WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Cable #9 by Gerry Duggan, Phil Noto, & VC's Joe Sabino, on sale now

The modern era of X-Men stories have forced the team into some tricky ethical dilemmas, compelling the mutants to confront hard questions about themselves and who they consider mutants. It turns out, this has even led directly to some rules that have been angering some mutants across the island.

Cable #9 just codified the "Duplicate Rule" of resurrection by the Five, and it could be the seed of a genuine internal conflict on Krakoa.

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Cable Hope Duplicates

Since discovering the key to resurrection was in the synchronization of the powers of the Five, the X-Men on Krakoa have been able to overcome death itself. Using their powers to perfectly restore a mutant body with copies of their minds and memories stored and frequently updated within Cerebro, the Five can bring pretty much anyone back to life after death. However, this has raised numerous ethical questions within Krakoa, with one of the most pressing being the question of "duplicates," a term that refers to clones, alternate universe incarnations of other mutants, and similar anomalies.

Cable #9 codifies this rule by revealing the Five has strict rules against resurrecting duplicates. Early in the development of the Five, it was decided that it would "undermind the validity of the protocols" if multiple versions of the same mutant were to be produced. At that point, they're not respecting the specific individuality of a certain mutant, and instead be more like the kind of disposable clones Mister Sinister would make out of the original Marauders. This rule was established to expand to clones, alternate reality doubles and time-travelers from different points in the timeline. While there is a set note that only one of the duplicates could be eligible for resurrection, this leaves a lot of room for exceptions, such as the Stepford Cuckoos and Jamie Madrox.

This is likely the chief reason why the older Cable wasn't among the resurrected mutants following his death at the hands of his younger counterpart during "Extermination." as there was already one version of Cable on Krakoa. It's also why he and Hope now need to find a time-displaced Cable for assistance instead of restoring him. But this has been raising genuine concerns on the island. Honey-Badger -- a clone of her "older sister," X-23's Wolverine -- has raised the possibility that she would just be considered a clone if she were to die in service to Krakoa, and would therefore be kept from resurrection. This was even part of the reasoning given to Havok why the Quiet Council refused to allow Madelyne Pryor to be restored to life, arguing she shouldn't count as a genuine mutant because of her status as a clone.

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With Krakoa already coming apart at the seams in places, the question of duplicates has only made things more difficult. As Wildside brings up to Cable, is there a reason Stryfe isn't allowed on the island when he's a mutant as well? Is it just because he's a clone, or because the Quiet Council wasn't being fully authentic when they said Krakoa was home to all mutants, regardless of their past crimes? If not, then that just gives mutants extra reasons to be angered with the Quiet Council -- an unelected legislative body -- and how they have more or less cemented themselves as the ones who decide which mutants can be restored, and which can't.

With two vacancies on the council already promising potential discord (especially in regards to Magneto's upcoming forced meeting with Fabian Cortez), these questions raised by Cable could spread further across the island draw up some real internal conflict for the mutant population during a time when they need to be united and unified against an entire world's worth of enemies.

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