Comic Book / Dawn of X

A new era dawns.

Dawn of X is a relaunch and Soft Reboot of the X-Men line published by Marvel Comics, following on from the interlinked House and Powers of X limited series. The line sees the X-Men franchise move into a new era, the Krakoan Age, as established in the aforementioned titles. Jonathan Hickman wrote the flagship title of the relaunch and served as the overall architect, with all creative teams handpicked by him and working with his supervision.

The first wave of titles began in October and November of 2019, with a second wave in January 2020. In November 2020, it was revealed that the X of Swords event marked the end of Dawn of X, which was then followed by the next phase: Reign of X.

Dawn of X

Prelude

• House of X — Over the course of a single month, everything changes for mutants in the Marvel Universe, and a new mutant nation arises
• Powers of X — New revelations about the history of mutantkind are uncovered across four time periods, with each year representing a factor of ten.

Ongoing Series

• X-Men (2019) — The saga of Cyclops and his band of mutant powerhouses begins here! Described as the "hub world" of the new X-Men titles. Features Cyclops as a constant among a constantly changing cast of characters. Written by Jonathan Hickman and drawn by Leinil Francis Yu.
• Marauders (2019) — Led by Captain Kate Pryde and funded by Emma Frost and the Hellfire Trading Company, this new team of Marauders sails the seas to protect those feared and hated. Featuring Kitty Pryde and Lockheed, Emma Frost, Storm, Iceman, Bishop, and Pyro. Written by Gerry Duggan and drawn by Matteo Lolli.
• Excalibur (2019) — A new connection forms between mutants, the magic of the world and the Otherworld. Featuring Captain Britain III (Betsy Braddock), Gambit, Rogue, Jubilee, Apocalypse, and Rictor. Written by Tini Howard and drawn by Marcus To.
• New Mutants (2019) — The New Mutants re-form and set out on a quest that takes to them to space! Featuring classic New Mutants Sunspot, Magik, Cypher (merged with Warlock), Mirage, Karma, and Wolfsbane, joined by Chamber and Mondo. Written by Jonathan Hickman & Ed Brisson and drawn by Rod Reis. At Issue #14, Vita Ayala takes over as writer and shifts the focus to the New Mutants as teachers to the younger generation.
• X-Force (2019) — The cost of the future isn't cheap, but X-Force is here to help. Featuring Marvel Girl, Wolverine I (Logan), Domino, Beast, Colossus, Black Tom Cassidy, Sage, and Kid Omega. Written by Benjamin Percy and drawn by Joshua Cassara.
• Fallen Angels — Not all belong in paradise. Kwannon finds herself in a new world for mutantkind and unsure of her place in it, and when a face from her past is killed, she seeks help to get vengeance. Featuring Psylocke II (Kwannon), Wolverine (Laura Kinney), Kid Cable, Husk, and Bling. Written by Bryan Hill and drawn by Szymon Kudranski. It ended after six issues.
• Wolverine — Logan has found a new reality he can't quite understand: happiness. With Krakoa established as the mutant homeland, the world's greatest mutant killer now has to deal with threats to this fragile peace at the cost of his own soul. Written by Benjamin Percy and drawn by Adam Kubert and Victor Bogdonavic.
• Cable — Kid Cable stars in his first series. Speak softly and carry a big $&%@ gun. Written by Gerry Duggan and drawn by Phil Noto.
• Hellions — Mr. Sinister sets out to find a purpose for Krakoa's most dangerous mutants with Havok and Psylocke's help. Also featuring: Orphanmaker, Nanny, Empath, Greycrow, and Wild Child. Written by Zeb Wells and drawn by Stephen Segovia.
• X-Factor (2020) — Mutants have conquered death through The Five, but when a mutant dies, X-Factor is there to investigate the circumstances to follow the rules of resurrection. Featuring Polaris, Northstar, Daken, Prestige, Eye-Boy, and Prodigy. Written by Leah Williams and drawn by David Baldeón.

Limited series

• Gwenpool Strikes Back
• Empyre: X-Men
• Juggernaut
• X-Men / Fantastic Four — Franklin Richards must choose between his family and the mutant nation of Krakoa. Written by Chip Zdarsky and drawn by Terry Dodson. 4-issue miniseries.
• X of Swords — The first Bat Family Crossover of the Krakoa Era. In order to stop the invasion of Amenth through Otherworld, the mutant nation of Krakoa must find ten swords and participate in a strange tournament with their Arakki counterparts.

One-shots

• Giant-Size X-Men — Written by Jonathan Hickman, drawn by rotating artists.
  • Jean Grey & Emma Frost: Drawn by Russell Dauterman.
  • Magneto: Drawn by Ben Oliver.
  • Nightcrawler: Drawn by Alan Davis.
  • Fantomex: Drawn by Rod Reis.
  • Storm: Drawn by Russell Dauterman.

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Tropes of X

Tropes common to multiple Dawn of X titles:

• Aborted Arc: Nightcrawler decides he needs to create a mutant religion when he observes how weird and disorientating the Krakoan society is becoming. He ends up dropping the idea at the Hellfire Gala. Way of X later acknowledges the original idea, but only to confirm that it's abandoned and take Nightcrawler's philosophy in a very different direction.
• Anachronic Order: Due to series sometimes featuring the same characters as other series, reading the line as it comes out can create some... interesting continuity problems when read for the first time.^note Most notably, the first arc in the Wolverine series features both a living Kate Pryde in flashbacks and a dead Domino in the present, with the time in between being 5 days. The wrinkle here comes from the fact that when Wolverine #1 came out, Kate had died in Marauders #6, where as Domino dies in X-Force #8 and gets a new body X-Force #9. While there is no hard stated temporal relation between X-Force #8 and #9, the dialogue implies that not only could no more than a few days have passed between those issues, but that Domino has been resurrected for the first time. This places Domino's death in Wolverine #1A as happening after X-Force #10. Even giving the benefit of the doubt, this places Kate's death in Marauder's #6 as happening during X-Force #10, a full four months after she died. This actually gets worse depending on how pedantic you want to get, since nearly every comic guest-starring Kate, including Wolverine, used her #1 costume which she replaces at the end of #2 after learning of Xaviers death, which happened in X-Force #1. In effect, thanks to whatever lack of communication caused the other artists to use her #1 look, the entirety of X-Force #2-10 happens between the last four pages of Marauders #2.
• Ascended Extra:
  • Kwannon/Revanche was always a very minor character, with her only real claim to fame was the "Freaky Friday" Flip that put Betsy Braddock in her body which subsequently became the Psylocke everyone knew for decades. Though her body was well-known, Revanche herself was not, and she spent many years as being dead just so Psylocke can remain recognizable. After coming back, and the swap finally being undone, Kwannon sees a massive upgrade in prominence as Psylocke II, due to Betsy becoming Captain Britain while Kwannon took the discarded identity, and Fallen Angels is the first comic ever with her as the main character. And after Fallen Angels, she continues being a main character in Hellions.
  • Apocalypse (En Sabah Nur), of all people, is a longterm villain from the X-mythos that gets the most development out of this phase. First, he starts as a dabbler in "mutant magic" in Excalibur, mentoring Richter as his apprentice. Then, as the franchise nears the X of Swords event, he gets a whole flashback, showing that he is more than a cackling or maniacal villain. Lastly, he is one of the major players in the event itself, reuniting (and fighting against) his former wife, Genesis, and their four children, the original Four Horsemen.
• Audience Participation: After X-Men #16, wherein Jean and Scott decide to allow a vote for members of their new X-Men team to represent Krakoa, Marvel put up an actual poll for people to vote in, the winner of which would be added to the X-Men team. The choices were: Armor, Banshee, Boom-Boom, Cannonball, Forge, Marrow, Polaris, Strong Guy, Sunspot and Tempo.
• Back from the Dead: Several characters who were killed over the course of Rosenberg's Uncanny run are revealed alive and well, including Wolfsbane and Magik. House of X and Powers of X reveal that this is because a team of five mutants, along with tons of data secretly recorded by Cerebro, are able to fully resurrect mutants.
• Badass Family: The X-Men cover features the assembled Summers family... and Wolverine.
• Call-Back: The teams of mutants combining their powers, being designated by the number of them participating in these groups, alludes back to the story arc about the Twelve; twelve mutants, most of them omega level, sought after by Apocalypse with the intent to steal their powers and combine them within himself for ultimate power.
• Combination Attack: A concept being explored is the idea of mutants combining their powers to achieve something together that no single mutant ever could alone. In House of X, this is introduced with The Five, five mutants whose powers can work together to generate clone bodies for any mutant that as died, allowing Xavier to implant the latest backup of their minds into them, effectively achieving resurrection. S.W.O.R.D. elaborates further that this is being called mutant technology, and gives it roots in the Fastball special. It further demonstrates the Six, who are capable of achieving unlimited teleportation across the furthest reaches of the multiverse.
• Crimefighting with Cash: It is established that Krakoa is filthy rich, and New Mutants shows that the citizens have access to this money. Boom-Boom goes on a very long ride-sharing trip that she dismisses because everyone is rich now when Armor tells her how expensive that is.
• Heroes Unlimited: X-Men have had large rosters in the past, enough to split into multiple books like Red, Blue and Gold, but the X-Men expand to gigantic levels into a full-blown organization. They now see over 72 members operating from all over the world.
• Hotter and Sexier:
  • Dawn of X leans towards this, compared to previous runs beginning to go Tamer and Chaster, as female characters go back to their old costumes (or variations of them), and anyone familiar with X-Men comics knows what that means. On top of fanservice staples Emma Frost, Storm, Sage and Domino being prominent in the books, we also have other notable examples individually.
  • Psylocke, or rather, the second one, wears the classic ninja bathing suit completely unaltered. Before, the Psylocke identity belonged to Betsy, who had been desexualized after returning to her original body. Now, Betsy was transitioned to Captain Britain, while her former body Kwannon becomes the new Psylocke and is every bit as sexy as her name is synonymous with. Even before that, Psylocke had begun to be played less for sex appeal by trading in the thong for leggings, so it's definitely a step up in sexiness either way.
  • Magik wears her black two-piece Stripperiffic costume, whereas before she wore her New Mutants uniform that had her covered. Slightly averted in that the cleavage window has been removed.
  • Rogue wears her classic skin-tight outfit that leaves very little to the imagination, instead of her newer costume which was less tight and thus more modest.
• Internal Homage: Giant Sized X-Men: Jean Grey & Emma Frost is about Jean and Emma having a wordless Journey to the Center of the Mind of an ally who has fallen mysteriously ill, only this time it's Storm instead of Xavier as it was in Grant Morrison's run. Some of the panels even have them in the same poses.
• Legacy Character:
  • Betsy Braddock is the new Captain Britain, taking over from her brother Brian.
  • Kwannon takes over Betsy's discarded identity as Psylocke, which is rather fitting overall given her body was Psylocke for a long time and is easily the most iconic version of Psylocke.
• Meaningful Rename: Monet has gone back to her Penance alias again after 21 years. House of X #4 reveals that she can now change into her Penance form at will◊.
• Multinational Team: As is customary for X-Men, all the teams we know are diverse and multinational.
  • Excalibur is a based in Britain, but Betsy is the only Brit. Rogue, Gambit and Jubilee are Americans (Cajun, Southern but not Cajun, and Chinese, respectively), Apocalypse is Ancient Egyptian, and Rictor is Mexican.
  • Marauders have Americans Kitty Pryde, Iceman and Emma Frost, while also having Kenyan Storm, Australian Pyro and Aboriginal Bishop.
  • New Mutants have Magik (Russian), Sunspot (Brazilian), Wolfsbane (Scottish), Cypher (American), Warlock (alien), Mirage (Native-American), Karma (Vietnamese), Boom-Boom (American), Chamber (British), Mondo (Somoan) and Armor (Japanese).
  • Fallen Angels has the Japanese Psylocke, and Americans X-23, Kid Cable, Bling and Husk.
  • X-Force has Marvel Girl, Domino, Sage, Beast, Kid Omega, and all Americans. It also features Wolverine (Canadian), Black Tom (Irish) and Colossus (Russian).
• Mythology Gag: In the classic X-Men #153, "Kitty's Fairy Tale", Kitty imagined herself as a pirate captain. Now she's one for real.
• Organic Technology:
  • In X-Force, Forge has started to take advantage of the Krakoa's natural resources to construct weaponry.
  • In general, the founding of Krakoa has given way to the concept of "Mutant Technology" in which two mutants or more use their powers together to achieve effects that one could not do on their own.
    • "The Five" is their premiere example of this, with Elixir, Goldballs, Proteus, Tempus, and Hope Summers using their powers together to resurrect deceased mutants.
    • The earliest considered example is the "The Fastball Special" which included Colossus and Wolverine
    • In The Empyre Crossover, Magneto uses his powers in conjunction of those with Iceman and Magma to repel the Cotati invasion on Krakoa.
• Non-Indicative Name: Marauders has nothing to do with Mr. Sinister's team and refers to their nature as pirates.
• Reimagining the Artifact: Some of the lingering elements of the past that are out of place today, yet couldn't be removed outright due to tradition, are retooled to make them fit here.
  • One of the franchise's most used terms, Omega level mutant, was a vaguely-defined and inconsistently-applied title that was haphazardly given to whatever mutant happened to win the Superpower Lottery before being forgotten about. Now, not only is there a definitive list of Omega level mutants, but there's a proper definition for it: a mutant whose dominant ability is deemed to be the apex of said power's specific classification. For instance, Iceman is the Omega level mutant for temperature manipulation, Jean Grey is the Omega level mutant for telepathy, and Storm is the Omega level mutant for weather manipulation.
  • The whole "Freaky Friday" Flip that turned Betsy Braddock (aka Psylocke) from a wholesome Caucasian Brit to a very sexualized Japanese ninja, was often hampered by a desire to have authentic representation (as it was rather awkward for the most famous Asian hero in comics to not be originally/culturally Asian). At the same time, when they finally reverted Betsy back, many fans didn't like it because they wanted her to be sexy. Instead of sticking with Caucasian Psylocke, or going back to Ninja Betsy, they decide to have their cake and eat it too by making Betsy into the new Captain Britain while her former body Kwannon becomes Psylocke II, and is made an Ascended Extra, to give fans the sexy version of Psylocke they've known for the past 30 years.
  • X-Force has a history of this, given that the original comics were Dark Age excess that made Rob Liefeld a household name, and they essentially had to retool it multiple times to keep X-Force a relevant title in the modern day. However, it fell into stagnation by following the example of Rick Remender's Uncanny X-Force run without adding anything new or exciting. Here, X-Force is reimagined as a mutant CIA organization that's equal parts intelligence and special ops, rather than just a anti-hero black ops team.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Dr. Doom gives one in the FF/X-Men miniseries to Professor X, saying that while Xavier puts on a pretense of superiority with his new plant program and Krakoa, but Doom deserves his power more because he worked and earned it through study and determination.
• Recycled with a Gimmick: Marauders is X-Men as a pirate comic.
• Soft Reboot: Explicitly described as the "rebooting phase" of the X-Men as a brand while still in-continuity. The new Krakoa status quo is introduced and serves as a launch point for several series, with other series exploring its many facets and its resurrection protocols allowing for dead characters to return. Characters very rarely make explicit reference to prior continuity — though they still do, occasionally — and there's a time jump that distances the current stories from the most recent X-stories. The well-worn idea of mutants being hated and feared is paid lip-service but gives way to distrust of Krakoa specifically as a political entity, while mutants going extinct is used to motivate the new status quo, rather than as the status quo.
• Translation Convention: Anything spoken or written in Krakoan is in fact English written in Krakoan script, for the benefit of readers unfamiliar with the language.

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