WARNINGS: The following contains spoilers for Way of X #2 by Si Spurrier, Bob Quinn, Java Tartaglia & VC's Clayton Cowles, on sale now
Project Orchis has been uniting many corners of humanity, trying to find way to counter the expansion of mutant interests in the world. As Nightcrawler and Legion know first-hand, the mutant haters' tactics have ranged from technological weapons to swaying public perception, even introducing new priests speaking towards hate.
In the process, Way of X #2 reveals that Orchis has developed a truly powerful weapon, recreating Onslaught, one of Marvel's most powerful evil beings in the process.
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Nightcrawler has been trying to deal with the moral ramifications of what Krakoa is and what it means for mutantkind going forward, especially in light of effective immortality radically altering how mutants are living on a day-to-day basis. Along the way, he's started to notice a dark trend at the heart of his fellow mutants, influencing them and pushing them to their darker and crueler impulses, something that has been seriously haunting Nightcrawler as he tries to figure out what exactly the mutant religion he's trying to build should even look like. This investigation has also led to him learning about the Patchwork Man, a mysterious figure appearing to mutants in their dreams and haunting them. Charles Xavier fears that it's Legion who is behind this, sending Nightcrawler to investigate.
But in the process, he runs afoul of Legion's psychic abilities -- who quickly travels through Nightcrawler's mind and reveals a psychic signature, suggesting someone has been targeting Nightcrawler -- and the rest of Krakoa's -- subconscious minds. Legion recruits Nightcrawler to rescue his mind from a mysterious device that has trapped the Omega-Level Mutant in a hellscape within his mind, simulating the internal fall of the mutant race with Legion's various personas. Hoping to spread further strife, Orchis introduced an invasive entity to speed along the process, giving them a psychic weapon they can use to break the social structures of Krakoa -- and in the process, destroy the new mutant homeland. Legion confirms to Nightcrawler that was the signature he encountered in his mind -- and that it belongs to Onslaught, the evil psionic entity born from Xavier's darkest self.
Onslaught was born during the events of "Fatal Attraction." In X-Men #25 by Fabian Nicieza and Andy Kubert, an enraged Xavier shut down Magneto's mind -- rendering his old friend comatose. The act absorbed Magneto's rage into Xavier's mind, where it merged with the inner darkness of Xavier himself. This created a sentient malevolent psionic being, who came to be known as Onslaught. Taking control of Xavier and waging war on the world, Onslaught was stopped by the apparent sacrifice of multiple heroes to dissipate his energy form and destroying the living thought. Onslaught was restored in Onslaught Reborn by Jeph Loeb and Rob Liefeld, forced into the Negative Zone before being seemingly used by Franklin Richards to try and help recreate the Marvel Multiverse following the events of Secret Wars.
The potential of Onslaught as a means of causing chaos has been proven before, with Red Skull briefly becoming the Red Onslaught in Uncanny Avengers and almost setting off World War Hate as a means of spreading anarchy. If Onslaught is truly returned to the Marvel Universe, then it could be the ultimate tool to target Krakoa. If Orchis has truly found a way to weaponize the threat, then it might be the perfect silent way to bring about the end of mutant culture before it becomes a fixture of the world. However, Onslaught's sheer power and malicious attitude make him one of the world's single most dangerous threats. And if it were then to turn back to humanity and couldn't be controlled, Orchis may have restored the single greatest threat of all living beings.