Prelude: A Short History

Rahne Sinclair and Sam Guthrie began dating shortly after she reluctantly joined the ranks of X-Force. They married just before X-Force was incorporated into the X-Men. Before their first anniversary, they and all the X-Men were faced with the horrors of MWIII.

Magneto War III, a.k.a. MWIII or the Mutant Armageddon, was the greatest and most devastating conflict ever to involve the Mutant race. It was Magneto’s final and most successful campaign against humanity.

In the early part of the twenty-first century, a human government that Magneto had not provoked aggressively attacked Genosha. Magneto retaliated with unmitigated force, crippling the country that had so offended him. Consequently, his countrymen loved him and mutants from around the world sought citizenship in Genosha. Magneto recruited many of his fellow mutants into a formidable force united for the cause of eliminating anti-mutant acts by taking over the major governments of the world. He was successful in gaining the support of many who had previously been his enemies, not to mention the thousands of mutants in Genosha. Members of the former Brotherhood, the Mutant Liberation Front, the Acolytes, and the X-Patriots were just a few of the many in the ranks of Magneto’s “M Fleet”.

Utilizing secret bases around the globe, M Fleet wreaked havoc and destruction on the major cities of all nations in the U.N. and former Soviet Union. He also implanted underground representatives in every country to persuade the mutants that were already living in these countries to rise up and join him, taking over their cities one at a time. The human military organizations of each country were decimated in the process. One exception to this is communist China, where a mutant quickly ascended to the position of Chairman and had the support of almost all his people.

Most every nation followed the lead of the United States, in that they first sought to do arms with Magneto’s forces and remain neutral in the mutant rights debate. But after the initial defeat and irreparable losses sustained by their military forces, all nations ordered mutants to be arrested on sight. Operation: Zero Tolerance was recommissioned, and Sentinels were once again mass-produced with the newest technology. Senator Kelly became a national icon, and eventually a hero to many, by leading the fight against mutants. Fear was prevalent worldwide, and “witch hunts” plagued the entire surface of the globe. Some say that more humans died from being falsely accused and lynched as mutants than from mutant crimes. It is certainly illogical to think that most mutants had time for anything but battle during the two years that the war raged.

Much to their disgrace and disappointment, Professor Xavier and the X-Men were easily repelled in their first assault on a hidden M Fleet base. Xavier then organized what he called “Army X”, a large and formidable force of mutants with the mission of defeating Magneto at any cost. Everyone who had ever been an X-Man or worked with them rallied to his support—minus, of course, those who supported Magneto. Army X was and still is divided into color coded teams: the Green team (infantry), the Red team (assassins), the Grey team (covert/special ops), and the Brown team (psi operatives). Even with this army, Xavier was greatly outnumbered and faced the unfortunate fact that the only two magnetists in the world—Magneto and Polaris—were against him.

Determined that no more children would die under his care, Xavier tried to hide the members of his youngest team, Generation X, but they were discovered by the Fantastic Four while they were looking for Franklin Richards, who had just joined the team. Nearly the entire Generation X team, as well as all members of the Fantastic Four except the Thing, were killed by an M Fleet bomb that destroyed the entire X-Mansion.

Thinking that Xavier’s team was responsible for these deaths, the U.S. government sent the Avengers to arrest the X-Men. The ensuing battle killed several members of each group and forever marked the X-Men as outlaws.

The X-Men were without a home and mostly defeated. Had it not been for Havok’s relationship with Polaris, all would have been lost and Magneto would surely have conquered the world. Havok, however, convinced Polaris to leave Magneto and try to help the X-Men stop him and make the most of things before they were all doomed.

Faced with this new development, Magneto was enraged. He had sunk entire ships and massacred entire armies without ever leaving Genosha, but it was Polaris that maintained his strength. Abandoning the safety of his fortress, he flew after her, repelling nuclear missiles and other weapons of mass destruction in the process. Xavier’s Red Team caught up with Havok and Polaris and killed her before Havok could explain that she had recanted.

Magneto caught up with Xavier’s Red Team, and viciously attacked them. While thus distracted, Xavier’s Green Team managed to overcome and kill Magneto.

The war ended that day, when Xavier amazingly showed up on the doorstep of the White House with Magneto’s dead body in his arms. The U.S. and the U.N. recognized that Xavier and his teams were responsible for finally defeating Magneto, and dropped all charges against them. It was a day to be remembered with solemnity for mutants and humans everywhere, for although Xavier and his Army X had finally defeated their archenemy and taken the first step toward the completion of their dream, the entire world had suffered in the process. Mutants everywhere were called upon to recall the awesome responsibility that comes with the power they possess, and humans everywhere were asked to bear in mind that the island of Genosha never suffered a single casualty after the first attack.

Years later, after much healing and many debates, the worldwide Mutant Liberation Act was passed. This act was a recognition of mutants as human beings, with the same rights as any other citizen. It made the use of mutant powers legal in most situations, and made it illegal to discriminate against mutants. Also, it provided for funding of schools specialized in the training of mutants, such as Xavier’s Institute. Mutants came out of the woodwork and began to openly mingle with humans. It seemed that Xavier’s dream had finally become a reality. However, the Act also gave birth to certain things that were less than helpful to human/mutant relations. Things such as the Mutant Circus, criticized for being too much competition for a traditional circus; the mutant pornography industry, which brought new meaning to the words ‘deviant’ and ‘bizarre’; the mutant insurance market; mutant churches, where humans were not welcome; and competition for Xavier’s Institute by untrained buffoons such as those at University M.

Xavier is now an American legend, and is the head of the famous Xavier’s Institute.

Magneto’s son, Quicksilver, ascended Genosha’s throne.

Some of the many mutants who died during MWIII were:
Magneto
Wildside
Tempo
Angel
Banshee
Havok
Polaris
Strong Guy
Warlock II
Psylocke
Karma
M
Skin
Husk
Chamber
Chimera
Penance
Synch
White Queen
Franklin Richards