Warlock stands out immediately among Magneto’s students. His techno-organic body can stretch and rearrange itself into extraordinary forms. He can become transport, protection o…

Warlock stands out immediately among Magneto’s students. His techno-organic body can stretch and rearrange itself into extraordinary forms. He can become transport, protection or equipment while still remaining a person with his own fears and attachments. His relationship with Doug is central, but the rest of the class matters to him too. Warlock is learning how friendship works from people whose bodies and customs are very different from his. The school gives him an alternative to the violence associated with his father, Magus, and the expectations he fled. New Mutants #40 gives him an active part in bringing the class home from Emma Frost’s academy. He carries Magneto in a form resembling a flying craft. That is a useful reminder that Warlock can contribute judgment and loyalty as well as unusual shapes. He recognizes a problem and helps the adult responsible for his friends try to resolve it. The later conflict with Magus makes the cost of that choice much clearer. Warlock’s family history can endanger the people who have welcomed him. His powers and the transmode infection are therefore never only visual tricks. There is a frightening biological and cultural background beneath the comedy of his speech and the elasticity of his design. His bond with Doug makes that contrast especially sharp. The two can work together with enormous trust, but Doug is still human and vulnerable. Warlock’s willingness to protect him does not remove every risk. This version of Warlock belongs with the New Mutants because he keeps choosing connection. He has reasons to hide, flee or see the world as something to consume. Instead, he tries to understand these people and remain with them. The strange-looking alien is doing the very ordinary, very difficult work of learning how to be a friend.