Marvel’s X-Men Officially Reveals New God-Level Villain Enigma

Marvel’s X-Men is coming to the end of its Karakoa Era, as seen in the two-part climatic series Fall of the House of X and Rise of the Powers of X. The latter series just dropped its first issue, taking the all-out war that began in Fall of the House of X #1 across space and time, to 10 years in the future, and a timeline where the surviving X-Men are making the ultimate sacrificial play to come back from brink of extinction at the hands of Orchis and future villains Nimrod and Omega Sentinel. 

The story that started back in Powers of X revealed that Moira Mactaggart is an Omega-level mutant with the ability to reset the timeline every time she dies. PoX chronicled nearly all of Moira’s lifetimes, and her evolving views on the inevitable battle for dominance and survival between man, mutants, and machines. That latter group proved to be the greatest threat: Machines evolving into “Worldminds” (planetary-sized computing processors) and eventually “Dominion,” a godlike intellect (usually A.I.) that ascends beyond time and space and is on the level of power with Galactus and the Phoenix Force. 

As the Krakoa Era continued to unfold, the mystery of Dominion deepened; Mister Sinister attempted to harness Moira’s power, using clones of the original to create a “Moira Engine,” that allowed Sinister to do Groundhog Day-style experiments of making bold moves to affect the timeline, resetting it upon failure, and trying again. The “Sins of Sinister” timeline in which Sinister conquered the universe revealed that a different Sinister variant had already ascended to Dominion status, and was blocking anyone else in the X-Universe from doing the same. 

Who Is X-Men Villain Enigma? 

As the “Fall of X” finale began we got the reveal that the four clones of scientist Nathaniel Essex (Mister Sinister, Doctor Stasis, Obris Stellaris, and Mother Righteous) were all pawns in a larger game. The lifetimes of knowledge gathered from the Essex clones about mutant genes, human augmentation, alien/A.I. potential, and mystical power were all compiled into a master A.I. entity based on Nathaniel Essex himself. That cliffhanger set up some major questions about Essex, and his connection to The Dominion entity known as “Enigma.” In Rise of the Powers of X #1, it’s confirmed that Enigma is indeed the A.I. consciousness based on Nathaniel Essex, who took the collective knowledge of the clones and failed timelines to achieve Dominion. 

The climactic fight of Rise of the Powers of X #1 sees +10 timeline end with Doctor Stasis making his attempt at Dominion by hijacking the fresh one Orchis, Nimrod, and Omega Sentinel created, using the latter’s future knowledge as a guide. However, when Stasis tries to fill the blank-slate Dominion with his essence, he’s stopped by Enigma, who finally shows itself on the mortal plane of reality and adds the new Dominion to his own, before erasing the entire reality. 

The implication is that Enigma’s omnipotence is now complete, having consumed the Dominion attempts by all four Sinister Clones. The only hope of defeating a being that’s able to see everything across space and time lies with the last remaining X-Men, led by Charles Xavier. Prof. X took Moira’s No-Space hideout beneath Krakoa and weaponized it as a place Enigma can not see. Xavier sees only one solution to defeating a god: erasing the entire Krakoa Era from existence, thereby preventing the path to Enigma’s ascension. 

Rise of the Powers of X #1 is now on sale at Marvel.