WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Hellions #10 by Zeb Wells, Stephen Segovia, David Curiel & VC's Ariana Maher, on sale now
Arcade is one of the Marvel Universe's most quietly deadly threats. The killer creates terrifying Murderworlds to trap his targets in, with people getting lost and often suffering terrible fates at his hands. But if he achieves victory in his latest mission, Murderworld could become a lot more fearsome.
It turns out Arcade kidnapped Mister Sinister and the Hellions so he could gain access to Sinister's cloning library -- which could give him his own personal army of mutant clones to populate the Murderworlds.
Mister Sinister and the Hellions have been some of Krakoa's deadliest agents, but they've also proven capable of capturing with the right resources. By recruiting Mastermind under the threat of killing his daughter, Arcade has found a way to keep the Hellions all distracted within their own personal dreams while he goes to work personally torturing Mister Sinister. It turns out that the entire plan was to force Mister Sinister to work for Arcade and willingly provide an army of mutant clones that he could use to populate his Murderworlds. He even works to ensure that Sinister is so broken that he'll continue to fear Arcade and be subservient to him going forward, providing the villain with an endless army of clones.
Arcade gaining access to Sinister's cloning resources would undoubtedly lead to an expansion of his Murderworlds, and could place him higher in the villainous rankings around the globe. Arcade has never been the most popular villain in the Marvel Universe, but having access to a mutant army could raise his clout. It could also be used by groups like XENO as evidence of the inherent danger of mutants and what they can do, giving them more ammunition to recruit forces across the globe to oppose the mutants of Krakoa. There's also the lingering threat that this could be what leads Sinister to start experimenting with his designs more openly, which could in turn lead to the creation of Chimeras -- the sometimes unstable mutant visions that Moira X encountered in one of her previous lives.
Sinister's cloning farm has always been one of the most potent threats that the X-Men have ever encountered, resulting in creations like Madelyne Pryor and Xraven that have almost broken the X-Men in the past. Handing all that power over to Arcade could make him one of Marvel's deadliest threats, especially if he were to try and replicate the deadly results of Avengers Arena with this new potential. It could even allow him to finally get an edge over some of the heroes who've escaped him in the past.
Hopefully, the Hellions will break through the illusions created by Mastermind in time to save Sinister, or there's a secondary plan going between Mastermind and Sinister to lull Arcade into a false sense of security. Otherwise, Arcade might just get his wish and be able to populate his creations with entire swaths of mutants.
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