The final issue of Way of X just demonstrated why telepaths are so vital to the X-Men’s new way of life, literally providing a lifeline to Krakoa.
WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Way of X #5, available now from Marvel Comics.
The Resurrection Protocols are the greatest resource Krakoa has, since they allow its mutant citizens to achieve something close to immortality. But they don’t make the nation or its people completely invulnerable. One of the weaknesses of the life-altering system is how closely it is tied to Professor Charles Xavier’s mutant abilities, and it has often seemed like this system would fall apart without Xavier’s talents.
However, Way of X #5, by Si Spurrier, Bob Quinn, Java Tartaglia, VC’s Clayton Cowles, and Tom Muller, proves that this is not the case, when a handful of powerful telepaths standing in for the professor to successfully resurrect a large group of mutants, including Xavier himself.
Early in the current volume of X-Force, Charles was killed in an assassination attempt by anti-mutant terrorists. Although Jean Grey and Beast were ultimately able to resurrect him in a new body, there was fear that if they were unsuccessful, the Resurrection Protocols would have been rendered useless. Professor Xavier plays a vital role in the resurrection process, transferring the memories of the dead mutants stored in Cerebro into their new cloned bodies. Many believed up until this point that only the professor’s skill and power level made this possible, and it was something that even a veteran telepath like Jean Grey struggled to do.
Way of X #5 reemphasized that other telepaths can play that part, although it is also made clear that they must possess a certain degree of power in order to do so. After a psychic confrontation involving Onslaught, 63 Krakoans, including Charles himself, were killed. Jean, Emma Frost and Exodus were later seen using Cerebro helmets to help resurrect the dead.
Jean and Exodus and are classified as both Omega-level mutants, and Jean and Emma have both been called Omega-Level Telepaths, which means all three of these mutants have one of the most skilled minds in the world. Although he hasn’t been officially called an Omega-Level telepath, he certainly seems to fall into the vague parameters that determine who falls under that label.
The suggestion that Omega telepaths are generally capable of occupying Charles’ role in the Resurrection Protocols is good for Krakoa as it potentially reduces Charles’ power over the nation. Since Krakoa was formed the Professor has been acting increasingly suspicious and corrupt. Way of X exacerbated this by showing that he has also come under Onslaught’s influence, which is also spreading to other mutants through the resurrection process. Unfortunately, only David is fully aware of this, and he has been deemed an outcast whose word is hardly believed by any other mutants.
It would be of great benefit to Krakoa if Xavier’s monopoly on resurrection and Cerebro was ended especially considering the fact that he may be compromised. Unfortunately, the mutants don’t seem ready to take this authority away from the professor yet, as indicated when Emma asked Charles to get back involved with the process as soon as he awoke. Hopefully, the mutants of Krakoa will come to the realization that they need to take control of this situation before it’s too late.
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