WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Marauders #18 by Gerry Duggan, Stefano Caselli, Matteo Lolli, Edgar Delgado & VC's Cory Petit, on sale now
Despite being great heroes who've saved the world multiple times, many of the X-Men have a more cheeky relationship with their teammates. Plenty of members of the team have pranked their teammates -- but the most recent (and most public) joke just came at the expense of two of Krakoa's most important mutant figures.
Emma Frost just opened up a major new hospital in Madripoor and named it after Moira MacTaggert -- quietly trolling Xavier and Magneto in front of an entire crowd over the secret of Moira X.
The Marauders have been trying to help out the island nation of Madripoor, which has been dealing with oppression from the local human government. This has resulted in the Hellfire Trading Corporation helping out by purchasing large swaths of land on the island and investing in construction projects -- only instead of the skyscrapers that Homines Verendi and Chen Zhao have been intending to build, they want to construct hospitals and sites to improve the living conditions for the people stuck in the impoverished Lowtown. One of the most impressive comes directly from the Marauders, with the construction of a new hospital being made into a major media event.
Emma even invites Xavier and Magneto to attend the event, which gives the people of Madripoor -- human and mutant alike -- free healthcare. But making matters more complicated for Xavier and Magneto is the name of the building -- the Moira MacTaggert Memorial Hospital. As revealed by Moira's son Proteus, the building is dedicated to Moira's memory, with a statue of the woman even standing in front of the building. At its core, the hospital is an important and worthwhile gesture from Krakoa to help cement the alliance between the people of Madripoor and the mutants of Krakoa. But as Emma reveals to Kate Pryde, the name was also meant to get a rise out of Xavier and Magneto -- who have no choice but to politely clap when the statue is revealed.
Their complicated feelings over Moira MacTaggert come from revelations about the woman, revealed in House of X and Powers of X. Moira had for decades been a prominent human ally to the X-Men, lending help and guidance to mutants whenever they needed it. Publicly, this was how Moira died as well -- mortally wounded by Mystique during an attack on Muir Island, and dying alongside the X-Men. However, in reality, Moira actually survived. Not only that, but Moira was in actuality a mutant, reborn after every death and attempting to save the mutant race in new ways each time she lived. Only some are aware of her survival, including seemingly Emma Frost -- which explains why she made a point of inviting them to the event.
While Moira is still a secret ally to the X-Men, honoring her comes with a completely different context post-House of X. It's also an impressive joke from Emma, serving a genuinely good purpose while also forcing Xavier and Magneto to just stew as Emma basks in the free publicity and admiration for her actions. They even have to applaud her actions like the rest of the assembled crowd or stand out for their refusal too. For someone like Emma -- who occasionally finds joy in getting a rise out of her allies and enemies alike -- it's a very fitting joke.
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