UNCANNY X-MEN #326: The Nature of Evil

Gambit attempts to expose Sabretooth's inner self

Originally Published November 1995

We begin with Gambit being a sulky baby.

The Cajun X-Man is in his feelings because the Deep Dark Secret he's been running from for many years has finally caught up with him and torn his incipient relationship with Rogue asunder. Too bad so sad, right? Get over it and find some other X-Lady to mack on.

Gambit's friend Storm comes to check on him, but when pressed he changes the subject to ask ho Storm is doing in the aftermath of murdering Marrow. Storm's take: she was kind of asking for it.

Yes, a once upon a time Storm's motto was to never take a life, but that went out the window a long, long time ago, and now her credo is more along the lines of "Haters gotta go." Gambit asks whether bad folks can ever find redemption in this life, and Storm's answer is, "Um, yeah, maybe some people I guess, but not Marrow, never Marrow." Sure, whatever you need to tell yourself at night.

Meanwhile, down in San Francisco, Beast is hosting a conference on the Legacy Virus, sharing his findings with the medical community. The truth is: there's not much to tell, and he's told as much by a surprising objector... none other than Professor Xavier himself.

In a highly unethical bit of theatre, Beast and his mentor have a staged back-and-forth where Charles reminds the room that only like 8 people have ever gotten the Legacy Virus... nine if you count Moira (so, nine.) Charles points out that the rising panic is totally overblown and nothing to worry about and everybody should just calm the eff down about it and go about their lives. While I agree with the substance of the message, the delivery could certainly use some refinement.

The delegate from Genosha objects: there are huge mass graves in Genosha of Legacy Virus victims, so what about that?

Here's Valerie Cooper to tell us why we don't really care about Genosha and neither should anyone else:

From her facility on Muir Island, Moira watches on, accompanied by Nightcrawler, Meggan and Douglock, who as mutants, should probably be wary of spending too much time with Legacy Virus infectee Moira. They question whether the whole thing was a plan of Stryfe's to turn humans against mutants.

At the mansion, Sabretooth -- who as we know has reverted from a psycho killer to a Soft Kitty -- is spending time in his holographic forest environment, chasing artificial bunnies. He's being watched over by X-Force member Tabitha "Boomer" Smith, who suspects she sees a hint of the old Victor inside, but can't be sure.

Okay Boomer

The whole thing is interrupted by Gambit, who wants to have a few words with Sabertooth. He confronts the lobotomized killer with images of every known person he has killed, going right back to the beginning.

And on and on, in some perverse "This Is Your Life (of Murder)" segment. The faces from Sabes' past keep coming until we get to his former associate Birdie, and then to Genevieve, Gambit's onetime fling-slash-mark Victor killed due to competing on the job.

If nothing else, she should have been saved by her gravity-defying breasts

Sabretooth, in his diminished state, doesn't totally understand his past actions, but Gambit forces him to watch it over and over on a loop.

Storm arrives and interjects, ending this torture, sending Gambit away and putting Sabretooth back in his crate for the night. But it seems like the episode may have unlocked something inside of Creed.

Down in San Francisco, Charles in having something of a crisis of faith: here he is, the most powerful mutant telepath in the world, on a mission to steward mutant kind to an era of co-existence and understanding, and he can't seem to get anything done, including but not limited to "curing" Victor Creed of his remorseless killer nature. They end up in a bit of a debate about free will versus nature.

It ends on a note of ambiguity with Charles contemplating the task set before him, and the burden of expectations from himself and others. Ta ta for now!

Further Thoughts:

Gambit has been hugely in the spotlight lately, as the question of what, exactly, he did in his past simmers underneath his every appearance. What I like is that it is compelling: Gambit is clearly having trouble facing up to the fact that he did whatever-he-did. Perhaps he's wondering if Sabretooth can get atonement because he's wondering if he can get atonement, but also perhaps he doesn't want Sabretooth to get atonement, and perhaps he doesn't believe he deserves it either, which is causing him to lash out. It's kind of psychologically fascinating. If you're looking for action this is not your comic, but this is as strong of raw character work as I've seen in a few years.

As for Xavier's self-doubt and reflection, that honestly reads as a little obligatory and tacked-on to me, with not much specific to say about Xavier's feelings about the situation or how we're meant to feel about it. Personally I believe in restorative justice and if Sabretooth wanted to be redeemed perhaps he could, and perhaps now he has been altered -- albeit in an unethical way due to his conflict with Wolverine -- so that he is no longer culpable for what he did in the past. We get the impression of substance working to elevate this issue without anything meaningful being said at all. 

But of course, we get an inkling that Sabes' raw nature is going to resurface again at some point, and being that this is meant to be an action comic about good guys battling bad guys, not a ponderous reflection on the nature of penitence, I would bet that moment is coming soon. Recidivism is high in comics, of course, because we need our villains to be villainous, but it's nice to pay lip service at least to the idea they could be changed... even if Charles himself is doubting it at this point.