Warning! Spoilers for X-Force #21 ahead!
The X-Men have just hinted at Krakoa's darkest secret - their island nation may not really be as safe as it seems. When the mutants first encountered the living island of Krakoa, it was a predator that preyed upon mutants. But in recent years, they have found their peace with it - in the most surprising way possible.
Krakoa is now the home of the entire mutant race on Earth, an apparent utopia where heroes and villains alike are given an opportunity to reinvent themselves in a new mutant society. And though the island still feeds on mutant energy, every resident gives up a tiny portion of their own life force to sate its appetite, meaning there is a sense in which they live in symbiosis with this new environment. And yet, for all that's the case, there are still fears Krakoa could be a villain; a handful of its inhabitants sense it could well be too good to be true. Wolverine in particular is deeply distrustful.
X-Force #21, by Benjamin Percy, Joshua Cassara and Robert Gill, sees one mutant begin to suspect there may be more to Krakoa than meets the eye. Dr. Cecilia Reyes prepares a report on Weapon Plus' new Man-Slaughter creatures, which come from a variant strain of the Man-Thing plant intelligence. Though the bond between Man-Thing and its host is initially symbiotic, eventually the plant intelligence becomes dominant. She can't help noticing a similarity between this biotechnology and that of Krakoa. "Could Krakoa similarly infect us?" she wonders. "By eating its food, breathing its spores, taking its medicines... are we already in a state of early symbiosis?"
This isn't the first time the X-Men comics have hinted there is a darker side to Krakoa - and, indeed, that Krakoa may actually be a trap. In Fallen Angels #1, the ninja Kwannon reflected that the air on Krakoa smells like jasmine, akin to the Japanese temples where she trained. Anyone familiar with flora and fauna will surely be reminded of the Venus fly-trap, which tempts insects through a sweet-smelling nectar it produces on its leaves, and then consumes them. Kwannon's example certainly seems to suggest Krakoa is attempting to put mutants at ease, and in X-Force #1 Wolverine reflected on the possibility this is all just a seductive lure.
The current X-Men line of books is orchestrated by Jonathan Hickman, master of slow-burn plots. That means readers should really take note that these ominous hints are still continuing, and that another of the X-Men is beginning to question whether Krakoa is really as benign as it seems. The island nation may seem to be a mutant utopia - but Krakoa may well still be the greatest threat the X-Men face.