Although Krakoa’s resurrection protocols have saved dozens of X-Men, one mysterious resurrection could set off a chain of dangerous events.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for X-Factor #7 by Leah Williams, David Baldeon, Israel Silva & VC’s Joe Caramagna, on sale now.
The X-Men’s Resurrection Protocols on Krakoa are governed by one rule above all others, and it has caused some problems with many mutants. When a mutant has died, X-Factor is there to prove that the body is dead. If there is no proof of a dead body, the mutant is not allowed to be resurrected. While that’s caused some trouble and distrust among mutants like Rahne Sinclair, Wolfsbane, who petitioned for the resurrection of her son in New Mutants, before being told that he couldn’t be revived by their rules since they didn’t have a body in hand.
While this might seem like an excessive burden of proof, X-Factor #7 just proved why it was necessary, as it raises the possibility that the young X-Man Prodigy was resurrected before his death was confirmed.
The issue opened with Prodigy annoyed by constant non-stop missed phone calls from his boyfriend, Speed. After almost 100 missed calls, Prodigy finally answered and was frustrated because he didn’t know what was important. Tommy wanted to know how he was resurrected, and Prodigy explained he was one of the people killed during the O.N.E. attack on Xavier’s Institute that killed a bunch of other mutants. Prodigy asked if the information on how he died made Tommy happy so he would quit calling him. Tommy responded by showing up at Prodigy’s apartment. He explained he was calling so much because he had some shocking news. Speed claims that Prodigy didn’t die during the O.N.E. attack because he wasn’t there when it happened. Tommy showed Prodigy a photo that proved he wasn’t there because the two of them were together, and they were making out at the time. Tommy said he didn’t know who took the photo, but it was posted on a social media account, and Prodigy tagged Tommy in the photo.
When a mutant is resurrected, their memories generally come from fairly close to their deaths. That means Prodigy only had memories from before the O*N*E attack and likely doesn’t remember anything about the attack itself or his night with Tommy. At Rahne’s funeral after her murder in 2019’s Uncanny X-Men #17 by Matthew Rosenberg, Carlos Gomez, Guru-eFX, and Joe Caramagna, he can clearly be seen alive and well, attending the funeral service for Wolfsbane.
This could open up a huge problem for Krakoa. If Prodigy was with Speed when the O.N.E. attack killed all those mutants, that means he never died at that moment. Prodigy sent a letter to The Five asking about his resurrection, and Elixir returned a response, mentioning his name was sent along with Rahne and others who died during that time, which featured an usually high number of mutant deaths. However, this was before X-Factor established itself in Krakoa and investigated the dead bodies.
At the time, there was no protocol. The Five brought Prodigy back with the others without proof of death due to Cyclops and Wolverine’s memories of those who died. This could mean that another Prodigy is walking around the Marvel Universe, the original one, and that could present a huge problem if he shows up eventually. With all the mutants resurrected at the start, if there are multiple duplicates out in the real world that the mutants on Krakoa know nothing about, it could change everything.
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