WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Marauders #1, by Gerry Duggan and Matteo Lolli, on sale now.
Marvel's Marauders #1 may have subtly hinted at the return of a classic X-Men villain. As Emma Frost and Sebastian Shaw play their dangerous game of chess against each other, it seems like a third player may be squeezing her way into the game soon: Selene Gallio. This clue was left in the form of the "Sinister Secrets" page of the issue.
Sinister Secret #13 reads: "Speaking of the Black and the White, not everyone got their invite. Quite a faux pas! We hope there's not a fight."
Black and White, of course, refers to Sebastian Shaw and Emma Frost, the Black King and White Queen of the Hellfire Club respectively. The rest is likely a reference to Selene Gallio, the former Black Queen of the Hellfire Club.
What happened to her, and why is she coming back to cause terror now?
SELENE'S HELLFIRE ORIGINS
Functionally immortal, Selene is one of the oldest known mutants. She is essentially a psychic vampire, draining life essence from other beings in order to extend her own life. Although she wasn't initially tied to the Hellfire Club, Selene would later find prominence in the group's Inner Circle.
Over the years, Selene garnered a base of followers to carry out her tasks. Through the help of one of her worshippers, Friedrich Von Roehm, Selene reached out to the Hellfire Club. She weaseled her way into the ranks, forcing the group's hand to make her the new Black Queen.
Selene quickly made enemies with Sebastian Shaw and Emma Frost, the then Black King and White Queen respectively. The three had a contemptuous relationship, which came to a head in the Firestar miniseries. During this book, Shaw and Emma conspired to kill Selene by using Firestar as their assassin. This plan, of course, failed once Firestar caught wind of it.
SELENE VS. THE HELLFIRE CLUB
During New Mutants, Selene became a recurring villain. In Issue #75, Emma Frost sided with Magneto, the newly appointed White King of the Hellfire Club, to vote Shaw out of their ranks. As the Black Queen, Selene's vote was the deciding factor and soon, Shaw was exiled from their ranks.
Despite this stance of unity, Selene had no desire to work with Magneto or Emma and she silently began plotting the club's downfall. She formed the Upstarts, a group of young mutants who followed her command. Under her rule, the Upstarts began murdering several prominent mutants off her list. This lead to the presumed deaths of Magneto, Sebastian Shaw, Donald Pierce and the Reavers. The attacks severely injured Emma Frost and killed her students, the Hellions.
Later on, Selene resumes her title of Black Queen, striking a deal with Blackheart and exiling the new Inner Circle. She appointed Sunspot as the Black Rook under the guise of a promise to resurrect someone dear to him. However, once Sebastian Shaw returned to the Hellfire Club, he took his command back, trapping Selene in the catacombs.
NECROSHA
Years later, after Selene was freed from the catacombs, she formed a new Inner Circle. The members included Blink, Senyaka, Mortis, Wither and Eli Bard. Seeking total control of the Club (and also hoping to achieve godhood), Selene takes her Inner Circle to the Hellfire Club's New York branch. The group murders everyone present and Selene targeted those she felt had wronged her personally -- Sebastian Shaw, Donald Pierce, Emma Frost and Magma. Due to Emma taking the name of the Black Queen during the "Dark X-Men" storyline, Selene held a special contempt for her.
Selene renames the ruins of Genosha as "Necrosha," and together with Eli Bard, she begins resurrecting the dead Genoshans. However, her plan to use the dead Genoshans to achieve godhood ultimately failed. Warpath seemingly killed her when he plunged a ritual dagger into her chest, causing her to vaporize.
THE COMEBACK KID
The most obvious reason for Selene's return is that she's a vital player in the Hellfire Club's dangerous cat-and-mouse game. When it comes to the Hellfire Club, she put the "faux" in "faux pas" as Black Queen because she never earned her position the way every other member did. Selene saw what she wanted, took it, and rose up the ranks -- much to the ire of the Club. More importantly, Selene has an especially contemptuous relationship with Emma Frost and Sebastian Shaw, the two ringleaders of the current Club in Marauders.
House of X allowed for the return of all kinds of mutants from the X-Men's past -- heroic and villainous alike. It's no secret Emma hates Shaw and Marauders has set up a devious power play between the two. Selene could be the missing piece to throw Shaw and Emma off their game, causing a cutthroat 3-way battle for dominance within the ranks. After all, showing up uninvited to Hellfire Club proceedings is Selene's specialty.