Warning! Spoilers for Children of the Atom #5 ahead!
The X-Men's new sidekicks, Marvel's Children of the Atom, have finally teamed up with their favorite heroes. Children of the Atom #5 brings the X-Men and the titular teen team together in one big battle. This is the moment that the teens have been waiting for, but is it everything they dreamed it would be?
The Children of the Atom have been imitating the X-Men. In the last issue, they were captured by the U-Men, who have mistaken them for mutants. The youngest member of the team - Jay Jay - escaped to get help. Thanks to him, these teen heroes finally get the team-up that they've dreamt about: they get to work with the X-Men.
Children of the Atom #5 has the creative team of Vita Ayala, Paco Medina, David Curiel, and Vc Travis Lanham. It picks up with the X-Men arriving to save the titular team, but they are the ones in need of saving. The U-Men have power neutralizers, which prevent the X-Men from using their abilities. To their surprise, however, the Children of the Atom aren't mutants - allowing them to destroy the neutralizers and set the stage for their team-up with their heroes.
The Children of the Atom have been using alien technology and mutant tech they found or bought from the "mutant paraphernalia black market" to imitate popular X-Men heroes. The team consists of Cherub, Marvel Guy, Cyclops-Lass, Gimmick, and Daycrawler. They have already proven that they're able to work well as a team together, having saved the day a few times - and breaking Kamala's Law while they're at it. However, they've never worked with actual heroes before, making this a first for them. It won't be a long-lasting partnership though.
The team carries their own weight and even receives compliments on their teamwork and management of their tech. Cyclops compliments Cyclops-Lass on her aim and Nightcrawler comes to the assist of Daycrawler. Marvel Girl is surprised by Marvel Guy's use of pheromones on their opponents - but this team-up, while successful, probably won't be repeated for two major reasons. First of all, these kids are in violation of Kamala's Law, as they have no mentor in sight and the X-Men aren't going to be likely to fill that role for them. This is because of reason number two: all but one of them are humans, not mutants - with Carmen being the exception. Storm goes back for her after they separate, but the facts are what they are. This team works well together, but without a mentor and with the only official heroes on their side being out of reach, they aren't going to last. C.R.A.D.L.E. is already calling for information about them, though the X-Men have applauded their efforts in helping to recover other mutants that the U-Men had kidnapped.
While this issue provides a major - and successful - team-up, it fails to show a positive future for this team. Carmen could potentially end up in Krakoa, mentored by the X-Men. Her friends are not so lucky and if C.R.A.D.L.E. gets ahold of them, there's no telling what will become of their team. It is seeming like the Children of the Atom have already reached their peak, as short-lived as it was, because these X-Men imitators don't have an easy - or even a visible - path to follow at this point in time.