Warning: contains spoilers for X-Force #30!
The Eternals and the X-Men are opposites in one horrifying way, and it has everything to do with how both groups resurrect (and how they live afterwards). The two groups are currently engaged in a massive war that has since spread across the entire planet; while the Avengers desperately attempt to keep the peace, the Eternals and X-Men try to destroy one another outright. But what the human population of Earth doesn’t know is that the Eternals draw their energy from an unwitting source – and as Wolverine reminds readers in X-Force #30, the X-Men’s energy is drawn against their will.
The 2019 franchise-wide X-Men Krakoa reboot created by writer Johnathan Hickman saw the mutant status quo change forever. For the first time in Marvel comics history, a self-sufficient mutant nation was created (and unlike Genosha, the land itself is also a mutant) that provided a haven for the mutant population of Earth – and humans were not allowed. The most stunning change was the X-Men’s ability to resurrect from the dead, thanks to Cerebro, five powerful mutants and the island’s own special powers.
In X-Force #30, written by Benjamin Percy with art by Robert Gill, the mutant Wolverine is furious about the unknown state of Kid Omega. He decides to take his anger out on Krakoa. “Did you get a taste of his power and gobble him up? That’s what you do, Krakoa, ain’t it? You feed off us like fleas on a tiger’s back!” Wolverine is referring to the disturbing fact that Krakoa actually feeds on mutant energy. While Krakoa can actually kill in this manner, the energy drain effect is minimal on mutants if spread over the massive population of Krakoa.
The Eternals, meanwhile, work in the exact opposite fashion. While they themselves are not absorbed for any energy, the Machine that governs their resurrection processes must absorb the life force of one human every time an Eternal is brought back from the dead. This is a dreadful secret that only Ikaris and a few Eternals know (and no humans). In order to live on their paradise, the mutants of Krakoa risk their energies being drained – but the Eternals outright kill a human whenever they return from death.
In this manner, the X-Men sacrifice themselves, but the Eternals sacrifice others for their own well-being. This is, of course, not their decision and the revelation of their resurrection process would naturally horrify many of them, but the fact remains that humans are in danger whenever Eternals fight. The X-Men and the Eternals are indeed the opposite of one another – at least when it comes to who is predator and who is prey regarding energy absorption, humans, and the haven of the Krakoa island.
