Marvel Announces the Return of the X-Men Fan Vote for 2023

By Timothy Adams

The popular X-Men fan vote is making a comeback in the new year. As companies geared up to return back to business in 2023, Marvel released a tweet teasing another year of the annual X-Men fan vote. This began in 2021 as a way for fans to vote on the final member of Krakoa's first official X-Men team, which was revealed at the first annual Hellfire Gala. Polaris wound up getting the most votes the first time around, with 2022 seeing Firestar joining the X-Men. Gerry Duggan has written X-Men during both of these fan votes, and it remains to be seen if that holds up for 2023.

The simple tweet from the Marvel Twitter account reads, "The #XMenVote returns in 2023." It also included an image of the red envelope that will contain the winner of the vote, which should be revealed later this year. Whether or not that takes place at another annual Hellfire Gala is a mystery for now.

Marvel Reveals New X-Men Team at 2022 Hellfire Gala

Last year's X-Men: Hellfire Gala #1 concluded with the unveiling of the new X-Men team. The oversized one-shot juggled various storylines while the Hellfire Gala played out, but saved the main event for last. As the host, Emma Frost got the honor of addressing the audience to announce the new X-Men team. She spoke telepathically to the assembled crowd full of mutants, human dignitaries, Avengers, Fantastic Four, and more.

The four X-Men that voluntarily stepped down are Wolverine (Laura Kinney), Rogue, Sunfire, and Polaris. This freed the foursome up to appear in other X-Men titles, and Wolverine was already slated to co-star in the upcoming X-Terminators. Meanwhile, Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Synch asked to be voted back. Emma Frost and Firestar had an interesting conversation earlier in the night, with Firestar not feeling wanted on Krakoa. She's one of the mutants that's chosen not to live on the mutant island and felt like an outsider because of it. Captain America offered Emma some friendly advice, which she took to nominate Firestar to the X-Men. "Sometimes the best way to earn a person's trust is by giving them more responsibility," Cap told Emma. We'll see if that advice turns out to be correct.

Next up was Forge, who was nominated by Cyclops. He believes it's time Forge returned to being an X-Man. Of course, fans had kept up with Forge in the pages of X-Force, but now he joins the front-facing superhero team instead of working on the X-Men's version of the CIA. To get Cyclops back for being nominated without his consent, Forge said he'll only join if Cyclops' brother, Havok, is also on the team. Magik, one of Krakoa's Captains, volunteered herself, and Iceman does the exact same thing to round out the new X-Men roster.

Which nominees would you like to see on this year's X-Men fan vote? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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