Marv’s Picks: Dissecting the latest X-Men promo image of what’s to come

X: A Dissection

A review by Marvin Capistrano

The news of Jonathan Hickman returning to Marvel to place his stamp on the mutants had me jumping for joy, to say the least. The man lays down some serious long-term storytelling, as evidenced in his amazing Fantastic Four run, which has unknowingly planted seeds into his Avengers/New Avengers run and culminated to the 2015 Marvel event Secret Wars. Knowing that he begins this new phase of his Marvel career, I know full well this is just the beginning of something huge. But how huge?!

During the announcement, Marvel released a beautiful spread from artist Mark Brooks to celebrate Hickman’s return. Marvel has gone on record to say that everything in the image has a reason being there. So, I decided to analyze specific portions of the image.

PROFESSOR X AND MOIRA MACTAGGART

Professor X is not only going full James McAvoy, but it appears he now has full function of his legs. Also, last I checked, he’s still dead. But we all know the death and resurrection rate of these mutants. Seated next to him is Moira MacTaggart, an old love interest. Also interestingly enough, she is the mother of X-Men villain Proteus, having reality warping and possession powers. He has been MIA for a while as well. Will we see a return of Kevin MacTaggart?

THE THREE FACES OF WOLVERINE

Of course, when you talk about the X-Men, you have to market Wolverine. The interesting thing about this image, however, is that Wolverine is shown three times depicting a specific era of the character. We have the Weapon X version from the Barry Windsor-Smith story. The black and tan version from the Claremont/Byrne heyday is present as well. Finally, we have the maskless, leather jacket wearing Wolverine from the Grant Morrison run of New X-Men. What is about these three specific versions of Wolverine that Hickman will cover?

YOUNG X-MEN?

Not too long ago, Brian Michael Bendis brought the original five X-Men as their teenage selves into the fold. They have since recently returned to their original timeline. However, it appears we will be seeing younger version of the X-Men. And when I mean younger, I mean younger. We have a young Havoc and what appears to be a young Storm. Keep in mind adult Storm is also present in this image, mohawk and all. Will we see some literal children of the atom make their way to the present?

THE THIRD SUMMERS BROTHER

Gabriel Summers, aka Vulcan, was revealed in the 2005 miniseries X-Men: Deadly Genesis to be the long missing third Summers brother. Since then he has vowed to destroy the X-Men after having been left behind on the island of Krakoa by usurping the Shi’ar empire and assuming leadership. The last that was heard of Vulcan was him meeting his demise at the hands of Black Bolt in the 2008 miniseries War of the Kings. What is Vulcan’s state of mind when he returns to the forefront 10 years after his last appearance?

BACK TO OLD FORMS

It also appears that, along with mohawk Storm, certain characters will return to their previous forms when Hickman’s run begins. Toad looks to ditch his green, movie-like appearance while Beast returns to his classic blue form after being in his ape form. Are any other X-Men returning to classic looks as well?

SENTINELS!

The Sentinels have been a long time foil for the X-Men, and it appears they will continue to be — and it appears they will bring along some major heavy hitters. Nimrod comes from a future in which the Sentinels rule the world and it serves as the most advanced form of the mutant hunting robots. The Master Mold served as a mobile Sentinel-producing factory, sometimes serving as the lead Sentinel in charge. Not to get political here, but considering that our world is currently facing issues of acceptance and tolerance similar to the time period the X-Men were created, the return of prominence of the Sentinels definitely seems timely.

THOSE MYSTERIOUS BOOKEND CHARACTERS

Of all the characters in the image, it appears that the two characters that serve as bookends are the only new characters displayed. While they may be new, they seem to have some sort of connection to the X-Men. One looks to be an orange looking Nightcrawler. The other one I first assumed was Lady Deathstrike. But upon further look, I saw Colossus skin with Magik’s sword. Is Illyana Rasputin going metal?

Well, these are the takeaways I got from the image. I’m pretty sure some of our more eagle-eyed readers will catch something I missed. If so, feel free to drop a comment!!

Marvin Capistrano is a big fan of comics and provides occasional insights on choice comic book picks.
Images are property and © Marvel.  They are solely used for review purposes only.