Ultimate X-Men: World Tour

Join me as I read through the Ultimate Marvel universe. Today, I read Ultimate X-Men #13-20. In these issues, the X-Men face off against Proteus, one of the most powerful mutants in the world. I collected these issues in the trade paperback Ultimate X-Men vol. 3: World Tour. You can also read them online with Marvel Unlimited.

Meet Gambit

In these issues, we meet Gambit, a homeless nomad who roams from city to city, performing magic tricks with the help of his mutant powers. One day, Gambit meets a young girl whose parents were just murdered. He decides to help the girl get to her aunt, but not long after, the girl is kidnapped by the gangsters that killed her parents. Gambit embarks on a quest through the criminal underworld to save the girl.

This story presents Gambit as a rough but caring character. He distrusts institutions, refusing to take help from charity and even refusing the X-Men’s invitation to join their school. His care is shown through his quest to save the girl. Without hesitation, Gambit risks his life to save a stranger.

I don’t know much about Gambit other than the version in the 1992 Animated Series. I liked his character in the series. The Ultimate version of Gambit is younger, more reckless and with less control of his emotions. But this is a good lead in to future stories developing the character.

Ultimate X-Men on Tour

We are introduced to this storyline through the eyes of Professor Charles Xavier. His monologue shows us that the world of mutants is not black-and-white. In the first issue, we see that despite being on opposing sides of a war, the X-Men develop friendships with the Brotherhood. Charles also has a good relationship with Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch (they even call him Uncle Charles), and meets regularly to discuss the state of the world.

Even Magneto, who Charles apparently killed in issue #6, is now living a reformed life due to the Professor’s mental blocks. And Charles believes that Magneto can be redeemed enough for him to remove the blocks. Charles is truly a pacifist, seeking a peaceful resolution to the problems between mutants and humans.

This narrative gets completely overturned with the next issues. On a secret facility off the Scottish coast, a mutant called David escapes by possessing others’ bodies. This mutant is extremely powerful, with the ability to warp reality to his liking. Meanwhile, the X-Men are in the middle of a book tour, promoting Charles’ new book on mutant/human peaceful relations. Their tour is interrupted when Xavier is told of David’s escape. The X-Men travel to Scotland to find that David is Xavier’s son, who he abandoned to focus on his dream of mutant prosperity with Magneto.

This revelation is put at odds with Xavier’s earlier monologue. His commitment to peace has come at the expense of his wife and child. Not only that, we learn through Xavier’s conversations with fellow psychic Betsy Braddock that he feels no remorse for abandoning his family. The idea of Xavier as this perfect role model and father figure to the X-Men is broken down, seeing that his actions are merely a means to an end. This also explains why David is so angry at Charles and the world.

A lengthy battle ensues between the X-Men and David. Though David is far more powerful than all of the X-Men combined, Charles guides the X-Men to victory. This fight is wacky and colorful, and David’s reality-bending powers are showcased throughout. The victory is a sour one, as we now know the type of person Charles was. He hated his child and abandoned him. His abandonment turned David into a sadistic monster. Then, when David escaped, Charles became determined to kill his own son. There is no doubt that David is a monster, but the end of this storyline leaves us with a bitter taste knowing that Charles’ actions led to these events.

I remember reading the Proteus saga in Uncanny X-Men, and found him to be one of the scariest villains I’ve seen. In Ultimate X-Men, this version of Proteus has all the scary powers of the original, but with the added complexity of his justified hate for Xavier.

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