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The Krakoa era of the X-Men began with House Of X/Powers Of X, written by Jonathan Hickman with art by Pepe Larraz and R.B. Silva. Hickman handpicked writers for the new X-Men line that came out of these books, and Marvel’s mutants felt important for the first time in a long while. The Krakoa era’s status quo, a mutant country on the island of Krakoa, has proved a fertile ground for stories.
Many changes have been made to the X-Men during the Krakoa era. Some of them have been great additions to the line, but a number of them have fallen flat.
10 Best Change: Giving Mutants Power In The World Changed Things Forever
House Of X #1 opens with the nation of Krakoa already established and then fills in the background. Using beneficial drugs grown on Krakoa, Xavier is able to fund a new country on the island and negotiates a seat at the table of world power through economic machinations. This made mutants and their continued existence important to the world.
This was a massive change. It takes human racism against mutants and sets it on its head; people hate mutants but they need their medicine. This makes mutants actually powerful in the world beyond their own abilities and changed everything.
9 Change That Hasn’t Worked: The Return Of S.W.O.R.D. Hasn’t Had Much Of An Impact
S.W.O.R.D. was the space version of S.H.I.E.L.D., protecting the Earth from threats from the cosmos. Run by the mutant Abigail Brand, the organization was destroyed during the Skrull Invasion but would return in the Krakoa era as the country’s space organization. Unfortunately, the return got bogged down by Marvel event books and hasn’t really mattered to anything.
Brand is entertaining, and S.W.O.R.D. seemed like a great addition but its lack of impact on things and the fact that it rarely matters outside of its own book makes it one of the least interesting Krakoa era changes.
8 Best Change: The Orchis Initiative Is The Best Anti-Mutant Organization Ever
House Of X introduced the Orchis Initiative to readers. It’s an anti-mutant multi-national organization made up of members of S.H.I.E.L.D., AIM, Hydra, and just about every other secret organization on Earth. It was put into place to counter any mutant movements on the world stage, and once Krakoa was established as its own country, they sprang into action.
The organization has proven to be the best of Marvel’s many anti-mutant organizations ever created. It has multiple levels, from AIM scientists to S.H.I.E.L.D. wetwork teams to Sentinels. Its headquarters, a satellite Mother Mold facility orbiting the sun called the Forge, is amazing. It’s a great new part of the X-Men mythos.
7 Change That Hasn’t Worked: Beast At His Most Despicable Is Annoying
In recent years, Beast has become one of the shadiest characters in the Marvel Universe, helping the Illuminati commit genocide on a massive scale and taking a chance with breaking the entire timeline to bring the past versions of the original five X-Men to the present. On Krakoa, he’s been chosen as the head of X-Force, the Krakoan CIA, and his anything-goes attitude is annoying.
Beast’s actions have made things worse than they otherwise would have been. In fact, every decision he comes to on his own is terrible. Making him into the epitome of why intelligence and black ops work is evil is such a bad cliche and makes the character worse.
6 Best Change: Laura Kinney Is Wolverine Again And On The X-Men
Laura Kinney’s time as Wolverine gained her a legion of fans, many of whom were quite angry when she became X-23 again after Logan’s return to life. The Krakoa era changed all of that. She took back the name of Wolverine, with her father’s blessing, and after an adventure inside the Vault was made a part of the X-Men for the first time.
Wolverine is an amazing character and more spotlight on her is better than less. While so far X-Men writer Gerry Duggan has barely used her at all, it’s a step in the right direction giving her name back and putting her on Krakoa’s most important team.
5 Change That Hasn’t Worked: The Quiet Council Has Been A Bit Of A Dud
Krakoa is full of important mutants, but the Quiet Council is the most important. Consisting of twelve mutants, it’s the leadership body of the island, combining heroes and villains. It seemed like it was going to be a rather interesting part of the books, but so far it has been mostly a rubber stamp for everything Xavier and Magneto want to get done.
While it seemed like it was going to be the ultimate squabbling body that would add a new angle to things, it’s just become a big nothing burger. While Krakoa needs leaders, the fact the Quiet Council has basically just done whatever Xavier and Magneto want makes it superfluous at best, although things have started to look up with the resurrection of Destiny.
4 Best Changes: Making Krakoa Open To All Mutants Added So Much Storytelling Potential
Krakoa is for all mutants, including the villains. While this opens up some questions about exactly why there aren’t grudge matches between rivals all the time or how heroes can forgive mass murderers, it also opens up so many characters for use. The X-Men’s villains are some of the best in comics and giving them a bigger role in things is a great idea.
For years, X-Men villains have been getting reformed because of how popular they are, and allowing them to join the country does this writ large. It gives creators so many characters to use in new ways and the readers get the benefit of that.
3 Change That Hasn’t Worked: Trying To Give Apocalypse A Magneto-Style Redemption Makes No Sense
Apocalypse is one of the X-Men’s greatest foes and joined Krakoa. While one would imagine that he only did it to poach the most powerful mutants and make the island into a world-conquering force, he instead decreed the island’s populace fit, even though he had previously decreed many of its inhabitants as weak, and become a leading force.
Hickman and Excalibur writer Tini Howard tried to make Apocalypse a more sympathetic character a la Magneto. However, the difference is that Apocalypse has committed genocide multiple times for millennia and Magneto is a Holocaust survivor. It made no sense and fell flat for many readers.
2 Best Changes: Making Moira MacTaggert A Mutant Was The Best Change To The X-Men Mythos
One of the biggest revelations of House Of X/Powers Of X was revealed in House Of X #2. Focusing on thought to be deceased X-Men ally Moira MacTaggert, the book revealed that she was a mutant; one with an amazing power. It was revealed that every time she died, she was reborn at the time of her birth and got a chance to change the timeline.
Moira has lived ten lives and used what she had learned to help Xavier and Magneto create the base that Krakoa would need to prosper. Her powers made everything possible; without her, there would be no Krakoa.
1 Change That Hasn’t Worked: The Resurrection Protocols Has Cheapened Death More Than Ever
Marvel characters dying and coming back to life is nothing new, but House Of X #5 took resurrection and made it a huge part of Krakoa. Hope Summers, Tempus, Egg, Elixir, and Proteus combined their powers and working with Xavier are able to resurrect any mutant. Xavier uses Cerebro to back-up their minds, implanting them into a clone husk created by the Five.
While it was a novel idea at first, the Krakoan Resurrection Protocols have robbed the comics of any danger for mutants. The worst thing about death is their back-up doesn’t have memories from the last few days or the mission they died on. It feels like a crutch for writers and can be annoying in certain books.
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