Warning: contains spoilers for Wolverine #29In the pages of Wolverine #29 it has been revealed that X-Force leaders Sage and Beast have absolutely no clue that the exiled villain Sabretooth has escaped the Pit, along with the other imprisoned mutants currently starring in Sabretooth & the Exiles.
Throughout Victor LaValle's acclaimed Sabretooth series, Creed slowly took over the Pit, transforming it until a Hell of his own making with himself as its King of Hell, before manipulating the other imprisoned mutants into helping him escape, leading directly into the current series Sabretooth & the Exiles. One would think that Krakoa's leading intelligence agency, X-Force, would have carefully tracked the inhabitants of the Pit, but it turns out that both Sage and Beast still think Sabretooth is locked away in the prison, either through negligence or down right ineptitude.
Wolverine #29 - written by Benjamin Percy with art Juan Jose Ryp - is a fascinating issue that delves into Logan's internal mindscape, a classic theme in Wolverine comics, as the violent hero is forced to relive his most traumatic memories while trapped in the Pit by a Krakoa that has been warped from caused by Sabretooth's imprisonment. She remarks that the Pit seems to have a "Sabretooth virus," and that when she searches for Victor his imprint is more of an echo than a specific position, but assumes his presence is just masked and not that he is escaped, as she es the buck on to Beast instead.
Sage & Beast Completely Ignored Sabretooth Becoming King Of Hell
Beast meanwhile has continued his horrific descent into truly despicable villainy, and when Sage tells him of the Sabretooth anomaly in the Pit, the monster asks "So what?" Beast seems to think that having the monstrous Victor Creed ruling over the Pit is the perfect "punishing oversight" for the mutants trapped within its walls, deciding that ignoring the anomaly, and Sabretooth's apparent corruption of a core part of the Krakoan island, is the best way to move forward. Beast and Sage are often seen as some of the most brilliant mutants on Krakoa, running the nation's intelligence agency. Beast is known for his incredible scientific prowess, while Sage literally has a computer brain. Unfortunately, their intellect isn't the same as wisdom, and they've failed mutantkind by allowing one of the most dangerous mutants in the world to corrupt Krakoan justice and then escape into the outside world.
Of course, both of the leaders of X-Force are incredibly distracted and busy right now, with Sage continuing to work on her recovery from alcoholism and Beast needing to contend with the loss of trust from his teammates after they recently discovered his secret space prison. The fact that Beast and Sage don't know Sabretooth has escaped the Pit means they don't know that the other mutants like Nanny, Orphan Maker, Nekra, or Toad have escaped as well, continuing to prove that X-Force and the Quiet Council have way less control over the affairs of mutants than they would like the citizens of Krakoa to think.
Now that Wolverine has escaped the Pit with the help of a human child he previously saved and the timely intervention of Sage, the rightfully furious mutant is sure to be headed straight for Beast's throat, and his time in the Pit might finally reveal to X-Force the true fate of their supposed prisoner Sabretooth.
Wolverine #29 from Marvel Comics is available now in stores.
