This article contains spoilers for X-Factor #7
The X-Men are about to be hunted by the Morrigan, an ancient Goddess of Death. The X-Men believe they conquered death. A synergy of mutant power and Cerebro technology is allowing them to resurrect the dead. They are slowly restoring the millions of mutants who have been slain over the decades, including the entire population of the mutant nation of Genosha.
Something has gone wrong in the new issue of X-Factor from writer Leah Williams and artist David Baldeon, though, with one of the resurrected mutants – Siryn. She is mysteriously dying, killing herself again and again, and X-Factor – a task force responsible for investigating mutant deaths prior to resurrection – has been called in to investigate. It hasn’t taken them long to figure out that Siryn is actually under the influence of an ancient Death Goddess named the Morrigan she has been associated with in the past – and the Morrigan seems to have an agenda of her own for Krakoa.
But it seems X-Factor’s investigation is about to go horribly wrong. X-Factor #7 ends with a horrific flash-forward scene in which a handful of survivors are hiding out in their headquarters, terrified of the Morrigan. Eye-Boy’s mutant vision allows him to keep appraised of the others; “Rachel’s dead,” he tells them. “Polaris too. We’re the last ones. Everybody else is dead.“
The X-Men have disturbed the cosmic balance of life and death, and in fact, they came close to destroying Death itself by accident. Up until now, though, the comics have avoided exploring just what Marvel’s various gods and goddesses of death would make of the Resurrection Protocols. But it makes sense for the Morrigan to be the first one affected, for Siryn – her latest host – is herself a mutant. The Morrigan traditionally passes from one host to the next at the moment of death, but that cycle has clearly been disrupted because Siryn just keeps being brought back from death.
But the Morrigan is crafty and cunning, and it seems she objects to her presence being discovered. As a result, she plans to kill X-Factor – before their memories of the Morrigan can be uploaded into Cerebro. But this is clearly only a stop-gap solution, buying the Morrigan time. It is likely she has a far greater goal in mind – one that will threaten to disrupt everything the X-Men have attempted to build on the mutant nation of Krakoa. Ironically, the Resurrection Protocols now pose a terrible threat to the X-Men.
