Marvel Combines Two Iconic Wolverine Moments Into One Crazy New X-Men Attack

11/30/2021 05:15 pm EST

Marvel has taken two of the most iconic Wolverine moments and combined them into a crazy new battle attack used by the newest X-Men team! The fight went down in Marvel's X-Men #5, the latest issue of the new run by writer Gerry Duggan, with artists Javier Pina and Zé Carlos. The new X-Men team (Cyclops, Jean Grey, Sunfire, Synch, Rogue, Polaris and Wolverine) found themselves facing the latest incarnation of The Reavers, the anti-mutant militant group of cyborg mercenaries. When most of the X-Men get taken down by The Revears's new tech, Polaris is forced to get... creative with her powers! 

The Reavers are ready for the X-Men's intervention in Mexico, where the cyborg mercs are trying to de-stabilize elections. Cyclops, Jean, Synch, Rogue, and Wolverine all get taken down by some advanced tranquilizer darts that disrupt a mutant's X-Gene; only Polaris and Sunfire are left standing, and Sunfire goes down right after that. With Lorna (Polaris) left all alone, The Reavers seem like they're on the brink of victory – but a "pissed off" Polaris decides to win the fight all on her own. 

Using the adamantium in Lara Kinney's body, Polaris is able to use her magnetic powers to "pilot" Wolverine's body, like a puppeteer with a marionette. Lorna pops Wolverine's claws and hurls her teammate into the crowd of Revears cutting them down! Wolverine becomes conscious again during the attack, and though she's not too thrilled about being used as a human Ginzu knife, no one can argue with the level of battle power Polaris showed. 

This crazy little battle tactic is just one of the fun ways the X-Men franchise is re-imagining mutant powers and their coordination, under the new "House of X" era under Jonathan Hickman. What Polaris does with Wolverine in the Reavers battle calls back to two iconic old Wolverine moments in X-Men lore: Magneto ripping Adamantium from Wolverine's body in the "Fatal Attractions" storyline, and Wolverine's classic "fastball special" attack with Colossus. Since it is Polaris and not Magneto in control, Wolverine's adamantium is put to good use when controlled by a master of magnetism, while the fastball special takes on a new level of awesomeness! 

In many ways, X-Men #5 is a low-key celebration of Polaris's character and a statement about why she has a spot on this new X-Men team. The modern sequence of Polaris battling The Reavers is actually spliced with many other scenes that hop around in time before the battle, exploring Lorna's desire (or lack thereof) at joining Krakoa's first X-Men squad; her power and heroism being the total opposite of her father, Magneto (like preventing nuclear disaster instead of causing it); and how Polaris is keenly discerning the threat that's growing in the wings: a geneticist whose monsters rival that of the High Evolutionary himself. 

X-Men #5 is on sale at Marvel Comics. 

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