Warning: contains spoilers for Dark X-Men #2!

Summary

• The X-Men are facing their darkest hour as they seek help in the aftermath of the Hellfire Gala attack.
• Madelyne Pryor and the Dark X-Men are using the Mercy Crown, a powerful and potentially destructive tool, to locate mutants in need.
• The Mercy Crown's dark magic poses a risk to Pryor's redemption arc and could undermine the efforts of the Dark X-Men. The cost of using the crown may be high for Pryor and the X-Men.

The Mercy Crown as a souped-up, magical version of the venerable Cerebro.

Dark X-Men #2 is written by Steve Foxe and drawn by Jonas Scharf. Pryor’s Dark X-Men team has just suffered the loss of Archangel and nearly lost Havok as well. As Havok slowly comes back to his senses, she summons him and the rest of the Dark X-Men. She tells the team there are mutants out there needing them, and she has a tool to help: the Mercy Crown. Pulling the Crown off its mount, Gambit compares it to Cerebro and asks if Professor X knows she has one. She brushes him off, calling Cerebro “crude.” She then uses the Mercy Crown to begin locating mutants to help.

The X-Men Are in Their Darkest Hour

This year’s Hellfire Gala will go down as one of the darkest moments in the X-Men’s history. The anti-mutant group known as Orchis staged an assault at the Gala, seemingly killing many of Earth’s mutants in the process. Those left behind are now on the run, seeking help wherever they can find it. A new team of mutants, including Havok, Gambit, and Maggott, have rallied around Pryor, forming the Dark X-Men. The team is a shot at redemption for Pryor, who has long been portrayed as a villain. Pryor and the Dark X-Men are not enough, but the Mercy Crown may level the playing field.

Will the Mercy Crown Really Save the Mutants?

Yet there is a great potential for darkness in the Mercy Crown. Before Pryor shows the Crown to the X-Men, a text piece talks about Pryor and her ill-begotten life. At the conclusion of the piece, the narrator hints that Pryor using the Mercy Crown may not be in the best interests of Earth’s mutants, as it has immense destructive power. The Crown draws on ancient magics, so old that most do not know about them. The text piece does acknowledge the potential for good in the Mercy Crown but also cautions it could wipe out mutants even "more thoroughly than Orchis could have ever dreamed possible.”

The Mercy Crown Could Make All of Pryor's Work for Nothing

The concerns raised by the text piece are valid, but for now, the Mercy Crown may be some mutant’s only hope. Pryor uses it for good purposes in Dark X-Men #2, but she may be unable to resist its allure for long, succumbing to its dark magic. The Mercy Crown, unlike Cerebro, traffics in souls rather than psychic impressions, which gives it a huge advantage over the mutant tracking tool–but it may come at a high cost for Pryor and the X-Men.

Dark X-Men #2 is on sale now from Marvel Comics!