By [ad_1]
Sabretooth is in the Pit, but he plans to escape and wreak vengeance on the X-Men. To do this, will he be assembling a recently disbanded X-Men team?
WARNING: The following contains spoilers from Sabretooth #1 by Victor LaValle, Leonard Kirk, Rain Beredo, and VC’s Cory Petit, now on sale from Marvel Comics.
Sabretooth has long been established as one of the most brutal and vicious X-Men villains, so when he was exiled to the Pit of Krakoa for violating Krakoan law by killing humans, none of the mutants on the island were particularly sad to see him go. Sabretooth #1 revealed what Sabretooth has been up to while imprisoned in the Pit, and it’s more than might be expected given that he hasn’t actually gone anywhere. His imagination has transformed the Pit into a fiery hell, and Sabretooth has become its reigning king.
At the end of Sabretooth #1, five mutants tumbled into the Pit: Nekra, Madison Jeffries, Oya, Melter, and Third Eye. Sabretooth told these new arrivals that he planned to put them through hell and then do the same to the rest of the mutants on the island. Although his intentions toward these mutants seem hostile, it’s possible that they might actually learn to work together and form a team. If they did so, then the name of a recently disbanded X-Men team would be very fitting for them: Fallen Angels.
The visual imagery of the hell that Sabretooth has created and of himself as its monarch is very reminiscent of Biblical imagery depicting the fall of Lucifer. In the Bible, Lucifer was God’s most beloved angel but tried to usurp God’s place as ruler, and so was cast into Hell as punishment and became known as Satan. The epic poem Paradise Lost by John Milton adapts this Biblical tale, following Satan once he has been cast into Hell along with the rebel angels he persuaded to help him fight against God in Heaven. In Paradise Lost, Satan becomes king of Hell and once again goes into battle against God alongside the other fallen angels. This story and the artistic imagery around it seem to have influenced aspects of Sabretooth #1.
Like Satan, Sabretooth was cast into the Pit for his disobedience and made himself the ruthless king of Hell. Sabretooth even has his own throne which places him above everyone else in Hell, much like how Satan is often depicted sitting on a throne in Hell in artwork such as Satan Presiding at the Infernal Council by John Martin, an engraving made to illustrate a scene from Paradise Lost.
The parallels continue with the arrival of the five additional mutants in the Pit. If Sabretooth is Satan, then these five mutants could be his rebel angels. Though working with others doesn’t come easily to Sabretooth, he may decide that it is in his best interest to work with these mutants to escape the Pit, as Satan worked with the fallen angels to rebel against God.
Given the Biblical references, the team name “Fallen Angels” would suit Sabretooth and the other mutants in the Pit. The phrase “fallen angels” refers to angels who were cast out of Heaven and sent to Hell, like Satan and his allies. “Fallen Angels” was already the name of a previous X-Men team, that consisted of Psylocke, X-23, and Kid Cable. These characters called themselves Fallen Angels because they felt that they did not fit into the paradise of Krakoa, due to their violence. Sabretooth and the other mutants in the Pit are similarly outcasts from Krakoa. But while the previous Fallen Angels had no problem with the other mutants of Krakoa, Sabretooth seeks vengeance on them. This makes the moniker of “Fallen Angels” even more fitting for him and the others.
The religious and literary allusions to the fall of Lucifer in Sabretooth #1 suggest that Sabretooth could be assembling his own team of Fallen Angels. If Sabretooth can learn to work together with these mutants and find a way to escape the Pit, they could prove themselves to be formidable enemies of the X-Men.
About The Author
[ad_2]
