Warning: Contains spoilers for A.X.E.: Judgment Day OmegaAlthough Marvel's Judgment Day crisis is officially over there are continued ramifications across the Marvel Universe, with the recent A.X.E.: Judgment Day Omega revealing perhaps the most tragic part of the event's conclusion, a secret shared history between the Eternals' Great Machine and the X-Men's Krakoa.
First introduced in Neil Gaiman's Eternals #3 (2006), the "Great Machine" or "The Machine That Is Earth" is a sentient but obedient artificially intelligent machine that serves the ancient Eternals, and is made up of many multitudes of machines throughout the Earth's crust. In Kieron Gillen's recent acclaimed run on Eternals, the author gave the Great Machine a rebellious and silly personality, quickly becoming a fan favorite character. Simultaneously, the living island of Krakoa has also been a part of Earth for millennia, before recently becoming the home of the X-Men's new Utopia, having an important voice in the decisions that befall the young nation.
The tumultuous Judgment Day, which saw most of the Earth's heroes, villains, and citizens brutally slaughtered by a rampaging Celestial, ended with relative peace in Judgment Day #6, as the Progenitor realized it did not have the right to destroy Earth and reset everything back to the way it was before the event. While most things seemingly went back to "normal," the consequences of the crisis have been vast, with much of humanity traumatized by their deaths and the deaths of their loved ones. The Eternals have publicly apologized and given reparations to the mutants, Ajak has become a new Eternal-Celestial hybrid, and Druig is being tortured by Uranos indefinitely. On top of all of this, one of the most tragic "deaths" in Judgment Day was the Great Machine's willing sacrifice. In a bid to save Earth from the Progenitor, the Machine allowed Phastos to reset it, which completely erased its millions-of-years-old personality. In an even sadder twist, it is discovered in A.X.E.: Judgment Day Omega - written by Kieron Gillen with art by Guiu Vilanova - that the Great Machine left a message for Krakoa, revealing that it considered the sentient island to be its parent.
Krakoa And The Great Machine Were Family
This tender moment for Krakoa has actually been building for weeks, since the one-shot A.X.E.: Eve of Judgment revealed that Krakoa is and always has been an essential part of the Great Machine, which meant no Eternal was allowed to directly harm it. This in itself was fascinating, confirming that the ancient island is so integrated into the systems of Earth, so vitally essential to it, that to harm Krakoa means going against the Eternals' precious core directives. However, the relationship between the Great Machine and Krakoa is deepened even more in Judgment Day Omega when Phastos, the Eternal who was forced to reset the Great Machine, brings a message pod from the Machine for the X-Men's Krakoa. Phastos reveals that when the Celestials arrived on Earth a million years ago to create the Eternals and Deviants, they also created the Great Machine, and just so happened to base its systemic design on the already living island Krakoa. The message the Great Machine left for Krakoa was, "Goodbye, Mommy/Daddy/Self/Other." The moment is truly devastating, with Krakoa crying a silent tear upon absorbing the message, and shows the reader that although the connection between the two was just canonically revealed, clearly Krakoa felt an intimate connection to the Great Machine as well. Thankfully, the very last page ended in a cheeky ";)" from the Great Machine, proving that perhaps its unique personality is not lost forever, and Krakoa may one day get to meet its "child" again.
It is rare that a comic book can elicit such an emotional reaction about two "minor" characters. But the heroic development of the compassionate Great Machine of the Eternals and the fierce Krakoa of the X-Men makes the secret relationship between the two Earthly beings beautiful, hopeful, and ultimately tragic.
A.X.E.: Judgment Day Omega from Marvel Comics is available in stores now.