Decimation (comics)

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M-Day redirects here. For the NATO definition, see Military designation of days and hours

Decimation event logo, as shown on the covers of tie-in comics

DeciMation is the name of the late 2005 Marvel Comics storyline spinning out of the House of M limited series, that focuses on the ramifications of the Scarlet Witch's stripping nearly all of the mutant population of their powers, reducing a society of millions to one of scant hundreds.

This event, which occurred on November 2 according to X-Men (vol. 2) #191, is known as "M-Day" in the Marvel Universe.

[edit] Overview

"Decimation" began with the self-titled one-shot Decimation: House of M: The Day After, and heralded the relaunch of the Excalibur team in New Excalibur, focusing on Pete Wisdom looking for Captain Britain to head up a new British super team, as well as the relaunch of X-Factor from the MadroX miniseries. It also includes several mini-series - Son of M starring a depowered Quicksilver, Generation M focusing on other depowered characters, Sentinel Squad O*N*E showing the latest iteration of the mutant-hunting Sentinels to be robots piloted by humans, X-Men: Deadly Genesis, and X-Men: The 198 - and continues throughout the Marvel Universe, particularly in the X-Men-related titles. One consequence is an upswing of anti-mutant sentiment, especially among certain religious groups, who consider M-Day to be God's judgment against mutant kind.

It has been confirmed by various sources that there are considerably more than 198 mutants remaining - the number has been referred to as "symbolic" rather than actual, and in The 198 Files is said to be the earliest confirmed number. Numbers for pre-Decimation mutants vary from "over a million" (House of M #8) to 14 million (New X-Men #115, where it is said that the 16 million mutants who died on Genosha was around "over half" of the estimated global mutant population of 30 million mutants), giving a population, if the commonly-used 90% depowered figure is true, of between one hundred thousand and one and a half million. Based on the mathematical comparisons of the oft-repeated 198 and several million, Marvel has recently reevaluated the 90% figure into "Over 99%". This is shown in Civil War: Battle Damage Report when Iron Man comments on the Post-CW world.^[1] The figure may be reevaluated again depending on events taking place in the upcoming Endangered Species and Messiah Complex storylines.

Both Hank Pym and Beast note shortly after the event that it is impossible for the energy that certain mutants controlled to simply have vanished, and that it must have been "sent" somewhere. As would later be revealed in New Avengers, most of this energy became a sentient entity called "The Collective", who has since come into violent conflict with the Avengers. In addition, a portion of the energy revived the body of Gabriel Summers, who had been trapped in space for many years following the defeat of Krakoa.

[edit] Criticism

According to Marvel Editor-In-Chief, Joe Quesada, the Decimation event was designed to reduce the number of mutant characters in the Marvel Universe as he felt the number of mutants had gotten out of hand after forty years of publishing.^[2] Most criticisms by fans have been aimed at inconsistencies regarding the roster of mutants who retained their powers after the event. For example, in the Generation M mini-series, several characters were considered depowered, even though they retained their physical mutations. The Civil War Files one-shot revealed that the US government's assessment of the number of mutants on Earth may not be accurate, which allowed Marvel to change the number of depowered mutants. Additionally, characters such as Namor and the Great Lakes Avengers, who are described as mutants but not particularly tied to the X-Men series of books, have not been affected by the event.

[edit] Notable depowered mutants

Wizard magazine published a speculative list of supposedly-decimated characters, which Marvel Comics dismissed as including a number of mutants who still have their powers^[3] and also includes non-mutant characters. The list therefore should not be trusted.

     Mutants who remain active while depowered or have not been confirmed repowered

     Mutants who got their powers back

     Mutants who were remutated

     Depowered mutants who are dead

     Mutants who are dead but were repowered at the time

     Mutants who are dead but were remutated at the time

Notes:

• Domina, Electric Eve, Revenant, Toad-In-Waiting are presumed depowered following Wizard's list but haven't been confirmed on panel.
• Sunfire, while depowered long before M-Day because of Rogue was listed among the energies in the Collective. Seeing that Rogue still has his powers how this is possible remains unknown.
  

  Sunfire, listed among other depowered mutants in New Avengers #19
• It is not clear which powers Black Tom Cassidy has lost. While he has surely lost his tree form/plant control power, he may have only been mimicking his energy power against New Excalibur as it was said he used Black Air technology.
• According to the New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #12 Wild Child may have retained some of his powers since he gained some of them through genetic manipulation during his Alpha Flight and Weapon X days.
• The only students at Xavier's who are still powered were shown in New X-Men vol. 2, #23. That means that despite not being shown on panel Kidogo, Flubber and Rain Boy are depowered. Any other student but the ones listed either here or in the powered section either died prior to M-Day or are depowered. The ones who died on the bus weren't shown before (Amber for instance) except for DJ, Dryad, Network, Rubbermaid, Tag.
• Many mutants still remain active although they are depowered, they include the New Warriors Blackwing, Tempest, Wondra and Wind Dancer, the X-Cell as well as Brass and El Aguila as reported in Civil War: Battle Damage Report
• It has been revealed in the "Endgangered Species" storyline that latent mutants, such as Charlotte Jones, have also lost their X-gene after M-Day.
• It appears that some characters, for an as of yet unexplained reason, have reverted to normal at a slower rate than others. This includes Beak, Stacy X, Marrow (who still isn't normal) and Ned Raltson. It is unknown if Irving, Doug & Jerry belong to this category or if they are still mutants.
• Callisto, Freakshow, Hub, Hack, Purge, Shola Inkosi, Wicked and Unus have all been repowered by the Terrigen Mists in the Son of M limited series but the effects were temporary. Unus was suffocated by his own powers while Callisto was in a coma. She has since recovered.
• Iceman is not repowered, since he never lost his powers in the first place. After the events of M-Day he developed a mental block, which suppressed his secondary mutation and blocked his powers.
• Archangel only pretended to be depowered as seen in Generation M #4 and #5.
• It is unclear as to if Layla Miller had powers before M-day, or if she was simply lying. To further complicate matters, she was said to not be a mutant in X-Factor (3rd series) #20.
• Feral and Thornn weren't actually repowered, they merely had their physical mutation restored. As shown in Wolverine #55.

[edit] Confirmed remaining mutants

While it has been stated that there are at least 198 remaining mutants, according to Henry Peter Gyrich, there are actually "around 300"; the 198 number is merely the number of mutants the US government has cataloged, with a 199th mutant being off the record.^[7] 192 mutants have currently been confirmed within actual story material to still have their mutant X-Gene, though several of them were not present during M-Day to be affected. 25 of said mutants have died post-Decimation, including 2 unknown mutants. The confirmed remaining mutants are as follows:

• 2 unnamed and unknown mutants murdered and eaten by Predator X in New X-Men vol. 2 #43-44: an American rodent-like mutant and a fire-breathing Canadian male.

Mutants who arrived post-Decimation
The following mutants entered the 616 Marvel universe post-Decimation, and thus were unaffected by the decimation:

Notes:

• All of the mutants from alternate timelines who entered the 616 universe pre-Decimation are powered according to X-Men: Endangered Species. This includes Archer, Bishop, Blaquesmith, Dark Beast, Fixx, Gaia, Marvel Girl, Mountjoy, Nocturne, Sugar Man, Big Hero Six's Sunpyre, Damian Tryp and The Witness (deceased). While still a mutant, Cable does not belong to that list as he was born on Earth 616 as the son of Madelyne Pryor and Scott Summers and only raised in an alternate timeline.
• Despite sometimes being called so, Deadpool, Juggernaut, Lady Deathstrike, Mastermind Excello, Mister Sinister, Vertigo, and any member of the Folding Circle or the original members of Psionex are not mutants.
• In the X-Men: Phoenix - Warsong limited series it was revealed that the Stepford Cuckoos were actually Weapon XIV of the Weapon Plus Project. With this information also came the revelation that the girls were genetic daughters/clones of Emma Frost. They were harvested from 1000 of her eggs, and they had 995 other mutant siblings (most of which were identical to them, one having two heads). Ultimately at the climax of the story all but the 3 original living Cuckoos perished.
• The Owl is indeed a mutant as he used his own dna as the source of his own supply of the contraband drug Mutant Growth Hormone, which was confirmed in the Endangered Species storyline to be derived solely, as it's name suggest, from genetic mutants with the X-genome.
• Cloak & Dagger are listed as science/magic-based mutates in Civil War: Battle Damage Report but have otherwise long been established in the main Marvel continuity as latent mutants whose powers were activated by drugs developed by the demon D'Spayre. Their mutant nature was also confirmed in the Age of Apocalypse limited series, where they were part of Sinister's Six. Similarly Namor the Sub-Mariner was said to be the first official mutant in House of M. Since both reality diverged after the characters' respective births this confirms their status as mutants in the main Marvel continuity as well.
• The Black Cat, Mimic, Purple Man, and Sauron have all been called both mutants and mutates. Mimic, who hasn't shown any power since M-Day but was a Thunderbolt detainee, which suggest he had some, was claimed to be a latent mutant whose powers were activated by accidental exposure to experimental gases as a young boy in his father's lab by former head X-writer Scott Lobdell. The still powered Purple Man gained his after a similar accident since he introduced himself as a mutant when he met X-Man (which he had no real reason to lie about and which was not disputed by Nate Grey when he read his memories), his daughter Purple Girl, who inherited the exact same powers is a confirmed genetic mutant, though numerous mutates have given powers to their children. Black Cat had her powers triggered through mechanical means but is unclear whether or not it was a latent mutation, her powers were stripped long before M-Day in exchange for catlike abilities anyway. Sauron however is not a mutant.
• Asp feared the Superhuman Registration Act. She has never been confirmed as a mutant in the canon comics.
• Franklin Richards and Cable were depowered before M-Day but remain genetic mutants. Cable has since found a way to mimic his powers through technological means.
• Living Monolith is actually a human whose DNA was artificially spliced with the mutant genomes of Havok by Apocalypse's then servant Mister Sinister (who also added some mutant DNA to his own at times).
• Andreas Strucker, Quake, and Raptor have had their powers injected "in vitro" as fetuses during gestation. As such they are all mutates, and not genetic mutants.
• Cassandra Nova, and Ultra Girl do not belong to the human species and as such are not "Homo Superior" mutants. Ultra Girl is a Kree mutant while Cassandra, as Professor Xavier's dark twin belongs to the Mummudrai species while in the Here Comes Tomorrow storyline, it was implied she had been reeducated and transformed into Ernst, and despite later retcons, this has not yet been conclusively disproven, so Ernst can not be considered yet a mutant for now.
• The original Cyber's body died long ago and only his spirit now exists. He is classified as a mutant because he currently lives in the body of the mutant Milo Gunderson in the same way as Shatterstar, who inhabits the body of a mutant, Benjamin Russell (they are physically identical though the exact nature of their connection -whether they be twins, clones, or split-personalities-has yet to be revealed) was listed as one of them in X-Men: The 198 Files.
• The Civil War: Battle Damage Report made no mention of if any mutant referenced remained powered, although several were listed as potential recruits for The Initiative. It is clear with Moonstar's inclusion in the Initiative that being powered is not the sole factor in being part of the program. Plus, some mutants, such as El Aguila and Brass, are well-trained enough or sufficiently armed to fight crime without mutant powers.
• The Gibbon, Irving and Doug & Jerry had been shown as retaining their physical mutation, but showed no sign of their former mutant abilities, likewise Clay, Dark Mother (deceased), Scarlet Witch, and Timeslip appeared on panel but showed no powers. As such, their status is unknown.
• In the Quest for Magik storyline in New X-Men, Magik was seen using her mutant ability of teleportation disks, confirming her mutant powers.
• Harpoon was confirmed depowered in New Avengers #18, but has since reappeared as a member of the Marauders. It is confirmed in X-Men #205 that he is using a technological weapon as Storm is seen using it. The same question is raised for Black Tom Cassidy who may have only been mimicking his energy power against New Excalibur as it was said he used Black Air technology.
• Despite heavy fan speculation Agent Brand, Asp, Debrii, Elsa Bloodstone, Geldoff, Speed, Typhoid Mary, and Wiccan have not been confirmed as mutants as of yet.
• It is unknown what exactly Hollow is. Originally explained a prisoner of Emplate, the creature was retconned into being M II imprisoned by Emplate who attacked her and created the Penance shell around her. M II was freed from the Penance shell, and the St. Croix twins went inside it, becoming Penance, in order to make up the wrong that was done to their sister. When they later were freed from the Penance shell, it was discovered that the shell was autonomous. It remains to be seen whether Hollow is a living creature, some mystic device, a magical creation, etc.
• Madame Web is a human who was able to reach her human psychic potential. She has never been called a mutant in the comics, nor has there ever been any indication that she possesses an X-Gene. Recent Handbooks have referred to her as a mutant, making them the only such contradiction, but nothing in-continuity has yet to indicate her mutant status.
• All five Tao-Yu brothers are confirmed as living as of Civil War: X-Men #01.
• Lady Mastermind is a codename shared by the 2 daughters of the original Mastermind, both of whom survived the M-Day. One of them later died, the other is still alive.
• Meld only appeared in a flash-back limited series. It is not known as of yet whether or not he kept his powers.
• While apparently depowered Magneto was said to still be a mutant by Skids on behalf of Qwerty's book in Uncanny X-Men#491. Mulholland Black was said to be a depowered mutant in The Order #8, but her mutant powers reemerged after losing her artificially granted abilities.
• Peter David has confirmed in an X-Position interview that the Isolationist is NOT a mutant but something else entirely.^[86]

[edit] Unconfirmed mutants

Mutants whose official mutant status has not been confirmed since M-Day. Current Marvel policy is to suspect the following mutants powered until official confirmation, especially the ones who were listed in an Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z and not stated as depowered.

[edit] Consequences, repercussions

• The Xavier Institute is no longer just a school for mutants, but a haven for all remaining mutants. This changed after the Civil War as they were all set free by the US president.
• Sentinel Squad O*N*E: In the aftermath of the House of M, resulting in the depowering of 90% of the world's mutant population, the Office of National Emergency (aka O*N*E), a splinter from the Department of Homeland Security, had Sentinels instituted at the X-Mansion to protect the mutants in case any enemies used this low point as an opportunity to attack them at their weakest, and also to stop the mutants in the event of a revolution.
• Children of the Vault: The reduction of mutants also accidentally awakens The Children of the Vault. (In the pages of X-Men)
• Exodus reforms the Acolytes with Frenzy, Random, Tempo and Carmella Unuscione
• Apocalypse: Due to the events of M-Day, Apocalypse was revived by Cable to force the remaining mutants to band together to expel the threat, as a way to bring the mutant community together after M-Day. (In the pages of X-Men and Cable and Deadpool)

He turned Sunfire, Gambit, Polaris and Gazer into his Horsemen. Gazer was killed by Ozymandias, however, resulting in Polaris and Sunfire regaining powers and Gambit being turned black and having a lethal gas power. The latter two then joined Sinister's forces as did Exodus's forces after discovering that no new mutant had appeared since M-Day.

• The flying energy: It reawakened Vulcan who was a member of a secret team of X-Men sent to help Scott's team on Krakoa and left to die there. He returned from his space exile to begin a vendetta against Xavier and then the Shi'ar Empire (In the pages of Deadly Genesis and Uncanny X-Men).

The rest of the energy ended up forming The Collective by merging with a mutant postal worker, Michael Pointer who then apparently killed the then members of Alpha Flight and went on to Genosha, repowering Magneto, who recognizes the intelligence controlling it as "Xorn who explains his action by the fact that the mutants needed him as a leader. The New Avengers arrive and blast the Collective into the sun. Magneto is then taken away in an helicopter which blows up right after it takes off (In the pages of New Avengers)

• William Stryker: Deeming the sudden massive reduction in number of the mutant population a sign of God, saying "He made the first step and now we have to take the next", basically rallying for genocide on TV. (In the pages of New X-Men)
• Onslaught: Onslaught Reborn will see Onslaught return; as the mutant energies of both Professor X and Magneto meet once again, they reform the monster. (This takes place before the Civil War event).
• Both Professor X and Reaper have been healed by the event. The former can now walk again and the latter is no longer brain dead.
• After the Civil War, X-Factor Investigations will be dealing with a siege in Mutant Town when a group of depowered mutants, calling themselves X-Cell become terrorists thinking the Government is responsible for their depowerment. The members are Elijah Cross, Callisto, Blob, Marrow, Fatale, Reaper, and Abyss.
• Wolverine discovers a half-way home for depowered mutants who are fearing for their lives. Both Jubilee and Maverick are there.
• Dr. Kavita Rao's work is ruined, as there's no more need for a mutant cure and all of her mutant DNA samples were turned to dust on M-Day.
• As a side effect, no new mutants are born. This leads into the Endangered Species storyline, and later, the Messiah Complex.
• Several de-powered mutants seek to return to heroing, and are recruited into the post-Civil War New Warriors.

[edit] Collected editions

[edit] Trade paperbacks

[edit] Hardcovers

[edit] Bibliography

Cover to Son of M #1. Art by John Watson.

• Decimation: House of M - The Day After (one-shot)
• Generation M #1-5
• Mutopia X #5
• New Excalibur #1-3
• New X-Men #20-23
• Sentinel Squad O*N*E #1-5
• Son of M #1-6
• Uncanny X-Men #466-468
• Wolverine #36-40
• X-Factor #1-4
• X-Men #177-179
• X-Men: Deadly Genesis #1-6
• X-Men: The 198 #1-5
• X-Men: The 198 Files (one-shot)
• X-Men Unlimited #13
• New Avengers #16-20

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Marvel.com - Official Decimation webpage
• UXN's "Generation M" issue summaries
• Comixfan's list of Marvel's mutants' whereabouts after DeciMation and beyond