Marvel's New X-Men Writer Comments on Relationship to the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Marvel is about to enter the “Dawn of X” at San Diego Comic-Con 2019. Dawn of X marks the [...]

Marvel is about to enter the "Dawn of X" at San Diego Comic-Con 2019. Dawn of X marks the beginning of a new era for the X-Men franchise with writer Jonathan Hickman. This transition is happening after the sale of 20th Century Fox to The Walt Disney Company. The sale gives Disney the X-Men film and television rights, making them available for use in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Some of Hickman's Avengers work turned up in Avengers: Infinity War. He co-created the Black Order, called the Children of Thanos in the film. This led some may wonder Marvel chose him to write the X-Men to prep them for introduction into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Hickman says that's backward thinking.

"I think one of the big mistakes that some people make at Marvel Comics is that we are reactive to what they're doing in the Marvel films," Hickman tells Entertainment Weekly. "We should not be taking our creative cues from the direction they're taking things in the movies. That kind of defeats the point. They have a billion dollars to play with, and we don't. You can't compete in that matter, and you shouldn't. My argument has been [that] I should always be way out in front of that stuff. All of that stuff is being drawn from source material. It goes back to, are you being destructive or are you being additive? If you're being additive and you're on the big books, it's inevitable that some of that stuff is going to get used. When Marvel films gets around to the X-Men and we've done interesting stuff and they want to use it, that's awesome. If they don't, then they don't. One makes your job expendable, the other one makes you priceless. I like having value to my work."

Hickman has a multiyear plan for the X-Men in place. As he explained during an interview with ComicBook.com, those plans include multiple waves of new ongoing titles.

"Now, we're already in production on all of these 'Wave 1' books and our plan at this moment is to introduce the titles, creative teams, and publishing details around SDCC, which is a week before HOX #1 goes on sale. We also just finished our plans for our 'Wave 2' books that will debut in 2020 and we're getting ready to hire talent for those. It's pretty exciting, and this kind of long-term planning is one of the benefits of knowing what direction you're headed for the next few years."

Are you excited about the new era of X-Men comics? What about their introduction to the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Let us know what you think in the comments. House of X #1, the first issue of Hickman's X-Men, goes on sale on July 24th.

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