X-Men (2019) is a Marvel Comics series written by Jonathan Hickman. It is a part of Marvel's Dawn of X initiative and begins immediately after the two linked series that relaunched the X-Books, House of X and Powers of X.
Following the events of those series, Mutantkind has formed a new nation, the island of Krakoa, which they can call home. But forming a fully functioning society involves many trials and tribulations, especially with so many differing ideals.
The first issue was released October 16 2019.
Tropes included in X-Men (2019):
- Aborted Arc: Vulcan’s instability, which was heavily foreshadowed in Issue #10, ended up going nowhere. Al Ewing eventually followed this up, with a slight twist on Hickman's original plan, in X-Men Red (2022).
- Accidental Misnaming: In #5, Laura is quick to remind Cyclops that she remains Wolverine after All-New Wolverine. The dialogue almost seems to be directed toward the audience and editors as well.
- Acquired Situational Narcissism: After obtaining immortality and worldwide diplomatic immunity, the X-Men and the other mutants of Krakoa have started to embrace a mutant supremacist mindset, believing that they are a separate and superior species from humanity and are destined to replace them. They also have become much more smug and boastful over their belief that they are next stage of evolution and how much better they are than humans and other superheroes.
- The Alcoholic: Vulcan, Petra, and Sway are all rarely, if ever, on Krakoa. They spend most of their time partying and getting drunk at the Summer House on the moon. Given their trauma and history with Krakoa, you can't really blame them.
- Ambiguously Evil: Apocalypse. While it's not hard to see that he has his own morally-questionable agenda that he's advancing by playing along with the more noble goals of the X-Men (his plan all but stated to involve the resurrection the original Horsemen of the Apocalypse and their descendants), the comics have consistently showcased that he has Noble Demon traits and have established that he's interested in keeping the populace of Krakoa alive, even though they include many of his traditional enemies. It's also implied that the threat that split Krakoa and Arrako — which pushed him to the absolute limit to stop last time — is a key reason as to why he joined the X-Men.
- Anti-Villain: The Children of the Vault are a definite threat to mutantkind and humanity alike but ultimately are just doing what they were created to do by the scientists who brought them into existence: survive and try to thrive. May also count as a case of Blue-and-Orange Morality as the Children of the Vault have basically been born and grown up in an artificial world outside of normal time and so don't really comprehend the outside world notions of good and evil.
- Ascended Meme: For years it's been an in-joke with readers that the "best" solution to the infamous Love Triangle between Scott, Jean, and Wolverine would be for all three to just become a couple. There's been several hints from Jonathan Hickman's run with the book that implies that this is the route they've finally decided to go.
- Audience Participation: Issue #17 asks readers to vote on members of the new, democratically elected, Krakoan X-men.
- Back from the Dead: The Children of the Vault who died way back in Mike Carey's X-Men run get revived, via cloning.
- Big Brother Instinct: Both Alex and Scott worry about Gabriel's excessive drinking, showing they've come to truly care for him. This is a huge reversal in their dynamic since they used to only see him as an enemy.
- Badass Boast: Apocalypse knows how to make them simple.
- Badass Family: The first issue partly follows the assembled Summers family note (and Wolverine) as they have a nice family picnic.
- Beat Them at Their Own Game: In #4 Xavier, Magneto and Apocalypse go to a meeting of various ambassadors and state that they're going to make a global civilization for mutants not by bloodshed but by economically outcompeting everyone else. They outright state this is a strategy they learned from watching how human society endorsed it as a valid way to gain power.
- Black Guy Dies First: Zigzagged in the Into the Vault arc. Darwin, who looks pale but is the child of African-American parents, dies first. Then Wolverine decides that it's her heroic sacrifice, and Synch escapes the Vault only to die shortly after.
- Bolivian Army Ending: Issue 5 ends with Laura, Darwin, and Synch trapped in the City with seemingly no way to escape.
- Bookends: The Into the Vault arc begins and ends with Wolverine snikting her claws while looking over her shoulder at Synch, asking him what he's looking at.
- Butt-Monkey: Following being dismissed by Mystique with a "Go play, Toad" in House of X, Toad gets his neck unceremoniously snapped by a Cotati in issue #11. Sure, the guy can come back thanks to the Five, but the casualness with which he's dispatched has got to sting.
- Call a Human a "Meatbag": The Cotati refer to humans, and all other animal life including aliens, as "meat". Just "meat".
- Call-Back:
- Director Devo echoes the data page from House of X #4 "Look at what they have done" when overseeing the funeral procession of the Orchis personnel lost during that issue.
- The Children of the Vault are a civilization of superhumans developed thousands of years past baseline humanity via time dilation in a hidden city. This is much like Hickman's Children of Tomorrow, from his run on The Ultimates.
- When Arakko proper meets Krakoa again after millennia apart, they start intertwining branches, and Rachel declares that she can't watch this again, referring to issue #2 where Krakoa reunited with a remnant of Arakko.
- Calling Me a Logarithm: Downplayed. Scott refers to Synch's power as "a redundancy", in the "spare tire" sense, but Synch is slightly offended as it could be interpreted as "superfluous and therefore useless".
- Calling Parents by Their Name: Notably averted with Kid Cable, who casually addresses Jean and Scott as Mom and Dad.
- Came Back Strong:
- Issue #7 reveals that depowered mutants regain their powers when resurrected after dueling to the death.
- It turns out people who die on Arakko and get resurrected on Krakoa come back tougher and more adapted to live on Arakko than they were before. No word on whether this has to do with Otherworld influence, as the only resurrectees who have died on Arakko did so while Arakko was in Otherworld.
- Notes from Cecilia Reyes in issue #18 reveal that Synch's power after resurrection show a slight increase from his previous level, and now they're not only always on instead of needing activation, but he also demonstrates the capacity to copy non-mutant powers. It's theorized that something about the resurrection protocols placing an experienced mind into a fully developed but inexperienced body causes some kind of "breakthrough" similar to when a mutant first activated their powers.
- The Cameo: Brute Force (Marvel Comics) of all teams get an appearance that ties their history to that of Weapon Plus.
- Canon Character All Along: Erasmus turns out to be a pre-robot Nimrod. Specifically, after his death, Doctor Gregor's attempts to bring him back lead to Nimrod's birth.
- Character Focus:
- Mystique in #6.
- Vulcan in issue #10.
- Subverted with Magneto in issue #11. He gets the focus, but thanks to the framing device of Exodus telling the story we don't learn what he actually thinks and feels.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- In issue #5, Storm gets zapped by the Vault's defenses, which becomes pertinent during the first Giant Sized X-Men.
- A cross-title one. The King Egg Rahne stole over in the Hickman-penned issues of New Mutants becomes important in issue #8. Turns out Corsair was going to flog it to a Kree Accuser, and the teeny-tiny little detail that it's a Brood King egg. And the Brood would very much like it back.
- Compelling Voice: Serafina's power.
- Continuity Nod:
- During the Davos meeting, Magneto mentions the law to not kill humans established in House of X.
- In issue #8, the sequence dealing with Vulcan in the Fault mirror those used in Hickman's FF showing the survival of Black Bolt (i.e., the guy who killed Vulcan in the first place).
- Creepy Child: Exodus regularly spends time with four by a campfire, telling them stories of mutant greatness and instilling prejudice against humans. He encourages this trope.four mutant children in unison: We do not fear death. We fear man and those like him.
- Cruel Mercy: Gorgon elects not to kill human agents because he has learned it's far better to simply outdo them and let them wallow in knowledge of their inferiority.
- Cultural Posturing: In the world leader and ambassador meeting in #4 there is a passive-aggressive jab at Magneto when he makes a point quoting a human author, which he simply resorts to out of necessity because there aren't any notable mutant ones yet.
- Didn't Think This Through: Professor X and Magneto manipulated Mystique into joining Krakoa by falsely promising to bring to Destiny back, which they won't do because of the issues her precognition could cause them. Except, to the surprise of nobody, Destiny's powers let her foresee them doing exactly that prior to her death, causing her to leave Mystique one instruction; if anybody promises to revive her but drag their feet on following through, destroy them.
- Dissonant Serenity: Nightcrawler and Cyclops watch the Crucible, wherein Apocalypse fights and kills any depowered Mutant who wants resurrected with their powers restored, with Melody Guthrie doing so. Kurt's only reaction to all this? "I'm thinking of starting a mutant religion." Meanwhile, the only one who seems to have any issue with any of this is Cannonball, who has been away in space.
- Double Meaning:
- Emma's "insult" about Jean having big feet also refers to hers being "big shoes to fill", as Emma mentioned periodically back when Jean was dead and she was with Scott.
- Magneto and the Wakandan Attaché's conversation in the Switzerland meeting is this.
- Duel to the Death: Depowered mutants who want to regain their powers through resurrection have to earn it by fighting Apocalypse one on one in what's called "Crucible." Apocalypse gives the fighter every opportunity to leave and remain human, only striking the killing blow when they prove themselves to him.
- Eco-Terrorist: Four show up in issue #3.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Doctor Gregor is still in mourning after the death of her husband in House of X, but is resolved to continue her work for Orchis... especially since she's found a way to bring him back to life.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- A subversion: Karima and Director Devo both express disgust for the HYDRA members of ORCHIS given the fact that HYDRA is a Nazi organisation however their ultimate goal is to commit genocide against an entire species in the name of human supremacy, no different than what HYDRA leaders like the Red Skull or Baron Strucker have attempted in the past.
- Fish out of Temporal Water: Synch, the first Mutant on Krakoa who got resurrected, had problems adjusting with the changes since his death (which even with the vagaries of Comic-Book Time are an awful lot).
- Foreshadowing: When Cable meets Summoner in issue #2, his first instinct is to hand him a grenade for the man to blow himself up with.
- The Glasses Come Off: Just because Xavier's is a helmet with a glass X for his eyes, doesn't mean it doesn't have the same effect. He does this in issue #4 to explain to a table of human foreign representatives that though he loves them, he will no longer put up with their bullshit.
- Gosh Darn It to Heck!: The old ladies of Hordeculture, even though Edith feels it necessary to clarify what she meant by "a-word".
- Heroic Build: Sven the yoga instructor from Sweden, who is said to be in better shape than Cyclops, seeing as Cyclops himself embodies this trope.
- Hoist by Their Own Petard: Professor X and Magneto sicced the X-Men on the Mother Mold facility to prevent Nimrod's creation. They just end up causing it; the death of Erasmus in the raid causes his grieving wife, Doctor Gregor, to create Nimrod in an attempt to revive him through transhumanism.
- I Just Want to Be Special: There are a lot of ex-mutants who loathe and resent Wanda the Scarlet Witch for her mass-depowering of their race, and they are so desperate to return to being mutants that they are even willing to undergo the Crucible—which involves a Duel to the Death with Apocalypse before being resurrected in a clone-body with restored X-powers.
- Improvised Weapon: In X-Men #11, Magneto, finding himself short of metal, asks Magma to retrieve a few tons of iron in the form of molten lava, and has Iceman freeze it so he can wield it as solid metal.
- In Medias Res: The story begins in the middle of the X-Men's attack on the last Orchis compound on Earth.
- Insistent Terminology: Magneto is quite adamant that Krakoa is not an island, it is a nation.
- Irony:
- The Brazilian ambassador feels it's this that Magneto quotes Aldous Huxley, a distinctly human author.
- Judging by his expression, Magneto finds it ironic that Cyclops is his security detail, as the roles were reversed not too long ago on Utopia.
- In a yelled conversation with himself, teen Cable points out that if he hadn't given his thermal grenade away, he wouldn't be needing it right now.
- That mutants literally made it a law not to kill humans, while humans won't stop trying to kill mutants even during diplomatic meetings.Magneto: Yet here they come to kill us all, Charles. And all we've done to earn it is promise not to kill them. We even made it a law.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Verbatim from Scott in issue five.
- Mundane Solution: A horde of Brood is bearing down on Krakoa, after the King Egg that will give whoever wields it dominion over the entire swarm. Broo eats it.
- Never Mess with Granny: The four representatives of Hordeculture we meet in issue #3 are all elderly women - who wield powerful organic technology and at least one of them wants to kill everyone on the planet.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In issue #10, Vulcan advises a scout party of invading meat-eating plants to stay away from Krakoa. Then one thing leads to another, and he ends up killing them all, but one is merely dying and manages to utter a last word to others of his kind: "Krakoa".
- Obfuscating Stupidity: The High Summoner of Arakko goes so hard in for this that he pretends not to know what a grenade is and sets it off. Since his power is indestructibility, he can't have been too worried.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: By the events of the first issue, the X-Men have destroyed all but one of the Orchis strongholds on Earth and have started attacking the last one.
- Once More, with Clarity: We see part of the Orchis raid from House/Power Of X again, but this time from Mystique's perspective, revealing she had a secret objective the X-Men weren't made aware of; sneak one of Krakoa's portal flowers onto the station so she could come back post-revival and assassinate Dr. Gregor.
- Organic Technology: In the embassy on the Moon that Scott is living on with his family they wash dishes using a hose grown by Krakoa that spews slime which eats up any bacteria or leftover food. This was a compromise from a previous attempt by Krakoa for them to use edible plates it grew that came with body modifying microorganisms for health benefits.
- Past Experience Nightmare: Vulcan has memories of his death from War of Kings.
- Polyamory: It's low-key hinted at regarding Scott, Jean and Logan. They share a connected room in Summer House, and Jean is very touchy with both. She even kissed Logan right in front of Scott, despite still being married to Scott and in a relationship with him, so it's either this or she is very inconsiderate. While over in the FF crossover, Emma and Scott flirt in front of everyone.
- Poor Communication Kills: Somehow averted. See, the high summoner of Arakko doesn't know what a grenade is, so when Cable gifts him one, misunderstanding ensues.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Downplayed with Cable's reaction to the island sex scene.Cable: What. Was. That?
- Punny Name: A bioterrorist group naming itself Hordeculture. Not to mention that they're not opposed to sleeping with married men. Shaw picked up on it right away.
- Selective Enforcement:
- Humans are forbidden from Krakoa and any of its embassies unless a mutant vouches for them and asks Krakoa for permission... unless you happen to be Cyclops’ dad, who is given a Krakoa flower to plant aboard the Starjammer. Corsair evenly lightly chides Scott for this, repeatedly calling attention to his human nature during a father-son conversation.
- That whole no killing humans law? Barely a few months after creating it, Professor X and Magneto try to make Mystique murder a human scientist. When she calls them out on it, Magneto states that there are exceptions, and they deem Gregor to be an exception because she’s seemingly destined to create Nimrod.
- Self-Deprecation: In the first issue, characters mock Vulcan's very dramatic way of speaking and how pretentious and long-winded it is, which, given Hickman's way of writing dialogue and narration, feels like a self-aware jab at himself — especially since, in that issue, Vulcan is there purely for comic relief.
- Slut-Shaming: Emma is on the receiving end of this in issue #3.
- Spanner in the Works: X-Men #6 reveals Xavier, Magneto, and Moira all made a critical mistake in stringing Mystique along with the 'Work for us and we'll resurrect Destiny'' lie. It never occurred to them to consider that as a precognitive Mutant, Destiny might just have foreseen the emergence of Krakoa among the possible futures — and what their cabal would do to her wife. So, they never anticipated that Destiny might have warned Mystique what was coming (albeit vaguely and carefully to prevent Raven from altering the timeline too much) and instructions to execute if certain portents came to pass: Namely, burn the island to the ground.
- Son of an Ape: Comes up fairly often, but not usually derogatorily so much as just acknowledging a useful fact. Not that mutants actively deny being primates themselves, but that seems to be of no consequence to them.
- At one point inverted:Magneto: The evolutionary throwbacks retained just enough of their humanity for things to quickly become tribal.
- At one point inverted:
- Soul Eating: Happily for all its inhabitants, Krakoa only nibbles since there's more than enough for it not to completely drain anyone. Selene and Emplate are kept around as contingencies monitoring if it ever goes beyond that, with contingencies also in place for them.
- Sour Supporter: Cyclops is visibly uncertain about the new direction for mutants, despite his claims otherwise; he spends a lot of discussions about Krakoa insisting really hard that he agrees with everything going on with a forced smile on his face.
- Story Arc: Subverted. While the other Dawn of X books get the ordinary kind, one plot lasting five or six issues, this one seems to be setting up a new plotline with every issue.
- Suicide is Shameful: Krakoa's policy is to not resurrect suicides, even if they would have come back in peak health with their powers intact, though whether that is retroactive (like the law they convicted Sabretooth by back in House of X) remains to be seen, as it is hinted that it is in place to prevent mass suicide by depowered mutants.
- Superpower Lottery: Several Krakoans feel that Magneto won this, in addition to having the best body.
- Sympathy for the Devil: Storm remarks that the members of ORCHIS must really hate themselves to treat others horribly – in that particular case, locking living mutants in tubes to study them.
- There Are No Therapists: For once in the Marvel universe, inverted. When the Orchis prisoners arrive on Krakoa, it is mentioned that empaths and certain telepaths serve this function.
- Threesome Subtext: It didn't take long for Scott/Jean/Logan shippers to notice that, in the diagram of the Summers family house on the Moon, their rooms are next to each other and all have communicating doors. There are hints that Emma gets in on this open relationship, if indeed there is one.
- Time Skip: An indeterminate amount of time has passed since the events of House and Powers Of X.
- Traumatic Superpower Awakening: Invoked with the Crucible ritual. To prevent the strain on Krakoa's infrastructure of trying to handle the restoration-through-resurrection of all the mutants depowered by the Scarlet Witch, would-be "restorees" must instead complete the Crucible to earn that resurrection. This consists of a brutal Duel to the Death with Apocalypse, who verbally lambastes and berates them all the while, whilst also giving them every opportunity to surrender, be restored, and go back to a human life. Those who impress Apocalypse with their commitment are swiftly killed, and then revived.
- Truly Single Parent: According to Isca, Amenthi demons reproduce asexually.
- Vagueness Is Coming: Issue #2 ends with some kind of premonition about… something.
- We'll See About That: Of a variant. When the Brood attack Krakoa, Jean points out that they are bound to lose people. Cyclops says he'll see what he can do about that.
- Wham Shot:
- The final shot of issue 1; as a bereaved Dr. Gregor talks about figuring out a way to bring Erasmus back to life, she holds up a pink Data Crystal she’s apparently just created... one that looks just like Nimrod’s gem-shaped emblem...
- The final shot of issue 19: as Magneto and Xavier go to tell Moira that Nimrod has been activated, we see that she is reading the Books of Destiny. Then the last two pages: This Fall: INFERNO.
- What Measure Is a Mook?: Continuing from House/Powers Of X, Director Devo is introduced holding a funeral for all the Orchis mooks that Wolverine, Mystique, and Penance casually murdered during the raid on the Mother Mold facility. Devo composes himself well, but is very clearly filled with grief and anger over the senseless deaths of his underlings.
- Working with the Ex: Emma and Sebastian.
- Would Hurt a Child: Opal is the only member of Hordeculture who cares whether the humans who go down for what they've collectively done to the planet are of age.
- Writers Cannot Do Math: Although in fairness this one is tricky. For a millionth of Krakoa's area to be approximately 158 square foot, the total area would have to be between five and six square miles, rather than the 53 (for the Atlantic part) listed in House of X. (Probably unrelated to the Arc Number, but it's only off by a factor of ten.)
- Year Inside, Hour Outside: The City, birthplace of the Children of the Vault, is an altered version of Fantomex's World, with time passing at a highly accelerated rate inside it. This is how the Children are created; leaving humans inside the City and leaving them there to quickly evolve into Transhumans over the course of millions of years (from their perspective).
