Deadpool’s Monster Army and the X-Men’s Nation Share a Surprising Tactic – Screen Rant

The X-Men are really big into combining their powers now, something Deadpool uses when it's time to smash invading symbiotes.

Having a country seems to be all the rage in comics these days. After all, in addition to traditional mainstays like Black Panther's Wakanda and Doctor Doom's Latveria, the X-Men now have the mutant nation of Krakoa, and Deadpool, of all people, has found himself the monarch of the Monster Nation. With countries come culture, and there seems to be some cultural cross-pollination going on in the pages of Marvel Comics. In Deadpool #10, written by Kelly Thompson and illustrated by Gerardo Sandoval, the Merc with a Mouth seems to have borrowed a page from X-Men to combine the powers of his constituents into a fearsome symbiote-smashing giant robot! But what precedent does this increasing common occurrence set, and what implications does it have going forward?

Combining powers is nothing new in comics. Perhaps is the most famous example is "the Fastball special" which would see Colossus launch Wolverine at their adversaries. However, Krakoa has taken this concept to a whole new level, developing much more intricate - and potentially dangerous - combinations. After all, some mutants wield various elements, controlled by sheer force of will. Any emotional instability could spell disaster. Fortunately, most mutants in Krakoa have an insurance policy in the form of their resurrection through psychic downloads.

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On the pages of Deadpool, the titular monarch is using the powers of former enemy Jelby to create a massive gelatinous body to house his team, and then use their individual powers against the symbiotes threatening his nation and the world at large. Jelby also captures Deadpool's pet, Jeff the Landshark, who had been infected by a symbiote, and by the end of the adventure, even helps capture a massive symbiote dragon. Ultimately, the move to combine powers - which Deadpool fittingly refers to as "Plan X" - pays off.

Still, from a storytelling perspective, there are potential pitfalls for power combination. Its possible power combination could become nothing more than a plot device, or worse, a deus ex machina. After all, Krakoa is a blossoming transhumanist state, and it's possible no individual situation poses much of a threat thanks to the sheer number of power combinations at the mutants' disposal now. Ultimately, the story could suffer, especially if the emphasis falls on the "wow factor" of power combination instead of the character dynamics working behind the scenes.

Of course, this new mutant culture could be a way of raising the stakes. After all, would the mutants be so willing to engage in these dynamics if they didn't have resurrection pods? Cheating death typically doesn't end well. If or when Krakoa loses its resurrection capability, mutants could put themselves in considerable danger performing these maneuvers. The comics have already explored how vulnerable clones feel in the face of uncertain resurrection. What if the mutants had to perform these literally death-defying moves without a safety net?

Ultimately, the question is moot in Deadpool's case, as his Monster Nation is shown to be almost everything Krakoa is not - a rag-tag mix of monsters, aliens, villains, and even regular humans working together. If Deadpool can duplicate a key mutant technology without much effort, it's possible Krakoa might not be as innovative - or even stable - as they believe. All of this suggests Krakoa's recent breakthrough might really be leading the mutant nation down a path with very fragile feet of clay.

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Deadpool's Monster Army and the X-Men's Nation Share a Surprising Tactic - Screen Rant