WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for X-Men #19 by Jonathan Hickman, Mahmud Asrar, Sunny Gho, VC's Clayton Cowles, and Tom Muller, available now.
Following up on the events from X-Men #5, Laura Kinney's Wolverine, Darwin, and Synch special ops mission to infiltrate the Children of the Vault’s stronghold in Ecuador.
Within the confines of this abandoned Sentinel factory, the three are to gather intelligence and capture Serafina after her recent escape when the X-Men destroyed Orchis’ Mother Mold base. While inside, time is accelerated, turning hours into days and weeks into years which helps the Children of the Vault evolve exponentially faster than the outside world. And in X-Men #19, things take a turn when Darwin is captured by the Children as they look for the key to evolve into a new generation.
The trio were specifically chosen for this mission due to their specific power sets. Similar to Logan, Laura possesses an advanced healing factor. Because of how quickly time passes within, her powers are essential for long-term survival. Darwin, who appeared in 2011’s X-Men: First Class played by Edi Gathegi, has the ability to change his body’s infrastructure to adapt and survive in virtually any environment. His powers give him the ability to quickly gather and analyze the data they are witnessing. To round out their trio, the mutant Synch, who is able to imitate the abilities of other mutants, joins the fold to be an extra set of muscle or data collection. What the three young mutants initially thought would only be a few weeks of surveillance and potential capture turned out to be centuries of survival and reconnaissance.
However, the team suffers a catastrophic loss when Darwin is captured and studied, which allows the Children of the Vault to use the lessons about adaptability and evolution in their next incarnation.
Originally introduced in 2006’s X-Men #188 by Mike Carey, Chris Bachalo and VC’s Cory Petit, the Children of the Vault are a group of highly evolved beings based on the human genome. They were raised in the hold of a ship containing temporal acceleration technology allowing them to evolve 6,000 years resulting in a variety of superhuman abilities. Ultimately, their goal is to become the superior race, willing to wipe out humans and mutants alike to become the rulers of Earth. One of the most well-known Children is Serafina, who has continuously posed a threat to the X-Men, and single-handedly incapacitated Logan at one point using her array of abilities. More recently, Serafina was captured by the organization Orchis and was being studied on their Mother Mold base. When the X-Men destroyed the Mother Mold, she was able to escape captivity and retreated to the Vault.
The Children of the Vault are intrigued by Darwin's physiology and ability to adapt, which ultimately leads to his death before Synch and Wolverine are able to retrieve him. As they attempt to escape from the Vault, the Children kill the pair but not before Synch is able to transmit their findings back to Krakoa.
For the Children, they have always been focused on improving their odds for survival with every new cloned generation. The discovery of Darwin’s abilities and his capture may have unlocked their ultimate ability to adapt and survive, making them an even more potent threat to the X-Men.