Warning: This article contains spoilers for X-Men #1, by Jonathan Hickman, Leinil Francis Yu, Gerry Alanguilan, Sunny Gho, VC's Clayton Cowles and Tom Muller, on sale now.

Sabertooth isn't afraid of much. Even though he's one of the most vicious mutants in the Marvel Universe, Los Ninos De La Camara, or the Children of the Vault, had him running scared in 2008's X-Men #190, by Mike Carey and Chris Bachalo. As he described them, "They’re not mutants. But they’re not human either.”

While the Children of the Vault have rarely been mentioned since "Supernovas," the story arc that introduced them, ended, one of these characters made their sudden return in X-Men #1. Now, we're taking a closer look at the Children of the Vault to see what their return could mean for the X-Men's future.

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WHO ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE VAULT?

children of the vault

Shortly after the events of M-Day brought the few hundred mutants who were left in the world to the X-Mansion, Sabretooth showed up looking for safe haven. When asked about why he needed help, Sabretooth told the X-Men that he was hired to kill a group of elite scientists. After realizing that the last victim on the contract is the man who hired him, Victor Creed investigates. He discovers that these scientists were able to construct a space where time could accelerate beyond its natural pace.

The Children of the Vault were humans who existed in this accelerated-time space, and they were able to advance and evolve as a species over the course of some 6000 years. Although the scientists devised a way for them to remain hidden in a vault on a ship (The Conquistador), strategically positioned on international waters, Sabretooth’s meddling and the events of M-Day saw them released from the Vault prematurely.

The Children of the Vault are an entire race of post-humans who are theoretically meant to claim Earth after both mutants and humans no longer exist on the planet. But in the “Supernovas” storyline only five of them are in action – Aguja, Perro, Fuego, Serafina, and their leader – Sangre. While their names and their Spanish language skills hint that they're potentially of Latinx descent, their culture, technology and powers have evolved dramatically over the 6,000 years they've lived through.

The Next Evolution?

X-Men Serafina

While they haven't made too many appearances since their first encounter with Sabretooth and the X-Men, Marvel's main mutant team discovered a girl who appears to be Serafina when she was being held by Project: Orchis. While she disappeared as soon as they freed her, her very presence brings forth ideas about post-humanity that have already appeared throughout Hickman's X-Men tenure.

Hickman hasn't been shy about expressing his love for Mike Carey's work on the X-Men, and Carey's Children of the Vault storyline is thematically consistent with Hickman’s vision for the X-Men.

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The Children of the Vault are immensely powerful. Over the course of their introduction in the X-universe, they hunt Sabretooth like a dog, make an entire city block, possess and enhance the powers of Northstar and Aurora, and nearly wipe out all of the X-Men.

With an introduction like that, it's clear the Children of the Vault represent a legitimate path of humanity's evolution. Since mutants have always represented the most visible species that could replace humanity, evolution will always be a thematic undercurrent of the X-Men. However, the conditions that govern the next evolution of humanity have changed over time – in our reality and in worlds of the X-Men.

While Powers of X introduced different man-machine hybrids that represent what humanity could evolve into in the far future, the Children of the Vault represent a similar idea in the present-day Marvel Universe. If the X-Men are built around the idea that mutants are the final evolution of humanity, the Children of the Vault pose an existential threat to mutants' place in Marvel's future that Hickman will undoubtedly explore in his ongoing stories.

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