X-Men Vol 1 2

X-Men #2
Previous Issue	X-Men #1
Next Issue	X-Men #3
Cover Date	November, 1963
Issue Details
Editor-in-Chief	Stan Lee

1. "No One Can Stop the Vanisher!"
Appearances · Synopsis
Writer(s)	Stan Lee
Penciler(s)	Jack Kirby
Inker(s)	Paul Reinman
Letterer(s)	Sam Rosen
Editor(s)	Stan Lee

 The greatest power on Earth is the magnificent power we all of us possess... the power of the human brain! 

—Professor X

Appearing in "No One Can Stop the Vanisher!"

Featured Characters:

• X-Men
  • ⏴ Cyclops (Scott "Slim" Summers) ⏵
  • ⏴ Marvel Girl (Jean "Jeanie" Grey) ⏵
  • ⏴ Angel (Warren Worthington III) ⏵
  • ⏴ Beast (Henry "Hank" McCoy) ⏵
  • ⏴ Iceman (Bobby Drake) ⏵
• ⏴ Professor X (Charles Xavier) ⏵

Supporting Characters:

• ⏴ Fred Duncan ⏵ (First appearance)
• ⏴ Lt. General Fredricks ⏵
• Colonel Hendershoot ⏵ (First appearance)

Antagonists:

• Vanisher ⏵ (First appearance)
• Weasel (First appearance)

Other Characters:

• F.B.I.
  • Bill (First appearance)
• Officer Smithers (First appearance)
• Unnamed New Yorkers
• Unnamed Merry Moppet ice cream man
• Unnamed bank manager
• Unnamed policemen
• United States Army
• Vanisher's gang members
• Ed Sullivan (Mentioned) (Topical Reference)
• United States Government (Mentioned)

Races and Species:

• Humans
• Mutants
• Cows (Mentioned)
• Gorillas (Mentioned)
• Rats (Mentioned)
• Horses (Mentioned)

Locations:

• Earth
  • United States of America
    • New York
      • Westchester County
        • Salem Center
          • Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters
            • Danger Room (Name revealed)
    • Virginia
      • Arlington (First appearance)
        • The Pentagon (First appearance)
    • Washington, D.C.
      • J. Edgar Hoover Building (First appearance)
      • National Mall (Cameo)
        • Capitol Building (Cameo)
      • White House
• New Haven (Mentioned)

Items:

• X-Uniforms
• Cyclops' Visor, version 1
• Psionic Headband (First appearance)

Vehicles:

• McDonnell XV-1 Convertiplane (First appearance)

Brief Summary

Professor Xavier telepathically orders his students to return to the school. Once they return to the Mansion, Professor Xavier informs them that there is a new super-villain with mutant powers calling himself the Vanisher. Earlier in the day he had robbed the national bank by using his teleportation powers to escape from the bank's security guards. Professor Xavier sends his students off on extra training missions to prepare them for the upcoming fight with the Vanisher.

Meanwhile, the Vanisher announces his intent to steal the Pentagon's defensive plans along with his newly formed criminal organization. Professor Xavier receives word from his FBI informant, Agent Fred Duncan, that the Vanisher is preparing to make his move. The X-Men are asked to help stop the Vanisher so Professor Xavier sends them out to Washington, DC. The Vanisher steals the defense plans from the Pentagon but is quickly surrounded by the X-Men. After a short battle, the Vanisher is able to escape with the plans.

The next day, the Vanisher appears once again and demands that he be given 10 million dollars; otherwise, he will sell the defense plans to the country's enemies. A day later, the Vanisher and his criminal army appear in front of the White House to pick up their money, but find the X-Men waiting for them. Professor Xavier appears from behind his students and uses his powers to prevent the Vanisher from teleporting away, and then makes him lose his memory. With their leader rendered harmless, the criminals are easily defeated by the X-Men.

Detailed Summary

The X-Men are shown racing to meet Professor X after he has "called them" telepathically. The Beast jumps from the roofs and signs and onto a moving train to get to the mansion first. Angel is waylaid by a mob of women who want autographs and kisses from the X-Men star. Marvel Girl helps him out by telekinetically moving the women off of Warren and onto the marquee of a nearby movie theater. Angel reminds Jean that Professor X has warned her not to strain her powers. Angel then lifts Jean up and flies her off towards the mansion. Meanwhile, Iceman and Cyclops notice a wall collapsing onto a construction crew. Cyclops turns on his visor to full intensity and blasts the wall to fine powder. The crew thanks the duo and they quickly head off to the mansion. They catch a ride there in an ice cream truck at Iceman's request.

Inside the mansion, Professor X commands the X-Men to enter and assemble. Once they are all inside, he projects mental images onto the wall to show them their next mission. He reveals that the Vanisher is their intended target and "shows" them what was mentally witnessed by the professor earlier in the day. The Vanisher is seen talking to policemen and inquiring where the Metro National Bank and that he intends to rob it. The police say there is no law against intentions and direct him to the bank. After he robs the bank at gunpoint, the police tell him to freeze and he vanishes into thin air.

The teller is left yelling, ironically, for the police. The professor ends his mission briefing. Iceman uses the moment to play a joke and shoots snowballs at the team. Marvel Girl hurls the ice right back at him and he makes an ice shield to block them. Professor X tells the team to stop. He says that their battering tactics will be useless on the Vanisher and he directs them to train in the Danger Room.

Inside the Danger Room, Professor X sends missiles toward Angel who thinks the test is "a snap". Xavier then shoots another missile at him and says to pretend that the missile is the Vanisher and to catch it before it eludes them. Warren fails in this test and Professor X tests his heart and blood pressure to help him train better. The Beast steps up next and jumps over mechanical arms that appear out of the floor. He unknowingly jumped over them into a hole that opened in the floor. The Beast strains himself to stop before falling entirely down the hole. He jumps out and Marvel Girl gently brings him down with her powers.

Meanwhile, at the Pentagon, the Vanisher appears. The guards ask for his permits and he states that he needs no permits and that "Homo superior" is destined to replace the human race. The Vanisher disappears and shows up in a conference room suddenly. Colonel Hendershoot and a general are discussing defense plans. The Vanisher tells them that they need to hold onto the plans as he will soon be stealing them from them in a few days. He then proves his powers by vanishing suddenly. The Vanisher is later seen being catered to by a large number of criminals of the underground. They tell him that they are behind him and cheer for him. He announces that he has set his plan in motion to make the most daring move in the history of crime.

In the Danger Room, the X-Men continue their training. Marvel Girl holds a giant ball hovering in the air using her mind. She begins to tire and Cyclops comes to her aid. He blasts the ball with his beams before the ball crushes her. She thanks him. Iceman is jealous and decides to play a prank on Cyclops. He sends an ice-horse sliding at him, since Cyclops was such a gallant prince.

Professor X sends out a mental communication to the FBI agent Duncan. Duncan puts on a head-gear to allow him to easily talk to Professor X. Duncan relays the Vanisher's plan to steal the defense documents. Professor X then sends off the team to stop the Vanisher. The team is then transported in a McDonnell XV-1 Convertiplane to look for the Vanisher.

At the Pentagon, a group of armed men guard the defense plans. Then the Vanisher appears and grabs the documents and vanishes. He is then down the hall and a group of men tackle him to the ground, but he vanishes right out of their hands. Next, the Vanisher exits the building and is met by the X-Men who just arrived. They tell him to stop and the Angel grabs him. The Vanisher drops the documents and the Beast recovers them.

The Vanisher then snatches them back from the Beast and then Cyclops blasts them out of his hands. Marvel Girl telekinetically grabs the documents and flies them around out of reach. The Vanisher sprays sleeping gas at Jean and she falls to the ground. The Vanisher grabs the documents. Iceman fires an ice-fist at him, but it is too late and he disappears. The team regroups and heads home.

The next day the newspaper reads that the Vanisher has the documents and the X-Men failed to capture him. The TV then announces that the Vanisher plans to give the documents to communists, unless the government pays him 10 million dollars tax-free. The team bickers about their recent battle and Professor X advises them that he will accompany them to their next battle. He also advises the government of his plan on how to stop the Vanisher.

The time comes to battle the Vanisher and this time on the front lawn of the White House. The Vanisher tells the X-Men to leave him. Professor X confronts him and tells him that he is a mutant as well and is directing his powers at him. The Vanisher suddenly realizes that he cannot vanish and he even has forgotten why he is there and who he is. The criminal mob that was with the Vanisher attacks. The X-Men easily stop their advance. Iceman covers them in a hole Cyclops creates, while Marvel Girl points their weapons at themselves. Angel then rounds up the last of them. The army then moves in and takes over. Professor X congratulates the X-Men on their job.

Notes

• This issue introduces the Vanisher, best remembered for his roles in the Factor Three storyline and the Fallen Angels mini-series.
• The anti-mutant sentiment subplot has not been introduced yet. In this issue, the winged Angel receives the adoration of a crowd of young women. He is unable to escape their embraces, and has to be saved by Marvel Girl.
• Marvel Girl uses telekinesis to lift six women on the air, away from the Angel, and seems to do so effortlessly. However, she almost faints from the exertion and the Angel remarks that Professor X has determined that she can only telekinetically lift as much as she can physically carry. This contradicts the previous issue, when she effortlessly lifted the Beast into the air to demonstrate her telekinetic powers.
• Angel refers to Professor X as "Dr. X" when he is talking to Marvel Girl. During the early years of the Marvel universe, Stan Lee was notorious for his inconsistent naming of characters (he often referred to the Hulk's alter ego as "Bob Banner" rather than Bruce, etc.) Similarly, Marvel Girl's ability is termed "teleportation" rather than "telekinesis."
• The Angel seems eager to protect Marvel Girl in this issue, probably continuing the subplot that he is romantically interested in her.
• In this issue, Cyclops rescues a construction crew from a collapsing wall, which was about to kill them. His full intensity eye-beam turned the wall's brick and mortar into fine powder. Early indication of Cyclops' power level.
• Cyclops warns Iceman to shield his eyes before Cyclops uses his powers, implying that the light from the eye-beams could blind him.
• In this issue, the Beast claims to be smarter than his teammates. Professor X reprimands him, stating that he is simply over-confident. Nevertheless, it is the first indication of the Beast's future characterization as a genius scientist.
• Lt. General Fredricks previously appeared in Fantastic Four #3. He becomes a minor recurring character in this series, starting with this issue.
• When she approaches the Vanisher, Marvel Girl claims that she can sense his status as a real mutant. How she can sense it is not explained. Is it an early sign of her telepathy at work?
• Despite having heard of Marvel Girl before, the Vanisher seems genuinely surprised when he realizes that she is a fellow mutant.
• This is the first time Professor X takes part in a field mission. The X-Men themselves are surprised. It creates a bit of a storytelling problem however. Given how easily the Professor defeats the Vanisher, it begs the question why the Professor needs the X-Men at all.
• Cyclops receives friendly gestures from the construction workers which he rescued. But Iceman freezes the hands of the workers who try to shake hands with him.
• While Professor X takes an interest in the Vanisher shortly following the villain's first robbery, he is not even certain whether the Vanisher is a mutant. He explains this to the X-Men in their briefing.
• In this issue, the Vanisher expresses his beliefs about mutant superiority over humans. He sounds very similar to Magneto, who was introduced in the previous issue.
• When Marvel Girl nearly gets injured in a Danger Room exercise and Cyclops rescues her, Iceman angrly claims that any of the X-Men could have saved her. But everyone except Cyclops failed to come to her aid.
• The four guards of the Pentagon, who are guarding the continental defense plans, are depicted wearing civilan clothes. It is not explained in-story why no soldiers were tasked with guard duty.
• The Vanisher recognizes the X-Men when he first sees them. The issue hints that they have become well known to the public due to press coverage.
• After first meeting Professor X, Vanisher mistakes him for a common human. Professor X has to inform him that he is a mutant too. The Vanisher recognizes something in Professor X's eyes and his voice, which causes him intense feelings of dread.
• Professor X completely erases the Vanisher's memories. The villain no longer knows how to use his powers, what his plans were, or even his own name. Following the mindwipe, the Vanisher also feels weary and has trouble even standing up. Cyclops and Marvel Girl have to help him with walking.
• After seeing Jean Grey's powers in action, an unnamed gangster proclaims that she is more dangerous than the other X-Men.

Trivia

• This issue proves a well-known fact that comics during Silver Age had an air of suspension of disbelief, demonstrated by the fact that Iceman freezing a glove does not produce a frozen glove but instead one has been changed into ice cubes and falls apart.
• The movie title that is seen to be playing at the movie theater is "A Teen-Ager's Tears".
• The ice cream truck that takes Cyclops and Iceman back to the X-Mansion is called "Merry Moppet Ice Cream Pops".
• The Beast expresses the hope to be invited to the show of Ed Sullivan (1901-1974). The Ed Sullivan Show (1948-1971) was a long-running variety television show, featuring musicians and other entertainers. The show was cancelled in 1971, because it was mainly attracting an older audience than what advertisers had in mind. Sullivan himself died due to esophageal cancer in 1974.

See Also

• 48 image(s) from X-Men Vol 1 2
  • 3 reprint(s) of X-Men Vol 1 2.jpg
• 21 reprint(s) of X-Men Vol 1 2