Warning: Spoilers for Immortal X-Men #1 ahead!
The newest member of Robins. While Hope may be the youngest mutant to hold a seat on the Quiet Council, her experience as a beacon of light for the mutants, and her role in The Five, make her more than qualified for the important new job she has taken on.
Hope Summers was introduced as a baby in Mike Carey, Chris Bachalo, and Tim Townsend's X-Men #205 by as the first mutant to be born after the horrific M-Day, which quickly established her as the "mutant messiah," destined to bring about an end to the Decimation. Hope is rescued by the time-traveling Cable during the Messiah Complex event and is eventually brought to the future with him to grow up safe from harm, so that she can one day return are save the mutant race. Hope does return to the present, and is essential to activating and training the first new group of mutants since M-Day, but not before spending years on the run with Cable through various apocalyptic hell-scapes.
Immortal X-Men #1 - written by the iconic Kieron Gillen with stunning art by Lucas Werneck - followed the Quiet Council as they attempted to find a replacement for Magneto's empty seat on the Council. Ever since the explosive finale of the X-Men event Inferno, which saw Xavier and Magneto's secrets about Moira X revealed to the Council leading to Magneto stepping down, the Quiet Council has been struggling to find a new representative for mutantkind. After considering a multitude of intriguing candidates including Warren Worthington III, Monet St Croix, and Selene Gallio, the Quiet Council eventually lands on electing Hope Summers to them at their circle, after she pretty much demands they choose her. Speaking to AIPT Kieron Gillen had a lot to say about the first issue of Immortal X-Men, including what makes Hope such a reasonable choice for the Quiet Council and why she is so similar to a Robin:
She’s the youngest person on the Council, and that has to impact things. She’s also spent the last year closer to the populace. Hell, she’s likely the first person every single mutant who’s been brought back sees. But there are other aspects to Hope — she’s not like a normal teenager. She grew up in a series of apocalyptic hells. Her life was spent skipping between Walking Dead-esque disasters, taught by the greatest soldier in existence. Her background is more akin to Robin than most mutant teenagers whose life was normal until the day their X-gene activated. She is a teenager… but not a normal teenager, in any way whatsoever.
Kieron Gillen emphasizes that there are many things that make Hope Summers the right choice to fill Magneto's empty Council seat, especially the fact that Hope is integral to The Five's Resurrection Protocols, and is in charge of bringing every dead mutant back to life. More than ever before, Hope is actually living up to her original designation as the "mutant messiah," since she is quite literally granting immortality to all of mutantkind. However Gillen highlights that it is not just Hope's status as a messianic figure that makes her a good fit, but also the fact that even though she may look very young, she has lived a traumatic and intense life, much like all of Batman's Robins have. All of the major Robins have been through serious trials by fire since a young age, and this has made them wise beyond their years and mature enough to stand against truly evil adult villains, and Hope has had a similar upbringing. Hope's longing for community, comfort with rebelling against authority figures, and strategic mind are all traits that Robins hold, and are what make her such a perfect person to fill a Quiet Council seat.
It could be argued that Cable and Batman are also similar figures, especially when acting as surrogate fathers for Hope and the Robins, and both of their strong values and bravery have rubbed off on their young proteges. Hope is more connected to the mutants of Krakoa than any other member of the Council, because of her age and her status as the leader of The Five, making her the perfect replacement to fill Magneto's seat. Make sure to read Kieron Gillen's Immortal X-Men series from Marvel Comics to see Hope Summers step into a leadership role using the skills she learned as Marvel's own Robin.
Source: AIPT
