By declaring war on Krakoa, Orchis has given itself a dangerous headstart in the seemingly inevitable war between humanity and mutantkind.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for X-Men #9, now on sale from Marvel Comics
The creation of the mutant nation of Krakoa has been a massive gamechanger for the X-Men and mutantkind. After enduring centuries of prejudice and persecution at the hands of humanity, mutantkind has suddenly found itself going on the offensive, with Krakoa establishing itself as a political and economic powerhouse while expanding its influence beyond the confines of Earth by colonizing other planets. Unfortunately, these recent successes have also inspired the enemies of mutantkind to step up their game, with the human-supremacist organization Orchis proving itself to be Krakoa’s greatest enemy by far.
Driven by their pure hatred and distrust for mutantkind, Orchis has waged an all-out war against Krakoa, claiming the lives of countless mutants in the process. However, despite the massive harm that Orchis has done to Krakoa, the ruling Quiet Council ultimately chooses not to go to war against the mutant hate group when the idea comes to a vote in X-Men #9 (by Gerry Duggan, Carlos Vill, Marte Garcia, and Clayton Cowles), and their decision could seal the fate of the nation they’ve worked so hard to create.
The sudden formation of Karkoa in House of X caught the world by surprise, and the announcement that mutantkind had united under a single banner immediately terrified those who were already prejudiced against mutants. Fearful that an organized mutantkind held the potential to supplant humanity as the Earth’s dominant species, fringe elements from many of the Marvel Universe’s most powerful factions, including S.H.I.E.L.D, A.I.M, and even HYDRA, united to form Orchis. With seemingly unlimited resources and the expertise of some of the world’s greatest scientific minds at its disposal, Orchis has attacked Krakoa from every conceivable angle, creating advanced versions of the mutant-hunting Sentinel robots and waging an international propaganda campaign designed to demonize mutants and rally support for their cause.
For its part, Krakoa has been anything but dismissive of the threat that Orchis poses, and the mutant nation has gone to great lengths to sabotage the anti-mutant organizations’ activities by sending powerful mutant strike teams to attack Orchis’s orbital base, the Sol Forge, but Krakoa has never been willing to go to the same lengths as Orchis. Although the Quiet Council of Krakoa recognizes Orchis as one of, if not the, greatest threats to the future of mutantkind, the mutant nation has mostly stuck to a defensive position when dealing with them, fighting off Orchis’ direct attacks and sabotaging its operations without fully going on the offensive. When Professor Xavier proposes changing their strategy and taking the fight to Orchis, the Quiet Council unanimously refuses, claiming that declaring war against a human organization would harm Krakoa’s image.
In some ways, the Quiet Council’s decision is a wise one, as Krakoa’s standing within the international community has been strained by its leaders’ aggressive approach to diplomacy, but their refusal to escalate their conflict with Orchis could spell disaster for the mutant nation. Unlike the Quiet Council, the leaders of Orchis declared war against Krakoa from the moment the organization was founded, and their status as a terrorist organization means that they don’t have to play by the same rules as Krakoa does in terms of international relations. Free from these limitations, Orchis has been able to force Krakoa into a defensive position by launching lethal but ultimately trivial assaults against the mutant nation while secretly dedicating their time and resources to creating long-term threats to mankind’s revival like the advanced sentinel Nimrod.
While it is reassuring that longtime X-Men members like Nightcrawler and Kitty Pryde aren’t willing to violate their principles by taking human lives, the Quiet Council’s refusal to recognize the threat that Orchis poses could end up costing the lives of many of Krakoa’s citizens. To make matters worse, Bishop, the former leader of X-Force and current Captain Commander of Krakoa, has been spying on the Quiet Council, meaning that he could be well aware of the Quiet Council’s refusal to declare war on Orchis. Having already made it clear that he believes that the citizens of Krakoa have been softened by the comforts that the mutant nation has provided for them, the time-traveling son of Cyclops and Jean Grey could use this information to gather allies while undermining the Council’s authority.
By declaring war on Krakoa, Orchis has given itself a dangerous headstart in the seemingly inevitable war between humanity and mutantkind. Although the Quiet Council may have won a moral victory by refusing to resort to the methods of its genocidal enemy, their decision could give Orchis valuable time to create a strategy that could end Krakoa once and for all.
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