The great Master of Magnetism, Marvel Comics once-villain Magneto, is stepping down from the Quiet Council, the ruling body of the X-Men‘s nation of Krakoa. This was recently confirmed by Keron Gillen, the writer of the upcoming series Immortal X-Men, which spins out of Trial of Magneto and Inferno in the mutants’ new “Destiny of X” era. Gillen said that Erik will be leaving behind his history as one of the co-founders of Krakoa after the intense political drama and intrigue that have plagued the Council since its inception.
Jonathan Hickman’s 2019 relaunch of the X-Men franchise, which took place in the pages of House of X/Powers of X, established that Moira MacTaggert is an immortal mutant whose death triggers the rebirth of the universe every time she dies, leading Moira to discover that in most timelines the mutants always lose. In her 10th life she decides to do the one thing she has never done before, ally herself with both Xavier and Magneto and tell them about her power and their future decades in advance, allowing them to spend years slowly preparing for the founding of the nation of Krakoa. Since its inception Magneto and Charles have acted as the two heads of state, making unilateral decisions for mutantdom and harboring Moira X’s dark secret, at least until the recent Inferno event blew up many of the leaders’ secrets and led to Moira X being exiled from the nation.
Magneto has been through a lot recently, with the entire island of Krakoa, and many of the human superheroes, condemning him for the apparent murder of his daughter Wanda in Trial of Magneto, which turned out to be untru. There was also his horrific death at the hands of Orchis in Inferno, orchestrated by Mystique, which led to Destiny’s resurrection and the reveal of Moira’s secret to the entire Council. Immortal X-Men – written by Kieron Gillen (Die, The Wicked + The Divine) with art by Lucas Werneck (Dawn of X, Trial of Magneto) – will follow each member of the Quiet Council as they adjust to the new status quo, and Gillen has finally officially confirmed that Magneto is officially leaving the Council behind, vacating his current political role. While this does not mean that Magneto is going to stop being a leader of mutants, since he couldn’t even if he tried, it does mean that he is not going to have as direct a hand in the future and development of the nation that he helped to found.
Kieron Gillen gave an exclusive interview to Entertainment Weekly, including a textless preview page, and this is what he had to say:
“Now that I’m in the X-office, I do my meta bulls— and I describe Jonathan as Magneto and the X-office as his Brotherhood of Mutants trying to fight for a better way of comics existing,” Gillen says. “Of course, my series starts off with Magneto leaving the Quiet Council. It’s not deliberately meta, that bit, but it certainly works.”
“I like Machiavellian characters with plans,” Gillen says. “I hadn’t watched Succession when I started writing Immortal, but Succession has a lot of Immortal in it. I’d love to do an homage cover from behind Magneto’s chair.”
The preview page Marvel Comics shared shows a visibly upset Magneto storming out of the Council chambers after a Council vote and a screaming match with Emma Frost, with Exodus throwing a temper tantrum in the background. With Gillen very deliberately saying that Immortal X-Men starts with “Magneto leaving the Quiet Council” and not “Magneto stepping down from the Quiet Council,” and the vote that takes place on page, the questions remains if Magneto is leaving because he is done with the politics of Krakoa, or if because he is being forced out. Emma Frost is one of the main reasons that Destiny was resurrected, Charles and Erik were killed, and Moira’s secret was spilled. Now Emma is firmly positioning herself as the new co-leader of Krakoa alongside Xavier, so it is no surprise to see she has been pulled into Magneto’s departure.
Magneto will be joining Sunspot and Storm in the upcoming X-Men Red series, which will see the three of them fighting for control of the planet Arakko against Vulcan, Tarn the Uncaring, and S.W.O.R.D. Commander Abigail Brand. Clearly Magneto still cares deeply about mutantdom, and the Krakoan Dream they have so successfully built, but perhaps he has realized he needs a long break from the drama and political intrigue of the Quiet Council… and what better way to do that than to move to Mars? Make sure to pick up Immortal X-Men #1 by Marvel Comics when it debuts on March 30th, 2022 to see the truth behind Magneto leaving his seat on the Quiet Council.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
About The Author