Warning: contains spoilers for Immortal X-Men #3!
The latest issue of Immortal X-Men shows that Scarlet Witch’s daughter Nocturne plays a significant role in Marvel’s future, with an upcoming event acting as one of the major ‘nexus points’ which guide the flow of time.
On Earth-2182, Scarlet Witch and Nightcrawler had a daughter: Talia Wagner, also known as Nocturne. Talia developed her own unique powers as a third-generation mutant, including body possession and the ability to pull “Hex Bolts” from the Brimstone Dimension (the hidden world through which Nightcrawler teleports.) She first joined her own world’s X-Men, who she had grown up around due to her father, and then became a founding member of the Exiles, a group of multiversal heroes sent to fix problems in various realities. Nocturne became popular with fans, and settled in the mainstream Earth-616 while maintaining ties with the Exiles.
In Immortal X-Men #3, written by Kieron Gillen and drawn by Lucas Werneck, the precognitive mutant Destiny’s vision of the future’s nexus points reveals that Nocturne may soon rise to major prominence in Marvel’s main continuity. Although Destiny’s visions of the future are often detailed, what now appears before her is a minimalistic map of the nexus points that could be used to guide events down each potential timeline. The map that reveals itself to Destiny includes nexus points such as “The Spark Inquisition” and the “Canticle For Talia.”
Although the name ‘Talia’ on its own doesn’t guarantee that Nocturne will be returning, the religious connotations in both the Spark Inquisition (referencing the Spark, Nightcrawler’s holy order) and Canticle For Talia all but confirm that this major historical event hinges on Scarlet Witch’s alt-universe daughter. Nocturne might even have a place within the Spark, given a canticle is generally perceived as a religious song of praise. Exiles fans have long wanted Nocturne back in the spotlight, and the fact that a potential nexus event focuses on Nocturne means that Talia should be very important very soon.
It’s not certain that the timeline will go down the Canticle for Talia route – the very nature of nexus points means they can’t all come true – but given that multiple members of the X-Men’s Quiet Council are manipulating and even rebooting time, Nocturne has already been hugely influential in giving them a new nexus to utilize behind the scenes. Hopefully, fans will get to see what the Canticle for Talia event looks like in one form or another, but either way, it’s unlikely that Marvel is teasing Nocturne’s return with no plans to involve her in future stories. After all, with Scarlet Witch recently creating a mutant ‘Heaven’ and Nightcrawler on the Quiet Council, Talia Wagner stands to become mutant royalty if she chooses to get involved with how the nation of Krakoa is run.
What’s particularly fascinating is that the Exiles’ mission was originally to manipulate different realities by changing key events, meaning she may have a direct hand in whether the X-Men end up going down the Canticle for Talia path. Talia’s huge influence over the future will be a thrill for Exiles fans, and hopefully Nightcrawler and Scarlet Witch’s daughter will indeed make an appearance in Marvel’s main continuity soon.
Immortal X-Men #3 is available now from Marvel Comics.
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