War of the Realms: Uncanny X-Men #3 Review: The X-Men hold their own as New York freezes over but they pay a price

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Here is the last part of the three issue miniseries that ties in the current team of Uncanny X-Men into the latest Marvel Universe crossover, War of the Realms.  Now I’ll be honest with you: this wasn’t a book I ordered because I thought it was a simple tie in issue, but with Matthew Rosenberg writing it and the legacy numbers including it, I was dead wrong.  This fits in very nicely with the current volume of Uncanny and helps to showcase what the new team is going through, so let us jump into this latest issue and get our SPOILERS ON!

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.

The issue opens at Fort Syndergaard (AKA Citi Field, home of the Mets in Flushing, Queens) where we get to see Roberto (Sunspot) da Costa bring in some people for shelter with the X-Men.  Now this would be Roberto’s first meeting with this new Uncanny team and it is very welcoming as a lot of the New Mutants are part of the squad.  This page helps to set up the stakes of how desperate the heroes are and how they are holding up in a baseball stadium and trying to survive the immense cold and army that awaits them outside the perimeter.  Luckily Citi Field does a great job holding up against massive armies of wolves and frost giants.

The next scene takes us to Stark Tower and continues the bombshell that was dropped on us last issue with Rahne,(Wolfsbane) Sinclair’s child (Tier) and lover (Hrimhari) back in the land of the living. Now some of you might be thinking how is that the big bombshell when Rahne herself is dead in the current issues of Uncanny X-Men, well you have to keep in mind with the legacy numbering you should read Uncanny X-Men #15 (where Cyclops got his eye shot out) then do this three-part miniseries and continue on with Uncanny X-Men #16. The great thing about this miniseries happening is that we get more time with Rahne and Jono before they meet their fate in the ongoing monthly.

So Sabretooth has brokered a deal with Hrimhari and the Enchantress to get Magik as his prisoner and hopefully gain favor with Malekith in the process. Sabretooth has Magik captured and has placed a necklace around her that we will find out is canceling out her teleportation powers. Rahne is not having any of this as she is demanding Magik be released and attacks Sabretooth; which will be nice for some fans as they wanted to see her in action instead of being more pacifist. Luckily Hrimhari helps her and they manage to take out Sabretooth by dropping him from Stark Tower.

We now join up with Dani (Mirage) Moonstar who is also a Valkyrie so she is majorly invested in this War of the Realms; she is in Manhattan with Maddrox, Roberto, Hope, and Karma as they hold off the attacks by many of the wolves. They do finally calm down once Hrimhari shows up since he is a God to them. This gives us a nice reunion as the team has been searching for Dani and Magik in the past issues. Here you have a lot of the New Mutants together, such a happy sight…but then again this is X-Men, so be ready.

We next head over to the stadium and see Cyclops, Maddrox Dupes, and Banshee holding up invading forces and helping to create an entrance for the rest of the team to return to base. Once everyone is inside they are shocked to meet Rahne’s family but Hrimhari insists that he nor his family can help in this conflict at all. The group starts to create strategy and hopes to use Magik’s teleportation as a way to keep the civilians safe, but she lets them in her loss due to the necklace; Roberto has a nice moment here where he suggests they do as the Hulk and smash it.

Invading forces attack the stadium and we are treated to the X-Men holding the walls and then finally a nice two page spread of them giving hell to the invaders. Everyone is giving their all to stop this horde and it is driving Rahne insane to just sit on the side and watch, but again Hrimhari reminds her that if she interferes he and Tier will no longer be alive. The battle is getting rough and the danger is close, so Roberto finally tires of Magik not having her full powers and grabs the necklace off her and smashes it; but as with any spell/curse there is a price to pay when they are broken and we see Roberto explode and once again the X-men suffer a team member loss.

At least Magik has her powers back and she opens a portal big enough for all the civilians to rush through, so Sabretooth gets her by the neck and sends his army through the portal as well. Luckily strategy was used and the civilians turn out to be a bunch of dupes of Maddrox and Hope, so now Sabretooth’s army is trapped in Limbo, which is pretty hot for the frost giants. Magik reminds Sabretooth that this won’t bode well with Malekith losing that many soldiers. Rahne attacks Sabretooth and bites out his neck taking him down and Magik then slices his head clean off and sends it through a portal.

Rahne gets the wolf forces to calm down as she is now their Alpha, but her attack will cost her. Tier and Hrimhari will no longer be alive in this world and they hope to see her in the next. Now this scene does add more layers to Rahne’s death as Wolverine saw in Uncanny X-Men #17; she was tired of all the loss and did leave the team in issue #16, when she was attacked by the young scum I can understand when the fight wasn’t with her… she just lost her family. I can see Rahne not putting in as much as she just went through a trial of her own and lost her family and the past “year” for the X-Men has been nothing but more loss, so she is tired and her fire is gone.

The battle for the X-Men is over and so is the War of the Realms for the rest of the Marvel Universe. The last two pages are very tough for Dani as she is a Valkryie and she has to honor the fallen by taking them to Valhalla. She is in presence of their souls and she does get one more time with Roberto as she will be taking him to Valhalla as well. It is a sorrowful ending for this miniseries but it is part of the larger story for the X-Men.

Overall, like I said in the beginning I didn’t give this miniseries any thought and I was suffering from event fatigue but once I saw that it was part of the legacy numbering for the main Uncanny book I had to give it a try. Well worth it indeed as it really does flesh out the main series and Rosenberg does a good job between issues 15 and 16 of the main book to show that something happened but isn’t a necessary buy as a collector. I say treat yourself and get these three issues as they will make your Uncanny collection that much richer with strong moments for the New Mutant members, Hope, and Banshee.