Legion makes the Muir Island lineup much harder to describe than a list of useful powers would suggest. David Haller can provide extraordinary protection, but the people around…

Legion makes the Muir Island lineup much harder to describe than a list of useful powers would suggest. David Haller can provide extraordinary protection, but the people around him cannot assume that the help will continue. During this attack, his presence creates dangers inside the defense itself. The clearest early example is the shield around Sunder and the children. It can keep gunfire away, then it is withdrawn. Later interference also helps the attackers, including the extinguishing of Pyro’s flames. These are concrete actions within the battle, not merely a warning that a powerful character might become difficult someday. A team can plan around an ability only if there is some dependable understanding of how it will be used. Otherwise, even a successful moment of protection can encourage somebody to take a position that becomes deadly when the protection disappears. Legion exposes that weakness in the most immediate possible circumstances. The story’s presentation of his different personas makes responsibility and control complicated. It is worth staying with what these issues actually show rather than treating his condition as a general explanation for violence. The relevant point here is the specific behavior affecting the people beside him, and their inability to recognize the whole danger in time. His assault on Destiny in #255 adds another loss to an already disastrous day. The defenders’ struggle is therefore not finished by identifying the enemies who arrived with weapons. Somebody inside their own community is also changing the outcome. Legion belongs in a spotlight on this group because leaving him out would make its situation look much simpler than it is. His capabilities are enormous. In this emergency, reliable cooperation is the much scarcer resource, and the island does not have enough of it.