Jonathan Hickman's House of X and Powers of X have delivered huge twists and turns from the start, but today's fourth issue of the former series might just be the most shocking to date. As the X-Men attacked the Mother Mold in outer space, both Archangel and Husk were confirmed dead after the explosion which rocked the team's ship at the end of the previous issue.
Sage, meanwhile, is taken out by a group of human soldiers while covering Jean Grey's escape, and Mystique ends up being jettisoned into outer space in what proves to be a particularly grizzly end for the longtime anti-hero.
Things get even grimmer for the team as they realise that the only way to break the final locking mechanism is to go outside fully in reach of the sun. Nightcrawler teleports into space with Wolverine and immediately turns to dust. Logan makes good use of his healing factor and slices away the final lock before drifting into the sun along with that huge Sentinel head.
Cyclops tries to get back to Jean, but he's shot at point blank range in the head as a helpless Marvel Girl is destroyed by a group of Sentinels. A tearful Professor X vows "No More" as the issue ends.
In the first issue we saw Xavier watching what appeared to be the birth of a number of mutants from Krakoa, so there's a possibility he knows how to bring them back, or that these aren't even the real versions of the characters. Needless to say, the plot has thickened!