Marvel’s Latest X-Men Controversy Sees a Disturbing Trope Return

The X-Men have had some problems in the last couple of years. The Krakoa Era started circling the drain when then-Head of X Jonathan Hickman left the books. “Fall of X” hurt the X-Men books immensely, as all of the problems with Krakoa that had been brewing since Hickman left did near-fatal damage. “From the Ashes” was meant to be the next big thing, with Marvel executive editor Tom Brevoort taking over the book. Things went pretty great at first, honestly; the beginning of “From the Ashes” at least sold well, even if the critical perception was mixed. However, it’s since fallen, and fallen hard, with only the flagship books like X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, Exceptional X-Men, and Wolverine weathering the tumults.

Right now, the X-Men books are in the midst of “Age of Revelation”, an alternate universe story whose perception that has mixed, which seems like the watchword for the line since Brevoort took over. This story takes place ten years in the future, with many characters drastically changed. Magik, who has been Cyclops’s right-hand woman in X-Men, has become the Darkchylde again, and an Infinity comic, the books that Marvel puts on their Marvel Unlimited app, told the story of how she got there. However, this comic caused a huge uproar, one that sees a disturbing Marvel trope return, and we need to talk about it.

TRIGGER WARNING for Sexual Assault

Marvel’s Latest Magik Controversy Isn’t the First Time the Publisher has Done This

Marvel Infinity’s X-Men: Age of Revelation #4 revealed the fate of Magik after her death. She was sent back to Limbo, where she met her old demonic masters and they decided that they wanted her back as their weapon. So, the demons sexually assaulted her until she became their slave again. Now, it wasn’t shown on the page, but the book didn’t shy away from telling us what happened to her. It’s such a strange and disturbing choice to make in 2025; Magik has gotten more popular than ever, and to have her abused in such a way is honestly terrible.

For anyone who knows Magik’s origin, this isn’t something new. It was eventually revealed that Illyana Rasputin was sexually assaulted by demons as a child in Limbo back in the ’80s, when she was one of the stars of New Mutants. There’s precedent for this and Limbo is meant to be a hellish place. However, here’s the thing: there’s no reason for this other than shock. If X-Men editorial wanted Magik back as Darkchylde, they could have easily done it without using sexual assault as the mechanism. There was no reason to use something this despicable to make the plot line work.

Fans immediately let their outrage be known; I found about the situation on Reddit, and people there weren’t happy about the issue, with may of them blaming writer Tim Seeley. Seeley was actually mobbed off Twitter because of the situation; he and his family both received death threats. However, let’s be real for a second: he’s not the only one who deserves your ire. “Age of Revelation” is Jed MacKay and Tom Brevoort’s baby. The editors signed off on this plot line. If you want to be outraged, don’t just blame the writer; this one is on the entire X-office, and it’s the return of one of the worst things in Marvel history.

Marvel gets a lot of credit from fans about how diverse their books are, and yet looking back over the publisher’s history, they have a history of doing terrible things to superheroines. Stan Lee made Invisible Woman into a caricature of a woman and Steve Ditko did much the same. There’s Avengers #200, a book that saw Carol Danvers raped and then fall in love with her rapist; in fact, rape has been used on many women in Marvel. Scarlet Witch was driven insane numerous times over the years, all because she couldn’t handle her emotions. Marvel has used anti-woman ideas many times over the years; in fact, Brevoort edited the books that make Scarlet Witch into a major villain. This is the return of a disturbing trope in the mighty Marvel manner.

Marvel Needs to Walk the Walk and Not Just Talk the Talk

Magik is one of the biggest X-Men success stories of the last twenty years. She had been killed in the early ’90s and would get resurrected in the late ’00s reboot of New Mutants. She’s gotten more and more popular over the years, and her inclusion in Midnight Sons and Marvel Rivals put even more spotlight on her. She’s the X-Men co-leader right now, yet X-Men editorial felt that the best way to make her evil again was to have her sexually assaulted into it. The whole thing is horrible, and we don’t need to read things like this.

Marvel has always been kind of terrible with their female characters. It was a huge problem for a long time, and it had seemed like we had moved past it. The House of Ideas has been pretty good for female superheroes and supervillains in recent years, and yet this on comic almost completely destroys all of the headway they’ve made. There was no reason for this story; if you want to hold the creators responsible, that’s fine (no death threats, though, please), but you need to target your ire correctly. This isn’t just one creator’s fault; it’s the fault of an entire office of editors who let their story get published this way, as well as the entire company.

What do you think about this situation? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!

The 10 Best X-Men Stories In Marvel History