Krakoa

Krakoa is a fictional living island appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. It first appeared in '' Giant-Size X-Men'' #1 and was created by Len Wein and Dave Cockrum. While often depicted as an antagonist, Krakoa later featured as having grown into a sentient habitat for the mutant nation that shared its name during the Krakoan Age of the ''X-Men'' comics.'' House of X'' #1 (July 2019)

Publication history

On its first appearance in ''Giant-Size X-Men'' #1 (1975), Krakoa is introduced as the Pacific island setting where a previous team of X-Men have gone missing while investigating strong readings from Cerebro, a device with the ability to detect mutants. Its name recalls that of Krakatoa, a volcanic island in Indonesia which erupted in 1883. Charles Xavier recruits a new, international team to rescue them. On their arrival on Krakoa, they are attacked by the flora, fauna, and very ground of the island, until finally Angel—one of the original X-Men they are rescuing—warns them that "the island itself" is the powerful mutant which Cerebro had detected. That is, the entire island of Krakoa had become a single monstrous mutant, similar to the Aspidochelone of legend. It needs the mutants in order to leech their life-energy. Both teams escape as Krakoa is ripped from the ocean bed, hurled into space, and apparently dies. While the issue would be celebrated for revitalizing the X-Men, the character / setting of Krakoa was revived only very sporadically until Jonathan Hickman's 2019 X-Men event ''House of X and Powers of X''. In those miniseries (which established the premise of the X-Men comics going forward), the mutants have established communication with Krakoa and agreed to live on it in a symbiotic relationship, establishing the island as an independent mutant nation-state. The true aims of Krakoa have so far been left ambiguous.

Fictional character biography

Origin

Krakoa was originally depicted as a small island in the Pacific Ocean that was located close to nuclear bombing tests. The radiation somehow mutated the island's ecosystem into a hive-mind entity.'' Giant-Size X-Men'' #1 (May 1975) Nick Fury and his commando team were accidental witnesses to the bomb drop which created Krakoa in early 1945, and soon afterwards crashed on and encountered the island's collective intelligence, with whom they arranged a peaceful parting in exchange for keeping its existence a secret.

Encounter with the X-Men

However, Krakoa later became hungry for the unique life energy created by mutants. It was responsible for the deaths of a team of young mutants, composed of Petra, Sway, Darwin, and Kid Vulcan, from a parallel X-Men team led by Moira McTaggart. Darwin and Kid Vulcan survived, but were trapped within Krakoa. Krakoa was later able to capture the original X-Men ( Cyclops, Angel, Havok, Iceman, Jean Grey, and Polaris), which led to the subsequent formation of the new team of X-Men ( Colossus, Nightcrawler, Storm, Sunfire, Thunderbird, Banshee, and Wolverine). The new X-Men team found the original X-Men and by using her powers, Polaris launched Krakoa into outer space.

Found by the Stranger

Krakoa was later apparently found and captured for study by the cosmic entity known as the Stranger, as seen when Quasar visited one of his 'laboratory worlds'. Krakoa was eventually freed along with many other specimens and was last seen orbiting around Earth until the energy wave from M-Day and the Collective awakened Vulcan. It is also revealed that before it was shot into outer space, Krakoa released several spores from itself, which later plagued the X-Men.''Excalibur'' #31 (November 1990)

Krakoan Age

The ''House of X and Powers of X'' storyline transformed Krakoa into a sovereign nation state for the entire mutant race.'' Powers of X'' #4 (November 2019) The Krakoan "Habitat" structures were self-sustained environments which functioned as an extension of Krakoa's shared consciousness. While the main body of Krakoa was situated in the Pacific Ocean, parts of it also existed off the coast of Africa in the mid-Atlantic Ocean, located south of the Azores and west of the Canary Islands. An island chain, which includes the Pointe, Transit, and Danger Island, was linked to the main island in the same interconnected manner as the habitats. The lair of Emma Frost and Bar Sinister were incorporated into Krakoa.

These habitats were connected by Gateways that allowed instantaneous travel from one part of Krakoa to another. The gateways could only be accessed by mutants but if a mutant brought a human with them voluntarily, that human needed Krakoa's permission to use the gateway. During the Krakoan Age, Krakoa expanded to the Blue Area of the Moon, the Green Area on Mars and beyond the solar system. Some of these structures served as embassies around several countries on Earth. Various pharmaceuticals could also only be produced from flowers grown on Krakoa such as special pills that extend human life by five years, a "universal" antibiotic and a cure for "disease of the mind, in humans" – these pharmaceuticals were only available to nations that recognized Krakoa's sovereignty. Krakoan as a national language was introduced in this era; Jonathan Hickman described it as "mutantdom's first autochthonous language" created by Cypher. He noted that it "is a manufactured language and is not the native language of Krakoa the living mutant island. The language of Krakoa is untranslatable, and almost any human/mutant brains are incapable of comprehending it", with Cypher as the "only known exception".

During the third '' Hellfire Gala'' (July 2023), Krakoa was attacked by Orchis; the mutants there were forced through Gateways and initially thought to be lost. However, these "mutants landed in an arid wasteland". Unbeknownst to them, Mother Righteous had transported Atlantic Krakoa into the White Hot Room which allowed the surviving mutants to rebuild. The X-Men trapped there managed to escape back to Earth and defeat Orchis. ''X-Men'' #35 (June 2024), legacy ''Uncanny X-Men'' #700, marked the official end of the Krakoan Age with a brief opening to the White Hot Room. Fifteen years had passed for the mutants within and during this time jump, they flourished in "New Krakoa" while continuing the vision of the original mutant nation. After briefly visiting Earth, New Krakoa and the majority of its inhabitants return to the White Hot Room permanently.

From the Ashes

In ''Invincible Iron Man'' (vol. 4) #20, Tony Stark fulfills Emma Frost's request for a Krakoan mutant memorial. With Ironheart's help, they craft the memorial "out of an abandoned Krakoan gate in Manhattan, with the inscription: 'Dedicated to Those Who Paid the Ultimate Price to Fight Fascism'". In '' NYX'' (vol. 2), Prodigy teaches a class titled "Examinations of Post-Krakoan Diaspora" at Empire State University, with Kamala Khan and Sophie Cuckoo as students.

During the crossover event storylines "X-Manhunt" and " One World Under Doom", Charles Xavier escapes Graymalkin Prison and travels to New York City with the goal of recovering a Cerebro helmet. However, he informed NYX mutants that his mission was to recover the last Krakoa Seed which had been stolen by Doctor Doom. While Xavier pursued his own objective, Anole and Ms. Marvel successfully locate the seed at the old X-Men Treehouse. Despite their success, Xavier abandons them to continue his personal mission. Unbeknownst to the NYX mutants, the true Krakoa Seed is in the hands of Mojo and his majordomo Fauna. Mojo plans to use the Krakoa Seed to control New York City and transform it into a version of Mojo's domain.

Quiet Council of Krakoa

The Quiet Council of Krakoa is a fictional council of mutant superheroes and supervillains which governed mutantkind during the Krakoan Age. The twelve-member governing body was divided up into four sections (with three seats each) along with an adjunct section.

Reception

In 2020, '' CBR.com'' ranked Krakoa 3rd in their "10 Most Powerful Fictional Nations In the Marvel Universe" list. In 2021, ''Screen Rant'' included Krakoa in their "10 Most Important Fictional Marvel Comics Countries" list.

Academic Brett Butler in the Journal of Science Fiction viewed Krakoa as "an integral part of the narrative" during the Krakoan Age, commenting that while "Xavier has established the mutant society on Krakoa, the island itself actually controls all of the major aspects of that society". Butler highlighted that "Hickman and other writers show how mutants declare independence through exclusive trade, create laws and punishment, establish mass transit routes, identify a national language, and negotiate property rights—none of which would be possible without the island of Krakoa providing the means and/or permitting them to do so". Readers have been divided as to whether the storyline is intended as an extended allegory for the state of Israel.

Other versions

* In the '' Ultimate Marvel'' reality, Krakoa is featured in issues of '' Ultimate X-Men''. Krakoa Island is south of Genosha (which in this reality is vastly anti-mutant under the reign of Lord Scheele) and the filming location for Mojo Adams' reality TV shows for executing mutants, such as Scheele's killer Arthur Centino / Longshot.
* In '' What If?: Deadly Genesis'', Vulcan's trip to Krakoa saw him kill the rest of the X-Men by accident before the island itself was jettisoned into deep space. Years later, it is discovered by the Silver Surfer, and analysis of the cavern with Sway's powers reveals what really happened to the original team.

In other media

Krakoa appears as a map in '' Marvel Rivals''.

References

External links

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Krakoa
at Comic Vine

Krakoa (Grandchild)
at Comic Vine

{{X-Men characters

Characters created by Dave Cockrum
Characters created by Len Wein
Fictional elements introduced in 1975
Fictional islands
X-Men