WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Iron Fist: Heart of the Dragon #3 by Larry Hama, Dave Wachter, Neeraj Menon & VC’s Travis Lanham, on sale now
Iron Fist: Heart of the Dragon has seen multiple heroes working together across the globe to try and save the Seven Cities of Heaven. In the process, these team-ups actually hint at a chance
Sunspot and Luke Cage just got a quick and impressive team-up — proving there’s still hope for the X-Men to be major allies to the rest of the hero community, despite the chaos caused by Krakoa in the “Dawn of the X” era.
Click the button below to start this article in quick view.
Across the world, some of the Seven Cities of Heaven have been appearing over other metropolitan areas. This includes in Brazil, where one of the cities is attacked by hordes of undead warriors from the Eighth City. Luckily, Iron Fist and his allies have been working to protect all the cities as well as the mystical dragons associated with the Seven Cities. This includes Brazil, where Luke Cage is teleported Rio De Janerio to combat the assault. He gets an unexpected assist from Sunspot of the New Mutants — who reveals he took a Krakoa Gate to his home-country the instant he learned of the attack. Although Sunspot is initially hesitant to trust Cage and seems ready to blame the chaos on Iron Fist, Cage quickly proves willing and able to help stop the zombie horde.
Cage and Sunspot are actually able to fight back the entire horde, saving Rio De Janeiro, one of the Seven Cities, and even the dragon. Before Luke is teleported back to the brunt of the battle and Sunspot ensures that the fires caused in the chaos don’t result in a forest fire, the two heroes shake hands and thank each other for the assistance. While it’s a relatively minor moment in the face of the mystical events of Iron Fist: Heart of the Dragon, this team-up proves that there’s still hope for the different corners of the Marvel Universe to work together. Although Luke Cage and Sunspot were both previously Avengers, the two have largely settled into their roles back in the Marvel Universe after leaving the team.
Notably, Sunspot is now one of the important mutants of Krakoa — which has had a rocky relationship with the rest of the hero community, enraging Wakanda and confronting the Fantastic Four among others. But it’s notable that when the chips are down, the heroes are still quick to work together to try and save the world, despite the teams they commonly work with having disputes. Even though Cage and Sunspot don’t greet each other as friends, they’re quick to end the battle as allies, suggesting that both of them can really see each other as heroes, which could extend to other opinions among the hero community.
No matter how divided the Marvel Universe may become at times, it’s a vital aspect of their work as heroes that they’re able to overcome their personal feelings and protect lives. Sunspot and Luke Cage may not know it, but their quick team-up — even eschewing the common superhero trope of fighting first and then teaming up — speaks volumes to the fact that even in the age of “Dawn of X,” the X-Men are still ultimately heroes, and can still work with the rest of the hero community against greater threats. With Sunspot also a candidate for the upcoming X-Men elections, this could help keep the team open to working with other heroes.
KEEP READING: Shang-Chi: How Martial Artist Bruce Lee Inspired The MCU Hero