This article contains spoilers for S.W.O.R.D. #7.
The X-Men have unwittingly unleashed Marvel’s Last Annihilation – providing an opening for Dormammu to invade their dimension in force. The rise of Krakoa can only be described as the Golden Age of Mutantkind. Heroes and villains alike have been welcomed to the living island’s shores, where they have been invited to be part of a new civilization. Mutants have already learned how to use their powers in synergy, conquering death and terraforming Mars.
Most impressive of all, in a feat they’re still concealing from the universe, the X-Men have conquered creation itself. They’ve learned to synergize mutant powers in order to access the heart of the Multiverse, a realm called the ”mysterium tremendum,” the “elemental cosmic heart,” the “white-hot room of secret fire,” and the “excelso prae omnibus aliis.” There, they have taken a new metal they call mysterium, a substance better than adamantium or vibranium, which has dazzled galactic powers with its properties and has even become a new galactic currency by default.
There’s just one problem; the X-Men have absolutely no idea what they’re doing. It seems they’re not the first people to visit the mysterium tremendum; it was discovered by Doctor Doom, but he was wary of meddling with it. “Be careful,” Doctor Doom cautions Storm in Al Ewing and Stefano Caselli’s S.W.O.R.D. #7. “You are dabblers — and in this arena, at this scale, the unintended consequences of dabbling can be severe. The wrong symbol or metaphor can destroy you. You have turned the gold the alchemists sought into common coin — shackled the sublime to the material world. And thus… you have altered the balance of things.” In Doom’s view, the X-Men have opened a window of opportunity for forces beyond their ken, and he senses that something is coming.
Doctor Doom is right. The X-Men are meddling with forces they cannot possibly understand, and they have no way of knowing the consequences. In their naivete, in their pride, the X-Men believed they could steal fire from the gods without consequence – and they are wrong. They have created an imbalance in the universe that the Dread Dormammu has used to launch a full-scale invasion on this plane of reality. Worse still, though the X-Men may be supremely confident in their ability to put matters right, they are not the ones who will pay the price; already Mindless Ones are invading countless worlds across the galaxy, as Dormammu attempts to extend his reign and rule. Already untold millions will have died.
Doctor Doom offers to tell the X-Men what he knows of mysterium. But Storm, representing the mutant race, arrogantly dismisses his offer, refusing to allow herself to be in Doom’s debt. It is likely she will have cause to regret her impulsive decision because Dormammu’s forces will gain an even stronger beachhead on this plane of existence in the time it takes the X-Men to learn what Doom already knew.
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