Warning! Spoilers ahead for X-Men: Hellfire Gala 2023 #1
Summary
- The Hellfire Gala proves to be a tragedy for mutantkind, just as Magneto prophesied before his death in X-Men: Red #7.
- Orchis poisons Krakoa's miracle drugs, leading Xavier to make a devastating choice: evacuate the mutants or let billions die.
- Xavier's nobility and desire to prove himself as a good man play into Orchis' hands, leading to the deaths of 250,000 mutants. Magneto's prediction has come true.
The fallout from the Magneto.
Magneto has been dead since 2022's X-Men: Red #7 by Al Ewing, Madibek Musabekov, Federico Blee, Fernando Sifuentes, Ariana Maher. Magneto, unwavering in his resolve, uses his mutant powers to keep himself alive for a few issues longer in order to help defeat the Eternal Uranos. After the threat has been ended, Magneto lets himself slip into death. As the famed mutant leader lays dying in Storm's arms, he asks a single favor of the longtime X-Man: to watch after his friend, rival, and ally, Charles Xavier. His final words, however, are a chilling portent of the bloodshed to come: "our enemies will strike, and Charles will feel forced by events to act," and on that day Xavier will "martyr us all."
Signs and Portents: Magneto Knew How Professor X Would Fail
Magneto's prophetic warning comes to in X-Men: Hellfire Gala 2023 #1 from writer Gerry Duggan and an all-star line-up of artists. The anti-mutant organization Orchis has long been the X-Men's chief adversary, and 2023's Hellfire Gala proves to be their masterstroke: Orchis has poisoned the world's supply of Krakoa's live-saving "miracle" drugs, which are derived from the unique flora native to the island. Billions of people take these medications, and with a flick of a switch Orchis could kill them all. Thus, Orchis presents Xavier with an impossible choice: let billions die, or command all the mutants to evacuate the planet. Charles capitulates and sends a psychic command across the globe, compelling all mutants to evacuate to the terraformed planet Arakko. Unbeknownst to Xavier, Orchis manages to instead funnel the mutants into a "meat grinder."
Charles Xavier Failed Krakoa
When Orchis presents their ultimatum, they make it clear to Charles that he and the other mutants would be blamed for the deaths of the poisoned humans. This threat alone may have been enough for Xavier to acquiesce, as he wants to avoid being labeled the monster people like the Orchis have always claimed mutants to be. In his drive to prove what a good man he is, he sends 250,000 mutants to their graves. Worse, few could resist Xavier's command: they march to their deaths stripped of true choice and dragging those who could resist with them.
Professor X plays perfectly into the hands of Orchis. They exploit his nobility, the same weakness Magneto has long identified — and the same weakness he once warned Storm about. Magneto has always counterbalanced Xavier, but without him (and after Moira X's betrayal), there is no one left to protect Xavier from himself. Magneto was right about Xavier, and with his dying breath he described — with uncanny accuracy — exactly how Xavier would fail Krakoa, the X-Men, and all of mutantkind.
X-Men: Hellfire Gala 2023 #1 is on sale now from Marvel Comics.
