Contains spoilers for Uncanny X-Men (2024) #4!TheX-Menare facing an uncertain future as they strand divided and stare down threats old and new alike, but a few words of positivity from one of their most upbeat members has just provided the perfect new slogan for fans, if not for the characters themselves. It’s a moment that’s as odd as it is inspirational, but it’s a welcome moment and phrase nonetheless.
Uncanny X-Men#4 – written by Gail Simone, with art by David Marquez – features a moment in which Wolverine asks Nightcrawler for some words of comfort after being savagely mauled the villain Sarah Gaunt,to which Nightcrawler responds“Krakoa lives my oldest friend, Krakoa yet lives”
Until just this year, Krakoa was the island nation and mutant homeland, which was devastatingly destroyed, forcing mutantkind, and the X-Men, to reintegrate into human society.
At the end of theX-franchise’s Krakoan era, most of the mutant nation’s population chose to stay in themetaphysical realm know as the White Hot Room, building a potentially immortal mutant society free of human prejudice, but inaccessible from regular reality. This devastating finale led directly into theX-Menrelaunch known as the “From the Ashes” era, where the predominant conflict to start is the struggle of the mutants remaining on Earth to once more live as part of a hostile human world.
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As an avid X-Men fan, I am still grieving the end of the Krakoan Age, but I am also convinced that X-Men #35 paid perfect homage to the era.
InUncanny X-Men, the team led by Rogue has made it their mission to protect a new generation of mutants from threats like Sarah Gaunt. However the larger ideological questions of what comes next for mutantkind has seemingly split Rogue’s team from others like Cyclops’ X-Men, who’re being much more confrontational with humanity, and the two teams will be coming to blows in theupcomingRaid on Graymalkincrossover. That is why Nightcrawler’s invocation of Krakoa inUncanny X-Men#4 issuch a startling reminder of the traumatic context of these current storylines.
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Uncanny X-Men#4 – Available Now From Marvel Comics
What’s so great about Nightcrawler’s affirmation of Krakoa ishow it presents the lost island as an almost-religious ideal. Krakoa was intensely religious in its way. Hope Summers, the key to mutant resurrection, was literally called the mutant messiah, especially by former crusader Exodus, who proselytized in her name to anyone who would listen. In the end,Hope became one with the Phoenix, killing and resurrecting it, becoming its beginning and end, as Krakoa’s population went to live in a realm based partially off Kabbalistic spiritualism. The messiah died, but the Phoenix always comes back.
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This is also a welcome message in the current crop of X-Men books because of how the prior era has been treated so far. The current “From the Ashes” status quo has been… inconsistent in how it refers to Krakoa. The vast majority of titles, includingUncanny X-Men, at times, have acted as though Krakoa lost against Orchis, or was fully destroyed, when in fact the island lives andwon against Orchis, despite choosing to leave the human world behind. Kurt acknowledging this feels much more cohesive with what came before.
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Kurt And Logan Both Became Disillusioned With Krakoa Before Its Fall
That said, this statement is also fascinating because Nightcrawler and Wolverine hadsome of the most contentious relationships with Krakoaas a concept. Despite serving on the island’s ruling Quiet Council, Nightcrawler felt that the carelessness its citizens showed towards death and resurrection was dangerous, which led him down the path towards founding his ‘Legion of X’ which spread ‘The Spark’, a philosophical ideal celebrating innovation and newness. By the time of Krakoa’s initial fall, he’d left the island in a depressive slump, after being magically influenced by Orchis to kill humans, but eventually rallied to save mutantkind once more.
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Logan, meanwhile, served as a member of Beast’s X-Force, but then Beast killed, resurrected, cloned, and brainwashed Logan into becoming a mindless assassin, which led to Wolverine abandoning the island. This plusthe death of his son Dakenand a massive battle with Sabretooth have disillusioned Logan further, with him trying to abandon his usual role as a mentor. He’s rebuffed Cyclops’ X-Men, and his position on the Uncanny team is tenuous. Nightcrawler’s words of wisdom might be great forX-Menfans, butit remains to be revealed how Wolverine feels about them.
X-Men
The X-Men franchise, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, centers on mutants with extraordinary abilities. Led by the powerful telepath Professor Charles Xavier, they battle discrimination and villainous mutants threatening humanity. The series explores themes of diversity and acceptance through a blend of action, drama, and complex characters, spanning comics, animated series, and blockbuster films.
