The Armchair Editor

By: Peter Dimitriadis

Towards the tail end of Grant Morrison's run on New X-Men, we had the revelation that Xorn was really Magneto, and then Magneto tried to take over New York. At the end of the storyline, Magneto, by this point a pathetic insane drug addict, was beheaded.

Some loved the storyline, others (like me) hated it, and were hoping for some kind of retcon that would mitigate against the character destruction employed on one of the few classic villains of the X-Men.

Then, of course, Marvel actually did, by providing us not only with a living Xorn, but also, on Genosha, a living Magneto who apparently had no idea of what happened.

If one did one or the other, then you could almost get away with it. Doing both at once really got a lot of people angry, even some of those who were also relieved.

Now, it's hopeful that Marvel indeed has a plan for how the Magneto in New X-Men was really an imposter (or alternatively, the one in Excalibur is, I suppose), or how he managed to survive a beheading and get back to Genosha. It's certainly not been explained yet. Unfortunately, it seems likely that any such explanation will be, to some extent, sloppy and seen as 'ruining' Morrison's story.

So, despite my distaste for the story, I thought I'd put out an explanation of my own. An explanation that, IMHO, not only allows Magneto to survive the indignities Morrison put him through, but also ties in thematically with a lot of Morrison's own plots.

First, let's start with Xorn. We don't actually have Xorn 'back to life', it seems, because in the Austen run, the new 'Xorn' asks Havok if he's his 'brother Xorn'. That suggests that there was a real Xorn, but it's not the current guy they're calling Xorn. This leaves things open for saying that Xorneto was Xorn, if only we can explain it well enough.

Now, 'A Star For A Head' is a pretty ridiculous power. So, let's say the Xorn brothers have a more classic power.

Reality manipulation, kind of like Proteus.

Low level, but enough that it basically gave them 'A Star For A Head', (or rather, one a star, and one a Black Hole, apparently), and let them survive it, because they believed it of themselves. It also accounts for any other power Morrison cared to give them, or simulate. This includes Healing, Magnetism, 'Fry You Just By Removing My Faceplate', and so on. The helmet doesn't actually do anything, they're just convinced it does something, so it does.

So let's put Xorn out there. He's rescued by the X-Men, and he goes to his monastary, until the need to heal Professor Xavier causes Cyclops to seek him out. They manage to get to the mansion just in time for the defeat of Cassandra Nova.

Except... Cassandra Nova wasn't destroyed, right? She was just put into the body of the alien 'Stuff'. A limited mind where she apparently had to learn to be a better person. Morrison's last arc showed that she had. Unfortunately, when you think about it, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. After all, Cassandra Nova's mind and hatred survived being a cluster of cells clinging to a sewer wall, didn't it? She was described not so much as an intelligent entity, as a force of nature who wanted only to destroy Charles and his dream. So her whole reformation seems a little iffy, doesn't it?

Now, the X-Men tried. Someone apparently thought it was a good idea to release Cassandra's childlike mind, give her the identity of Ernst, and put her in the special class to learn to be more human. Xorn, being a little weird on his own, teaches the special class.

So, we have Cassandra Nova and Xorn in the same place at the same time. Cassandra doesn't have access to the vast array of powers in her old body... but she does still have her rage and hatred, and maybe the ability to disconnect her 'spirit' from her body and swap with another.

That's right, I'm suggesting that, at some point, Cassandra Nova swapped minds with Xorn. Xorn's mind, as it was, couldn't survive in the body of Stuff. He was left as the blank slate of Ernst. Simple but goodhearted, confused about his identity. The reason he was able to 'reform' was because he was already good inside. The reason he took on the name Cassandra Nova was because he believed he was Cassandra Nova; everyone else told him he was, after all.

Meanwhile, Cassandra Nova's lurking around in Xorn's body. Her goal is the same as ever. To destroy Charles, to destroy his Dream, and do it in the worst way possible. So, she makes contact to bring Kick into the area to set up things for the Riot. She became Magneto deliberately, using Xorn's reality manipulation power. She physically became "Charles' greatest enemy", Magneto, all the better to taunt him with. How sweet is it to have Magneto, Charles oldest friend and, at times, worst enemy decieve his way into the X-Mansion and destroy The Dream? And of course, it is obvious in its way... "A Star For A Brain"? Sure, maybe it could apply to Magneto, but why not also Cassandra Nova?

Reading Planet X with this idea in mind, you notice a few things... a lot of the more glaring 'flaws' in the argument, how he's behaving like Magneto, can be explained as Nova simply acting. She has no intention of truly taking over... she wants to destroy everybody. But, since she thinks ahead, plots within plots within plots, she wants to set it up so that even if she loses, mutants are blamed. So, she becomes a violently genocidal Magneto.

She claims she invented Xorn... but to who does she claim this? Xavier, who she has an interest in decieving for deception's sake, and Ernst... the person who shouldn't suspect that he is in fact Xorn because it might blow the plan and reveal her true identity. Ernst's repeated desire for the 'old Xorn' back becomes more ironic and poignant, because Ernst actually is the old Xorn... but, perhaps, as long as Ernst doesn't suspect, there's nothing he can do to change things.

Other evidence lies in the Planet X arc. A few times, he describes himself as 'A Force Of Nature', mutants solely as agents of Evolution. This is similar to what we heard about Nova, that she planned on exterminating mutants because that's all she could do. She looks upon the demolished New York and names it New Genosha. Her second city, reduced to ruins. She refers to 'my nanosentinels'. Magneto may have co-opted them, but they recently belonged to Nova.

Later, towards the end, the remaining Stepford Cuckoos started to sense something very wrong with the universe. This couldn't have been the problem that Jean corrected, since it took place later, when Scott lost hope. So, it must have been something else... like, Xorneto Nova's reality manipulation powers trying to cope with the loss, and failing, due to Beast neutralizing the Kick in his system.

The pattern of descent also matches. When Nova impersonated Xavier, she did a perfect impersonation, set up traps to her advantage, dismantled what she could of what Xavier cared about, and then, once free to do so, basically went psychotically crazy. When Nova became Xorn, she also had a perfect impersonation at first, set up traps and cirumstances to her advantage, dismantled what he could of what Xavier cared about, and then turned into a psychotic nutjob. (Although it's certianly plausible for Magneto, even his 'floating through the city in triumph over the chaos' reminds me of Nova, when she did the same in Xavier's body)

Then there is get Xorneto's words to Charles; I always come back. Maybe that's my secondary mutation. Sure, it works for Magneto. But it also works for Cassandra Nova. She survived being 'killed in the womb', and came back. She was basically killed in the first arc by Wolverine and Cyclops, but regenerated. She 'died' making that first switch with Xavier, and came back. She survived being turned into Ernst, and came back. So, she warns, she'll be back again.

This explanation also conveniently deals with some of the plot holes in Morrison's run... such as how Magneto was able to defy Wolverine's senses (it wasn't actually Magneto), or how Magneto was able to set up a false prison, infiltrate the X-Men with powers like Healing that he never possessed, set up traps for the X-Men, and teach a subvertive curriculum all without even the slightest hint of trouble from suspicious X-Men, only to be a complete nutjob the moment after it was all revealed.

The major obstacle to this explanation is the fact that Magneto, during his breakdown, couldn't seem to remember if he was Magneto or Xorn. I must admit I can't find any truly satisfying way to wrap this up. But we can get close. This confusion starts when in the presence of Martha. She has the ability to produce 'psychic chaff', so once she changed sides, and decided to try to screw up Magneto's thinking, she was able to confuse Nova whether she was Xorn, Magneto, or herself.

For that matter, maybe the reality manipulation powers were a little much for Nova, especially when enhanced by Kick (probably freebased, given the whole 'star for a head'). Somewhere towards the end, instead of Xorn, she actually became Magneto, or rather the imitation of him. Not just body, but also, in part, in mind. Enough to eventually convince herself that she was Magneto, and forget exactly who she was. Deep down, though, she knew she wanted Charles to be destroyed, to take away what he cared about, and, right to the end, even when she knew she was beaten, did her best... her last act as Magneto was killing Jean (a capricious act out of character for Magneto, but not for Nova), and then forcing Charles to watch as Wolverine beheaded one of his oldest friends.

The real Magneto, meanwhile, was hiding out in Genosha, unaware of all of this, and he can once again be used as either a hero or villain, depending on the needs and circumstances. Xorn is likewise dead, but his brother is still alive if anyone needs him, and his personality, though not memory, survives in the body of Ernst.

I loathed Planet X the first time around, but in order to check out if this idea was workable, I had to read it again. I must admit, I smiled a little. I liked reading it while telling myself it actually works as being all a huge deception pulled not only on the X-Men, but also on the audience. I doubt Morrison intended it this way, but he's the one who always talks about fictional universes having lives of their own.

So, in my opinion, until something else contradicts it, from beginning of Morrison's run to the end, Cassandra Nova was involved in almost everything. It was one great effort to destroy everything Xavier cared about, and to a great extent, she succeeded. The Shi'Ar Empire is in ruins, he's been outed as a mutant, Genosha was destroyed, mutants are hated and feared again with Manhattan destroyed, his school was destroyed and closed, he was made a fool of for allowing Xorneto to infiltrate him, Jean was murdered, and Xavier's ability to walk was once again gone.

With this explanation, Morrison's story still stands, perhaps changed from his initial plans, but not robbed of all it's meaning by a sloppy retcon of a simple 'imposter'. We simply shift the mastermind villain behind it all to someone else with better motivations, and... well, I'm satisfied, anyway.

Please, feel free to reply with any holes you can poke in the theory, or corroborating evidence that can help support it.

Peter Dimitriadis (portions of this particular theory have previously appeared on Usenet)

Standard Disclaimer: None of the characters are owned by me, all are owned by Marvel, as is the book and all images. While the theory itself is my own, if it winds up being fact, then I hold no legal claim on it, as I'm merely interpreting pieces given in the text itself.

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