X-Men: Gold is a twice-monthly ongoing comic published by Marvel Comics, launching under the post-Inhumans vs. X-Men ResurrXion umbrella of X-Men titles. It's written by Marc Guggenheim (Arrow) and drawn by rotating artists.
After a fraught number of years for the X-Men, including near-extinction, as well as wars with both The Avengers and The Inhumans, mutantkind has reached a livable point of stability. While still hated and feared by the larger world, the X-Men find themselves in a unique position to fully take advantage of their new lease on life.
While sister title X-Men: Blue focuses on the time-displaced Original Five under Magneto's tutelage, Gold features a brand-new flagship team led by stalwart X-Man Kitty Pryde, following her brief sabbatical with the Guardians of the Galaxy. Joining her on this endeavor are Storm, Colossus, Rachel Summers (now using the codename Prestige), Old Man Logan, and Nightcrawler. Together, it's up to them to restore the legacy of the X-Men in a world that almost lost them forever.
See also: X-Men: Red, another color-based team title of this era, led by the resurrected Jean Grey, and X-Men: Black, an anthology series about several X-Men antagonists.
The series ended, along with the rest of the "coloured" series, with the Extermination (2018) event.
X-Men: Gold contains examples of the following tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Lydia Nance's father was a mutant who regularly hit her. This was what drove her to hate all mutants.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Shortly after its creation, Alpha started targeting not only mutants, but a baldness clinic, a reality TV star who was colorblind, and anyone who deviated even slightly from the standard "human" template.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Kitty gives one of these to Lydia Nance in #14, to which Nance provides no response:"I manage to get up in the morning, get dressed, do my job, try to figure out what's going on between me and this guy I've got history with. Occasionally, I help save the world. Y'know, live my life. And I do it all without feeling the need to demonize another group of people. I just... don't care that people are different from me, because people are different. So I'm genuinely curious... what is so broken inside people like you that you have to target anyone who's different?
- Artistic License – Linguistics: At one point Kurt addresses his friends as "mein freunds" instead of the "meine freunde", which is what you get if you apply German grammar to that phrase.
- Artistic License – Religion: Kitty Pryde's mother is surprised by Kitty's request that she walk her down the aisle at Kitty's wedding to Piotr, saying that this is a man's job. In real-life Jewish weddings, both parents walk the bride and the groom down the aisle
. While the wedding might not be a Jewish one (Kitty is not very devout and Piotr is an atheist), it's still unrealistic for Kitty's mother (who is Jewish) to be surprised.- Also, the rabbi apparently has no problem marrying Gambit and Rogue, a lapsed Catholic and a Southern Baptist she barely knows.
- Author Tract: Indonesian artist Ardian Syaf, a public supporter of the movement to have the Christian governor of Jakarta province removed on blasphemy grounds, inserted references to the movement in the form of the number 212note and the Qur'an verse QS5:51note in the artwork of issue 1. Syaf later confirmed the intent of these references on social media, leading to immediate backlash.
He was sacked. - Barred from the Afterlife: Nightcrawler is revealed to be immortal because his lack of a soul keeps him from passing on (this is the result of things that happened in The Quest for Nightcrawler, the first arc of Amazing X-Men).
- Big Bad Ensemble: Lydia Nance (an anti-mutant pundit), Kologoth Antares (an alien warlord) and Alpha (an advanced nanotech Sentinel) are the main villains of the series.
- The Bus Came Back: Stevie Hunter — who was introduced as Kitty's dance instructor in 1980— makes her first appearance in over twenty-five years with issue #9, where it's explained that she's since become a congresswoman in the US House of Representatives.
- During that same arc, 90s villain Omega Red also returns after a long absence.
- Kitty herself returning to the X-Men also counts as this trope, since she previously spent about two years with the Guardians of the Galaxy as ex-fiancee Star-Lord's replacement.
- Call-Back:
- In issue #3, Bastion returns, having survived his apparent death by Hope Summers.
- In the "'Til Death Do Us Part" arc, Piotr's taking the Legacy Virus cure becomes a plot point when Lydia Nance and Alpha plan to use the remnants of the cure in Piotr's system to breed an even deadlier strain of the Legacy Virus to kill all mutants.
- Storm recently started wielding Stormcaster, an Asgardian hammer that she was once given by Loki in an X-Men story from 1985.
- Character Witness: The ungrateful woman that dismissed and dehumanized the X-Men after they rescued her in issue 1 comes back in the finale, having learned better after seeing them risk themselves to save New York as the only doctor willing to operate on a mutant whose uncontrolled powers risk the entire hospital.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Kologoth's army, specifically the officers, wear black uniforms with red armbands featuring a black and white symbol.
- Easter Egg: The artist of #1, Ardian Syaf, included 212 and QS 5:51 in the artwork. Unbeknownst to Marvel, these were references to a passage from the Quran that can be interpreted as meaning that Muslims shouldn't be led by non-Muslims, and a situation in Indonesia where a non-Muslim had been elected in the majority Muslim country. Once Marvel found out, they immediately announced that the digital version, subsequent printings, and collected edition would be edited to delete these references, and that disciplinary action will be taken, resulting in Syaf's termination of his contract. Full explanations here and here.
- Frame-Up: When the X-Men are fighting the Brotherhood at the beginning of the Cruel and Unusual arc Mesmero manipulates the minds of onlookers to see the Brotherhood as police officers. Result? The X-Men go to jail.
- Freudian Excuse: Lydia Nance turns out to hate mutants because her abusive father was a mutant.
- Gilligan Cut: In Issue #11, Kitty devises a plan to rescue Illyana from Russian mobsters using her magic to restore Omega Red. Nightcrawler and Colossus take out the mobsters who were holding Illyana hostage:Nightcrawler: Katzchen's plan worked.
Colossus: They usually do.(cut to Kitty and Logan up against Omega Red)Kitty: Why can't my plans ever work? - Gods Need Prayer Badly. Uovu, the god of death, draws part of his strength from the belief of his followers. When Prestige telepathically knocks out Zuberi, the most faithful among them, his power drops enough that Storm can use Stormcaster to finish him.
- God of Evil: Uovu is a god of death, and his Evil Plan is to raise the dead of Storm's former village as an army, with which he can conquer the world.
- Horrible Judge of Character: The people of Storm's old village. Most of them have become loyal to a new religion revolving around Uovo, despite the fact that (as Storm points out) "Uovu" is the swahili word for "Evil".
- Hypocrite: Colossus's uncle. He has the nerve to claim Peter has abandoned his nationality, in spite of the fate that he helped bring back Omega Red to terrorize his countrymen.
- I Always Wanted to Say That: Kitty Pryde rallies the team together with the words, "To me, my X-Men!"Logan: You always wanted to say that, didn't you?
Kitty: Like you have no idea. - Impossible Theft: In issue 30, Gambit steals a wedding.note
- Innocent Bigot: In the second annual, a fourteen-year-old Kitty learns that her friends aren't as tolerant as she hoped.Madison: Oh my god, Kitty, you're not… you're not a mutant-sympathizer, are you? I mean, being Jewish is one thing…
- It's All My Fault: Illyana feels this way after Kitty backs out of the wedding. The night before, Illyana, when pressed, suggested to Kitty that if she and Peter were meant to be together, it would have happened long before. She is guilt-ridden after Kitty cancels the wedding, believing she ruined her brother and best friend's chance at happiness.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Issue one finally clarifies after decades of Fans wondering, Why out of all enhanced human flavors in the Marvel universe, mutants are given special exception to be targeted by Fantastic Racism. Lydia Nance explains in a news report that they're the only group where a Person of Mass Destruction could spontaneously develop from anyone at anytime.Which ends up making various Power Nullifier such as the Hope Serum, SPIN Technology, Inhibitor Chips a somewhat valid and reasonable response.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Alpha. After an attempt to free the imprisoned Lydia Nance ends with his avatar frozen by Iceman, he choses to depart rather than try again.
- Lampshading: in issue #34, when Kitty and Illyana discuss what happened at Kitty's wedding.charging robot: This is hardly the time to talk about your feelings.
- Literal-Minded: If only because English is his 800th language or so, an alien General does not understand how he can "give someone the room".
- Meaningful Rename: Rachel Summers takes on a new superhero name: Prestige.
- Moral Myopia: Lydia Nance. Despite trying to wipe out every mutant on Earth during the 'Til Death Do Us Part" storyline, she claims the X-Men (heroes dedicated to protecting others) should try being "humane" sometime.
- Mythology Gag: Toward the end of issue #25, after Kitty's team, joined by a new team of X-Men assembled by Iceman and Rogue, fight off Scythian, Iceman comments, "What are we going to do with twelve X-Men?" Angel asked a similar question, "What do we do with thirteen X-Men?" in the end of Giant-Size X-Men #1, the book that first introduced the "All New, All Diferent" line-up.
- Each issue of the "'Til Death Do Us Part" arc (slated to end with Kitty and Peter's wedding) begins with a one-page flashback to a prominent moment in Kitty and Peter's relationship.
- Out of Focus: Storm and Nightcrawler went from being from being heavily featured in the last few years to having very little screentime compared to Kitty, Colossus, Rachel and even Old Man Logan. Storm's importance to the series increases over time, though.
- Prison Episode: The Cruel and Unusual arc, where the X-Men are framed for fighting the police and end up in jail for three issues (imprisoned alongside some of their old enemies who obviously want a piece of them).
- Put on a Bus: Old Man Logan leaves the team at the beginning of the Cruel and Unusual arc.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
- Colossus' response to Lydia Nance's plot to kill mutantkind by recreating the Legacy Virus is short but sweet:
"No, you're the monster. And your hatred and bigotry is hardly original. You're not the first person I've met like this." - Red Skies Crossover: Almost literally in the Secret Empire arc. Though it's billed as a tie-in, the connection to that story is very tangential, and the unusual color of the sky in the distance is seen & noted by characters.
- Ret-Canon: The old-school X-Men villain Mesmero makes a few appearances, with a redesign lifted wholesale from his appearance in X-Men: Evolution.
- The Reveal: The "Godwar" story arc finally explains why Stormcaster returned to Storm after all this time: Ainet, Ororo's adoptive mother, who was about to be killed by Uovu's followers, prayed for Ororo to gain true divinity. That prayer awakened Stormcaster, which made its way back to Ororo.
- Runaway Bride: Kitty gets cold feet about her wedding to Colossus, and their wedding is canceled.
- Scary Dogmatic Aliens: Kologoth's army follow the scriptures of an ancient, fallen deity, scriptures that most of their kind had abandoned before Kolgoth brought them back into focus.
- Serial Killer: The villain of the Secret Empire tie-in arc is a serial killer who targets mutants.
- Shirtless Captives: When Colossus is Kidnapped by Lydia Nance and the advanced Sentinel Alpha from his bachelor party. He is taken to her base in the savage land, where he is placed in restraints and stripped of his shirt.
- Smug Snake: Lydia Nance. Despite the fact that the X-Men are all super-powered beings, she constantly mocks and talks down to them, convinced they can't do a thing to stop her.
- Stag Party: The Wedding Special follows Kitty and Colossus through their respective bachelor and bachelorette parties.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute:
- Rather than them be hastily resurrected for the story, Avalanche and Pyro are filled in on Mesmero's new brotherhood with mutants with similar powersets.
- Lydia Nance shares character traits with Graydon Creed; both are viciously anti-mutant politicians who are actually the human offspring of mutants.
- Thoroughly Mistaken Identity: Kologoth was originally believed to be a new mutant. After the X-Men captured him, they learned he was actually an alien mutant that Mesmero was passing off as a human mutant.
- Took a Level in Badass: Storm in issue #25, when she reclaimed Stormcaster, an Asgardian hammer that puts her closer to Thor in terms of power.
- Underwear of Power: Kitty Pryde, Storm, Colossus bring the style back as the X-Men start to focus on being heroes.
- Ungrateful Bastard: True to form, after rescuing a skyscraper of people the X-Men are met with bitter stares from them. Although the comic actually has a decent reason for this.(It's because the public view of the X-Men has been darkened after the events of Inhumans vs. X-Men) A little girl is admonished by her mother for responding to "it" when asked if anyone's okay.
- Subverted in issue #25; after the X-Men are arrested for assaulting police officers (they were fighting the Brotherhood but Mesmero had manipulated the minds of onlookers to see them as cops), they later take on an alien god-being Scythian, stopping him from destroying Paris. As a result the charges are promptly dropped and Lydia Nance's proposed Mutant Deportation Bill, which seemed all but unstoppable a few issues before, has stalled in Congress. Played straight with the warden of the mutant prison where the X-Men were held who's still openly bigoted.
- Wedding Episode: Issue #30 is set on Kitty and Piotr's wedding day but it ends up becoming Gambit and Rogue's wedding.
- Why Waste a Wedding?: After Kitty gets cold feet, Gambit swoops in and asks for Rogue's hand in marriage, followed by their swift exchanging of nuptials.
- Working with the Ex: Kitty has made it clear to Colossus that while she will always care about him she has moved on and is not interested in resuming their old romance. As of issue #11, Kitty and Peter appear to have reconciled. #20 ends with Kitty asking Piotr to marry her. Unfortunately, Kitty gets cold feet and calls the wedding off. Shortly after, Colossus decides to leave the team, stating that it will be too painful to keep working alongside Kitty.
- Wrecked Weapon: In defeating Uovu, Storm expends all of Stormcaster's power, causing the hammer to crumble to dust shortly afterwards.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Following Uovu's defeat, Storm apologizes to her adoptive mother Ainet for "abandoning" her village. Ainet (just before perishing for good along with all the others Uovu resurrected) tells her that she didn't abandon the village, but rather, she gave herself to the world, and that she could not possibly be prouder of her for it.
