Warlock, he's dead. And we have to bury his body. Because, Warlock...what you have there is only a body. A...a shell. Whatever made it really Doug is gone away. It's not just the wax and embalming stuff that makes it not look or seem like him any more! It's just a shell we're burying. Doug...Doug's safe in Heaven. Give it back, Warlock. Please, let him go. 

—Wolfsbane

Appearing in "Instant Replay!"

Featured Characters:

• New Mutants
  • Wolfsbane (Rahne Sinclair)
  • Sunspot (Bobby da Costa)
  • Cannonball (Sam Guthrie)
  • Magik / Darkchilde (Illyana Rasputin)
  • Mirage (Dani Moonstar)
  • Warlock
• Cypher (Doug Ramsey) (Corpse, skeleton or other remains)
• ⏴ Magneto (Magnus) ⏵

Supporting Characters:

• Philip Ramsey
• Sheila Ramsey

Other Characters:

• X-Men (Only on screen as a static image or video record)
  • Colossus (Peter Rasputin) (Only on screen as a static image or video record)
  • Wolverine (Logan) (Only on screen as a static image or video record)
  • Rogue (Only on screen as a static image or video record)
• Ani-Mator (Frederick Animus) (Illusion or holographic simulation)
• The Right (Illusion or holographic simulation)
• Forge (Only on screen as a static image or video record)
• Unnamed mourners & funeral director
• Salem Center policemen
• Scott Summers (Mentioned)
• Hellfire Club (Mentioned)

Races and Species:

• Mutants
• Mutant Technarch
• Humans
• Cyborgs (Only on screen as a static image or video record)

Locations:

• Earth
  • North America
    • United States of America
      • New York State
        • Westchester County
          • North Salem
            • Salem Center
              • Graymalkin Lane
                • Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters
                  • Danger Room
              • Ramsey home
              • Blue Ridge Hotel
      • Dallas (Mentioned)
• Limbo (Behind the scenes)

Items:

• X-Uniforms
• Soulsword

Synopsis for "Instant Replay!"

Rahne is fighting against the Smiley Bots and manages to save Doug, who promises that he'll never put himself in danger again before vanishing. Sunspot comes in, revealing that Rahne's been in the Danger Room. She states that she already found 17 ways to save Doug and that it's her fault that he died, but Bobby ushers her to bed. Illyana has been relentlessly watching the tapes of the X-Men being killed, then turns into the Darkchilde and teleports to Limbo when Sam tries to talk to her about it. Dani and Warlock are watching "Night of the Living Dead" when Dani accidentally manifests a deranged techno-organic version of Doug from Warlock's mind. Warlock first considers consuming Doug's life energy so they can be together forever like is ritual on his homeworld, but Dani explains to him that Doug needs to be buried like is tradition on Earth. Warlock still seems to think that he can bring Doug back like in the zombie movies, but Dani assures him that he can't.

The next day, everyone is taken to see Doug's body at the funeral, with Magneto having convinced Doug's parents that he died on a camping trip and orders the New Mutants not to tell anybody the truth as it is too dangerous to be revealed. While looking at Doug's body in the casket, Rahne runs outside, refusing to believe that Doug is really dead and breaking down crying, completely blaming herself for Doug's death and her not even noticing that he died. Warlock also goes into a panic, especially when the New Mutants mention that Doug will have to be buried and will never see sunlight again.

That night, Warlock sneaks into the funeral home to take Doug's body and make him want to live again by showing him how much his friends and family miss him. Warlock parades Doug's zombie-like body first to Doug's mother, who screams out that she's seeing a ghost and starts to cry horribly. Warlock is confused why she is upset, so he takes Doug to see Rahne instead, whom he knows cares about Doug. Rahne is at first ecstatic to see Doug before realizing that he's still dead and is being paraded around by Warlock. The other New Mutants come and when Warlock explains what he's doing, Roberto tells Rahne that he was just trying to bring Doug back like she was. This makes Rahne realize that Doug is really dead and explains to Warlock that they can never bring him back, and she manages to convince Warlock that they have to let his body rest.

Illyana portals everyone back to the funeral home and they put Doug's body back while narrowly avoiding the caretakers. Once they get home, Illyana shows the New Mutants the tapes and reveals that Forge is responsible for the X-Men's deaths and she's going to make him pay.

See Also

• 1 image(s) from New Mutants Vol 1 64
• 3 reprint(s) of New Mutants Vol 1 64

Recommended Reading

Links and References

• The New Mutants at Wikipedia
• The New Mutants at Marvel Subscriptions
• The New Mutants series index at Comicbookdb.com
• The New Mutants series index at Uncanny X-Men.net
• The New Mutants series index at the Grand Comics Database Project

References