Warning: contains spoilers for Way of X #1
Magneto could be the serpent in the X-Men's mutant paradise. The mutant race appears to have finally fulfilled its destiny, building a community of their own the likes of which Charles Xavier could only have dreamed of. It's not hard to spot the apocalyptic imagery in this mutant paradise; hero and villain alike are part of it, reminiscent of Isaiah's prophecy of a perfect world where lion and lamb would lie down together. The mutants have learned to conquer death, and they have made their home on a living island that seems their very own Garden of Eden.
The symbolism isn't exactly subtle, but curiously enough, the Age of Krakoa has left one of Marvel's most religious mutants troubled. In Way of X #1 from Simon Spurrier and Bob Quinn, Nightcrawler looks at the nascent mutant community and can't help finding it disturbing. He finds the Crucible ceremony to be absolutely sickening, a celebration of violence that runs against everything he believes in, and the flippant way young mutants are treating humans is almost equally troubling. Curiously enough, Kurt's polar opposite in this mutant utopia is a character who's usually positioned as an antagonist for Charles Xavier, Magneto. The Master of Magnetism has embraced this mutant civilization in a way Kurt cannot, and he is delighting in shaping it. In one scene, he tells Kurt his suspicions and concerns are unfounded. "You're so busy looking for snakes you can't see Eden," Magneto observes, in words that no doubt cut deep into Nightcrawler's heart.
Magneto is, of course, drawing upon the narrative of the Garden of Eden. The image he's using is all the more powerful because it is one he shares with Nightcrawler; the tale of the Garden of Eden is told in Genesis and is shared by both the Jewish and Christian faith. Magneto grew up as Jewish, familiar with the Hebrew Scriptures, and Nightcrawler is a Catholic who has even served as a priest in the past. But the strange thing about Magneto's argument is that, if you cast your eye back to Genesis, there really is a serpent in Krakoa's paradise. Magneto himself.
Magneto Stands As The Seducer
The Genesis narrative says humanity was created to be in a relationship of absolute dependency upon God. Adam and Eve, the first humans, were placed by God in a paradisiacal garden named Eden, and God gave them anything they could possibly need. There was just one tree whose fruit they were forbidden to eat. But one day, the Devil came to Adam and Eve, and he tempted them by telling them God was keeping the good stuff from them. According to the tempter, if Adam and Eve would only take the initiative then they would become as gods. "You will be like God," the Devil told them. Those words lie at the heart of the Genesis narrative; when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit of that tree, they were rejecting a life of dependency upon God and insisting they wanted to be their own gods.
Magneto has always simplistically divided the world into humans and mutants, but in the Age of Krakoa he has gone one step further. In House of X #1, he was chosen to represent the mutant nation when speaking to several authorized ambassadors from members of the United Nations. He took them on a whistle-stop tour of some of the wonders of Krakoa, before demonstrating his power over them. That done, Magneto returned them to a view overlooking Jerusalem - a city central to the Judaeo-Christian faith - and told them, "You have new gods now." Since then, Magneto has continued to propound this view, insisting the mutant community - the first post-mortal society - is one of gods. Ironically, he might as well be quoting the Devil himself.
It's interesting to note that Simon Spurrier's Way of X #1 includes a scene in which Nightcrawler attempts to pull a prank on the Master of Magnetism and suffice to say Magneto is not amused. He turns it around into a chance to eulogize, ending his impromptu sermon with a dig at those who do not care enough for Krakoa to take it seriously. Magneto's reaction is reminiscent of the famous line from Thomas Moore, quoted by C.S. Lewis in The Screwtape Letters. "The devil, the prowde spirite, cannot endure to be mocked."
Krakoa Is Being Shaped By Magneto's Philosophy
Another key scene in Way of X #1 sees Nightcrawler discuss faith and religion with Doctor Nemesis. Although Doctor Nemesis does not share Kurt's Catholic faith, he rightly understands that societies need their shared narratives, their mythologies, their shared rituals, in order to cohere. He had hoped Kurt would be the one to come up with those shared ideas, but Nightcrawler is not confident enough to do so. Consequently, Doctor Nemesis suggests, "the strongest individuals [will] simply invent rituals of their own."
Doctor Nemesis is perceptive enough to know that is exactly what is already happening. Magneto has become a lauded hero of Krakoa, having already battled to defend the mutant nation against frequent alien invasions. He has an apostle in Exodus, his former Acolyte, who appears to spend his evenings around campfires teaching young mutants stories of Magneto and indoctrinating them with his view of the world. Now Magneto has even taken charge of the barbaric Crucible, the arena where depowered mutants are ritually murdered in brutal fashion in order to prove they are worthy of being resurrected with their powers restored. The Crucible is presenting a message; that suffering and violence are the means to apotheosis, by which godhood is attained. Nightcrawler senses the disturbing messages that lie at the heart of the Crucible, but he has only just begun to figure them out, and already the bloody murders are drawing cheering crowds.
There is a serpent in the mutant paradise, and his name is Magneto. Unfortunately, just as Adam and Eve listened to the Devil, so there are far too many mutants who are listening to Magneto's message of mutant godhood. Nightcrawler may be the X-Men's only defense against a doctrine of mutant supremacy and the glorification of suffering that will surely destroy this paradise if left unchecked.