Welcome to WWAC’s Hellfire Gala 2023 roundup! The third annual Hellfire Gala was a party to die for, and one of the most shocking comic books of 2023. The House of X fell harder than Jason Derulo falling down the stairs at the Met Gala, but with the new X-Men status quo now well underway, does Hellfire Gala 2023 #1 rise above the wreckage, or is it all shock value?
Join Adrienne Resha, Kat Overland, and Kayleigh Hearn as we discuss who lived, who died, and who they were wearing!
This year’s Hellfire Gala begins with a bang – the resurrection of Kamala Khan, who has now been revealed to be both an Inhuman and a mutant. What do you think of this plot twist?
Adrienne: As a person of, as Charles says, “mixed heritage” who regularly has to announce it, I do not love the way that they handled this. And as a fan of Ms. Marvel, I think Marvel has fundamentally misunderstood why her fans love her. I don’t need her to be “a savior of all the tribes,” and I don’t want her to disappear into an X-Men book or the predominantly white X-Office. I want her in a solo title, doing street level superheroics, which mutants don’t typically get to do.
Kat: Controversial but I don’t mind it! Her being an Inhuman always felt very Editorial, to me, and the X-Men seem like a thematically appropriate place for her to spend some time. Plus, she’s already been added to the passel of teen heroes that Wolverine has teamed up with! I do agree with Adrienne that the X-Men might also be a place where she could disappear, especially after dying ignobly. Plus there’s already 100 mutant characters I wish were getting more page time, adding a new instantly high profile one only compounds the problem. Ideally I’d like to see her lead a team similar to Champions combining mutant and non-mutant young heroes, something I don’t think we’ve seen a lot of other than Speed (a mutant, in my heart) dating Prodigy.
Kayleigh: Kamala Khan joining the X-Men feels right, like a thematic homecoming years in the making. Marvel has played an odd juggling game with Ms. Marvel for years — she’s a legacy character, but has no connection to Captain Marvel’s cosmic Kree origins. She’s an Inhuman, but including her among a family of white royal eugenicists always bore the fingerprints of a short-sighted editorial push for the sake of a franchise that’s now no longer relevant. She’s been an Avenger and a Champion and died, bizarrely, in an issue of Amazing Spider-Man. I’m intrigued to see Kamala’s ongoing adventures with the X-Men, but I don’t want to diminish the valid concern that she could be lost in the shuffle of countless flash-in-the-pan X-Men It-Teens. If nothing else, the fact that Kamala hasn’t discovered her own mutant power yet is an intriguing wrinkle!
Who was the best dressed on the red carpet this year? Worst dressed?
Adrienne: I’m partial to Mashal Ahmed’s design for Kamala, especially the glitter mask and her earrings. My least favorites were the ones that involved facepaint, Mystique and Firestar, they feel borderline appropriative.
Kat: I actually loved the skull on Mystique so I hope it’s not! It felt very Harrow the Ninth or what have you and was a glam way to incorporate her signature forehead skull into the look. (and also like a callback to Pyro’s dumb as hell face tattoo, which I also loved.) Prodigy looked great and very on trend, same with Jubilee who really needs to be canonically queer ASAP.
Dazzler’s look was baffling to me, didn’t love covering her eyes or the spikes around her mouth. Cannonball was not nearly haute couture enough and Sunspot would never have let him out of the house in a fashion jumpsuit. Cyclops was also not doing it for me, I just don’t buy him as a goth prince. Honestly this issue didn’t really showcase the fashions quite as much as the others…I guess I have to read a damn Iron Man to get the full showcase.
Kayleigh: Sadly, we only see it for a single page, but I loved Luciano Vecchio’s Cyclops design, with its cycloptic ruby headpiece and a red cape that evokes his trademark optic blast. I don’t know if I’d call this “worst dressed” since I like it quite a bit, but I chuckled ruefully at Lucas Werneck giving Charles Xavier’s Cerebro helmet a big silver halo. That single design choice says so much about how Xavier sees himself right before Orchis forces his hand and he unintentionally “sacrifices” every mutant on planet Earth for the sake of his ideals.
We have our new X-Men lineup: Synch, Talon, Cannonball, Dazzler, Frenzy, Prodigy, Jubilee, and Juggernaut! Finally, some fresh blood on the team! I’m sure they’ll have a long and happy OH DEAR GOD NIMROD NO!!!!
Adrienne: I’m not an X-Men reader, so I could be wrong, but this looked like the most diverse line-up they’ve ever had? And it lasted exactly one page. I went from “this is a book I could read” to “nevermind” in seconds.
Kat: I was pretty amped to see Prodigy get elected, because I want drama when Speed gets jealous. I was less amped to see Bobby die BUT did not mind it traumatizing his boyfriend because I am kind of sick of him not being messy and single despite enjoying his last digital solo romp. Uhhh oh yeah the plot. I wasn’t expecting Charles to fold quite like a house of cards but I suppose he’s buried under his own deck right now. Sorry to say that while I think this is kind of a gimmicky story (and I’m sick of mutant genocide) that I still enjoy evil Moira X.
Kayleigh: Reader, I laughed. I know, I know, I’m sorry! I’ve been reading too much Chainsaw Man, my mind has been warped irreparably by huge bloody splash pages played for laughs. (“What good luck — a falling star!”) I appreciate the sheer audacity of capping off three years of fan-led X-Men polls and glamorous Russell Dauterman team introductions with complete carnage. But to be clear, that’s not to laugh at anyone who was genuinely excited about this lineup and then horrified when they turned the page. I hope we see this team in some form again — thankfully, Duggan seems serious about Synch being the new leader of the X-Men, and the Marvel Unlimited Hellfire Gala: Last Rites digital comic has been shining some much needed light on those unlucky team members before they were nuked by Nimrod.
Also: I am fascinated by the fact that Juggernaut, the sole non-mutant on the ballot, won the fan-poll and (unbeknownst to the voters) the stay of execution. This scene would have read very differently if, say, Jubilee or Prodigy had won, and without throwing any shade to Cain (who lands a good hit on Nimrod), both Marvel editorial and the X-Men fandom at large could probably stand to do more self-reflection over which X-Men and their stories get prioritized, and why.
Shocks and surprises abound as the Hellfire Gala proves to be a party to die for. Who was the true MVP of the issue? Jean? Lourdes? Juggernaut? Someone else?
Adrienne: Whoever taught Kamala the RESIST trick in the five minutes she’s been a mutant.
Kat: Jean for making me enjoy Firestar, and making me root for her. Charles is the Least Vital Player here.
Kayleigh: I know this is unsurprising as the resident Jean Grey super-fan in the roundtable, but I have to hand her the trophy for the triple win of telekinetically shooting Juggernaut at Nimrod like a bullet, concocting an elaborate espionage plot with Firestar while dying, and sending a final romantic message to Wolverine that basically ends with “I loved you, please kill these guys for me.”
And then there’s that ending. Final thoughts on the Hellfire Gala and what this huge status quo change means for the X-Men?
Adrienne: Ask me again when Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant ends.
Kat: I’m glad Bobby got some body horror. Can’t wait to see all my dead friends again soon.
Kayleigh: I’m relieved that Marvel wasted no time following this issue with confirmation that Earth’s mutants were not massacred when they were forced through the gates, as I love Krakoa deeply and have no interest in reliving the post-Decimation era. As much as I was dreading the dark turn this one-shot promised, it was a vital and energizing read for me, not a despairing one. A lot of chickens came home to roost, from the hubris of Xavier and the Quiet Council to the “Firestar = cop?” debate to Kate Pryde finally (finally!) tumbling through a Krakoan gate. Does Hellfire Gala 2023 hold up now that we know what it is, and what it isn’t? I think so. It’s a new chapter, not an ending.
