Illyana Nikolievna Rasputina: MAGIK appreciation 2021

[Fokken]

sunofdarkchild, that was lovely. I really enjoy your Krakoan moments.

[Leirus]

Don't see what the big deal is really.It's fairly obvious this was something that was done on the fly. Illyana just scribbled her thoughts down and hit send.

And she caught every mistake! As a non native, I can tell you that is hard sometimes!

[sunofdarkchild]

sunofdarkchild, that was lovely. I really enjoy your Krakoan moments.

Thanks.

This Krakoa era has got me rethinking Illyana's journey. I've always seen her as a tragic figure in the Greek sense where her destiny is set in stone and it's only a question of how long she can fight it for. That was her arc in the 80s.

Now I'm seeing her as a much more inspirational figure, and her journey is about learning to not hate herself and to not let Belasco define who she is. When she told Emma she was 'one who should not be' and that she wasn't the real Illyana, she meant every word, and that didn't change when she got her soul back. Otherwise she wouldn't have done what she did to her brother. Even when things started to get better for her in the Bendis years, I doubt that feeling ever left her that she was the 'consolation prize' when everyone would have preferred her younger, innocent self. Emma said it, even Belasco basically said it when he brought her back. Colossus wanting to go out of his way to protect her even after they reconciled would have reinforced that feeling. No one told her they were sad when she was deaged, only when she died. So I think the resurrection protocols would bring this odd form of survivor's guilt, this sense that she's the 'wrong' Illyana, to a head, and this would be what would finally allow her to move past that. And Kitty is the one to plant the idea in Illyana's since it was Kitty who was hurt the most when Illyana was deaged. If she wasn't bitter about the younger Illyana replacing the older one she never would have left the soul sword in the rock on Muir Island saying it could stay there forever for all she cared. And she called Illyana her 'sister' in the one scene from the Guggneheim run I genuinely liked.

Attachment 110085

Another aspect of her just doing better is not blaming herself for everything anymore. Her recent letter to Xavier shows this. She sees exactly what he did in putting the job on the New Mutants, says that they went wrong by following his example, and says that she's going to do better than him. When in the past would she ever have been willing to criticize Xavier like that? She worshipped the ground he walked on and it's good that she can finally call him out on being suhc a horrible guardian and mentor The Inferno was partly her fault, but she was a child being manipulated powerful and cunning demons, and everyone she had counted on to help her get through the the trauma of having grown up literally in Hell had abandoned her. But acknowledging where others have failed her without simply being bitter about it means taking on more responsibility, and again growing up too early. If even Xavier and her brother can't always be counted on to be there, then she needs to step up and stop using them crutches or anchors. At the same time, that's another trauma she has yet to get over, which is why she's doing too much. We see both of this in Dead Souls when she says she thought she was the one people could count on in a crisis and when she realizes that it's all an illusion because she knows Dani is not really there for her again. Scott is the one to talk to her about that since no one else will. Rahne and Karma might not even notice with their problems and Xavier doesn't seem to care if she works herself to death.

And the more I think about it, the more her line to Ted Sallis in Curse of the Man-Thing is incredibly powerful. I think it's an amazing breakthrough that she can talk about Belasco and say 'he doesn't matter.' It's not just the years of suffering and abuse he inflicted on her or the fact that he essentially created the person she became for a long time by resurrecting her. He was the one who called her the Darkchild, which is how she defined herself for most of her life. When she told Emma she was the Darkchild, not Illyana, that was Belasco talking. Until Krakoa, he defined who she was. By saying that he doesn't matter, she's saying that he doesn't get to do that anymore. She defines who she is now, not Belasco.

The way I see it, these elements are what has brought her to this point where she's still dark and damaged, but not depressed and possibly even happy, both for the first time since she was 6. She doesn't feel like a fake or the wrong Illyana. She doesn't blame herself for everything, and she's not letting anyone else dictate who she is.

[G0RM]

A not precisely Illyana based observation, but I just realized that the resurrected Karma has a prosthetic leg in the last panel of #18, while Magik looked maybe triumphant, or maybe yawning.

It's interesting to me that the cyber-leg became so incorporated into Xian's self-image that she requested it on resurrection.

Anyone have a speculation on whether Magik herself was resurrected by the Five, or just 'got over' becoming full demon after being allegedly stripped of mutant powers?

(I'm definitely on the side of 'Illyana: ham over-actor' just pretending so she could have license to kick ass and take names vs Marko & O.N.E. )

[G0RM]

Amusing page of Magik doing crowd control at the Hellfire Gala in Marauders #12.

Maybe not enough to justify buying the issue, but nice.

[sunofdarkchild]

Considering that the damage which caused her to go Darkchild was physical, all that was needed was a simple healing spell to undo it. Getting Elixir or Triage could also probably have fixed anyone whose mutant powers were removed by O.N.E.'S brain devices. Whereas being resurrected by the 5 would require them to have killed the Darkchild in battle, something which would have been extremely difficult at best given how casually she was able to deal with Juggernaut. Her regaining her senses enough to cast a healing spell once the initial shock had worn off is the simplest explanation.

[Scavenger]

Amusing page of Magik doing crowd control at the Hellfire Gala in Marauders #12.

Maybe not enough to justify buying the issue, but nice.

Hellions, you mean..and yes, it's a cute bit.

[sunofdarkchild]

Hellions didn't need to have any Illyana to justify its purchase. Nanny alone was enough.

[Havok83]

Dr. Strange's days are numbered. Its about time Magik becomes the Sorceress Supreme

[sunofdarkchild]

I just came across a post that I wish I'd seen before writing the Scott-Illyana story that reframes how I think about their relationship now.

In Mew Mutants vol. 3 # 10, back in 2010, Scott revealed to Emma that the reason he had the New Mutants reform was because he was looking for the next leader of mutantkind to take his place once they were out of permanent crisis mode, and as the last group of students taught directly by Xavier and educated in his dream, he was hoping it would be one of them. At the time it was between Sam and Dani, with Karma and Roberto maybe in the running. Illyana wasn't in consideration. She had just come back, had damaged Pixie's soul, and outside of her immediate circle of friends and family no one trusted her. But despite all that she appears to be the one who has fulfilled his wishes for a New Mutant to be the next leader of mutantkind.

Sam suffered a personal crisis after Fall of the New Mutants and eventually joined the Avengers and then got married and had a family in Shiar space. Good for him, but not what you'd call a leadership resume. Roberto also joined the Avengers and led AIM. A bit more leadership there, but branching out too much from mutantdom. Dani led the team until AvX after Sam fell into a depression, but she and Karma both seemingly disappeared after AvX - Karma went back to Utopia with a group of refugees then had her episode with Tran and Dani when she appeared was doing Valkyrie stuff. Magma ended up joining the Brotherhood in the Guggenheim run, not that I think she was ever considered in the running.

Illyana was the only one of them who stayed in the fight for mutants the whole time. She was the bridge between the older staff and the students under Bendis, 'the nice one' and all that, before being entrusted with the mentorship of the O5. As I continually harp on, X-Haven was populated almost entirely by people she convinced to come there by herself. Even if she was off the team in the Guggs era, she was still around even before the Dead Souls team was formed.

In this current era, mutants are finally out of permanent crisis mode - though Xavier, Magneto, and Moira seem to be, they're keeping that from everyone else. Mutants have a level of global respect and recognition they never had before. They feel safe and secure in a way they never have before. The era Scott predicted during Utopia was finally arrived. And her letter to Xavier shows that it's Illyana who is stepping up to fulfill Scott's dream from 11 years ago. She is the one who is both military and civilian leader, in charge of defense and education. She, the consummate child-soldier who spent a lifetime learning to fight but barely any time learning anything else, is rejecting the notion of training more child soldiers and is pledging to be better than Xavier. She really is a leader of people and not just a military general or field commander.

Even forgetting about the friendship they developed in the Bendis years, Scott must feel at least a little pride that something he was seeking back before the Schism has been fulfilled, even if it isn't in the way he intended.

[Lady Midnight]

Let's not forget that she's also partly responsible for Anole's misshapen arm.

[sunofdarkchild]

Let's not forget that she's also partly responsible for Anole's misshapen arm.

As far as not arriving in time to stop the demon which cut his arm off, anyway.

[juan678]

art by Magickmarker

[sunofdarkchild]

Illyana met a rather gruesome end in the current Heroes Reborn universe. Power Princess used a sword forged from the metal skin of Colossus to kill her.

[Fokken]

Illyana met a rather gruesome end in the current Heroes Reborn universe. Power Princess used a sword forged from the metal skin of Colossus to kill her.

DAaaaaaaaaaaamn SAVAGE.