Is Forge an omega level mutant now?

[Mercury]

Quick question: Has Forge died this era and undergone the resurrection protocols?

[Aeon]

Quick question: Has Forge died this era and undergone the resurrection protocols?

His head was chopped of by Cerebrax in X-Force

[Mercury]

His head was chopped of by Cerebrax in X-Force

Thank you!

[CGAR]

I feel like the X-slack knows that people get all up in a tizzy when OMEGA or most powerful is used. I think this is a story beat thread Al Ewing is go to follow up on. Or I can just be completely wrong. But I trust Ewing. And I'm sure the X-Slack talked about it.

[Cyclone_Ablaze]

I mean there must be a reason why Ewing decided to make Forge an Omega Mutant so why not.

I feel like the X-slack knows that people get all up in a tizzy when OMEGA or most powerful is used. I think this is a story beat thread Al Ewing is go to follow up on. Or I can just be completely wrong. But I trust Ewing. And I'm sure the X-Slack talked about it.

I agree. I'm pretty sure they did talk about this. I mean they wouldn't have Green Light it so why not.

[Daedra]

It's not obsolete but it's subject to change. Did anybody really think for the rest of the entirety of the xmen there would only be like 12 omegas out of millions of mutants. Arrako has several so i would expect at least 1 % of mutants to be omega if it's suppose to be a resource thing. I mean 1% of 100,000 is 1000 so maybe even less than 1%.

It’s “no longer up to date” so “obsolete” is a perfect description for it.

[Aeon]

The 5 probably have to resurrect vital mutants with all of their potential powers unlocked from now on?

[emfrst]

I feel like the X-slack knows that people get all up in a tizzy when OMEGA or most powerful is used. I think this is a story beat thread Al Ewing is go to follow up on. Or I can just be completely wrong. But I trust Ewing. And I'm sure the X-Slack talked about it.

It is weird bc Forge had never known to be omega level or technopath up until yesterday

[emfrst]

That was not what Hickman put down. He made no mention of resources being an issue for Forge. He merely made it clear that Forge has been surpassed as far as his measurable powers went. What that entails is never really expounded upon. Probably for the best, since thinking about the requirements of an Omega to begin with has not really been explored beyond the definition, which is a really broad definition in its own right, which is funny since the definition was made to cut down the list of Omega’s.

That page is insane, Jean Grey is the only person so who can do "Manifestation of the Phoenix", which is the highest level of TK, this deliberate down-grade of Jean is really misogynistic

[Romy134]

It's not obsolete but it's subject to change. Did anybody really think for the rest of the entirety of the xmen there would only be like 12 omegas out of millions of mutants. Arrako has several so i would expect at least 1 % of mutants to be omega if it's suppose to be a resource thing. I mean 1% of 100,000 is 1000 so maybe even less than 1%.

It's defiantly changing already, I believe in this same issue they described Xavier as the strongest telepath in the universe. And yet Jean/Quintin are Omega but he is not? Have they ever explain why Xavier was not on the data sheet? Also why is Polaris not Omega as well? Doesn't she share Magneto's power set? or is she just weaker/less skilled?

[ARkadelphia]

His head was chopped of by Cerebrax in X-Force

That happened to me once

[ARkadelphia]

“Omega” is a buzz word with no real meaning.

Hickman tried to give it a real definition but it was a fools errand because he forced characters out of the Omega category when he shouldn’t have and squeezed some in that didn’t make sense. While he tried to apply some kind of consistent criteria, he got stuck because he had personal preferences for certain characters. So his concept was a fail since he was inconsistent from day one.

Today, I think the writers are throwing out the term left and right because they know that the fandom can’t get enough of it. Fan service I think it’s called. In-universe, the Krakoans throw the term out like candy as if it’s supposed to mean something to the non-Krakoans they interact with. Nobody ever seems all that impressed except for themselves though.

I do like Mercury’s theory in that other thread however. I kind of think it’s accidental but I would not have a problem if the storyline goes in this direction.

[BobbysWorld]

Worth considering is the fact that Ewing has a different take on TECHNOPATHS than Hickman - so that might have more to do with this than countering Hickman's take that Forge couldn't be an omega based on the definition of omega Hickman was going with.

Like, it was a pretty big deal throughout Ewing's S.W.O.R.D. run how the society-wide shift in viewing the synergy of mutant powers as a form of mutant technology resulted in a very real paradigm shift that Doctor Doom in his convo with Ororo called an example of 'naming-as-magic'. Basically the fact that technopaths all have to subconsciously define or set parameters for what they even view as examples of technology, in order for their power to grant them control over that technology....that resulted in mutantkind's society-wide changed perception of what technology could include - ie mutant circuits, the gestalts of mutant powers - meaning that now technopaths like Wiz Kid could literally tweak how mutant powers synergize and fit together in order to manipulate the shape or result of that mutant circuit.

Basically, Ewing added a whole new dimension to mutant technopaths' powers, and its something that WASN'T evident in how technopaths were viewed in Hickman's run, so assuming we're to take the labeling of Forge as omega here as an official verdict, its not necessarily so much a retcon of Hickman saying Forge is definitively not an omega.....so much as the recent expansion of technopathic abilities being the very thing that CHANGES that for Forge, and gives him a broader powerset as now presumably his power not only includes the ability to build any technology he can imagine out of metal and plastics and wire circuitry....but going by the current definition of technopaths, his power post-paradigm shift could also include the ability to build any mutant circuit or combination of mutant powers, even if they normally wouldn't synergize on their own, like the teleporters that Wiz Kid merged power-wise, in order to fuel a single teleport jump with the powers of six teleporters.

Even going off Hickman's definition of omegas, Forge as he used to be would not be considered an omega because others like Reed Richards and Tony Stark could and have surpassed what he's done with regular technology or circuitry, computers, etc.

But post-paradigm shift for mutant technopaths, Forge could be an omega technopath, because now his power includes - up to an undefinable/unmeasurable upper limit - an ability to manipulate all the ways mutant powers can be combined to create greater and greater dynamos.

[PyroFN]

“Omega” is a buzz word with no real meaning.

Hickman tried to give it a real definition but it was a fools errand because he forced characters out of the Omega category when he shouldn’t have and squeezed some in that didn’t make sense. While he tried to apply some kind of consistent criteria, he got stuck because he had personal preferences for certain characters. So his concept was a fail since he was inconsistent from day one.

I think the issue with Hickman’s use of Omega’s fell more on him not actually doing anything to firmly establish the definition. We hoped he would try, but it ended up simply being just an excuse to artificially raise the tension of a story without doing the work to do so.

What I remembered in an interview about Omega’s is Hickman said this,

“Jonathan: The list of Omega Level mutants is complete and set in stone. Anyone who isn’t on the list isn’t one, and there won’t be any new Omega Level characters created for quite some time. There are way too many overcooked characters as is right now.

It’s probably the second worse thing we do after breaking things for dramatic, and not story, reasons.“

I initially figured that meant he was gonna do something with the list he created. Nowadays, I believe it was more because he wanted to make the threat seem impossible to overcome through sheer force, which Omega’s will circumvent by being just powerful mutants. It’s why Magik in X of Swords is choosing to slash at the enemies instead of calling a horde of demons to go to war and summoning different spells like she was taught by Doctor Strange. Or why Storm was calling down lightning instead of a hurricane.

Remembering the Incursions prior-Secret Wars 2015, I saw how he wrote the Illuminati. The tone was repeatedly very grim and hopeless, as not even the greatest minds could somehow figure out how to stop this event from happening. Not even the Infinity Gauntlet was able to stop it. The situation was so bad that they were making deals with an untrustworthy female source who just earlier was about to destroy their planet and was urging them to do the same for the alt Earth.

Reading his X of Swords showed me his style very clearly at that point. He world-builds and loves to put these heroes in hopeless situations. That is why Orchis is somehow so unfathomably powerful, despite multiple mutants having the power to stop them. That’s why we yet again are caught in a situation where an untrustworthy female character to guide the male characters to a possible scenario where they win by screwing over others living their lives. Omega Level Mutants as a concept would fall against that kind storytelling very easy, which explains why he almost never uses them outside of Magneto (who wouldn’t ya know, is about as morally Grey as Emma Frost).

That page is insane, Jean Grey is the only person so who can do "Manifestation of the Phoenix", which is the highest level of TK, this deliberate down-grade of Jean is really misogynistic

I mean, the “Manifestation of the Phoenix” was colorful language for heightened tk sensitivity on the molecular level, where she can feel vibrations in an object like Xavier’s pulse on a stainless steel fork. I’m pretty certain there are a certain number of telekinetics capable of this, like Nate Grey, Rachel Grey, and Exodus, if they are capable of molecular level Tk. They can’t see molecules with their own eyes, so they would have to feel it.

I am more perplexed at the idea that there are two Omega telepaths, yet one of basically everything else. (Unless you count reality warping as one category, which several mutants on that list fit under) Then there is Legion, whose powers were stated to all be Omega powers for every new ability he created. A lot of details that were never fleshed out.

[Wind Rider]

Probably a minor writer oversight or, with the tech unique to Krakoa, maybe things have changed…? Either way an interesting development if this was intentional.