Art by Gabrielle Dell’Otto
- Name: Kuan-Yin Xorn & Shen Xorn
- Code Names: Xorn
- First Appearance: New X-Men Annual 2001 (September ’01)
- Powers: White Star/Black Hole in his brain, healing
- Teams Affiliation: X-Men, Brotherhood of Mutants
About
The second law of thermodynamics states that entropy in a closed system will always increase. As a guy who engineers thermodynamic systems when I am not writing about Marvel’s merry mutants, this is something I think about a lot and something that really applies to comic book continuity. You see, when solving a thermodynamic problem, we first need to set your boundary conditions, the closed system you are analyzing. This can be as small as looking at a valve or as large as a commercial building, but you need to limit what you are working with. The larger your closed system, the more entropy can accrue. Similarly, comics continuity is pretty manageable within tight boundary conditions, a single issue or mini-series, but when that gets expanded to an entire line or comic universe, continuity spirals out of control. Xorn is a fascinating and understandable character in a single issue, when you look at Morrison’s entire run on New X-Men he becomes sufficiently complex, but when you expand it to everything Marvel has done with the character, the entropy of his continuity becomes as weighty as a black hole.
FYI this is about the best background music you will find for this article
Xorn was a Chinese mutant with a white star for a brain and the DPRC government kept him locked away in an underground prison for years. John Sublime, the leader of the U-Men, worked a deal with the government to buy Xorn from them to harvest for parts. The X-Men found out about this plot and were able to fight their way through the U-Men and reach Xorn. Cyclops and Emma Frost were able to communicate with Xorn, the first pleasant human interaction he had in years, and offered for him to join the them at the Xavier Institute. He instead took the path of a monk, he needed to meditate an acclimate himself to freedom, but he refused to close the door on a future with Xavier.
Art by Leinil Francis Yu and Gerry Alanguilan
Weeks later Xorn was met by Cyclops who needed his help. Xorn had learned to channel his power, giving him the ability to heal and that is exactly what Cyclops needed. Nano-Sentinels under the control of Cassandra Nova had infected the X-Men and were causing the mutants to fall very ill. Xorn agreed to come with Cyclops, and after a detour on a Shi’ar Superdestroyer, purged the Sentinels from the X-Men. He cemented his place on the team when he went above and beyond, healing Professor Xavier’s spine and giving him the ability to walk again.
Art by Frank Quitely and Tim Townsend
Xorn stayed quiet and meditative. The Professor could not see past his metal helmet so Xorn kept a journal of his thoughts and musings of this new mutant culture he was a part of. Xorn often traveled to the Mutant Town neighborhood of NYC. He ate with Chinese immigrants. He investigated anti-mutant bigotry. His heart was broken when he saw a young mutant boy, disfigured and giant, yes, but still a boy, gunned down by terrified police. All these things Xorn shared with Xavier, and the professor thought of the perfect place for him.
Art by John Paul Leon and Bill Sienkiewicz
Xorn was put in charge of Xavier’s special class. These students were the misfits among misfits and were aggressively against this peaceful outsider teaching them, but Xorn’s resolve was strong. He took the students on a camping trip, tried to get them away from the school, and they were cold towards him. The U-Men saw an opportunity to collect parts from these students and attacked, but Xorn showed a side that no one expected. He protected his students and instructed them to keep a secret as he killed the U-Men. From that day on the students were fiercely loyal to Xorn.
Art by Frank Quitely and Chris Chuckry
Soon Xorn revealed an ever darker secret. He attacked the professor and removed his iron mask, but there was no sun underneath, only the steely visage of Eric Lehnsherr, Magneto. Enlisting his special class, and empowered by the mutant drug Kick, Magneto crippled Xavier, overtook New York City, and enacted a plot to remake the world as Planet X. Magneto was more brutal than he had ever been before, killing humans just because they were human, and this didn’t sit well with the special class. They missed the kind, peaceful Xorn and rejected Magneto. This, alongside the degenerative effects of Kick, sent Magneto into a spiral of psychosis and the X-Men were able to meet him in combat. He realized that his dream, his world, had failed and he lashed out at the closest thing to him, the mind of Jean Grey. He sent an electro-magnetic pulse that gave her a fatal aneurysm, and Wolverine responded by removing Xorn’s head.
Art by Phil Jimenez, Andy Lanning, and Chris Chuckry
Charles Xavier mourned his friend’s death, even with the horror he had caused. He took the body to Genosha to be buried and was met there was a surprising traveling companion, Eric Lehnsherr. This begged the question, if Magneto was alive who was Xorn? Lifting the exact plot from Beerfest (yes the movie came out two years later but that isn’t important right now) the X-Men found another mutant named Shen Xorn, the twin brother of the Xorn the X-Men had palled around with, Kuan-Yin Xorn. They were the exact same except Shen had a black hole for a brain, not a star. If that wasn’t confusing enough, in House of M, Dr. Strange postulated that Wanda had been affecting events for longer than was believed and that she had manipulated Xorn into believing he was Magneto. After M-Day, Shen Xorn was apparently depowered and everyone agreed it was best to stop messing with this whole Xorn business. Confused yet? Well it gets better.
After M-Day, the mutant energy had to go somewhere (as justified by a dubious application of the first law of thermodynamics) and that energy, the energy that didn’t go into Vulcan, went into an energy construct known as The Collective. The Collective found Magneto, and the New Avengers followed. Magneto recognized the dominate personality of The Collective as Kuan-Yin Xorn and the being boasted that he had taken the image of Magneto to rally mutants to his cause. Not having any of this, The Sentry took The Collective and solved the problem the way he solved most of his problems, by throwing it into the sun.
Art by Mike Deodato Jr, Joe Pimentel, and Dave Stewart
During the Terrigen Mist crisis, the Dark Riders went on a mission to kill all mutant healers, and that included Shen Xorn (who had powers again for reasons). Xorn gone back to meditating in Tibet, and he refused to go with Monet into hiding with Magneto. He told her if the Riders came for him, he would be ready. And ready he was. The Riders approached and he offered them a peaceful resolution and a cup of tea. They refused and he calmly dispatched them. After, he still refused to join Magneto’s X-Men but knew he could play a bigger role in the mutant community. Xorn opened his monastery as a refuge for mutants and worked as an ally and advisor for Magneto.
Art by Greg Land, Jay Leisten, and Nolan Woodard
Must Read
Xorn as a character and a concept is so fractured that it is difficult to pin down a single story that encapsulates everything people love about him. The simplest answer is New X-Men 127 by Grant Morrison, with art by John Paul Leon and Bill Sienkiewicz. This allowed readers to dig into Xorn’s mind and understand what makes him tick. The art is moody, and dark, almost overwhelming inks allow the moments of light to shine through even brighter. It is a tale that sets the tone for Xorn. It is tragic, tinged with an air of remorse even before the climax. It presents an X-Man who had truly moved beyond being a superhero, he was simply a mutant who wanted peace for his people. This issue is available on Marvel Unlimited and in a bunch of collected editions of Morrison’s run.
Art by Frank Quitely
Xorn is confusing, but that confusion came from Marvel having an amazing problem. The character specifically created to emotionally manipulate readers into trusting and liking him did his job too well. Coupled with a desire to not have one of their most dynamic characters reduced to mutant Hitler, they chose to find a way to retcon Morrison’s ending before it was even finished. The handled it in the most ham-fisted way possible, but it speaks to the strength of Xorn as a new character. He was a hit because the X-Men needed the inverse of Wolverine on the team, a calm and collected member who could be surprisingly brutal if the situation called for it. He was a new type of X-Man and I screamed when I turned the pages of Bunn’s Uncanny X-Men and saw that mask. I like me some Xorn, but I don’t think he is as good an addition to the X-Men canon as another Morrison creation, Fantomex. I think he is a better villain, and more complex character than Apocalypse, and I’ll be honest, if he traded places with M in Uncanny I wouldn’t complain. But I really like Goldballs and Xorn’s complexity can’t overcome that. That’s why he is the new number 15 in the Xavier Files.
Also, no explanation of Xorn is complete with this Comics Everybody strip so y’all best read that.
Xorn was requested by /u/Ursus8606 and /u/JeremyBiff on Reddit, A.Ch from the site, and voted on by readers like you. Thanks for the request. If you want to cut to the front of the line, like our new supporter Thomas has, we have a Patreon if you want to support it and get a line cutting reward for just a $1 pledge. We just hit our first goal and just need $7 for me to start reviewing every X-Book each week. Oh and we also have exclusive physical items so check those out!
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Next week I get to talk about how much I legit love the Bendis run on Uncanny when we dive into Tempus. See you then!
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Zachary Jenkins runs ComicsXF and is a co-host on the podcast “Battle of the Atom.” Shocking everyone, he has a full and vibrant life outside of all this.
