Comic Book / Inferno (2021)

Trust No One

Inferno is a limited series from Marvel Comics, pulling together threads from across the various X-Men titles and serving as a finale for the Reign of X arc of the longer Krakoan Age saga. The series is written by Jonathan Hickman, with art by Valerio Schiti and colors by David Curiel. Hickman was the overall architect of the Krakoan Age and Inferno also marks the end of his time on the X-Men books, with the next phase of the story (Destiny of X) led by a new creative team.

The island of Krakoa is a homeland for all mutants, with the promise of Resurrective Immortality via the combined powers of The Five. But there are exceptions to that promise, as Charles Xavier and Magneto have been keeping secrets from the rest of the island's ruling Quiet Council.

Mystique has been promised that her long-dead wife, the precognitive mutant Destiny, will be resurrected if Mystique follows orders. But Xavier and Magneto have no intention of keeping that promise, and Mystique has now realised that they're lying.

Moira MacTaggert is the living secret at the heart of Krakoa, a mutant whose power resets the entire timeline when she dies. This is her tenth life. Each time she's reborn with the knowledge of all previous lives. In one of them, Mystique and Destiny killed her - and she's very aware that if Destiny returns, that's likely to happen again.

Elsewhere, Orchis - an alliance of humans and A.I. - is still determined to destroy Krakoa and the mutant threat forever. Moira's encountered their counterparts in previous lives, and she's well aware that, so far, they always win. The mutants always die. Can this time end any differently?

The first issue was released 29 September 2021.

---

Inferno provides examples of the following tropes:

• Ambiguous Situation: By the end of issue #1, there's currently two situations:
  • What killed Xavier and Magneto prompting their resurrection at the start of the issue.
  • If Moira forced Xavier and Magneto to destroy all of Destiny's files, then how is she alive and well? One panel shows Xavier giving Mister Sinister the last remaining sample of Destiny's DNA, but it's not made clear if Sinister actually followed through with this order. Issue #2 reveals he didn't and gave Mystique the sample instead.
• An Arm and a Leg: Mystique slices off one of Moira's arms while holding her captive, because it's the one with a tracker in it. As a gift, Cypher has Warlock give her a new arm made of Technarx matter (which they can use to track her).
• Back from the Dead: Issue #2 reveals how Destiny was revived: Mystique used her shapeshifting powers to steal a Cerebro helmet as Magneto, then shifted to Xavier to get the sample from Sinister before tricking the Five into reviving her.
• Beware the Nice Ones: It turns out a lot of people have been underestimating Cypher for a long time
• Brought Down to Normal: Mystique uses Forge's neutralizer gun on Moria, ending the ten lives of Moria X. Ironically, this brings around Destiny's prediction that she could get an eleventh life if she plays her cards right.
• The Bus Came Back: After sitting on the sidelines for the first bit of Hickman's run after House of X/Powers of X, Moira McTaggert is back front and center for the event.
• Call-Back: The sequence of panels where Emma psychically learns the truth about Krakoa from Moira in Inferno #2. It's a shot-for-shot recreation of the same sequence from Powers of X #6 when the younger Xavier similarly learned the truth about Moira.
• Cruel Mercy:
  • Moira being spared in the finale thanks to Doug's intervention. She's no longer welcome on Krakoa, she's powerless, and Mystique and Raven (and any angry Quiet Council members) will be gunning for her.
  • Emma keeping Charles and Erik on the Quiet Council after Moira's exposure. She won't let them weasel out of ther role in Moira's schemes — Charles in particular. While they're all sharing the burden of the secrets, she deliberately makes sure Xavier's stuck with the lion's share.
• Cycle of Revenge: To summarize: Humans made the Sentinels because they hated and feared Mutants in spite of the ones who weren’t attacking humanity. Mutants, in turn, made it a policy to eliminate AI to ‘snuff out’ their enemies because they hated and feared their robotic enemies despite several that didn’t want to hate them. This in turn created Omega and Nimrod, who began to hate humans and Mutants in equal measure because of Krakoa’s actions.
• Didn't See That Coming:
  • Xavier and Magneto admit that they should have seen Nightcrawler and Exodus voting for Destiny's inclusion, but they didn't expect Emma to vote yes as well.
  • Played literally with Doug's entry into Moira's No-Space just before Destiny and Mystqiue prepare to execute her in the finale. Destiny's foresight did not see Doug's involvement in any of this at all. This stills her hand, as Destiny doesn't know what's going to happen at this crucial juncture point and is rightfully worried.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: In Omega Sentinel's timeline, Mutantkind reforged the Blade of the Phoenix and used it to start taking out the Phalanx and the Dominions above them. The last Dominion, a rogue one, sent Omega Sentinel's mind back to the past before they got to it.
• Do Not Go Gentle: Nimrod and Omega Sentinel do kill Charles and Magneto, but they do at least manage to put in a fight before they go down.
• Everyone Is a Suspect: The tagline of the event is "Trust No One".
• Evil All Along: Despite what was seemingly indicated in House of X #2, it turns out that Moira Mctaggart did not reform herself to better help mutants. No, she was playing the Long Game to wipe out the X-Gene from the inside.
• The Exile: Cypher tosses Moira out of Krakoa, mostly due to the fact that she's now human.
• Failed a Spot Check: Amazingly, the X-Men have never put up safeguards for Mystique to pose as Xavier or Magneto. Most notably, Hope doesn't find it odd "Xavier" suddenly wants her to handle downloading Destiny's memories into her body.
• Failure Is the Only Option: The X-Men have been making several attempts to get to the ORCHIS Forge and destroy Nimrod. Every single one has failed.
• Genocide from the Inside: In the finale, Moira reveals that she never stopped working towards curing mutancy (as was previously established in House of X #2). However, instead of stripping already activated mutants of their powers, she's instead been working on the means to remove the X-gene from children before they ever develop their abilities, so there won't be a loss to mourn.
• Grand Finale: For Hickman's X-Men tenure, though the Krakoa Era continues after his departure.
• I Kiss Your Hand: Destiny enters the Quiet Council's chambers and offers her hand to Mystique, who kisses it.
• I Lied: In the final issue, Nimrod holds Xavier at gunpoint, and tells Magneto he might let him go if Erik stands down. When Erik does, Nimrod taunts him for believing it, and sets about trying to kill them anyway.
• It's All About Me: Revealed in the final issue of the series that at the end of the day for all her grand scheming all Moira really cared about was 'curing the X-Gene' so that she no longer has to relive the cycles.
• Loophole Abuse: How Mystique and Destiny get around killing Moira without risking the timeline reset in the finale. Moira's abilities only work because of her active X-Gene, ergo they need to use Forge's Neutralizer tech to strip her of her Mutant abilities before killing her.
  • This trope also saves Moira when Cypher blocks Destiny and Raven from trying to kill her. He correctly points out that legally they can't kill Moira now, for as a human, she's protected by the Second Law. It's subverted, though, in that Raven and Destiny don't care — which Doug anticipated, hence bringing backup with him.
• Mirror Character: Omega Sentinel is one for Moira. They are both from alternate timelines where their side completely lost, and they're trying to save their people from their extinction.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • Xavier, Magneto, and Moira's attempts to politically counter Mystique and Destiny in Inferno #2. They not only end up earning the enmity of Emma Frost, but also elevate Colossus to the Quiet Council... without knowing that, as had just been revealed over in X-Force #24, that Piotr has been secretly compromised by XENO and the Russian government.
    • In the ending of Inferno #4, Emma Frost makes the 'Colossus is a Sleeper Agent' situation even worse by disclosing all of Chuck and Erik's dirty laundry re: Moira to the entire Quiet Council.
  • It turns out, Krakoa’s anti-AI policies ended up helping to create both Omega and Nimrod, with their actions throughout the Krakoa era just fermenting their hatred not just for Mutants but for humanity in general.
• No Man of Woman Born: Cypher points out that depowering Moira before attempting to kill her now put it firmly under the Second Law, "Kill No Man."
• Nothing Is the Same Anymore: By the end of the mini-series, the entire Krakoa-era status quo has been upended. Destiny has been resurrected and seated on the Quiet Council. Moira has been de-powered (thus preventing any further timeline resets with her death) and cast out from Krakoa. The entire Quiet Council now knows the truth about the island nation's founding, deepening the pre-existing divisions. Finally, Orchis has lost control of Nimrod, with the murder-bot and Omega Sentinel showing their true colors and breaking from their human masters.
• Oh, Crap!: Moira freaks the hell out after learning of Destiny's resurrection.
• Once More, with Clarity:
  • Scenes from House of X and Powers of X are revisited throughout Inferno with new perspectives and context provided.
  • Issue #1 shows Magneto and Xavier seemingly getting the DNA and mental records for Destiny to destroy them. In Issue #2, it's shown it was Mystique posing as both men to steal the samples to resurrect Destiny.
• Properly Paranoid: Inferno #3 reveals this is what Cypher and Warlock have been up to in the background of the Krakoa era since Powers of X #4 . They wanted to believe in Xavier's vision and that this time the Mutant homeland would work out. Problem is, they know the Charles of old. And while they know the Professor has his idealism and the best of intentions, they've been burned by his arrogance, manipulation, and secrets too many times over the years. So, Doug and Warlock set up a passive surveillance system integrated throughout all of Krakoa (including Moira's No-Place) just in case. Their fears are finally vindicated as they overhear Moira arguing with Xavier and Magneto over Destiny in the previous issue (though Doug takes no joy in being proven right).
• Prophecy Twist: In a previous life, Destiny predicted that Moira's resets were finite and that she had ten total lives, maybe eleven if she played her cards rights. The revelations in the last issue reveal that she only had ten because in her tenth life, Moira's machinations bite her in the back when Mystique and Destiny conspire to depower her before killing her, leaving it up in the air for her to get her powers back and get one more chance.
• "Rashomon"-Style: We get flashbacks to Moira's encounter with Destiny in her third life, except not told from Moira's perspective. These events feature subtle differences in dialogue, painting their encounter in a different light.
  • In Moira's version of events, Destiny has Moira burned slowly so she doesn't forget what dying feels like. In this version, Destiny has her burned slowly to so she doesn't forget "what failing to change feels like."
  • Before ordering her death, Moira says she doesn't want to die. In the original rendition, Destiny is cold and basically says that Moira deserves her death. Here, Destiny simply says "who does?"
  • In House of X, Moira says that she doesn't want to die "like this." In Inferno, she simply says she doesn't want to die, and looks much more determined. The implication is that she's not willing to die at all.
  • Moira's version of events has her angrily mention that Destiny and Mystique killed her colleagues, who she refers to as her friends. No such comment happens here.
  • The scene where Moira holds up the mutant cure she discovered is much different. This version is replaced with a scene of her and her colleagues holding up wine instead. The scene is expanded to have Moira state that finding a cure for mutants was her dream.
• Robot War: The final issue sets up one between the sentinels and all of humanity, not just mutants. Omega and Nimrod both express hatred towards organics for building them as tools in their conflicts and then erasing them when they develop sentience and independence. They massacre Orchis agents before confronting Magneto and Charles all by themselves
• Sadistic Choice: Once Cypher makes a decision, Destiny is given three options for the future — Moira dies, Mystique is exiled and Destiny dies six months later and is never resurrected; they attempt to kill Cypher and Mystique dies, only to possibly be resurrected three years later; Moira escapes and both they and Cypher consolidate power. The third option is the only safe bet.
• Shooting Superman: Omega Sentinel, a machine made largely of metal, against Magneto. Had Nimrod not been able to grab Charles, he probably could well have killed her. At the very least, he's able to make her hold herself at gunpoint.
• Spanner in the Works: Cypher proves to be this towards Destiny's visions as she had no idea what he had planned. However, once he comes to a decision, futures opens up.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork:
  • Xavier and Magneto's conspiracy with Moira. The tensions that have been there even going back to House of X are being exacerbated by Nimrod's activation, Destiny's resurrection, and other trust issues between the three Mutants.
  • The Quiet Council by the end of the finale. Granted, this trope's been in play ever since House of X. But the reveal of Moira's schemes and the burden of taking on those secrets and responsibility leaves them even more fractured and angry (which leads directly into Kieron Gillen's Immortal X-Men).
• The Man Behind the Man: Omega Sentinel is the consciousness of another timeline's version where mutants won, that overwrote the mainline Karima Shandripar's personality via time-travel, and is the true founder of ORCHIS, brainwashing Dr. Devo as the front man.
• Too Clever by Half: Mystique and Destiny's final revenge on Moira involved stripping her of her powers and making her human to ensure that when they kill her, she doesn't get to start over with a new life. The only problem is Cypher uses this opportunity to finally make his move. Being aware of all of the conspiracies on the island, Cypher tells Mystique that by stripping Moira of her mutant powers if she would kill her, she would be breaking the "Kill No Man" rule set by Krakoa. Destiny looking into the future also realizes that they are now at an impasse because any further attempt to try and kill Moira would lead to either her own or Mystique's death completely undermining their plot.
• Unreliable Narrator: As detailed in "Rashomon"-Style, the glimpse of Moira's third life and death from House of X #2 is retroactively revealed to have been not quite the entire story.
• You Are What You Hate: Omega points out that Mutants are just humans and any difference between them is minuscule in the eyes of even AI that were coded to hunt down Mutants. On top of that, their rabid hatred and fear of AI to the point of making it a policy to cull all despite some examples of AI that didn’t hate Mutants is the same kind of hatred humans hold towards Mutants.
• Wham Shot: Issue #1 ends with a resurrected Destiny approaching the Quiet Council.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Xavier, Moira and Magneto attempt to get an ally in Emma to counter Destiny. However, when she realizes the scope of the three's actions, she's rightfully furious and refuses to trust them anymore.

---