I’m Begging You, Marvel: Now Isn’t the Time to Force an X-Men Into a Villain Era

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The X-Men franchise’s Emma Frost has grown considerably as a character and a hero since her villainous debut as the Hellfire Club’s White Queen. After countless defeats and the loss of her Hellions, Emma began to embrace her own version of Xavier’s dream, one with hope for a better world and a happier next generation – but now I’m starting to worry Marvel is going to revert her to an antagonist again.

In Exceptional X-Men #7– writtenby Eve L. Ewing, with art by Carmen Carnero – Emma Frost and Kitty Pryde continue to guide their new mutant pupils to master their powers. However, Emma’s mind has consistently been getting lost in the past, causing the hero to grow angrier about her present.

Emma has become obsessed with the death of Krakoa and the peace it offered mutantkind and for good reason. What I’m concerned about is that if the White Queen can’t learn to move forward, she’ll return to an older, angrier, and more villainous version of herself.

Emma Frost Describes Krakoa As Her “Truest Love,” Confirming Where Her True Allegience Lies

Exceptional X-Men #7 – Written By Eve L. Ewing; Art By Carmen Carnero; Color By Nolan Woodard; Lettering By VC’s Travis Lanham

Since Krakoa’s destruction,
the X-Men and their allies
have scattered across the world and have been forced to find a new home. To those mutants who knew of Krakoa’s paradisiacal existence, every day since Orchis’s initial invasion has been a nasty reminder of the current state of mutant affairs.To many of the survivors, the human world has made it clear that there is no place for mutants in it. To be completely honest, I would probably be among them had I been a mutant who escaped Krakoa. Krakoa was a utopia of peace, something most mutants have never known.

However, no X-Man is suffering more than Emma Frost.
X-Men like Cyclops and Rogue
have been more concerned with Charles Xavier since Krakoa’s collapse. Younger mutants like Kamala Khan and Laura Kinney are more willing to embrace what comes next. But Emma hasn’t stopped thinking about Krakoa; she misses her home. In this issue, she describes Krakoa as her “truest love,” as she laments that no matter how hard mutantkind works for peace and coexistence, “it keeps blowing up in [their] faces.” While she has promised to embrace educating the next generation, I’m worried she can’t let the pain go.

X-Men Fans Know That Emma Frost Often Buries Her Pain With Bold Actions

Marvel Highlights Her Mourning Krakoa For A Reason

To be clear, I’m not expecting Emma Frost to have the power to pretend Krakoa never happened. However, if Emma Frost is known for anything, it’s her great outfits and her propensity to bury pain. When the X-Man first rose through
the ranks of the Hellfire Club
, she did so to escape her past as a mental clinic patient and stripper for the Club. She later pursued teaching to make good on a dream and to spite her father. When her first class of Hellions was gruesomely murdered, Emma turned heroic to atone and distance herself from her past.

While Emma Frost may be a tactical genius and powerful psychic, she is also emotionally reactive. I believe, all things considered, Emma has taken her great personal tragedies and beautifully transformed them into something magnificent and new. But that’s where my fear nests. After great tragedies, Emma often responds in the boldest way possible. I worry that, despite her previous growth in the face of tragedy, Emma can’t let this one go, at least not peacefully.
The Exceptional X-Men series
has consistently shown that Krakoa’s loss has weighed the heaviest on Emma Frost. I’m hoping that weight doesn’t collapse.

The X-Men Franchise Has Already Turned Enough Heroes Into Villains

We’re Begging You, Don’t Do It To Emma

I think Emma works fine as a villain, but the X-Men franchise has already hit its quota of heroes-turned-villains for my liking. The Krakoa era’s characterization of Beast soured the character so much, that Marvel relied on Krakoa’s Resurrection Protocols to reset the character’s dark fate while damning the original Beast’s legacy. Likewise, Charles Xavier has transformed from a loving teacher and leader to an internationally-wanted war criminal. Some of the X-Men’s greatest heroes have already fallen into this villainization process; Emma shouldn’t be the next.
The X-Men can be flawed
, but we don’t need any more villainous turns.

So far, the Exceptional X-Men series hasn’t given me enough reason to believe that Emma will take a turn for the worst, but I’m still on guard. Emma Frost is one of the few characters we see who still laments about Krakoa. I’m sure plenty of X-Men reminisce about their old utopia, but, narratively speaking, only Emma is shown to still obsess over it. For a character with villainous roots, as she has, there’s a higher chance we could see Emma declare a personal war on humankind and embrace the hatred that she and
Magneto’s Brotherhood of Mutants
once shared.

Exceptional X-Men #7 releases March 19, 2025 from Marvel Comics.

“}]] Please, we don’t need another Xavier situation.  Read More