What the team doesn’t realize is that Emma Frost seems to have been playing them all in a long-con and it is time for her to spring her long-planned trap. Her first target is Cyclops, and it doesn’t take long for her psychic efforts to not only make the team leader doubt himself, but also apparently block his powers and put him in a mental stupor.
This is only the first volley though as the Xavier Institute is invaded by the rest of the Hellfire Club and each of the X-Men will find themselves face-to-face with enemies. Nova turns down Beast’s higher functions and makes him a feral cat, and at the same time, sends Logan back to his childhood as young James Howlett. One member causes Shadowcat to lose control of her phasing ability and Kitty starts to sink through the surface of the Earth. Even Colossus is confronted by an enemy in Sebastian Shaw, who can turn each one of the massive Russian’s punches into an energy blast thanks to his ability to store kinetic energy. Not everything is as it seems though. Before the end of this story arc, we will find out what the true purpose of the invasion is and who is really in control.
Meanwhile, it seems like another side-story is starting to pick up when a break-in at the S.W.O.R.D. space station has the alien Ord being freed by Danger. It seems that Ord has finally learned the identity of the mutant that is prophesied to destroy his homeworld and the pair of villains showing up in the midsts of the Hellfire Club’s attack only adds to the chaos.
Torn has some truly amusing moments, especially when Wolverine as a scared kid, is being chased by the feral Beast, but it has its darker and twisted parts as well. The fight between the Hellfire Club and the X-Men is the focus of this story arc, and it heats up pretty quickly.
Like the other Marvel Knights productions, Astonishing X-Men: Torn takes the visuals that were previously on paper and brings them to life in a unique way. This artwork combined with the writing really helps give the movie the same feel as its comic book counterpart.
If you’ve been following the Astonishing X-Men series so far, then you won’t want to miss Torn.
