Uncanny X-Men (Vol 1) #49: Who Dares Defy...the Demi Men

Angel returns to the Institute in search of Cerebro. He takes a moment to wander through the empty house. Cerebro “turns itself on when it senses emerging mutant energy”. Angel has come to investigate what had activated Cerebro. He finds “the single highest recorded concentration of mutants on the move” and immediately alerts Jean.

Jean telepathically picks up Angel’s distress call, and she connects the team. She quickly finds Scott in the radio studio, but Hank and Bobby are trickier. At the moment she tries to contact Hank, he and Bobby are skydiving. Hank is having trouble with his parachute and loses focus of his contact with Jean. Jean is confused as to why she was only able to get in touch with Hank for a second.

Meanwhile in San Francisco, Mesmero is assembling an army of “latent mutants”. He intends to carry on Magneto’s legacy and starts to hypnotise these latent mutants to come to him. Lorna Dane is one of these latent mutants. Bobby sees her walking aimlessly into oncoming traffic, and rescues her from harm’s way.






Hank is angry at Bobby for bringing Lorna to their rendevous point with Angel, Cyclops and Marvel Girl. Luckily, Lorna is resting and has fallen asleep. The reunited X-Men get down to business.

Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Angel and Iceman go in search of the mutant disturbance. Hank remains behind to keep watch on Lorna as well as work on the “portable mutant detactor”.

On the jet, the X-Men spots a “mutant squad” on the “video-scanner”. The X-Men quickly take down the mutant squad, but Angel is injured in the process.






Beast has finished working on the portable Cerebro. It immediately picks up a mutant signal--Lorna. Beast uncovers Lorna’s secret, and it is not just her natural-born green hair. When the rest of the X-Men return, they break the news to Lorna that she is a mutant. Cyclops imagines that Lorna is part of Magneto’s scheme, but Lorna is oblivious to any matters relating to mutants. With the portable Cerebro ready, Cyclops heads back out to investigate this mutant mystery with Beast, Marvel Girl and Angel.

Iceman remains behind to protect Lorna. Lorna wonders where Bobby had gone, not knowing he is Iceman. They are ambushed by Mesmero and his mutant squad. Iceman freezes the mutant squad, but is physically paralysed by Mesmero. Lorna and Iceman are shocked speechless when Mesmero and the mutant squad bow and pledge allegiance to Lorna.


Next: Uncanny X-Men (Vol 1) #50