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Quote1 But is it necessary to plant such fear in the hearts of the people, Magneto? Quote2
Scarlet Witch

Appearing in "The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants!"

Featured Characters:

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

  • Two unnamed businessmen
  • Transian townspeople (Only in flashback)
  • Santo Marcan citizens

Races and Species:

Locations:

Items:

Vehicle:

  • Stolen Navy freighter

Synopsis for "The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants!"

The X-Men are in the middle of their latest training session. Marvel Girl is given the task of lifting a lid from a box using her telekinetic powers. Once it is opened, she finds a cake stashed inside! Professor Xavier explains that it has been one year since classes first started at the school, and he felt that the date should be celebrated.

Meanwhile, four other mutants, known as Toad, Mastermind, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, are seen having dinner. Mastermind tries to impress the Scarlet Witch, but she is not interested in him. Mastermind threatens her, but Quicksilver intervenes to protect his sister. Magneto is elsewhere, seen stealing a freighter and returning it to his secret headquarters somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. When Magneto returns, Toad informs him that Quicksilver and Mastermind were fighting. Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch tell Magneto that they do not want to be members of his group anymore, but Magneto informs them that they are forever in his debt. The group has a flashback to a town in Europe where Magneto saves the Scarlet Witch from an angry mob that wants to kill her for burning down a barn with her mutant powers.

Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants use the stolen freighter to attack the small nation of Santo Marco in South America. Professor Xavier learns of the attack and contacts Magneto on the astral plane using his telepathic powers. Professor Xavier and Magneto dispute their different views on mutant and human relations; Professor Xavier believes that they should coexist with one another, while Magneto believes that homo-superior should rule the world. Mastermind creates an imaginary army to frighten Santo Marco's populace so that the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants can easily take over the country.

Professor Xavier and the X-Men travel to Santo Marco under the guise of an American professor and his students on a goodwill mission. Once they are in the country, the X-Men change into their costumes and attack the Brotherhood. Mastermind tries to scare the X-Men away by creating an illusion of a fire wall in the X-Men's path. Professor Xavier realizes that the fire is not real, so he enters it to show his students that there is nothing to fear.

The X-Men devise a plan to attack the Brotherhood, but do not realize that the palace door has been booby trapped with a bomb. Just before Beast opens the door, Professor Xavier senses the danger and hurls himself in front of the X-Men to protect them! The Brotherhood escape from the palace, but not before Quicksilver disarms a second bomb intended to destroy the entire nation along with the X-Men. Professor Xavier regains consciousness only to learn that his telepathic powers were damaged by the explosion.

Notes

  • This issue introduces the original Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch will become best known as mainstays of the Avengers and will eventually be revealed to be Magneto's children (though this connection will be retconned substantially). Mastermind will play a major role in the Dark Phoenix Saga. The Toad will go through various personality changes and usually appear in the henchman role. The character Astra will later be retroactively inserted into the Brotherhood's original line up in the Magneto War arc.
  • For the first and perhaps only time in his long superhero career, the Beast is depicted wearing gloves. It is during his Danger Room sequence at the start of the issue and does not seem to be an error as it is on the first page and in several panels on the second. But there is no indication why he is wearing them on this one occasion. He doesn't even wear them during the main action against the Brotherhood.
  • The Beast uses his formal name Henry for the first time in this issue.
  • This story celebrates the first-year anniversary since their class began.
  • On both the cover of this issue and X-Men #5, Scarlet Witch's costume is colored green, and Quicksilver's is colored blue. They are their correct respective red and green colors within the issues.
  • Professor X gets a premonition about Magneto's plans and Magneto displays the ability to astrally project his psyche in order to confront Prof. X telepathically. Neither of these characters will demonstrate these abilities again in the future.
  • X-Men First Class #7 follows up on Angel's infatuation with Scarlet Witch.
  • This issue ends in a cliffhanger with Professor X being inured, and the X-Men concerned if they can oppose Magneto's Brotherhood in the future without his guidance.
  • References: X-Men #1

Trivia

  • This Comic Book was referenced in Marvel: Avengers Alliance and is one of the Comic Book Covers required in order to recruit Magneto in the game.
  • Coincidentally, this month's issue of DC's Doom Patrol introduced another villainous group called the Brotherhood of Evil as recurring antagonists, adding grist to the idea that Marvel reworked elements of the DP series into this series.

See Also

Recommended Reading

Links and References

References

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