Warning: spoilers ahead for Way of X #1!
The X-Men comics are taking Krakoa’s Crucible ritual to a disturbing new level by showing readers just how barbaric it truly is. After the Scarlet Witch depowered a large portion of mutants around the world in the House of M storyline, the mutants of Krakoa implemented the Crucible as a ceremony in which a mutant who has been stripped of their power can fight in a gladiator-like death match where they are killed and later resurrected by The Five with their mutant power restored.
Last year’s X-Men #7 introduced readers to the Crucible with a brutal sequence in which Apocalypse fought against Melody Guthrie aka Aero and killed her in front of an audience of their mutant brothers and sisters. Despite the fact that Melody chose this fate and was happily resurrected with her x-gene restored, Nightcrawler watched as a member of that audience while voicing his ethical concerns about the nature of the Crucible to Cyclops. Nightcrawler ultimately couldn’t put a finger on exactly what made him so uncomfortable about the Crucible at the time, but after witnessing the cruelest version of the ceremony depicted yet in Way of X, Nightcrawler decides he’s seen enough.
Way of X #1 by Si Spurrier and Bob Quinn picks up on Nightcrawler aka Kurt Wagner’s spiritual concerns regarding Krakoa’s resurrection and Crucible practices. While defending the merits of religion to Magneto, Kurt is approached by a timid and depleted woman who tells him that she is lost and heard he is one of the kinder mutants on the island. Kurt doesn’t give the encounter much thought before taking off, but little does he know that this woman’s name is Lost and she was attempting to ask Nightcrawler to be the one to kill her in the Crucible.
Later, Kurt arrives in the middle of the Crucible ceremony to realize his misunderstanding. He watches in horror as Magneto violently dominates Lost in the arena. Floating above her, Magneto shoots multiple shards of metal into Lost’s body, killing her slowly while telling her resurrection is a gift that must be earned through pain. Just then, a bleeding Lost makes eye contact with Kurt and begs him to tell her why he dismissed her when she requested he be the one to kill her in the Crucible. Filled with guilt and disgust, Kurt teleports into the arena and tackles magneto, telling him how senseless this violence is. Magneto is ultimately unphased by Kurt’s interjection and puts the final spear into Lost’s heart.
Given his deeply religious background, it makes sense that Nightcrawler would be the one to question the ethics of the Crucible. By scene’s end, Kurt points out that Magneto’s involvement isn’t what bothers him so much as the crowd’s roars of excitement over watching the savage violence unfold does. Mutants are becoming radical, almost cult-like in their ways, and Nightcrawler appears to be among the few with actual moral qualms. The X-Men may have found unity and prosperity on the island nation of Krakoa, but it seems to have all come at a cost.
