WARNING: The following contains spoilers for X Lives of Wolverine #5, now on sale from Marvel Comics.
The mutant nation of Krakoa has proven to be an incredible place for second beginnings, with numerous former villains redeeming themselves and finding a new place in the mutant society. But one villain’s frequent attempts to bring down the entire legacy at the heart of this endeavor just landed him a very bad position.
Wolverine‘s defeat of Omega Red in X Lives of Wolverine #5 (by Benjamin Percy, Joshua Cassara, Frank Martin, and VC’s Cory Petit) is a win for Krakoa, but it also opens the door to conflicting ideas about the future of punishment in the new mutant society.
Omega Red was initially granted the same chance for a new beginning as the rest of Marvel’s mutants. When Krakoa was formed as a mutant nation, the previous transgressions of villainous mutants were forgiven as old grudges were set aside. While former enemies like Apocalypse and Gorgon embraced this new beginning, Omega Red remained in the grasp of the Russian forces operating against Krakoa. First serving as a spy for Dracula, Wolverine and X-Force uncovered his duplicity. But rather than rehabilitate him or condemn him, Beast ordered the Five to resurrect him, and used him as a weapon against the vampires. When the truth of what Krakoa had done to him was uncovered, Omega Red once again defected, this time allying himself with the Russian X-Men villain Mikhail Rasputin.
The machinations of Omega Red and Rasputin plans were recently foiled by Wolverine, with Red paying the ultimate price at the hands (or rather claws) of his longtime foe. But now, Krakoa faces a unique moral dilemma: should Omega Red be revived again? The villain has proven himself a danger to others, even attacking the Five as part of his plans to target Charles Xavier’s family in the past. For all intents and purposes, his revival could simply leave Krakoa exposed to another attack. But a core principle in Krakoa is reviving all the fallen mutants of the past, which theoretically should include Omega Red. While he could be pushed to the back of the resurrection queue (as has been threatened to others in the past) eventually Omega Red will find himself technically eligible for revival, even if he is a traitor to the nation.
It is still possible for the Quiet Council to vote to keep him dead. However, this inherently betrays one of the core principles of Krakoa as an idea, and could be seen as another crack in the flawed mutant nation. But reviving him just to throw him into exile alongside Sabretooth and other mutants who’ve broken the laws of Krakoa seems like a particularly cruel waste, and is akin to reviving someone from death just so they can suffer an even worse fate. The alternative (and one floated by the Five when Beast instructed them to resurrect Omega Red as his pawn in the first place) would be to slightly alter his personality by removing his more violent impulses. While this may make him more agreeable, it’s also an ethical minefield, potentially setting the stage for other mutants to be revived without “impurities.”
The fact that Omega Red would have no control over it would more or less turn the resurrection protocol into a lobotomization of the man he currently is – another serious ethical breach. Omega Red presents a real problem to the ideals of Krakoa. Unlike other major villains, Red hasn’t found redemption in the island. He has instead proven that despite the promise of mutant unity, there are some who just aren’t willing to change. The mutants will have to make a decision sooner or later about what is to be done with him, and considering X-Force’s complicity in his current state, it’s almost a moral obligation to figure out an acceptable way to move forward.
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