Marvel 30-Day Challenge, Day 7- Favorite Creature

There are plenty of creatures in the Marvel Universe that I could have chosen for today’s pick. Plenty of monsters and all sorts of aliens to choose from. For this, I decided to go old-school and use a creature that, while not as memorable, had a big impact on Marvel Comics.

Krakoa, The Island That Walks Like a Man

This is s monster the likes of which few can rival in comic books. It’s only made a few appearances outside of flashbacks, but like I said, it had a major impact on Marvel. Appearing in the legendary Giant-Size X-Men #1, Krakoa isn’t your ordinary monster. It’s a living island.

Decades before, the US was testing nuclear bombs across the Pacific. One of those tests took place near a small island named Krakoa. Somehow, the radiation altered the island, turning it into a giant hive-mind.

The original X-Men (minus Beast) came to investigate the island in search of a new mutant. What they found was hell. The animals tore at them, the plants grasped at them, and giaant monsters trapped them. It then began to feed on them, until Cyclops was freed to bring him new mutants.

These events lead to Professor Xavier recruiting a new, international team of X-Men, including characters that would become fan favorites. Storm, Colossus, and Nightcrawler all made their first appearences, and while Wolverine already appeared fighting the Hulk, here he became a mainstay.

These new members went with Cyclops and rescued the original X-Men before battling Krakoa. But how do you fight an island itself? The only way they could stop him was by pulling off something unbelieably badass. While Professor X used his telepathy and Cyclops and Havok used their energy powers to keep the monster at bay, Storm conjured lightning. She used that to supercharge Polaris’ powers of magnetism, letting her create a magnetic pulse so strong that it severed gravity around the island. The monster got sent far into space where it could never hurt anyone again, while the X-Men escaped.

Legacy

Like I said, pretty awesome, right? It’s my favorite creature, though, because of the legacy it left. This would be the rebirth of the X-Men, with the era that followed turning them from a backwater team into Marvel’s most popular group. Unknown to all, though, Krakoa also left a darker legacy.

In X-Men: Deadly Genesis almost thirty years later, it was revealed that there was a lot of the original story was a lie. Xavier had sent another team of mutants to rescue the original X-Men, and while they got Cyclops to safety, they were all lost fighting Krakoa. Half of them got killed, and the other half was unknowingly left to die when Krakoa got launched into space. Add on the fact that one of those mutants was Cyclops’ long lost brother, and it was a horrific event.

With Cyclops mentally broken, Xavier chose to erase all memory of this other team and new brother. He then kept up the illussion by making the island appear sentient when it was, in fact, a mindless monster. Also, those two members that were left for dead came back after M-Day, and Cyclops’ brother went crazy.

This whole story was crazy, and I urge you to take a look at Giant-Size X-Men #1 and X-Men: Deadly Genesis if you get the chance. It will be worth the read!