X-Men: Schism to Regenesis

There is about to be a divorce in the X-Men family.  The result of the current summer crossover X-Men: Schism has already been spoiled:  an event happens that causes Cyclops (the leader of the X-Men) and Wolverine to have a falling out.  The result is Wolverine breaks off from Cyclops and forms his own team of X-Men, bringing with him other members who don’t share Scott’s vision for mutants.

Growing up as an X-Men fan, I’m use to the brand-wide summer crossovers.  I even came to look forward to them.  My first crossover storyline was The X-Cutioner’s Song.  What I am not use to is how Marvel has decided to spoil the end result of current storylines.  Sure they don’t give out how the story will end, but we still know that there will be two separate groups of X-Men going forward.  This is more a marketing ploy than anything.  “Let’s tease the fans by giving them sneak peaks of how the groups will shape up.”  Which leaves us with the two images below:  the first image revealing the teams associated with Wolverine, and the second image showing the teams associated with Cyclops.

Each individual comic has that team in a silhouette except for one member.  The non-silhouette member is meant to be a “surprise” to the viewer.  Let’s inspect a few of the special surprises on these covers.

Uncanny X-Force was originally Cyclops’ covert team to handle the X-Men’s loose ends, mostly using extreme force.  The reveal is that Nightcrawler is back!  Well…kind of.  The current X-Force team is stuck in the Age of Apocalypse timeline where they find that version of Nightcrawler and bring him back on their return journey.  This is a great alternative to just reviving him so quickly after he sacrificed his life to save Hope.

X-Factor has been on the outskirts of the X-family the last few years but it looks like that will be changing. Havok, Cyclops’ brother, use to lead X-Factor back in the ’90s.  Lately he has been leading the Starjammers out in space.  Finally he and the other star-lost X-Men members will be brought back from space.  And apparently Havok won’t be taking his brother’s side in this split.  I know KLIQNation member Adam Black will be thrilled with Havok’s return

Sebastian Shaw was the primary villain in the movie X-Men:  First Class.  It’s apparent Marvel is looking to use this exposure to their advantage by adding him to the cast of Generation Hope.  The X-Men are known for accepting enemies into their ranks (i.e. Magneto, Juggernaut, and Emma Frost).  Maybe Shaw will become a mentor to the next generation of mutants, just like Emma Frost was in Generation X.

Last is the reveal that Nate Grey a.k.a. X-Man will join New Mutants.  He is also from the Age of Apocalypse and has been guest-starring in recent New Mutants issues.  Fans have been clamoring for X-Man to be brought back, and Marvel listened.  Why he refuses to put a shirt on is another question.

So that about does it for the breakdown of Schism to Regenesis.  Cyclops’ team includes more of the “heavy hitters” such as Storm, Magneto, and Colossus.  His team also will interact more with the larger Marvel universe.  Wolverine’s team may not have heavy firepower, but any team with him on it cannot be taken lightly (this includes Avengers teams as well). My only gripe is that they are renumbering Uncanny X-Men back to #1.  Why Marvel feels the need to restart the numbering of comics is beyond me.  Marvel really believes new fans are attracted to #1 issues.  Some of this is true, but it’s been done so much over the years that the novelty has worn off.

Which X-Men comics are you looking forward to in the Regenesis?  And if you had to pick, who’s side would you choose – Cyclops or Wolverine?

Timdogg

#ComicBookChronicles @CBChron founder. Editor-in-Chief of @thekliqnation. Comic book reviewer, podcaster #RABBLERABBLE