Thread by @CerebroCast

People have asked for my opinion on the altered scene between Moira and Irene/Raven in Inferno #1 versus how it’s depicted in HoXPoX. I’ve been contemplating (this one issue is so stuffed with content) and I think there are 3 possible explanations. Thread to follow. #xspoilers

Option One: The version in HoX is Moira’s recollection, and the version in Inferno is Raven or Irene’s recollection. We therefore see memory is fallible. My issue there is that Irene and Raven shouldn’t be able to remember the scene at all, even with Irene’s power. #xspoilers

Option Two: The version in HoX is Moira’s recollection, and the version in Inferno is what actually happened. This is an appealing reading to me, because I like the idea that Moira’s memory isn’t perfect. HOWEVER… we’ve been told that it is. #xspoilers

Option Three: The version in HoXPoX is an edited memory Moira intentionally altered while “revealing” her lives to Charles, and the version in Inferno is what actually happened. This is my preferred reading, and I’ll outline why. #xspoilers

First, here’s a great thread by my pal @justinsparked identifying the inconsistencies between the two flashbacks; this is truly incredible work by @ValerioSchiti, seamlessly recreating and then expanding an instantly-iconic scene by @PepeLarraz. #xspoilers

https://twitter.com/justinsparked/status/1443281170087792645

To preface: no, I don’t think any changes are coincidental, and I don’t think any changes are mistakes. Hickman knows people will be going over this with a fine-toothed comb. I think it’s essential and intentional that the scenes are different. #xspoilers

First, we see Moira’s invention of the “cure” for x-factor mutation. In HoX she is gloved, a scientist holding up her discovery. In Inferno she is raising a glass of champagne in posh celebration, while giving a speech that feels falsely modest. #xspoilers

In HoXPoX we jump immediately to the aftermath, with Moira’s colleagues already dead and the lab already burning. In Inferno the scene is a moment longer. We see just how excited Moira III is about the notion of curing mutants — it’s called her “dream”, a la Xavier. #xspoilers

Here’s the thing, Charles: it’s not a dream if it’s real.

In the HoXPoX flashback, Moira is devastated by the murders of her colleagues. She calls them her friends, and declares she’s prepared to die now that they’ve been killed. In Inferno she doesn’t spare a thought for them at all. #xspoilers

In HoX, Moira insists she would never force a cure on anyone. This explicit protestation is gone in Inferno. It feels designed for Charles’s benefit, as though she is speaking to the reader (the “reader” in HoX #2 is Charles, seeing Moira’s lives as she presents them). #xspoilers

In HoX, Irene’s response is to stress that the humans hate US (mutants). In Inferno, she stresses that humans hate YOU (Moira). She sees Moira as a collaborator and traitor, and doesn’t see her in an “us”. Moira’s edit here suggests stronger kinship with other mutants. #xspoilers

In HoX, Irene says in the rewritten timelines, her power will inform her of “what we have done” — ie, killing Moira III. In Inferno, she says she’ll have knowledge of “today”. A subtle change, but the 1st version condemns them all somewhat. The 2nd condemns only Moira. #xspoilers

In HoX, Moira seems surprised that her death would be *possible*. In Inferno, she looks more terrified (imo!), and explicitly asks how she can be killed. #xspoilers

That brings us to the entirely new page. After Moira admits she isn’t sure if she can change, if she can embrace mutants and love them as her own people, Raven declares that isn’t good enough. Irene then foresees Krakoa, but knows Moira will always doubt. #xspoilers

Sidenote: It’s notable that in this new page, Irene calls Moira “Dr MacTaggert”. We also see that in the page Moira is carrying now — which I think *might* be a page from Irene’s diaries — that Moira’s noted in the Project Cure roster as Moira MacTaggert. #xspoilers

Moira III never married Joe MacTaggert. She doesn’t become Moira MacTaggert until Life X. Now, given that I spent months pushing a Stryfe conspiracy theory bc of a panel in XoS where Cable’s organic on the wrong side, let me be clear: THIS might just be a mistake, lol #xspoilers

Assuming it *isn’t* a mistake, and assuming that page is indeed from Irene’s diary, it shows us how Irene’s power is interacting weirdly with Moira’s. She foresees aspects of Life X back when she writes the diaries, decades before Moira is even born. #xspoilers

Irene’s always been able to “see” all potential timelines, which is how her power helps her do combat despite her blindness. This idea isn’t implausible. It also suggests a twist I like: that Irene subtly *directed* Moira to Joe MacTaggert bc Krakoa will need Proteus. #xspoilers

It’s also notable that in the new page, it’s Raven — not Irene — who suggests they must leave Moira living in fear. The version presented to Charles in HoX simply portrays Destiny as an ice cold sadist. #xspoilers

Now we return to the previous material, but still with alterations. In HoX, Moira looks resigned, but pleads that she doesn’t want to die “like this”. In Inferno, Moira looks furious, and is much more unequivocal: she does not want to die at all. #xspoilers

In HoX, Irene is cold, and responds that she’s going to torture Moira to death because Moira deserves it. In Inferno, critically, Irene sympathizes with Moira — she does not want to die either, but believes this is necessary. #xspoilers

I want to go back now to one last alteration I think is critical, from earlier in the scene. In HoX, Irene says if Moira tries to kill her, Irene will see it coming and *prevent it*. In Inferno, she does not say this. She simply says she will see it coming. #xspoilers

In Life X, Irene dies on Muir Island at the hands of Legion, who is possessed at the time by the Shadow King. This is 30 years ago in publication history. At the time Legion has been Moira’s ward, training with her and studying under her. #xspoilers

We also know from Moira’s notes in HoXPoX that she analyzed Gaby Haller and determined Gaby’s DNA in combination with Charles’s might create the omega mutant they need, like Moira and Joe crossing DNA to create Proteus. #xspoilers

Did Moira create and then train Legion as a sleeper agent to kill Destiny and keep her own hands clean? Did she edit this part of what she showed to Charles specifically so he would believe Moira killing Irene was impossible? #xspoilers

I’d like to draw attention briefly back to Hickman’s X-Men #20, where Raven goes to Forge for help fighting Orchis. Just before she died, Irene prophesied that Raven & Forge’s futures were intimately intertwined. In the 90s they dated for a bit because of this. #xspoilers

Did Forge also help Raven build a secret Cerebro cradle? Is that why Irene pushed them together, and Raven just assumed it was supposed to be romance? Classic Raven, classic Irene. (And classic Forge, who loves a domme.) #xspoilers

We know from Moira’s notes in HoXPoX that Charles sees only what Moira allows him to see when he accesses her mind. #xspoilers

https://twitter.com/MorganEyesOnly/status/1444037685627310085

Irene would have knowledge of it because it is a potential timeline. I do not think she would have an in-depth vision of the event. That isn’t usually how her power is depicted — at least, not after she burns out her eyes writing the diaries as a young woman. #xspoilers

https://twitter.com/mj_rousse/status/1444038724371632128

I believe there are two options for the source of that page: option one is that Moira, who DOES still doubt, recreated her research in Life X just in case. Her journals then burned when Mystique (notably) destroyed Muir Island & murdered the Moira golem in Dream’s End. #xspoilers

https://twitter.com/moranjt/status/1444043676339081216

Option two, my actual suspicion: It’s a mislead, and that page is actually from one of Irene’s diaries. Gambit burned all known copies of the diaries in Messiah CompleX. Hickman loves the Carey run and would remember that. We have seen Moira has copies in her no-place. #xspoilers

This would explain why Moira is referred to in the third person, AND as MacTaggert, a name she won’t have until Life X. The diaries were written before Moira was born, so Irene would be doing her best to read the anomaly. #xspoilers

So that’s my take! More as the series develops. I think Hickman is too precise for any of this to be unintended, except perhaps the Kinross/MacTaggert beat. But if that WAS a mistake, I like my no-prize. #xspoilers

Yep. It’s a guided tour. She addresses the reader (Charles) directly. #xspoilers

https://twitter.com/joeb_draws/status/1444050734258040841

Haha I got so carried away I forgot to note one of the most critical differences. “Failure to change” is what Irene wants to burn out, specifically. Moira omits that in HoX. #xspoilers