Marvel Editor Tom Brevoort Confirms He’s Taking Over the X-Men Titles

The X-Men are getting some new leadership in 2024, at least in Marvel Comics’ editorial department. Tom Brevoort, who has edited the Avengers line for the past 25 years, teased a change ahead in the coming year in the latest installment of his newsletter. Seeing that his tease set the rumor and speculation mill churning, Brevoort decided to take to his personal Facebook page to squash the idea that he would usurp C.B. Cebulski’s position as Marvel’s editor-in-chief (“That’s hardly a thing that we’d announce in a Newsletter, guys. C.B. is welcome to the position, it suits him and he’s good at it.) and instead confirm that he will be taking over running the X-Office from current editor Jordan D. White in 2024.

“This isn’t going to happen for a good long while yet—I still have a ton of stuff cooking in AVENGERS (including next year’s big crossover event series) that needs to be seen to completion,” Brevoort cautioned in his post. “And at the same time, current X-guru Jordan White and his team have a massive story that they’re in the middle of and that won’t run its course for a long while. What I do will grow directly out of what they’re doing—provided they leave me anything to work with. Did you read that HELLFIRE GALA book? Cripes!”

What does Marvel’s editorial shuffle mean for the X-Men?

Some additional context may be needed to understand why Brevoort’s move to the X-Office is significant. Brevoort is the longest-tenured editorial staff member at Marvel Comics. Since becoming editor of the Avengers line, he’s seen Earth’s Mightiest Heroes through many memorable eras with different creative teams, including Kurt Busiek and George Perez’s celebrated run, Brian Michael Bendis giving the line a soft reboot with “Avengers Disassembled” and New Avengers, Jonathan Hickman’s high sci-fi era, and more. During that time he’s had a hand in such memorable stories as Civil War, Secret Invasion, and Secret Wars.

That last bit is notable because all of those stories have been used as templates for Marvel Cinematic Universe stories. With Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige now serving as Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Comics as well as heading the film and television side of Marvel’s entertainment empire, could placing Brevoort in charge of the X-Men be a sign that the Marvel Studios’ focus is turning more fully toward Marvel’s mutants, as some have wondered following recent events involving Ms. Marvel?

What about Krakoa and Jordan D. White?

It’s unclear what’s next for Jordan D. White, who has headed up the X-Men line since 2018, guiding it through the “X-Men Disassembled” and Age of X-Man and into the Kraokan age with House of X and Power of X. White previously headed up Marvel’s Star Wars and Deadpool comics lines, suggesting he’s versatile enough to land elsewhere in the Marvel universe. And hey, someone has to oversee the Avengers with Brevoort headed to Mutant Town, right? Though that’s only speculation.

But does this mark the end of the Krakoan era of X-Men? Maybe. The Fall of X is currently happening either way. It’s hard to peg Brevoort as either a traditionalist or a maverick of an editor. With as many years of Avengers comics under his belt as he’s had, he’s overseen classic superhero runs like the Busiek/Perz era and total line-wide upheavals like Avengers Disassembled and the Hickman era. Trying to predict what comes next would be a fool’s errand. However, Marvel did release an interesting New X-Men teaser recently, though whatever that’s hinting likely predates Brevoort’s move to the X-Office.