rise to power. Magneto will remain in this state until his mind is restored in X-Men (vol. 2) #86.
Here, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are referred to as Magneto’s children and Luna as his granddaughter. This family lineage is not what everyone believes it to be:
- Magneto, Quicksilver, and the Scarlet Witch were all led to believe they are blood relatives in Vision and the Scarlet Witch #4. This belief will persist for many years until the real truth is revealed.
- As explained in Uncanny Avengers (vol. 2) #4-5, Wanda and Pietro aren’t even mutants. They were kidnapped as children and experimented upon by the High Evolutionary. In order to cover up his work he made it so the pair would always register as mutants.
- It’s later revealed in Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #2 that they are the children of Natalya Maximoff. However, the identity of their biological father (as of this writing in October, 2022) has yet to be revealed.

Topical References

Hawkeye compares the violence in Genosha to Sarajevo. At the time this story was published, Sarajevo was one of the many part of the former Yugoslavia that was caught in the Bosnian War which lasted from 1992 to 1996. As Clint is making the comparison as though the Bosnian War is still ongoing at the time, this should be considered a topical reference.