Warning: Spoilers for Alpha Flight (2023) #1 ahead!Charles Xavier may believe he’s responsible for the death of the X-Men and Earth’s mutant population, but as it turns out, his actions in giving aid to the Shi’ar long ago have given the planet’s surviving mutants their best hope of a safe haven against the forces of anti-mutant terror organization Orchis.
Alpha Flight (2023) #1 – by Ed Brisson, Scott Godlewski, and Matt Milla’s – shows Canada’s national response to the events of the disastrous third Hellfire Gala. The government has fallen in line with Orchis, with the remaining members of Alpha Flight openly presented as Canada’s defense force against the mutant threat alongside a new wave of Sentinels.
Mutants Are Fleeing Earth, As Seen In Alpha Flight #1
In Alpha Flight (2023) #1, the team come into conflict with their former allies while attempting to hunt down a fleeing mutant; failing to detain him, the team’s government handler, Erika Doiron, furiously deploys Canada’s Sentinels. At their safe house, a group of mutants discusses their escape plan. “Is it true that Mars is only mutants?” one asks. In response, another says that Mars isn’t currently safe; they will be going to “a place called Chandilar” instead, revealing that the Shi’ar are helping Earth’s mutants following Orchis’ attack. Soon after, Alpha Flight comes to warn them about the Sentinels, revealing the team is actually working as double agents against Orchis.
The Might Of The Shi’ar Could Save Mutantkind
Chandilar is the home of the Shi’ar empire, one of Marvel’s major interstellar powers. Introduced in writer Chris Claremont’s X-Men #97, from 1976, Xavier and the X-Men have assisted the Shi’ar through numerous conflicts. Xavier eventually married the Shi’ar Empress Lilandra, with their daughter Xandra later inheriting the throne. Prior to Xavier’s aid, relations between the Shi’ar and mutants were notoriously hostile. As revealed in 2022’s Marauders – by Steve Orlando, Eleonora Carlini, and Matt Milla – the early Shi’ar empire hated mutants so much, an entire secret society known as the Kin Crimson was formed to help suppress knowledge and influence of mutants within the empire.
It has already been heavily implied that Marvel’s mutants survived Xavier forcing them through the Krakoan Gates, despite his belief to the contrary, meaning that Xavier’s guilt following the “Mutant Massacre” seen in X:Men Hellfire Gala (2023) #1 is ultimately unfounded. More than that: by showing kindness to the Shi’ar empire, he has given mutantkind one of the greatest havens against Orchis imaginable in the Shi’ar homeworld. Although Orchis ally Orbis Stellaris holds some interstellar clout, it is not enough for him to openly oppose one of the Marvel universe’s great military powers, meaning that Xavier’s daughter Xandra now leads one of the greatest potential bastions for mutantkind.
The Shi’ar and the X-Men are inextricably linked. Charles Xavier’s legacy is a prickly subject, especially when it comes to Earth-bound matters. His habit of keeping secrets and taking unilateral action has been responsible for much strife and conflict throughout the years. With that said, his crucial help in forging such strong connections between the X-Men and the Shi’ar means that Professor X has potentially become mutantkind’s greatest savior after all – at exactly the moment where he believes his mistakes have doomed them all, as the Fall of X begins. While the exact role the Shi’ar play in the Fall remains to be seen, the X-Men can likely count on them as allies.
Alpha Flight (2023) #1 is now available from Marvel Comics.
