Warning! Spoilers ahead for S.W.O.R.D. #2 from Al Ewing and Valerio Schiti
In the latest issue of Marvel Comics' S.W.O.R.D., the mutant space program is looking to take the fight to Knull the Symbiote God in Marvel's X-Men have been taken by surprise by Knull's power, and they soon realize that they are as vulnerable as anyone else in the Marvel Universe when it comes to his legions of alien symbiotes.
Upon their arrival to Krakoa, the first thing S.W.O.R.D. agents Frenzy, Random, Paibok, and Cortez notice is the heavy snowfall on the usually tropical paradise. This is because of Knull's massive global symbiote shell that's blocking the sun, and not even Krakoa is safe. Not only that, but a massive symbiote dragon is attacking the mutant defenders such as Magneto and Sunfire. All of the mutants present are quite wary, having come to the realization that the symbiotes can bond just as easily to mutants as they can to humans.
S.W.O.R.D. #2 from writer Al Ewing and artist Valerio Schiti also reveals an even more surprising move on Knull's part. While there should be no way for a non-mutant to step foot through a Krakoan gateway without express permission, the Symbiote God just found a loophole. By corrupting of the X-Men, the King in Black now has a means to get to the island nation, providing him with all kinds of new hosts with mutant powers that will only make him more powerful than he already is. By the issue's end, Knull breaks through, using Cable to through one of the Krakoan gateways.
This does not bode well for the Marvel Universe going forward. While its heroes are already struggling to defend itself under the King in Black's onslaught, a entire army of powered-up symbiote mutants would spell certain disaster, and would all but guarantee his corruption of the world, just as he's done with several worlds before. It's not just Cable who's been infected and corrupted either. His parents Cyclops and Jean Grey have also been corrupted in prior issues of the event, as have Storm, Wolverine, and potentially any other X-Men who ed in the initial defense of New York, which ended very badly.
Since the inception of the mutant nation of Krakoa, Knull's attack looks to be the first major breach and threat it's had to face on its own shores. Knull has proven that symbiotes are just as much of a threat to mutants as humans, or any other species he's corrupted for that matter. This means that the stakes are just as high, especially considering that Krakoa's resurrection protocols for fallen mutants won't exactly apply in this scenario, as the mutants themselves aren't actually dying. However King in Black goes down, here's hoping Krakoa will be able to survive Knull's invasion, and that the X-Men who remain can rally with the rest of the heroes across the world to find a meaningful way to fight back.
