Marvel's X-Men Inspired Vampires to Take Over the World
Warning: spoilers for Wolverine #11
As Wolverine is about to learn, the ascendancy of the X-Men’s mutant nation, Krakoa, is giving rise to Dracula’s latest plan for world domination. From writer Benjamin Percy and artists Scot Eaton and JP Mayer, this month’s Wolverine #11reveals Marvel Comics’ vampire nation is done with scrounging in the shadows—in more ways than one—while mutants disrupt almost every level of the global power structure. With a mutant sleeper agent on Krakoa, Dracula is gathering his strength to attempt to beat the X-Men at their own game.
For those not in the know, Dracula has been an integral part of the Marvel Comics mythos since the character first appeared in 1972’s The Tomb of Dracula #1, created by Gerry Conway and Gene Colan, and co-written by Marc Wolfman. Famously he was revived in the 1990s to serve as the primary antagonist for Blade. Of note, this isn’t the first time the X-Men have battled against the Lord of Vampires. The first such encounter occured in 2006’s X-Men: Apocalypse vs. Dracula, by Frank Tieri and Clayton Henry, in which the vampire sought out revenge against the powerful mutant. Later, and more notably, in 2010’s “Curse of the Mutants” X-Men storyline, in which a vampiric plague is unleashed upon the mutant community. Until now, however, Dracula’s ego—as indomitable as his bloodlust—has never had to deal with inadequacy.
In this month’s issue, Omega-Red travels to consult with his master, Dracula, and this meeting gives readers a helping of just how big a role the current mutant renaissance has played in mobilizing vampires. In fact, it’s given the Lord of Vampires a blueprint to follow. Mutants setting aside their differences and all joining the same side has made it possible for their best and brightest minds to gather and pool their enormous resources. Dracula is attempting to emulate this by being more selective regarding those he chooses to turn into vampires. An understanding, as he puts it, “that true power is exclusionary.” An ethos that aligns him with Charles Xavier. It isn’t enough to simply swell his ranks with mindless thralls anymore. Sheer numbers don’t count for anything in a world where armies can be obliterated from orbit. Dracula needs more than tooth and claw to take over as mutants have: he requires strong minds. Minds intelligent enough to finally solve the dilemma of their weakness to sunlight, for example. His loathing of mutantdom’s newfound superiority is unambiguous, and so too is his desire to “achieve the same political and economic and military clout,” of Krakoa. That Dracula would pay such close attention to the methodologies of his enemies, and yearn for their successes is frankly unheard of in the character’s history.
Though not explicitly mentioned in this issue, an added factor motivating the vampire’s aggressive strategy is that Dracula and his bloodsucking minions no longer have the advantage of immortality to leverage against competition. Previously, under the cunning leadership of Dracula, the vampire nation was able to reap the benefits of stratagems slowly—and secretly—paying dividends in blood and power over centuries. Thanks to staggering advances in mutant technology, the X-Men have conquered their mortality. On Krakoa, it isn’t just Wolverine but all mutants who have near-limitless lifetimes ahead of them. Dracula must be painfully aware he can no longer stand idly by and watch as time and the destructive force of entropy erode the ranks of his enemies like waves against rock.
Judging by the kinds of heights Marvel Comics’ X-Men are reaching at the moment, it seems unlikely that even a being as old and powerful as Dracula will stand much of a chance of usurping their dominance. Especially with Wolverine around to stick his nose and adamantium claws where they don’t belong.