Warning! Spoilers ahead for Sabretooth #4 and #5!
Since the dawn of the Krakoan Age, the amnesty that the Sabretooth, into an elegant metaphorical rebuttal of the biggest critique of the X-Men franchise since its Krakoan relaunch.
The Krakoan project is constantly reaching for mutant paradise, but all historical nation-states have had to make morally compromising decisions in service of that end goal. In that sense, the amnesty that Krakoa extends to mutant villains is not dissimilar from the United States' Operation Paperclip, in which more than 1,600 Nazi scientists, engineers, and technicians were covertly relocated to the U.S. after WWII in an effort to bolster development of the government's military technologies. Through this lens, it is clear that Krakoan amnesty was ultimately a utilitarian decision, not necessarily a moral one. From a narrative perspective, the act of amnesty also acts as a benchmark test for the former mutant villains, as many mutant antagonists have had their needs met and motivations for villainy satisfied by the existence of Krakoa. Sabretooth is not one of those villains, and therefore he became an example to Krakoans for what would happen if they cannot abide by the three laws.
Those who would rather see the X-Men jailing their villains on Krakoa rather than granting amnesty find their rebuttal in the final two issues of the current Sabretooth miniseries from Victor LaValle, Leonard Kirk, Rain Beredo, VC's Cory Petit, and Jordan D. White. Issue #4 looks at Creed's trial through a new lens, and accuses the Quiet Council of imprisoning people like Sabretooth because they have the wrong attitude. This is pretty inarguable, as the Quiet Council condemns him to the Pit for breaking laws that do not yet exist on Krakoa. Knowing Sabretooth's an unrepentant killer and a violent sexual victimizer with no desire to be anything else, the question of what to do with Victor Creed is decided to be too difficult, and imprisonment is rationalized. However, the hellish world that Sabretooth makes out of the Pit only amplifies his and his fellow prisoners' suffering. The prison is not a solution for Krakoa, but a rotting cancerous environment fit for no one, good or bad.
On top of that, Creed's manipulative machinations are making Sabretooth into a symbol to disaffected mutants as a martyr-type figure. The rebellious currents gain such traction that Cypher cuts a deal for Sabretooth to escape the Pit rather continue to have influence over the island. In issue #5, even after Creed is gone Cypher works to empty the hell-word prison that Sabretooth has made the Pit into. Cypher can see that if the Pit continues to act as a prison, Victor's infernal throne will be filled again, and all prisoners will be sucked into the brutalizing cycle of prison once more. For all the fans who argued that the X-Men should have stood firm and still regarded their worst villains as criminals, here's the fruit of them doing exactly that with Sabretooth, and it's building up to catastrophe. The only solution is to empty the prison entirely.
The story of Sabretooth is not over even as his miniseries reaches completion. His fellow Krakoan ex-cons have been tasked with tracking him down as Creed recruits his own team of Exiles from within Orchis' for-profit mutant prison. But for now it seems that there truly are no prisons on Krakoa, and hopefully Sabretooth's metaphorical impact continues to inspire Krakoa and the X-Men to strive for more restorative justice as a community. Until that time comes, the Sabretooth miniseries remains the best answer to the biggest critique of the X-Men's new era.
Sabretooth #4 and #5 are available now from Marvel Comics.
