This is the debut of a new feature that is basically a counterpart to our Left Unresolved feature. That feature is for plotlines that were, well, left unresolved. In this one, though, we spotlight examples of long unresolved stories that WERE ultimately resolved by later writers. The only rule is that at least four years have to pass between the plot point being introduced and it being resolved.
Today we look at the unexpected resolution to the question of "Who is the X-Traitor?"
In Uncanny X-Men #287 (by Jim Lee, Scott Lobdell, John Romita Jr. and a bunch of inkers, primarily Scott Williams, whose work is actually pretty fascinating on JRjr. I'd like to see more of this pairing in the future), we see a flash...back? of Bishop's time in the future before he traveled to the past in search of the mutant fugitive Fitzroy (part of the Upstarts). He uncovers the following message...
He later then visits "the Witness," who presumably was, you know, a witness to the X-Men being betrayed...
So when Bishop comes to the present and meets Gambit, also known as Remy LeBeau, he presumes that Gambit is the X-Traitor...
The whole plotline pretty much just petered out over time.
However, it was then resolved nearly five years later in the beginning of the Onslaught Saga.
Read on to see how they resolved it!
Onslaught: X-Men #1 (by Mark Waid, Scott Lobdell, Adam Kubert and Dan Green), the X-Men learn that their mentor, Professor X, has gone insane due to residual evil crazy pants stuff from when Professor X mind-wiped his old pal, Magneto. He is now the mysterious and powerful Onslaught!
Onslaught tears the X-Mansion apart attacking the X-Men. He eventually captures Jean Grey and skedaddles to another part of the X-Mansion, along with the aid of the Dark Beast (an alternate reality evil version of the Beast, who had taken the Beast's place at the time)...
She escapes and manages to get off a transmission...
Watch Lobdell and Waid dance around the original with their work in the "real" transmission...
Then, as it ends, we see that she didn't REALLY die...
Jim Lee and Whilce Portacio never had a specific X-Men in mind for the traitor, as I talked about in this old Comic Book Legends Revealed, but it seem obvious that whoever they were planning on ending up with (they mentioned they had a few possibilities), Professor X was unlikely to be it.
For fun, here is a side-by-side comparison of the two transmissions...
The whole "Gambit as the Witness" thing is a whole other story, one I'm sure I will feature here in the future.
If you have any suggestions for other long-dangling plots that were eventually resolved, feel free to drop me a line at bcronin@comicbookresources.com!