New Mutants Vol 1 #50: "Father's Day!"
It's been a while since we've seen Carol Danvers' Binary. Now she is now part of the Starjammers who are hosting Xavier after saving his life. As Xavier learns that the New-Mutants are in danger, Binary joins the team that is set to save them. Although she doesn't do much other than use her powers. Not even use them as their most impressive form.
The issue opens with Illyana Rasputin a.k.a. Magik fighting in Limbo. A place she once ruled. So I guess the New-Mutants are back after the Beyonder made them disappear. Magik has endless enemies coming at her, no matter how many times she wins, more enemies come to fight her. Among her enemies she sees S'ym. A demons that has organized the rebellion against Magik. He struck a bargain with Magus to rule limbo. S'ym is infected with the Transmode virus and he infects anyone he touches. Except Magik, her Eldritch armor makes her immune to the virus. Magik doesn't run from the confrontation, she takes her Soulsword and stabs the ground with it. The ground is made out of magic so it creates havoc.
Then the issue switches to outer space. A planet in the middle of nowhere. It is a hideout and an interspace pawnshop, where the people of the galaxy can buy and sell anything. A safe place with no laws or bounty hunters. In a city on that planet we find two members of the Starjammers, Corsair and Carol Danvers who is now known as Binary as this point. They are on this planet to get what they need to repairs their ship which was damaged in Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 #201– January, 1986. So yeah, it has been over a year since we've seen Danvers in anything but flashbacks. Now she's back. Danvers is worried that the person who they need to meet will betray them, but Corsair reminds her that they have to repair their ship because they can't go on much longer like this.
Misfortune finds them fast. They run into Haggard, who tells them that there is a giant award over their heads, the imperium wants them badly. But, no one can take them when they are in this city. The other Starjammers including Charles Xavier and Lilandra are worried by the new situation. Xavier and Lilandra are talking about their strange fate when suddenly Xavier notices something wrong. He runs towards the source of the thoughts. It is a teenager who is about to be sold. Xavier who apparently can walk without a problem, attacks the alien who is about to sell her. Law enforcing machines apprehend him. But, Binary comes to rescue him and the captive.
All of the Starjammers come to stand beside her. More robots come to fight them. At that moment Lilanda realizes that the girl is no other than Illyana Rasputina, one of the New Mutants. But, instead of fighting, the Starjammers disappear into their own spaceship. I guess we will find out just how damaged it is. Xavier is sorry for all of the problems that he caused, but Corsair is angry because that might have damaged their deal to get what they need for their ship.
However, the danger is not over. They reinforce their cloaking screen and stay low in case the imperial fleet or bounty hunters come to look for them. Illyana wakes up in a fright, but calms down and breaks down when she sees the professor. Lilandra is sad to see how happy he is to have some small part of his old life back, she knows she will lose him. But, as she explains to Binary, she too has a duty to her people, so save them from her sister's violent ways.
Over dinner Illyana updates everyone on everything that happened on Earth. Some of it is good news, like Corsair is now a grandfather. Some of it is not good news. Marauders have killed the Morlocks and the X-Men tried to help the Morlocks and they lost. The New-Mutants were worried about the developing situation. So Illyana took Karma to her family's home, that was a mistake, it is trap set up by Magus, who is described as Warlock's father. Magus wants to kill Warlock (Although it doesn't appears to be Adam Warlock) and the New Mutants for being his friends. Illyana pulled everyone into limbo, but of course Magus followed. They all got separated and Illyana fought, until she could fight no longer. She decided death was better so she used the soulsword to clean limbo from Magus. Instead of dying she found herself on the planet where Xavier found her, a planet where her powers don't work. It was pure luck that Xavier found her after all of the chaos. After finishing telling her story Illyana collapses and cries in Xavier's arms.
Xavier explains to everyone what has happened. The goal of the Marauders is to start a war for mutant supremacy. Illyana seems to be more normal, but Xavier feels like the demon that influenced her and gave her powers and turned her into Magik is still influencing her. For now though, despite the fact that she's an ordinary human girl, she misses her magic deeply.
Xavier decides to take action. He will go inside limbo with Illyana and try and find his missing students. He will help Illyana direct her powers, which are something between gone and out of control. There is a chance that limbo doesn't exist anymore. A chance that he is willing to take.
He is not going alone with Illyana. Binary and Lilanda join him, while the Starjammers ship and the planet that they are on is under attack.
But Xavier and his team reach Limbo safely. It appears that Limbo is now healed. It is a beautiful land. Illyana wonders if she is healed and whether she even wants to be healed. Their peace is short lived as they are attacked by a demon that reminds them that Limbo doesn't belong to Illyana anymore. Binary attacks the demon, but he is immune to her powers. He calls Binary "silly babe" which is just infuriating, but he is a demon, it's his job is to be evil. Illyana picks up the Soulsword to fight the demon, but also accepting all of the evil that goes with her dark magic. Xavier is worried that she did this for him. The demon tells her that the Soulsword keeps S'ym at bay, but only as it remains there. The moment she removes it or use her sorcery, S'ym will be free. The more S'ym transforms Limbo, the weaker Magik will be, until in the end she will lose all of her powers. Illyana tells the demon that she intends to fight to keep Limbo as her kingdom forever. This worries Lilanda. But, in the end Illyana chooses to try and save the New Mutants before she will fight for Limbo. So they all teleport together. I think Illyana made the right choice.
The New Mutants team is speared across a number of possible futures. We switch to part of the New Mutants. They have found themselves in a reality where Mutants are the dominating race, and apparently, they all live in one building in New-York. When all of the humans are suffering outside. But, the New Mutants are waiting to be rescued. The ruler of the city wants them to go through re-education so they will fit into the new society. Xavier shows up in time to stop the conversation short. Xavier confronts the person in charge with sharp words and leaves with his team and some of the New Mutants. Another part of the team is in a different future. In that future they are attacked by sentinels. They have no choice but to fight and lose. But, just as they are preparing to fight, Xavier and his team show up. Binary takes the sentinels on with her blasts and the rest of the team deal with the leftovers. But now that they are all reunited, the New-Mutants are suspicious of the members who were not with them. They meet different version of them in the possible futures. This can't lead to anything good.
But, they all return to their original reality and rejoin the Starjammers. If you remember that the Starjammers were attacked, now this attack is on full swing. The horizon is on fire as a creature of immense powers attacks them. His presence tears the planet apart. It is a form of Magus who came to kill Warlock. The New Mutants and Starjammers decide to fight against all odds. The creature threatens to infect them with the transmode virus. Magma feels the planet dying and Xavier tells her to give the planet a voice and strike at the creature. Which she does and then Magik teleports it to the bottom of the ocean. But the Magus creature recovers quickly. Xavier magnifies Magma's powers so she can keep the planet stable. Sam is not happy about this plan. Warlock decides to attack and try and kill his father, but fails. It is Cypher who comes up with a plan to deal with Magus. Cypher tries to charge Warlock back to life but fails, so Binary gives him a help with her powers. She does have more energy to go around them most people. But the Warlock that Magus sees is an illusion created by Mirage. Now Xavier tells Karma to try and possess the enraged Magus. It appears that Cypher and Warlock have merged and landed on Magus' frozen body to try and penetrate his generic code and understand it. But then Magnus wakes up and creates small creatures to attack the merged Cypher and Warlock. But, Binary and Sunspot attack these creatures so that Cypher and Warlock can finish their work in peace. It is a hard battle and Sunspot and Binary need to push their powers to their limits as Magus is so powerful. Cypher decrypts Magus' generic code and hit Magus hard.
Binary forces Sunspot to leave. It is the only way for them to survive. It is now a work for Cypher and Warlock to defeat Magus. A work which they not only succeed in doing, but they both survive as well.
Magus will probably be back one day, but the New Mutant and an adult Warlock should be able to stop him. Warlock is so happy that he calls Xavier his true father, the father of his heart and soul. What a touching ending.
Carol Danvers' Binary doesn't have much to do in this issue. Sure she is part of the Starjammers and she seems really close to the Xavier and the New-Mutants, but she's here as extra muscle power basically. She has no personal growth as part of these two teams. I expected more out of her return.
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