Marvel Reveals First X-Men 'Extermination' Details

The story of the original five X-Men's trip to the present day may finally be coming to a head as Marvel reveals the first details for the upcoming Extermination event.

Speaking to Marvel.com, writer Ed Brisson laid out the basic premise of Extermination:

"This series is about the Original Five—Jean, Bobby, Warren, Hank and Scott," Brisson says. "Years ago, they were brought from the past to our present so that they could see how badly things went wrong with their older selves and, theoretically, fix it. They were only meant to be here briefly, but have stuck around for far, far too long and their presence is finally going to have some very serious consequences—not just for themselves and the X-Men, but for all of mutantkind."

The cover to Extermination #2 reveals at least one major villain in the series, Ahab, the mutant-hunter from the same timeline as Rachel Summers. Ahab isn't the only piece of X-Men history making its way into the series.

"Our mandate going into this was, 'Your back issues matter,'" Brisson says. "Every single Uncanny X-Men story involving the Original Five X-Men matters. If the X-Men are here, then they're not where they're supposed to be, fighting those they're supposed to fight. What happens when that past starts to unravel? What's the butterfly effect on our present?"

He also went on to describe how changes can already be seen in the original five X-Men themselves.

"In a lot of ways, they're still the wide-eyed kids they've always been, but having spent several years in our present, they've changed their perspective on a lot of things. Jean and Scotty aren't the classic couple they've always been, Hank's been experimenting with magic, Warren's got himself some serious upgrades, and Bobby's been able to open up about himself in ways that would not have been easy for him to do back in their time," Brisson says. "There's a lot of reasons for each of them to want to remain in the present and that creates a real danger for everyone.

"We're going to be throwing readers a lot of curveballs. All I'll say is that this is a chance for us to clear the board a bit and that anything can happen to anyone at any time."

Extermination #1, from Brisson and artist Pepe Larraz, goes on sale August 15th. Extermination #2 follows on August 29th.