Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics, X-Men | Tagged: captain america, isaiah bradley, x-force, X-Men United
The eugenic histories of Captain America and the X-Men are back, in X-Men United and Inglorious X-Force (Spoilers)
Article Summary
Captain America and the X-Men confront their eugenic pasts in new storylines in X-Men United and Inglorious X-Force
Isaiah Bradley’s super soldier legacy resurfaces, delving into the dark history of Marvel’s Truth: Red, White & Black
Maurice Canfield returns, revealing deeper consequences of past experiments on early Black super soldiers
Minister Sinister reappears, hinting at sinister new =schemes
Spoilers, of course… but they are for last week’s X-Men United #2 by Eve Ewing and Tiago Da Silva, and Inglorious X-Force #4 by Tim Seeley, and Michael Sta. Maria. In which Captain America turned up on the X-Men’s psychic doorstep looking to track down his past in the present day.
Truth: Red, White & Black was a series written by the late Robert Morales, and drawn by Kyle Baker for Marvel Comics back in 2003. It focused on one Isaiah Bradley, one of three hundred Black soldiers experimented on by the US Army in 1941 in an attempt to re-create the lost formula earlier used to turn Steve Rogers into Captain America and based on the real life Tuskegee Syphilis Study. The experiments lead to mutation and death, until only a few remained. Isaiah Bradley was one but there were two others – though neither was Francic Maclean. And even though they would be over a hundred now… the experiments might mean that was still possible.
X-Men United #2 by Eve Ewing, Tiago Da Silva
And they get a name and a place for one of them…
X-Men United #2 by Eve Ewing, Tiago Da Silva
Maurice Caulfield was the initial lead of Truth, an upper class Black man who, along with Isaiah Bradley and Luke Evans, were the three survivors of the three hundred in the super soldier experiments , but when Maurice discovered the truth about his parents’ death. To keep the operation secret, families were sent letters informing them that the subjects had died. Stricken with grief, Maurice Canfield’s father murdered his wife before committing suicide.
The Truth: Black White And Red #4 by Bob Morales and Kyle Baker
Combined with PTSD and an exaggerated thyroid gland, Maurice was led into a confrontation resulting in his death, that of Luke Evans and severely injuring Isaiah Bradley. Or so we thought. On arriving we get one version of the man…
X-Men United #2 by Eve Ewing, Tiago Da Silva
…and then another, as Captain Amerivca and his X-Men team are scattered through time…
X-Men United #2 by Eve Ewing, Tiago Da Silva
As Maurice Canfield’s powers seema lot wider in scope than he first exhibited in the forties…
X-Men United #2 by Eve Ewing, Tiago Da Silva
While the Inglorious X-Force tackle their own more recent past, and rather than a victim of cruel genetic experimentation…
Inglorious X-Force #4 by Tim Seeley, Michael Sta. Maria
.. they face its instigator. Marvel’s very own Doctor Mengel is back, possibly for the first time since the Falkl Of Krakoa where he made a very timely exit.
Rise Of The Powers Of X #5 by Kieron Gillen and Luciano Vecchio
A version of him appeared in X-Men Heir Of Apocalypse by Steve Foxe and Netho Diaz, or at least a clone of him did.
X-Men Heir Of Apocalypse by Steve Foox and Netho Diaz
Before falling to his death. And then he popped up up Exceptional X-Men last year as well…
Eve L Ewing, Carmen Carnero and Federica Mancin
… but that version was very likely a clone as well. And he went pop.
Eve L Ewing, Carmen Carnero and Federica Mancin
But what about this version then? Clone or not a clone?
Inglorious X-Force #4 by Tim Seeley, Michael Sta. Maria
He doesn’t look very cloney. Minister Sinister is back. Maybe he has a Tuskegee Syphilis Study of his own ready to roll out?
X-Men United #2 by Eve Ewing, Tiago Da Silva
X-MEN DIVIDED! Mutantdom’s newest institute of higher learning has barely welcomed its first students, and things are already going down in flames. Meanwhile, an elite team of mutants has to travel through time on a mission alongside none other than CAPTAIN AMERICA!
Inglorious X-Force #4 by Tim Seeley, Michael Sta. Maria
ANGEL OF DEATH! CABLE assembled his team to prevent an assassination…but has he brought down his own? The secret of ARCHANGEL changes everything, as does the revelation of the MYSTERY MUTANT ASSAILANT trailing our hero!
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