After Claremont left Illyana became a lot more ok with killing. While Claremont wrote her she was willing to kill as a last resort, but she learned from watching what happened to the Storm who trained her in white magic the danger of killing in anger. That's why she spared Belasco. Claremont's Illyana would not have teleported people to Limbo to be killed by the demons. She didn't even do that to the Enchantress after the Enchantress had tortured her for days, instructing S'ym not to kill her. Simonsen's Illyna sent people to Limbo with abandon with the purpose of giving them gruesome deaths. Claremont's Illyana would never have sought to murder Forge since she'd learned the lesson about killing in anger and already spared Belasco, the man who ruined her life. Simonsen's Illyana never learned that lesson since she had killed Belasco and was proud of that. Claremont's Illyana had learned and grown throughout her time in Limbo and her victory over Belasco was a product of those lessons. Simonsen's Illyana only gained power in Limbo but no knowledge to go with that power and was only now coming to realize that she needed to learn the very things she had always known when Claremont was writing her.
It's the difference between Chris Nolan's 'I'm not an executioner' Batman and Zach Snyder's 'I must kill Superman if there's even a 1% chance he could be evil as well as anyone in my way' Batman.
Magik didn't kill Belasco.jpg
I wish I could make the image larger, but that's Illyana claiming that she killed Belasco in an issue written by Simonsen in 1988, which contradicts what actually happened. She says "I killed my master in Limbo, and gained his kingdom for my own. I'll kill you too, if only I can..."
According to Simonsen this ends with Illyana cutting off Belasco's head with no negative consequences.
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