In a couple of months, the X-Men will be split into two factions in a mini-event called 'X-Men: Regenesis'. It's a great time to be an X-fan and it's also a good time for people who want to read the X-books to jump on. If you're one of those people, you'll need a handy guide to get you up to speed with the current state of Marvel's merry mutants. If you only know the X-Men from the '90s animated series or the film franchise, or if you stopped reading X-Men comics 10 years ago for some reason or another, you definitely need to be reintroduced to the world of homo superiors before you dive into Regenesis. Luckily for you, this is that handy guide.
Let's start with the head honcho of the X-Men. No, it's no longer that bald dude in a wheelchair. The X-Men -- all of mutantkind, actually -- is now led by Scott Summers a.k.a. Cyclops.
I can tell you several instances of Cyclops' awesomeness but I don't want to take too much of your time. So I'm just going to tell you that Cyclops is the Jack Bauer of the X-Men. He does whatever needs to be done to protect mutantkind -- all 200 of them, more or less.
Yeah. The Scarlet Witch sort of decimated mutantkind with just 3 words. But don't worry, there's still Hope. New mutants are starting to emerge thanks to this red haired mutant who bears a striking resemblance to a certain Phoenix-y character. She was born in the present but she was raised IN THE FUTURE. By the son of Cyclops, Cable. Who is dead. But he's coming back to life soon enough. Speaking of dead mutants, here's a small list of notable dead mutants:
- Banshee (Sean Cassidy)
- Jean Grey
- Nightcrawler
- Forge
- Maggott (YAY!)
- Sabretooth
Now back to the living. Remember the bald guy in a wheelchair? Professor X? Right. He can walk again. And his role in the X-Men right now is limited to being one of Cyclops' trusted advisers. Like Magneto.
Don't freak out. He's not a clone and he's not pretending (as far as we know). Magneto, the Master of Magnetism, is an honest-to-goodness X-Man now. He's actually one of Cyclops' biggest guns, which makes a lot of sense. I mean, Sentinel problem? UNLEASH MAGNETO! The Juggernaut on a rampage? RELEASE MAGNETO! Need Kitty Pryde plucked out of a giant bullet hurtling through outer space? MAGNETO IS YOUR MAN, FOOL! He's not the only surprising big gun in Cyclops' arsenal, though.
Namor now rolls with the X-Men. He finally accepted the fact that he's a mutant and needs to take care of his own kind. He also helped the X-Men establish their new home, Utopia, after they were driven out of the mainland by the Green Goblin when he was still in charge of EVERYTHING. Utopia is an island off the shore of San Francisco and it used to be one of Magneto's Asteroid M bases that fell to Earth. No more X-Mansion for these guys. And speaking of the X-Mansion, you remember the Danger Room? This is her now:
She's not the alpha female in Utopia, though. That title goes to Emma Frost, the former White Queen of the Hellfire Club. She's now Cyclops' girlfriend. Lucky bastard.
Jubilee is now a vampire. Havok, Polaris and Rachel Summers are on their way back to Earth from outer space. Psylocke is still hot. Beast left after pretty much telling Cyclops to suck it. Magik is now a demon queen in X-Men jail. Wolfsbane just gave birth to a demon werewolf baby. Colossus is the new Juggernaut.
And finally, we have Wolverine. There's nothing really new about him, though. He's still the same old Canadian berserker we all know and love. Except after Schism, the current X-Men event, he's going to lead one of the X-Men factions we talked about earlier. The other faction, of course, is going to be led by Cyclops.
There you go. Now you're up to speed. You're ready for X-Men: Regenesis! Maybe.
Baddie is a blogger who loves comics, pro wrestling and explosions. He talks a lot about the X-Men in his blog, Baddieverse. Maybe you should check it out.