Spoiler warning for X-Force and X of Swords!
The stakes for the X-Men seemed like they couldn't get higher. The heroes were locked in a tournament against ancient mutants related to Apocalypse, stuck in a magical world where their death is permanent and their failure means Earth's destruction. Then they learned that the witch Saturnyne, who oversees the contest, was putting them through bizarre rigged fights they couldn't win. Now, as the mutant heroes struggle against their doomed chances in X-Force #14, Saturnyne reveals her backup plan: take an unstoppable killing machine that once defeated the Avengers, then use it to kill the X-Men.
X-Force #14 comes from writers Benjamin Percy and Gerry Duggan with artist Joshua Cassara. The issue is a chapter of X of Swords, the franchise-spanning crossover event that draws mutant heroes from every X-Men spinoff comic into one linear storyline that demands they work together. The conquered mutants of Arakko are leading an army of demons to Earth, but must cross through the mystical realms of Otherworld to get there. Saturnyne, the godlike ruler of Otherworld, pressed both sides into a series of contests, with the winner taking all. The contests take place across Otherworld's various realms, from the cutthroat Crooked Market to the cursed vampire haunt Sevalith.
But the most dangerous known realm Saturnyne rules is Infuri, the Everforge. Controlled by a creature named Forgemaster Federal Fury 005, Infuri is an entire world populated by different copies of Fury, a villain that once terrorized Captain Britain and his mutant-based team Excalibur. Fury is an adaptive artificial lifeform created by an insane reality-warper named Mad Jim Jaspers. It was intended to destroy all the Earth's superhumans, and in several timelines, the Fury succeeded. In 2009's comic book series Marvel Heroes, the Fury arrived in the United Kingdom's version of the Marvel Universe, Earth-9411, and slaughtered every superhero it met, from Spider-Man to the Avengers. It was impossible to defeat head-on; the only course of action Captain Britain had was to use the Ultimate Nullifier to destroy the timeline and revert Earth-9411 to a point before the Fury ever happened across it.
In the preview of X-Force #14, Brian Braddock, ex-Captain Britain and current Captain Avalon, mourns his sister Betsy. She replaced him as Captain Britain, a title Saturnyne has been pushing on Brian to snap back up, then immediately exploded and died. Since Braddock's steadfastly refused to become Captain Britain again—a title that would mean he works directly for Saturnyne—the white witch is bringing her ultimatum: put the Union Jack tights back on or else the Furies will make him do it. Here are those preview pages, plus a cover by Juan Ferrerya and Dustin Weaver:
Saturnyne already showed that she has near-godlike powers when Saturnyne schooled Wolverine for trying to kill her. Now she's taking an entire squad of the deadliest robot in the multiverse into the fray. They seem to be aiming their blasters at Captain Avalon in the final panel... and if his first real fight goes the way his sister's did, he's not going to survive it. Saturnyne might have to recruit the Rogue and Gambit Captain Britains after all.
X-Force #14 will be on sale November 18th, 2020, available at local comics shops, Marvel Studios, and Comixology.