Warning: Spoilers for NYX #8!Most X-Men fans know what it's like to get attached to a particular mutant and follow them through highs and lows, but there are few feelings worse than watching a beloved character get their name dragged through the mud. As a longtime Hellion fan, I've been fighting that battle with NYX. The latest issue finally ended my suffering and proved that I underestimated the creative team's understanding of Julian Keller.

NYX #8 by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, and sco Mortarino gave me the moment I've been hoping for since the series was announced. Hellion's journey from a spoiled rich kid to a promising leader, devoted friend, and incredibly talented revolutionary is one of the most compelling stories any young mutant has received, yet he's spent the better part of a decade being sidelined.

Despite missing the character, Julian's return as the Magneto-esque villain, the Krakoan, was an immediate disappointment for me. I felt his heartbreaking journey was undervalued, and I'm delighted that NYX #8 confirmed what I've known since his Academy X days: Hellion has always been a superhero.

Hellion Reveals that the Krakoan Was Always a Sham, and I’m Thrilled

NYX #8 by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, sco Mortarino, Raúl Angulo, and Joe Sabino

In a confrontation a long time in the making, Laura Kinney stops the transport meant to take the Krakoan to Greymalkin Prison and questions him about the six public murders he appeared to commit. What began as a rescue (with strings attached) turns into a heated, barbed shouting match between the two of them. I'll it, I'd almost written off the entire issue by the middle of their argument, only to find myself celebrating once Laura finally got the truth out of him. There were no bodies and no murders, and Julian had only kept up appearances for Empath and the Cuckoos.

Despite being failed by the X-Men in his hour of need, Hellion is still a hero at his core and is willing to be punished as a villain to preserve that.

Deep down, Hellion has only ever tried to help people. As Laura rightfully pointed out, he didn't just lose his hands - he sacrificed them to help others. Julian nearly burned himself to death just to get X-23 back to Elixir in hopes of healing her. He regularly put himself between his friends and life-threatening danger or, at the very least, stood up for them in the face of oppression. Despite being failed by the X-Men in his hour of need, Hellion is still a hero at his core and is willing to be punished as a villain to preserve that.

Hellion Was One of the X-Men’s Most Prominent Young Heroes

He’s Been Denied the Chance to Shine

Since his first full appearance in New Mutants #10 by Nunzio DeFillipis, Christina Weir, and Carlo Barberi, Julian Keller has been something of a polarizing figure. He's always had a sharp tongue, which at times comes off as childish bullying yet also serves as an effective weapon against hypocrisy and bigotry. Hellion has always been quick to defend his friends and is willing to fight for what he believes in, even when others are ready to take a more ive approach. To me, he's always been something of a force of nature: strong, unpredictable, and able to cut a path of destruction.

Those qualities set him up as perfect leadership material for the X-Men. His friends were incredibly loyal and saw him as someone worth following, and his incredible telekinesis meant having the raw power to make a difference in battle, too. Trauma upon trauma threw him off track, from witnessing the world change after M-Day to losing his best friend in a Purifier attack and having his hands burned off by a Nimrod Sentinel. When his anger at everything he endured started to get out of control, he received little , and I watched the X-Men completely squander one of their most gifted pupils.

NYX Is Finally Giving Hellion His Well-Earned Redemption

X-Men's New Era Isn't Forgetting the Franchise's Most Underrated Mutant

Not only did NYX offer the proof of Hellion's heroism that I'd been hoping for, but it served as the perfect reminder of all he endured. From the opening s of him pleading for death in hopes of Krakoa's Resurrection Protocols restoring his body to Laura Kinney's memories of his while she learned how to be a real person, it was the walk down memory lane that I feel was needed in this story. Everything I feared had been forgotten or, worse, twisted into fodder for Julian actually being a Magneto copycat villain was instead offered to readers perhaps less familiar with Julian's journey.

With NYX #8 putting everything in the open, including the truth behind his involvement with Empath, X-Men is finally setting Hellion back on the right path. He has the leadership ability, ion, and sheer power to be an incredible asset to the franchise, and his potential has been wasted as he sat on the bench for years. In short, I tip my hat to writers Lanzing and Kelly for not only undoing my disappointment, but giving this longtime Hellion fan everything I've wanted since the moment the series was announced. X-Men has finally restored Hellion to the superhero status he deserves.

NYX #8 is available now from Marvel Comics.