For months, tensions between the Inhumans and the X-Men have been rising in the Marvel Universe. The Terrigen Mists that now circle the Earth have proven deadly to mutants, but remain sacred to the Inhumans. In December, the Cold War that began after the events of Death of X will boil up into full-scale warfare in Inhumans vs. X-Men, which will decide the fate of both factions.
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Marvel’s Wil Moss is one of the editors on Marvel’s IvX event. Moss spoke to ComicBook.com about what’s at stake for both sides, and what’s next for the Inhumans in the post-IvX era.
Also, check out an exclusive first look at Leinil Yu’s cover for IvX #4, featuring a battle between Magneto and Mosaic, and John Tyler Christopher’s action figure variant for IvX #1, featuring Medusa vs. Storm, plus more IvX preview art below. And check back for more of ComicBook.com’s interview with Marvel Editor Wil Moss, where Moss discusses the epic scale of “The Asgard/Shi’ar War,” an important Marvel character’s return, and his pick for who should play Squirrel Girl.
We know what’s at stake for mutants in IvX. What is it that makes this a war worth fighting for the Inhumans?
Wil Moss: The Inhumans, they’re not monsters, they are sympathetic to the plight of the mutants. I don’t want to tip our hand for something that happens in IvX #1 but it’s at least in part their role here is their response to the X-Men’s actions. For the Inhumans, it’s more that they’re desperately trying to figure out a way to still have this work. For them, the Terrigen is everything to them. It’s the future of their race. It’s something that’s a tough situation for both groups to be in because it’s an ending for whichever is the loser. It’s one of those situations where desperate times call for desperate measures. It’s also, like I said, largely in response to the X-Men’s actions, which you’ll see more about right in the first issue.
Why isn’t that the Inhumans haven’t contained the Terrigen Mist again the way it was in old Attilan? Why is it important for them to let the T-Cloud roam the planet? Is it a practical matter? Would it be sacrilege to bottle the Mist back up? Or is it more of “manifest destiny, this is our time to shine” kind of philosophy?
WM: Black Bolt released the cloud back in Infinity. It’s a purpose that he, as with all things Black Bolt, has not been totally open about as for why. That’s part of it is that this is just kind of the intent behind the original release with this. Up until the problem with the mutants, they’ve been content and happy to see the cloud activating Inhumans that they otherwise might not have known about. It’s something special to see all these people realize that their Inhumans and for them to gain more members of their tribe, it’s something that they are happy about it. It’s something special to them. This process and the fact that it’s increasing their numbers and all that.
That’s why Beast has been with the Inhumans for some time now. The Mist have been making mutants sick, but it hasn’t reached the fatal levels that it has at the start of IvX, so they’ve been trying as hard as they can to figure a way to not have to negatively impact mutants up until the point the war breaks out.
What can you tell me about the initial reactions of the Inhumans and the X-Men upon hearing how dire things have gotten for mutants? Are the X-Men more reserved after what happened in Death of X? Do we see united fronts from either side or do factions break out?
WM: It’s tough to answer this really because it’s so much about what IvX #1 is. For both sides, it becomes crystal clear how serious this is and that creates some kind of surprising alliances with surprising people getting on the same page. I’d say it’s like a wake-up call to the mutants for anybody that may have been trying to hold out hope for a peaceful resolution.
So for the mutants, it’s kind of a unifying moment or a rallying cry?
WM: Yeah, for both sides it brings everybody, all the mutants together, and pretty much all the Inhumans together. Then there are outliers, but for the most part, this is something that trumps anything else, any differences anybody might be having in either group. There’s a lot of great characters from both sides that are going to be working together that normally don’t. But, like I said, there are some outliers, and we’ll definitely be seeing some of that in the Uncanny Inhumans tie-in issues we’re going to be doing.
How does IvX effects those Inhumans characters who aren’t regularly seen as working with the Inhumans as a nation? Characters like Ms. Marvel, Quake, and Moon Girl, who are all set to appear. How does this affect their relationship with other Inhumans?
WM: They aren’t like those characters that live in New Attilan. They’re living their own lives. They’ve been involved with the Inhumans, but they’re still doing their own things, but because of stuff that happens in this story that can no longer be the case. These people, Ms. Marvel, Moon Girl, Quake or Daisy Johnson, they have the Inhuman side of them become the foremost part of them right from the start because this is such a huge threat to everybody. It’s something that brings in all people. It’s a fun development in the story as to how those characters get involved, that’s something again I don’t want to spoil, once it get’s to that point in the story, I think readers are really going to enjoy why and how these characters get involved with what they end up doing.
How far back do the seeds of IvX go? At one point did these two factions end up on colliding paths?
WM: This has been in the works for a while. I started on the Inhumans books just prior to Death of X, so this predates my involvement on the Inhumans books, but the creative teams have been building towards this for a while. Obviously, it’s part of Marvel history, having groups of heroes fight in big conflicts. It’s something where all these pieces sort of line up, where we realize it would be a really great story to see these two groups, these two separate superpowered races that have a lot in common but fundamentally do not get along, to pair them together. It’s something that’s been seeded pretty well before Secret Wars, but certainly once Secret Wars ended that’s been something that’s been picking up steam. It’s kind of fun now to get to all this stuff that’s just been hinted at so far. It’s a nice payoff, I think.
How does the rest of the superhero community react to the Inhumans and the X-Men going to war?
WM: There’s not going to be a lot of response from other communities mostly because this is a story that is going to happen really fast. It’s a story that’s spread across six issues, and sometimes stories that are spread across six issues, within the world of the story, can be quite a long time, but this particular story is something that happens pretty fast. Once the realization is made that the Terrigen Mist is definitely fatal and that it’s only a matter of time before it wipes the mutant race out, that galvanizes the action, so there’s not a whole lot of response time for anybody to join in. It’s this big fight that, all of a sudden, rips open between the mutants and the Inhumans.
What about with the Unity Squad, since that’s a team that’s made up of both mutants and Inhumans?
WM: Well see the fallout of that after IvX, but also I can say that Synapse from the Uncanny Avengers is going to be brought into the story. That will have an effect on the team in that regard, but it’s more like her being called down the same way as Ms. Marvel and Moon Girl being called in.
The ending of IvX will be felt across all corners of Marvel universe really, and that will definitely include the Unity Squad that’s supposed to be made up of three groups between the Avengers and the X-Men and the Inhumans. Two out of those three are going to be affected by this.
Rogue is also definitely part of this story in the X-Men half, so it’s something that people will feel the effect of for sure.
We got the first teaser for ResurrXion and it had both the X-Men and Black Bolts logo with the tagline saying it was a beginning and an ending. We got the X-Men announcements last week, all with “A Beginning” as the tagline. What can you tell me about the Inhumans side of things? Are they the “ending” side of the equation? As Inhumans editor, I assume there will still be Inhumans books for you to edit.
WM: Unfortunately I can’t say too much to that at this point other than it’s logicalthat if we make a lot of X-Men announcements for after this IvX event that there will be some Inhumans announcements. There’s stuff coming, but you’ll have to wait and see.
