This message is reaching every known mutant in the world. Good, bad, friend, foe...whoever you are. Wherever you are. We want every mutant left to know this: the X-Men are very much alive. And San Francisco is now a mutant sanctuary. Any of you -- and your families or loved ones -- are invited to join us here...and know safety and protection our kind has never known. 
Appearing in "SFX (1 of 3)"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Simon Trask
- Sentinels Mk I
- Magneto (Erik Lensherr)
- High Evolutionary (Herbert Wyndham)
- Hellfire Cult (First appearance)
- Empath (Manuel de la Rocha)
- Several unnamed members
Other Characters:
- Kingo Sunen
- Freddie Dukes (Appears on screen)
- Unnamed Japanese sumo fighters
- Dreaming Celestial
- Guy DeMondue (First and only known appearance; dies)
- Several unnamed workers
- Professor X (Charles Xavier) (Mentioned)
- Several unnamed San Franciscans (Impersonate Marvel Girl, Rogue, Polaris, Wolverine, Emma Frost, Professor X, Northstar, Angel, Havok, Mystique, Scarlet Witch, Toad, Bishop, Storm, Gambit, Jubilee, Psylocke, Banshee, Shadowcat, and other X-Men)
- Pixie's friend
- Dazzler (Alison Blaire) (Mentioned)
Races and Species:
Locations:
- Earth
- United States
- California
- San Francisco
- Golden Gate Park
- Downtown
- Transamerica Pyramid
- Oakland
- Port of Oakland
- Marin
- Marin Headlands
- San Francisco Bay
- San Francisco
- New York City, New York (Mentioned)
- Grand Canyon, Arizona (Mentioned)
- California
- Earth Orbit
- High Evolutionary's station
- United States
Items:
- X-Uniforms
- Ruby-Quartz Sunglasses
- Cerebra (Name only)
- Cyclops' Visor
- High Evolutionary's magnetic suit
- Magneto's Helmet
- Hellfire Club helmets
Synopsis for "SFX (1 of 3)"
In the Port of Oakland, a controversial artist known as Guy DeMondue picks up a cargo that will be utilized as the centerpiece of his newest art installation: three decommisioned Sentinel units! DeMondue even enlists the aid of Simon Trask, hiring him to inspect the robots. In the outskirts of San Francisco, the X-Men are beginning to settle down in their new headquarters and even offer Sadie, the city's mayor, a brief tour of the premises. However, the team is shocked to find out, through Sadie, about Guy's art exhibition, the concept of which they find garish and even appalling. Subsequently, the team attends to the exhibiton, where they easily fit in with rest of the attendants, most of them playfully dressed up as members of the X-Men, paying tribute to the "mutant kitsche" theme of Guy's art installation. Things take a turn for the worse, though, when an apparently repowered Magneto suddenly appears and activates the Sentinels.
In the ensuing fight, the X-Men manage to take down the robots, while Magneto is revealed to be faking his powers thanks the specially-designed costume he dons. Magneto even vanishes. Belatedly, the team realizes that Magneto served as a distraction for the High Evolutionary to do something unknown to the Dreaming Celestial that towers over Golden Gate Park. Later, Magneto and the High Evolutionary discuss their plans in a spacecraft floating in outer space. A few days later, Cyclops, his message telepathically trasmitted by White Queen to every corner of the planet, invites every remaining mutant to join them in their new mutant sanctuary. Wolverine later goes to visit Guy DeMondue, hoping to extract some answers from him, only to find the artist murdered. A few weeks later, Pixie and a friend of hers exit a nightclub, unaware that they are being stalked by a team of mutant-haters who don the helmets of the Hellfire Club soldiers but call themselves "the Hellfire Cult."
