WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Hellions #11 by Zeb Wells, Stephen Segovia, David Curiel, & VC’s Ariana Maher, on sale now
The X-Men have been trying to make a new place in the world with Krakoa, an evolution of what a nation can — and should — be. But despite their best efforts, there are still villains out there who will find ways to either bend the rules or, barring that, outright ignore them. But as the seminal Wolverine villain Sabretooth found out first-hand, those particular types of crimes do not pay in Krakoa.
In Hellions #11, Mastermind and the second Mastermind, his daughter, just broke Krakoa’s cardinal rule against killing humans and may have found a way to get away with it.
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The law against killing humans is one of the chief decrees of Krakoa. It’s one of the three laws decided on by the Quiet Council, as a means of both appeasing the more noble elements of the ruling body and as an attempt to elevate mutant-kind above the petty whims that have long caused friction between mutants and humanity. Breaking that law is considered a capital crime of Krakoa — with the punishment being “exile” by being consumed by Krakoa and held in stasis until the Quiet Council decides otherwise. While there has been some debate over the issue — with Fabian Cortez openly arguing against it and Magneto pointing out there might need to be some discussion of the nature of manslaughter and negligence versus murder — it’s remained a constant on the island.
This is what makes it so surprising to see two mutants so flagrantly ignore the law. To be fair, Mastermind and Mastermind II are already taking part in some shady activities when the event happens. Mastermind has been secretly working with Mister Sinister in Hellions, with the elder villain “betraying” Sinister and the Hellions to Arcade. Forced into one of Arcade’s Murderworlds traps, Sinister was forced to craft a cloning farm for Arcade’s use, as the younger Mastermind played the kidnapped victim. But as Psylocke discovered when she broke free of the Murderworld, this was all an act. In reality, Mastermind had gotten the chance to take control of Arcade, convincing his employees to work with him, sparing Mastermind II’s life and revealing that this was all so that Sinister could effectively create an off-the-books cloning lab, away from the prying eyes (and morals) of Krakoa.
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To further ensure their secret is kept close to the chest, Mastermind promptly orders his daughter to kill the human who’d betrayed Arcade — which Mastermind II casually and quickly does. This means that the father/daughter pair just maliciously and purposefully killed a human. While there can be some argument made for other human killings Maxime and Manon committed in New Mutants given the circumstances of other young mutants being threatened by the criminal humans in question, it’s clear that Mastermind and Mastermind II could have spared the human but instead decided that a quick murder was enough to end things right then and there. The only witnesses to the crime are Sinister — who’s more than okay with this turn of events — and Psylocke, who has shed plenty of blood in her life as the assassin Kwannon.
But due to Sinister holding Psylocke’s daughter’s consciousness hostage, she has little recourse to inform the Quiet Council about what happened. In essence, Mastermind and his daughter just got away with murder and should be free to return Krakoa no worse for wear. The truth of what they did could give Sinister or Psylocke plenty of ammunition with which they can blackmail the former Brotherhood members, but they would both be more likely to leverage it for use in their own designs.
Ultimately, this incident still speaks to the levels of cruelty that some mutants are still capable of reaching — and that even in the seemingly utopian land of Krakoa, mutants are still finding ways to bring pain and suffering to the world while avoiding almost all consequences for their actions.
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