WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Marauders #1 by Gerry Duggan, Matteo Lolli and Federico Blee, on sale Wednesday, Oct. 23.
The Dawn of X is here. Marvel has come out on the other side of the groundbreaking House of X and Powers of X with a brand-new status quo for the X-Men. Gone are the days of the X-Men trying to coexist with humans. Now, Marvel's Merry Mutants have carved out their own space on the sovereign mutant nation of Krakoa.
Part of establishing Krakoa as a mutant haven involves the need for a budding economy. The mutants have developed pharmaceutical drugs that can greatly increase the lifespan of all humans. In order to ship these drugs to all of the nations that have shown an alliance to the mutants, the X-Men have joined with the Hellfire Trading Company, run by the White Queen Emma Frost.
Because of this, Emma has been invited onto Krakoa's Quiet Council as one of the 12 leaders determining the rules of the island nation. A preview of Marauders #1 shows Emma making an offer to Kitty Pryde to lead the Marauders on behalf of the Hellfire Trading Company. We have to admit, Emma makes one hell of a sales pitch, with Kitty giving some real thought to taking the offer. After all, Storm already turned Emma down.
However, a bigger issue are the Krakoan gates spread across the world to allow mutants to travel to Krakoa. As you can imagine, not every country is pleased with having these gates on their soil. Armed soldiers are already cordoning off the gates in an attempt to capture or kill anyone who dares step through them. A preview of Marauders #1 shows the first nation to openly threaten a Krakoa gate.
Iceman steps through a Krakoan gate to enter Russia, but is met with a welcoming party that includes an armored gentleman. He lets Iceman know that mutants either serve Russia or "get crushed like the small, insignificant people you are." Those are definitely fighting words, and the soldier's opening salvo reveals his suit is a power dampener. One blast takes away Iceman's powers, leaving him a regular human in his tidy whitey underwear.
Bobby Drake quickly jumps back through the Krakoa gate before bullets can rip his body apart. House of X and Powers of X revealed a few different nations that are against the X-Men, with Latveria and Wakanda among the standouts. We can add Russia to that list, though we expect the X-Men to send a Marauders welcoming party back through the gate to combat the Russians. Captain Kate Pryde is leading the Marauders, and the X-Men look poised to take on any threat head-on during this Dawn of X.