This month Marvel Comics announced its new X-Men after a long run up, a team conspicuously designed to serve a specific purpose, and it isn’t fighting supervillains. The X-Men’s mission has changed since Jonathan Hickman unleashed “Dawn of X” unto the comic book landscape. The X-Men are no longer solely dedicated to protecting humankind from evil mutant supervillains; now their focus has shifted to the safety and continued growth of their budding empire, Krakoa. The threat of supervillains is largely non-existent, and this latest incarnation of the X-Men reflects that by selecting a cadre of mutants best suited to neutralize the danger posed by other superheroes.  

To be clear, this doesn’t mean there aren’t any supervillains left; what it means is that the vast majority of the X-Men’s canonical enemies have joined up with the Krakoan enterprise. Magneto and his brotherhood of evil mutants, Apocalypse, Mr. Sinister, the Hellfire Club, and even the marginalized Morlcocks have seized the opportunity at redemption and prosperity. This has effectively forced Krokoans to reevaluate what entities are the most likely to jeopardize the steep trajectory of their current rise to power and plan accordingly. 

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This new team will navigate the course the X-Men have set for the newest chapter in their renaissance: “Reign of X”. The new roster consists of veteran field leader Cyclops, Marvel Girl, fan-elected Polaris, Laura Kinney’s (aka X-23) Wolverine, Rogue, Sunfire, and Synch. Breaking down the capabilities and power sets of each member, an obvious strategy emerges. Wolverine, Sunfire, Polaris, and Cyclops all offer the kind of diversified offensive proficiencies critical to the sundry combat situations the premier X-team is sure to face. Of greater importance is the team’s remaining three members and the anticipated conflict they are geared to oppose. Due to unforeseen beneficial side-effects of the resurrection protocols, Synch can replicate both mutant and non-mutant powers. By the same token, Rogue can steal powers from mutant and non-mutant super-beings. So why the redundancy? Because there are no other mutants better suited to exploit the weaknesses and countermeasures built into other superhero teams, such as the Avengers. Add to that a telepath powerful enough to turn even the strongest minds against their allies, like Marvel Girl, and one has a unit tailor-made for overcoming power-level discrepancies without relying solely on brute force. 

X-Men Elections

Had the powers that be on Krakoa been considering Sentinels, or other technological threats as their main source of opposition, then a mutant like Forge would surely have been elected to the team. If human militant groups were the primary threat, then why double-up on power-replicators? Similarly, though the Children of the Vault are, by all appearances, the latest and greatest threat to emerge from the murky waters of evolution, their existence remains unknown to the general Krokoan populace and to the rest of the human world. And to be fair, mutants aren’t the only nation or organization to prioritize their superhuman defenses. As a political entity with a dominant foothold in the world, and tensions already rising between it and the Avengers, Krakoa must be equipped to contend with its rivals.  

Now that the X-Men are actively disrupting the status quo and making bold moves to establish themselves as a political power not just on Earth, but in the Galaxy, they must prepare to challenge the mechanisms which protect the current state of affairs. What readers are getting here is another sure sign that Marvel Comics is making good on their promise that Jonathan Hickman’s vision of the mutantdom is here to stay. 

Next: Every Hero Rejected from Marvel's New X-Men Team (In Order of Votes)