X-Men: "He Only Laughs When I Hurt!"

Uncanny X-Men #124 (1979)

By Chris Claremont, John Byrne, Terry Austin

Background: The X-Men have been imprisoned in Murderworld by Arcade.

So, What Happens? While Arcade tells his origin story to Colleen Wing and his other prisoners, Cyclops and Wolverine face a brainwashed Colossus and end up flying against secret revolving doors taking them elsewhere in Murderworld. Scott lands where Nightcrawler is and helps him against the deadly bumper cars, while Logan ends up in Banshee's room and manages to cut an exit through the wall, only to be attacked by robots of the Hulk and Magneto. Elsewhere, Storm is about to drown but manages to find an underwater pipe and use her lightning to break free. In the main control room, Arcade realizes he has lost Cyclops and Nightcrawler, but is unaware that Scott has run into Wolverine and Banshee, and more importantly that Kurt is right outside. The elf breaks in and destroys the control panel before being downed by gas, right whilst water from Storm's broken prison is cascading through the rest of Murderworld, taking the unconscious Ororo with it to the room with Wolverine and the others. With the team almost reunited, Cyclops saves Ororo with mouth to mouth resuscitation, only for the four of them to be attacked by Colossus, who quickly despatches Banshee and Logan before grabbing Cyclops and Storm by their necks. Both too weakened to fight back, they manage to get through to him with words and break the brainwashing. Finally, Arcade concedes the contest and unceremoniously ejects the five X-Men, Nightcrawler, Colleen and the other two prisoners from Murderworld, miles away in an abandoned amusement park. Logan would prefer to go back and finish the fight, but the others convince him to let it go for now and call it a victory.

X-Men: "This One Will Kill You!"

Uncanny X-Men #123 (1979)

By Chris Claremont, John Byrne, Terry Austin

Background: The current X-Men roster is Cyclops, Storm, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus and Banshee, who however has recently lost his powers.

So, What Happens? After a brief meeting with Spider-Man, Scott Summers and Colleen Wing are kidnapped by Arcade, who a short time later also gets Nightcrawler, Colossus and their dates for the opera, Wolverine, Banshee and Storm. Spidey, who had met Arcade before, tries to warn the X-Men but is too late. The heroes awaken in full costume inside the balls of a gigantic pinball machine, only to be shot out and separated inside the new Murderworld. Cyclops finds himself inside a room with three doors, whose wall will squash him if he opens the wrong one; Colossus lands in a dark room where an alleged KGB colonel accuses him of having betrayed Russia; Wolverine is in a hall of mirrors where he's attacked by deformed android copies of himself; Nightcrawler is attacked by deadly dodge-em cars; Banshee by replica war planes; Storm, finally, is in a room where her elemental powers are reflected against her. Cyclops is the first to break out of his trap and find Wolverine, but the two of them are assaulted by a brainwashed Colossus, now calling himself The Proletarian and bent on killing them.

X-Men: "Too Late, The Heroes!"

The Uncanny X-Men #134 (1980)

By Chris Claremont, John Byrne, Terry Austin

Background: Most of the X-Men are prisoners of the Hellfire Club, except for Wolverine. Jean Grey has been turned into the Black Queen under Mistermind's control. The X-Men active roster is: Cyclops, Storm, Colossus, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Jean Grey.

So, What Happens? Cyclops has been defeated by Mastermind in a mental duel, but Wolverine breaks into the room where the X-Men are kept prisoner, and at the very same moment Jean frees herself of Mastermind's control and unlocks Cyclops' helmet restoring his powers. In turn, Cyclops frees the rest of the team, allowing the X-Men a rematch against the inner circle of the Hellfire Club. Harry Leland, the mutant capable of increasing someone else's mass, makes a fatal mistake and is quickly killed by Wolverine. Colossus disables the cyborg Donald Pierce but can't prevent his escape. Likewise, Sebastian Shaw defeats Nightcrawler but has to run away from Storm, whose weather powers are more than he can handle. However, the worse is yet to come: as a blackout plunges the club mansion into darkness, Jean Grey feels herself consumed by a dark power but is unable to do anything about it. The first one to suffer her wrath is her former tormentor, Mastermind. After explaining how mentally killing Cyclops broke Mastermind's hold over her, Jean expands his mind into the universe, to the point where he can't cope anymore and simply shuts down. Jean then returns to the X-Men and together they flee the building, but within moments the darkness within her takes full control and she emerges as Dark Phoenix, destroying the team's skycraft with everybody on board.