X-Men: 10 mistakes made during the Krakoan era

There were some disappointing moments during the X-Men’s Krakoan Era. Many of them lead to its downfall. Some were avoidable while others are the cost of starting and running a nation. People forget (or don't realize) how often politics come into play and that unfortunate sacrifices must be made. Either way, these ten moments are the ones that hurt mutants and Krakoa more than anything.

10. Going to Sinister for Resurrection

The way mutants were killed throughout time, resurrection seemed like a necessity. Charles Xavier and Magneto grew tired of watching their people die so they needed a way to resurrect mutants. That meant involving genius geneticist, Nathaniel Essex aka Mr. Sinister(Powers of X). Sadly, he’s the most untrustworthy person ever.

Essex lived up to his reputation after putting his DNA into every resurrected mutant. This leads to the reality-altering event Sins of Sinister where the entire universe is in his image. Trust me, it's a scary place.

Comic books to read:Sins of Sinister, Powers of X

9. Not killing Sebastian Shaw

Sebastian Shaw is worse than Sinister. He’s selfish and willing to sellout his people for money. At least Sinister is doing it for science. Shaw’s just greedy. It was obvious he wasn't going to change when he killed Kate Pryde (Marauders No. 6). Thankfully, he was defeated at every turn. Once by Kate and Emma (Marauders No. 16) and later by Orchis and the Hellfire Club (Immortal X-Men No. 14). 

Comic books to read: Marauders, Hellfire Gala (2024), and Immortal X-Men No. 14

8. The Quiet Council

Understandably, Krakoa needed a government. There would be chaos without it. Bringing in mutants with different personalities was smart. It made sure that there wasn’t a bias. The problem came when they didn’t change things. There was an opportunity to do things differently from the rest of the world and they failed.

The biggest signs that things were falling apart were Magneto and Nightcrawler leaving the council. They lost faith in themselves and the Quiet Council. You'd assumed their departure would lead to changes but stubbornness and arrogance prevented that from happening. 

Comic book to read: Immortal X-Men

7. Sending Sabretooth to the pit

The law “Do not kill humans” was made after Sabretooth murdered people on a mission (House of X No. 6). Sure, if anyone deserves to be punished it’s Victor Creed. However, the point of Krakoa was second chances. Nevertheless, Magneto gave Creed “strict” instructions and Sabretooth didn’t follow them. In the end, Victor Creed returns for revenge and slaughters a bunch of mutants (Wolverine: Sabretooth War). This may not have happened if he was given another chance instead of being used as an example.

Comic books to read: House of X No. 6, Sabretooth, Sabretooth and the Exiles, Wolverine: Sabretooth War

6. Lying to Mystique

Charles and Magneto had no intentions of resurrecting Mystique’s wife Destiny. Instead of being honest, they lied to her. After decades of dealing with her, you’d think Charles and Magento would know better than to lie to her. She’s too dangerous. They’re lucky she didn’t burn Krakoa down. Xavier and Magneto could have had an ally instead of an enemy.

Comic books to read: X-Men: Inferno (2021), X-Men No. 6 (2020)

5. Leaving Beast unattended

Maria Hill once said that she hates Hank McCoy because he does whatever he wants (Uncanny X-Men No. 12, 2013). It was worse after Krakoa was established.

Charles Xavier turned a blind eye to Hank’s experiments and side missions. This leads to Beast doing horrendous things like putting teammates at the threat of death (X-Force Annual No. 1, 2022) and killing Wolverine and brainwashing him (Wolverine: Beast Agenda). His last offense was trying to send mutants into a black hole so he could properly “deal with humans.” If not for one of his clones, Beast would have succeeded.

Comic books to read: X-Force, Wolverine: Beast Agenda

4. Keeping Moira hidden from the Council

When the Council discovered that Xavier and Magneto lied to them trust within them was ruined. This could have been the moment when things started to spiral. Lies and secrets destroy governments. It was the same for Krakoa and the Quiet Council. Xavier and Charles sat at the head of the table and they lost everyone’s trust. Magneto had to leave the council to get it back. Meanwhile, Xavier continued to prove that he was the worst.

Comic book to read: X-Men: Inferno

3. Not paying attention to Colossus

Colossus was forced to be a mole by his brother Mikhail Rasputin. While this was happening, no one questioned why their friend was acting weird. Storm suspected something was off but was too busy to look into it. Krakoa is lucky Mikhail didn’t do more damage.

Comic books to read: X-Force, Immortal X-Men No. 12

2. Telling the world about the resurrection protocols

For the first time in years, humans trusted mutants. They even started to look to the X-Men for help. Once the world learned about the Resurrection Protocols, they hated mutants even more. They felt it was selfish to keep that gift to themselves. Cyclops thought it was smart to tell Ben Urich about the Resurrection Protocols. As we've seen, it was not.

Comic books to read: X-Men No. 12 (2022), A.X.E.: Judgment Day

1. Trusting Charles Xavier

As he was dying (X-Men Red No. 7, 2022), Magneto asked Storm to watch Charles Xavier. He said, “Our enemies will strike…and Charles will feel forced by events to act. To do something–because something must be done, however terrible–and because, in his heart, he cannot see a choice. And on that day… he will martyr us all.” This came true during the 2023 Hellfire Gala and again in Rise of the Powers of X No. 3. 

Charles Xavier was always arrogant. Helping create the nation of Krakoa heightened that. He felt like he could do no wrong. When Orchis attacked, he decided to stop the mutants from fighting. In Rise of the Powers of X, he lied to Rasputin IV and Rachel Grey about Doug Ramsey being Nathaniel Essex. During that same issue, he attempted to kill Moira to stop Krakoa from happening. Those are only some examples. Throughout the X-Men Krakoan era, Xavier proved why Kitty Pryde called him a jerk and why he should never be trusted.

Comic books to read: Rise of the Powers of X, Hellfire Gala (2024), Immortal X-Men, X-Men: Inferno

What other moments did I miss? Would you have kept the Krakoan era going? Let us know on Bam Smack Pow's Instagram and Twitter.