Originally Posted by
BobbysWorld
Although technically we don't know for sure that Magneto's giving up his seat as opposed to just stepping back and making a move to Arakko and X-Men Red - since its not like the commute is hard and Storm serves on both Councils herself - assuming he does step down fully, I don't really have any guess as to who Gillen might realistically pick to replace him on the Council. I wouldn't be surprised for it to be Hope, given her placement in Destiny of X promo art, the fact that Gillen's written her extensively before and likes her, and it being the kind of choice that can be spun as giving the younger generations of mutants a voice on the Council so its not just the same figures shaping mutant destiny as have been doing for literal decades. But personally, I'm hoping that's not what happens and if there is a new twelve council member, its a swerve we don't see coming - not because I don't like Hope, I do, its just....I think she's got plenty to keep her busy as one of the Five, which also gives her all the prestige and prominence needed to make whatever she says or does in-story matter to other characters whenever she's written having a major influence on future story events. In addition, she's done plenty to shape and influence the future of mutants already and there's a ton of other young mutants who would also make good choices and have been around a lot longer than Hope.
Like, my ideal wish would be for them to add someone like Dani Moonstar to the Council, or maybe Karma. Or if not a core X-Men affiliated character, like maybe the Council at least acknowledges that most previous picks have been made in an attempt to stack the deck and ensure certain voting blocs exist, then maybe have them give the seat to a mutant who's less well known but has 'impressive standing' or whatever, so they're not influenced by previous alliances or affiliations. Like any of the various powerful but solitary mutants encountered over the years who largely elected to stay out of conflicts between two sides of mutants in the past and had enough power to make people back off instead of being badgered/forced into picking a side.
I'm blanking on specific examples of this type at the moment, like someone like Gabriel Shepherd. Only not him exactly because I don't know if proto-mutants are even considered mutants under the Krakoan paradigm and current X-writers probably don't have any interest in untangling whether they do count or should be brought back since they have more than enough other mutants to play with. (Same as why I don't think they're likely to resurrect the Neo on Krakoa or resolve whether they're considered mutants by Cerebro when the Evolutionaries classified them as technically a divergent evolutionary branch).
I mean hell, tbh, I'd almost prefer if they made the twelfth Council member a brand new character ostensibly agreed on by the rest of the Council as a candidate representing the 'average Krakoan' - those mutants with no real history or involvement in the various conflicts between or involving high profile mutants, but who are supposed to be just as Krakoan and fundamental to their new society as the better known, more famous mutants we're all familiar with.