Warning: contains spoilers for X-Men #7Many of the X-Men have struggled with hiding their identity throughout the franchise’s long history, but a new twist has just introduced a new type of mutant that could change the whole dynamic between human beings and their kind in the future of the Marvel Universe.

If villains have figured out a way to control mutants for good, then the X-Men might already be at a major disadvantage without even knowing it. X-Men #7 has introduced a new twist to the X-Mythos, as it debuts what appears to be a new strain of sometimes-undetectable mutant. The issue revolves around Piper Cobb, a young girl who believes that it was her mutant manifestation that caused a Sentinel to attack her town. Beast scans Piper with X-Men and Sentinel technology, and both come up negative for the X-Gene. However, what only readers see is that Piper does have powers, turning monstrous for a second while sleeping. Is she a new type of undetectable mutant then?

What This New Form of Mutant Means For The X-Men Universe

An Undetectable Mutant Throws Everything The X-Men Know Into Disarrray

This almost certainly involves the mysterious villains 3K, who have found a way Cerebro’s ability to detect their new mutants using Piper as a case study.)

There is, however, an even worse possibility: Piper is a natural mutant, and that 3K have found a way to turn off mutant powers at the flick of a switch. Mutant power dampeners and nullifiers have been a known technology in the X-Men world for decades, but they’re usually connected to technology, and the X-Men should have been able to tell if that were the case. If 3K could just sabotage any mutant in the middle of a fight, then they could be far more dangerous than anyone could have predicted.

Our Take on Piper Cobb, The 'New' Mutant

Her Nature is Unknown, but Mutant is Still Most Likely

Finally, there’s one more outside possibility, which is that Piper’s not a mutant, but some other sort of metahuman. It would be ironic if the X-Men were looking for a mutant and completely missed that Piper was a Werewolf or something similar. This is unlikely though, both because it would come out of nowhere, and because it wouldn’t explain why only one Sentinel detected her. Piper’s definitely some sort of mutant, and if there are more undetectable mutants out there, then the X-Men are in quite a bit of trouble.

X-Men #7 is on sale now from Marvel Comics.