Warning: this article contains spoilers for X-Force #17
When Krakoa announced itself to the world of X-Force who experience the cycle of death and rebirth the most, resurrection comes with a cost. And though Krakoa and its leaders are powerful and protected, they are not without enemies or weaknesses.
In X-Force #17, by writer Benjamin Percy and artist Joshua Cassara, Quentin Quire aka Kid Omega, the team’s latest superstar, is going through some pretty big changes in his life. Tired of always being disliked by his peers, and living a lonely and desolate life, he’s decided to make the most of this new chapter in the history of mutantkind. However, his life lessons—much like the protagonist of classic 90s film who found himself trapped in the twenty-four hour cycle of an endless time-loop—are having to be learned the hard way.
In the late, great Harold Ramis’ Groundhog Day (1993), Bill Murray’s character Phil Connors experiences more than his fair share of deaths that are as diverse as they are grisly. Some of these deaths are presented in a darkly comic montage, which includes: dying in an explosion after driving his car off of a cliff, electrocuting himself with a toaster in a bathtub, crushed by a truck, and finally, jumping off a bell tower. The rest of his myriad demises are spoken of rather than shown, and in its entirety the list is considerable. In the end, these experiences are all leading him to understand what it takes to lead a meaningful life, while bringing him closer to the woman he loves.
In the latest issue of X-Force, Kid Omega’s trials and tribulations share a dishearteningly similar dynamic. An Omega Level psionic mutant and member of the X empire’s black ops team, he is no stranger to death and dying. The book opens with a Groundhog Day style montage of all the exotic ways he’s been killed. Every time he’s reborn and out again to meet another strange and gruesome fate. With every death comes the addicting prospect of getting to start fresh. But now that Phoebe Cuckoo has entered his life, and with her, the promise of a bright meaningful future, he’s come to realize that he doesn’t want to die anymore.
Of course, that doesn’t mean Kid Omega won’t use each rebirth as a way to make some cosmetic changes, such as changing the color of his hair, eliminating body hair, and adjusting his eyesight, as well as the dimensions of certain body parts. Ultimately, it’s interesting to consider that even with the X-Men’s resurrection protocols, death can still get in the way of living.
