Infinity Wars Rewrites the X-Men's Infamous M-Day

One of Marvel COmics' most popular events is Brian Michael Bendis and Olivier Coipel's 2005 story House of M, which dramatically reduced Earth's mutant population. In its finale, Scarlet Witch lost control of her abilities in an alternate reality she had created, as she grew tired of the war between humans, the X-Men, Avengers and her own family. To change the real world, she de-powered mutants by whispering, "No more mutants," dwindling the population from millions to just under 200 near instantaneously.

It started a new era for mutantkind, leaving them truly isolated from the rest of the world and struggling to recover from their role as a truly endangered species. Well, Infinity Wars: Weapon Hex revisits that fateful day in yet another alternate reality, putting an even darker twist on the tragedy.

Following Requiem (aka, Gamora) using the Infinity Stones to fold the universe in half, the newly-created warped world has heroes and villains merged together, creating a ton of new characters. This two-part miniseries focuses on Wolverine (Laura Kinney, or X-23, as she's currently known) merging with Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff) to create Weapon Hex. This is done thanks to her father, Herbert Wyndham (who experimented on Wanda in the Marvel Universe as the High Evolutionary) engineering a unique baby with his wife, Sarah Kinney (Laura's actual mother in the Marvel Universe). This is done so their supernatural cult can imbue her with the powers of Mepihicthton (a mix of the demon Mephisto and the Dark Lord Chthton) when she's 18 on the aptly-titled M-Day.

Coupled with an adamantium-bonding process similar to what Logan went through in the main Marvel reality, the cult readies her for the ceremony by literally shaping her as the perfect weapon -- the more lives she takes, the better equipped she'll be as a vessel. And so, Laura endures rigorous training under an evil version of Magik, harnessing the magical abilities given to her as a child in a process known as the "Scarlet Storm." Sarah, though, starts to realize that as she grows, she really is nothing but a mere tool, quickly deteriorating as she loses her humanity. Herbert recognizes his wife is trying to change the girl, and as the issue counts down to M-Day, we see him pushing the teen harder in the field. One of the spells he perfects with her is called "Hex marks the spot," which triggers a kill-mode, similar to what Wolverine and X-23 have endured in the past.

It's programmed into her, and on M-Day, when Sarah finally decides to help her escape, the spell is activated and Laura goes into this berserker-mode, slaughtering her mother by impaling her with her claws. As the hit unfolds, we see that M-Day in Weapon Hex isn't just about the ritual Herbert has planned, it's the day Laura murdered the only person who truly loved her.

It's a more personal and emotional moment than the one we saw unfold over decade ago. While an entire world was damaged in House of M, here, it's laser focused into a very intimate story about a vulnerable person who believes they're to blame for everything wrong in life. As Laura awakens to the bloodshed, we can see she now believes she's more monster than human. She's resigned to her fate as a murderer and no longer tethered to the light, which is what Herbert and Magik wanted all along, despite the cost.

Sure, this tragic day caused a lot of pain in House of M, and we witnessed its aftermath reverberating for years after, where the X-Men became so cynical, they'd go to war with anyone, from humans to Avengers to Inhumans. In the case of Weapon Hex, the damage isn't neatly as large-scale, but that doesn't make it any less hurtful, especially as Laura has no one left to rescue her from the darkness surrounding her -- well, unless you count a certain sibling who's been kept a secret her entire life appearing in the final page.

CBR

Infinity Wars: Weapon Hex Rewrites the X-Men's Infamous M-Day