Iron Man Comics Reveal the Tragic Truth Behind X-Men Villain Feilong

Over the past few months, Feilong has led Orchis’ crusade against mutantkind, all while using the same Stark technology he stole away so gleefully to do so. This has obviously created a serious problem both for the world’s mutants and Tony Stark himself, yet it has also opened the door to a new Marvel mystery. Thankfully, Tony and Emma Frost have finally uncovered just why Feilong hates Marvel’s mutant population so much, and the answer changes everything about his war against them.

After coming face-to-face with Feilong under the most unlikely circumstances, Tony and Emma finally have a chance to begin striking back against their foe. As seen in the pages of Invincible Iron Man #10 (by Gerry Duggan, Bryan Valenza, Lucas Werneck, Juan Frigeri, and VC’s Joe Caramagna), Emma’s psychic powers not only grant them access to Feilong’s mind on a surface level, but his innermost secrets as well. Accessing the deepest parts of Feilong is no simple task, yet what the heroes gain from it is worth more than any physical prize they could have found. Apart from those he stole from Tony, Feilong has been carefully hiding his very own origin. Then again, the fact that he was born from the very same mutants he has built an entire career off of hating would absolutely ruin him if it ever got out.

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Who is Marvel’s Feilong – And How Did He Become Mutantkind’s Worst Enemy?

Introduced in 2021’s X-Men #1 (by Gerry Duggan and Pepe Larraz), Kelvin Heng, better known as Feilong, is by all accounts a brilliant if deeply disturbed industrialist. Feilong was born to globally acclaimed and accomplished scientists, seemingly setting him up for greatness from the very start. At the age of thirteen, he graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at the top of his class. Only two years later, Feilong was turning a one hundred million dollar profit. Tragically, this is where things went wrong in every way imaginable. At least, that is the story that Feilong has told so far.

According to Feilong, his parents absconded with his profits, disappearing entirely and leaving him on his own with nothing to show for his work. This drove Feilong to become a relentless type of recluse, working tirelessly away from any prying eyes until he emerged as the leader of Feilong Industries. Upon his return to the public sector, Feilong had grand ambitions of claiming Mars in the name of humanity. When mutants beat him to terraforming the Red Planet, however, Feilong instead turned his attention towards tearing down each and every single one of Krakoa’s accomplishments.

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Feilong’s Secret Origin Changes Everything About His Hatred for Marvel’s Mutants

Though Feilong has imbued himself with great power by way of cybernetics, gene therapies, and exposure to cosmic radiation, it was always assumed he did so out of spite of his mutant competition. Now that his parents’ place as mutants has come to light, it is clear that couldn’t be further from the case. From the looks of things, Feilong experimented on himself to attain the powers he never developed on his own. Whether this makes Feilong a genuine mutant in the same vein as his enemies is up for debate, yet that hardly matters when cast against the wider scope of the situation. Altogether, this dramatically shifts Feilong’s motivations, but it is not the only way in which his character has been irrevocably altered.

Apart from the idea that Feilong has been trying to make up for what he lacks as a mutant devoid of any powers, this calls into question exactly what the relationship between him and his parents actually was. It is painfully obvious to Emma and Tony that Feilong’s parents loved and accepted him for who he was. At that rate, it is hard to imagine they genuinely stole away his fortune and left him on his own out of any sense of malice, if they did so in the first place. Considering how twisted Feilong has already proven himself to be, the thought that his malice is the reason his parents disappeared is an easy assumption to make. And, considering how much his own army despises mutants on every conceivable level, the thought that the truth of his lineage would destroy him is as well.

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How Feilong’s Darkest Secret Could End Marvel’s Fall of X

As much as Emma would like to force Feilong to confess his darkest secrets immediately, she knows that doing so wouldn’t bring about an end to mutantkind’s current suffering. If anything, exposing Feilong in such a manner would only cause someone else to take his place as the head of Orchis to continue their war against mutants. Instead of simply discrediting Feilong with his own past, Emma and Tony are going to have to use that information to discredit Orchis as a whole, and that is going to require more patience than either of them would like.

Even if they cannot use this information as of now, what Emma and Tony have uncovered is sure to be invaluable in the days to come. Assuming they can tie Feilong and Orchis back to the former’s mutant origins, there will be nothing stopping the heroes from setting the latter up to eat itself alive from the inside out. Tony and Emma may not even have to go that far, especially if they can do enough damage to Orchis’ reputation that world governments sever their ties to the organization. On its own, Orchis is nothing more than an independent contractor with no real authority. As such, the biggest blow that could be dealt to it is one to its legacy, and there will never be a better place to strike than Feilong’s secret mutant origin.