Top 25 Moments of the Krakoa Era

Counting down the best moments as the current X-Men era comes to a close

Nothing lasts forever. That is especially true when it comes to the status quo of mainstream superhero comics. No matter what a creative team might do with a book, things will ultimately be reset to the default settings inherent to that property. That is especially true for the X-Men line published by Marvel Comics. Of all of the major superhero lines between Marvel and DC, the X-Men line tends to be the one that allows creators to take the biggest swings. Whether it be Len Wein and Dave Cockrum on Giant-Size X-Men #1 (1975), Chris Claremont on his sixteen year run on Uncanny X-Men (1975-1991), or Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely making their debut on New X-Men #114 (2001), comic book readers have always known they can count on the X-Men to provide something new. Arguably the most ambitious era of any mainstream superhero comic has been the Krakoa Era in X-Men comics that began with House of X #1 by Jonathan Hickman, Pepe Larraz, and Marte Gracia in 2019.

The cover to House of X #1 as drawn by Pepe Larraz.

This era broke all of the rules that readers have taken for granted with what a superhero comic is supposed to be. The X-Men ceased being superheroes and became stewards of their own nation-state that was located on the living mutant island of Krakoa. They began spending less time fighting colorful supervillains and more time handling geopolitical issues. The era also introduced incredible science fiction, fantasy, and sociological concepts to the line like conquering death, the Kardashev Scale of galactic societies, multiple lives and timelines, polyamorous relationships, and granting amnesty for some of the most heinous supervillains in comics in an effort to build a society for all mutants. This status quo was in effect from July of 2019 all the way up to the end of May in 2024. It was probably my favorite era of any comic book line that I have ever experienced. It was truly unique. With this era finally coming to a close, I figured I would countdown my twenty-five favorite, most memorable, and most impactful moments from this time period. Disclaimer: I’m a total simp for Magneto, so moments involving him are probably higher on my list than others. With that in mind, let’s dive into the list!

25. Magneto fights the Cotati in X-Men (2019) #11 by Jonathan Hickman and Leinil Yu

It certainly didn’t take long for Magneto to make his first appearance on this list, huh? This can basically be boiled down to Magneto being a badass. It’s a crossover with Marvel’s “Empyre” event that was predominantly dealing with the Avengers and Fantastic Four, but the X-Men just had to get in on the action. A plant-like alien race called the Cotati was at war with the Skrulls and Kree, and it spilled over onto Earth. Following a disastrous encounter with the mutant Vulcan in X-Men (2019) #10, the Cotati decide to launch a full scale invasion of Krakoa. This was a poor decision. Magneto (with the help of the Stepford Cuckoos, Sage, Magma, and Iceman) proceeds to massacre the invading Cotati forces before squaring off against their commander one-on-one where he promptly pulls down multiple satellites from orbit directly on top of him to kill him. It rules. The whole thing is intercut with Exodus regaling a group of mutant children with stories of Magneto’s heroism to give it an even grander feel. It’s a great one-off story.

24. Sabretooth murders Wolverine’s son on his birthday in Wolverine #41 by Ben Percy, Victor LaValle, Geoff Shaw, and Cory Smith

I recently wrote about the shockingly convoluted history of Sabretooth, but his most defining characteristic is that he loves making Wolverine miserable. He especially loves to make Wolverine miserable on his birthday. This might be his worst birthday gift to date. Sabretooth ambushes Wolverine’s son (Akihiro), dismembers him, and arranges his body parts to spell out “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” for Wolverine to see. Brutal. It’s certainly something that will stick in my mind for a long time.

23. Uranos commits genocide on Arakko in A.X.E.: Judgment Day #1 by Kieron Gillen and Valerio Schiti

Our first true event comic makes the list! “Judgment Day” was a massive event spearheaded by Kieron Gillen that featured the Eternals (led by Druig) declaring war on all mutants with the intention of exterminating the entire race. At this point in the comics, Mars had been terraformed by mutants and renamed Arakko where a civilization of warrior mutants from another realm (more on that later) were now living. The Eternals correctly deduced that any war with mutants would be disastrous if the Arakki mutants weren’t dealt with first. Their solution to this problem was to release an ancient Eternal named Uranos (the great uncle of Thanos) from prison for exactly one hour to deal with them. We don’t get to see exactly how it went down in this issue, but we do see the horrifying aftermath as Uranos leaves the incinerated remains of hundreds of thousands of murdered mutants in his wake with Magneto’s iconic helmet being among them.

22. Nimrod kills Apocalypse in Powers of X #3 by Jonathan Hickman and R.B. Silva

One of the most time honored tropes in superhero comics is to establish the bona fides of a new villain by having them defeat a more established villain. An excellent example of this is in Powers of X #3. This story is set in the ninth life of Moira X (more on her later). It’s a timeline similar to the “Age of Apocalypse” timeline wherein Moira joins up with Apocalypse before Xavier or Magneto establish themselves, helps him murder them both, and then ushers in an era where Apocalypse rules the world. Moira had hoped that this would lead to a society where mutants are safe from human bigotry and the mechanical killing machines that they inevitably create. She was wrong. Humanity still ends up creating Sentinels with the creation of a sentient Sentinel named Nimrod being the weapon that ushers in the death of most of the mutants in the solar system. Only a handful remain with Apocalypse being their leader. These remaining mutants go on a suicide mission to locate data that shows how and when Nimrod goes online in order for Moira to use that information in another lifetime to try and save mutantkind once more. They succeed, but Apocalypse stays behind to fight Nimrod to buy them the time they need. Apocalypse has been one of the most powerful and dangerous villains the X-Men have had since his creation, but he gets absolutely worked by Nimrod in this comic. Seeing such a proud and dominant character being killed so effortlessly immediately established this new version of Nimrod as the scariest villain of the Krakoa Era.

21. Magneto is resurrected in Resurrection of Magneto #3 by Al Ewing and Luciano Vecchio

Yep. It’s another Magneto moment. Magneto had been dead for nearly two years in publishing time at this point, so his return was a big deal. You can tell it was a big deal because he was given a four issue series dedicated solely to his return! This issue features Storm traveling into the mutant afterlife known as the Waiting Room to retrieve Magneto’s soul and return him to the land of the living. Before that can happen, Magneto first must confront his past sins and judge for himself if he truly deserves to live. It’s a fantastic bit of character development for my all-time favorite character, and it culminates with his triumphant return.

20. Hope becomes the Phoenix in X-Men Forever #4 by Kieron Gillen and Luca Maresca

Retcons in comics can be very tricky. Retcons involving some of the most cherished characters in comic book lore are especially tricky. Kudos to Kieron Gillen and Luca Maresca for pulling off one of the trickiest retcons imaginable. The Phoenix has been an integral part of X-Men comics dating all the way back to Uncanny X-Men #101 by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum that was published in 1976. Meanwhile, Hope has been deemed the mutant messiah dating back to X-Men: Messiah Complex #1 by Ed Brubaker and Marc Silvestri published in 2007. X-Men Forever #4 reveals exactly how Hope is the mutant messiah. Hope essentially sacrifices herself in the White Hot Room (a location that exists outside of space and time where the Phoenix resides) to become the Phoenix and resurrect Jean Grey. It’s such an obvious and organic move in hindsight that it feels like this was always her destiny. It allows for her to live up to her moniker while also tying the Phoenix even more closely to mutants. Mutantkind is saved shortly thereafter (more on that later), and the Phoenix is set up to play a pivotal role in X-Men comics for years to come.

19. Enigma reveals himself in Immortal X-Men #18 by Kieron Gillen and Juan Jose Ryp

I love a great villain reveal, and this was the biggest villain reveal of the entire Krakoa Era. Jonathan Hickman introduced the concept of Dominions in Powers of X #5. A Dominion is a collection of hundreds of millions of artificial intelligences that exert complete control of a sector of both space and time within the universe. For all intents and purposes, a Dominion is God. One of the key story threads throughout Gillen’s Immortal X-Men run was Nathaniel Essex’s quest to somehow achieve Dominion status himself before artificial intelligence could do so. You’ll notice I said Nathaniel Essex and not Mister Sinister. There’s a reason for that. We learn during this run that the original Nathaniel Essex determined that the way to work towards Dominionhood was to create systems of clones of himself and his late wife to explore different avenues to achieve his goal. Each of these clone systems would compete against each other to be the one to become a Dominion. We are tipped off during the “Sins of Sinister” event that one of them would succeed, but we didn’t know which one. It appears in Immortal X-Men #18 that the magic-obsessed Mother Righteous would be the victor by killing the Phoenix from inside the White Hot Room and using its cosmic essence to craft a spell powerful enough to grant herself godhood. Not so much. Once she does exactly that, it’s revealed that the original Nathaniel Essex (long thought dead) was the actual one to become a Dominion by harvesting the hard work of his various clone systems. Upon achieving godhood, he crowns himself as a new being going by Enigma and promptly murders Mother Righteous.

18. Wolverine dismembers Sabretooth in Wolverine #50 by Ben Percy, Victor LaValle, Geoff Shaw, and Cory Smith

Sabretooth had this one coming. I mean, you saw what he did to Wolverine’s son. There isn’t a whole lot to say here other than Wolverine chopped this dude up into a million pieces while his friends watched and did absolutely nothing to stop it. Metal as hell. While I’m sure future creators will bring Sabretooth back, this really felt like the definitive end to one of the greatest rivalries in comics.

17. Nightcrawler’s real origin is revealed in X-Men Blue: Origins #1 by Si Spurrier, Wilton Santos, and Marcus To

Another massive retcon makes the list! This one was a long time coming. It had been strongly implied for years that Mystique was Nightcrawler’s mother (officially confirmed in 1994), but the mystery of his father’s identity persisted until 2003 with the publication of one of the most (and I’m being charitable here) divisive stories in X-Men history: “The Draco.” This was a story written by Chuck Austen and illustrated by Takeshi Miyazawa in the pages of Uncanny X-Men that established Nightcrawler’s father as Azazel, a member of a demonic race of mutants from biblical times. This origin story was problematic for a number of reasons, but the main reason is that it meant his demon-like appearance was actually demonic in nature and not merely a physical mutation. X-Men Blue: Origins #1 finally retcons this origin story. Not only do we learn that Azazel is not Nightcrawler’s father, but Mystique is not the one who gave birth to him either. In actuality, Destiny gave birth to Nightcrawler and Mystique (through her shapeshifting abilities) was the one who got her pregnant. Yes, Mystique and Destiny are Nightcrawler’s biological parents. If this sounds like something that came totally out of nowhere, you would be very wrong. Longtime X-Men scribe Scott Lobdell told a Danish website back in 1996 that Chris Claremont had intended for this to be Nightcrawler’s origin story when he was writing Uncanny X-Men in the 1980s into the early 1990s, but Marvel editorial wouldn’t approve such a story. Kudos to Spurrier, Santos, and To for making this canon going forward.

16. Magneto and Storm defeat Uranos in A.X.E.: Judgment Day #4 by Kieron Gillen and Valerio Schiti

The “Judgment Day” event makes its second appearance on this list. Uranos had previously committed genocide against the mutants of Arakko, and he was under the impression that Arakko was taken off the board altogether in the Eternals’ war against mutants. He was mistaken. A mortally wounded Magneto supercharged by Storm‘s electrical powers goes toe-to-toe with the mad Eternal as he sets out to continue his genocide against all sentient life on Earth. While even these two Omegas aren’t enough to bring down Uranos, it does distract him long enough for Tony Stark to hack his war machines and turn them against him to knock him out of the fight. What makes this such a memorable moment is what happens next. Magneto, dying in Storm’s arms, has the opportunity to reach out to Xavier and have himself quickly resurrected after he dies. Instead he chooses to finally rest. The entire thing is narrated over by an omniscient Celestial god who remarks, “If all were like him, there would be no need for men like him.” That’s just a fancy way of saying that Magneto was right. Boom! Confirmation from a cosmic god!

15. Storm versus Vulcan: Round Two in X-Men Red #10 by Al Ewing and Stefano Caselli

The first ten or so issues of X-Men Red can be characterized as an ideological war between Abigail Brand’s X-Men and Storm’s Brotherhood of Mutants on Arakko. Brand views Arakko as little more than something to be exploited for her imperialist goals. Storm views Arakko as a nation that should be allowed to thrive and practice its own self-determination. Brand tries to manipulate and exploit Vulcan into being her primary enforcer. He’s an Omega with energy manipulation abilities and some serious anger management issues. Brand plans to use his royal heritage (he was once the Shi’ar Emperor) to gain a foothold in galactic geopolitics. He and Storm briefly tangled in X-Men Red #2 where Storm scored an easy victory over a compromised Vulcan. X-Men Red #10 is the rematch, and this time Vulcan is at the peak of his powers. Storm is entirely on the defensive for the majority of the fight as the narcissistic Vulcan boasts and taunts her. Unfortunately for him, Storm was just letting him burn himself out. Once she saw an opening, she brought him to his knees with a powerful storm that she summoned with the aid of three of her allies (Wrongslide, Sobunar, and Lodus Logos). He’s then encased in the mystical metal called mysterium where he would remain. For as powerful as Vulcan is, he’s too selfish to ever truly work within the constraints of a team dynamic. Storm has no such issues, and she used that to put an end to his would-be tyranny.

14. Phoenix defeats Enigma in Rise of the Powers of X #5 by Kieron Gillen and Luciano Vecchio

The final issue of the Krakoa Era ends with one last standout moment. Jean Grey, once again possessed by the cosmic might of the Phoenix, prepares for a final battle with Enigma. Rather than stay and fight, Enigma leads Phoenix on a chase throughout time and space as he attempts to alter key moments in time that would prevent the Phoenix from ever existing and being able to stop him. Phoenix is able to burn away these changes as they happen no matter how minor they might seem. Phoenix eventually catches up to Enigma (thanks to some assistance from Xavier and Moira), and they engage in the fight to end all fights. Phoenix is able to come out on top by summoning the souls of every X-Man who has ever existed or will exist throughout the multiverse and delivers a final blow that shatters Enigma into an infinite number of moments of eternal anguish. Hell yeah.

13. The true identity of Doctor Stasis is revealed in X-Men (2021) #11 by Gerry Duggan and Pepe Larraz

I love a shocking identity reveal in comics, and this is one of the best of the Krakoa Era. When Jonathan Hickman left X-Men in 2021, the series was rebooted with Gerry Duggan as the new writer. One of the new villains to appear at this time was a mysterious geneticist named Doctor Stasis who always wore a helmet that completely concealed his identity. This figure was working closely with Orchis to find a way to exterminate mutantkind. He finally squares off with Cyclops in X-Men #11, and his helmet is shattered by one of Scott’s optic blasts. With his face finally exposed, we find out that Doctor Stasis is none other than…Mister Sinister?! While he certainly looks like Sinister, there is a key difference between Stasis and the Sinister we all know and loathe: instead of a red diamond on his forehead, there is a black club (like the suit in a deck of playing cards). This would eventually lead to the reveal that there are four Sinister systems in the world (signified by diamonds, clubs, hearts, and spades). It’s a shocking reveal that really builds upon the lore of one of the X-Men’s greatest villains.

12. Magneto kills Tarn in X-Men Red #3 by Al Ewing and Stefano Caselli

This was the moment when I realized that X-Men Red was destined to become one of my favorite ongoing comic book series of all time. Tarn the Uncaring was a villain introduced by Zeb Wells and Carmen Carnero in Hellions #6 as a foil for Mister Sinister. He’s an Omega mutant/daemon hybrid from Arakko with a similar obsession with mutant genetics, but that extends to his actual mutant power which is psychokinetic biological manipulation. In other words, he can telepathically control and manipulate DNA. He serves on Arakko’s Great Ring governing body despite being loathed and hated by the vast majority of Arakko’s population. The only way to remove a member of the Great Ring is via single combat, and no one has been able to defeat him since his ascent to the Great Ring centuries ago. Abigail Brand, desperate to gain more influence over Arakko, has Vulcan challenge Tarn for his seat. Vulcan uses his energy manipulation powers at the same time that Tarn uses his biological manipulation powers, and the two essentially depower each other. Tarn proves to be more formidable than Vulcan when both are powerless, and he beats him to death with his bare hands. Tarn asks the crowd if anyone else would like to face him, and Magneto accepts the challenge. Tarn, regaining his powers, accepts the challenge expecting a quick fight. He’s correct, but it isn’t in the way he expects. Magneto quickly plants his own helmet on Tarn’s head. Magneto correctly deduced that Tarn’s powers are telepathic in nature, so he won’t be able to use them so long as Magneto’s helmet is securely fitted around his head. Before Tarn can yield, Magneto crumples his own helmet like an empty beer can with Tarn’s skull inside. As Magneto floats above Tarn’s lifeless corpse, he declares that he will be assuming his seat on the Great Ring. Metal as hell.

11. The resurrection of Destiny in Inferno #1 by Jonathan Hickman and Valerio Schiti

Destiny is one of the truly great X-Men characters to come out of Claremont’s sixteen year run on Uncanny X-Men. She’s a mutant with precognitive abilities that allow her to see potential future timelines. She’s also co-leader of the Brotherhood of Mutants (later renamed Freedom Force) along with her wife Mystique during that time. She’s Nightcrawler’s biological mother, and she’s Rogue’s adoptive mother along with Mystique. Her impact is massive. She was ultimately killed off in 1989’s Uncanny X-Men #255 by Claremont and Marc Silvestri, and she miraculously (by comic book standards) stayed dead. It’s very rare for a character that prominent and influential to stay off the board. When the Krakoa Era kicked off with the promise that dead mutants would now be brought back, it seemed like a no-brainer that Destiny would return. Those hopes were dashed when Moira specifically instructed Xavier and Magneto that Destiny (nor any other mutant precog) could be resurrected. The implied reasoning was that it had to do with Moira’s many lives, but there was also the fact that Destiny had been responsible for one of Moira’s deaths because of her ability to see what Moira was looking for a mutant “cure” in that life. This issue becomes even more complicated when Xavier and Magneto promise Mystique that they’ll resurrect her wife in exchange for going on dangerous missions on their behalf. Eventually Moira determines that things are getting out of hand, and she asks Xavier and Magneto to destroy Destiny’s mental backups to prevent her from ever being resurrected. Imagine their surprise when Destiny waltzes into a meeting of the Quiet Council alive and well. Turns out that Mystique used her shapeshifting abilities to trick numerous other mutants into giving her what she needed to bring back her wife.

10. Xavier and Magneto versus Nimrod and Omega Sentinel in Inferno #4 by Jonathan Hickman, Valerio Schiti, and Stefano Caselli

Inferno #4 marked Jonathan Hickman’s departure from the X-Men line, and he went out with a bang. The setup for this clash of the titans is Moira has been abducted. Xavier and Magneto assume that the anti-mutant fascist organization Orchis is responsible (can’t blame them), but the truth is that Mystique and Destiny are the two who nabbed her. While those two end up depowering her, Xavier and Magneto are left face-to-face with Nimrod and Omega Sentinel along with a contingent of Orchis soldiers. In a bit of a callback to Powers of X #2, Nimrod and Omega Sentinel immediately massacre all of their human allies because they are utterly insignificant and beneath them. As Nimrod says, “This battle is for titans—those of consequence. And you? It’s as though you are not even here…” Cold blooded. Then the fight commences, and it’s one of the coolest fights I’ve seen in a comic book. It’s just four of the most powerful beings on the planet trading haymakers. Magneto uses the satellite trick he pulled against the Cotati, Xavier unleashes the most powerful psionic blast imaginable, and Nimrod and Omega Sentinel just keep coming. Eventually both sides reach a standoff. Nimrod has Xavier in his clutches, and Magneto has Omega Sentinel in his. Nimrod wants to do a prisoner swap, but Magneto wants blood (or wires I guess?). Xavier telepathically convinces Magneto to stand down so they can find Moira (who they don’t realize is nowhere near these mechanical monsters). Magneto relents, and Nimrod immediately kills Xavier. Damn it, Charles. Always ruining everything. Magneto actually holds his own against the two technological gods until Omega Sentinel momentarily depowers him. This allows Nimrod to deliver the fatal blow. Both are quickly resurrected by Emma Frost. As I mentioned, this is a spectacular battle. The dialogue is outstanding, and the artwork by Schiti (with colors by David Curiel) is out of this world. The biggest issue with it is this feels like the climax of the Krakoa Era in a lot of ways when it’s not even the halfway point. I always felt like this was just the first round of the fight between these four characters, and I figured we’d get the rematch at the end of the Krakoa Era. Alas, this would end up being the only time that these four would be in the same place at the same time during the entire run.

9. The Crucible in X-Men (2019) #7 by Jonathan Hickman and Leinil Yu

This is easily the most controversial and divisive issue of Hickman and Yu’s run on X-Men. Regardless of how you feel about it, it’s bound to elicit an emotional response. The issue deals with a ceremony on Krakoa called Crucible. The idea is born out of this: any dead mutant is put into a queue to be resurrected. Because of the Decimation following the “House of M” storyline in 2005, around a million mutants have lost their powers. If one of these depowered mutants dies, they can now be resurrected with their powers back. If a million mutants all simultaneously kill themselves in order to get their powers back, it would overwhelm the queues for the resurrection protocols. So how do you avoid this situation? Crucible is the answer. A depowered mutant can enter the Crucible ceremony where they are forced into a one-on-one fight to the death against Apocalypse. They aren’t allowed to just kneel down and be killed. They have to fight with everything they have and earn their death. The person we see participate in this issue is Aero (Melody Guthrie, the teenage sister of Cannonball and Husk) whose power previously was flight. Now this tiny girl is going to fight to the death against a behemoth standing seven feet tall and weighing over three hundred pounds carrying a sword that’s bigger than she is. I’m saying they are in slightly different weight classes. The fight is about as horrific as you would expect (with her friends and family watching in abject terror). Apocalypse gives her a few opportunities to gracefully bow out, but she fights to the bitter end. She is quickly resurrected after Apocalypse delivers the killing blow, and she ascends into the sky for all to see. It’s an incredible issue. It juxtaposes unconscionable violence with borderline religious imagery when she regains her powers. It’s meant to make the reader uncomfortable and question the morality of what they just read. It’s the kind of deep philosophical and thought provoking story that made the Krakoa Era so special.

8. Mutants go to Davos in X-Men (2019) #4 by Jonathan Hickman and Leinil Yu

X-Men #4 from Hickman and Yu is a comic book I never in a million years thought I would one day read. It’s a pretty straightforward story. A mutant contingent from Krakoa featuring Xavier, Magneto, and Apocalypse (with Cyclops and Gorgon serving as their security detail) travel to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland to meet with other global leaders and set the agenda for global socioeconomic stability in the world. This is a superhero comic. For those unaware, the World Economic Forum is a real thing. In fact, this issue was actually timed to be released while the real World Economic Forum was taking place. There are some really fun moments in this issue. Cyclops and Gorgon take down a special forces team the Americans sent to eliminate the mutant delegation, Xavier removes his Cerebro helmet in public for the first time to convey his sincerity, and Apocalypse tells everyone that he’s singlehandedly responsible for ending the Bronze Age. But the highlight is Magneto explaining exactly what Krakoa’s foreign policy is while eating dinner. It’s the moment that lets the rest of the world know that this isn’t the same old superhero shenanigans they’re used to. Krakoa is building its economic power by selling miracle drugs to the various countries in the world. It’s something that most countries simply can’t pass up. Once Krakoa has successfully become an economic superpower, it will proceed to crush anti-mutant movements abroad by making those movements economically isolated and unviable. Will bigotry still exist? Sure. But these people will no longer find patronage from the governments of world powers. They will be undone by their own capitalist greed. This issue more than any other really signified how different this era of X-Men comics would be from previous iterations. Magneto isn’t going to be challenging world governments with hijacked nuclear warheads. He’s going to crush them via statecraft.

7. Magneto’s speech in House of X #1 by Jonathan Hickman and Pepe Larraz

“You have new gods now.” That’s the closing line from the first issue of House of X in 2019 that would launch the Krakoa Era. It’s from a speech delivered by Magneto to a group of diplomats from the various global powers like the United States, China, Russia, France, and the United Kingdom. It comes after Magneto gives them a tour of Krakoa’s Jerusalem Habitat. Krakoa (the sentient mutant island) is able to grow flowers that can be transported to various locations and grow either a habitat or a gate. The habitat here serves as an embassy. The flowers that grow gates are essentially transportation devices that allow mutants to pass through them and be transported immediately back to Krakoa and vice versa. Only mutants are able to pass through gates. Magneto is explaining all of this to the diplomats when it is discovered that the American ambassador has a gun, and he is affiliated with some black ops organizations that he doesn’t want the mutants to know about (almost certainly Orchis, but it’s never spelled out). Magneto quickly and easily disarms him, and then he launches into his speech. He lets them know that he knows they are all wolves in sheep’s clothing, but it ultimately doesn’t matter. The world has changed now thanks to the founding of Krakoa. The power balance has shifted, and mutants are the ones in a position of strength for the very first time. He lets the diplomats know that he chose Jerusalem for his little demonstration because he knows how much religious symbolism means to humanity. That’s when he delivers that now immortal line. “You have new gods now.”

6. The Five are introduced in House of X #5 by Jonathan Hickman and Pepe Larraz

One of the most brilliant moves Hickman made when taking over the X-Men line with his position as Head of X was taking death off the table. A common complaint about superhero comics (and X-Men comics in particular) is that characters die all the time and are then brought back to life later whenever a new creative team wants to use them. It cheapens the character’s death and removes the emotional impact when you know they’ll be right back in a year or two. Hickman took that common complaint and turned it into a strength. What if the characters themselves knew they would be resurrected immediately after dying? How would that alter their behavior? How would it alter the experience for the reader? It’s a very clever idea that opens up plenty of new storytelling opportunities, but how do you make it possible within the confines of the universe these characters inhabit? That’s where The Five come in. The Five are five different mutants (all previously established) whose powers work in concert to bring dead mutants back to life. The first is Goldballs, a mutant whose power is generating gold colored balls. Seriously. Turns out those leathery gold balls are actually eggs. They’re just empty vessels that don’t really serve any purpose. That’s where Proteus comes in. Proteus (Moira’s son) is an Omega with reality warping powers. He’s able to alter reality so that the eggs become viable for birthing living beings. Next the egg is injected with the DNA of a deceased mutant (taken from a storage center belonging to Mister Sinister). After that, the mutant Elixir uses his biokinetic powers to kickstart the DNA into becoming an embryo. Then the mutant Tempus uses her time-altering powers to artificially age the embryo into adulthood. Lastly, Hope uses her power manipulation abilities to perfectly synchronize the powers of The Five so that they all work perfectly in unison and produce a 100% success rate. Once the egg hatches, Xavier uses his portable Cerebro helmet that stores the mental essence of every mutant mind in the galaxy to reinsert the soul (for lack of a better word) back into the body that was just created. All of that mutant’s memories up to the point of death are now back within this new body.

5. Cyclops gives his speech in defense of Krakoa in House of X #1 by Jonathan Hickman and Pepe Larraz

As much as I love Magneto and the speech he gives at the end of House of X #1, I know that he just isn’t the person who is going to convince most readers that this new status quo is legitimate. Too many people (both characters and readers) will always view him as a villain and view anything he says with distrust. It’s unavoidable. Scott Summers, on the other hand, is someone casual fans and superheroes alike are going to pay attention to. He’s a founding member of the X-Men, and he has long been Xavier’s most loyal soldier. Prior to his speech, we see a strike team of Mystique, Toad, and Sabretooth break into a Damage Control facility to steal some data on behalf of Xavier and Magneto (we learn later that it has to do with what Orchis is doing in order to prevent them from creating Nimrod). As they try to escape, the Fantastic Four show up to take them down. Mystique and Toad escape through a Krakoan gate, but Sabretooth is captured. It’s at this point that Cyclops shows up. He makes some polite conversation with the Fantastic Four, congratulates Ben Grimm on his recent marriage, and informs them that he’ll be taking Sabretooth with him because all mutants have amnesty on Krakoa. Unsurprisingly, this doesn’t sit well with the Fantastic Four! Cyclops backs off and says they can deal with it another time. Sue Storm then asks what Xavier and other mutants are thinking with the founding of their own nation-state. That’s what prompts Cyclops to give his now iconic speech.

My family has spent our entire lives hunted and hated. The world has told me that I was less when I knew I was more.

Did you honestly think that we were going to sit around forever and take it?

It perfectly encapsulates this new era and why it felt so necessary.

4. The many lives of Moira X in House of X #2 by Jonathan Hickman and Pepe Larraz

This was arguably the biggest and most shocking retcon in the history of comic book retcons. Moira MacTaggert was introduced by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum all the way back in 1975’s Uncanny X-Men #96 as the X-Men’s most dedicated human ally. All of that changed in House of X #2 from Hickman and Larraz. This issue revealed that Moira has actually been a secret mutant this entire time. Her mutant power just happens to be reincarnation with a twist. When Moira dies, the entire universe is blinked out of existence and begins anew with Moira as a fetus inside her mother’s womb with the memories of everything she has experienced in her past lives. Wild, right? Her first life was pretty simple. She had no idea she was a mutant, and she lived a long and happy life before dying of natural causes. Then she is suddenly reborn in the womb with all of her memories intact. As she ages, she begins trying to understand what she is. She sees Charles Xavier on television, and she realizes that she is a mutant. She books a flight from Scotland to the United States to meet him, and the plane crashes. Bad luck. Moira’s third life goes a bit better. She successfully flies to the United States this time and meets Xavier, and she finds him insufferable. I get it, Moira. She abandons him and his dream to work on developing a “cure” for mutants. Shockingly, she succeeds. Before she’s able to do anything about it, Destiny shows up with her Brotherhood of Mutants. She is able to understand Moira’s mutant abilities because of her precognitive powers. She tells Moira that she will only get a maximum of ten lives (eleven if she’s lucky) before she lives a life where she dies before her mutant powers kick in (mutant gifts traditionally don’t manifest until puberty). If she dies before then, there will be no reincarnation. She tells Moira that if she ever tries to develop a cure again, Destiny will find her. She then has Pyro burn her alive. Slowly. Moira spends her fourth life deciding to give Xavier another chance, and the two end up falling in love. They end up living in a timeline very similar to the one that has existed in main Marvel continuity before Sentinels show up and massacre them. In her fifth life, Moira runs off to meet Xavier about a decade earlier and reveals her previous lives to him. They end up founding a mutant society secluded from the rest of mankind with the intent to hide from potential enemies. It doesn’t work. Sentinels show up and massacre them anyway. We don’t get to see Moira’s sixth life in this issue, but it obviously doesn’t go well because she gets a seventh where she has become completely radicalized (read Powers of X #6 for insight into her sixth life). She decides to go around the world and assassinate every member of the Trask bloodline (Bolivar Trask invents Sentinels) to prevent Sentinels from ever being created. It doesn’t work. Hickman proposes that artificial intelligence is something that is discovered when society progresses to a certain point rather than being invented. Sentinels show up anyway and kill Moira. Moira’s eighth life goes in an even more radical direction. She cuts Xavier out of the equation altogether and goes to Magneto instead. She shows him all of her previous lives and how mutants are always persecuted and exterminated. Magneto attempts to launch a preemptive strike on humanity in response, but they are defeated by the X-Men and the rest of the world’s superheroes. Moira ultimately dies in a failed prison escape attempt. Moira was getting desperate by her ninth life knowing she was running out of chances according to what Destiny had told her. She decides to avoid both Xavier and Magneto, and she links up with Apocalypse instead. This life seems to be more successful until Nimrod comes online. Suddenly mutant dominance is replaced with a Human-Machine Monolith. This is the life that ultimately ends with Nimrod killing Apocalypse and Moira allowing Wolverine to kill her so she can take her knowledge with her to her tenth life. That tenth life is where we are at the start of the Krakoa Era. It is the traditional Marvel Universe that we have all known and loved. All of these experiences are what convince Xavier, Magneto, and Apocalypse that they need to put their differences aside and work together if mutants are ever going to have a chance to survive.

3. The final battle between Krakoa and Arakko/Amenth in X of Swords: Destruction #1 by Tini Howard, Jonathan Hickman, and Pepe Larraz

This is the best full scale battle between superheroes and supervillains depicted in a comic book. Full stop. It just escalates and escalates throughout the course of the issue until it reaches its climax. The sides are the mutants of Krakoa (led by Apocalypse) and their allies against Genesis (the wife of Apocalypse and leader of Arakko) who is possessed by a daemonic entity called Annihilation and her combined army of Arakki mutants and daemons from the realm of Amenth. Each time one side appears to have an advantage, reinforcements arrive to swing the battle. First comes the recently reformed Captain Britain Corps to give the Krakoans the boost they need to gain an advantage. Then the Summoners of Arakko summon a host of behemoth Lovecraftian monstrosities to shift things back in their favor. That’s followed by Jean Grey arriving with a team of X-Men composed of hundreds of mutants to put the Krakoans back on top. Then Genesis/Annihilation summon even bigger and nastier monsters from Amenth to give themselves the advantage. That leads Magik to open up a portal to a dead dimension where all life had been exterminated by a legion of locust-like devourers to swarm in and attack the mutants and daemons of Arakko and Amenth. Sensing an opportunity to strike, Apocalypse ambushes his wife and rips the possessed mask of Annihilation from her and wears it instead. Instead of bending to the will of Annihilation, he bends its will to his own and commands the hordes of Amenth to surrender. It’s a phenomenal battle that takes up a whopping forty-three pages. Pepe Larraz’s illustrations with Marte Gracia’s colors have never looked better. It’s a perfect five stars out of five comic book for me, and it’s one of the most satisfying final issues of an event that I’ve ever read.

2. Xavier and Magneto reflect on their achievements in House of X #6 by Jonathan Hickman and Pepe Larraz

The one constant throughout X-Men comics for the entirety of their history is that the mutants never win. No matter how many times the X-Men save a world that hates and fears them, they remain hated and feared and persecuted. Nothing they do ever changes that calculus. That’s what makes the final pages of House of X #6 so memorable. The mutant nation-state of Krakoa has been founded, all mutants are welcome there, and everyone is celebrating (aside from Apocalypse who sits in quiet contemplation because he’s like 5,000 years old and up past his bedtime). Among all of the celebrations are Xavier and Magneto standing on the edge of a cliff as fireworks explode overhead. These two lifelong friends and occasional enemies have finally brought their two dreams together and given their people a sense of hope and safety that has eluded them for decades. It’s a moment of triumph that permeates the Krakoa Era for the majority of its publication. “Just look at what we have made.” That quote comes from Magneto, but it could have been uttered by any of the creators who worked on these comics over the last several years. It’s an incredible accomplishment.

1. The hour of Magneto begins in X-Men Red #5 by Al Ewing and Stefano Caselli

It should come as no surprise that my favorite/most memorable moment from the Krakoa Era is one involving Magneto. This issue in particular is arguably the greatest moment Magneto has ever had in any medium. This issue fleshes out the details of the heinous attack committed by Uranos that was touched upon in A.X.E.: Judgment Day #1. The genocidal Eternal manifests seemingly out of thin air on Arakko to begin his assault. The first line of defense is Magneto, Cable, Lodus Logos, Xilo, Ora Serrata, and Abigail Brand. Ora Serrata is taken down almost immediately. Magneto goes on the offensive to try and buy as much time as possible for everyone to find safe passage. He immediately clocks Uranos as a genocidal madman and tells him that he’s everything he has ever fought against. Uranos responds by immediately punching his hand through Magneto’s chest and ripping out his heart. It should be noted that Magneto had just had all of his mental backups in Cerebro deleted in the previous issue to better ingratiate himself among the Arakki. In other words, his death will be permanent. After Magneto falls, Uranos moves to Cable and kills him instantly with an energy blast. He then moves to Xilo whom he severely wounds but does not kill (Xilo is actually a colony of numerous living creatures, so Uranos does not quite understand what it entails to actually kill them). He then quickly kills Brand as she tries run away. Great work, Brand. As his hour of work comes to a close, it is revealed that Uranos has exterminated 98% of all life within a fifty-mile radius. There is nothing but charred corpses for as far as the eye can see as he exits Arakko. Miraculously, it is revealed that both Xilo and Lodus Logos have survived. Xilo had hidden Lodus Logos by covering him in tendrils from the colony of creatures that Uranos failed to account for. Most miraculously of all, Magneto is revealed to have survived having his heart ripped out. He’s using his magnetic powers to control the iron in his blood and force it to continue pumping through his body. The man is simply too full of righteous anger to allow himself to die. If a better depiction of everything that makes Magneto such a badass exists, then I haven’t seen it. The image of him standing there without a heart and full of rage as drawn by Stefano Caselli has become the first image that comes to mind when I hear Magneto’s name. It’s a perfect distillation of why I love that character so much.

While I’m sad that the Krakoa Era is ending, I’m mostly just thankful that it happened at all. It elevated mainstream superhero comics to a level that I honestly never would have thought possible. I have no doubt that I will revisit often. Thanks so much to everyone who made it possible, and I look forward to seeing what’s next for these characters that I hold so dear.