WARNING: The following contains spoilers from Hellions #1 by Zeb Wells, Stephen Segovia, David Curiel and VC’s Cory Petit, on sale now.
The X-Men have interesting ways of handling their problems, and the Hellions illustrate that point more clearly than any other group in recent memory. Marvel's newest X-Men team is comprised of the most mentally unstable mutants inhabiting Krakoa. The Quiet Council has elected to provide therapy for these mutants in the guise of sending them on missions that will make good use of their destructive capabilities without causing human casualties. The team is led by Mister Sinister, a genetics expert and member of the Council whose own sanity is questionable at times.
As the team gets ready for its first mission in Hellions #1, Sinister tells them that they'll be going to Nebraska to destroy a clone breeding lab that he was using underneath the abandoned orphanage where both Cyclops and his brother Havok lived in as children. Due to the dark tendencies that he recently displayed on the battlefield, Havok is grimly content to return to his former home, which he once vowed to burn to the ground if he ever saw again.
In her mission brief, the team’s field leader Psylocke informs them that they aren’t going on a simple demolition assignment. She tells them that clones of the original Marauders, Sinister's psychotic mutant assassins who perpetrated the "Mutant Massacre," are living at the lab. Sensing that Sinister is hiding something, Psylocke quietly approaches him away from the rest of the team and questions him. Surprisingly, Sinister confirms that he is hiding something but reminds her that she and the others have no choice but to follow his orders. Still, he tells her that what she finds will be deeply unpleasant.
The last few pages of the issue show a glimpse of the horrors that are happening underneath the Essex Home for Foundlings. The Marauders are unconscious, chained and hanging upside down while their blood drips onto the floor. Someone nearby toys with them, using what appears to be demonic power to open one of the captive’s eyes and reform his mouth before causing him to lapse back into unconsciousness.
On the final page of the issue, it is revealed that the assailant is none other than Madelyne “Maddie” Pryor, the Goblin Queen.
Maddie Pryor served as a romantic interest for Cyclops after the first apparent death of Jean Grey in the wake of "The Dark Phoenix Saga." After Pryor debuted in Chris Claremont and Paul Smith's Uncanny X-Men #168, she hung around with the X-Men for a while before marrying Cyclops and having a son who would grow up to be Cable.
However, it was later revealed that Jean Grey was actually alive. After much heartache, Cyclops made the controversial decision to leave his wife and child behind to be with Jean, who he considered to be his one true love. Eventually, Sinister sent his original team of Marauders to kill Maddie and obtain the child, but Maddie called on the X-Men for help. While Cyclops and Jean were busy with X-Factor, the other X-Men saved Maddie, and a bond began to form between Cyclops' brother Havok and Maddie, as she was slowly being corrupted by a demonic influence.
During the "Inferno" event, Maddie learned that she was a clone of Jean Grey who was created by Mister Sinister in an effort to create the perfect mutant offspring. She subsequently fully aligned herself with the demons of Limbo and took on the mantle of the Goblin Queen. She also revealed that she possessed the telepathic powers of Jean, which were drastically augmented with demonic energy. As the Goblin Queen, Madelyne turned Havok against his brother and attempted to sacrifice her son to permanently open a portal to the underworld. Her attempts were foiled and she was thought to be destroyed.
While Pryor has reappeared plenty of times over the years, her latest reappearance suggests that she's ready to settle some old grudges. While the Marauders have already felt her wrath, it won't be long before she turns her attention to the X-Men. Given her impending meeting with Havok and her animosity toward both Cyclops and Jean, the return of the Goblin Queen is sure to set the X-Men's world aflame once again.