As the From the Ashes era of the X-Men soon begins in earnest a new X-Factor team arises, and one new member is a fascinating mutant who has one wish: She just wants to die. While this sounds grim, series writer Mark Russell says that the immortal 83-year-old Granny Smite adds a “cute sort of presence” to the comic, as she joins X-Factor in increasingly deadly missions.
The newest iteration of X-Factor will be led by Havok, the controversial younger brother of X-Men icon Cyclops, as a government-sponsored mutant team alongside other heroes like Angel, Pyro, Feral, Frenzy, and Cecilia Reyes.
While on The Rcade Podcast, writer Mark Russell revealed that X-Factor, which artist Bob Quinn illustrates, will introduce the immortal mutant Granny Smite, who is desperate to find a way to end her life after realizing she will leave forever… but also age forever.
Granny Smite, who is like an 83-year old woman who recently discovered she is an immortality mutant. And she discovered this only because she survived a couple disasters. Her house burning down and then a plane wreck and now that she’s realized she is an immortality mutant she is horrified by it, because she is 83-years old and she doesn’t want to live as an old woman.
She doesn’t want to keep getting older! So she joined X-Factor so that she can go on all the suicide missions and hopefully find a way… something to kill her. Which makes her very formidable and also a cute sort of presence… not as dark as I’m making it.
The Immortal Granny Smite Just Wants To Die
Being an immortal being who ages would be terrible
During Mark Russell’s interview the Superman: Space Age writer revealed that at least two new mutants would be introduced as members of X-Factor, including Granny Smite and a young man named Xyber. Tragically, Xyber’s powers involve him releasing powerful electromagnetic pulses that bring him closer to death every time they are released, similar to Firestar’s microwave ability giving Angelica cancer. Granny is an old woman who only realized that she is immortal in her 80s, a horrific discovery for someone who has continued to age and yet cannot die. It sounds like Smite will become dark comedic relief as she tries to find a way to finally pass away.
Marvel’s new X-Factor team is modeled after the 1990’s main X-Factor iteration, which was also a government-run heroic team led by Havok, but this iteration will see the mutants operating in a post-Krakoa world. As X-Factor comes up against Havok’s ex-girlfriend Polaris – daughter of Magneto – and a mutant rebellion she is leading, the team will be forced to battle against dangerous forces. Russell has not revealed the entirety of Granny Smite’s backstory, or how she becomes involved in X-Factor, but with how little the US government has historically cared for mutants, it seems like X-Factor will be shoved into deadly situations, exactly what Granny was hoping for.
Granny Smite Could Become The Next Black Womb
Immortality plus aging is a recipe for disaster
The most prominent example of a Marvel mutant who ages but remains immortal is Amanda Mueller, the Black Womb, a sadistic villain who was over 150 years old when she recently “died” in Cable #4, although her true fate is unknown. Mueller became obsessed with evolving humanity beyond the need for a physical body, to relieve herself of the fate of constant aging, a path that Granny Smite could easily go down. The inability to die, while growing weaker and older would be devastating on the mind, and it would be fascinating if the “cute” Granny eventually became a Big Bad for X-Factor.
While certainly a depressing reality for Granny Smite, it is not hard to imagine the hilarity that will ensue when Smite jumps into increasingly deadly situations in front of her shocked and alarmed X-Factor colleagues. Even though the X-Men are used to death, they aren’t typically prepared for an immortal mutant who wants to die, and the way Havok and her peers handle Granny should be a fun reveal.
Source: The Rcade Podcast
