The first annual Hellfire Gala concluded with the X-Men terraforming Mars into Arakko. The adventures of the Arakki have been followed in X-Men Red as Storm, Cable, Magneto, and more navigate the political system of Sol. Unfortunately, Arakko gets tied up in the newest Marvel event series A.X.E.: Judgment Day, and readers of the first issue witnessed the planet-sized damage inflicted by Uranos the Undying, who is Thanos' great-uncle sent by the Prime Eternal Druig. Readers only saw the fallout of Uranos' trail of destruction, but a preview of X-Men Red #5 reveals the moments that lead up to Arakko's "mutant massacre" moment.
ComicBook.com has an exclusive preview of X-Men Red #5 from Al Ewing, Stefano Caselli, and Federico Blee. It counts down to the last minute before Uranos the Undying makes landfall on Arakko, as The Great Ring huddles to go over its war strategy against the Eternals. Storm is Regent of Sol but is off-planet, representing Arakko in Krakoa's Quiet Council. Abigail Brand, Magneto, and Cable attempt to prepare The Great Ring for what's to come. However, before Cable has a chance to give a rundown of each member of the Eternals, a blue flash distracts them. This is more than likely Uranos teleporting on Arakko.
Judgment Day writer Kieron Gillen recently revealed how the choice was made for Arakko to get taken out of the fight so early.
"The Eve of Judgment prologue special was an Eternals story, but one of the things I wanted to do in it was answer the question, 'Why don't the Eternals do the obvious thing?' If you're trying to wipe out the mutants, why go fight them? Eternals are smarter than that. So, Eve of Judgment removes the obvious first strike from the table," Gillen told CBR.
"The question then becomes, 'If one was going to do a surprise attack on the mutants, what would be a relatively sensible way of doing it?' Moira and Druig answer that in this issue. Krakoa ain't the problem. Arakko is. So, you do the strike there, and at least remove them from the conflict for the duration. The first two issues of Judgment Day are the first act of the story, and they detail the Eternals vs. X-Men war. So, when I pitched what I wanted the size of the devastation on Arakko was kind of open. I basically said, 'Right out of the gate, we've got to take Arakko out of the fight.'"
You can find the preview of X-Men Red #5 below. Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
