X-Manhunt Proves That Marvel Doesn’t Know What to Do With The X-Men

“The Fall of the House of X” event ended in May 2024, concluding the X-Men’s Krakoa saga that began under Jonathan Hickman’s pen. We’re not even a year from the end of Krakoa, and Marvel has already released three more X-Men event crossovers. “From the Ashes” was more of an initiative that reestablished the new X-Men’s status quo after Krakoa. However, the “Raid on Graymalkin” crossover launched within the same calendar year as “The Fall of the House of X”, giving fans little time to adjust to the new status quo before the creatives could firmly immerse readers in the new conditions.

Even more shocking, Marvel releases another X-Men crossover three months later with “X-Manhunt”. This many event comics are overwhelming for fans and highlight the line’s lack of direction. Both the “Raid on Graymalkin” and “X-Manhunt” stop the ongoing narrative in the individual X-Men books, forcing writers to take part in the event when they didn’t need to. Marvel also has a habit of canceling comics too early in their run, preventing series from getting their footing and establishing a clear direction. X-Men comics are still fun, including some moments in “X-Manhunt”, but the series needs a stronger direction so that readers know where it is all heading.

Too Many Events, Not Enough Time To Settle with the Status Quo

Ideally, event comics are meant to be exciting storylines that change the status quo, even if temporarily. Nonetheless, when event comic books become too common, they begin losing impact. Marvel had this habit of releasing multiple major events every year, causing burnout among readers. Even though they are classified as events, “Raid on Graymalkin” and “X-Manhunt” were more akin to an X-Men crossover, but the problem is the same. They are high-profile comic arcs that are meant to push the status quo. Yet because these crossovers have become so frequent, it becomes difficult to determine what the status quo is meant to be.

The Krakoa era established the status quo from the get-go and gave its comics time to initiate the new normal for the X-Men comics. The post-“From the Ashes” comics feel less connected, with the X-Men comics taking place all across the globe. Phoenix takes place in space, Wolverine is back in the Canadian wilderness, Cyclops’ X-Men are in Alaska, and NYX is New York-based. The dispersed nature of the X-Men comics is intentional, showcasing how detached everyone is post-Krakoa. Everyone is separated and lost in a new world, reflecting the characters’ general melancholy after losing everything. But this disconnected premise makes the X-Men line feel more disjointed, with none of the comics following a clear tone or direction.

Some X-Men titles have the characters readjust to life among humans, whereas other titles have the heroes radicalize and go on the offensive. Phoenix and Storm focus on the Marvel Universe’s cosmic side, mostly separate from the rest of the line. Several X-Men books have also been canceled after a year, giving fans less of an idea of where the franchise is heading. The most prominent groundwork being laid is consistent conflict among the X-Men cast, foreshadowing the XVX tease in Timeslide.

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“X-Manhunt” is More of an Imperial Tie-In Than X-Men

While the growing tension among the mutants plays a key role in “X-Manhunt”, the crossover was used more to build up Jonathan Hickman’s Imperial comic. Imperial will center on Marvel’s galactic side, setting up new space factions and conflicts that will change the landscape of the Marvel Universe. X-Manhunt ends with Charles Xavier leaving Earth with the resurrected Lilandra Neramani to help their daughter, setting the stage for Professor X’s role in the Hickman-penned comic. “X-Manhunt” may have taken Xavier away from Earth, but the series felt mostly inconsequential to a majority of the X-Men line, especially comics with characters that didn’t have a strong connection to Xavier.

Making matters worse, series like NYX, X-Factor, and X-Force were canceled after issue 10. Yet all those series still needed to tie in to the event, giving the writers less room to write for their stories. The most substantial part of the event on the X-Men side is several characters forgiving Xavier’s role in “The Fall of the House of X”, particularly Cyclops. Even though Emma Frost giving Charles a peck on the cheek feels grossly out of character for her, it is satisfying for Cyclops to, at least temporarily, bury the hatchet with his beef with Xavier to allow him to go to space. Nevertheless, the event feels rushed and unnecessarily drags unrelated titles into it for no clear reason. “X-Manhunt” is far from the worst X-Men storyline, but it barely moves the needle on where this post-Krakoa era of comics is moving towards, besides another hero versus hero conflict. The X-Men comics need to tone down the crossovers to give the characters time to breathe.