X-Men Just Broke the Record for Marvel’s Tallest Mutants

X-Men just introduced its official tallest mutants, and the size disparity between them and the rest of mutantkind is measured in orders of magnitude. X-Men: Red’s final issues introducedKaorak, a new mutant entity grown from same genetic source as the living island of Krakoa. The new giant mutant soon went to battle with its ancient sibling Arakko, before the two were ultimately able to come to a peaceful resolution.

X-Men: Red #18 – written by Al Ewing, with art by Yıldıray Çınar, color by Federico Blee, and lettering by Ariana Maher – is the spectacular conclusion to the series, which featured the highs, and lows, of mutantkind’s efforts to build a thriving off-Earth civilization, after terraforming Mars.

The issue settled the factional conflict between mutant groups led by Storm and Genesis, wife of Apocalypse – though not before the Kaiju-sized Kaorak and Arakko came to blows, in a fight that showcased their incredible statures thanks to Çınar’s art.

Kaorak & Arakko Are Officially Marvel’s Tallest Mutants By A Mile –Actually, Miles

Since 2019, the Krakoan era – named for Arakko and Kaorak’s sibiling, on which mutantkind was building a thriving nationstate, until recently – has reinvented countless aspects of X-Men lore. The eponymous era took Krakoa, the living island first introduced in 1975’s Giant-Size X-Men #1, and made it increasingly more central to the history of mutantkind. It would eventually be revealed that Krakoa, and Arrako, were offspring of one of the first mutants, who inhabited Earth billions of years before humanity. Now, Kaorak has joined the family, and together with its ancient older sibling, laid claim to the title of tallest mutant.

As depicted in X-Men: Red #17 and #18, the two living islands tower over the terraformed landscape of Mars, now the mutant planet bearing Arakko’s name. The final page of issue #17 depicts Storm floating in front of Kaorak’s blood-red eye, in a truly stunning displace of the newly created beings unbelievable scale. The fight between Kaorak and Arrako seems evenly matched, and intense – though in an endearing twist, the battle ends with the two hugging it out, as Apocalypse narrates that, “the true spirit of Okkara is reborn.”

In the expanded X-mythology of the current era, Okkara was the mutant island that was subsequently split in two, giving birth to Krakoa and Arrako. Now, with the birth of Kaorak, Marvel readers have been introduced to the X-Men franchise’s new tallest mutant. Considering it is thousands of feet tall, to say the least, it seems unlikely that the franchise will introduce any taller mutants in the near future – which means Kaorak and Arrako’s X-Men record remains safe, for the time being.

X-Men: Red #18 is available now from Marvel Comics.