WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Astonishing X-Men #9, by Charles Soule and Matteo Buffagni, in stores now.


In the pages of Astonishing X-Men, Rogue, Psylocke, Mystique and the rest of their team of mutants has been going from one crisis to the next. What started as a psychic attack on London morphed into a battle with the Shadow King and reality itself in the Astral Plane. Now, an old villain from the X-Men's past has returned to torment the world.

Charles Xavier may have been freed from the Shadow King's grasp, returning to life inside the body of Fantomex, but his return cracked the door open for Proteus to slip through as well. This turn of events sent a shock wave through reality itself, and now it appears as if it was just the first building block to a devastating future known as the Mindkiller Apocalypse. What is this potential event and, more importantly, can it be prevented?

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Astonishing X-Men 7 Bishop green sun over London

We first heard of the Mindkiller Apocalypse back in Astonishing X-Men #7. In the issue, Charles Xavier, now going by X, had just returned to life, and he had to deal with the rampant psychic infection orchestrated by the Shadow King. All over London, thousands of minds were under his control, and X had to reach into them all in order to purge his enemy out of his subjects. The infection was removed from every single person, resulting in some form of green energy that concentrated over the London cityscape. This mass of energy, as Bishop would point out, ended up looking an awful lot like a green sun in the sky.

Seeing as how Bishop has access to the Endtime Database, he inquired if such an event had any effect on the future. As it turns out, we learned that the green sun over London was one of the igniting events that would lead to the Mindkiller Apocalypse, something that would lead to a sterilized Earth. Soon after, the green energy would detonate, giving way to the arrival of Proteus, himself made up of this same emerald energy.

Astonishing X-Men 7 Bishop Mindkiller Apocalypse

This immediately led us to theorize that Proteus was the leading force behind this extinction level event. After all, one of his powers is to take control of the minds and bodies of others, making him a shoe-in for the head of something called the Mindkiller Apocalypse.

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This theory was given more credence in Astonishing X-Men #9, where we saw Proteus take the first step in his master plan. The villain finds refuge in a small Scottish village. He seals the village off with a massive wall, and adds all manner of warriors and beasts to keep outsiders from interfering. There, he begins experimenting with his powers. His goal, to give his reality-warping powers to everyone, to bring the endless possibilities of the Astral Plane into the real world. And things are off to a splendid start for the villain, as we see that the power to alter reality is quickly abused by humans.

If Proteus is successful in giving his power a larger section of the world, it would likely be the inciting incident in the Mindkiller Apocalypse. A war between the real and the impossible, between those with the power of Proteus and those who would seek to stop him. Faced with Bishop's facts, even Psylocke agrees that Proteus has to be the one responsible for this future disaster.

Astonishing X-Men Psylocke and Bishop discuss Mindkiller Apocalypse

However, Bishop posits another theory, another possibility as to the culprit of the impending event. With an eye on the newly-resuscitated Charles Xavier, Bishop recognizes the telepath's immense power. The X-Men were able to leave London freely, even after the large-scale attack that took place on its soil -- something that was clearly the result of X's telepathic tampering with local authorities. Once again, such devious power over the mind could equally be responsible for something nefariously named the Mindkiller.

On top of it all, Astonishing X-Men #9 goes out of its way to remind us that this isn't just Charles Xavier back from the dead. It's not simply his mind that has taken over Fantomex's body. He's molded a new body for himself entirely, and taken on a new name. Mystique reminds us, and the other X-Men, of this very fact by showing everyone what Charles used to look like. She concludes by saying that they barely know this new person at all. For all they know, X could only be pretending to be their friend and ally.

Astonishing X-Men Mystique Gambit X

If X truly is someone else entirely, than he could just as easily be the one responsible for the Marvel universe's next big cataclysm. In fact, he was the one who chose to antagonize Proteus, when the villain tried to negotiate peacefully back in the previous issue of the series. Perhaps there truly is more to X's return than he has let on. Whether the Mindkiller Apocalypse is something to prevent or the future of the Astonishing series, one way or another, it's likely that X is at the center of it.

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