The X-Men's Hellfire Gala is coming to an end, and it's possible Magneto intends to kill Scarlet Witch before the night is through. The Hellfire Gala is the mutant race's opportunity to show humanity just what they're capable of, and they've surpassed all expectations. Their guests watched as the mutants unveiled a new roster of X-Men, chosen by telepathic election rather than appointed at the whim of a leader, but it turned out that wasn't the most spectacular event; the mutants then terraformed the planet Mars, establishing it as the capital of the Solar System, and appointed Storm as Regent of Sol.
The story of the Hellfire Gala is coming to a close, but one major incident is yet to happen. Marvel has teased that a shocking murder at the Hellfire Gala will lead into The Trial of Magneto. "This thrilling saga will threaten the Reign of X and upend the world of mutants," Marvel teased. "And with the very future of Krakoa hanging in the balance, mutantkind’s relationship with the rest of the Marvel Universe may never be the same." It sounds as though the final issues of the Hellfire Gala will see the Master of Magnetism put on trial for killing a major figure in the Marvel Universe. But who could Magneto be about to kill and, assuming he's guilty, why would he break mutant law when Krakoa is at its strongest, both internally and on the world stage?
As the human guests departed, shell-shocked by the X-Men's Mars mission, it seemed Magneto had missed his chance, but then, in S.W.O.R.D. #6, Magneto welcomed one final guest through a Krakoan gateway. He had invited the Scarlet Witch, the woman he once thought his daughter, seeking what seemed to be a moment of reconciliation with her. There's a human back on Krakoan ground, and she's the most hated human of all, because for years she thought she was a mutant. And the conversation that followed seemed to hint Magneto has a plan in mind for Wanda Maximoff.
In the comics, Scarlet Witch and her brother Quicksilver were introduced as mutants, members of Magneto's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. They swiftly defected, becoming high-profile members of the Avengers, and as time passed Marvel decided to explore their backstory. The comics first established the two as children of aged heroes the Whizzer and Miss America, but that was retconned in favor of a much more dramatic idea; they were actually the children of Magneto. The revelation redefined Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, who struggled to deal with their father's legacy, and at one point Wanda's fragmenting mind even attempted to grant Magneto the "Happily Ever After" he had always longed for by creating the House of M reality, where mutants ruled the world.
And then, in 2014, the AXIS event rewrote history once again when a then-corrupted Scarlet Witch launched a dark spell on her own bloodline - and, to everybody's surprise, it did not affect Magneto. She immediately realized this meant she was not Magneto's daughter after all, and shortly after - restored to her right mind - Scarlet Witch learned she and her brother weren't even mutants. Their powers had been grafted into them by a twisted scientist called the High Evolutionary, with Wanda an actual witch rather than a mutant. She even learned she was not the first Scarlet Witch, but rather had inherited that title from her true bloodline.
Wanda is basically considered the Devil on Krakoa, dubbed "The Pretender" and considered a fake mutant who brought the species to the brink of extinction when she unleashed her famous, "No more mutants," spell. It's no wonder Scarlet Witch felt she couldn't come to the Hellfire Gala; she knew full well how much many of the attendees hate her.
S.W.O.R.D. #6 sees Magneto seek reconciliation with Scarlet Witch, explaining to her that - while he is considered one of mutantkind's greatest heroes - he has become increasingly aware of how he has failed his children. This has apparently forced the Master of Magnetism to confront his confused feelings over Wanda, and he has decided that she is his daughter regardless of bloodline. "Sometimes what is real is not the same as what is true," Magneto explains to Wanda. "And sometimes it takes two to pretend. You are my daughter, Wanda. You will always be my daughter. And I will do what I must to make things right." It's a beautiful moment, but those last words are ominous. They suggest Magneto has a plan in mind, one that he believes will somehow make everything right - bringing his "family" back together, and by implication finding a way to restore Wanda into the mutant community.
Marvel has already confirmed Magneto will be put on trial for murdering a human, and there is literally only one human left on Krakoan territory right now. What's more, Way of X #3 revealed there was a witness who saw Magneto and Scarlet Witch embracing - Nightcrawler, who had too much to drink while undergoing an existential crisis (something of a regular occurrence for Kurt Wagner on Krakoa). Such a witness seems perfectly suited for a trial plot. What's more, variant covers for The Trial of Magneto #1 have teased a conflict with the Avengers, which suggests Magneto will kill someone they care about. All the pieces come together surprisingly well, but they raise one obvious question: why would Magneto murder Scarlet Witch?
The X-Men have conquered death, combining the powers of a group of mutants known as the Five to gradually resurrect every mutant who's ever lived. Indeed, they're only using this process to resurrect mutants, but Magneto could well be working on a way to subvert the Resurrection Protocols to his own purposes. He'd need a telepath to create a record of Scarlet Witch's mind, one that could be implanted in a clone body, and then he'd need to kill Wanda. What's more, because the clones' DNA can be tweaked while they are being gestated, he could aim to have Scarlet Witch literally resurrected as a mutant. No longer would she be a "Pretender," unwelcome among the mutants; she would become one of their own, and Magneto would be able to welcome her to live on Krakoa as part of his family. He would have found a way to make everything right.
This would explain why Magneto has to be put on trial; because he's challenging the very bedrock of Krakoan civilization. There are three Mutant Laws on Krakoa, and Magneto would be forcing his people to pit the first one ("Make more mutants") against the third ("Murder no man"). After all, technically by killing Scarlet Witch he would be creating a new mutant, exploiting an element of conflict in Krakoa's laws nobody could have foreseen. What's more, Magneto could even argue he was setting a valuable precedent, because there are other mutants who are in relationships with humans - ones that are doomed to heartbreak given mutants are functionally immortal courtesy of the Resurrection Protocols, while humans will age and die.
The argument is logically consistent, but it would force Krakoa's ruling Quiet Council to resolve ethical dilemmas they've never even thought of, while under intense pressure because one of their own has literally just killed an Avenger. But would the Quiet Council be willing to bend to Magneto's will and bring Scarlet Witch back as a mutant, and could the Kree/Skrull empire, over which Wanda's son Billy has enormous influence, play a part in Magneto's fate? As the Hellfire Gala wraps up over June's X-Comics, fans will find out what Magneto has planned for the Scarlet Witch, and what that choice could mean for the X-Men's nation and the Master of Magnetism himself.
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