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September 21's AXE: Judgment Day #5 from writer Kieron Gillen and artists Valerio Schiti and Marte Gracia follows up on the devastating ending of the previous issue, in which the Celestial rendered its judgment on the Earth, giving the planet and all its inhabitants the thumbs down.
In the ensuing destruction, Captain America and numerous others are seemingly killed - leading the mutants, now desperate, to break one of their most sacred rules to try and save the day.
Spoilers ahead for AXE: Judgment Day #5
First off, we can go ahead and confirm that Captain America actually did die in AXE: Judgment Day #4, in which he and dozens of heroes and humans were incinerated by the new Celestial, who exacts brutal, punishing torments on many of the heroes.
But Cap is one of the most prominent non-mutants killed so far, meaning he's one of the few heroes killed who can't be resurrected by the mutant resurrection protocols, which don't allow the resurrection of humans - but more on all of that momentarily.
As the Celestial tries to wreak destruction across the Earth, the planet - including its heroes and the natural forces that govern the Earth in the Marvel Universe - fight back, with many still surviving. This means that the world has a fighting chance not to be totally demolished, but that doesn't mean the Celestial is going to stop trying.
While that's happening, Tony Stark and the surviving Eternals and mutants gather in a safehouse, lamenting that the Celestial's devastation has reached Krakoa, destroying many of the cloning 'eggs' required for mutant resurrection.
With just a few of the eggs left, they agonize over which mutants to resurrect first before they can rebuild Krakoa. But Nightcrawler, the most religious of the X-Men and the founder of a new mutant religion, makes a suggestion that breaks almost all the mutants' informal rules around the resurrection protocols.
He suggests they bring back Captain America.
After a brief debate, it's finally settled that in this case, Captain America is the leader and strategist the world needs most in order to survive the Celestial's onslaught. And with that, Captain America becomes one of the few non-mutants ever brought back through the resurrection protocols.
What effect will that have on how mutant resurrection is treated when the dust clears? We'll have to wait and see. But we're assuming it won't be without controversy, as the world at large just learned of the power of mutant resurrection, along with the restrictions mutantkind has imposed on not resurrecting humans.
The next chapter of the story arrives in September 28's AXE: Avengers #1, while AXE: Judgment Day #6 wraps up the event's core limited series on October 19.
Follow all the mutant action with our listing of all the new X-Men comics planned for release in 2022 and beyond.
