The X-Men’s Most Unstable Team Is Killing Each Other – Screen Rant

The X-Men started the Hellions hoping it would be a superhero therapy group... but therapy doesn't usually involve mutant guns and chest blasts.

Spoilers for Hellions #2!

The X-Men have been feeling experimental since the start of the Dawn of X relaunch, and their latest attempt at making the lives of mutants better is not going well. The ruling body of the mutant nation Krakoa, the Quiet Council, put together a team of unpredictable, antisocial, even villainous mutants, then tasked them with performing missions that the Council felt would be cathartic and productive. They called that team the Hellions. InHellions #2, the therapeutic superhero squad takes on their first mission... to zero success and lots of violence between teammates.

Hellionsis written by Zeb Wells, illustrated by Stephen Segovia, and colored by David Curiel. The team roster mixes popular X-Men heroes with classic and obscure villains, all under the banner of the new mutant cause of Krakoa and its belief that even the team's worst villainscan find clemency there. The current roster includes Cyclops' brother Havok, psychic ninja Psylocke, feral fighter Wild Child, indoctrinated soldier Orphan-Maker and his protectivecyborg Nanny, emotional manipulator Empath, and techno-shapeshifter Greycrow, with the supervision of mad geneticist Mister Sinister.

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In Hellions #2, the teamsets out to destroy an old lab of Sinisters located beneath a now-abandoned orphanage that Sinister once used as a cover to obtain experimental subjects. Much of the team has ties to Sinister and his baby-snatching operation, and tensions are immediately high. Wild Child attacks a police officer with a K-9 companion in an instinctive effort to become the pack leader.Havok, who grew up there, insists he doesn't belong with the traumatized crew, but Psylocke senses his anxiety is loudest of all since he grew up there under Sinisters' testing schedule.

When Empath decides to blow off steam by nudging Nanny into a frenzy of protective worry, she latches onto Greycrow as if he's a waywardchild. Greycrow doesn't find it funny; he shoots Empath in the head. Since the X-Men have effectively conquered death, this is a matter of paperwork rather than a permanent loss. But stakes get higher the further they delve into the lab, and the team doesn't get any more cohesive.

The real violence begins when the team discovers that diabolical witch Madelyne Pryor has taken up residence in the lab and has been growing half-mindless mutant soldiers from Sinister's leftover, half-fried genetic samples. The enemy mutants may not be highly skilledcombatants, but Madelyne sends each one to fight a Hellion they're perfectly suited to disable. While the others fall, Pryor approaches Havok personally and reminds him of their past romantic history, which leaves him mesmerized enough to leave with her. As her zombifiedclones drag the dead and incapacitatedHellions away, the only two who remain are Psylocke and Wild Child... who sees that the ninja pack leader is wounded and weak, and goes in for the kill.

Hellions is only two issues in and the kinks have clearly yet to be worked out of this roster. Still, since most of the roster is dead, MIA, or trying to kill each other, it might be time to have a long talk between Xavier, Sinister, and--if he ever returns--Havok about the viabilityof this shooting-and-stabbing-based therapy program. Have theQuiet Council given any thought to art therapy? Role-playing? A villains-only dance studio?

Hellions #2is available now from Marvel Comics.

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Sean Finley is a comics news writer for ScreenRant. Mutated as a child by a radioactive copy of Amazing Fantasy #15, he now contributes articles, reviews, and short fiction to local and online outlets using a variety of thematic personas. When he isn't writing, he's the forever DM for his local D&D group, where everything is made up and the points don't matter. You can reach him at wseanfinley (at) gmail.com.

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The X-Men's Most Unstable Team Is Killing Each Other - Screen Rant

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