Midnight X-Men offered a new horror look at Marvel’s mutants, but when you really look at the story, it is a subversion of one of the X-Men’s greatest comic book stories with a twist. The story takes place in a world where vampires are running wild, and it isn’t just former humans turned bloodsuckers. <a href="https://forum.comicbook.com/topic/13373-marvels-midnight-universe-launches-today-which-series-are-you-most-excited-about/” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank”>There are also mutant vampires, and countless popular X-Men heroes and villains are now known as Empyres, which is shorthand for saying mutant vampires. There are very few mortal mutants remaining, although two of the most notable are Cyclops and Nightcrawler. That is where this story gets interesting.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Nightcrawler is no longer a superhero and is now a bishop of a Catholic church in New York City. The first issue shows him welcoming a visitor named Cardinal Stryker. Yes, this is William Stryker, the same character who was a televangelist on Earth-616 who turned people against mutants, whom he considered to be demons. This issue subverts the storyline he was introduced in, “God Loves, Man Kills.”
Midnight X-Men Turns Nightcrawler & William Stryker Into Surprising Allies
What is really interesting about this setup is that Bishop Wagner (the name Nightcrawler is now going by) is a reluctant ally to Cardinal Stryker. While Wagner has control over his church, the Vatican ruled that Stryker could act independently within the archdiocese, as he has been sent to deal with the mutant vampire problem. Stryker also has his bodyguards, who are called the Purifiers, which is another name familiar to anyone who read “God Loves, Man Kills,” as they were the group that actively murdered mutants in Stryker’s name. While they are just bodyguards here, they will almost surely play a bigger role now that Stryker has made his intentions clear.
Stryker said he is there in New York City to eliminate the vampire problem before it spreads. When Wagner asks what kind of vampires he was coming for, Stryker only smiles menacingly and says, “Yours.” This is where the entire relationship between Stryker and Wagner is subverted from the original story. In “God Loves, Man Kills,” Stryker is spreading fear to the weak-minded bigots in society. He points to Nightcrawler himself as a perfect example of how mutants are demons sent from Hell to destroy the world. It was ridiculous because Nightcrawler was the best of all of the X-Men, but Stryker only based his comments on how Kurt looked. He knew that Nightcrawler’s appearance would scare humans.
That is not what is happening in Midnight X-Men. Instead, Stryker is working with Nightcrawler because Kurt gained a modicum of power within the church. He knows that humans are likely not scared of a mutant bishop, even if he looks demonic. There is a real demon out there now with the mutant-powered vampires. Stryker also made it clear that he isn’t there to kill all the vampires. He only cares about killing mutant vampires, keeping the bigotry that Stryker has always held against mutants alive, even in a story where there are other vampires he doesn’t consider as dangerous, since they were once human. Only here, he has forced Nightcrawler to work alongside him in his plans for extermination.
Nightcrawler Is No One’s Puppet in Midnight X-Men
Nightcrawler knows that he has to play nice with Cardinal Stryker. He is a bishop, and he has some people on his side. But Stryker made it clear that there are people in the church who do not trust Nightcrawler. He was once close friends with several of the Empyres that they want to kill, and they are not sure if Nightcrawler will put his duties to the church ahead of his own former allies. While Nightcrawler said that these Empyres are no longer his friends but are just shadows of who they used to be, that is a lie.
The first issue ends with Nightcrawler waiting outside after dark, and then vampire Storm arrives. She asks if he is ready to turn, and he says he will never do that. Storm then admits that he is protected and no one will touch him because of her. When she asks why he called her there, he warns her about Cardinal Stryker and the Purifiers. She asks if she should be afraid, but then Nightcrawler says that he just doesn’t want her to die before he has a chance to find a cure to save her and their former allies, something that Storm said is not possible.
The entire idea from “God Loves, Man Kills” is that William Stryker believes that mutants should not live in society, and he pushes regular people to kill them, supposedly in the name of God. In Midnight X-Men, Cardinal Stryker is there on orders from his superiors in the Catholic Church to kill all mutant vampires, suggesting that they are already dead, so killing them is not a sin. In both cases, it is one man who believes it is his duty under God to kill anything different or abnormal, and in this case, he has forced the one mutant who was demonized in the original storyline to help him with his cause.
What are your thoughts on Midnight X-Men? Let us know your favorite parts of the new series in the comments below.
5 Midnight Sons Comic Book Storylines That Could Be Perfect for the MCU
More Comics
-
Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics Comics
18 hours agoSpider-Man’s Newest Story Is a Slap in the Face to His Most Important Character
-
Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics Comics
20 hours agoThe Best Marvel Crossover of the ’80s Almost Destroyed the X-Men (And the MCU Could Bring It to the Big Screen)
-
Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics Comics
1 day agoMarvel’s Original Captain Marvel Is Nothing Like the MCU Version (and His Death Changed Everything)
-
Collectibles
1 day agoA Forgotten X-Men First Appearance Is Suddenly Worth A Small Fortune (But There’s A Catch)
