Marvel Comics‘ Fall of X event sees a former X-Men villain, Exodus, become the mutants’ last hope.
At the third annual Hellfire Gala, the anti-mutant organization known as ORCHIS launched an orchestrated attack against the event’s attendees. Charles Xavier had no choice but to surrender to ORCHIS and was then forced to use his psychic powers to make all of Earth-616’s mutants walk through a gate that was supposed to take them to Arakko.
Charles quickly learned he’d been lied to and that the mutants hadn’t been sent to Arakko but were instead killed. Only a small handful of characters trained to resist Charles’ powers, such as Emma Frost, managed to make it off Krakoa unscathed.
Immortal X-Men #14, however, reveals the true fate of all the mutants who walked through the gate. Rather than being sent through a “meat grinder,” as Charles still currently believes, nearly all of Krakoa’s population was sent to a desert located “nowhere, no-when.”
Exodus is leading Marvel’s mutants to the promised land
Among those now stranded in the desert are Destiny, Hope Summers, and Exodus, the latter of whom decides to seize the moment and appoint himself as a leader.
“We will survive the desert, as I did so long ago,” Exodus bellows to the 250,000 helpless mutants. “We will be transformed, like I was. We are mutant pilgrims. I will lead you to the promised land. Trust me. I have seen this in a vision, long, long ago. We are the people of Krakoa. We only have each other. We have only ever had each other. And whether we live or die, we will live and die together. This way. Follow me.”
Created by Scott Lobdell and Joe Quesada, Exodus debuted in 1993’s X-Factor #92. While Exodus has primarily been a major antagonist to the X-Men, his past transgressions were forgiven when Krakoa was founded. Since then, Exodus was elected to the Quiet Council of Krakoa and played a role in helping Magneto terraform Mars.
Immortal X-Men #14 is written by Kieron Gillen, illustrated by Lucas Werneck, colored by David Curiel and Erick Arciniega, and lettered by VC’s Clayton Cowles. Mark Brooks provides cover art, with variants by Elizabeth Torque and Phil Noto.
Immortal X-Men #14 is on sale now from Marvel Comics.
