For those not in the know—ie, the non-cool kids; don’t worry, I’ll get you through all of this—Muir Island is a research facility in the X-Men books that was formerly run by Moira MacTaggart, a brilliant and beautiful scientist and expert on mutant physiology (until her death in Dream's End), and inexplicably another of Professor Xavier’s bedpost notches.
Seriously, that guy was getting girls by the truckload. It’s gotta be the chair.
Based over in the United Kingdom, the main X-Men teams didn’t venture there all too often—Excalibur used it as a backdrop far more often due to their proximity—but when they did, it was never for a quick lunch.
No, there was always some major, world-shattering threat to handle. Their tourism bureau really needs to get on that.
On one of their first jaunts to the isle, the X-Men had to contend with Moira’s powerful mutant son, Joseph, who took the name Proteus and then proceeded to have anger management issues with all of reality.
Seriously, that guy was getting girls by the truckload. It’s gotta be the chair.
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If he was in my neighborhood, he’d have spinning rims and hydraulics with a neon undercarriage. |
Based over in the United Kingdom, the main X-Men teams didn’t venture there all too often—Excalibur used it as a backdrop far more often due to their proximity—but when they did, it was never for a quick lunch.
No, there was always some major, world-shattering threat to handle. Their tourism bureau really needs to get on that.
On one of their first jaunts to the isle, the X-Men had to contend with Moira’s powerful mutant son, Joseph, who took the name Proteus and then proceeded to have anger management issues with all of reality.
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“Proteus” sounded a lot cooler than “Purple Energy Blob of Doom.” |
Luckily, he had a weakness to metal so Colossus showed him that in Russia, metal bends you. He’d, of course, return years later, but that’s a tale for another time.
Just after Xavier returned from his time in Shi’ar space where he was—big shock here—banging an alien princess like his last name was Kirk (ironic since it was Picard who portrayed him in the movies), the mutants became embroiled in what came to be known as the Muir Island Saga.
Because it took place on Muir Island, you see.
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Quick! Guess where THIS one took place. |
The Shadow King, a psychic entity that has inhabited a slew of host bodies over the centuries, wanted revenge on the only person to ever defeat him, Charles Xavier himself.
In many ways, as Chris Claremont reminded us about thirty-seven times during the story, the Shadow King was the very reason that Xavier decided to form the X-Men to combat mutants who would use their abilities for evil.
Running through Uncanny X-Men #278-280 and X-Factor #69-70, the Muir Island Saga came as the X-Books were in a major state of flux with Claremont coming off of Uncanny X-Men for the first time since 1975 and getting ready to launch X-Men with Jim Lee, X-Factor getting a complete facelift and becoming a government sanctioned team via Peter David’s brilliance, and the New Mutants transitioning to X-Force under the leadership of Cable.
In many ways, as Chris Claremont reminded us about thirty-seven times during the story, the Shadow King was the very reason that Xavier decided to form the X-Men to combat mutants who would use their abilities for evil.
Running through Uncanny X-Men #278-280 and X-Factor #69-70, the Muir Island Saga came as the X-Books were in a major state of flux with Claremont coming off of Uncanny X-Men for the first time since 1975 and getting ready to launch X-Men with Jim Lee, X-Factor getting a complete facelift and becoming a government sanctioned team via Peter David’s brilliance, and the New Mutants transitioning to X-Force under the leadership of Cable.
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He’s a creepy S.O.B., no doubt about it. |
As the Shadow King’s corruption spread throughout Muir Island, he fed off the fears and anger and hatred, seeking to become powerful enough to have the entire world in his thrall. And he found just the host to do it—Legion.
Legion’s fractured psyche was reintegrated by the Shadow King’s possession, and in control of his vast and nearly limitless power, the Shadow King forced Legion to attack his teammates and his own father, even re-crippling Xavier in the process during a battle on the psychic plane.
This was after he’d already killed the former Freedom Force member, Destiny, an act that would forever earn him the enmity of Mystique, shapeshifting terrorist extraordinaire, so to say he was having a pretty jacked up time would be a major understatement.
Legion’s fractured psyche was reintegrated by the Shadow King’s possession, and in control of his vast and nearly limitless power, the Shadow King forced Legion to attack his teammates and his own father, even re-crippling Xavier in the process during a battle on the psychic plane.
This was after he’d already killed the former Freedom Force member, Destiny, an act that would forever earn him the enmity of Mystique, shapeshifting terrorist extraordinaire, so to say he was having a pretty jacked up time would be a major understatement.
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Getting nearly electrocuted by Storm did NOT help matters, either. |
Having spent the first half of the story—and even over the course of several issues prior to the event’s beginning—controlling the mutants and forcing them into gladiatorial competitions, Shadow King stood at the endgame, prepared to use Legion to defeat Xavier once and for all.
But he underestimated Xavier’s resolve and, in the ultimate sacrifice, Xavier lashed out just as Psylocke used her psychic knife—you know, that focused totality of her abilities that Claremont liked to let us know about every six minutes—to sever a captured Lorna Dane aka Polaris from the nexus that connected to Shadow King’s power and the enemy was torn apart.
And Legion was left comatose. All that power, all those personalities, all of that potential. It was all gone and try and he might, Xavier couldn’t put him back together again. But it was during that time in a coma that David Haller started to change, that his mind started to heal some of the damage and put the pieces in order.
None of the X-Men knew at the time, certainly not Xavier, that Legion wasn’t done and if they thought he was a problem under the control of the Shadow King, there was nothing they could do to prepare for what he would do under his own control once he woke…
But he underestimated Xavier’s resolve and, in the ultimate sacrifice, Xavier lashed out just as Psylocke used her psychic knife—you know, that focused totality of her abilities that Claremont liked to let us know about every six minutes—to sever a captured Lorna Dane aka Polaris from the nexus that connected to Shadow King’s power and the enemy was torn apart.
And Legion was left comatose. All that power, all those personalities, all of that potential. It was all gone and try and he might, Xavier couldn’t put him back together again. But it was during that time in a coma that David Haller started to change, that his mind started to heal some of the damage and put the pieces in order.
None of the X-Men knew at the time, certainly not Xavier, that Legion wasn’t done and if they thought he was a problem under the control of the Shadow King, there was nothing they could do to prepare for what he would do under his own control once he woke…
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…or what he would be wearing. Nice scrubs, dude. |
