X-Men Epic Collection #20

Omega Red returns, resurrected by the enigmatic Hand, as the X-Men test their limits in a high-stakes, mutant-powered game of basketball. Meanwhile, Moira wrestles with guilt over her role in the fallout with Magneto and walks away from the team. Gambit and Rogue, on the cusp of a chaperoned date, are suddenly cut short when the Hand and their reanimated weapon descend upon them.

In "Blowback," Wolverine is taken by Omega Red and Fenris, who seek to extract the location of a long-lost Carbonadium Synthesizer from his memories. With the help of an old ally, he breaks free—only to find himself hunted by both the X-Men and forces from his own past.

In "Farther Still," Maverick struggles to help Wolverine recover while the X-Men are torn apart by betrayal—Psylocke, under the control of Matsuo, turns on her teammates and aids Sabretooth in capturing them. With the team scattered and trust shattered, Maverick and Logan find themselves hunted by the very allies they once stood beside.

Cylla Markham finds herself at the center of a shifting battlefield when the Upstarts' brutal strike against the Reavers, the Hellions, and the White Queen leaves the X-Men Gold Team scrambling to regroup. With the stakes higher than ever, she must navigate the chaos of a war she didn’t start—but one she now has no choice but to face.

In "Payback," the X-Men race to rescue the White Queen—her mind trapped within Jean Grey’s body—as they converge on Fitzroy’s fortress, where the villain unleashes a terrifying invasion by sacrificing the Hellions to open a portal to a darker future. With time running out and the past bleeding into the present, Bishop, Randall, and Malcolm arrive from a grim timeline, forcing the team to confront not only Fitzroy’s deadly allies but the growing threat of a future that’s already begun to take shape.

In "Into the Void," Sunfire’s new armor inadvertently tears open a rift to another dimension, pulling him and the X-Men into a chaotic, unstable realm. Trapped in the void, they face the deadly Posse Comitatus and a wave of escaped Lifers, as Bishop and the XSE race to survive and stop the carnage—before the breach consumes them all.

Gambit and the X-Men descend on New Orleans to mediate a violent clash between the Thieves and the Assassins Guild, but their mission takes a dark turn when Ghost Rider—searching for Blaze—falls into a trap and is infected by the Brood.

In the shadowed underbelly of New Orleans, the X-Men face a chilling threat as Ghost Rider—now infected by the Brood—rages through the city’s forgotten tunnels. With time running short, they must find a way to reach the man beneath the flames before the alien parasite consumes him entirely.