The heroes try to rescue Franklin Richards... and Charles Xavier!
Originally Published September 1996
We begin in the nowhere place -- which I guess is the Astral Plane, although it's looking very plain and less astral lately -- where little Franklin Richards is more or less alone. I say more or less because there is a friendly face there but he's not really much of a conversationalist right now.
In what would be an incredibly moving depiction of a child's helplessness and fear if the little dumdum didn't keep referring to his companion as "Doctor X," Franklin is trying to revive the true Charles Xavier, the good guy version who suppresses his rage and frustration instead of acting on it with world-dominating ambitions.
Meanwhile, that classic comedy duo of Uatu and Nur vamp a little bit about Onslaught's doings, and how he may have out-Apocalypsed Apocalypse, just to put over what a huge major league baddie Onslaight is.
Meanwhile, the heroes regroup and try to figure out how to do something with the intel that Cyclops and them have brought.
On the frontlines, some of the heroes work to tend to the civilians, but a few normies do not take kindly to the face of one of their rescuers.
Joseph gets a pep talk from an unexpected source, his current romantic rival Gambit.
While Rogue appreciates it, it inspires Joseph to go lone wolf, as he now feels partially responsible for the existence of Onslaught.
Meanwhile, Charles Xavier has awakened to help buoy Franklin's spirits but Onslaught has morphed into his latest Premium Deluxe form to better rule/destroy the world.
After disappearing Frank, he taunts Xavier that he won't be of much use without all of his mental powers. When Charles asks "What do you mean by that?" Onslaught teases that Charles will have to figure it out for himself. If only he could use his mental powers to read Onslaught's mind and find out what that remark meant.
Back in Meatspace, Joseph shows up to show down with his possible son Onslaught.
As a taunt, Onslaught opens his chest hole(??!) to reveal Charles trapped within.
Cable and Joseph combine powers to create a crack in Onslaught's armor, which Cyclops duly exploits.
Which allows Thor to swoop in and punch a hole right through Onslaught's chest to rescue Xavier.
And that's it! With Xaiver liberated, surely Onslaught will collapse in a defeated heap,
Just kidding! He actually kind of likes it. It tickles. He feels his oats by creating a big dome of psionic electromagnetic hoohah that is clearly very bad.
The heroes stagger out of the rubble, only somewhat the worse for wear. Sue Storm asks what she's been asking this whole time: where is my son, is he alive, etc etc? Professor X's answer: hard to say.
Watching from their place above the city, Apocalypse and Uatu agree that this shit is frankly getting out of hand, but what can be done about it? Why, to find out, you'll have to buy an issue of Cable!
Further Thoughts:
It stands to reason that this big crossover events naturally, you know, cross over to other titles, but I won't be spotlighting that Cable issue. It sees Apocalypse jump into the fray in a shocking teamup with his longtime enemy Cable and Sue Storm (about whom he surely has mixed feelings too) to combine their powers to liberate Franklin, only for Apocalypse to double-cross and attempt to kill Franklin, and be stopped by Sue. In the end, we're not really any further than we were at the end of this issue, but it is a fairly successful way to tie in both the ongoing Onslaught event and the neverending conflict between Cable and Apocalypse. It's a strong tie-in and it is a necessary part of the story as it is the next action beat here on the frontlines, but I'm getting the wrap-it-up signal from my producer so we won't go down that rabbit hole any further.
What is significant is the freeing of Charles to essentially let Onslaught exist as his own bad guy and end any speculation that the conscious mind of Xavier is fully responsible for Onslaught's actions. And furthermore, removing Charles' psychic powers -- a change that we don't yet know whether it will outlast the end of this yarn -- suggests repercussions that will last beyond the event itself, which is good to know.
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