Krakoa

Krakoa is a fictional living island appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. It first appeared in Giant-Size X-Men #1 and was created by Len Wein and Dave Cockrum. Initially depicted as an antagonist, Krakoa has since grown into a sentient habitat for the mutant nation that shares its name.

Publication history
On its first appearance in Giant-Size X-Men #1 (1975), Krakoa is introduced as the Pacific island setting where a previous team of X-Men have gone missing while investigating strong readings from Cerebro, a device with the ability to detect mutants. Its name recalls that of Krakatoa, a volcanic island in Indonesia which erupted in 1883. Prof. Charles Xavier recruits a new, international team to rescue them. On their arrival on Krakoa, they are attacked by the flora, fauna, and very ground of the island, until finally Angel—one of the original X-Men they are rescuing—warns them that "the island itself" is the powerful mutant which Cerebro had detected. That is, the entire island of Krakoa had become a single monstrous mutant, similar to the Aspidochelone of legend. (Godzilla and Monster Island are also likely influences, since nuclear testing is blamed for Krakoa's creation.) It needs the mutants in order to leech their life-energy. Both teams escape as Krakoa is ripped from the ocean bed, hurled into space, and apparently dies. While the issue would be celebrated for revitalizing the X-Men, the character / setting of Krakoa was revived only very sporadically until Jonathan Hickman's 2019 X-Men event House of X and Powers of X. In those miniseries (which established the premise of the X-Men comics going forward), the mutants have established communication with Krakoa and agreed to live on it in a symbiotic relationship, establishing the island as an independent mutant nation-state. The true aims of Krakoa have so far been left ambiguous.

Origin
Krakoa was originally depicted as a very small island in the Pacific Ocean that was located close to where some nuclear bombing tests were done. The radiation somehow mutated the island's ecosystem into a hive-mind entity. Sergeant Fury and his commando team were accidental witnesses to the bomb drop which created Krakoa in early 1945, and soon afterwards crashed on and encountered the island's collective intelligence, with whom they arranged a peaceful parting in exchange for keeping its existence a secret.

Encounter with the X-Men
However, Krakoa later became hungry for the unique life energy created by mutants. It was responsible for the deaths of a team of young mutants, composed of Petra, Sway, Darwin and Kid Vulcan (the latter two were able to survive, but became trapped inside Krakoa), from a parallel X-Men team led by Moira McTaggart. It was later able to capture the original X-Men (then consisting of Cyclops, Angel, Havok, Iceman, Jean Grey and Polaris), which led to the subsequent formation of the new team of X-Men (namely Colossus, Nightcrawler, Storm, Sunfire, Thunderbird, Banshee and Wolverine). The new X-Men team found the original X-Men and by using her powers, Polaris was able to launch Krakoa into outer space.

Found by the Stranger
Krakoa was later apparently found and captured for study by the cosmic entity known as The Stranger, as seen when Quasar visited one of his 'laboratory worlds'. Krakoa was eventually freed along with many other specimens and was last seen orbiting around Earth until the energy wave from M-Day and the Collective awakened Vulcan. It is also revealed that before it was shot into outer space, Krakoa released several spores from itself, which later plagued the X-Men.

House of X and Powers of X
During the "House of X and Powers of X" stories, Professor X reveals to Cypher that he had approached Krakoa (who somehow returned to Earth) and took his time and efforts to bring forth the true entity of the island and eventually made a telepathic connection with Krakoa to the point that the relationship of mutant island and mutant man has only grown. More so, when Cypher communed with Krakoa at Xavier's urging, Krakoa related its past. According to Doug Ramsey, long ago, in ancient times, there was a single larger landmass called Okkara, which was attacked by an enemy that came from its core wielding a mystical blade known as the Twilight Sword. During the attack, Okkara was broken up and its conscious divided into two islands, Krakoa and Arakko (Arakko is Okkara in reverse and Krakoa an anagram), that seemingly acted as a yin and a yang which created some sort of a portal to a Hellish dimension known as Amenth, and demons poured out into the world. Fortunately, Apocalypse arrived with his First Horsemen and were able to thwart the attack by sealing of the chasm and isolating Arakko from Krakoa. The horsemen were sealed alongside Arakko on the other side of the chasm, to the sorrow of both Krakoa and Apocalypse. As time passed, a mournful and lonely Krakoa eventually became inert until being reawakened in early 1945 due to testing from the Americans nuclear bomb drop. Years later, Krakoa would be later transformed into a sovereign nation state for the entire mutant race. Led by Professor X, hero and villain alike are welcome on the shores of Krakoa, where the mutants are setting aside their old differences to build a new civilization with Krakoa producing flowers with the ability to grow in mere hours, full "Habitat" structures which are self-sustaining environments that are a part of the interconnected consciousness of Krakoa, that served as embassies around several countries on Earth, the Blue Area of the Moon, the Green Area on Mars and beyond the solar system, all the while remaining connected to its hive mind via Gateways, which provided ways to instantly travel from one part of Krakoa to another. The gateways can only be access by mutants but if a mutant brings a human with them voluntarily, that human must ask for permission from Krakoa to use the gateway. The flowers also create No-Place, a habitat that exists outside the collective consciousness of Krakoa and where Moira MacTaggert has been hiding herself. Even Krakoa does not know this place exists. Krakoa is also the only place in the world to have special pills that extend human life by five years, a "universal" antibiotic and a cure for "disease of the mind, in humans".

Additionally, while Krakoa's main body lies in the Pacific Ocean not far from Australia, other small landmass parts of Krakoa are located off the coast of Africa in the mid-Atlantic Ocean, south of the Azores and west of the Canary Island. This island chain includes the Pointe, Transit and Danger Island which are connected in the same way as the "habitats" to the main body.

The government of Krakoa is headed by the Quiet Council, and an organization called the Great Captains led by Cyclops and consisting of Magik, Bishop and Gorgon. Thanks to telepathic manipulation by Emma Frost, the vast majority of the world recognized Krakoa and established diplomatic/trade ties, with the exceptions of Wakanda, Atlantis, Azania, Canaan, Kenya, Honduras, Brazil, Santo Marco, Terra Verde, Venezuela, Iran, Madripoor, North Korea, Latveria, and Russia, for political and ideological reasons and/or because they belong in the Wakandan Economic Protectorate.

More so, Emma Frost was allowed to carve out a piece of Krakoa so she could be given a private kingdom for herself outside the coast of the bay-area. Likewise, Bar Sinister, though not part of Krakoa, was added to its landmass with Flowers of Krakoa that modify the former secret base of Mister Sinister into a Krakoan Habitat, a diplomatic biome interconnected with the island nation's collective consciousness.

Cypher also developed their own mutant language – Krakoan – which is psychically implanted when mutants come to the island and created an entire system to manage the traffic of the Krakoan network which is overseen by Sage. Since the island itself is sentient, Black Tom's plant-manipulating abilities gave him a unique bond that connected him to the island and all of its surrounding plant life. The subsequent connection meant an expansion of his field of awareness to include the plankton and kelp in the surrounding sea and the bacteria and spores floating in the air itself. In total, Black Tom's plant-based awareness gives him a 25-mile radius of acute sensitivity to all that enters and exits the island nation.

Krakoa's current achievements come at a steep price. To sustain itself, Krakoa must consume two mutants a year or take in other forms of mutant energy through a more sustainable workaround. Since Krakoa became home base for an ever-growing number of mutants, the island can sustain itself by taking a minimal, theoretically harmless amount of psychic energy from every mutant on its shores. That process is tightly monitored by two mutant "psychic vampires", Selene and Emplate.

Even with the island's considerable defenses, it seems Krakoa is still vulnerable. The first major attack on Krakoan soil is made by a shadowy anti-mutant group who were able to easily bypass Krakoa's defenses by capturing Domino and faking her bio signature, and while Black Tom's connection to Krakoa and its defense systems proves to be so advanced that Tom becomes alerted to the invasion before even the resident psychics Jean Grey and Charles Xavier himself, the attack nevertheless causes the death of several mutants.

Another attack was made by a small band of eco-terrorists known as Hordeculture, who proved capable of disrupting Krakoa's ecosystem by hacking Krakoa's biology and access its gates, which started taking a toll on the island's residents. Beyond some unusually aggressive wildlife and a minuscule decrease in landmass, Jean Grey, Emma Frost and the other telepaths on the island have already noticed that Krakoa is taking more psychic energy than normal.

Later, another strange and mysterious island with a large volcano suddenly appeared off the coast of Krakoa making the island to change course and head towards it. With Doug Ramsey off-world, communication with Krakoa is difficult, if not impossible, so Cyclops enlisted Cable and Prestige, to investigate the new landmass. On arrival, they discover the large volcano contains glowing rainbow tentacles popping out of it and encounter thick jungle akin to the Savage Land and populated with otherworldly creatures and an equally other-worldy white, childlike being who identifies himself as a "High Summoner of Arakko", nameless beings that are capable of drawing forth extra-dimensional beings between the dimension where the lost land of Arakko is located and the land beyond the wild borders of Otherworld. After a misunderstanding with Cable, Prestige is able to give the High Summoner knowledge of Krakoan, enabling communication. The Summoner explains that Krakoa and this island are in love, implying that the mysterious landmass appears to be a sliver of Arakko. As Krakoa approaches the strange island, the two islands reach out their floral tendrils and merged into a single much larger island which is now divided between the lush of Krakoa and the forbidden alien terrain of the mysterious island which is named Arak Coral. The Volcano of Arak Coral is revealed to contain a portal to the dimension where Arakko is, which is not currently open.

X of Swords
After creating the External Gate to reach the dimension where Arakko is located at the start of the "X of Swords" storyline, Apocalypse sent Summoner with Banshee and Unus the Untouchable to herald his arrival. When Summoner reemerged with a wounded and dying Banshee, he pleaded for help and the issue of the External Gate was brought before the Quiet Council. Although the majority of the Quiet Council voted to destroy the External Gate due to its security risk, they were overruled by Krakoa who demanded that the Gate remain open.

After the Krakoan mutants defeated the Swordbearers of Arakko, Krakoa was final able to reunite with Arakko. However, as it turns out, they have no interest in unification because they have evolved from what they originally were, with their personalities becoming radically different over the incredibly long period of time that they have been apart, even needing Doug to translate for both of them.

Inferno
It was eventually discovered that the true motive for the creation of Krakoa as a nation was not to preserve mutantkind, but instead, was to eliminate it since Moira had lost faith in the mutant dream after too many failed lives, and because her powers gave her an immense ability to inflict her will on mutant history, she hatched a plan to spend her final life avoiding Destiny and slowly boxing mutants in until she could use the mutant cure she had created in one of her past lives which works before mutant powers even manifest. However Moira's plan backfired when Doug Ramsey and his allies (the technological being Warlock, the Arakkoan warrior Bei the Blood Moon and the island of Krakoa itself) made a surprise appearance at No-Place, revealing that he had always been aware of Moira's presence, and knows she was conspiring with Professor X and Magneto. Moira's role in the founding of their country was eventually revealed, thanks to Emma Frost, to the entire Quiet Council of Krakoa and they've all been sworn to secrecy about it.

Fall of X
During the "Fall of X" as a host of mutants, human dignitaries, and superheroes gather at the latest Hellfire Gala to witness the election of a new X-Men roster and enjoy a night of drinks, dancing, and haute couture, Nimrod dive bombs the party from orbit, killing most of the roster, and proceeds to target every Omega-level mutant with haste, killing Iceman. Jean Grey and Juggernaut manage to distract Nimrod, but it is too late. As Sentinels controlled by Orchis arrive to obliterate the Tower. Before Jean Grey can shut it all down, Moira X shivs her with a blade coated with Blightswill and Professor X realizes he doesn't have a choice. Doctor Stasis and MODOK Superior activate a virus that infects Krakoan medicine, using the humans of the Hellfire Gala as a hostage. Just as Krakoa's mutants rallied to attack the villains, Professor X took over their minds and froze them in place. Doctor Stasis then ordered Professor X to make every mutant on Earth walk into a Krakoan portal that would lead them off-world. After Doctor Stasis threatened to kill humans for every mutant Orchis found on Earth, a despondent Professor X obeyed and forced most of the world's mutants to walk into the portals while Mother Righteous is shown trapping Krakoa's Atlantic Island in a protective bubble. Thanks to years of defensive training, only a handful of veteran X-Men were able to resist Professor X's telepathic push. Rogue, who was with the Avengers, returns where she obliterates Moira X's cybernetic body and saves Professor X. As she begins to fly Professor X to safety, he asks her to stop and bring him back to Krakoa. As he sits on the beach of the island, he realizes to his horror that Doctor Stasis lied to him. Professor X had thought the mutants who went through the Krakoan portals were reaching Arakko, the long-lost mutant civilization's new home on Mars, but he can't hear the thoughts of any mutants which means he had sent the world's mutants population to their deaths. Professor X is left alone on the barren shores of Krakoa.

It was soon revealed that those who went through the portals were actually sent to Krakoa's Atlantic Island.

Soon mutantkind regrouped and began striking back at Orchis. Juggernaut was tasked with taking the core of Krakoa away from danger, only to be intercepted by the Stark Sentinels which he fought. Apocalypse soon arrived and seeing that the living island was dying due to lack of mutant energy, he asked his companions to sacrifice themselves to feed it. Some mutants, including Wrongslide, willingly stepped in to be sacrificed, and with a heavy heart Apocalypse killed them and used their blood to nourish Krakoa.

Dreams End
Following Orchis defeat, the Krakoa's Atlantic Island appears behind Pacific Krakoa, coming from the White Hot Room. Doug had been hearing a distant call for weeks so he's there when Atlantic Krakoa appears. It has greatly evolved and Kafka, now an adult, walks down a flight of steps to meet with Doug. It's been fifteen years in the White Hot Room and in that time, in a space where no one feared, hated, or hunted mutants, the Krakoans forged a mutant society and culture that's basically their uptopia. With time, study, and collaboration, Krakoans learned to master power feats, including transporting themselves and their island back to Earth. The Krakoans also perfected the resurrection process and brought back all the "downloads" of dead mutants that were in "the Waiting Room" realm – including all fifteen million mutants that were killed in the Genoshan massacre. Kafka and Atlantic Krakoa return to Earth to merge with Pacific Krakoa and Doug helps reintroduce them since Atlantic Krakoa's language has evolved. Kafka says they'll stay for 24 hours so Doug notifies many of the X-Men so they can see Atlantic Krakoa. Emma, Jean, Cyclops, Exodus, Doug, and Kafka meet at the old Quiet Council chamber. Exodus is pleased to see Kafka is alive and well. Kafka says all they needed was to be left alone, but part of the reason why they're staying for 24 hours is to allow the Atlantic mutants to access gates to go wherever they want around the world, to either stay permanently or to see family members they haven't seen in a long time. They're free to choose whatever they want. Unfortunately Exodus becomes upset when he learns the two islands will be leaving and he starts a big fight in the Quiet Council chamber. Atlantic Krakoa knows true peace and they want no part of the chaotic living that is Earth. As the X-Men try to take Exodus down, Apocalypse appears and easily overpowers him. Meanwhile, Doctor Doom is observing the fight and sends his prized member of Doom's own X-Men, Volta Doom, to steal a Krakoan seed. But, though she is as loyal to Doctor Doom as anyone, she also seems to have some competing mutant loyalties or brotherhood. She takes the seed and meets Fauna. Volta then gives the seed to Doom and lies to him when he asks her if anyone saw her. The X-Men tour Atlantic Krakoa but once Apocalypse learns that they're all about peace and have no need for his ways anymore, he throws a huge fit and a long, bloody battle between Apocalypse and the X-Men begins. They finally talk him down after he punches Emma in her diamond form off the island and into the ocean. Jean connects him to the minds of the new Krakoans and he finally stops fighting and leaves. Kafka walks and talks with Nightcrawler, inviting the X-Men to return with him to the Whie Hot Room with the islands. But Kurt says there is still fighting to be done and the X-Men will be staying on Earth. He teleports off the island to join the X-Men waiting on the ocean just outside the Blackbird as both islands merge into a true paradise. After finding peace, Krakoa permanently leaves Earth, relocating to the White Hot Room, where its lifespan and vitality will be greatly extended.

Spawns of Krakoa
There have been several spawns of Krakoa:

Vega Superior
The first known spore was Vega Superior, who took control of an island, later christened Wagner's isle, whose inhabitants began to worship him. When Nightcrawler crashed his plane there, he found Vega-Superior in the caves under the island, who had inherited his father's memories of the X-Men's genetic code, including that of Nightcrawler. He tries to choke Nightcrawler, but the latter manages to escape. He makes versions of the X-Men which Vega-Superior dubs the Vega-Men, out of natural materials, such as a Colossus made of stone, a Wolverine of ice, an Angel made of leaves and vines, a Nightcrawler made of mud and a Cyclops that shoots lava. However, they are much weaker than the original X-Men, and Nightcrawler easily defeats them all. Vega-Superior then chases him into the ocean before realizing he cannot swim.

Krakoa II
Another spore of Krakoa took control of a construction site on a tropical island, and was discovered and defeated by the Young X-Men when they were investigating the disappearance of 56 construction workers.

Krakoa/Brood Hybrid
Another spawn of Krakoa would be fabricated by the anti-mutant tech genius Kaga, creating his own hybrid out of Brood DNA to attack the X-Men at a later date. Eventually, the creature was cut down in the dawn of its conception by Cyclops in one shot.

Krakoa III/X-Men's Krakoa
Later when Wolverine and some of the X-Men splintered away from Cyclops' group, it is discovered that Beast has built the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning on top of a "male" spawn of Krakoa. After Quentin Quire manages to reason with him, the Krakoa spawn contacts Rachel Summers who ends up translating for him when Rachel tells Wolverine that the Hellfire Club made Krakoa attack them and that he is a mutant like the X-Men. Rachel discovered that this Krakoa was grown by Hellfire Club member Maximillian von Katzenelnbogen (a descendant of Victor Frankenstein) in his artificial supergarden. When Rachel mentions that Krakoa keeps apologizing and wants to join the X-Men, Wolverine ends up letting Krakoa stay as a part of the school. Not soon after the school began having money difficulties, it is Krakoa who solves the school's financial problems by growing great quantities of giant diamonds on the trees he produces. Krakoa's school grounds, the Bamfs, and Doop were able to prevent Swarm from invading the Jean Grey School. After the Terrigen Mists were released into the Earth's atmosphere and began causing the M-Pox plague which was deadly to mutants worldwide, the X-Mansion was moved to the dimension of Limbo where it acted as X-Haven. Krakoa was not part of the displacement and moved his bio-matter offshore to function as an independent island in the Pacific Ocean. After Kid Omega, whom was his only companion for a time, returned to the Xavier School on Thor's suggestion. Krakoa came back to New York searching for him as the son of the living island missed his friend.

Mister Sinister's Krakoa
During the "Avengers vs. X-Men" storyline, Mister Sinister had also obtained a few Krakoa Spores. Like Maximillian von Frankenstein, He was able to mass-produce the Krakoa consciousness. Mister Sinister even turned one into a mobile castle in his underground city. It was later burned down by the Phoenix Five.

Hellfire Club's Krakoa
Soon afterward, it was revealed that Maximillian von Frankenstein had been able to mass-produce Krakoa's consciousness and created several volcanic Krakoas to act in defense of the Hellfire Academy. They were all killed in battle against the X-Men.

Quiet Council of Krakoa
The Quiet Council of Krakoa is a fictional council of mutant superheroes and supervillains which governed mutantkind during the Krakoan Age. The twelve-member governing body was divided up into four sections (with three seats each) along with an adjunct section.

Reception
In 2020, CBR.com ranked Krakoa 3rd in their "10 Most Powerful Fictional Nations In the Marvel Universe" list. In 2021, Screen Rant included Krakoa in their "10 Most Important Fictional Marvel Comics Countries" list.

Academic Brett Butler in the Journal of Science Fiction viewed Krakoa as "an integral part of the narrative" during the Krakoan Age, commenting that while "Xavier has established the mutant society on Krakoa, the island itself actually controls all of the major aspects of that society". Butler highlighted that "Hickman and other writers show how mutants declare independence through exclusive trade, create laws and punishment, establish mass transit routes, identify a national language, and negotiate property rights—none of which would be possible without the island of Krakoa providing the means and/or permitting them to do so".

Readers have been divided as to whether the storyline is intended as an extended allegory for the state of Israel.

Other versions
In the Ultimate Marvel reality, Krakoa is featured in issues of Ultimate X-Men. Krakoa Island is south of Genosha (which in this reality is vastly anti-mutant under the reign of Lord Scheele) and the filming location for Mojo Adams' reality TV shows for executing mutants, such as Scheele's killer Arthur Centino aka Longshot.

In What If?: Deadly Genesis, Vulcan's trip to Krakoa saw him kill the rest of the X-Men by accident before the island itself was jettisoned into deep space. Years later, it is discovered by the Silver Surfer, and analysis of the cavern with Sway's powers reveals what really happened to the original team.