The Mutant Massacre or the Morlock Massacre was a major Marvel Comics crossover, which took place during the summer of 1986. It primarily involved the superhero teams of the X-Men and X-Factor, and the New Mutants, Power Pack, Thor, and Daredevil crossed over for a few issues in their own comic books. It has been suggested that Felicia (pseudonym) be merged into this article or section. ... Chromosomal crossover in genetics is an exchange of material between two chromosomes. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Superman and Batman, two of the most recognizable and iconic superheroes. ... The X-Men are a group of comic book superheroes featured in Marvel Comics. ... X Factor may mean: X-Factor, a Marvel comic book series The X Factor (album), a 1995 album by Iron Maiden The X Factor (television series), a British TV talent search The X Factor (Australia), the Australian version of the show Factor X (uncommon usage) a coagulation enzyme X-Factor... New Mutants is the name of two comic book series, published by Marvel Comics. ... Power Pack is a team of fictional child superheroes in the Marvel Comics universe. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Daredevil (alter ego Matthew Murdock) is a fictional superhero in the Marvel Comics universe. ...

Plot

The mysterious Marauders attack a mutant named Tommy and her boyfriend in Los Angeles for the purpose of following her back to New York and finding the location of the underground mutant community known as the Morlocks. They kill Tommy and hundred of Morlocks, before the separate arrivals of the X-Men and X-Factor fight the group of murderers and save scores of innocent Morlocks from death. The two teams however do not meet during the battle and score crippling losses: X-Factor's Angel is crucified by the Marauders while Colossus, Shadowcat, and Nightcrawler are all severely wounded. X-Factor's casualties are less due to the arrival of Power Pack and Thor, who help save the horribly wounded Angel and the rest of X-Factor from suffering any additional harm.

Thor uses his powers to cleanse the dead from the Morlock tunnels with fire, which causes problems for the X-Men, who briefly believe that the firestorm was caused by the Mauraders and believe that the the New Mutants died in said fire.

Meanwhile the Maurader Sabretooth and Wolverine fight and Sabretooth follows Logan home to the X-Mansion. He destroys Cerebro, but is kept from hurting the other Morlocks when Psylocke engages Sabretooth in battle. Logan and the rest of the X-Men arrive and Sabretooth falls off a nearby cliff in order to escape the X-Men.

Plot Structure

Because the plotline involved the X-Men and X-Factor teams not meeting during the crossover, the order to read the issues of the crossover were different from the standard crossover storyline.

Uncanny X-Men Mutant Massacre

• Uncanny X-Men #210 (Prologue)
• Uncanny X-Men #211
• New Mutants #46
• Uncanny X-Men #212
• Uncanny X-Men #213

X-Factor Mutant Massacre

• X-Factor #9 (Prologue)
• X-Factor #10
• Thor #373
• Thor #374
• Power Pack #27
• X-Factor #11

Daredevil

Daredevil #238 is an unofficial crossover issue set after the events of the Mutant Massacre. The issue features Sabretooth taking on Daredevil and does not have any real tie towards the actual story.

Motives

For years the motives for the Mutant Massacre were never revealed until after the events of "Age of Apocalypse". It was revealed after "Age of Apocalyse" that the Morlocks were created via genetic engineering by the evil "Dark Beast", a parallel earth version of the X-Men Beast who had trained under his universe's version of Mr. Sinister.

When Sinister found out about the Morlocks and that they were created using his genetic altering techniques, Sinister vowed to eliminate the community for being created by persons who were copying his science without permission.

Covers

The core issues of the Mutant Massacre storyline (Uncanny X-Men #211 and X-Factor #10) and the Thor #373 tie-in issue were published in November 1986. That month was the 25th Anniversery of the publication of the first issue of Fantastic Four and the start of the Modern Marvel Comics Universe. As a result, all covers for that month featured a special portrait of a particular character in each book (or the star of the book in Thor's case) surrounded by a cavacade of Marvel heroes. Uncanny X-Men #211 featured a battle-ravaged Wolverine by John Romita Jr. while both X-Factor #10 and Thor #373 featured Walt Simonson drawn portraits of Cyclops and Thor respectively.

Injuries

• Angel- Wings nailed to the wall, later amputated.
• Shadowcat- Permanently trapped in phase form after being hit by an energy harpoon tossed at her by Harpoon.
• Colossus- Stabbed by hundreds of throwing stars by Riptide, leaving him briefly quadrepeligic as a result of Magneto using his powers to heal the damage done to his metal form.
• Nightcrawler- Already badly injured after a battle with Nimrod, was beaten by Riptide who used his speed to beat the weakened X-Man comatose.

Continuity Problems

Thor

The participation of Thor in the crossover is actually somewhat problematic due to continuity problems. Around this point on the publishing schedule, in his own series, Thor had undergone a curse by Hela which made him unable to die, but also prevented any injury he sustained from healing. Thor first learned of this condition during the Mutant Massacre, when he broke his arm in a battle with the Marauders [see below] and it did not heal. Hela appeared to him and explained her responsibility. Meanwhile, in The Avengers, the Masters of Evil had begun their famous siege of Avengers Mansion, during which Hercules was severely injured, remaining in the hospital and not returning to active duty in the Avengers till some publishing years later. Power Pack #28, which took place just after the Mutant Massacre, had Power Pack visit Avengers Mansion and meet an uninjured Hercules. Therefore, the siege of Avengers Mansion took place after the Mutant Massacre. The problem arises as Thor participated in the final battle with the Masters of Evil, but with no sign of a broken arm.

Gambit

In Uncanny X-Men #350, it is revealed that Gambit had organized the Mauraders for their boss Mr. Sinister. It is also revealed that Gambit himself led the Mauraders to the Morlock Tunnels and guided them through until he saw the carnage they inflicted. This invalidates the events of Uncanny X-Men #210, which has the Mauraders targetting Tommy, a former Morlock, in order to follow her back into the tunnels. Although, a popular theory is that only half of the Mauraders (led by Scalphunter) followed Tommy to the tunnels while the other half (Sabertooth included) were being guided by Gambit.

External links

• Mutant Massacre -- guide by Mike Phillips