Issue(s): X-Men #56
Cover Date: Sep 96
Title: "Twilight of the Gods"
Credits:
Mark Waid - Script
Scott Lobdell - Plot
Andy Kubert - Penciler
Art Thibert - Inker
Ben Raab - Assistant Editor
Bob Harras - Editor

Review/plot:
Joseph and Rogue are getting the shit kicked out of them by a Sentinel, and then Doom shows up.

Enjoy it while you can. It's Doom's only cool moment in this crossover.

Later, Onslaught is talking to X-Man. He mentions his minions, pretty much for the first time...

...and makes the weird statement that it was the minions who brought X-Man to him.

We saw X-Man #19; that's not true. I know i don't have every tie-in, so maybe there's some nuance to this, but it seems like another bit of bad coordination between titles.

Beyond this, there's a little moping around on the part of Joseph and Xavier, and then Xavier sneaks off to face Onslaught alone. The X-Men learn that Xavier has left and leave to support him without telling the other heroes (because why?). When Xavier confronts Onslaught, he reveals that he is no longer interested in creating a world for mutants, he just wants to destroy everything.

This comes minutes after Onslaught gets mad at X-Man for fighting against the mutant-ruled Age of Apocalypse and with no explicit change of heart after that conversation. It's also completely at odds with what's said in Road To Onslaught about Onslaught trying to mind-control humanity into a Collective Intelligence (unaware of the dangerous consequences). Which means that even this late into the crossover it was being written without any coherent plan from issue to issue (or even scene to scene). It's just chaos.

Quality Rating: D+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: The final Onslaught tie-in. Continues directly in Onslaught: Marvel Universe. The scene with Doom in the beginning is a flashback as told by Joseph to Captain America, and the MCP has it occurring in the middle of Doom's appearances in Fantastic Four #416 (it fits pretty well after that issue, in any event).

References:

• Onslaught wants to learn from X-Man how mutants came to dominance in Age of Apocalypse. So do i, actually (something about Professor X not being alive, but why, exactly?).
  
• Xavier shut down Magneto's mind in X-Men #25.
  
• Iron Man's team finished the psi-blockers in Avengers #402.

Crossover: Onslaught

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A