Continued from Marauders #8 thread - The Marauders will bring back word of Threshold and its origins, maybe even Threshold itself - or its inhabitants DNA and back-ups, brought into the future on the other side of the time loop and able to be resurrected without creating duplicates or paradox. The Quiet Council - and Xavier - will thus have the idea of potentially relocating Krakoa into the distant past planted as a possible escape hatch....just as Fall of X begins and moves us into Orchis' endgame, as Krakoa's enemies bring the fight straight to them, once and for all. Xavier will try and persuade the rest of the Council and the X-Men, maybe even the Great Ring, that proceeding with the Threshold plan, just with changes made thanks to foreknowledge, is the only viable way to ensure mutant survival without a bloody war that will cost too many human lives for co- existence to EVER be possible. But enough people will want to stay and fight, try for different solutions, etc....that as 'the deadline' for making an escape to the past looms closer, he'll feel forced to just act. And he'll try and forcibly or through duplicity set things up for Krakoa to be sent into the past whether he has the votes or not.... While also intending to mask their departure under some kind of mass illusion....that makes humanity believe that Krakoa was fully wiped out, mutants all dead once and for all. Convincing himself that if forced to confront the finality of such a thing in its aftermath, having to live with whatever guilt individuals might feel for whatever part they played in things getting to that point, or even just the guilt of how they felt when they first heard the mutants were all dead, for real....that this might be the sea change needed to change peoples' minds about mutants, so that on that theoretical day when Krakoa/Threshold DID return from the past....they might meet a different reception than the usual fear and hatred, now that they'd been faced with the alternative, which hadn't been the 'better' that they'd hoped for or imagined. But....ultimately he'll be stopped or talked out of it by his own students and successors, and Krakoa will stay exactly where it is, no matter the danger, while Xavier is in some way or another shuffled offscreen....much like Moira likely will be by the end of the Fall of X/Orchis plot as well, and with Magneto dead..... The three founders and greatest influences on mutant destiny....will be off the gameboard, the way clear for new leaders to take the reins and move mutantkind - post Hickman era - in different directions, whether or not that includes Krakoa and Arakko and Threshold or anything else. And THAT'S the big theme....that no matter how drastically you shake things up, no matter how hugely you change the shape or outlines of society.....things won't actually ever be any different - let alone better - as long as you're still repeating the same old mistakes as you do. If you don't actually make changes to your old ways of thinking, don't break the cycles you're stuck in, don't follow new leaders or at least leaders leading in new directions. And if you look at the books overall....its not just the three founders of Krakoa I believe the Hickman aimed at giving their last hurrah at achieving their dreams and being the guiding force behind mutantkind as whole....with the end of the era to be marked by the end of their influence and the emergence of new leaders and new ways of thinking/approaches to co-existing, both with humans and with other mutants even of conflicting ideologies. Its ALL the major players who have dominated recurring cyclical stories throughout the past decades of the X-franchise. Apocalypse - even if he does come back with Genesis, he's been narratively rendered her second rather than the driving force behind mutant destiny that he attempted to be for decades of stories. He might not be gone for good, but this era attempts to have definitively moved him into a new stage of life, claiming the endgoal all his past actions were in pursuit of has been accomplished....and clearing the way for any future Apocalypse stories to feel pressured to have him doing things differently, and for different reasons. Mr. Sinister - Might be jumping the gun here, but I do think its a safe bet that he'll be shuffled off the board in a pretty major way, post Sins of Sinister. The Externals - gone. The Shadow King - a possessing spirit exorcised from Amahl Farouk and clearing the way for him to become something entirely new in future appearances. The Hellfire Club....the reins of power have passed to Lourdes Chantel, the Stepford Cuckoos, and Christian Frost, and if Shaw were to lose the influence and power he enjoys as a member of the Quiet Council now, he'll have a tough time using Hellfire to climb his way back to previous power/influence when others are already wielding it themselves. No idea what Dark Web will bring for Maddy, but its significant IMO that Ayala set the stage for Maddy to be driven by entirely new stories or character arcs in the next era, without needing to necessarily be defined only by her past storylines like Inferno. Still hoping Wells has some plot twist intended that doesn't completely derail this possibility for Maddy, but guess we'll see. Magneto, historically the greatest and most constant opponent to the X-Men's traditional dream of peaceful co-existence, cleared way for others like Ororo and Roberto to take up the charge of leading mutantkind en masse, while clearly stating that he at least DID successfully change his way of thinking, even if it was only at the end. With his dying breaths stating that he now believed himself that fighting alongside other marginalized or disenfranchised humans for mutual betterment and treatment was the true path forward....and in doing so, willfully abdicating any position as a figurehead for future attacks on humanity in his name, even by old followers like his Acolytes, who would have a hard time falling back into old ways post-Hickman era and claiming to do so in his name....when Ororo can unequivocally state that he would NOT be in support of what they're doing. Irene's visions portend a departure/removal of Mystique from the bigger picture, let alone influencing mutant destiny, and Irene herself has found her beliefs and ways of using/interpreting her visions being challenged in multiple stories, by multiple ways....potentially leading her down a path where she'll be forced to change her own ways of thinking/doing things or perhaps be cleared from the stage alongside the rest of the Old Guard, by the end of the era. Exodus has pretty wholly thrown his lot in support of Hope and her intended vision for mutantkind. Sabretooth seems unlikely to ever change, nevertheless LaValle is doing a good job of showing how he can be used to steer mutant destinies in totally different ways from anything he's done before, a penultimate confrontation with Mikhail Rasputin seems inevitable, Proteus has embraced using his powers for good.... ALL the oldest, most entrenched, and biggest influences of the older generations of mutants are poised to either clear the stage by the end of the Hickman era, or else they've definitively changed their goals or ways of thinking/behaving, and thus setting the scene for NONE of them to be easily returned to being major mutant players steering mutantkind in the same directions as always....and in the process paving the way for the next era to be forced to elevate new 'major players', both good and bad, steering mutantkind in NEW directions and making NEW mistakes and stories. With us already seeing many of these future negative influences/antagonists being seeded across the board....like Brand and Vulcan in X-Men Red, and the figures Orlando's been building up in the background in the present, like Brimstone Love and Nicholas Scratch in Marauders, the untrustworthy manipulations of Mother Righteous in Legion of X, maybe even Beast himself in X-Force, etc. And at the same time, we've also been seeing longtime X-characters transitioned into whole new levels of influence over mutantkind as a whole, positions of leadership, and pushing them through crucibles that force them to decide between old, accustomed patterns of thinking/doing things, versus trying to break out of the confines of the familiar and look for new solutions, make new mistakes. Cyclops has obviously been a major leader of mutantkind before, but not in the ways he's being built up in this era....where he's being returned to a worthy successor to Xavier's dream of co-existence in ways Xavier isn't even upholding himself...as the latter hamstrings his own best intentions via not believing people capable of making the right choices on their own and thus attempting to puppeteer events from the shadows, and the former seems to be embracing transparency, believing that further secrecy about resurrection would only hamper future attempts at co-existence, that the world had to be trusted with the truth, the long-mentioned plans he and Jean discussed for a more democratic Krakoa. Similarly, Storm has long been a focal figure for mutantkind, but X-Men Red is aimed almost entirely at Ewing forcing her to confront old paradigms and perceptions of her and finding them limiting, and thus her core character arc has been trying to find some new way of viewing herself and being viewed...where she's neither queen nor goddess nor thief nor scrapper, but all of these and none of them at the same time, something...new. Roberto's pulled strings plenty, but never on this scale, not with mutantkind's overall future being the specific focus he devotes himself to, but he's clearly transitioning to a leadership role on a stage we've never seen him on before. Same with Doug....someone who has NEVER been looked at as a leader or authority figure but has spent the whole era trying to make up his own mind and own approach as to how to handle being in the unique position of power and knowledge he's in....and whether readers agree with his individual decisions or not, its hard to argue that he's by now cemented as a major player capable of affecting the future of all mutants in sizable ways, something that was never true before. Whatever your personal views of Kate's actions and choices are, its undeniable that the current era has emphasized her as someone embracing an entirely new level of leadership and proactive actions and goals, with her core refrain being new problems, new solutions. Betsy and Rachel are set to close out the era in positions of enormous influence for mutants and a lot of other people via their roles in Otherworld. Kurt's always been an iconic figure, but more for readers and in team settings rather than on a scale that includes shepherding all of mutantkind in some direction he picks out himself. And again, regardless of how well we each think its executed, its clear that this era has emphasized Kurt trying to muddle his way through having a new level of influence while still figuring things out for himself as he goes. Legion's story has almost ENTIRELY been about him - and others - weighing his potential to take his father's place as a major leader of mutantkind, and constantly challenging him to do things differently. Xavier's other child, Xandra, has been similarly focused on as a figure central to not just Shi'ar but mutant destiny, and a large emphasis being placed on her leadership and the specific choices she makes. Cable's been a leader and authority figure, as well as hugely important to mutantkind's future, many times before....but always from a behind the scenes standpoint, sticking to the shadows where possible. This era has thrust him a lot more fully into the spotlight, with him likely to succeed Brand as the head of S.W.O.R.D. - which is a very new kind of leadership position for him, a lot more akin to Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. whereas before he was more like Nick Fury, shadow leader of Secret Warriors and other secret teams. I think its been more lip service than executed well, but in terms of Bishop and Kwannon and Illyana, the effort to establish them as influential leaders is clearly there, and by stepping into the void created by the Council's lack of direction for younger mutants, Dani and the other New Mutants have firmly established themselves as influential leaders in the eyes of a lot of young mutants. Hope's been shown proactively seeking further influence over mutantkind because she doesn't vibe with what current leadership has been doing and wants the younger generation to have a voice, and X-Factor clearly established as Northstar being in the same position as Dani when it comes to feeling protective of younger mutants and not trusting established mutant leaders to have their best interests in mind at all times. And while I have no idea how the Sabretooth triptych will end, and whether the Exiles will ever return to Krakoa or set up shop elsewhere, its been made clear there are a ton of mutants who fell through the cracks and are out there being imprisoned and experimented on....with new or unlikely characters like Nekra and Third Eye well on their way to being the most likely leaders or biggest influences for this allegedly large number of mutants. Plus, along with mutants in new positions of leadership and with shifted character trajectories, there's been a clear focus on elevating minor characters to being focal presences in core team lineups, instead of just always falling back on the same known, tried and true characters. Tempo, Aurora, Black Tom, Manifold, Wiz Kid, Thunderbird, Synch, Forge, Nanny, Orphan-Maker, Greycrow, Eye-Boy, Maverick, Birdy, Frenzy, Forgetmenot, Cerebella, Akihiro......all characters who never came anywhere NEAR being likely contenders for core line-ups, and any of which could now feasibly recur as focal characters at least some of the time, even in the next era. And at the same time, there's also been a concerted effort this era to produce entirely new characters and concepts with actual staying power...and given what an uphill battle it is to make ANY new character last or give them a longterm high profile in an already crowded universe....I think a lot of people would be surprised to stop and count just how many high profile characters have been newly created in just the past few years....and while not all of them will likely be picked up by future writers, I think a good amount of them have a strong shot at being important or heavily featured characters even into the next era....and this is NOT at all typical, or easy to do. But Isca, Somnus, Genesis, Solem, Bei the Blood-Moon, The White Sword, Cosmar, Khora of the Burning Heart, Fisher King, Ora Serrata, Weaponless Zsen, Mother Righteous, Lactuca, Third Eye, Theia, Amass and plenty of others, both major and minor....any of them have a MUCH better chance to catch on longterm than the average new character of most previous eras. And again, I think that's intentional. Because the 'moral of the story' in terms of Hickman's over-arching plot and major themes, was NEVER "Krakoa: good or bad?" or a cautionary tale about nationalism or Genosha: The Sequel. Krakoa was never the point at all. And neither was Arakko, or Threshold, as evidenced by the fact that these are three entirely different mutant civilizations with very little in common aside from 'they're mutants.' Krakoa was never supposed to 'succeed' in this era, IMO, but neither was it supposed to unilaterally fail and be scrubbed from existence. It was simply a brand new paradigm through which to examine stories about these characters, a way to drop them in an entirely new setting and situations....and show that even with titanic changes across the board, you're still going to wind up in the same situations, revert to the same choices, be faced with the same struggles and same failures....if all you ever change is the setting, and you still keep repeating the same patterns at the direction of the same leaders and everything you've done differently just ends up nothing more than a new kind of window dressing to play things out in front of. This era is about being so stuck in your ways, your pre-established thinking, so committed to your ideals, goals and approach that NOTHING can break you free....because you refuse to change. Its about the time loops, the visions that become self-fulfilling prophecies, living out the same lifetime and only making superficial adjustments to your approach will eventually drive you fucking insane because the definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Its about the appeal of calling for a do-over or a recount any time you can, ignoring all the good that you're invalidating every time you reset to one, because its impossible that at no point in any of Moira's previous lifetimes were there people who were genuinely happy, who lived lives they wouldn't take back if THEY were presented with the choice. Its about trying to play god and being surprised when things fall through the cracks because surprise, you're not actually god. Its about the futility of thinking 'this time it will be different' while never really doing anything different at all. Its about how if you place old roads in new surroundings, you can't end up surprised by the fact that you're still walking the same old roads as always, even if the scenery is different this time around. Krakoa and this whole era is a hinge point, I feel. A deliberately liminal era that sits between old, established stories driven by a select cast of major mutant figures....and aims for the other side to be entirely uncharted territory, the stage set for the next era's stories to be driven by an entirely new cast of major mutant figures. This era introduced a radical paradigm shift with Krakoa, but using it to explore very familiar stories and themes, thanks to the specific choices made by figures who haven't changed their thinking to match their new surroundings or situations. But close out that era with that new paradigm now firmly in the hands of new players, free to steer future stories in brand new directions unencumbered by ideologies so entrenched they'd rather try and change the entire space/time continuum than change themselves.... Thus, if this era had to have a name, I'd call it not the Krakoa Era, but per my suspicions, the Changing of the Guard Era. Xavier, Magneto, Moira, Apocalypse, Sinister, Mystique, Shaw, the Shadow King, the various Powers That Be that have set the wheels in motion for the vast majority of the X-Franchise's history....all having their shot at shepherding the entire mutant race along this bold new path Krakoa promised for the future....and winding up right smack in the same place as always.....but this time, their refusal to accept their own role in this eternal failure to make it out of the maze...ISN'T going to end the same way it always does...with things effectively reset to zero so they can do it all again, dragging the rest of the mutant race along for the ride whether they like it or not. Moira reveals she never ultimately changed at all, and decides she's wasted enough lifetimes in service to a race that honestly, it doesn't seem she ever really felt a part of, thus removing herself from mutantkind's structures of power and spheres of influence. Magneto actually does change his mind, albeit at the last moment, but definitively declares his regrets and acknowledges his mistakes, thus NOT martyring himself as the figure he spent decades being but making any martyrdom of him defined by his ideological shift. Xavier will likely either abdicate or be removed from his positions of influence and his dream taken up by his former students, ironically more committed to realizing it than he was at the end. Apocalypse, Sinister, the Shadow King, the rest.....similarly already removed from the narrative positions or reasoning that drove most of their influence over mutantkind, or likely to be by the end of the era.... Thus leaving the next era left - for better or worse - planted JUST in the hands of Cyclops, Storm, Legion, Hope, Kate, Nightcrawler, Doug, Dani, Cable, Roberto, Xandra, Betsy, Rachel, Genesis, Brand, Mother Righteous, Bishop, Lourdes Chantel, Nekra, Third Eye, Vulcan, Northstar, Lorna....any or all of the characters who in this era stepped into new shoes or onto a higher stage of influence than they've ever occupied before - they're all possible prospects to fill the power vacuums left by a definitive changing of the guard. Who knows who will take the lead in steering the next era's stories? Nobody. And that's the point. Throwing out the old rulebook. Making way for something brand new.
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