ComicsMarvel ComicsHow X-Men #700 ends the Krakoa era and sets up the new X-Men status quoWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
ComicsMarvel ComicsHow X-Men #700 ends the Krakoa era and sets up the new X-Men status quoWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Marvel Comics)
Along with revealing the final fate of the story’s last villains standing, it also sets the stage for the upcoming ‘From the Ashes’ relaunch of the X-Men line.
The Krakoa era was massive, lasting for years and running across many titles. But if you’ve been out of the loop for a while and you’re about to jump back in, we’ve got a run down of all the major beats you need to know about the rise and fall of Krakoa and what it means for the future of the X-Men right here.
And needless to say,spoilersfor the last few years of X-Men comics abound.
What was Krakoa?
(Image credit: Marvel Comics)
The mutant nation of Krakoa was, in fact, a mutant itself - a living island which feeds on mutant energy and which shares a kinship with the X-Men. Krakoa has been part of Marvel lore since the ’70s, but it wasn’t until 2019 that Professor X, Magneto, and their allies came together to found their own mutant nation on the island.
Krakoa quickly became a haven for all mutants, even those who were once enemies of the X-Men, including recentX-Men ‘97villains Apocalypse and Mister Sinister. The population ballooned to around 200-250,000 mutants, with more arriving every day - all with the intent of building a mutant utopia.
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But Krakoa had a third founder, whose existence was hidden from other mutants - Moira MacTaggert, who secretly had the ability to resurrect herself into a new timeline, giving Krakoa a secret weapon and a secret weakness.
What led to the fall of Krakoa?
(Image credit: Marvel Comics)
Unfortunately, as is usually the case in the Marvel Universe, anti-mutant enemies dogged Krakoa from the time of its founding, most notably the anti-mutant group Orchis, a coalition of humans and advanced Sentinel AI working together to destroy Krakoa and mutantkind.
Despite their coalition, the villains are also at odds with each other, with Nimrod and Omega Sentinel planning to destroy all humans as well as mutants to make way for an AI takeover, Feilong planning to capture Mars/Arakko for humankind, and Sinister’s various clones essentially attempting to achieve divinity as a so-called ‘Dominion,’ an omnipotent cosmic intelligence.
Even through all their interpersonal conflicts, Orchis manages to pull together a plan to fully destroy Krakoa and eliminate mutants from the Earth, and when Moira MacTaggert abandons Krakoa, she joins Orchis, giving them the secrets of Krakoa and allowing them to launch their final attack.
How did Krakoa end?
(Image credit: Marvel Comics)
At the 2023 version of the Hellfire Gala, a special annual party where humans are invited to Krakoa to mingle with mutants, Nimrod himself and many Orchis allies crash-land on Krakoa, killing numerous X-Men. At the same time, most of the 200,000 mutants on Krakoa are forced into the White Hot Room, a cosmic place outside of time and space where the Phoenix Force is born.
Meanwhile, the X-Men are framed for killing all the humans at the Hellfire Gala, and Orchis poisons the Krakoan medicines that were proliferated throughout the world, leading to rising anti-mutant sentiment, and the quick passing of laws to hunt down mutants using Sentinels built from stolen Stark technology.
This leaves only Mister Sinister’s duplicates. Though most of them are quickly subdued, his final form as a rising Dominion remains, with a level of cosmic power capable of even rewriting history. Fortunately for the X-Men, Jean Grey is able to bond with the reborn Phoenix Force, allowing her to burn away Mister Sinister entirely after Moira gives him up, freeing herself from her own cycle of death and rebirth in the process.
How has the X-Men status quo changed?
(Image credit: Marvel Comics)
Even though they ultimately win, the X-Men still wind up without a homeland, as in the conclusion of X-Men #700, the White Hot Room opens up, revealing that for the 200,000 mutants trapped there, 15 years have passed.
The mutants of New Krakoa take the original Krakoa into the White Hot Room, leaving the X-Men behind to fight for the mutants still left on Earth. This leads to the upcoming new ‘From the Ashes’ X-Men status quo, in which the entire X-Men line will relaunch.
What’s next for the X-Men?
(Image credit: Marvel Comics)
‘From the Ashes’ relaunches the X-Men line with three core titles - X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, and Exceptional X-Men - with multiple spin-off titles as well. Each of the three core X-Men teams is based out of a different location, while the spin-off teams such as X-Factor, X-Force, and NYX also have their own home bases around the planet.
Though the White Hot Room is home to New Krakoa, it’s not easily accessible for most mutants, meaning that most of the Krakoan advances such as their medicines and especially the ability to resurrect mutants are now off-limits to anyone outside New Krakoa. This puts the X-Men back into a more vulnerable position than they’ve been in for a long time, with no readily available way to bring dead mutants back to life on demand.
At the same time, Wolverine, Storm, Phoenix, and Dazzler are all getting their own solo titles, and Storm is actually joining the Avengers as well as stepping in her own series.
With the announced ‘From the Ashes’ titles launching between July and October, we’re expecting more titles to be announced as time rolls on.
There’s still a lot we don’t know about the ‘From the Ashes’ era, but we do have a handy-dandy rundown ofall the new X-Men titles, creative teams, and moreready for you to dig into.
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1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
1
Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
2Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package”
2Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package”
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Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package”
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3Path of Exile 2 review: “A stellar start to a thrilling and brutal dark adventure”
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2Mufasa: The Lion King review – “It’s no Hakuna Matata but this Disney origin story is a class above the 2019 movie”
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2Secret Level review: “An uneven experience with serious highlights that ultimately make up for the misses”
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Cobra Kai season 6, part 2 review: “Returns to the sort of hard-hitting form that made it such a fan favorite in the first place”