As predicted, X-Men: Hellfire Gala has changed everything involving mutants and the entire Marvel Comics universe.
Orchis has been planning to rid the world of mutants for years. As powerful as the X-Men are, their lives are more than planning to stop Orchis. Meanwhile, their enemies did nothing but plan for the destruction of mutants.
They engineered a way to negate Magik’s teleportation powers. This stopped her from sending anyone at the Hellfire Gala to safety. A false report forced the Avengers to leave the Gala before Orchis attacked. Now the Avengers weren’t around to protect their colleagues. Orchis agents found a way to get into the Krakoan gates. This allowed them to attack everyone at the Hellfire Gala. They found a way to take out their two most powerful mutants. First, Iceman was taken out by Nimrod. Then, as things started to look up, Moira X (formerly Moira MacTaggart) stabs and kills Jean Grey.
Slaughtering mutants at the Hellfire Gala wasn’t enough. Orchis needed them off the planet. Moira forced Charles Xavier to force every mutant in the world through the Krakoan gates to get off Earth. If he didn’t, then M.O.D.O.K. would kill the humans that took the Krakoan drugs. As hundreds of thousands of mutants walked through the gates, some of them resisted Xavier’s message. Among them are Kate Pryde, Nightcrawler, Emma Frost, Wolverine, Forge, and so many others. The ones who resisted were the lucky ones.
Charles’ worst moment
As Rogue saves Xavier from Moira X and Orchis, Charles tries to reach out to the mutants on Arrako. He then realized he couldn’t feel them. Orchis did something to the Krakoan gates before they went through. Instead of them going to Arakko, Xaver says he sends them, as he put it, into a meat grinder. All of the mutants who he sent away are all dead and Charles Xavier was the one who forced it to happen.
Charles Xavier has done some horrible things in his life. All of them have been in the service of mutants. Even this. He thought he was doing the right thing by sending mutants through the gates. Regardless of his intentions, he still killed them. He’ll never forgive himself for what he did.
Marvel Comics has already done a story where the mutant race was almost extinct (read House of M for more on that). With Marvel Studios already bringing mutants into the MCU, it would make sense that they’d bring them back in a big way. Especially when something major happens within their cinematic universe. However, this writer doesn’t believe this is the case. The mutants aren’t dead.
There’s no way that Orchis killed all of those mutants. They’re likely scattered all over the world and beyond. The reason Xavier can’t feel them is because of what happened at the gate. It may have negated their ability to be “seen”. Or maybe Orchis made a mistake, and they were supposed to be killed. Either way, they aren’t dead.
What’s next for the X-Men after the Hellfire Gala? Stay tuned to Bam Smack Pow to find out what happens to Marvel’s Mightiest Mutants during the Fall of X.
What do you think is the next step for the X-Men and mutants? Is the 2023 Hellfire Club the official end of the Krakoan era? Let us know in the comments below.