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| Art by Andy Kubert |
Onslaught is not a well organized event. It’s not linear, moving from one part to another. Nor is it organized around a central series augmented by optional tie-ins. Onslaught sprawls across several series over the course of two months with no clearly defined spine or critical and non-critical issues. Issues are branded “phase” or “impact” with phase seemingly indicating primary issues and impact secondary. Yet some phase issues are unnecessary and some impact issues are critical. And the numbering system (issues are marked 1 or 2 depending on the month they were released) has no bearing on the event’s timeline. In short, continuity for Onslaught is a mess.
For this retrospective I have organized the following issues as Phase 1 (listed in a suggested reading order). Some issues have minor significance while others, despite branding, have none.
X-Force 57 Cable 34 Incredible Hulk 444
Avengers 401 Excalibur 100 Fantastic Four 415
X-Factor 125 X-Factor 126 Generation X 18
Generation X 19 Wolverine 104 X-Men 55
Amazing Spider-Man 415 Green Goblin 12 Spider-Man 72
Punisher 11
Onslaught: X-Men, beginning immediately after X-Men 54, marks the beginning of the event. Onslaught reveals himself in the early pages after declaring Xavier’s dream dead and saying mutants should rule humans (this idea is presented in very vague terms).
The First Fight
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Most of the issue is a series of three fights between the X-Men and Onslaught. After the first two Onslaught, who wiped the floor with the X-Men, gives an excuse justifying his not killing them. The third time he says nothing and leaves. This will be an ongoing problem. Onslaught repeatedly defeats the heroes arrayed against him without difficulty, but he never kills them. This is a problem with all-powerful villains (Onslaught is frequently called the most powerful psi ever); logically they should eliminate their enemies. Oftentimes in stories when this fails to happen writers invent excuses for why the villain doesn’t. The writers never bother when it comes to Onslaught.
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| Onslaught: X-Men |
There are two noteworthy moments in the issue. The first is Onslaught revealing to McCoy that he knew McCoy had replaced Beast. The second is the payoff for the fragmented message Bishop saw in the future (in Uncanny X-Men 287) which is revealed to be about Xavier.
Uncanny X-Men 335 follows and is focused on recap and strategy. It teams the Avengers with the X-Men, sending them all in different directions. One mixed team of X-Men and Avengers leaves to find Magneto (connected to the creation of Onslaught, via scant evidence, as a result of the mindwipe from X-Men 25) while another is sent to protect Franklin Richards. The rest of the X-Men set off to Muir Island. X-Force, also at the mansion, is tasked with protecting Nate Grey. Meanwhile, Apocalypse is introduced. He will speechify a lot and have nothing to do with the story.
X-Force and Nate Grey are attacked immediately by Mr. Sinister who kidnaps Nate to service a subplot focused on Sinister and Apocalypse’s feud. While Nate will factor into Onslaught’s second phase, the Sinister subplot has no bearing on the event.
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| Excalibur 100 |
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| Excalibur 100 |
The X-Men who go to Muir Island unlock the Xavier Protocols which is a database of detailed strategies on how to kill each and every x-man (Xavier included). The X-Men are rightly horrified that their mentor had created such a thing.
The first Avengers/X-Men team tracks down Joseph and Rogue. After a perfunctory hero versus hero battle Joseph, having been told about Magneto’s possible role in the creation of Onslaught, agrees to go back and help. This begins a Joseph character arc that runs through the event and proves to be one of its most successful parts.
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| Fantastic Four 415 |
The second team arrives at Four Freedoms Plaza and directly confronts Onslaught who is attempting to kidnap Franklin. Onslaught, of course, wins with relative ease. A few X-Men, half the Avengers, and all of the Fantastic Four lie defeated and unconscious at Onslaught’s feet yet he takes no action. Onslaught abducts Franklin, leaving all of his enemies alive. This kind of lazy, half-hearted writing (which we already saw in Onslaught: X-Men) will be a hallmark of the event. For every successful character arc and compelling tie-in issue there are major story points and motivations that suggest the writers either didn’t try or didn’t care.
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| Wolverine 104 |
The Fluff
Wolverine, having set off on his own, is able to get a psychic tour of the past where he watches the moment when Xavier mindwiped Magneto and see a homunculus travel from Magneto into Xavier. If this is taken as fact (despite never being referenced again and somewhat contradicting Onslaught’s origin), it effectively absolves both Magneto/Joseph and Xavier of any responsibility for Onslaught.
While these major developments are happening, the McCoy/Beast story is resolved in X-Factor (though Beast will not participate in the remainder of the event), Cable fights the Hulk who was brainwashed by Onslaught (with no explanation at all of how or when that happened), and Generation X runs away, never to be seen in the event (the word Onslaught appears less than five times between the two issues). None of these bear on the main story (despite several being labeled “phase” issues), and the Generation X issues are the worst example of a dishonest sales juicing cash grab.
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| X-Men 55 |
The Battle of New York
The X-Men, Avengers, and Fantastic Four join forces in X-Men 55. Onslaught has launched a wave of sentinels against New York City (which follows up on the hints from Uncanny X-Men 333). The motive behind this is vague. The sentinels are supposed to occupy and seal off the city but don’t appear to have any stated goal except killing superhumans who fight back. They all but ignore the humans. When the assemblage of heroes attack, Onslaught forces Franklin to use his vague reality altering powers to create a giant tower in Central Park. Onslaught then unleashes a massive EMP, shutting down the city and utterly defeating the heroes. But as you might suspect he doesn’t deliver a finishing blow, and once again the writer doesn’t try explaining why.
In the Prologue I wrote at length about the inconsistencies surrounding Onslaught’s physical nature. In that case, at least, those problems were largely a result of story points in Uncanny X-Men 322 and the inability or failure to retcon them. Unfortunately inconsistencies continue going forward despite the writers knowing, theoretically, what Onslaught is. In X-Men 54 and Onslaught: X-Men, Onslaught is depicted with his armor atop Xavier’s human body. In Uncanny X-Men 335, Xavier is depicted as a man in a fetal position deep inside Onslaught’s being (which is confusing given their relative sizes). In X-Men 55 it’s unclear where Franklin is–whether somehow inside Onslaught or in his tower (in future issues he will be seen in both places). And all of this leaves out the question of when Franklin and Xavier are seen as physical people as opposed to entities on the astral plane (which comes up in Phase 2).
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| Spider-Man 72 |
Meanwhile, Spider-Man, Green Goblin, and Punisher deal with the sentinel invasion of New York. These issues are of mixed quality. The Punisher issue is silly. The Green Goblin issue is significant if you’re following that series. The Spider-Man issues end with Ben and Peter rushing to Central Park to join the fight against Onslaught. However, they will not be seen again. I assume this was bad coordination between the assorted writers. All the humans in the final battle are bound for the Heroes Reborn universe and sacrifice themselves accordingly. Spider-Man isn’t in Heroes Reborn so him being at the fight but refusing to sacrifice would look bad. There was likely no intention of having him in the finale.
Despite my criticisms, there are a lot of individual pieces to like in Phase 1. Joseph’s arc of a man trying to redeem himself (which runs through the end) is compelling and well written. The Cable material is enjoyable even if the fight with Hulk is lackluster. The Spider-Man and Green Goblin issues (especially Green Goblin) are engaging character pieces if you’re following either series. And the art throughout is top of the line; Bachalo In Generation X, Skroce in X-Man, and Kubert in X-Men are especially impressive.
However, the event itself (to say nothing of its titular character) is not built upon a solid foundation. The longer it lasts, the more wobbly it becomes. And the introduction of superfluous characters like Apocalypse and Mr. Sinister feels like an attempt to throw as many elements as possible into a blender and hope what comes out is gold. At this point it’s not so unsteady that it couldn’t be saved with a better fleshed out Onslaught and a strong ending. Unfortunately, that will not be how the second half goes.
Remember to check out the other parts of this retrospective: Introduction, Prologue, Onslaught Phase 2, Onslaught Epilogue, and Congratulations! You Survived Onslaught.
For issue-by-issue commentary of every issue, visit my Twitter @theroncouch #CompleteOnslaught.
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