An Underrated Mutant Is Finally Getting the X-Men Spotlight

Laura Kinney has just paved the way for an underrated mutant hero to step back into the spotlight.

NYX #8 opens to find Julian Keller, better known as Hellion, chained in the back of an Office of National Emergency, or O*N*E* prisoner transport vehicle. While the O*N*E* agents are more than happy to torture whatever information they can out of Hellion, his former teammates have a less intrusive plan for uncovering the truth. As it turns out, Hellion's supposed victims never lost their lives in the first place, though he was happy to let the rest of the world believe they did if it meant he could both stand up for mutants everywhere and avoid becoming a villain in the process.

NYX #8

• Written by JACKSON LANZING & COLLIN KELLY
• Art by FRANCESCO MORTARINO
• Colors by RAÚL ANGULO
• Letters by VC's JOE SABINO
• Design by JAY BOWEN
• Main cover art by SARA PICHELLI & FEDERICO BLEE
• Variant covers by ANNIE WU and MARK BROOKS

Introduced in 2003's New Mutants #2 by Nunzio DeFilippis, Christian Weir, and Keron Grant, the future Hellion was born to a wealthy family who provided him with everything he could need. When Julian's mutant powers developed, and when he refused to keep them a secret, his parents sent him to the Xavier Institute, albeit more for their own interests than his. An impossibly powerful psychic with potent telekinetic abilities, Julian quickly established himself as one of the strongest members of his class at the Xavier Institute. He also developed a fast friendship and budding romance with the original Laura Kinney, whose memories of Julian live on through both her and the Krakoan Duplicate operating as Wolverine today.

In the wake of the end of the Krakoan Era, Julian found that he could not cope with the loss of the veritable utopia he and his fellow mutants once shared. Because of this, he was quick to team up with Manuel de la Rocha, better known as Empath, and Sophie Cuckoo's twisted sisters in carrying out brazen acts of terrorism in the hopes of ushering in a new Krakoan Era. In doing so, Julian took up the mantle of The Krakoan, which only kept his true identity a secret for a short while before the extent of the plot he was involved in became known.

Unsurprisingly, Empath has embraced his new role as a villain following the end of the Krakoan Era. Considering he has always been one to abuse his powers, it isn't any great shock that he has orchestrated various attacks against humanity, nor that he has manipulated the likes of Hellion to do his dirty work. Rather than ever attempting to make up for the friends and allies he had previously alienated, Empath took it upon himself to try and lead the charge toward a new Krakoan Era, albeit one that has only been loosely defined and doesn't seem to have any real foundation as of yet.

NYX #8 is available now from Marvel Comics.

Source: Marvel Comics