Marvel just made a staggering change to X-Men lore, as it's revealed that thanks to a new technological leap, humans can be converted into mutants. For decades, it's been established fact that mutant powers activate in adolescence due to a mutation known as the X-gene, resulting in superhuman powers. For much of this time, mutants have been hunted and even considered a separate species to humanity. Now, the lines between the two are irreparably blurred.

The revelation comes in Jed MacKay, Ryan Stegman, J. P. Mayer, Marte Gracia and Clayton Cowles' X-Men #5. In the issue, Cyclops asks psychics Kid Omega and Psylocke to investigate the mind of Ben Liu. Liu is a recently discovered mutant who warped reality, creating a massive alien armada that attacked San Francisco. The psychics delve deep, and what they discover changes X-Men lore for good.

Kid Omega and Psylocke return having learned that Ben Liu is a baseline human who was abducted and experimented on by the villainous 3K group. This transformed him into a mutant, with his trauma over the abduction leading to his 'alien armada' reality manipulation. Worst of all, the heroes learn that their old enemy Cassandra Nova is in league with 3K.

Mutants Can Now Be Created in Marvel Lore

X-Men's New Villains Can Give Anyone Powers

Marvel recently launched a new era of the franchise with its 'From the Ashes' initiative, with heroes such as Cyclops, Rogue, Forge and Havok now helming their own (sometimes opposing) mutant teams, while heroes including Storm, Phoenix and Wolverine get their own solo series. Part of this new status quo has been the presence of mysterious new mutants who appear to have manifested their powers in adulthood - something that should be impossible given the nature of mutant biology.

Cyclops' X-Men encountered these new mutants earlier in the series, battling the group known as the Fourth School. The School is an evolution of the U-Men movement, where humans would transplant mutant organs in hopes of gaining their powers. Now, they've moved way beyond that, as it's now possible to take a regular human and turn them into homo superior. Cyclops' heroes have been investigating ever since, now finally knowing that the mysterious 3K group are behind the Fourth School's breakthrough.

While more mutants is theoretically a good thing, that's not how events have worked out so far. First, because this technology is in the hands of those who seem to have dark plans for mutantkind, creating powerful new enemies for the X-Men rather than new mutant allies. Second, because 3K's irresponsible way of handing out powers is creating huge ramifications like the attack on LA. Incidents like Ben Liu's reality manipulation are stoking humanity's fear of mutants once again and creating the dangerous rumor that mutant status is now 'contagious,' encouraging the government to crack down on mutant rights.

It's a huge reveal, and one that will never really go away. Even if the X-Men defeat 3K, Marvel has now established that humans can be converted into mutants by technological means. Even if 3K are defeated and their technology destroyed, future creators will feel far more free to bring this idea back, since that's very different to introducing it for the first time.

With this reveal, X-Men is making a clean break from previous definitions of 'mutant.'

X-Men's New Era Makes a Definitive Break from Krakoa

The Idea of Mutant Culture Is Under Attack

The reveal that humans can become mutants is a huge break from Marvel's 2019-2024 Krakoan Era. That period in X-Men comics saw all mutants together to create a new island nation, codifying mutant status as essentially a nationality. The Krakoan Era was marked by a sci-fi exploration of mutant identity, with mutant art, philosophy and politics developing distinct to humanity. Mutants even settled Mars and became the dominant species in the galaxy. Sadly, the era ended with Krakoa ascending beyond time and space, leaving X-Men's most famous mutants behind to fight for equality on Earth.

'From the Ashes' has already broken from Krakoa in some big ways, making it clear that mutants are no longer united as a people - indeed, even the X-Men are questioning their old bonds as relationships fall apart. However, the introduction of this new type of mutant - totally divorced from how Krakoa defined mutantkind - vastly complicates the ideas at the heart of the Krakoan Era, making it clear Marvel has no intentions of going back.

As well as humans becoming mutants, the X-Men are reckoning with a mysterious new illness that is already affecting Magneto.

What Do New X-Men Villains 3K Want?

With Cassandra Nova as a Major Member, It Can't Be Good

While fans saw 3K in shadow in a bonus page accessible via a QR code in X-Men #1, the group are still deeply mysterious. From the silhouettes, longtime X-Men fans speculated that characters including Cassandra Nova, Magneto's clone Joseph, former X-Men ally the Krakoan, and mutant supremacist Astra were , with Nova's appearance in X-Men #5 confirming at least one of these guesses is correct. However, it's unusual that the mutant predator would side with a list otherwise made up of mutant extremists.

Previously, Nova has been all about driving mutants extinct, but she's been through a lot since her 2001 debut. Jean Grey successfully rewrote her brain to force her to experience empathy, but she nevertheless remained a villain, ultimately being stranded 2 billion years in the past by Kate Pryde's Marauders. What Nova wants now - and even how she thinks - are up for interpretation. Has she found a common goal with Marvel's mutant supremacists, or is she controlling them with her formidable powers?

Her alliance is made all the more suspicious by hints of a mystery mutant ailment that can afflict anyone with the X-gene. This subject is mostly a mystery so far, other than the confirmation that Magneto using a wheelchair in 'From the Ashes' is due to what seems like some new mutant-focused illness. It's possible this is part of 3K's scheme, killing off existing mutants to be replaced by their own species.

Of course, there's also the question of which formerly human enemies of the X-Men could now be converted to mutants, with deadly new powers. Everything is changing for the X-Men as Marvel embarks on a whole new era for Marvel's mutants. Now, they face the biggest change yet, as it turns out that after decades of mutants gaining their powers at adolescence, the villainous 3K now have the ability to convert any human into homo superior, with a mysterious agenda that threatens everything the X-Men hold dear.

X-Men #5 is available now from Marvel Comics.