Warning: comprises spoilers for Darkish X-Males #2!
The X-Males have a horrifying new Cerebro variant, and it has one big benefit over the unique. Used to pinpoint the situation of mutants, Cerebro has been a significant software for the X-Males over time. Now, with the Fall of X in full swing, the X-Males want all the assistance they will get: enter Madelyne Pryor, who in Darkish X-Males #2 makes use of her Mercy Crown as a souped-up, magical model of the venerable Cerebro.
Darkish X-Males #2 is written by Steve Foxe and drawn by Jonas Scharf. Pryor’s Darkish X-Males staff has simply suffered the lack of Archangel and practically misplaced Havok as effectively. As Havok slowly comes again to his senses, she summons him and the remainder of the Darkish X-Males. She tells the staff there are mutants on the market needing them, and she or he has a software to assist: the Mercy Crown. Pulling the Crown off its mount, Gambit compares it to Cerebro and asks if Professor X is aware of she has one. She brushes him off, calling Cerebro “crude.” She then makes use of the Mercy Crown to start finding mutants to assist.
This yr’s Hellfire Gala will go down as one of many darkest moments within the X-Males’s historical past. The anti-mutant group often known as Orchis staged an assault on the Gala, seemingly killing a lot of Earth’s mutants within the course of. These left behind at the moment are on the run, searching for assist wherever they will discover it. A brand new staff of mutants, together with Havok, Gambit, and Maggott, have rallied round Pryor, forming the Darkish X-Males. The staff is a shot at redemption for Pryor, who has lengthy been portrayed as a villain. Pryor and the Darkish X-Males usually are not sufficient, however the Mercy Crown might degree the enjoying subject.
But there’s a nice potential for darkness within the Mercy Crown. Earlier than Pryor reveals the Crown to the X-Males, a textual content piece talks about Pryor and her ill-begotten life. On the conclusion of the piece, the narrator hints that Pryor utilizing the Mercy Crown might not be in the perfect pursuits of Earth’s mutants, because it has immense damaging energy. The Crown attracts on historic magics, so outdated that almost all have no idea about them. The textual content piece does acknowledge the potential for good within the Mercy Crown but additionally cautions it might wipe out mutants even “extra totally than Orchis might have ever dreamed doable.”
The issues raised by the textual content piece are legitimate, however for now, the Mercy Crown could also be some mutant’s solely hope. Pryor makes use of it for good functions in Darkish X-Males #2, however she could also be unable to withstand its attract for lengthy, succumbing to its darkish magic. The Mercy Crown, in contrast to Cerebro, traffics in souls fairly than psychic impressions, which provides it an enormous benefit over the mutant monitoring software–however it could come at a excessive value for Pryor and the X-Males.
Darkish X-Males #2 is on sale now from Marvel Comics!