Appearing in "Arena"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- ⏴ Amara Aquilla ⏵
- Lucius Antonius Aquilla ⏵ (First appearance)
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Octavian
- Melantha
- Falco
- Rogier
- Gaius
- Professor X (Charles Xavier) (Vision or hallucination)
- Nina Da Costa (Mentioned)
- Incans (Mentioned)
- Emmanuel Da Costa (Mentioned) (Unnamed)
- Julius Caesar (Mentioned)
- Romulus (Mentioned)
- Remus (Mentioned)
- She-wolf (Mentioned)
Races and Species:
Locations:
- Earth
- South America
- Brazil
- Amazonas
- Amazon Jungle
- Maderia
- Nova Roma (First appearance)
- Senatorial Baths (First appearance)
- House of Women (First appearance)
- Julian Circus (First appearance)
- Nova Roma (First appearance)
- Amazonas
- Andes Mountains (Mentioned)
- Brazil
- Italy (Mentioned)
- Rome (Mentioned)
- South America
Items:
Vehicles:
- Nova Roman Chariot (First appearance)
- Nova Roman Tank (First appearance)
Synopsis for "Arena"
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View of the hidden city: Nova Roma
The New Mutants and Amara Aquilla are taken to Nova Roma by Roman Legionaries and locked in a cell. Amara asks the team not to reveal she isn't actually one of them and admits that she is the daughter of Lucius Antonius Aquilla, first senator of Nova Roma. But she doesn't tell them that she fears being discovered by the Black Priestess (Selene). The students don't trust her and Roberto's mother, Nina Da Costa, is still missing after they lost track of her in the rapids,[1] so they are eager to escape their prison to search for her. Sunspot easily breaks the cell door, but before they can leave, curare tipped darts are fired at the group, leaving them all unconscious.
In Nova Roma's Senatorial Baths, Marcus Domitius Gallio is informed about the mutant captives and their special abilities. He contrives to use them in his ploy to take control of the city, but his senate colleague Lucius Aquilla has also been informed of the new prisoners and warns Gallio that the law dictates what will happen to them: the girls will be auctioned off as slaves and the boys will first fight in the arena and, if they survive, auctioned with the girls. Gallio's wife, Selene, offers to use her powers to kill his rival, but he refuses insisting that Senator Aquilla will only die by his hand. Selene introduces him to another prisoner she is secretly keeping. Castro claims to server a great lord to the east who can provide weapons in exchange for the right to mine the area's natural resources.
Danielle Moonstar, Rahne Sinclair, and Amara are in the House of Women where they are cared for in preparation for auction. Moonstar and Sinclair are kept docile through the drugged wine served there. Amara realizes what is happening, and escapes during the night, but she is quickly discovered and captured by Selene.
Meanwhile, Samuel Guthrie and Da Costa are being held in preparation for their participation in the gladiatorial combat at the Julian Circus, but are drugged to keep them from using their powers. They square off against two experienced gladiators, Falco and Rogier and resist the effects of the drug; they defeat the pair easily with the benefit of their powers. The crowd, which includes their drugged teammates, is in a fury, urging more combatants to attack the two mutants. The pair defeats the remaining attackers and then, still feeling the effects of the drugs, attack each other. Sunspot gets the upper hand on Cannonball and Sinclair panics at the thought of Guthrie getting injured, and transforms to her wolf form to join the fray. Moonstar breaks free from the effects of the drug and produces a vision of Professor X which shocks her teammates out of their drug induced rage. Now the spectators demand that the mutants be killed as they fear youths' powers, but Gallio intervenes claiming that Sinclair's red hair marks her as descendent of Julius Caesar and her wolf powers show that she is a descendent of the She-wolf. Claiming that the mutants are gods, he welcomes them to the cheering crowd.
Solicit Synopsis
Trivia
- Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter is listed in the issue credits as "Emperor."
- Rahne Sinclair is the only member of the New Mutants to wear a uniform in this issue.