Emergency Mutantversity: That’s a Lot of Swords!

Wow, that’s a lot of swords! Marvel’s X-Office has announced the next X-over event “X of Swords,” and we are more than a little excited. As is now an annual tradition, Mutantveristy is going to scrutinize every clue we’ve got, no matter how slim. After all, the X is a ten, and the promotional material has more like twenty. Which will be the X of Swords?

So, what’s this all about? Well, the 10 of Swords is a tarot card, in the minor arcana. We’ve already seen a lot of tarot card imagery in Jonathan Hickman’s X-books, and he will be plotting this event along with Tini Howard. Howard is the writer of “Excalibur” which has gone deep into mutant magic, and quite a bit into the titular blade itself. One would imagine that those elements of the “Excalibur” story will come into focus, as well as the secrets of the lost island of Arakko, where Apocalypse lost his original Four Horsemen long ago.
We have been told that ten swords will end up being the ones chosen to defend the mutant homeland. As mentioned, we’ve seen a whole lot more than ten, so let’s first look at Mark Brooks’ promo image to see if we recognize any of the blades.

Eye Boy– An eye sword. That makes sense, but isn’t similar to any weapon we’ve seen in the past. Eye Boy is going to be one of the main characters in “X-Factor,” so it makes sense that he would be here representing that team. I don’t know about you, but his sword kind of reminds me of the Soul Edge from the Soul Calibur games. But you know, much smaller.
Apocalypse– He has wielded that oversized Khopesh in ancient times. We saw him using it in a flashback in “House of X/Powers of X” when he banished the forces of darkness to Arakko in ancient times. He’s also a main character in the “Excalibur” comic. Expect this to be an important one.
Gorgon – The Godkiller Sword, which Gorgon used to kill Phobos, the god of fear in Hickman’s “Secret Warriors” run. That battle destroyed the sword, but Gorgon himself was also dead, and neither seems to have been permanent. There’s another Godkiller Sword in Marvel, wielded by Gamora of the Guardians of the Galaxy. As far as we know, this one has no connection.
Scalphunter– A harpoon gun/sword. John Greycrow was an original Marauder (in the 1980s comics), but now he’s a member of the Hellions.
Rachel Grey– Has been associated with the Shi’ar Phoenix Sword in the past. This does not appear to be that though. The Phoenix Sword was wielded by Rachel’s ex-boyfriend, Korvus Rook’shir. While a similar shape, that sword was at least as big as Rachel, and glowing white-hot. But stranger things have happened, and the Phoenix Sword would be a mighty mutant blade.
Brian Braddock, Captain Britain– Has been known to wield Excalibur. In the comic “Excalibur,” Brian is going through a crisis of faith, doubting that he’s worthy of the legendary sword of England. Brian isn’t 100% human, but he’s not a mutant either.
Psylocke– Loves katanas. If her sword has a cool name, it hasn’t been revealed yet. Psylocke was the main protagonist of “Fallen Angels” and is going to go on to star in “Hellions.”
Professor X– Magneto made him a sword out of his shattered Cerebro helmet in “X-Force” #3, which is metal AF. The sword isn’t known to have any special properties, but it’s made of the combined powers of the two most powerful mutant leaders. Who could withstand its onslaught?

Cypher– Seems to be forming a sword using his robot friend/arm Warlock. We spotted Warlock in “X-Men” #7 having a hangout with Doug, but when Cyclops saw them together, Warlock retreated back onto Cypher’s body. Warlock is a shapeshifter, and he’s become armor and weapons for Cypher before, so this is sort of standard operating procedure for these two.
Cable– That is literally Cloud’s Buster Sword from Final Fantasy 7. We’ve seen Cable with that sword on the cover of his own upcoming solo books. Looks like he still hasn’t equipped the materia yet.
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Betsy Braddock, Captain Britain– can make psi-swords from the focused totality of her psychic powers. As Captain Britain, she should be entitled to Excalibur, but that doesn’t look like the sword she’s using here.
Archangel– Or is it? I thought this fella looked like Warren Worthington III, and giving him a biblical-style flaming sword seems on brand for him. But it’s been pointed out to me that this may in fact be a member of the Children of the Atom, in which case, all bets are off.
Cyclops– Laser Sword! That’s a freaking laser sword! That rules.
Domino– Her new plant arm can manifest weapons, here a sword! In the pages of “X-Force,” we’ve also seen her turn it into an arm cannon. It’s made of organic plant-matter!

Iceman– Bobby makes weapons out of his ice all the times. Sometimes he makes swords. Why not a sword?
Nightcrawler– That’s his pirate sword that he’s highly skilled with. Kurt is actually an accomplished swordsman and fencer thanks to his love for class film star Errol Flynn. In the Age of Apocalypse, Kurt was a dual-sword swinging assassin. In recent years, he’s been seen with that particular sword more and more. He uses it all the time!
Storm– Lightning sword! That’s a freaking lightning sword! That also rules.
Magik– That does not look anything like her soul sword. Either Mark Brooks is taking some liberties with how he’s drawn the soul sword in the past, or Ilyana is using a replacement. We know that the soul sword is important to these X0books Notably in the “Powers of X” future, the mutant hybrid known as Rasputin has a sword that looks exactly like Ilyana’s soul sword. More on this below.

Wolverine– The Muramasa Blade is Wolverine’s soul sword+. It’s sharp enough to slice through Cyclops’ optic beams. When wielded by the Silver Samurai, the sword has been able to reverse time, which has the effect of canceling out the healing factors of characters like Wolverine and Sabretooth. Even in the hands of other warriors, wounds caused by the Muramasa Blade cannot heal at superpowered speeds. Wolverine believes the Muaramasa Blade is the only definitive way he can be killed, and he once gave the sword to Cyclops as a check against his berserker rages.

Armor– Hey, a sword made of her armor! Hisako has made weapons out of her powers before, including Wolverine-style claws. Those were also pretty cool.

The Soul Sword
It is X-canon that a soul weapon can only be wielded by the person who created it, or their soulmate. And Ilyana’s soul sword has been used by another X-character, mainly, Kate Pryde, who first picked up the sword in “New Mutant” #30. And Kate is dead at the moment… or is she? Maybe Kate’s apparent demise and Ilyana’s missing soul sword are somehow connected. It seems to me that arguably the most famous and prominent sword in the X-mythos is going to be prominently featured in a story about mythical X-swords. Maybe Kate’s return will be due to the soul sword? Or maybe she hasn’t been able to be resurrected because her soul does not belong to her alone? This ought to be an important development in the upcoming story, and I can’t wait to see when Ilyana’s sword makes its return.

The Final X
So which will be the final ten? We can only guess at this point, but we love guessing games here at Mutantversity. Our money is on the following