A major X-Men leader might have just found another reason to rebel against the Quiet Council, further fanning flames of conflict on Krakoa.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Hellions #8 by Zeb Wells, Stephen Segovia, David Curiel & VC’s Ariana Maher, on sale now.
The X-Men have been largely united with their greatest enemies in the era of Krakoa. But things have been taking a turn in recent months, with the Quiet Council losing members and figure-heads turning against each other in the process. Along the way, one major former X-Man has been shown to be growing fed up with Krakoa — and recent events likely just added to the brewing fire.
In Hellions #8, Havok successfully made a friend with one of the Smiley-Face robots right before they were wiped out — potentially giving the already upset Hellion more motivation to actively rebel against Krakoa.
Havok has established over the years as a formidable and committed leader. He’s commanded incarnations of X-Factor, the X-Men, and even the Uncanny Avengers. But he’s also been a bit of a wild card, with the hero occasionally turning against his friends and family — either by choice or by force. Even recently, his relative unpredictability resulted in him almost killing a human during a mission, resulting in him ending up among the Hellions. Any attempt to soothe his emotions on the team have also proven ill-advised, as the missions, the Hellions have been sent on have only exasperated things: their battle with Madelyne Pryor led to Havok being forced to watch her die — and then deal with the realization that the Quiet Council refused to resurrect her.
Meanwhile, his mission into Arakko left Havok without his hands and missing an eye — only to be murdered by Sinister as soon as he returned to Krakoa, forcing his resurrection without any memory of what happened to him. Now, perhaps the most heartbreaking blow has come to the mutant. While fighting Cameron Hodge, the Smiley-Faces are able to — with the help of Empath breaking Hodge’s spirit — rebel and destroy the robotic duplicate of the classic X-Men villain. This gives robots their own sense of freedom, and they decide not to redesignate mutants not as enemies, but as potential allies. One of the Smiley-Faces talks to Havok and admits they’ll soon”differentiate” from humanity, letting them forge their own future. Havok endorses the idea, comparing it to the mutants beginning Krakoa.