How Hellion is the TRUE Mastermind Behind Krakoa

[Rift]

And now for my magnum opus. My great post to keep me busy until I inevitably get bored of the franchise and move on to stanning the gay little spider in Hazbin Hotel or something.

The Beginning: Formation of the Five
First off, let's get this one right off the bat: Hellion saved Hope's life. He was the only one who could stop a rampaging Karima (Omega Sentinel) from killing her and all of the X-Men. Had Hellion not been there, she would have died. Without Hope, there would be no Resurrection Protocol and therefore no Krakoa. So already, he's indirectly responsible for Krakoa's existence.

But let's go back earlier, to the Age of X event. In Age of X, the mutant safehaven of Fortress X was protected by the Force Warriors. They were five mutants who were revered by their people for their amazing power and the constant work they put into maintaining their society.

Basically a prototype version of the Five, right? Moira CLAIMS that the Five were her idea, but I think it's a little too coincidental that these plot points just lined up. Perhaps she thought of using mutants to form a circuit for resurrections. But the idea of a Five could have come from Hellion, because he knows from experience how it all works.

But that's silly, right? How could he remember an AU that never happened to him? Oh, wait. Some mutants WERE able to remember. Some chose not to erase their memories of the world. We have no idea if Hellion kept is memories or had them buried in his subconscious. But it was explicitly pointed out that he retained the fine motor skills of his Age of X self, so he at least carried some of that experience within him. This is canon.

Now, if the Five were an idea from someone who remembered Age of X, it would make the most sense for it to come from a Force Warrior; they know this stuff better than anyone. But who would Moira listen to? Not Legion, she thinks he's a loon. Carmella? Literal who, plus I don't think it was confirmed or denied if she retained her memories from Age of X. Psylocke? Like a Scot would listen to a Brit. (Also, did she retain her Age of X memories? Idk.) Rachel? In deep space for a while after the event. She COULD have told Moira about the idea, but it could have also been Hellion.

And look at the Five who were chosen. We know from House of XCII that other mutants could have taken the place of the Five. But the Five we have now could have been recommended by Hellion. Why would he recommend the Five we have now? Huh, would you look at that: all of them were his classmates, and he knew at least two of them personally. What a strange coincidence!

So let's say Hellion gave the Quiet Council the idea to form the Five. And odds are, he did. How would he have known to tell them this info before Krakoa even existed? This only makes sense if Hellion knew everything in advance. So this gives us two theories:

Theory One: Julian Keller: Omega Level Precog?

Hellion is secretly a powerful clairvoyant and met up with Moira early on in her 9th life. His powers would have had to activate when he was fairly young, but he would have been alive around the time. And powers developing early isn't too much of a rarity among mutants.

As you know, Hellion was right. He was right about a lot of things. Could he just be incredibly based? It's a little too convenient. Nobody could be this perfect and amazing, right? But if you think about it, him having information ahead of time makes a lot of sense.

• During the Utopia story, he knew that humans would eventually round up mutants and put them in camps. We know that happens in a few bad futures, but also during the fall of Krakoa. He knew and was warning everyone, but the X-Men and Dark Avengers just had to ruin it.
• He wasn't sorry about killing Omega Sentinel, despite him going out of his way to never kill humans/protect humans in the past. Maybe he knew what she would become in the future.
• He knew the Brood were irredeemable monsters and hated Broo on sight. And in the end? Their only use was for Polaris to use them as weapons. They could never truly be saved.
• He hated Quentin Quire on sight.
• He ended up siding with Wolverine during Schism, despite him and Logan hating each other. He just so happened to pick the winning side?
• Right away, Hellion knew Sofia Mantega was a catch. He also had a thing with Laura, dated Shark-Girl, and in an AU he married Surge. He just can't stop picking Bets Girls. He has a supernatural sense that allows him to figure out which girls are superior.
• In his anger, he said that Laura was incapable of loving another person. That she was incapable of feeling and would never want anyone. While this SEEMED like him lashing out for being rejected, what if he was right? Because when she hooked up with Angel, it was the most flaccid "romance" she ever had, and she basically forgot about him during her 40+ book solo. He relationship with Synch? Off-screen and gone when she was resurrected - only the other Laura could love him. Hellion actually foresaw that she would never find a fulfilling romantic relationship ever again. In his anger, he was explaining to her of the fate she will be burdened with: being used to prop up other characters.

Huh. Suddenly, Hellion is batting a 100. And note how, even after Destiny was resurrected, she was never labeled an Omega. Yeah, Idyll had the spot on Arakko. But she clearly sucked at her job, and she was declared an Omega by the Arakki before they could even know the existence of Hellion.

Maybe Hickman dug into continuity with this one, or worked with writers' notes on characters. Because The writers of New Mutants vol 2/New X-Men vol 2 wanted to make him an Omega. Note that they didn't specify he'd be an Omega Telekinetic.

"But Rift!" You say. "I thought precogs weren't allowed on Krakoa!" That's true. Moira didn't want precogs to ruin her plans, Xavier didn't want precogs spoiling that mutants always lose. But if they already have Hellion and he's all-in on Team Krakoa, they have nothing to worry about. He's more powerful than other precogs and can counter them. So any non-dead precogs can be stopped by the one precog the Council could trust.

Why didn't this come up earlier? Hellion planned everything out, but he had Xavier make him forget everything to ensure it all went according to plan. He as made to forget about his powers and the plan until the time is right. But that's convoluted, right? Surely there aren't any telepaths who bury peoples' memories and only unlock them in the future, when the time is right. That's never happened before, has it? OH WAIT.

But that's just one very convincing theory without any holes whatsoever. But what if Hellion had a more direct role in the very formation of Krakoa itself? In comes...

[Rift]

Theory Two: Hellion is a Time Traveler

It's all a closed time-loop. Hellion knew about Krakoa. He went back in time and told Moira to come up with the whole Krakoa plan, to ensure that Krakoa exists. But wouldn't a closed time loop be a little to convoluted? It's not like there's precedence for something like this... Except for the entire second volume of Marauders.

But Hellion can't time travel! Alright, let's assume the incredibly powerful Hellion can't whip out time travel, for whatever reason. Good thing he was a Force Warrior alongside (an aspect of) Rachel, a time traveler and multiversal queen. Good thing Hope owes him for saving her life, and has access to her time-traveling dad.

So Hellion now has the knowledge needed to form the Five, and the means to give that information to people in the past. Maybe the original Krakoa of Timeline A wasn't as strong, so he used his knowledge as a Force Warrior to plan with Moira/Xavier/Magneto and form the Krakoa we know now. Or, the Five were already perfected due to the knowledge he had sent back, and he was going back to close the time loop.

This also explains some of the retcons during the Krakoa era: Hellion's time travel changes people, stories and lore. He Butterfly Effect-ed things, and those changes made the Quiet Council weary about using time travel during the majority of the Krakoa era. Suddenly the math is adding up and 2+2=4.

BUT WAIT! What if there weren't just two theories? What if the second theory branched off into its own, sub-theory? What if...

Theory Three: Hellion is a Time Traveler...

... But he traveled with his own power? His original writers were foreshadowing a connection with him and the Phoenix. With the firebird's power, he could easily make time and space his bitch.

How did he become a host for the Phoenix? He was in the White Hot Room. [url=https://aiptcomics.com/2023/10/09/x-men-monday-223-x-m-a-jordan-d-white/]Jordan D. White says as much[url] in an interview, he was either dead or in the WHR during Fall of X. He leans towards him being alive and in the White Hot Room.

AIPT: So if Hellion’s in the White Hot Room, you’re saying there’s a chance he could one day host the Phoenix Force, right?

Jordan: Oh, absolutely. You never know.

BAM! Hellion's in the time and place to become the Phoenix and have ultimate power. There were plans in place to make him an Omega. He has the knowledge to make the Five function. Note that White also said that he was helping plants grow with his telekinesis, and was helping make a society run with no resources. We've seen in the past that he can telekinetically manipulate things on a molecular level. He's powerful.


Every Orchid Has its Thorn

Now we need to talk about Orchis. Because if a nation was created by Hellion, surely nothing can stand in its way. Yet Orchis can. Why is that? First, we must look at how it came to be.

Now, according to Omega Sentinel's backstory, a mutant, the "child of the sun," wielded the Phoenix Blade and hunted down all the Titans and Dominions. People thought this was Sunspot, given his powers. But think about it: Hellion is a star, just like the sun. The child of the sun is a star. He's also bright, warm and a life-bringer. Everything, as we established, revolves around him. He IS the sun. Or maybe this person is not Hellion, but his own child. They are the literal child of the sun.

It was all in response to stop machines. What did we get a mere page before the Phoenix blade reveal? Exposition on how mutants sent Nimrod back in time to try and get mutants, but failed. Which mutant has repeatedly stated a dislike of robots? Which mutant has a grudge against Nimrod and Sentinels? Which mutant is strong enough to defeat Omega Sentinel when no one else could? Which mutant would be willing to kill their enemies?

Hmm. If only there was a character who matched all those incredibly specific descriptions?

But a rogue Titan was able to send Omega Sentinel back in time to try and stop Krakoa, leading to the formation of Orchis. So unfortunately, this means that Hellion indirectly created Orchis.

No More Hero: Desperate Struggle
So why do bad things happen to Krakoa? Why did Judgment Day happen? Fall of X? Inferno? X Lives/X Deaths? Notice how all of them happened when Hellion wasn't around when those happened. Because the X-Men are incapable of getting things done without him, and can only scrap by AT BEST. Hey, they did pretty well with X of Swords by the end, right? Oh wait - Cyclops and Jean summoned a ton of mutants to help them in the final battle. So Hellion was probably there, hard-carrying everyone like he always does.

And when did Krakoa fall? When Xavier sent Hellion (and other mutants) away through the Gates. Without him to carry everything on his back like the Atlas he is, everything fell apart.

And maybe, he went back in time in the first place to prevent this from happening?


And that's the story of how Krakoa was REALLY founded, why it REALLY fell, and why Hellion is the most important mutant in Marvel history... But what if he wasn't? What if I told you that WIND DANCER was actually the one pulling the strings from behind? Next week, I will explain how Sofia Mantega worked behind the scenes to form the X-Men from the very, very start. Because she is actually an OMEGA LEVEL MUTANT with an amazing gift.