Review - Ultimate X-Men Volume 6: Return of the King

Magneto’s war against humanity reaches its climax as he commences his plan to destroy the Earth. Through the use of an amplification device, he intends to set off a series of explosions that will leave the Earth barren, eliminating the human race in the process. With the Doomsday Clock ticking down, the X-Men search desperately for Magneto’s base. Without Professor Xavier or their field leader Cyclops, they may not be able to succeed in stopping their deadliest foe.

Ultimate X-Men Volume 6: Return of the King collects Ultimate X-Men #26-33, written by Mark Millar and illustrated by David Finch and Adam Kubert.

Clocking in at eight issues, this arc is a slow-burn. It directly follows the events of the mini-series Ultimate War, which dealt with the conflict between the X-Men and the Ultimates over the return of Magneto. The Ultimates are absent here, so instead we get the X-Men lamenting about being in hiding and Magneto bloviating for several issues to whoever will listen. There’s very little in the way of action, so instead we get pages upon pages of Magneto’s planning. Arguably, he’s the main character of this arc. His perspective and voice is quite clear – he hates humans and wants to eradicate them all by destroying the Earth. He also clearly sees himself as a kind of messianic figure and treats his man-made asteroid as if he were Noah and his arc. There’s a lot to unpack regarding Magneto and Xavier’s opposing views, but Millar doesn’t have the range to adequately deal with the perspectives of oppressed groups. His portrayal of Magneto as a megalomaniacal villain who would likely twirl his moustache if he had one is illustrative of this problem. He’s sadistic and cruel with few layers. Seeing as this arc focuses so heavily on Magneto, it’s a drag to read.

There are some moments in Return of the King that are tolerable or are pretty enjoyable. Though it has been fairly subtle, the dynamic between Wolverine and Colossus has been one of the more fascinating interpersonal aspects to this series. In retrospect, we know Colossus is gay and has a crush on Wolverine, but it’s still subtext at this point. Colossus nearly confesses his feelings for Wolverine prior to their final battle against Magneto, which was kind of cute. During the big showdown, Colossus overcomes Magneto’s control in order to protect Wolverine. It not only emphasizes how much willpower he has, but also how intense his feelings are for his teammate. There are neat little interactions in the epilogue issue following Magneto’s defeat. There’s an exchange between Jean Grey and Thor that hints at the Phoenix Force being something bigger than Professor Xavier believes it to be, which seems to both surprise and provide Jean with a bit of vindication. Wolverine and Cyclops also manage to patch things up, which speaks to the latter’s ability to forgive and see the bigger picture. The maturity shown by both characters in that moment is admittedly quite surprising and a bit jarring, but not wholly unwelcome.

The art in this collection is handled by David Finch and Adam Kubert. The quality that Finch and Kubert share with their work is its roughness. The art throughout lacks polish and is inconsistent. A common criticism for Finch’s pencils is the sameness that all the characters take on. This means that he puts little effort into ensuring that facial features, body types, and expressions are different for each character. Kubert fares better and does in fact have quite a few memorable panels. There are a couple of really neat instances where we see Storm using her powers and it’s totally badass. Actually, the entire final battle against Magneto is really well done and really springs off the page.

Ultimate X-Men Volume 6: Return of the King concludes Mark Millar’s run on the series. There’s symmetry to this arc as he finishes his tenure the way he started it – by focusing on the philosophical and physical conflict between the X-Men and Magneto. Like the rest of his run, there are a lot of great ideas and concepts put forth in this collection. There are even some brilliant scenes. Unfortunately, Millar’s dialogue and grave misunderstanding of how the X-Men should be portrayed hinder the overall quality of the narrative. There’s simply too much flippant humour and gritty-for-the-sake-of-being-gritty going on. He also makes questionable choices with certain characters that make them vastly inferior to how they’re portrayed in the main universe. With that said, Return of the King does end with a bit of a bang and a smidgeon of optimism.

RATING: C