WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Phoenix Song: Echo #1, available now from Marvel.
The X-Men's current place in the Marvel Universe has quietly pitted them against plenty of other heroes since the formation of Krakoa. But for every apparent step forward they make to reunite with other heroes, it appears the mutants take another major step back.
In Phoenix Song: Echo #1 by Rebecca Roanhorse, Luca Maresca, and Carlos Lopez, a major X-Man takes a swing at the Phoenix Force-controlling Echo, and it might set up further conflict between and the X-Men and plenty of other heroes.
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The Phoenix Force -- one of the Marvel Universe's most powerful cosmic elements -- has long been associated with the X-Men. Outside of her most famous host being Jean Grey, the Phoenix's other primary partners have largely been other mutant telepaths like Quinten Quire and Rachel Summers. But the "Enter The Phoenix" storyline fromAvengers saw the Force return and seek a new host from the greater Marvel Universe. To the surprise of many, it was Echo who was ultimately bonded with the cosmic entity -- quickly adapting to it and even using it to help restore the world during the events of the reality-bendingHeroes Reborn.
With the world restored, Echo has been attempting to return to her regular life as a street-level hero. But her cosmic power boost has left her losing connection to the ground and those on it, causing her to lash out during a fight and burn a robbery that threatened her during a fight. The fires quickly spread across the building, and although no one else is killed it does leave Echo shook and the public angry. After a confrontation with Elektra in her current guise as Daredevil, Echo travels the world trying to collect her thoughts, ending up on the moon.After being alerted to a strange energy signal by Broo however, Echo ventures to the Pacific Ocean and finds the longtime mutant hero Forge sitting atop a large machine.
Forge is one of the more important people on Krakoa, especially due to his mutation -- an intrinsic ability to build anything he can think of.Forge tries to explain how dangerous the Phoenix Force really is, but Echo is unimpressed by his "mansplaining" of the power. But it turns out he's lured her to the Easter Island where she and Namor fought for the Phoenix Force -- decimating the natural life and leaving the island a burnt out ruin. Forge leads her into the structure and reveals the darkest acts carried out by the Phoenix Force hosts. Forge reveals he believes the Phoenix Force is too dangerous to leave in the wild, and offers his help to assist Echo in ridding herself of it. When Echo refuses, Forge reveals he wasn't asking -- shooting her with psionic restraints that can briefly match the Phoenix's energy wavelength.
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He then buries the bunker -- promising to free Echo as soon as he finds out how to release the Phoenix and get it away from the Earth. He quietly reflects on how Xavier (and likely by extension the Quiet Council) doesn't know what he's done. But he expects they'll understand even if they don't like his actions. But Echo quickly breaks free, and speaks with the force of the Phoenix. She reveals she should burn him to a crisp, but that would prove his point that she's growing uncontrollable. Echo soon departs -- and Forge notes that next time, "I'll have a bigger gun and a better cage." It's a heavy moment for Forge, setting him up to become a reoccurring thorn in Echo's side -- especially if the cover for the next issue (featuring Echo surrounded by angry X-Men) does indeed come true.
It's another example of the X-Men turning heroic allies into tense potential foes. The X-Men have made abad habit of this recently, angering members of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four with their recent actions. While some moments imply these tensions could be cooling off, events like this -- where a mutant goes rogue from his nation and attacks an Avenger, but will likely suffer no consequence for his actions -- do nothing to endear the mutant nation to the rest of the world. If Broo purposefully led her there instead of also being tricked, it could imply a greater plan by mutants to stop the Phoenix, Echo might have more problems with the mutants going forward -- which won't end well for anyone.
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