Warning! Spoilers for X-Men Red #1 ahead!

Goddess, Queen, and leader of the X-Men: Storm is a woman of many strengths, and her recent decision to reform the Brotherhood of Mutants is an opportunity for Ororo Munroe to make good on her failure to protect the Morlocks. By forming a new Brotherhood, Storm is creating an Arakii counterbalance for Abigail Brand's Martian X-Men squad. The choice may be radical, but it makes sense for both Ororo and Arakko, and symbolically offers Storm a second chance to redeem her greatest failure.

The Morlocks were introduced in Uncanny X-Men #169 by Chris Claremont and Paul Smith, and are inherently an indictment of Professor X's assimilationist politics. His X-Men are mostly white, often wealthy, and have mutations that still allow them to pass for humans. In contrast, the Morlocks are mostly impoverished people with visible mutations, and they are seen as useless to Xavier and wider human society. However, the Morlocks' greatest tragedy was not neglect, but being the target of the Mutant Massacre. Therein lies Storm's great failure: she was the leader of the Morlocks at the time of the Massacre, and was unable to protect those in her care who were most in need. This loss makes Ororo's role as Regent of Arakko more significant than ever.

Related: Storm Debuts Her Iconic New Costume in X-Men Red #1

The choice to relocate Arakko from Earth to her sister planet after the first Hellfire Gala could be seen as a move to protect Earth from Arakki mutants. This may be true to a degree, but more than that planet Arakko is an opportunity for these mutants to define themselves as a community free from war. This function is not unlike Krakoa's own haven for the mutants of Earth, or the Morlocks' decision to hide themselves way in the tunnels under New York. Storm understands the importance of this opportunity as well. In X-Men Red #1 by Al Ewing and Stefano Caselli, she destroys the throne from which she could have dominated the planet, brings back her punk aesthetic with a new costume, and revives the concept of a Brotherhood of Mutants. All these choices express Storm's commitment to the people of Arakko rather than the power of a regent.

Storm Brotherhood X-Men Red

Sequestered by Krakoa to the Red Planet, the mutants of Arakko led by Storm have plenty in common with the Morlocks. Both communities are rather isolationist and place a high value on combat relative to Krakoa and the X-Men. Arakko also occupies a somewhat marginalized role compared to Krakoa: one is filled with mutant heroes and is largely populated by white mutants from the United States, while Arakko is largely composed of Middle Eastern and North African mutants who are seen as foreign to current Earth cultures. As their leader, Storm has a unique opportunity to challenge the negative biases held by those on Krakoa and S.W.O.R.D. and to shepherd Arakko into a new era of growth after centuries of trauma in Amenth. This makes Storm's decision to resurrect the Brotherhood all the more essential for Ororo to triumph with Arakko where she failed the Morlocks.

Though the Brotherhood is typically thought of as villainous, at the very least they fought for mutant self-determinism when Xavier's dream often centered on making mutants more palatable to humans. Similarly, Storm's Brotherhood is meant to protect Arakko's newfound peace and challenge Brand's attempt at policing Arakko through her Martian X-Men team. Ororo's Brotherhood has the potential to be quite formidable as well with Magneto and Sunspot coming on board. Who knows? Perhaps this new Brotherhood of Mutants will even lead to Storm re-teaming with Callisto, proving that Ororo has become what the Morlocks once needed her to be and what the Arakki need her to be now.

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