The new X-Men team, pictured here summoning Captain Planet.note
There's an honest to God treehouse in the middle of Manhattan. It might have been my imagination, but the birds seemed to sing louder, and the air smelled fresher. This is the new headquarters of the "heroes of Krakoa," the X-Men. I have my concerns about any group of people with powers beyond man, and I have my own thoughts about what the mutants have done with Krakoa, but that's a story for another time. Today, I looked up at the Treehouse and had a thought I just can't get out of my head.
A Treehouse isn't threatening.
— Ben Urich, X-Men (2021) #1
X-Men is a 2021 comic book series by Marvel Comics, written by Gerry Duggan, with art by Pepe Larraz.
Set in the shared Marvel Universe, it's part of the wider X-Men line and one of several new books launched for Reign of X, the second phase of the long-running Krakoan Age saga. It also serves as a Sequel Series to the previous X-Men (2019) run, beginning immediately after the Hellfire Gala crossover.
After being voted in at the first Hellfire Gala, the new X-men team moves into a tree near Central Park, named Seneca Gardens, in order to be there for humans like they used to.
As of the second Hellfire Gala, Polaris, Sunfire, Rogue, and Wolverine resigned from the team. Cyclops , Marvel Girl and Synch stayed, being joined by the newly elected Firestar, Havok, Magik, Iceman, and Forge.
Tropes included in X-Men (2021):
- Almighty Janitor: Invoked by Emma when she refers to her status as "Krakoa's all-purpose janitor".
- Arboreal Abode: The X-Men's new headquarters in Manhattan is called the Treehouse because, well, that's what it is: a massive treehouse created by Krakoa and Forge. It's surrounded by a new park called Seneca Gardens, where mutant achievements are celebrated and mutants who died are honored.
- Audience Participation: The final member of the team is the result of a real life election for the fans held by Marvel.
- Badass Boast: Scott’s advocation for himself to join the team in a cutback to the Hellfire Gala.Cyclops: I am the X-Men.
- Justified, because to quote Synch, “Where is the lie?”
- Badass Bystander: The townspeople in the Kansas town that the Annihilation Wave invaded in the second issue aren't going to let the X-Men fight alone — not when they have rifles and shotguns. In fact, they help shoot the aliens and then, after Sunfire burns the rest of the Wave and saves the town, invite the X-Men to stay for some Kansas barbecue.
- Big Applesauce: Played straight and then subverted: the X-Men's new headquarters is in New York and the first threat they face arrives in New York, but in the second episode, the threat chooses Kansas to attack first.
- The Big Damn Kiss: The culmination of the Big Damn Reunion between Everett and Laura in issue #17 after the latter was recovered from The Vault by Forge.
- Both Sides Have a Point: Played for laughs. In issue #8, Laura agrees that Rogue was right about underestimating M.O.D.O.K. – but M.O.D.O.K. was right about cruise ship food.
- Call-Back:
- In the second issue, Rogue identifies the Annihilation Wave from her time in the Uncanny Avengers, when Captain America would make them study extinction-level threats during downtime.
- In issue #23, Emma mentions how Scott and Kamala have been friends when informing him of her passing,
- Issue #27 deals more with the fallout of X-Men/Fantastic Four and its ending.
- Came Back Strong: Proteus keeps mistakenly resurrecting Wolverine with a full adamantium skeleton, making her somewhat stronger and tougher than she'd normally be.
- Captain Patriotic: Captain Krakoa, who by all appearances is Krakoa's answer to Captain America.
- Cast from Lifespan: Synch ages several years at a time every time he mimics powers from memory.
- The Complainer Is Always Wrong: Forge finds Laura in stasis in The Vault and brings her back. Beast rightfully points out that this is a little Too Good to Be True, but gets dismissed by Jean as too cynical given his recent slippery slope actions.
- Continuity Nod:
- Cordyceps Jones, the new head of Gameworld, made his first (and last) appearance in Rocket (2017).
- Another poster for space lawyer Murd Blurdock shows up, just like in New Mutants (2019).
- Forge also mentions Ugly John, who was killed by Sentinels at the start of Grant Morrison's X-Men series. He's apparently Back from the Dead and living on Krakoa.
- Continuity Overlap: Beginning in late 2022 (or roughly about halfway through his second year on the book), Duggan's X-Men begins running in tandem with his concurrent run on Invincible Iron Man (2022). As of January 2023, Feilong is the main connective tissue between the two books (as the Chinese industrialist intends to achieve a hostile takeover of Stark Industries and begin mass-manufacturing Sentinels based on the Iron Man technology).
- Goes even more once the Fall of the House of X (Crossover) event starts, as both these books begin running in tandem with several more.
- Covers Always Lie: The covers for #26, shown before the start of Fall of X promised a lavish wedding between Emma Frost and Tony Stark with all of Krakoa in attendance. By the time the actual issue came out Krakoa had fallen, Emma was on the run and the "engagement" was because Feilong found Tony and Emma (disguised as his assistant) in private with Tony on his knees and Tony invented the proposal on the spot.
- Creator Cameo: The man who invites the X-Men to stay for barbeque at the end of the second issue looks an awful lot like Gerry Duggan.
- Crusading Widow: Synch becomes this in issue #31 after being forced to let Laura's consciousness die so that he could save the X-Men from Nimrod, tragically bringing an end to the longest chronological romance in X-Men history while leaving the surviving partner filled with nothing but pure Tranquil Fury.Synch [to Nimrod]: The next time you see me, you die.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: When Nightmare takes advantage of Doctor Strange’s recent death by terrorizing New York City at night, Jean shows him that being an Omega Level Mutant Telepath means being able to effortlessly bitch slap extremely powerful fear demons up and down his own realm where he is said to be a Physical God.
- Deadly Game: The alien monster that crashed into New York City and whom the X-Men defeated was sent by "Gameworld," a giant floating casino in space where you can play any game imaginable. The new head of Gameworld, Cordyceps Jones, however, is now exclusively targeting Earth and the people who live there, declaring that it "ruptured like a tumor" and that they need to stop it before it "ruins a planet we care about."
- Driven by Envy: Kelvin Heng is a genius millionaire who decided to use his considerable funds and brains to colonize Mars. Unfortunately, the mutants got there first and he is left with an empty company and a desire for revenge.
- Duplicate Divergence: The Laura that's been found in the Vault hashes out with the one on the X-Terminators the boundaries of their coexistence. The new one keeps the name Wolverine, while also having the adamantium skeleton Proteus mistakenly gave her. The older one continues her relationship with Synch, becomes the sole beneficiary of the resurrection protocol, and also makes clear she never wants to hang out with her duplicate again.
- Evilutionary Biologist: Played with; Heng augmented himself to withstand the environment on Mars, but personally despises mutants as a whole, who are considered a representation of evolution.
- Festering Fungus: Cordyceps Jones returns as one of the villains that will be antagonizing the team. They're much more out in the open now, manifesting as a massive fungal growth out of his hosts and actively sporing to assimilate more.
- Flames of Love:
- In issue #30, Cyclops has a vision of himself making love with Jean Grey on a burning bedroom. She then tells him ''she'' is the fire.
- Happens again in issue #31, As Synch's Mental World is gradually consumed by flames from the strain of using Jean's gift from memory in order to keep Laura's consciousness alive, culminating in Laura giving Everett one Last Kiss before forcing him to let her go.
- Foreshadowing: Rogue says she can't stand Destiny babbling things like "mutants walking through a gate and never returning." Cue Fall of X....
- Forgot Flanders Could Do That: Polaris (or rather, Doctor Lorna Dane) is a geophysicist, and not just Magneto's daughter or an X-Factor investigator, something which readers are reminded of when the team helps out a power plant in Issue #5.
- For Science!: Played straight when M.O.D.O.K. uses this phrasing, then discussed, with Cyclops incredulous that someone actually said it.
- Full-Name Ultimatum: When Rogue catches Gambit playing a game of poker in the Treehouse with the Thing, Black Cat, and the Rhino, she calls him "Remy Etienne LeBeau." The Thing lampshades this, "I knew ya was in trouble when she dropped all three of yer fancy-pants names."
- Gender-Equal Ensemble: Almost, but not quite: since the team is seven members, there are four women (Jean Grey, Rogue, Wolverine, Polaris) to three men (Cyclops, Sunfire, Synch). This is flipped with the team’s second line up of Jean Grey, Firestar, Magik, Cyclops, Synch, Havok, Iceman, and Forge. Eventually balanced out when Havok leaves the team and Talon joins.
- Groin Attack: Mother Righteous launches a devastating downward punch to a seated Dr. Stasis's family jewels, after she was unimpressed with his little dinner ritual with the clones of his wife and son.
- Heroic BSoD: Kate is about 5 seconds away from one throughout issues #25 & 26 - Synch and Emma both try to get her to slow down and grieve, but Kate doesn't want to waste the time it would take.
- Humongous Mecha: In order to fight the giant alien that crashed into New York City, Synch (who is synched with Forge) thinks up a plan and Marvel Girl telepathically conveys it to everyone and, together, they build a giant X-Mecha with Sunfire powering it, a giant X, and a hole that Cyclops can shoot his eyebeams through in the front. Aside from getting it's arm ripped off, it works out splendidly.
- I Choose to Stay: In issue #25, Emma tries to get Kamala to stay away from the fights to come and use the fact that her Inhuman heritage allows her to hide her X-Gene to stay safe. Kamala refuses and joins in.
- Internal Homage: The cover to the first issue shows Polaris doing the exact same pose as her father, Magneto, did on the cover for 1991's X-Men #1.
- Intrepid Reporter: Ben Urich, a longstanding Daily Bugle reporter, meets Cyclops at the Treehouse to ask him questions. At first it seems very friendly, but the last question he asks is about Jumbo Carnation...and how he came back from the dead. Because Ben saw his body and he was definitely dead.
- Irony: There's something to be said about the juxtaposition in the first issue of humans investigating Krakoan resurrection while the new X-Men have public memorials to the seemingly yet to be resurrected (or unable to resurrected) Thunderbird.
- Let's You and Him Fight: In issue #27, Rasputin IV unwittingly picks a fight with the Fantastic Four when they're just there to see if Reed can help them.
- Lotus-Eater Machine: Since Forge knows that the Children of the Vault could overpower any weapon he designs to use against them, he creates one of these to capture any of their kind who walks out of the Vault to keep them incapacitated until a more permanent solution can be found.
- Meaningful Name: As Ben Urich notes, the X-Men calling their new park "Seneca Gardens" is a clear reference to Seneca Village
, a 19th century settlement of mostly African-American landowners who were removed and the village torn down when Central Park was established. - Meatgrinder Surgery: Issue #19 features a scene of Laura and Synch (with Jean's powers) using their abilities in tandem to remove a Brood spawn from Corsair's abdomen without killing him in the process. In spite of the horrific conditions, Laura and Synch are able to pull it off and keep Corsair stable long enough for extraction.
- Minidress of Power: Polaris has a new costume per the cover and it includes a mini-skirt.
- The Mole: The Quiet Council assigns Forge to spy on the X-Men when he's elected as a member during the second Hellfire Gala.
- Mook Horror Show: After Kate phases through the Krakoan Gate to Jerusalem to find it guarded by Orchis soldiers, she calls for them to surrender. They refuse. Knowing that she cannot allow them to report back to base, and traumatized by what happened at the Gala, she called upon her training from both Wolverine and Ogun and brutally slaughtered every last one of them.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: Destiny despises Gambit, angrily throttling the air while muttering, "Hate. You." after the two of them finish verbally sparring in Issue #9.Destiny: You know, Remy... when I learned Rogue married a bumpkin thief from the bayou... I asked them to kill me again.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Issue #20 has Emma Frost react this way to learning that Wilson Fisk is claiming Krakoan citizenship through his marriage to Typhoid Mary.
Emma: #@$% my lives!- Cyclops lets out a “No!” in issue #23 when he finds out about Kamala Khan’s death.
- Playing Card Motifs: Dr. Stasis gets his conspicuously hidden face revealed to show he's a clone of Mister Sinister with a clubs mark on his forehead.
- Power Incontinence: In order to neutralize Magik and her very useful teleportation powers, Dr. Stasis had the Stark Sentinel strike her with a special harpoon. Slowly her powers are beginning to go out of control, starting with a teleportation mishap in Otherworld that lands her and Sunfire a long distance away from the intended site.
- Pull the Thread: Both Urich and Dr. Stasis in the first issue are beginning to investigate if mutants have achieved a way to bring back their dead.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: In Issue #10, Rogue gives Destiny one (given that Destiny is also her adoptive mother, it also overlaps with Calling the Old Man Out):Rogue: No, Irene. You are wasting your gifts. What a shame it is for you to return and spot all the icebergs, and then delight as we plow into them.
- Revisiting the Roots: After nearly three years of self-isolation from the rest of the Marvel Universe, the X-Men go back to their roots as a genuine superhero team.
- Rule of Three: The first issue is called "In Threes" and introduces three new villains: Kelvin Heng, Gameworld, and the Oblivion Institute run by Dr. Stasis.
- Sacrificial Lamb: The famous Arakki warrior Vornak is introduced in issue #6, then killed a few pages later, demonstrating just how dangerous Feilong's new powers are.
- Sharing a Body: Before the High Evolutionary could vaporize Talon in issue #30, Synch used Jean's powers to transfer her consciousness into his mind like a living Cerebro. This results in Laura "surviving" as a Johnny Silverhand-esque disembodied ghost stuck inside Everett's head until he can come up with a solution to unload her onto a new body. Unfortunately, just like the Silverhand example, Laura's presence in Everett's mind is literally killing him since he has to use Jean's powers from memory in order to preserve his lover's consciousness. When Nimrod arrives to try and sabotage the X-Men's efforts to cure everyone tainted by the Krakoan medicine sabotaged by Orchis, Everett is forced to let Laura go so he can rescue his comrades.
- Shout-Out: Jean's Badass Boast to the gamblers in issue #11 is very reminiscent of Batman's speech to Gotham's rich and powerful in Batman: Year One, right down to beginning and ending with the same words ("Ladies. Gentlemen." to "None of you are safe.")
- Skewed Priorities: Polaris is more concerned about her spilled coffee and broken sunglasses than her knocked out teammates in Issue #5.
- Team Shot: The cover of the second issue, as seen above.
- That's What I Would Do: In issue #26, this is how Kitty finally believes Firestar's claim that her "defection" to Orchis was set up by the dying Jean Grey at the Hellfire Gala. Kitty initially doesn't believe Angelica...but after thinking it over, she changes her mind. Why? Because Kitty knows Jean well — and this sounds exactly like the kind of crazy plan Jean would've come up with.
- Villains Want Mercy: The last remaining Orchis grunt in the group that Kate slaughters begs for his life, trying to appeal to her by bringing up how the X-Men once saved his life. Hearing this story and knowing he still continued to work for Orchis only encourages Kate to kill him too.
- Wham Shot: After Forge enters the Vault to retrieve Darwin, he finds the version of Laura who was left there instead, who was originally thought to have been killed covering Synch's escape.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Kate utters “Are. You. Kidding. Me?” after learning that Firestar was told to be the Orchis mole by Jean. Thankfully, she believes her.
