Headscratchers / House and Powers of X

Only mutants are allowed on Krakoa?

• The first issue of House of X made it clear, Krakoa is now the nation of mutants and will serve as the basis of the status quo for X-Men stories for years to come. Thing is, the X-Men and related teams have had non-mutant membership among their ranks. This includes Juggernaut, Longshot, Spiral, Mimic, Moira MacTaggert, Warlock, Hepzibah, Fantomex, Lockheed, Cloak & Dagger, Doop, Omega Sentinel, Danger, Ink, Broo, Deathlok Prime, Kid Gladiator, Warbird, Daytripper, and Deadpool, as just some examples. Hell, even Spider-Man was a teacher at Jean Grey's school in the past, and has had many adventures alongside the X-Men. It's well established that being a mutant was never required to be an X-Man. The first issue makes it clear that Krakoa is mutantland, and non-mutants aren't welcome. Furthermore, they even have a special visual language that only mutants can read thanks to Cypher (which might be a little odd seeing as how he's Heterosexual Life-Partners with Warlock, who's an alien and not a human mutant). Can we just assume they get an honorary pass in this case? It just raises so many questions, because this setup assumes that the mutant teams never had non-mutant teammates and friends.
  • Except that a Lot of those Characters have now been either confirmed to be either genetic mutants all along or have had their status as such restored now that Marvel is no longer feuding with Fox for the X-franchise movie rights since they are now both owned anyway by Disney: 1) The long-Fanon-hypothesized Mimic (all of his alternate-Reality counterparts have always been genetic mutants) has now been confirmed in DOX to indeed be a genetic mutant, whose latent powers were triggered, not created, by the experimental gas that supposedly gave him his powers. 2) Ditto for Cloak and Dagger, who have been re-retconned to be genetic mutants again whose original latent powers were only artificially activated by mutagenic Drugs and then magically switched with each other by the demon D’Spayre, proving that Dr.Nemesis either lied about them not being mutants (he is a mad scientist who was once a supervillain after all) or didn’t know about the full truth of their Secret origins. 3) INK was indeed originally a baseline human, but his tattoo artist was unknowingly an unwitting mutant Reality Warper who unconsciously transformed him into a fellow genetic mutant with Swiss Army Knife powers when he gave him his tattoos. 4) Longshot, through a Timey-Wimey Ball is a Synthezoid who is a modified clone (to the point that he is as genetically different as a natural Child) of the human mutant Benjamin Russell, whose own powers fried his brain into becoming a permanently comatose human vegetable since puberty, until his body was permanently fused/merged with the body & spirit of Longshot’s biological son Shatterstar by human mutant & fellow X-man Dazzler, BR’s biological grandson who just so happened to look physically identical to him through fantastic genetics; thus making both Longshot & Shatterstar simultaneously “father” & “son” to each other (“I’m my own Grandpa”) via time paradox. 5) Broo & Warlock are genetic mutants of their own species. 6) Deadpool is a mutate supersoldier whose powers are an enhanced copy of the genetic mutant Wolverine.
  • The setup doesn't raise any questions. If you're not a mutant, you're not allowed there. You may be a friend, a previous partner, or a supporter, but their island paradise was built by mutants for mutants. It's Xavier 'breaking the rules', by doing something that he wouldn't have ever done, standing with fellow mutants that have antagonized him multiple times, even freaking Apocalypse, over the rest of humanity and superhero community, that for all their good intentions, could never stop the mutant genocide that came to be on Moira's 10 previous lives.
  • They're allowed on the island with supervision. Jean specifically states that non-mutants must be accompanied by a mutant, who must first ask Krakoa for permission.
    • Northstar's human husband, for example, seems to be the only human to actually live there.
  • The language isn't required to understand the island as there are telepaths and mutants are from various cultural backgrounds. It's like how you don't need to be able to read Chinese to get by in Chinatown.
    • True, non-mutants can visit Krakoa with the approval of the higher command. But what about living there? The narrative made it clear that the nation is only for mutants, which poses problems because again, the X-Men have had non-mutant teammates and allies. I think the implication is made rather clear: Omega Sentinel is siding against the mutants despite having been on the X-Men at one point, and it's easy to presume she wouldn't be allowed refuge on the island by virtue of not being a mutant herself. Lockheed at the very least seems to be an exception, but that's likely because he's a Team Pet rather than a person like the others.
  • Also, Warlock is a mutant, albeit an alien one instead of a human (his mutation was having empathy). So Warlock would entirely be welcome on Krakoa.
    • Not a human mutant, and calling him a mutant comparable to a human as a techno-organic alien is stretching it.
    • They never say only "human mutants" are welcome on Krakoa, they say all mutants are welcome. So Warlock definitely counts.
    • Warlock is currently merged with Cypher so it's irrelevant, also Deadpool was never an X-Man and the main reason they gave for that is that he's not a mutant.
  • Moira is a mutant, though. Her power is either creating new timelines or resetting the one she's in, and so far she has only used it to be reborn after dying.
• What about Jimmy Hudson? He's a mutant from an alternate reality, Ultimate Marvel, where being a mutant is a completely different thing

Omega-level mutants?

After being a tenuous term for a long time that meant little, Hickman finally gave us a concrete and well-defined classification system. An Omega-level mutant is one whose dominant power has limits that are very hard if not impossible to define, not unlike trying to calculate the Hulk's strength. As such, mutants with very defined limits do not qualify, like Forge. However, with the answers, comes more questions. For one, what exactly is the parameter? It seems that it's "very powerful in one category with hard to define limits". Except, many of these, Superpower Lottery winners though they may be. Iceman, Magneto, and Storm are limited and fluctuate based on planetary environment, while Monarch and Proteus are reality warpers but are nowhere near the level of Franklin Richards, yet both are on there. Plus, the list is outright missing some mutants who could easily fit, and have proven more powerful than some that are on the list, such as Professor X, Apocalypse, Cable, Nate Grey, Emma Frost, Rachel Summers, to name a few. Can we assume the list isn't fully exhaustive? It would seem weird not to include these powerhouses when it wouldn't be difficult and it seems like a jarring omission.

• On the topic of power, Omega Level has never been about hard power levels, it's just been "no hard limits." Take Elixir. He's not that powerful in comparison to other Omegas, but every time he runs into a limit for what he can do with his biokenisis and life-force manipulation, he eventually overcomes it. Apocalypse is powerful. More powerful than some Omega Level Mutants. But there are hard limits to what his immortality lets him survive and how he can manipulate his molecules. Most of his powers are the result of being infected with the T-O virus, using Celestial gene manipulation tech to give himself new powers, or merging tech with his body, meaning that they wouldn't count as "his" powers. There is an upper limit to Xavier's power and he hit it. Cable, Nate, Emma, and Rachel have been confirmed to be Omegas, they're just not on the list.

Golden eggs

How can they grow people for an unlimited amount of time? The gold-eggwhite just happens to last until someone's "ideal age"? That has to be their source of energy as they grow from zygote to grown person, right?

• Between Elixir, Proteus, and Hope Summers, I think they have it covered.

Souls

• The absence of the original does not make a copy the original. Wouldn't that be particularly true in a setting where the existence of the soul is a verifiable fact? Heck, Charles spends almost as much time on the astral plane as Dr. Strange, so he knows this. For that matter, can Charles just mass-produce copies of anyone, now?
  • That's a hell of an assertion to start off with. If a person is their thoughts, their memories, their feelings (which seems to be the working assumption here), then the resurrected mutants are by definition the same people they were at the time when Cerebro backed them up. They're just as much the same or different, depending on your perspective, as anyone who's been through a transporter on Star Trek.
    • Do Peter Parker, Ben Reilly, and Kaine have a single soul between them, or three separate souls? Assuming the latter, then Peter's death would not cause Ben to suddenly be Peter in any literal sense.
    • This may be a function of Proteus's power. As the Reality Warper among the Five, he may be the crucial difference between "this is a clone" and "this is the same person in a cloned body".

Teen Cable

How is he a teenager who killed his older self without undoing everything between his teens and his own death at his teen self's hands?

• Cable is going to live his life almost exactly like his older self. The only difference is that he's more dedicated to preserving the timeline.

Is he fated to eventually grow old and be killed by his younger self?

• Not necessarily. As long as Cable retains his conviction and doesn't allow the O5 X-Men to remain in the future longer than they should, he shouldn't have to worry about that.

Heroes?

• Can the X-Men be considered heroes anymore? They're doing some really sketchy things like granting amnesty to known murderers and building a literal cult. They also don't seem to care about anything that doesn't involve mutants. Are these really the same men and women who would risk their lives doing the right thing?
  • I mean, from a certain point of view, they're heroically seeking a new solution to the constant issues they've had with "the mutant problem". Sure, they aren't straight-laced heroic the same way they were in the past, but in Moira's point of view after 9 failures, that's not enough anymore. With straight-up classical goodness, they lose. With isolationism, they lose. With extremism, they lose. With terrorism, they lose. With megalomania through mutant godhood, they STILL lose. So, perhaps this is the only possible solution they see: full-on unity with all mutants as a race to get a new head start of overcoming time as their enemy. But at the same time, this clearly has come at the cost of their morals with Charles and Magneto going off-script. So, probably not, but perhaps this new mutant first perspective could eventually lead to a better way forward if you want to go full consequentialist.

Golden Eggs II

How can resurrected mutants have navels?

No Precogs

Where does this leave Layla Miller

• She’s not actually a precog but she does have knowledge of the future
  • From what I recall, she received her future knowledge via a "download" from her future self, which we've already witnessed happen, so by this point she doesn't have any future knowledge as everything she told herself about has already taken place.

Geography and Politics

One thing that hasn't been addressed in any way is that creating a new landmass the size of Krakoa - which appears to be comparable to some of the larger islands in the Indonesian archipelago - is going to have all sorts of knock-on effects. Depending on where exactly it's located, it may obstruct shipping routes or the paths of underwater communications cables - and possibly affect flight paths as well, if there is a no-fly zone over it (as some stories seem to imply). It will affect ocean currents and wind patterns in its area, and possibly even El Nino (it appears to be located at the edge of the area affected by El Nino in the Western Pacific - whatever else, it will complicate that weather pattern). Given that it also appears to be mostly lush and green, it may also be slightly retarding the greenhouse effect by offsetting carbon emissions (although at the same time, it would also make a small but measurable rise in sea levels).

Politically speaking, it's very likely that the governments of both China and Australia have reacted with defensive aggression (not necessarily military, but certainly diplomatically) to the sudden appearance of a new and unpredictable superpower in their hemisphere. Nearby Pacific islands in Polynesia and Melanesia are likely more just worried about what very much appears to be yet another colonialist invasion of their region (that and the sea level rise thing above are not likely to have made Krakoa many friends in the area.) And this being in the Marvel Universe, Krakoa has definitely occupied territory that Namor of Atlantis - who's been rather feisty of late - would consider his, something that was not addressed in his appearances in the X-books.

Golden Eggs III

Are the golden eggs somehow able to synthesize adamantium?

• Proteus is a reality warper.

Golden Eggs IV

Given that Cyclops' inability to control his blasts is the result of a head injury he suffered as a child, does resurrecting him recreate the effects of the injury? And if so, why would anyone (in-universe) think that was a good idea? Doesn't Scott deserve a chance, just once in his life, to see the world other than through ruby lenses?

• It's possible Scott chose to keep the disability as a reminder of how dangerous his power is.
• Something akin to this was made textual when Karma was resurrected; she made it explicitly clear that she didn't want to come back with both legs.

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