The X-Men Just Solved Their Biggest Resurrection Glitch

The X-Men’s powerful Resurrection Protocols, which have made mutants practically immortal, have always had one major Otherworld glitch, but Captain Britain just solved this flaw with the help of Gambit and her Knights in the final issue of Knights of X. Since Jonathan Hickman’s 2019 soft reboot of the X-Men franchise in House of X/Powers of X, the mutants resurrection capabilities have played a central role, capabilities that are now being threatened by the Eternals and the Celestial Progenitor. While Knights of X just concluded, the finale actually occurs before the recent events in Hellfire Gala 2022 and A.X.E.: Judgment Day, which has seen Krakoa’s immortality revealed to the world, making Betsy’s solution to Otherworld resurrections still relevant.

The mutants of Krakoa found out during the Otherworld tournament event X of Swords that tragically, any mutant who loses their lives in the mystical realm of Otherworld can not access the Five’s Resurrection Protocols successfully. Those who die in Otherworld instead return in a different form, theorized to potentially be an amalgamation of all that person’s multiversal counterparts. Sadly, this terrible fate befell both Rockslide, who now goes by Wrongslide and works with Storms’ Brotherhood of Mutants on Arakko (and actually seems to be doing well, regardless of his shifted personality), and Gorgon, who sacrificed himself to save Krakoa and was recently attacked by HYDRA at the Hellfire Gala.

However, after more than two years of mutants being unable to be properly resurrected after dying in Otherworld, the problem appears to have been solved. In Knights of X #5 — the final issue of the miniseries written by Tini Howard with art by Bob Quinn and Erick Arciniega — Betsy Braddock and Rachel Summers successfully bring Gambit back from death. This seemingly fixes the Otherworld resurrection glitch through a combination of psychic skill and the power of the Siege Perilous. Gambit’s tragic “death” in Knights of X #3 led to him traveling through the Siege Perilous and “changing,” instead of dying. Betsy and Rachel’s psychic intervention, helped by the appearance of Gambit’s friend Shiro and wife Rogue, is enough to unlock Gambit’s “true” personality, returning him to his normal baseline form. To be clear, fixing the “glitch” is still a bit confusing, but the general understanding is that now that the Siege Perilous has opened a permanent doorway between Krakoa and Otherworld, if someone dies in Otherworld they are not lost forever. A psychic can now use their abilities similarly to Cerebro, sorting through the multiple “reflected” multiversal personalities and retrieving someone’s original personality before they get formally resurrected.

However, all of this has not been formally confirmed, so there are still many unanswered questions, including whether a person who has been “wiped clean” by a death in Otherworld can be restored (and the ethical qualms of that), and whether a dead mutant’s personality needs to be returned while they are in Otherworld or iftThe Five are even involved in Otherworld resurrections, instead being a magical version of the Resurrection Protocols. Unfortunately, the Knights of X series was meant to be longer but was shortened to only five issues, giving the excellent writer Tini Howard less time to fully flesh out the Knights’ solution to the Otherworld resurrection glitch. However, Captain Britain and Askani, the iconic new queer couple on Krakoa, will be adventuring in the multiverse in a new Captain Britain series, so perhaps more clarity on Otherworld resurrections will be given then.

Regardless of exactly how Otherworld resurrections now work, what is important is that the major glitch in Krakoa’s Resurrection Protocols has been solved through the combined efforts of Captain Britain, Rachel Summers, and Gambit’s close friends, and now mutants who risk their lives in Otherworld have the ability to be resurrected in their original form, making the X-Men one step closer to reaching true immortality.

Knights of X #5 is available now in stores!