SELENE: Page 4 of 4

BIOGRAPHY - Page 4

Only, this wasn’t the end. By unknown means, the particles of Selene’s body that existed as nothing but vapor were collected and stored in a secure vault. The contents of the vault were later sold to Arkea, a sentient bacteria that was inhabiting a woman. Arkea was on her own mission to take over the world and was recruiting the most powerful women she could find to be a part of her team. Using the Enchantress, an Asgardian sorceress, Selene was resurrected and brought on to the team, named the Sisterhood. The X-Men were hot on Arkea’s heels and they soon came into conflict with the Sisterhood. However, rather than fight Selene, they offered her a deal… she could walk away right then and there and the X-Men wouldn’t follow. Still adjusting to being back, Selene did not want to involve herself in someone else’s fight and so she walked away, abandoning Arkea to her fate. [X-Men (4th series) #11-12]

Selene laid low for a while, assessing her recent losses and forging a new path for herself. When she did step out of the shadows, it wasn’t into mutant affairs but rather on the American political stage. Hydra had recently taken control of the country but was soon defeated by Captain America. In its wake, Selene positioned herself to become a part of the White House’s task force for Faith-based Initiatives. She also aligned herself with Alexa Lunkin, whose husband Alexander had been killed by Sharon Carter years before. Alexa desired to resurrect her husband and needed Selene’s help to do it. Waiting for Sharon to be vulnerable, Selene captured the woman and syphoned off some of her energy, storing it in a Blood-Marine gem. After acquiring Alexander’s corpse, Selene used some of Sharon’s energy to bring the man back to life again. [Free Comic Book Day 2018: Avengers, Captain America (9th series) #1-8]

In the meantime, the mutant world had undergone a major status quo shift, with Xavier and Magneto setting up a haven for mutants on the island of Krakoa. All mutants, regardless of their past transgressions were welcome on the island and that included Selene. The presence of a vampiric mutant proved an interesting conundrum for the mutant nation, as Selene would need to drain the life force of others to live. As Krakoan law stated “harm no humans,” Selene would need to rely on mutant energies to live. It was decided that she would be able to syphon of a very small portion of the inhabitants of Krakoa, small enough that they wouldn’t notice but enough to keep Selene alive. [House of X #5]

As leader of the commission for Faith-Based Initiatives, Selene presented herself to America as a caring, religious woman who just wanted what was best for the people. Alexander owed Selene for bringing him back, and so he set her up in a small Midwestern town of Adamsville, where she could feed on people without being noticed. Much like Nova Roma, Selene had created a cult following in the town and placed herself in the center. She would pray on disillusioned men, draining their life force to feed her Blood-Marine gem, all the while becoming stronger and stronger. Her schemes hadn’t gone unnoticed though, as Sharon Carter had been hunting Selene down in the hopes of getting the portion of life force that was stolen from her.

Adamsville was infiltrated by Captain America and his allies, but they underestimated Selene’s power. Taking care of Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Selene fought Captain America alone and would have drained his life force too had it not been for the timely arrival of Sharon. Using a specially designed suit of armor, Sharon took on Selene and managed to hold her own, outlasting the sorceress’ violent assault. Selene used an incredibly amount of energy in the fight and the ravages of age soon began to show. With her power levels drained, Selene was captured and her Blood-Marine gem was taken off her. Sharon’s life-force was taken from the gem and returned to her, whilst Selene was sent back to Krakoa to face punishment. [Captain America (9th series) #20-25]

Despite Selene having murdered many humans, no consequences fell upon her when she returned to Krakoa. In fact, she even helped the X-Men out when they were attacked by zombies on Genosha. [Empyre: X-Men #2-4]

With her political career amongst the humans in tatters, Selene turned her attention to mutant affairs, more specifically the business side of Krakoa. One of the exports that the mutant race had created was a series of flowers that had medical benefits. Monet St. Croix and Angel were in charge of X-Corp, the company that oversaw the production and distribution of the flowers, as well as other things. When the two of them looked to expand their board of directors, Selene jumped at the chance to become involved. However, due to her recent behavior, Monet and Angel were understandably wary of involving such a wild card. Waiting for just the right time, Selene saved Monet’s life after a competitor knocked her out, and subsequently leveraged a position on X-Corps board of directors because of it. Selene proved to be a valuable asset in the boardroom as well as when things needed the more “direct” approach. [X-Corp #2-5]

Selene wasn’t just content with X-Corp; she wanted a prime place in the running of Krakoa. When Magneto stepped down from the Quiet Council, the decision makers of Krakoa, Selene put herself forward as his replacement. She made a compelling presentation to the council, stating that she had millennia worth of experience as well as intimate knowledge of the arcane arts. Her pitch was interrupted by Hope Summers, who also wanted the seat. Selene was incensed that a child would even be considered for the place and made some thinly-veiled threats about the consequences of ignoring her. Ultimately, Hope was invited to join the council over Selene, incensing the sorceress enough to make good on her previous threats. Knowing that a gateway between Krakoa and its sister-island of Arakko relied on the bones of her fellow Externals, Selene destroyed it out of spite, unleashing an enormous monster on to the island in the process.

She smugly told Xavier that actions have consequences, and then teleported away, leaving the Quiet Council to deal with the rampaging monster. The creature could not simply be killed, as the gateway it was created from was linked to other dimensions and the fallout would be catastrophic. Hope Summers took the initiative, tracked Selene down and assassinated her with a magical bullet, which stopped her from regenerating. Selene was fast-tracked for resurrection on Krakoa, but when she was "reborn" she found Hope and Exodus waiting for her. Before she could gain her senses, Exodus took control of her mind and found the way to dismiss the monster and reform the Arakkoan gateway. With the immediate threat over, Exodus dealt with the next issue and snapped Selene's neck, killing her for a second time in a day. The Quiet Council decided to put Selene far down the resurrection queue, partly as punishment but partly to allow them time to decide on the proper course of action to take once she did return. [Immortal X-Men #1-2]

Selene broke one of Krakoa's most important laws, "Respect this sacred Land" and by all accounts she should be condemned to the Pit upon her resurrection. Whether she truly faces any consequences for her actions will only be revealed when she is resurrected, but no one seems to be in a hurry to do that any time soon.