Marvel Officially Crowns Sabretooth Its New King of Hell

WARNING: Major spoilers for Sabretooth #1 ahead!

One of Marvel Comics‘ most brutal villains, the mutant Sabretooth, just became the figurative King of Hell, acting as the ruler of the X-Men‘s mutant prison. While the new mutant nation of Krakoa opened its door for “all mutants,” Victor Creed quickly proved that he is an irredeemably evil and murderous creature, and was almost immediately sentenced to an eternity in The Pit, before being mentally fried by the living island itself.

Sabretooth, first introduced in Iron Fist #14 by Chris Claremont, John Byrne, Dan Green, Janice Cohen, Gaspar Saladino and Annette Kawecki, was a consistent enemy of Iron Fist, Power Man, and Spider-Man for the first decade of his publication. He was then reintroduced as a member of Mister Sinister’s vicious Marauders team during the acclaimed “Mutant Massacre” event. Since then he has regularly been seen as one of the X-Men’s most feared villains, and it has been established that he has a long and violent history with Wolverine, hunting Logan down and attempting to kill him on his birthday every year. During Jonathan Hickman’s defining new era for the X-Men, House of X/Powers of X, Sabretooth, now an agent of Krakoa, was sent to retrieve information from the Damage Control organization with Mystique and Toad, leading to this eventual imprisonment in the Krakoan prison called The Pit.

Now, in Sabretooth #1 – written by Victor LaValle with art by Leonard Kirk – readers finally get to see what has happened to Victor since he was exiled from Krakoa and imprisoned in The Pit. Sabretooth #1 begins with Victor seemingly escaping and brutally slaughtering all of the main X-Men, something he has been trying to do for decades. Quickly though it is revealed that this is really just a dream, and the sentient island Krakoa along with its partner the mutant Doug Ramsay offer Victor an act of mercy: if he so desires, Krakoa will free him mentally, allowing him to live any life he wants, although his body will remain imprisoned. He accepts and begins to live through all his dream lives, which mainly consist of Sabretooth murdering everyone who has ever wronged him.

Eventually, Sabretooth enters the era of “King Creed,” and creates a Hell-like dimension where he rules as the Supreme Being, putting his greatest enemies through horrible torture on repeat. Even his appearance has changed, with Victor now sporting demonic horns and goat-like hooves, clear allusions to popular images of Satan. After what appears to be centuries of ruling Hell, a new group of mutants, who have apparently broken one of Krakoa’s three laws, are sent into The Pit. This new group is comprised of Nekra, Oya, Madison Jeffries, Melter, and a new character Third Eye, and Victor promises that he will practice his most horrific torture techniques on them, before finding a way to escape The Pit and enact revenge on the rest of the mutants.

This is not the first time that Doug Ramsey and Krakoa have interfered with the Quiet Council’s plans, previously letting Nature Girl and Curse escape from The Pit and secretly watching Moira X in her No-Place. They act as a distinct entity on the island, and do not approve of the Quiet Council’s use of The Pit, so there is a high likelihood that they may help Sabretooth escape, since Xavier and Magneto broke their promise of not imprisoning anymore mutants. Sabretooth has always been a terrifying villain and a worthy opponent for the X-Men, but now that he has been able to spend mental centuries honing his abilities and fighting skills as the King of Hell, he is now an even bigger threat.

To get the entire story of how Victor Creed was imprisoned by the Quiet Council, mentally set free by Krakoa, and became the King of Hell, make sure to check out Marvel Comics’ new series on one of the X-Men‘s greatest enemies, Sabretooth #1. 

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