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Summary
X-Men
#32.
Magik fights Orchis in an Orchis facility named after Stryker, a prominent tele-evangelist who preaches a gospel of hatred against mutants.
Orchis naming facilities after anti-mutant figures like Stryker and Gyrich is psychological warfare against the X-Men.
Warning: contains potential spoilers for X-Men #32
Marvel has just confirmed the horrifying legacy of one of the most hated villains in the X-Men’s history. In the wake of Orchis’ attack on the Hellfire Gala, Earth’s mutants are at their lowest point. Orchis has waged war against mutants, detaining many and killing others. Now, in a preview for X-Men #32, fans learn that Orchis has invoked the memory of one of mutantkind’s most hated foes.
The preview for X-Men #32, written by Gerry Duggan and drawn by Phil Noto, opens with Magik breaking into an Orchis facility. The facility, located in Hershey, Pennsylvania, is named “the Reverend Stryker Education Center for Disadvantaged Youth,” and is described as a “shiny, happy name” for what is essentially a “gulag” for mutants.
Magik, who has returned from off-world, fights her way through a crowd of Orchis’ minions.
William Stryker Is One of the X-Men’s Worst Villains–Despite Only Making One Major Appearance
Stryker Was the Perfect Villain For His Time
The name Reverend Stryker should be immediately familiar to long-time X-Men fans. The primary villain for the legendary 1982 X-Men graphic novel God Loves, Man Kills, Reverend William Stryker, was a tele-evangelist who preached an anti-mutant gospel. At the time of the book’s conception, tele-evangelists and mega-churches were on the rise, and in the movement Claremont saw the perfect villain for the X-Men. Stryker’s impact on X-Men lore was immense, and a modified version of the character was used as the villain for X2, an amazing feat as he only made one appearance to that point.
The Reverend Stryker Education Center is not the only Orchis facility to bear the name of an X-Men villain, as they have named buildings after Henry Peter Gyrich as well. Gyrich was a proponent of mutant registration, and was a thorn in the side of non-mutant heroes as well. Naming their facilities after prominent anti-mutant bigots is another front in Orchis’ war against the X-Men. Orchis chose these names deliberately, invoking the names of humans who have worked against mutants, as a way of breaking morale and rubbing past traumas in the X-Men’s faces.
Marvel Rewrites Classic X-Men Villains With A Brilliant Twist
X-Men villain Apocalypse has long believed in “survival of the fittest,” but revelations about his past will change how fans interpret this worldview.
Orchis Knew What They Were Doing Naming a Facility After William Stryker
Orchis is The Endgame of Villains Like William Stryker
Naming facilities after Stryker or Gyrich keeps these men’s legacies of evil going as well. William Stryker preached a message of pure hatred, as did Gyrich, and in many ways Orchis can be viewed as the two men’s dreams carried to their extreme conclusion. Orchis takes Reverend Stryker’s fascist views and updates them for the 21st century, using psychological warfare to turn humanity against mutants. Orchis’ days may be numbered, but the organization has made good on the work of Reverend William Stryker, one of the most hated X-Men villains of all time.
X-Men #32 is on sale March 6 from Marvel Comics!
X-Men #32 (2024)
Writer: Gerry Duggan Artist: Phil Noto Letterer: Clayton Cowles Cover Artist: Josuha Cassara & Marte Garcia
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