The X-Men just dove into Marvel's newest big crossover event, X of Swords. The storyline pits them against Apocalypse's wayward children, the First Horsemen, and the winner takes the X-Men's home of Krakoa. If the heroic mutants lose, Krakoa will be used by the demons of Arakko to invade Earth. The battle will be decided through battles between ten champions from each side, each wielding a superpowered sword. But what are the swords in X of Swords? Before the battle kicks off for real, here's a list of all twenty magic swords that feature into the event.
The confirmed roster comes from X of Swords: Creation, written by Jonathan Hickman and Tini Howard with art by Pepe Larraz, color by Marte Gracia, and lettering by Clayton Cowles. The X-Men's Polaris and Famine of the First Horsemen listed off their respective team's blades, based on a vision given by the referee, interdimensional witch-queen Saturnyne. Marvel included some of these swords in the teaser image that came with the announcement, but left other blades out of the sea of one-off references and gags that likely won't factor into the event.
For now, readers will have to hold out for a canon appearance of Cyclops' lightsaber.Here are the blades wielded by the X-Men:
Muramasa
The immortal swordsmith Muramasa created two blades in Marvel continuity. The newer of the two was forged for Wolverine from a fragment of his blood and his soul as a tool for revenge against his enemies, including those that have healing factors like his. The red Muramasa blade is the "immortal-ending blade", able to deal wounds that even Wolverine's powers can't heal from. Wolverine is likely going to wield this weapon, given his prominence in X of Swords promo art. (As for the other: keep reading.)
The Sword of Might
Every hero who seeks the title Captain Britain must take a test given by Merlin: will their talisman be the forceful Sword of Might or the wise Amulet of Right? Only those who choose wisdom over force are worthy. Brian Braddock, the previous Captain Britain, was kidnapped by Morgan le Fay and stripped of his title, leaving his sister Betsy Braddock (formerly Psylocke) to take over the Amulet of Right from him. When she rescued him, he took the test again... but failed, choosing the sword in anger and forfeiting the title to Betsy for good. That makes Brian the wielder of the Sword of Might, and the lapsed hero may decide to call himself "Lionheart" after the Sword's previous wielder. But Betsy is featured in promos for X of Swords, not him... and a Captain Britain can conceivably wield both the Sword and the Amulet at once.
Grasscutter and Godkiller
These two swords are linked by a single mythical story. Long ago, a war broke out between the Greek gods and the Japanese pantheon of Shinto. Zeus and Amatsu-Mikaboshi each commissioned a blade from the same blacksmith. The smith produced Grasscutter, which was perfect, and gave it to Amatsu-Mikaboshi; the one he made for Zeus was called Godkiller, and was flawed. In the present day, the scheming Amatsu-Mikaboshi gave Grasscutter to the son of Ares, god of war, hoping that he would use it to kill his father. Instead, the boy slayed Amatsu-Mikaboshi with it. Then Ares' son lost the blade in battle with Gorgon, a mutant swordmaster who wielded Godkiller. Gorgon was the leader of a death cult with ties to the Hand and Hydra; after Krakoa granted amnesty to mutant supervillains, he became Charles Xavier's bodyguard. In Saturnyne's vision of X of Swords, Gorgon wields both blades.
Warlock
The strangest of the X-Men's ten blades, this sword isn't a sword at all, it's a member of the secretly become separate entities, but Warlock is still wrapped around Doug, giving him enhanced combat power. Cypher will go into battle with his best friend as his weapon.
The Soulsword
Another sword from the New Mutants team, the Soulsword is far more iconic than the previous entry. Ilyana Rasputin, aka Magic, forged the blade using a piece of her own soul while trapped in the hellish dimension Limbo. She can wield it as a narrow longsword or as a tremendous claymore; either way, its magical light serves to focus her magic and slay supernatural and mundane foes with ease. Magik has taught others to smith fragments of their souls into weapons before, but the Soulsword is definitely hers.
The Light of Galador
This recently-introduced sword is the central macguffin of decided to nuke them instead. Now Cable will wade into combat with the last relic of a dead world in his grip.
The Unknown Swords
Polaris lists several names that can't be definitively connected to any known weapon: "The Starlight Sword", "The Scarab", and "Skybreaker". The names come from Saturnyne's precognition, so even she may not know what they are. Based on the figures in Saturnyne's vision, a few possibilities spring up. "The Scarab" is likely Apocalypse's giant khopesh. Storm is pictured on an cover of Marauders in a dance with Death of the First Horsemen, and if the weather-controlling mutant finds a length of steel suited specifically for her, "Skybreaker" would be a perfect name for it. "The Starlight Sword" is a mystery, but shares a name with Saturnyne's floating palace the Starlight Citadel. Given that Saturnyne has already given the X-Men help against the Four Horsemen in the also be the Cerebro Sword, a blade forged by Magneto out of a destroyed Cerebro helmet. The sword, which is described as glimmering with digital lights, was made under a year ago but has been conspicuously absent from X of Swords material so far.
The Swords of the Four Horsemen
Since the First Horsemen have been fighting in another dimension for the last five thousand years, much less is known about the enemy's tools than the X-Men's. Here is the information we have: the Twilight Blade is the sword that one of the Arakko swordbearers shown in a promo image, a gigantic crocodile that is apparently a sword wielding itself. Muramasa, bizarrely, is a weapon of Earth, likely referring to the first katana that Muramasa created. The first Muramasa was a cursed black blade that induces madness in its wielder, an appropriate artifact for the wife and children of Apocalypse to carry.
