Marvel Reveals New X-Men Team’s Secret Mission

A new team of X-Men are on a secret mission to save all of mutantkind. The X-Men are on the run following the unfortunate events at last year’s Hellfire Gala, when the anti-mutant organization Orchis unleashed a targeted attack that left several mutants dead and the X-Men the victims of a public smear campaign. What made matters worse is the new X-Men team elected at the Hellfire Gala were some of the first casualties. As the Krakoan era of X-Men comics comes to a close with Fall of the House of X and Rise of the Powers of X, the Dead X-Men are sending this era of X-Men storytelling off on a high note.

*WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Dead X-Men #1. Continue reading at your own risk.

Dead X-Men #1 comes from the creative team of Steve Foxe, Jonas Scharf, Bernard Chang, Vincenzo Carratú, Frank Martin, VC’s Cory Petit, Tom Muller, and Jay Bowen. Though Marvel kept the roster of Dead X-Men a secret when the series was announced, we finally discover that they are the new X-Men team unveiled at the Hellfire Gala and promptly massacred by Nimrod. Professor X has recruited them for a special mission to traverse different timelines and multiverses in search of a non-cyborg Moira MacTaggert, so Charles Xavier can get a map of all her different lives and stop her from activating her mutant powers of reincarnation. 

After feeling betrayed by the X-Men, Moira turned against them and is now sided with Orchis inside a cyborg body. The Dead X-Men are being guided through the multiverse by Rachel Summers, who is opening wormholes to drop them into different Earths and pull them out. Prodigy’s mutant powers have been expanded so he can sense Moira on whatever Earth they visit and quickly scan her mind to get the information they need. One Earth in the multiverse finally provided the Dead X-Men with a non-cybernetic Moira MacTaggert, but she’s on a mission of her own to travel back to her first life, start over again, and make sure that she always wins.

What is Marvel’s Dead X-Men series about?

The description of Dead X-Men #1 reads, “DEATH WAS ONLY THE BEGINNING! When the world turned against Krakoa, these five mutants lost their lives…but their mission as X-Men is just getting started. To preserve Xavier’s dream, they must accomplish the impossible – or die again trying!”

Explaining the new series, Foxe said: “DEAD X-MEN is one of the most complex stories I’ve worked on at Marvel, but also one of purest: a small group of mutants who have to accomplish the impossible, which is the premise that made me fall in love with the X-Men in the first place. I’ve been working closely with Kieron [GIlen] and Jordan [White] to make sure that the mission these unexpected X-Men undertake has real repercussions for the line—and the very existence of Krakoa as we know it. I’m also stoked Marvel was up for the challenge of assembling such a big art team. There’s a reason you’ll see so many talented creators credited on the book, and I can’t wait for readers to discover the secret behind DEAD X-MEN.”