WARNING: The following contains spoilers for S.W.O.R.D. #1 by Al Ewing, Valerio Schiti, Marte Gracia, VC's Ariana Maher, and Tom Muller, on sale now.
The X-Men have come out victorious in the X of Swords crossover, even if it wasn't exactly by the books, and they leading the charge into a new age for mutantkind.
While the X-Men are building a new future for mutants on Earth, SWORD #1 shows how another group of mutants has taken to the stars as the new S.W.O.R.D. And in S.W.O.R.D. #1, he travels to the Peak, S.W.O.R.D.'s space station, for a visit. While Magneto stares in awe at the wonders around him, he sees that one mostly forgotten mutant genius, Wiz-Kid, has an important role.
In the tech suite, Takeshi Matsuya, aka Wiz-Kid, is hard at work bonding the Krakoan plant-tech to the space station's original, mechanical and digital systems. He gives Brand updates on his progress without losing focus, and he's starstruck when he realizes that Magneto is hovering right alongside him. Wiz-Kid is honored to meet one of Krakoa's architects. But Magneto, upon learning that Wiz-Kid is one of The Six, tells the young mutant that he is honored to be among one of the architects of Krakoa's future.
Wiz-Kid first appeared in 1988's X-Terminators #1 and was created by Louise Simonson and Jon Bogdanove. The childhood accident that left Wiz-Kid without the use of his legs also killed his parents, and so he found himself a student of Saint Simon's Academy, where he was isolated in his grief. His knack for invention and incredible intellect allowed him the ability to create fantastic devices, and once his mutant powers manifested Wiz-Kid was able to push his creations to work outside of the conventional scientific laws that we know. Wiz-Kid would go on to befriend fellow mutant students Artie Maddicks and Leech. During Inferno, the three young mutants were kidnapped by the demon N'astirh and transported to Limbo to serve as part of his plot to merge Limbo and Earth into one realm. Once N'astirh realized the children weren't fit for his ritual, Wiz-Kid was able to leverage his technopathic abilities in exchange for their lives, helping the demon until finally given the chance to fight back.
As one of the few mutants to retain their abilities after Scarlet Witch depowered most of the world's mutant population, Wiz-Kid used his powers to hack into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database and change his status within the organization, ensuring that they would leave him alone for at least some time. After this, he was one of the few mutants who chose not to join the X-Men on Utopia, instead of joining the Avengers Academy along with X-23 and Ricochet. It's been quite some time since Wiz-Kid has been seen in action, but now it seems that he has found the perfect place to put his abilities to use for the good of mutantkind.
As one of The Six, Wiz-Kid truly is one of the most important mutants alive right now. Much like how The Five on Krakoa are able to resurrect their fallen brethren, The Six act as a circuit, combining and coordinating their powers to takes mutants to the furthest reaches of the multiverse. As The Control, Wiz-Kid is in charge of aligning and adjusting the other five mutants in the circuit while The Six operate as one, effectively making the entire circuit viable on his own, filling a role that is absolutely necessary to the process working at all.
Even though he's been out of the spotlight for years, S.W.O.R.D. could finally give Wiz-Kid the chance to make the entire Marvel Universe realize how smart he is.