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The fallout of King in Black has left humanity more fearful of symbiotes than ever before, opening the door for the return of some vile X-Men villain.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Extreme Carnage Alpha by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Manuel Garcia, Cam Smith, Marc Deering, Roberto Poggi, Guru-eFX and VC’s Travis Lanham, on sale now.
The events of King in Black saw the Marvel Universe overtaken by an invasion of living darkness, and even though Eddie Brock was ultimately able to triumph over evil, humanity has been left shaken to its very core. The new god of the symbiotes might be a benevolent figure, but the general populace has no reason to put their trust in the symbiotes that terrorized their planet.
And in Extreme Carnage: Alpha #1, the growing anti-alien sentiment has even drawn the attention of those who once tormented anti-mutant sentiment against the X-Men, and the Friends of Humanity have no problem forgoing their concerns about mutantkind if it means stepping into the limelight once more.
No matter how much good Eddie Brock does as the new King in Black, nowhere near enough time has passed since Knull’s invasion for Earth to even begin healing. People are terrified of another attack, and with thousands of symbiotes having become refugees in their world, there are even more humans looking for an answer to their perceived problem. Buoyed by that sentiment, Senator Kane has decided to run his presidential bid on an anti-alien platform, and he has opened his arms to any that would join him in achieving an alien-free world. This doesn’t just go for his general supporters or constituents, but seemingly for anyone at all — even those with their own dark pasts. Not only have the Friends of Humanity found a new purpose, but they have even found a voice of their own in Washington, and that alone makes them more dangerous than ever.
Introduced in 1992’s Uncanny X-Men #291 by Scott Lobdell and Tom Raney, the Friends of Humanity exist today as a shadow of their former selves. The FOH is a paramilitary organization founded by Graydon Creed, the son of Mystique and Sabretooth, who despised mutants after his paretns abandoned him as an infant. With no powers of his own, Creed turned to terrorism as his weapon against mutants and their supporters, leading the Friends of Humanity into conflict with the X-Men time and time again.
They even became key players for some time during 1992’s X-Men: The Animated Series, but over the years their popularity both as villains has taken a nosedive. When they were most recently seen earlier this year in the pages of Captain America #27 by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Leonard Kirk, it was made clear that no one had taken the Friends of Humanity seriously for quite some time. Unfortunately, Knull’s invasion has given humanity something far scarier than the mutants to fear, and the Friends of Humanity are on their way to the sort of legitimacy that they could only ever dream of previously.
The legacy of the Friends of Humanity is one that has given rise to other anti-mutant groups in the years since their own fall from grace, and if they can become a legitimate political movement in their own right once more, they could very well see a resurgence in resources thanks to the factions that they inspired. With any luck, they will find themselves in over their heads and be left floundering once more. If not, the heroic symbiotes of the Marvel Universe are going to be facing off against more than one army when the heat gets turned up in future issues of Extreme Carnage.
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