This article contains spoilers for SWORD #3 by Al Ewing and Valerio Schitti.
The X-Men's reboot made them weaker, not stronger - and the truth was revealed in Marvel's King in Black event. Knull, the god of the symbiotes, has come to Earth. He appears to be Marvel's most dangerous villain to date, defeating the Avengers with almost ease. Even the Sentry, a hero who wields the power of a billion burning suns, was literally torn apart by Knull.
Knull's first wave took New York City, driving back the Avengers, with his symbiotes even absorbing some of Earth's Mightiest Heroes. During that initial battle, the Avengers were backed up by some of the most powerful and skilled X-Men, including the likes of Cyclops and Storm - but even they proved insufficient to turn back the dark tide. Unfortunately, in the aftermath of that initial defeat the mutant leaders of Krakoa made what could have been a fatal mistake, withdrawing to Krakoa in order to avoid further losses. But in SWORD #2, Knull successfully absorbed one of the X-Men's own, Cable, and used his captured body to infiltrate Krakoa.
SWORD #3 reveals even the mutants of Krakoa have been unable to defeat the King in Black. The issue ends with the teleporter Manifold arriving on Krakoa, and he is horrified to see the nation has fallen. Knull's victory is all the more impressive when one remembers the entire mutant race has gathered on Krakoa, including a number of Omega level mutants like Magneto, Storm, and Proteus. Some of these mutants possess the power to manipulate reality itself, and even they have been defeated.
This, more than anything else, demonstrates just how powerful Knull really is. The X-Men have been using a synergy of mutant powers and Cerebro technology to resurrect the millions of mutants who have died in the past. That means Knull has actually conquered an entire nation of superpowered individuals, some of whom had previously been able to take on the entire Avengers team pretty much single-handed. Ironically, the X-Men's decision to fall back – to hide away on Krakoa in the hopes somebody else would defeat Knull for them – pretty much doomed them to defeat. Had the X-Men left Krakoa to bolster the numbers of the Avengers, it is entirely possible the King in Black might have never reached their island's shores.
Fortunately, although Krakoa may have fallen, that does not necessarily mean all the X-Men's plans have been defeated. The X-Men have a number of contingency plans they could well have initiated before Krakoa's conquest - but, given Knull has absorbed a significant number of X-Men, he probably knows all about those strategies. The only chance for the mutants is surely if one of the X-Men goes rogue, operating independently without Krakoan oversight. And that fact alone suggests just how vulnerable Krakoa has become in its 'splendid isolation.'
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