WARNING: Spoilers ahead for The Trial of Magneto #1
With their strained history, the X-Men and the Scarlet Witch already weren’t on the best of terms before she was murdered, but now it seems that her death could be the one thing that saves them all - as long as it sticks. Even dead, Scarlet Witch isn’t the only old enemy of the X-Men on Krakoa. But her resurrection could risk unleashing the classic X-Men villain called Onslaught.
For years, Scarlet Witch and her brother Quicksilver wrongly believed that they were the mutant children of Magneto himself. This made her actions in House of M by Brian Michael Bendis and Olivier Coipel — when she uttered the words "No more mutants" and decimated the world's mutant population — all the more tragic. On Krakoa, the mutants of the young nation even refer to Wanda as "the pretender" and have even celebrated the death of the Scarlet Witch. And with the Quiet Council refusing to resurrect her in The Trial of Magneto #1 by Leah Williams and Lucas Werneck, Krakoa may have more to celebrate than it realizes.
With the Scarlet Witch seemingly murdered on Krakoan soil, the mutant nation’s Quiet Council debates her place in the resurrection protocols in The Trial of Magneto #1. Although Wanda is not a mutant, Cerebro still holds a years-old backup of her memory from the time when she was considered one of the Children of the Atom. As she is no longer a mutant, the Council refrains from reviving her, much to Magneto’s displeasure. But the Council’s decision carries even more weight than they realize as it helps prevent the rise of their most dangerous foe: Onslaught.
While Wanda wasn’t really to blame for her actions during House of M, she still receives most of the blame from the island inhabitants of Krakoa. Unfortunately, these inhabitants are all too unaware of the real threat in their midst - Onslaught. The psychic manifestation of Professor X and Magneto, Si Spurrier and Bob Quinn’s Way of X #5 reveals that this dark creature has been psychically feeding off the missing gaps in the backed up minds of Krakoa’s resurrected and infecting their living minds with his essence: including that of Professor X.
Onslaught was so powerful a threat that he managed to take on the X-Men, the Avengers, and the Fantastic Four, and still haunts Charles Xavier to this day. While it may not be fair, it seems that the Quiet Council’s decision not to resurrect Wanda is actually keeping Krakoa safer than they realize. If Onslaught managed to get a foothold in the sizable gap in the Scarlet Witch’s memories, and gain control of her power along with them, he could become unstoppable.
Many mutants would argue that the Scarlet Witch is the worst thing to ever happen to the mutant race, but those same mutants aren’t taking Onslaught into account. While the monster is still biding his time in the shadows, he’ll take any opportunity to reclaim his power, and Wanda is too good an opportunity for him to pass up. For the X-Men to live, the Scarlet Witch may have to stay dead.