The mutant cult has been revealed in Ultimate X-Men, but can a bunch of high schoolers escape them? That’s a question you’ll ponder while reading Ultimate X-Men #7, which further fleshes out the “bad guys” in this story.
Ultimate X-Men #7 opens at the headquarters of the mutant cult known as the Temple of the Revealed X. It’s a group of large buildings set up to keep many people in line and brainwashed. Peach Momoko draws the cult leader with scary eyes and long, creepy limbs. This is not a man to trust. Before him are young mutants, some looking a bit strange while others are familiar characters in the crowd.
Learning about the cult helps define the mutant situation in this universe. From the opening speech to further details about the Shadow King, one can surmise nothing good comes from it. Pair that with the characterization of the heroes in this story, and you can see Momoko is creating a need for a good-guy side for this yin and yang.
If you’re wondering how this series fits into the larger tapestry of The Maker’s plans, rest assured that things come together nicely. It’s only in a brief scene when the cult leader is talked down to, but it’s enough to know this mutant cult is probably a mutant army recruitment center.
The cult leader is freaking me out!
Credit: Marvel
While the cult leader and his handler steal the show, Kanon, reminiscent of Psylocke, is introduced. She’s a good fighter and happens to wear purple. With a new semester kicking off, she bumps into our main characters, which leads to a fleshing-out of her backstory. That helps develop another corner of this series involving a police officer and a potential need for the cult to clean things up. There’s a complex building that should be fun to see developed.
On the reverse side, though, with so much time spent with the cult folks, the heroes get little time on the page. There’s a nice check-in with Armor, but besides Kanon, we’re left with little from our main heroes.
The art remains excellent, with a great sense of kinetic energy and movement in Kanon’s fight scene. The cult leader steals the show for weirdness, but there’s great subtle character acting that draws you in when one mutant looks around at the cult headquarters.
In the grand scheme of things, it’s quite cool to see how Momoko is creating a team of teenagers bonding in a real way and how an evil cult is their greatest threat. Little touches with character development and a general spunkiness to the heroes help further define them as good guys. Meanwhile, the cult characters are all a bit twisted and freaky.
Ultimate X-Men #7 further develops the scope of the villains while introducing a new hero and adding more complexity to the plot overall. All told, you won’t want to put this down as the world-building grabs you.
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