Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Weapon X-Men #1! In the entirety of X-Men canon, there’s one villain who stands above the rest as the team’s definitive ultimate enemy, and they just got a redesign that’s equal to the Phoenix Force (and for good reason). The villain-in-question is Onslaught, who – originally – is the amalgamation of the worst traits of Magneto and Professor X. Onslaught is a villain so powerful, that it essentially took most of the Marvel Universe to sacrifice themselves to take them down. And now, another version of this horrific villain has risen from the ashes – and they’re as powerful as they look.
In Weapon X-Men #1 by Christos Gage and Yildiray Çinar, an all-new version of Onslaught from an alternate reality has taken to the multiverse in search of worlds to destroy in pursuit of ultimate power. To combat this horrific villain, a Phoenix-possessed Jean Grey from an alternate universe assembled a team of Wolverines from across the multiverse to find and kill Onslaught. While the Weapon X-Men team seemed ready to take on this challenge, the Wolverines sang a different tune when they found themselves face-to-face with their target for the first time.
While Onslaught first presented itself as an amorphous hivemind possessing countless individuals simultaneously, the villain eventually gained enough strength to take physical form – and the result was as awe-inspiring as it was absolutely terrifying. While the overall aesthetic of the original Onslaught is still very much present, the main alteration comes in the form of Phoenix fire raging from the head and upper torso of the all-powerful villain. This epic addition to Onslaught’s appearance isn’t just for the sake of being unique, either, as the reason for it has to do with how this version of Onslaught was created.
Readers were first introduced to this incarnation of Onslaught in The Original X-Men, a storyline that’s referenced in Weapon X-Men. However, in The Original X-Men, Onslaught was not shown with the Phoenix-inspired redesign that fans got in Weapon X-Men, making their appearance in this new storyline more than just a ‘reappearance’, but a totally new debut. But more than that, the redesign really drives home the fact that this Onslaught is a true multiversal threat, and therefore needs to stand out in an immediately recognizable way.
The original Onslaught was menacing and powerful on a cosmic scale, to be sure, but he was an in-universe threat. The first Onslaught did not take to the multiverse, as he was defeated by the combined might of the X-Men, the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and – most importantly of all – Franklin Richards. Since the original Onslaught did not do as much widespread damage as the new Phoenix Onslaught, an updated redesign was more than called for.
In the most recent Thanos run, Mistress Death tells the Illuminati that an ‘ultimate destruction’ is imminent, but didn’t have the chance to elaborate further before the storyline came to an end. Given the multiversal threat level of the Phoenix Onslaught, it’s all-too possible that they will be responsible for this ‘ultimate destruction’. The original Onslaught brought together the Marvel Universe in an epic event that touched and redefined every major Marvel Comics title of that era, so it would make sense that Onslaught’s successor would do the same.
Regardless of whether Phoenix Onslaught will pay off Mistress Death’s ‘ultimate destruction’ tease, that doesn’t detract from the horrifying power this villain wields. And that power is put on full display in Weapon X-Men, as the X-Men’s ultimate villain gets the perfect redesign, equal to the Phoenix Force.
Weapon X-Men #1 by Marvel Comics is available now.