Warning: SPOILERS for New Mutants #12.
The mutants of Marvel Comics haven't been afraid of making big changes lately, from an extremely effective X-Men alliance between heroes and villains, to ending death itself. But the latest New Mutants #12 makes yet another massive change... by massacring the entire city-state of Nova Roma.
Nova Roma is a colony of descendants of the Roman Republic founded shortly after the death of Julius Caesar (either that, or it's a city of humans brainwashed by the mutant Selene into believing they are a colony of descendants of ancient Rome. It's complicated). They speak Latin, wear togas, and have kept the culture of the old Roman Republic alive into the modern day. Nova Roma is also the home to New Mutants' member Magma (Amara Aquilla) and her Father Senator Lucius Aquilla. It has been an on-again-off-again setting for New Mutants adventures, such as their battle to keep Selene from establishing a new Roman Empire. Most recently, Magma, Boom-Boom, and Armor traveled there in New Mutants #8 to rescue some Brazilian mutants who were seeking asylum. These mutants were unable to reach Krakoa because a pack of three mysterious, mutant-hunting monsters were guarding the teleportation gates to Krakoa. Sadly, Nova Roma is no more.
Apparently, the three monsters had a mommy and siblings, and they're out for revenge. In New Mutants #12, an unnamed blond woman leads a pack of monsters in an assault on Nova Roma. She leaves Senator Aquilla alive for questioning. In a terrifying panel, she places a small slug-like monster in one of the Senator's wounds, which burrows into his body. The woman declares that it will both heal him and feed off of him, leaving him alive but in incredible pain, until he tells her the identity and location of the mutants who killed her "babies."
It appears that all of 50,000 inhabitants of Nova Roma are now dead. The panels show bodies littering the streets. Senator Aquilla laments “You killed them all,” and the monster's mother seems to agree that the kingdom is no longer standing. Perhaps some refugees escaped into the jungle, but this new foe appears to have an unlimited supply of monsters she can tailor to her every need, so who knows how long they will survive.
If so, it will be interesting the see if comic book nations have the same resurrection potential as comic book characters. Will another writer retcon Nova Roma back into the story when needed, or will it be resigned to the dustbin of Marvel history? Certainly, there are precious few things comic books every throw away for good. Even so, the stakes have just been raised. Krakoa seems nigh invincible, but it may be about to meet its greatest foe yet. She's already taken down one micronation. Can this unnamed villain do what the Cotati, zombies, drug cartels, and anti-mutant hate groups could not? Can she break the new mutant nation?
New Mutants #12 is available now.