Marvel Database
Register
Advertisement

Quote1 You've proven you can think and act for yourselves!! Your training period is over!! Congratulations, my X-Men!! Quote2
Professor X

Appearing in "Trapped: One X-Man"

Featured Characters:

Supporting Characters:

Antagonists:

Other Characters:

Races and Species:

Locations:

Items:

Vehicles:

Synopsis for "Trapped: One X-Man"

The X-Men's last battle against Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants injured the Professor, seemingly destroying his telepathic abilities. They return Professor Xavier to the mansion so that he can get some rest and hopefully regain his powers. The X-Men ponder what they will do without Professor Xavier's help when they hear Marvel Girl's parents arrive for a visit. The X-Men quickly change into their civilian clothes so they can greet their visitors. They excuse Professor Xavier's absence and give Jean Grey's parents a tour of the mansion. The party heads to the Danger Room where Hank McCoy explains that it is a gymnasium and that the lack of all furnishings is because they are receiving new equipment. While the group goes into the lunchroom, Scott Summers is accidentally trapped in the Danger Room, and a program designed for the Beast starts automatically. He escapes the obstacles that the Danger Room presents by destroying them. Outside of the Danger Room, Jean's parents are unaware of anything out of the ordinary, and they leave.

But nobody noticed one of Magneto's henchmen, Mastermind, searching for the X-Men's headquarters! After a few minutes, he calls Magneto to pick him up; the X-Men are not nearby. On Asteroid M, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch ask him why it is so important to find the X-Men, so Magneto explains that as long as the X-Men are around, they will intervene in his plans for mutants to rule the world. He then explains that he has devised a new plan in order to coax the X-Men out of their HQ.

Back at the mansion, Scott ponders a plan to stop the Brotherhood when Bobby asks if he'd like to watch a track meet. Scott yells at him for not caring about the Professor. While Jean covers Professor Xavier with a blanket, Hank and Warren join Bobby by the television, along with Jean and the Professor. There is a contestant that wins the track meet using incredible jumps, so the crowd turns on him because they believe he is a cheater. The X-Men realize that the contestant is a mutant, so they head out to help him.

Once they rescue the mutant from the angry crowd, the X-Men escape to the subway. As they arrive at the next station, the Beast realizes something familiar about the mutant. The Beast pulls off a mask to reveal that it is actually the Toad, another one of Magneto's henchmen. The whole Brotherhood then arrives to attack the X-Men, and Magneto captures the Angel. The Brotherhood flee with Angel, but they are forced to leave Toad, who was captured by the X-Men. Back on Asteroid M, Magneto interrogates Angel as to the location of the other X-Men, but Angel refuses to tell him. Magneto then attempts to brainwash Angel.

The X-Men try to decide what to do with Toad when he suddenly falls into a trance. His only thoughts are that he has to return to Magneto, so he pulls out a communicator and summons a capsule from the sky. The X-Men follow the Toad, in order to find Angel. They appear on Asteroid M, to the Brotherhood's surprise. Magneto attempts to kill the X-Men with the push of a button, but the console is sabotaged by the Scarlet Witch because she cannot tolerate murder. Magneto and the two siblings argue over their loyalties, giving the X-Men time to free the Angel and attack!

The fighting causes some extensive damage to Asteroid M, which causes it to start to fall apart. Cyclops is trapped in a section of the asteroid that breaks off right away. Iceman has to create an ice tunnel so that Angel can rescue Cyclops. Before the asteroid is fully destroyed, the X-Men use the capsule to return to Earth. Upon returning to the mansion, they try to tell Professor Xavier what had occurred. Professor Xavier informs them that he was able to follow everything because he did not lose his telepathy! Since the X-Men performed this solo mission perfectly, they passed their final exams and their training is over.

Notes

  • On both the cover of this issue and X-Men #4, 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.
  • When an automobile approaches the School, the Beast is the only X-Man who notices its sound. An indication that Beast's hearing is more sensitive than that of his teammates.
  • First appearance of Jean's parents, John and Elaine Grey (though their first names are not mentioned). The characters would make at least 30 appearances in various X-Men Comic Books until their deaths during the Grey's End story arc.
  • First appearance of Asteroid M, Magneto's outer space headquarters. Although it is destroyed at the end of this issue, Magneto will rebuild it years later (only to see it destroyed yet again).
  • Cyclops almost floats away into space in this issue. Luckily, everyone is able to hold their breath in space while talking and Iceman builds an ice bridge around them on Asteroid M.
  • In the finale, Professor X claims he lied to his students about losing his abilities in order to test them: he wanted to see if they could defeat Magneto and the Brotherhood without him. While he says that they passed their "final exam", it's incorrect. He mentally forced the Toad to use a signalling device to transport the X-Men and himself to Asteroid M. Without his intervention then, the X-Men could never have followed Magneto to Asteroid M and, therefore, did not pass his test: they failed to beat Magneto without his involvement.
  • Credits:
    • Spell-Binding Story by: Stan Lee
    • Dazzling Drawing by: Jack Kirby
    • Inking: Paul Reinman
    • Lettering: S. Rosen

Trivia

  • Page 3, Panel 3: while Bobby is defrosting, as sort of an Easter Egg, there's a banner that says "Marvel" behind him.
  • John and Elaine Grey say they are on their way to the New York World's Fair (1964-1965). This is topical information, due to the sliding timescale.

See Also

Recommended Reading

  • X-Men #1 - first appearance of Magneto
  • X-Men #4 - first appearance Brotherhood of Evil Mutants

Links and References

References

Advertisement