Appearing in "Sub-Mariner Joins the Evil Mutants!"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- X-Men's Cook (Mentioned)
- United States Coast Guard (Named only)
- Fantastic Four (Mentioned)
- Invisible Girl (Sue Storm) (Referenced)
- Empire of Atlantis
- Atlantean Army
- Numerous unnamed soldiers
- Unnamed Atlantean
- Atlantean Army
- Unidentified Freighter (Only in flashback)
- Three unnamed crewmembers (Only in flashback)
- Hulk (Bruce Banner) (Referenced)
Races and Species:
- Mutants
- Humans (Main story and flashback)
- Fish
- Octopuses
- Mutant Atlantean-Human Hybrids
- Atlanteans
- Birds
Locations:
- Earthspace (Main story and flashback)
- Earth (Main story and flashback)
- North America
- Atlantic Ocean (Main story and flashback)
- Bermuda Triangle (Main story and flashback)
- Magneto's Island (Main story and flashback)
- Atlantis
- Atlantean Imperial Palace
- Bermuda (Mentioned)
- Bermuda Triangle (Main story and flashback)
- Earth (Main story and flashback)
- Astral Plane
- Heaven (Mentioned)
Items:
- Ruby-Quartz Sunglasses
- Magneto's Helmet
- Cyclops' Visor, version 1
- X-Uniforms
- Magneto's Giant Magnet (Main story and flashback) (Destroyed)
- Camera and Remote-Controlled T.V. Screen
Vehicles:
- Professor X's Sailboat (Destruction)
- Namor's Undersea Racer (First appearance)
- Magno-Ship (Name revealed)
- Magneto's Sailboat
Synopsis for "Sub-Mariner Joins the Evil Mutants!"
Professor Xavier reads a newspaper article about the Sub-Mariner. He wonders whether or not the Sub-Mariner is a mutant. Meanwhile, Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants are at their new headquarters on an island, pondering the same thing. Magneto tries to recruit the Sub-Mariner by projecting his astral form under the ocean. Professor Xavier does the same thing from the mansion, but he hides his astral form when he senses Magneto's astral form nearby.
Magneto finds Namor's underwater kingdom, but he decides not to approach the Sub-Mariner following an outburst that he witnesses. Instead, Magneto approaches one of the other Atlanteans and makes a deal. In exchange for delivering a message from him, Magneto claims that the Atlantean can become the new ruler of Atlantis, if the Sub-Mariner joins the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.
Back at the mansion, Professor Xavier informs his students that Magneto is attempting to recruit Namor and that he knows where Magneto's new base is located. The X-Men board a ship and head out to stop Magneto. Namor is persuaded into meeting with Magneto on his secret island. He is quickly impressed by how the island is run using Magneto's powers in conjunction with a giant magnet at the center of the island.
The X-Men arrive, and a battle begins amongst the two groups. Magneto destroys the X-Men's ship, but they use an ice-craft to make it to shore. Cyclops realizes that the giant magnet powers everything, so he tries to destroy it, but Quicksilver attacks before he can do anything.
The X-Men subdue Quicksilver, which causes the Scarlet Witch to fear for her brother's safety. Magneto becomes angered with the Scarlet Witch and yells at her. At this point, both Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch question Magneto's actions but they continue to follow him. Xavier mentions this may be because they are being controlled subconsciously.
The Sub-Mariner realizes what type of man he has allied himself with, so he turns against Magneto and destroys the magnet's controls. The X-Men break into the lab, so Magneto, Toad and Mastermind run away. The Scarlet Witch demands that Quicksilver be returned to her, but the X-Men do not comply. A short battle breaks out and is stopped by Professor Xavier when he brings Quicksilver, under his mental control, to the Scarlet Witch.
Namor decides that he has had enough of fighting for the day, so he starts to head back to his kingdom when he is attacked by Magneto and his giant magnet. The Sub-Mariner overcomes the beating he is taking and destroys the magnet. The X-Men watch as the Sub-Mariner withdraws back to his kingdom, then observe Magneto and the rest of the Brotherhood retreat in their own jet plane.
Notes
Publication Notes[]
- Credits:
- Written: With the Flair of Stan Lee
- Drawn: With the Air of Jack Kirby
- Inked: With the Care of Chic Stone
- Lettered: On a Dare by S. Rosen
- References: Fantastic Four #27, Avengers #3, and X-Men #4.
- There is an error in the speech balloons of page 21. Mastermind/Jason Wyngarde addresses Magneto as "Mastermind".
Continuity Notes[]
- Cyclops smiles while using an eye blast to prevent the Beast from reaching across the table during a shared meal. Then Angel notes to himself that this is the first time he has seen Cyclops smile in months.
- In this issue, Jean Grey cooks for the other X-Men. Supposedly because the unseen cook of the team has a day off. This is the first mention of a "cook" for the X-Men, but one has yet to be revealed.
- Quicksilver notes in this issue that he has taken a pledge to guard his sister, the Scarlet Witch.
- Jean Grey claims that the Beast is too heavy to lift telekinetically, despite the fact that she has easily lifted both him and larger amounts in previous issues.
- Marvel Girl has a new "cat" mask to replace the typical X-Men skullcap in order to show off her new hairstyle. Instead of teased wavy hair, she has "ironed" straight hair, a look that was coming into style in the real world at the time. Artist Jack Kirby was always very conscious to update his characters' looks to remain consistent with the times (possibly a carryover from his experience working in the romance comic book genre).
- Namor is established to be a mutant. He was already mentioned as "possibly the first known mutant" in Fantastic Four Annual #1. At this point in time, Namor was mainly appearing as a recurring character in the Fantastic Four series.
- Professor X's sailing ship is sunk by Magneto during the issue. At the finale of the story, the X-Men prepare to leave Magneto's Island with a seemingly identical sailing ship. A word balloon claims that they are taking Magneto's abandoned ship, but no such ship had appeared before. The word balloon may be covering an art error by Jack Kirby.
- Magneto apparently shows telepathic powers in this issue as he sends forth a mental image as an ambassador to Prince Namor. This is the same mental power Professor X uses to look for Namor. It is even stated that Magneto's mind is second in the world only to Professor X's capability.
Trivia
- Fan appeal in the letters section at the end of the book suggest that they would like to see Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch leave Magneto to become good, possibly joining the X-Men.
- Iceman uses his ice powers to make pie a la mode in this issue. Unfortunately, the editors ignored the need for cream when making ice cream, and Bobby would have really only eaten ice.