WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Excalibur #18 by Tini Howard, Marcus To, Erick Arciniega & VC's Ariana Maher, on sale now
The X-Men have been adapting in unique ways to their new status in the world thanks to the creation of Krakoa. And when he settled into Krakoa, Apocalypse doubled down on the mystical side of Marvel's mutant legacy as part of his service assisting Captain Britain and Excalibur. His lessons might have some serious impact on the future of Krakoa, thanks to someone willing to step into his shoes.
While Apocalypse might not be in Krakoa anymore, his recent student Rictor has fully taken his place as mutantdom's chief mystic, with Apocyaplse's secret will from shortly before the events of X of Swords officially making Rictor his heir.
After coming to Krakoa, Apocayplse moved past his villainous past became one of the more powerful allies to groups like Excalibur, where he worked with Captain Britain and Jamie Braddock. He even ended up taking the former X-Force member Rictor under his wing, teaching the earth-moving mutant in the ways of mutant magic. Rictor became a true believer in his lessons and was one of the former villain's greatest defenders among the heroes. Now that Apocalypse has departed for Amenth with his family, Rictor has been going through his effects, dedicating himself to the further study of mutant magic. Rictor gets the chance to fully explore what that means after Captain Britain returns to Krakoa. Following her defeat in X of Swords, Betsy Braddock hasn't been quite herself, something Rogue increasingly suspects is due to some outside influence.
Taking Rogue into the Grove of Possibilities -- Apocayplse's magical lab -- Rictor argues magic could be the key to restoring her. He even argues that mutants have begun to form covens, such as the Five. He firmly believes that this is the future of mutant-kind and that he has a historically important part to play as a guiding magician hand. It appears that Apocayplse agreed, as the final pages of the issue reveal that Apocayplse wrote a final will before the events of X of Swords. In the event of his final death or eventual disappearance, Apocayplse announces that all things that belonged to him now belong to Rictor. The will confirms that Rictor takes on every responsibility and item that Apocayplse had been gathering, with the firm knowledge that Apocayplse truly believed Rictor would be the perfect figure to carry on this legacy.
It's a powerful moment for Rictor and cements him as a leading mystical voice for the X-Men going forward. As the will states, Rictor has an innate connection to Krakoa thanks to his powers, which makes him vital to the island/ Apocalypse outright compares him to Cypher -- the only mutant who can really communicate with Krakoa -- in terms of importance. However, this also means Rictor has inherited the darker aspects of Apocayplse's work, including the captured Morgan Le Faye and all his experiments within the realm of Avalon.
With diplomatic relations with Otherworld on thin ice already, Rictor will have to be careful to not get Excalibur -- and by extension, all of Krakoa -- wrapped up in deadly mystical conflicts. Saturnyne proved how dangerous she can truly be during X of Swords, and there are plenty of lingering threats within Otherworld that would relish the chance to break the X-Men for all their worth. Rictor becoming the heir to Apocalypse might be the first step towards creating more mutant miracles, but it's vital that the hero never fully go down the bloody path that his predecessor did.