Uncanny Avengers #2 (2023)

Martin Biro

Meanwhile, Honest John), part of Red Skull_(Earth-616))’s S-Men), is appearing on television and using his trust inducement powers to make Humans kill Mutants all over the world. All through the interview people see Honest John as their ideal leader, with his ethnicity changing, depending on who is viewing the broadcast.

At Red Skull’s lair, Rogue) is approached by two of her captors, who have arrived to feed her. One of them, Dancing Water), tells Rogue that she is the daughter of Avalanche. She also informs Rogue that Mzee), the other captor, is from a village in Ethiopia where, years ago, nearly everyone was murdered by Magneto)’s henchmen. Mzee only escaped the same fate by hiding in an oil drum. Rogue manages to steal Dancing Water's powers and escapes her restraints. She then attacks Mzee and teleports away whilst Dancing Water runs from the room.

Meanwhile, Red Skull watches over the sleeping form of the Scarlet Witch) and contemplates that despite the fact that she is a Mutant, gypsy, and Jewish, she is beautiful and deceptively Human. He wakes her and she attempts to fight him off. He remarks that what she did when trying to save Rogue was remarkably brave, and tells her that he learned of her father's Mutant powers during World War II, but that he was distracted by duty before he could focus his attentions on him. He shows Wanda his "School for Gifted Humans" and tells her that he believes they have interjecting interests, like her attempt to erase Mutantkind.House of M (Event) Wanda tells him that she'll never share any insights with the likes of him.

Skull explains that, for him, 1942 was mere months ago and that Arnim Zola) recorded the real Red Skull)’s consciousness in a cloned body, which was preserved in a safe bunker to be awakened 70 years later. The clone awoke to find the climate in America to be very similar to that in his country before the rise of Nazi) Germany and that Mutants were the ultimate scapegoats for a country looking for someone to blame.

Wanda attempts to excuse what she did, but the Red Skull uses Xavier's powers to brainwash her, and she tells him that with enough casting time and an immense source of power, she can erase mutantkind again. Skull is interrupted by a telepathic missive, telling him that Rogue has escaped.

As he goes to find her, Rogue appears and attacks Wanda. A fight breaks out, but after accidentally fighting their way into the location of Xavier's brainless corpse, Wanda snaps out of her mind-controlled state. Rogue remembers how Xavier stood up for her against the rest of the X-Men when she first joined,Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 171 and vows to kill the Red Skull. They are interrupted by the arrival of the Red Skull and his team.