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The X-Men comics are some of the best books being published by Marvel at the moment. Ever since Jonathan Hickman became the Head of X, things have gotten bigger and better for mutants and their newfound country Krakoa. But an inevitable war against humanity and the mutant-hating group called Orchis is looming on the horizon and it’s almost guaranteed that Krakoa and the X-Men cannot win.
Unless they find a new way out, that is. Despite how hopeless the future looks for mutantkind, there are still some options for mutant victory. Whether the X-Men choose to make the necessary sacrifices, we’ll only know as the comics continue to unfold.
In any case, here are five ways Krakoa can win the coming war and ensure the survival of mutantkind. And they may not be good news for humanity.
1) Mutants Leave Earth for Planet Krakoa
One question that mutants never seem to ask themselves is this: why do they choose to live in a world where they are hated and feared when they have a whole universe they could settle? The obvious reason would be that if they were to do that, they would effectively be abandoning all the mutants who may be born in the future but that’s not necessarily the case anymore.
With Krakoan gates, mutants from all over the world can go to their new homeland, even if it’s on another planet. The X-Men would need to maintain a group on Earth to help those who can’t get to a gate but that job is already being done by Kate Pryde and her Marauders.
As for finding a world for mutants to settle, the mutant space program S.W.O.R.D. could easily get that job done. Assuming space doesn’t get a whole lot worse anytime soon, of course.
2) Reality Warpers Make a New Future for the X-Men
The range of mutant powers is practically infinite and at the top of the heap are the Omega-level mutants. The most powerful of this elite group are the reality warpers who can practically destroy the world on a whim.
At least two reality-warping mutants have come to Krakoa in recent X-Men comics. The Mad Monarch Jamie Braddock is the king of Avalon and a recurring character on Excalibur. And in Way of X #2, Charles Xavier’s prodigal son Legion / David Haller has also returned to his people.
Both of these mutants have the ability to make a new future for mutantkind, whether by eradicating Orchis or by simply changing the outcome of the war. The only problem is that they are both rather unstable so they probably need some kind of control mechanism to stabilize them.
Recently, the comics have hinted at the return of obscure X-Men character Mister M, who is also a reality warper on par with these powerhouses. If he does join Krakoa, Mister M could easily form a new team alongside the other Omegas and change the tide of the war.
3) Make Humans into Mutants
This option leads out of the last one in a way. What’s the best way to stop humans from hunting mutants? Make everyone a mutant. Whether through reality warping or some other powerful means, this option could eliminate the need for war before it happens.
We have seen similar things happen before. In the iconic Earth X series by Jim Krueger and Alex Ross, the Inhumans did basically the same thing on an alternate Earth. The results were disastrous, with newly superpowered humans wreaking havoc across the planet.
However, despite how badly it turned out on that Earth, the same move could be executed better by the X-Men in the mainstream comics. This would in effect expand Krakoa’s boundaries to cover the whole world and there would be no point in Orchis or their mutant hate anymore.
4) The X-Men Summon the Celestials to Krakoa
If all else fails, mutantkind still has some very big aces up their sleeve. There are beings in the Marvel Comics universe far greater than even gods like Thor. These beings are the Celestials, the space gods who engineered the creation of mutants in the first place.
In the distant past of the Earth, the Celestials experimented with humanity’s ancestors, creating the superhuman sub-species called the Eternals and the demonic people known as the Deviants. They also gave humans the X-gene to further the evolution of the species. It’s general practice for the Celestials to periodically check up on their creations. They judge their creations and decide whether to let them live or kill them all and start again.
Calling in the Celestials would be an absolute last resort for the X-Men and this would be a rather drastic turn for the comics. A judgement from the Celestials would have to be a massive world-changing event that would demand at least one company-wide crossover to be fully realized.
In all probability, even Orchis’s assured victory wouldn’t push mutants to take this drastic step. It’s the cosmic equivalent of a nuclear bomb and that’s not something the X-Men can unleash on the planet in good conscience.
5) The X-Men and Krakoa Join the Phalanx
There is one last option that mutants might fall back on and in fact, this does seem the most likely scenario for Krakoa to defeat Orchis. During Hickman’s Dawn of X relaunch of the X-Men comics, we found out a lot more about the villainous race of Artificial Intelligences known as the Phalanx.
As revealed in Powers of X, the Phalanx work for a cosmic AI called a Titan that is practically God (capital g, not small g like the Asgardians and the Olympians). They go around the universe assimilating other technological life-forms into their collective, and this could be an interesting option for mutantkind.
Even since Dawn of X, mutants seem to be finding new ways to combine their abilities. These combos have been called mutant technologies and that might not just be a fanciful name. If mutants can convince the Phalanx that they are basically biological machines, they could ascend as a species to join the greater collective.
This would be a bittersweet victory since doing so would mean giving up their individuality. But if it’s the only way to save Krakoa, chances are the X-Men won’t stand in the way of this final solution.
In any case, time does seem to be running out for Krakoa. A new ‘Inferno’ comics event has already been teased for Fall 2021 that could very well lead to the fall of the X-Men and the rise of Orchis.
Before all those dark futures though, there is still some time for fun and celebration. The ‘Hellfire Gala’, an event spread across all the X-Men comics, will be kicking off on June 2 with huge announcements to come. Keep your eyes peeled, True Believers, because there’s no telling where Krakoa will go next.