The series, set in the shared Marvel Universe, is part of the wider X-Men line and is one of several new books launched as part of Destiny of X, the third phase of the long-running Krakoan Age saga.
When the mutant nation of Krakoa was founded, Victor Creed, the savage killer better known as Sabretooth, quickly became its first criminal and prisoner. Creed was condemned to the Pit beneath the island for killing humans. Eventually, he escaped. And then Krakoa - the living island itself, not the nation - sent the Pit's other prisoners after him.
Unfortunately, Sabretooth's escape route immediately took him into the clutches of the anti-mutant alliance Orchis. And now those pursuing him are on the same path.
The first issue was released November 10, 2022.
Sabretooth & the Exiles (2022) contains the following tropes:
- Alliance of Alternates: Sabretooth forms an alliance with the Savage Sabretooth from Earth-1912, a Captain America Sabretooth from Earth-203 and a bad-boy celebrity Sabretooth from Earth-12, who've survived Graydon's hunt. On the other side of the struggle, Graydon has a Keystone Army of headless, reanimated Sabretooth variants.
- All Your Powers Combined: Dr. Barrington uses Sabretooth's healing factor to finalize her experiment to combine multiple mutant powers into a human subject, Commander Kruger, perfecting the work she began with the U-Men.
- Apocalypse How: Discussed. Previous comics have made it clear that the Orphan-Maker is Blessed with Suck and his armor must never be unsealed nor his X-Gene activated properly. Even Professor Xavier struggles not to see his abilities as a curse. When he's captured by Barrington, Nanny directly states that if his mutant abilities fully activate, nobody on Earth will survive.
- Arc Welding: In addition to continuing Sabertooth and the Exiles' story, LaValle's also picking up and tying together threads from Zeb Wells' Hellions (Nanny and Orphan Maker), Ed Brisson's New Mutants (2019) (Dr. Barrington), Vita Ayala's Children of the Atom (the return of the U-Men), and the overarching Orchis storyline that Jonathan Hickman began with House and Powers of X.
- At Least I Admit It: When Oya and the other Exiles point out that Sabretooth is a monster and will probably betray them once Barrington and her boss are dealt with, Victor doesn't deny it. He instead bluntly states that he is only concerned with his own self-interest, but because his interests align with their interests for the moment, they can trust him to not betray them until such a time as that is no longer true. Melter is not impressed by this "honesty", but the Exiles are desperate for any allies they can get at the moment and have to roll with it.
- Auto Doc: Dr. Barrington has a hovering robot surgeon which carries our operations on some of her mutant prisoners.
- Bad Boss: Barrington treats her Nobodies like expendable crap ("we don't even get names") and talks to Kruger condescendingly as she can. Her own boss is snappish and uncompromising with her, but given what what Barrington is like, it's hard not to blame him.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Barrington's curiosity gets the better of her and she unwisely talks Orphan-Maker into taking off his helmet, so that she can see what his power is. She ends up on the receiving end of that power, and although she survives, Nanny implies that it will have done very bad things to her.
- Bullying a Dragon: Barrington thinks it's a good idea to do her usual tortuous medical experiments on Sabretooth, while also condescending and insulting him the whole time. He proceeds to wait for an opportunity and effortlessly escape, destroying her flying base, slaughtering most of her Nobodies, sending her on the retreat, and actively hunting her for revenge.
- The Bus Came Back: #4 reveals that the "General Contractor" Barrington works for is none other than Graydon Creed, who has been absent since his resurrection back in 2018.
- Combo Platter Powers: Commander Kruger is the end result of Barrington's work with the U-Men, being a human soldier implanted with cybernetics and mutant organ transplants to give her multiple mutant powers at once despite being born human.
- Continuity Nod:
- Dr. Barrington's initial narration mentions that she "ran a little breeding business" in Brazil (referring to her first appearance as an unnamed Maker of Monsters in New Mutants), then mentions that she used to work for another extremist anti-mutant group, the U-Men (in Children of the Atom).
- Orphan Maker, who joined the cast at the end of the previous series, is still getting Melter confused with Johnny Storm, the Human Torch.
- Double Standard: Dr. Barrington takes a data page to recount the horrific medical experimentation on women of color that lead to modern gynecology, justified if at all under the racist belief that they felt little to no pain to bother accounting for. After denouncing the methodology as wrong and obviously incorrect, she immediately justifies her similar line of research on a party that "truly" doesn't feel pain like people do, mutants.
- Enemy Mine: The Pit prisoners come hunting after Sabretooth to bring him to justice. Instead, they end up roped into helping against the even worse Dr. Barrington.
- Faceless Mooks: Dr. Barrington's masked minions, the Nobodies.Nobody: We don't even get names.
- Facial Horror: Dr. Barrington convinces Orphan-Maker to take off his helmet, which does something that ends up burning off most of Barrington's face.
- Fingore: Sabretooth, captured and Strapped to an Operating Table, threatens to tear Dr. Barrington's throat out. She responds by getting the Auto Doc to surgically remove his claws. Without anesthetic.
- Genre Savvy: Nanny's reason for refusing to set foot on Noble Island.Nanny: To be clear, we're not afraid to join you. We just think it's blatantly stupid to explore a mysterious island in the middle of nowhere. Especially when none of you are Final Girls.
- Gone Horribly Right: Orphan-Maker's origin has elements of this. Mister Sinister found him as a small child and raised him to use as a last resort weapon, a living bomb to cover his tracks and kill his enemies when all else fails. But Peter's powers ended up being way more powerful then Sinister expected (i.e., "destroy the planet" powerful), so he eventually tried to have Peter killed to ensure Earth's safety - only for Nanny to intercede and make Peter's containment suit instead.
- Horrifying the Horror: Even Mister Sinister is terrified of Orphan-Maker's powers and what could happen if his suit is breached.
- Hypocrite: Dr. Barrington has the gall to call her prisoners prone to violence when she's been vivisecting and experimenting on them for months and used what she learned to turn Kruger into a living weapon.
- Immediate Sequel: The Sabretooth (2022) limited series ended with Sabretooth's escape from Krakoa, which was intercepted by the anti-mutant organization Orchis. The first issue of the new series begins with Orchis leader Dr. Barrington being informed of their new prisoner, probably only a few hours later (at most).
- Insane Troll Logic: Barrington, as part of her attempts to justify her actions, has genuinely convinced herself that mutants don't feel pain like humans do, despite abundant evidence to the contrary.
- Insult to Rocks: Melter comparing Sabretooth to a snake is said by Third Eye to be an insult to snakes.
- Keystone Army: Graydon Creed reanimates the headless bodies of the Alternate Universe Sabretooth variants he's killed as an army of cyborgs. They're all linked to a single control unit, though, so damaging or stealing the control (built into Graydon's suit) will stop all of them.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: The first thing Nekra does upon seeing Sabretooth again is to beat him to a point that would've killed a normal human. Victor lets her do so simply because he's desperate enough for allies against Barrington that he's willing to tolerate a beating in the name of forging an Enemy Mine relationship.
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Barrington tries her damnedest to gussy up her experiments as some kind of beneficial medical research for the good of mankind, but engages in so much obvious sadism and so many twisted little jokes (like using "Dr. Moreau" as a password) that it's plainly apparent she's really just doing it all for her own sick pleasure and obsessive hatred of mutants.
- Person of Mass Destruction: Orphan-Maker is Blessed with Suck, possessing some kind of massively destructive mutant power that, if it were properly activated, would apparently kill every living thing on planet Earth. Even in his current state, he has to constantly wear a suit of Powered Armor to control his nascent abilities.
- Power Nullifier: Dr. Barrington's mutant prisoners are fitted with power-dampening collars. It's downplayed, as the name implies - they're not effective enough to neutralize all powers (e.g. Sabretooth's healing factor is reduced, not entirely cancelled). It's later shown that she implanted Sabretooth with a device that releases power dampening chemicals which is interfering with his powers.
- The Power of Hate: Nekra's powers are at least partially connected to her anger, which she has in abundance. Oya, however, believes she can draw strength from other, better sources.
- Schmuck Bait: When Nanny says that Orphan-Maker's armor must never be removed because his power is too dangerous, she means it, a fact that Dr. Barrington ends up learning the hard way.
- Sequel Series: It's a direct sequel to Sabretooth (2022), with the same cast and creative team. The first issue picks up almost immediately after the final issue of that series, with Sabretooth's stolen boat captured by Orchis. The titular 'Exiles' are Sabretooth's fellow prisoners from the Pit, now promoted to core cast.
- Shout-Out:
- The mech that Jeffries cobbles together in Issue #1 looks suspiciously like Optimus Prime.
- Dr. Barrington's self-destruct code is "Dr. Moreau."
- Graydon Creed's activation phrase for his Keystone Army of reanimated alternate Sabretooths is a quote from H. P. Lovecraft.
- Strapped to an Operating Table: At least some of Dr. Barrington's mutant prisoners are used for medical research, restrained and vivisected by Barrington or her robot Auto Doc. In Sabretooth's case, after he threatens her, she makes a point of getting the robot surgeon to remove his claws without sedating him.
- Straw Misogynist: GC contemptuously calls Dr. Barrington, a woman, a "diversity hire."
- Ungrateful Bastard: The last time that they met, Sabretooth sacrificed his life and newfound humanity to free Graydon from Hell. Graydon is for some reason upset about this, and outright tells his father that he should have left him in Hell.
- Volcano Lair: Orchis's Station Two is located above an active volcano in the Pacific's Ring of Fire.
- "Will Return" Caption: The final issue states: "Sabretooth & the Exiles Will Return"
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: When Nekra discusses how her powers draw somewhat off of her anger and hatred, in a tone that clearly indicates she secretly feels some shame over this, Oya tells her that there's more to her then rage and that she can and should draw strength from other sources.
