What do an ex-S.H.I.E.L.D agent, a trailer-park Machiavelli, and two alleged Skrull operatives have in common? They’ve all been assembled to run our heroes through the Danger Room in X-Men #27.
In issue #26, we learned that the government agency O*N*E had finally developed a plan to deal with the X-Men and take them off the board through a kidnapping and divide-and-conquer strategy. Enter Maxine Danger. An executive from the Beyond Corporation, Maxine comes across as someone with a taste for disruptive ideas and a talent for recruiting exactly the kind of people who can turn those ideas into results. She and her team are the architects behind this new “Danger Room,” a name that doubles as both a nod to her own and a callback to the mutants’ longtime training grounds.
What stood out to me in this issue is how much time we spend with the villains. We get a full rundown of the villains involved, and even though the X-Men themselves don’t speak until well past the halfway point, the issue never drags. The pacing is sharp, and the structure keeps things engaging from start to finish.
Maxine’s team is a mix of oddballs, but an effective one. Charlene Jackson is a former agent whose sociopathic tendencies led to the deaths of many of her own colleagues. Colton Colton, yes, that’s really his name, is a trailer park schemer with a knack for stirring up the average citizen. Then there are Grigos and Marquez, easily the most intriguing of the group. They claim to be depowered Skrulls left behind on Earth, now looking to weaken it from within. It’s a strange lineup, but to their credit, they get results.
The X-Men are firmly on the back foot here, and that’s where they tend to shine. That pressure often leads to stronger character work, which is already building. Kwannon is identified as one of the team’s greatest assets, which pulls her away on a mission to rescue Greycrow and leaves the team without one of their key telepaths. Back in Merle, one of their own is injured with no healer available. Meanwhile, a strike team made up of Cyclops, Beast, Magik, and Juggernaut are trapped inside a living ship beneath the Alaskan bay. Comics, right?
Despite the lack of X-Men in the issue, MacKay keeps things consistently engaging. The pacing never feels off, the villain-focused narrative doesn’t overstay its welcome, and the tension surrounding the team builds in a way that feels both earned and palpable. The art deserves praise as well, especially in the more emotional beats involving Glob, Quentin, and the base team.
So far, the “Danger Room” arc is shaping up to be one of the strongest of this X-Men run. Now it’s just a question of whether or not our heroes survive the experience.
