A new preview for X-Men Red #6 shows how Charles Xavier's longtime dream of peace between humanity and mutantkind may have at last come true... but in an ironic twist, the dream has been accomplished on the new mutant planet of Arakko.
The entire motivation of Professor X's life, the reason why he formed the X-Men, battled against foes like the Shadow King, and struggled against his old friend Magneto came from his desire to see the mutants of Earth being able to coexist peacefully among humanity. While the Moira X retcon in House of X/Powers of X certainly cast doubts on how much Xavier truly believed in his dream, it is clear that before the founding of Krakoa he had always wanted humanity and mutantkind to integrate, but as a marginalized group the mutants of Earth had to form their own society.
The truly excellent X-Men Red - written by Al Ewing - follows Storm and Magneto as they join the Great Ring of Arakko and form the Brotherhood of Mutants, swearing to support their Arakki mutant brethren in battle, and in peace. The mutants of Arakko have been separated from humanity for centuries, at least until the X of Swords event when the island was brought back to Earth, quickly sent to Mars, with Krakoa and Arakko's Omega-level mutants terraforming the barren wasteland to turn it into the planet Arakko. The people of Arakko have a distinct culture from Krakoa's. Arakki mutants are incredibly dedicated to honor, war-borne respect, and the reverence of death. That being said, the people of Arakko are not "anti-human," as many on Krakoa now are, and there are many Arakki who have no mutant abilities but still have the admiration and respect of its people, such as the Fisher King. A new preview for X-Men Red #6 from CBR - with gorgeous art by Stefano Caselli and Federico Blee - proves that Xavier's dream of peaceful cohabitation between humans and mutants is possible, but certainly not on planet Earth!
In X-Men Red #6 the reader meets a young NASA worker named Craig Marshall, who was apparently stranded on Arakko at some point, and is filming the horrific destruction of the planet by the genocidal Eternal Uranos, while simultaneously protecting two Arakki children, Loolo and her younger brother. The introduction of Craig is fascinating for so many reasons, not least of which is the fact that the Arakki people have been coded as BIPOC since their introduction in 2019, and Craig's identity as an African American casts an important racial lens on the underlying Blackness of Arakko and its people, especially since the culture and its people were seemingly just introduced, and are already being destroyed by Uranos! Loolo, because of her fierce fighting spirit as a young Arakki, is upset that Craig wants to go into battle alone to protect him, lamenting that he is "just a human man from Earth," but Craig points out that he has been treated with love and kindness since he came to the planet saying, "I guess I am of Arakko today." It seems like the leaders of Arakko couldn't agree more as Storm, Lactuca, and Sobunar descend on the battlefield and say to the young human, "We see you Craig Marshall. You have a place in the broken land--today and forever."
Craig is human, powerless, and from Earth, but the citizens and leaders of Arakko have fully accepted him without question, proving that Xavier's dream of peace between humanity and mutantkind is certainly possible. The Arakki people look beyond "homo sapiens" or "homo superior" into the true heart of a person, and sadly Charles Xavier was simply never quite able to enact his pacifist idea of human-mutant integration on Earth.
X-Men Red #6 debuts on September 14th, 2022 from Marvel Comics.
Source: CBR