Marvel's X-Force Reveals That Krakoa Still Holds Deadly Threats to Mutants

Marvel's X-Men reboot "Dawn of X" continues with the release of the new X-Force comic series, and that book takes the new world of X-Men that writer Jonathan Hickman introduced in "House of X", and reveals that Marvel's new mutant nation of Krakoa isn't quite the paradise that Charles Xavier and Magneto may be envisioning. That fact becomes crystal clear during one scene of X-Force in which Wolverine and Beast encounter a deadly animal living out in the jungles of Krakoa. So as it turns out, the island of Krakoa is still posing deadly threat to mutants - as it always has.

WARNING - Major Spoilers for X-Force #1 Follow!

It's a nice day on the mutant island nation of Krakoa, and Beast is celebrating it by being out and about, studying the island's flora and fauna. While examining a piece of plant life by a creek, Beast is ambushed by a ferocious monster. Luckily Wolverine has been tracking the beast for days and is nearby to leap into action, ready to cut the beast down. However Beast stops Logan, for the sake of later scientific inquiry:

"Let it be Logan! ... I want to know what it is -- that's all. It can't possibly be a product of the island. If it were, it wouldn't have harmed me. Maybe it mistook me for a threat? ... Krakoa is supposed to be a refuge."

Wolverine is a lot simpler in his view of nature, telling Beast, "Every flower-filled meadow's got a hawk or a wolf or a snake lingering nearby, waiting for a taste. There's always a predator."

Wolverine's point (as he later says) is that mutants feel safe on Krakoa, and "when you're safe, you're soft." X-Force drives the point home by having the cyborg hit squad known as The Reavers infiltrate Krakoa and cause a mutant massacre, ending with Charles Xavier himself being assassinated.

That's a whole lot of spectacle, that would understandably make a lot of X-Men fans miss the larger importance of this scene between Beast, Wolverine, and an actual beast. That scene sets up a major new mystery about Krakoa, and how such a beastly threat could still be lurking in the mutant refuge. There's only a few ways that could happen, given the rules about Krakoa House of X laid out:

1. Krakoa hasn't fully shed its original nature in the X-Men universe as a mutant island that traps and feeds on other mutants like the X-Men.
2. Someone on Krakoa (read: Mr. Sinister) is messing around with genetics, creating creatures that aren't beholden to Krakoa's protective commands for the mutants living there.
3. Somewhere on Krakoa is a portal or connection the island's other half, Arakko, which House of X revealed got sealed away in Limbo, when Apocalypse heroically fought with his original horsemen to stop the demon realm from invading Earth. Since Arakko has been in the demon realm since ancient times, it would make sense that beasts like the one Wolverine and Beast encounter might find their way through to the other side.

What's your theory?

X-Force #1 is now on sale. The "Dawn of X" relaunch continues with Fallen Angels next week.