Warning: contains spoilers for X-Force #36The newly released X-Force #36 is revisiting a tragic plot that began several months ago, when a baby mutant named Max was kidnaped from under the X-Men's noses - a child raised by the villainous Man with the Peacock Tattoo, with intimate ties to the powerful Phoenix Force.
The Man with the Peacock Tattoo was introduced in the very first issue of the Krakoan Age X-Force, debuting as the evil leader of a new anti-mutant cult calling themselves XENO, who wear their status as human-supremacist xenophobes proudly. Since then, the Man with the Peacock Tattoo has reappeared several times throughout X-Force, always connected to XENO and attempting to gain access to mutant biotechnology. Their larger aim is to give abilities to their and take down Krakoa forever. X-Force #36 comes from Benjamin Percy and Robert Gill.
XENO was responsible for the assassination of Charles Xavier, one of the first great tragedies of the Krakoan Era, and in X-Force #25 they also coordinated the kidnappings of several mutant babies from Kid Omega who was tragically killed in X-Force #29. XENO and the Man with the Peacock Tattoo were recently able to get their hands on a mutant egg, the foundation of the Five's Resurrection Protocols, and it seems like Max could potentially use his powerful telepathy to rebirth Quentin Quire into the mutant egg, either to save him from XENO or to be used as a pawn in their evil schemes.
Quentin Quire Could Easily Be Used For Great Evil
Quentin Quire and Max have a special bond, as Quentin would visit the Bowery daily to look after Max, and Quire clearly cared a lot about Max, who was always happy and calm whenever Kid Omega was around. Quire's death truly shook X-Force and his girlfriend Phoebe Cuckoo, because not only did he die but his Cerebro backup was erased, meaning he could not be resurrected. Quentin has a long history of dying and being brought back to life, often through with the Phoenix Force or other sources of strong telepathy, and it would make a lot of sense for Max to resurrect Quire in the stolen mutant egg.
If the Peacock Man has had this as his plan all along, then there is a chance that he already has a strategy to control the rebirthed Quentin, which would be a truly dangerous thing for Krakoa, seeing as Quire is an impressively powerful Omega Level Telepath. Of course, Max's connection to Quire and pink telepathic energy signature could be misdirection, with XENO having an entirely different plan for the mutant egg, but Max's intimate connection to Quentin makes this likely, as does the fact that XENO couldn't choose a more powerful mutant to have on their side.
X-Force is finally circling back to major early plots like XENO's assault on Krakoa and Colossus' continued (forced) betrayal of the X-Men, so it would make sense that Max's return could spell the resurrection of Quentin Quire, whose connection to the Phoenix Force could easily be used for evil by XENO and the Man with the Peacock Tattoo.
X-Force #36 from Marvel Comics is in stores now.
