Warning! Spoilers for X-Force #39!The powerful X-Force member Quentin Quire has returned from a long absence and with a new set of abilities that are sure to live up to his codename Kid Omega. The young mutant possesses Omega-level abilities that make him one of the most powerful telepaths on Earth and a psychic of the highest order. He’s used his powers most commonly to conjure vehicles and weapons made out of his mental energy. Now, after a period of time being presumed dead by Krakoa, he’s mysteriously returned, and it appears that there is more to the story of his resurrection.

In X-Force #39 by Benjamin Percy and Robert Gill, Sage begins to reorganize the infrastructure of Krakoa’s mutant C.I.A. as its new leader after the former X-Men member Beast goes rogue. While Sage is attempting to talk Laura Kinney into joining, a portal of pink energy suddenly opens before X-Force. Out of it emerges a much older Quentin Quire, who was thought to have been killed in X-Force #29 while battling Cerebrax, the evil AI version of the X-Men’s Cerebro machine. Upon returning to Krakoa, he quickly cuts off the tentacle of a massive monster following him then asks X-Force for their help in a cliffhanger ending.

Kid Omega Mysteriously Returns from the Dead

Old Man Quentin Quire X-Force

While deceased mutants and X-Men are regularly revived from the dead through Resurrection Protocols, Kid Omega’s profile was mysteriously wiped from Cerebro’s cradle records that hold the backups for every mutant mind in the universe. Without any telepathic backup of his mind available, his return was deemed impossible. Quentin’s body was never found at the site of his sacrifice and Sage found it odd that his cradle backups were erased as if he never existed. Meanwhile, Charles Xavier believed that forces beyond their capabilities were responsible for Quentin’s mysterious disappearance.

While Quentin could only have been gone for a year at most, he has returned to Krakoa as a seemingly elderly man with an extremely long beard. His Omega-level psionic power may have saved him from the psionic explosion he caused, but it doesn’t explain his manifestation of new powers which apparently include the ability to open portals. His old age also has yet to be explained, but we do know that this "Old Man Omega" has been on an X-Force mission for centuries. Whatever the explanation behind his rapidly aged state and newfound powers may be, this moment may indicate the next chapter in his development from an obnoxious and fanatical child to a hero trying to live up to his potential. Additionally, Quentin Quire is a telepath who comes second only to Jean Grey, so he was always destined to become much more powerful than he is. His new state may be a harbinger of that fulfilled potential.

Kid Omega once wielded the destructive Phoenix Force and is even fated to become its host in the future. It is possible that the elder Quentin Quire whom X-Force meets could be from this potential future. But given that the Quentin they knew “died” sacrificing himself to save mutantkind, it is somewhat unlikely that he’s returned to the selfish mentality of the power hungry child he once was when he was first introduced in the X-Men comics years ago. Hopefully Quentin Quire can return to being the hero he worked hard to become in the coming issues of X-Force.

X-Force #39 is on sale now from Marvel Comics!