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Despite only appearing for a short time before Wolverine killed them, the Hand and HYDRA’s personal mutant cult was an engaging idea.
The X-Men have had to deal with lots of villainous mutants over the years, often forming their own devilish organizations with various missions. But some of the most dangerous have been the ones with few goals other than spreading death and destruction — and with the right opportunity, they could do a lot of damage.
Although they had a relatively short life thanks to the efforts of Wolverine, the Dawn of the White Light was a compelling idea for a murderous band of mutants who could bring chaos across the globe — and could be a serious concern if they were to return in the present-day.
Wolverine: Enemy of the State and Wolverine: Agent of SHIELD — by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr — largely focused on an alliance brokered between the Hand and HYDRA. Gorgon became one of the principal figures of the alliance, a deadly mutant warrior with the capability to turn those who gazed at his eyes into stone. Brought together with a plan to assassinate major heroes and corrupt them into their agents, they earned an early victory by capturing and converting Wolverine into their personal killer. Along the way, Gorgon was revealed to have his own personal cult of followers known as the Dawn of the White Light, a Japanese-based death cult that served him, the Hand, and HYDRA. Beginning life as a splinter-group of the Brotherhood, the Dawn of the White Light became a major threat within Japan.
But with Gorgon’s ascension within the ranks of the Hand, the Dawn of the White Light became a more fearsome force. When they finally introduced in Wolverine #28, they revealed themselves to be a ferocious and rebellious little band of murderers. Taken under the wing of a then-corrupted Northstar, the Dawn of the White Light used the chaos of SHIELD being targeted by the alliance to leave a trail of bodies all across the world while using their resident teleporter to cross the globe in moments for some murderous “fun.” Luring a restored Wolverine into a trap, the Dawn of the White Light quickly tried to overwhelm the longtime X-Man, with a corrupted Northstar mocking him the whole time while giving commands.
The group ultimately was able to seemingly defeat Wolverine and bring him to their base, where the assembled group of vicious young mutants debated what to do with him. But it turns out that this was Logan’s plan all along — as he’s allowed himself to be implanted with a SHIELD microchip that hides his X-Gene. At which point, a group of original class Sentinels — previously waiting within a SHIELD warehouse — are unleashed against the Church of the White Dawn. While the young mutants might be lethal if they have the element of surprise, the inexperienced and young mutants are no match for robots that had long given the X-Men trouble. Within moments, all of the Church of the White Dawn were wiped out, and Logan was able to recapture Northstar.
The Church of the White Dawn never really recovered from their encounter with Wolverine, which more or less took them out with brutal efficiency. But it’s an interesting concept, something like the Brotherhood but more directed towards causing sheer chaos than trying to change the world in any meaningful way. They’d be a dangerous kind of wild card to resurface in the current era, when the nation of Krakoa has elevated tensions between mutants and the rest of the world — especially as groups like Orchis try to find a way to stem the advancement of mutants going forward.
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