Acting as an epilogue to the epic ONE NATION UNDER DOOM (1995-1996) event that shook up Marvel’s 2099 titles, ‘X-Nation’ follows Doom‘s escape from John Herod and his return to the mutant haven Halo City. Doom created Halo City, but left it in the hands of one his his most-trusted Black Cabinet members, the mutant Morphine Somers – Doom’s ‘Minister of Humanity’. But the X-Men begin to question Somers’ right to govern Halo when a band of mutant zombies attack, including one of their original team mates. All of which leads to the launch of a new mutant-centric 2099 series starring a teen team called X-Nation.
As an event, ‘One Nation Under Doom’ suffered from serious continuity problems. Despite ‘X-Nation’ only featuring two titles, it still suffers from the same issue. There’s no comfortable way to structure this so it makes perfect sense to the reader without splitting it down into individual pages and shuffling the order. The last two chapters are so dependent on each other, but there’s no single perfect option. But you can see how it fits into the wider Earth-928 continuity in our 2099 READING ORDER.
‘X-Nation’ is not to be confused with the X-Men event NATION X (2009-2010).
Related Events: While there is an overlap between the two titles involved in ‘X-Nation’, they largely function as two quite separate epilogues to ‘One Nation Under Doom’.
Must-Reads: In the fallout section, story arcs/issues marked with a ✔ are essential reading.
Spoilers: The issue descriptions and fallout section contain spoilers, so be warned!
Previous events that directly impact this story:
- ONE NATION UNDER DOOM (1995-1996) – Doom’s plan to rule America
Want to keep it simple? Here’s the chronological reading order without story descriptions, or spoilers:
- Doom 2099 #36
- X-Men 2099 #26-29
- Doom 2099 #37
- X-Men 2099 #30
- Doom 2099 #38
| Title, Issue & Synopsis |
| X-Men 2099 #26 (p.1) Cerebra informs Morphine Somers that Doom has fallen and the Black Cabinet are being systematically murdered… 1st appearance: Halo City |
| Doom 2099 #36 Static Annie takes Doom to the safehouse of aspiring subversive Renfield while John Herod‘s troops follow up reports that Doom still lives. Doom quickly realises Renfield is a fake, but gathers enough tech to allow Static Annie (having removed her Inhibitor Spike) to take control of the Driver‘s vehicle via Cyberspace and send it to aid in their escape. At the site of the ruins of the White House, Herod arranges for the Chicago Reserve to drop off nano-tech assemblers that build a new, menacing Red House for his pawn… President Captain America! Morphine Somers contacts Herod and offers him a ‘slave class’ in return for Halo City to become a safe haven for himself and all mutants (this could be the same call as the previous chapter, but the dialogue is very different). New identity: The White House as the Red House Note: The call Morphine Somers makes to John Herod could be the same as in X-Men 2099 #28, but they differ heavily. |
| X-Men 2099 #26 (pp.2-23) Journalist Gunnar Heywood arrives at Halo City and immediately helps stop a human terrorist from setting off a thermonuclear bomb. The X-Men now act as the city’s protectorate, while their former-leader Xi’an Chi Xan has left the group to focus on healing citizens, as mutants come to Halo in droves for refuge. A group of zombie-like mutants calling themselves the Undead attack Halo City and distract the X-Men while deceased X-Man Serpentina shoots Skullfire dead! 1st appearance: Sisterhood of the Howling Commandments, Sister Margaret, Undead (Arcadian, Catscratch, Ember, Graverobber/Garth Simenon, Russian/Nicolai) |
| X-Men 2099 #27 The X-Men realise Skullfire’s been captured and la Lunatica goes looking for him. Sister Margaret of the Sisterhood of Howling Commandments encourages Xi’an to rejoin the fight, following the Undead’s attack on one of Halo City’s polyclinics. Gunnar Heywood discovers the undead hiding out beneath Halo City and watches as their leader Graverobber resurrects Skullfire, but Serpentina discovers Gunnar and burns him alive. The X-Men realise the Undead’s target was Cerebra’s father – ruthless businessman Zail Haddad who has come seeking asylum in Halo City. John Herod sends a Kamikaze Brain Blaster bomb to the city to kill Morphine Somers, but it’s destroyed by Krystalin! |
| X-Men 2099 #28 The Undead attack a concert in Halo City, demanding Zail Haddad is given to them. Haddad explains to the X-Men that his company, the Golden Harvest Corporation, created an undead slave class from the terminally ill living on the streets. A biowaste incident unlocked the powers of one of the slaves, Garth Simenon, who became more conscious and discovered he could raise the dead. Simenon has become the Graverobber and is looking for vengeance on Haddad. Morphine Somers calls John Herod to gloat that his assassination attempt has failed and offers him technology to raise the dead. La Lunatica discovers the smouldering Gunnar is alive and is actually a robot built from Rigellian Recorder technology. Gunnar and la Lunatica are subdued by the Undead. Graverobber forces Skullfire to drain the power from Halo City. |
| Doom 2099 #37 (pp.1-18) The mutant-abducting Driver was wired directly into his car and uploaded their personalities into his vehicle to resurrect later. Under Doom’s direction, Static Annie steers the Driver’s car to Renfield’s hideout. Doom kills Renfield to cover his tracks and Annie becomes increasingly disturbed as she and Doom enter the corpse-filled vehicle. Doom sends it out of Washington and hurtling towards Halo City in California… |
| Title, Issue & Synopsis |
| X-Men 2099 #29 (pp.1-19) While Doom watches from the shadows, the X-Men rally against the Undead. Morphine Somers hands the graverobber Zail Haddad in exchange for Halo’s safety. But Somers wires Haddad’s restraints with a colossal amount of neuro-charge, severing the Graverobber’s connection to his Undead. This effectively returns the Undead to death. Cerebra psionically renders Somers unconscious for leaving her father in a comatose state. Skullfire is returned to life, but can no longer turn his powers off. The X-Men scatter Serpentina’s ashes. And Victor Ten Eagles returns to Halo, short of one arm and warning Xi’an that the surviving members ‘of the Lawless are being hunted… |
| Doom 2099 #37 (pp.19-22) Doom uses a sample of the Driver’s nanobots to kill the Chicago Reserve agents who arrive who had intended to kill him. At Halo, Doom gives Static Annie her freedom and contacts Xi’an Chi Xan, demanding an audience with Cerebra and Billy Zedd! |
| Doom 2099 #38 (pp.1-10) Captain America meets with Herod to discuss Graverobber and the X-Men. Billy Zedd builds Doom a new suit of armour… |
| X-Men 2099 #29 (pp.20-23) Somers sends four of the Undead’s bodies to Herod in return for Halo’s safety, but the vehicle carrying them is destroyed by Doom. |
| X-Men 2099 #30 (pp.1-23) Mutant refugees continue to flood to Halo City, including the teenage Nostromo and Clarion who quickly fall foul of a local gang until they’re saved by Cerebra and Meanstreak. In his meeting with Cerebra, Doom confides in her that one of the mutants coming to Halo City will be a ‘mutant’ messiah’, but he doesn’t know which. After losing the ballot to continue leading Halo City and being hit with Doom’s Inhibitor Spike, Morphine Somers also learns about the messiah and decides to get to them first. Cerebra leaves the X-Men to train the next generation of mutants…dubbed X-Nation. |
| Doom 2099 #38 (pp.11-22) Doom visits Morphine Somers and impales him with an Inhibitor Spike, warning him to give everyone in Halo City their chance at redemption. Doom sends the Driver into the Red House, using the nanobots in his vehicle to devour the entire building, including the staff and Captain America. John Herod is left alive, but in immense pain. Doom gives Cerebra the codes to enable her to use the teleportation system beneath Halo City, then uses it to teleport himself away… |
See how this story fits into the wider 2099 Universe with these reading orders:
- 2099, 1992-1997 – World of Tomorrow
- DOOM 2099, 1992-1997 – The Future is Doomed
- SPIDER-MAN 2099, 1992-1997 – The original timeline
| Must Read | Issue(s) & Fallout | Event / Crossover |
| ✔ | 2099AD Genesis #1 (1996) Cerebra begins X-Nation’s training. | 2099 GENESIS |
| X-Men 2099 #31 (1996) Victor Ten Eagles is given a prosthetic arm; the last Foolkiller is revealed to be hunting the Lawless. | ||
| ✔ | X-Nation 2099 #1-2 (1996) X-Nation are fully introduced; Morphine Somers begins his race to find the Mutant Messiah before Cerebra; the mutant Avian joins the race for the Mutant Messiah, acting on behalf of Anthony Herod. | 2099 GENESIS |
| ✔ | Doom 2099 #39 (1996) Doom goes back in time in an effort to restore his people. | RAGE AGAINST TIME |
| X-Men 2099 #32-33 (1996) The Lawless are fully introduced for the first time and their history is revealed; the feud between the last Foolkiller and the Lawless comes to a head. | LAST STAND AT WORLD’S END | |
| Doom 2099 #43 (1996) Having travelled back in time to Earth-616 (presumably before the timeline diverged) and imbuing Latverians with immunity to the necrotoxin that wiped them out, Doom returns to his own time to discover many of the surviving Latverians had survived but mutated. | RAGE AGAINST TIME LAST STAND AT WORLD’S END | |
| X-Nation 2099 #6 (1996) Clarion is killed by Exodus. | LAST STAND AT WORLD’S END | |
| ✔ | Fantastic Four 2099 #8 (1996) Halo City is ultimately destroyed (along with pretty much everything else) when the Earth is flooded. | LAST STAND AT WORLD’S END |
| 2099: World of Tomorrow #2-4 (1996) John Herod and Avian become infected by the Phalanx and are used as test subject by Doom; Nostromo is revealed to be the ‘mutant messiah’, but the messiah role appears to be a myth. | LAST STAND AT WORLD’S END | |
| ✔ | 2099: World of Tomorrow #8 (1997) After losing her powers in the war with the Phalanx, Cerebra helps set up the new society of humans and mutants coexisting peacefully in the Savage Land; Doom apologises to Nostromo for the ‘mutant messiah’ ruse he set up to fool the Phalanx and makes him Doom’s heir. | LAST STAND AT WORLD’S END |
| Collected Edition Title | Collects… |
| Doom 2099 by Warren Ellis: The Complete Collection | 2099: World of Doom Special #1 Doom 2099 #24-39 |
| Collected Edition Title | Includes… |
| Fantastic Four/Doom 2099 Omnibus | Doom 2099 #36-38 |
| X-Men 2099 Omnibus | X-Men 2099 #26-30 |
Reading Order © Omniverse Comics Guide 2025
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