Carol Danvers Wants to Leave Earth: Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 #174– October, 1983
Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 #174: "Romances"
In this issue we see that Binary decides to fly away from Earth to find her future somewhere else.
The issue opens with Scott Summers showing Madelyne Pryor an "Earthrise," or how Earth rises while looking at it from the perspective of the moon. They are on Scott Summer's dad, Corsair, spaceship. Well, it's the Starjammers spaceship.
Corsair gives Pryor a tour of the ship and leave Scott with his girlfriend Hepzibah (She may look like squirrel-girl, but she has a biblical name). Hepzibah hears doubt in Scott's voice when he talks about Pryor.
Now apparently, Carol Danvers' Binary is the newest member of the Starjammers.
Scott talks to Danvers about her fallout with the X-Men. But, Danvers is leaving it in the past, she understands that Professor Xavier did what he thought was right, but that doesn't mean she going to forgive her sense of betrayal, she is just leaving it behind her. First, the Avengers and now the X-Men, she just can't catch a break.
Danvers also says that she always wanted to explore space and now with the Starjammers she will have her opportunity. She also feels that there is no place for her on Earth and thanks to Rogue she no longer has any emotional ties to anyone on Earth. Rogue stole her memories, and even though Xavier restored some of them, she has no feelings to go along with those memories. No emotional attachments to anyone or anything. I guess that the bonds she formed with the X-Men during that time were simply not significant enough. She was reborn as Binary in deep space and into deep space she will return and make herself a new home. Because even people with superpowers just want a home, a place that they belong to, a place that has meaning and hold attachments for them. That is no longer Earth for Binary.
Scott asks his father when he and the Starjammers will leave. Corsair answers that they will soon leave and he doesn't know when or even if they will ever return to Earth. Ouch. He just got reconnected with his son and parents and now he wants to leave all of that behind him? That sounds pretty cold hearted. But then again he asks Scott if he still wants to join them like he once suggested. Suddenly, and unsurprisingly, Scott hesitates to join his father.
There is another person on the Starjammers ship, Professor Charles Xavier and his partner Lilandra, the Empress of the Shi'ar Empire. Xavier had his mind transported into a new body, and yet despite his new body, he still cannot walk. Lilandra tests him again to see why the problem remained now that the source is gone. Until now they believed that the problem is mental, now Lilandra is able to confirm that the problem has a physical origin that can be fixed. But she won't be there to see the happy results as she must leave soon. Her crazy sister Deathbird has taken over her empire and she must be stopped. She asks him to join her, but he is just as committed to the X-Men and the New Mutants as she is to her empire. Duty always separates them.
Then there is Summers and Pryor. He loves her, he is sure of that. But there is something that he is unsure of. Probably the uncanny resemblance between Madelyne Pryor and Jean Grey is driving him crazy. Plus the fact that she survived an airplane crash at the moment that Grey died, and it seems like she never even existed until that moment. Pryor is trying to help Summers deal with his loss. Not too successfully I must admit. She also tells him that he should feel free to join his father in outer space and he asks her to join him.
Elsewhere, Wolverine is still in Northern Japan. Wolverine is fighting for his love, Mariko. Suddenly, he no longer believes her reasoning for cancelling the wedding. The fact that he is unworthy in her eyes is not enough. Probably, because it is not true. Obviously, something is wrong with Mariko. She now stands side by side with her half-brother the Silver Samurai. A half-brother which she disowned as he was a criminal. Now she has named this half-brother her heir. I guess that means she will die soon. Still, she tells Wolverine to leave forever this time as he is nothing more than an animal in a human form. Now that's got to hurt to hear something like this. Clearly she is not in her right mind.
Back at the X-Men mansion we see Kitty Pryde reading a Star Wars comics. Yes, it's a comics within a comics, how awesome is that? She loves it so much she wants to share it with Peter Rasputin (Colossus). She bothers Rasputin while he is trying to draw a painting. In order to cheer him up Pryde takes him up to Ororo's attic for a surprise. She tells Rasputin to close his eyes and then she jumps into his arms and kisses him. She says it wasn't intentional, but it looks pretty intentional to me. That wasn't the surprise though. The surprise is that when someone touches her she can extends her powers to that person. Rasputin walks on air and through a floor without noticing. Then he opens his eyes, panics, and falls while dropping Pryde. Well, at list they didn't become solid in the middle of the floor.
Then Ororo flies back into her attic. She finds Pryde and Rasputin kissing. Suddenly, they notice that all of her planets are gone, as Ororo changed, she decided to change her environment as well.
Then we switch to Nightcrawler and Rogue. Rogue wants to know about Jean Grey as she now lives in her room. Nightcrawler gives her a very very short version of the events. Apparently the Phoenix resurrected herself once, and now he is scared that she will do so again with Madelyne Pryor.
In the meantime it appears that Summers asked Pryor to marry him. They are on a plane on Earth. As Summers passes through the passengers, one of them gives him a picture that he dropped. A picture of Jean Grey. Only he never had this picture before. Suddenly, things get really confusing. But, this is all part of a plan that someone on the plane has for Summers.
After the fight Pryor and Scott split up. We see Pryor driving alone in her car and she's worried about Summers' changing mood swings. There is another man in the house. One which clearly does not have good intentions for her or Summers.
She goes out to the porch to meet up with Summers again. He has to ask her the big question. The other one other then will you marry me. He asks her if she is Jean Grey, if she is the Phoenix reincarnated. Obviously, that's not what a newly engaged woman wants to hear and she punches him in the face. He feels terrible for even asking her this question as he should.
Obviously, he regrets his choice of words. He puts on his emergency glasses and goes to look for Pryor. Suddenly someone shoots fire at him. The Phoenix is there telling him that the time to talk is over. How is that possible? Is she alive? Is she Grey or is she Pryor? Or is she a mental illusion? I guess we will find out in the next issue.
The X-Men are having a lot of complications. Wolverine with Mariko and Summers with Pryor. But, Binary has no connections to complicate. She feels nothing towards anyone on Earth or towards Earth itself. She decides to join the Starjammers and go back into deep space. The place in which Binary was born and perhaps a place in which Binary will find her new home with the Starjammers maybe being her new family. It is strange that Danvers talks about Binary in the third person, like they are not one. I guess she doesn't feel whole with her new powers just yet. The way of identity crisis continues for her.
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