This feature 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, in a slight variation of the typical theme of the feature, we'll look at the resolution to the long-running Legacy Virus subplot of the X-Titles, but also examine just why the whole thing petered out so much before it was finally resolved.

The Legacy Virus debuted in the epilogue of the X-Cutioner's Song in X-Force #18 (by writer Fabian Nicieza and artists Greg Capullo and

Harry Candelario), when Mr. Sinister had an aide open up a canister Stryfe had traded to Sinister earlier in the crossover, telling Sinister that it contained Summers DNA (which is to Sinister what Trix was to the Trix Rabbit or Lucky Charms were to Lucky the leprechaun). After Stryfe seemingly dies, the canister was opened and it didn't look good...



It was first hinted at in Uncanny X-Men #298 (written by Scott Lobdell, drawn by Brandon Peterson and Dan Paonsian), when Colossus' sister (who had just moved back to the United States with the X-Men after her parents were murdered) comes down with an illness...





The virus was further fleshed out in Uncanny X-Men #300 (by Lobdell, Peterson, Panosian and Milgrom) (even as Nicieza had one of the Dark Riders, Apocalypse's enforcers, come down with the virus in the pages of X-Men) and X-Factor #90 (by Lobdell, Aldrin Aw and Al Milgrom).

In X-Factor #90, the team visits Genosha, where the mutant nation is being stricken by the disease...









And in Uncanny #300, Profeossor X and Moira MacTaggert discuss the disease...









In X-Factor #91 (by Scott Lobdell, Joe Quesada and Al Milgrom), Jamie Madrox exposes himself to the virus in a touching sequence...









So in Uncanny X-Men #303, perhaps the most famous issue involved with the Legacy Virus, Illyana dies (check out the heart-rending scene here in our top five saddest deaths in the pages of the X-Men).

Soon after, Mastermind died from the disease in Uncanny X-Men Annual #17 (by Scott Lobdell and Jason Pearson)...





Notice how all of these instances involve people dying as if it were a natural enough illness - fever, body weakens, the parallels for the ravages of AIDS were clearly intentional, and honestly, they worked pretty well (a persecuted minority ravaged by a seemingly non-stop lethal virus?). But then, for whatever reason, the virus changed COMPLETELY. Go to the next page to see where the virus really lost its momentum as an interesting plotline...

Beginning in X-Men Annual #2 (by Fabian Nicieza, Aron Wesenfeld and a bunch of inkers), the virus now came with purple sores and it made your mutant powers increase exponentially...













The virus then killed off Revanche (whose complicated history was covered here) in X-Men #31 (by Nicieza, Andy Kubert and Matt Ryan)...







And at the beginning of 1994, Jamie Madrox dies from the virus in X-Factor #100 (by J.M. DeMatteis, Jan Duursema and Al Milgrom)...







And that's it - Jamie Madrox would be the last notable mutant to die from the disease for the rest of the 1990s, and Madrox even came BACK before the Virus plot was resolved!

For the rest of the 1990s, the virus, which opened up strongly as a real threat, became a bit of a joke. Like I said, Madrox (who was perhaps the MOST "bring back"-able mutant that there was to kill, making his death from the virus even more sort of cheesy) returned before the decade was even over. Heck, he actually returned just FIVE issues after he died...



But at least it wouldn't be until X-Factor #128 that he fully returned (he had amnesia the whole time).

The biggest joke of it all was how Pyro kept sticking around for YEARS with the seemingly fatal illness. Here he is, roughly fifty issues after he came down with the virus...



The later explanation was that there were TWO Legacy Viruses. Conveniently, the deadlier one just disappeared, while the more comic book-y version lasted for almost a decade. There was also a THIRD virus, as Moira MacTaggert came down with the virus in Excalibur #80, as the first human to get the virus. That didn't seem to go anywhere, though, for years, as the plot was more or less dropped (except for the Beast occasionally talking about how he really had to get around to curing the Legacy Virus).

Finally, though, as Grant Morrison was set to take over writing X-Men in 2001, then-editor Mark Powers wanted to clear the slate on the previous era, so he finally had the writers get around to finishing off the Legacy Virus, in a story that involved bringing Scott Lobdell back to wrap it all up. Look to the next page to see how it all went down...

During Chris Claremont's final storyline of his second run on the X-Books, he was given the task of getting the Legacy Virus into position of being finally resolved. First, Mystique mutates the virus so that it ONLY kills humans (and kills them quickly). Pyro FINALLY dies from the disease, but not before saving Presidential candidate Robert Kelly's life (not that it mattered much, as Kelly was then killed later in the story anyways). Moira MacTaggert figures out a cure for the disease, but she is fatally wounded before she can do anything about it. As she slowly dies, the X-Men decide that they have to go into her brain to get her data before she dies. They do this in X-Men #108 (by Chris Claremont, Leinil Yu, Brett Booth and some inkers)...



Beast then uses her data to come up with a cure in Uncanny X-Men #390 (by Scott Lobdell, Salvador Larroca and a bunch of inkers), but (insert sad trumpet noise), it can only work upon the activation of a mutant's powers, at which point said mutant would die. So Beast puts the cure away with the intent to work on it some more, but Colossus thinks that said trade-off is fair, so he makes an executive decision...













Didn't make any real sense, but it was heartfelt!!

So the Legacy Virus was now finished, nearly a decade after being introduced, with a "legacy" of having killed off....hmmm...well, basically Pyro and Mastermind.

Okay, that was some in-depth stuff. Hopefully the next one of these will be simpler. If YOU have a suggestion for a long-running comic book plot that was finally resolved, drop me a line at bcronin@comicbookresources.com