Warning: SPOILERS for Dark Web: X-Men #3!The X-Men have made great gains since establishing Krakoa as a home for mutantkind, but the era's core mission is a victory that has to be secured again and again. In Dark Web, Madelyne Pryor and Jean Grey are finally forced to face each other over a conflict that has burned across decades of publication. Jean and Maddie's standing after this knockdown, drag-em-out brawl cements them as a metaphor for the larger successes of mutantkind's revolutionary new era.
For most of their lives, both women were a single Jean Grey, until Jean's original demise caused a fragment of herself in an errant flame of the Phoenix Force to spark Maddie to life. Madelyne did not remember being Jean, and Jean did not stay dead. What was once one was now two, and Maddie found herself living a nightmare where everyone, even her husband and newborn son, flocked to the "real" Jean Grey while Madelyne Pryor was treated as disposable. When she died, Maddie's life experiences were absorbed by Jean in a misbegotten belief that what was now two could be forced back into being one. The gifts of the Krakoan age eventually led to Madelyne's resurrection, but she could not ignore the sense that she had been robbed of her life and of the chance to raise her son. Thus the threads of the Dark Web began to be spun.
The X-Men's arc in Dark Web comes to a close in Dark Web: X-Men #3 from Gerry Duggan, Rod Reis, Phil Noto, VC's Cory Petit, and Jordan D. White. The fight between Jean Grey and the Goblin Queen is no holds barred as the opponents use the full might of their psionic abilities, magic, and their fists as needed. Commenting on the potential of a stalemate, the narration admits "Maddie would do very well on Arakko, but, in the end there's only one Jean Grey." Despite being within spitting distance of winning this fight, Jean surrenders and offers Maddie a peaceful solution where they can both be happy. The full effect of Maddie and Jean's reconciliation remains to be seen, but this reunion is key, as it cements both women as a metaphor for Krakoa itself.
Jean Grey and Madelyne Pryor Perfectly Represent The X-Men's Krakoa Era
In pointing out Madelyne's suitability for Arakko, the narration draws to mind Jean and Maddie as a parallel dyad to Krakoa and Arakko. Just as both Jean and Maddy began simply as Jean, Krakoa and Arakko originated as the singular Okkara. Due to unforeseen trauma, each singular was split into two, as Amenth’s assault on Okkara resulted in the Krakoa being separated from Arakko. With each pair, a dark twin was forced to live through hell; Maddie became Limbo's Goblin Queen, and Arakko was lost for millennia to the demonic Amenth. But this new era has brought each dyad back together. Though there initially was friction, now there can be sisterhood for these women and these mutant societies.
At the center of both cases is a central tenet of the Krakoan era's status quo: the abundance that mutantkind can have when they truly come together. There’s enough room for Jean and Maddie, for Krakoa and Arakko. In mutantkind's solidarity, they are able to banish scarcity, but it only works if the participants believe in it. Maddie was rightful to express unresolved feelings of distress over how she had been treated, but her mindset was locked in one of scarcity: those memories could only be hers or Jean's, not both. Thankfully, Queen Madelyne was able to trust Jean's offer that she would share the life experiences she felt robbed of as a mother and a hero. This psychological shift is needed for Krakoa to work as an enterprise, and it's required of all the individual mutants who take part in it. This resolution for Jean and Maddie reaffirms the promise of Krakoa and completes the secret mission that is central for all mutants who seek out the X-Men's sovereign mutant society.
Dark Web: X-Men #3 is available now from Marvel Comics.