The series, set in the shared Marvel Universe, is part of the wider X-Men line and is one of several new books launched as part of Destiny of X, the third phase of the long-running Krakoan Age saga.
Although the X-Terminators name has been used before for another comic in the X-Men franchise, there is no direct connection between the two series.
After going through an especially bad break-up, Dazzler decides to go out drinking with her friends and fellow X-Men, Boom-Boom and Jubilee. That is, until they're all accosted by vampires (led by none other than Dazzler's own disgruntled ex-boyfriend) and thrown into an underground fighting arena for the vampires' own entertainment. Gratuitous amounts of blood, swearing, and heated discussions about Dazzler's ass ensue. Also, Wolverine is there.
The first issue was released September 21, 2022.
X-Terminators (2022) provides examples of the following tropes:
- Actually Pretty Funny: It may be an insult to the dignity of the Quiet Council, but Mystique, Emma Frost, and Kate Pryde are all very amused at the digression about Dazzler's ass.
- Anachronic Order:
- The first issue starts with Dazzler in the near future, then has a prologue several weeks ago showing her break-up, then leaps forward a bit to show how the protagonists got drawn into the plot. By the end of the issue it's still not caught up with that initial scene.
- The second issue jumps forward to a scene with the heroes explaining the whole mess to Krakoa's Quiet Council, then returns to the action.
- An Arm and a Leg: One of Laura's arms is sliced by Alex's Magic Mirrors.
- And This Is for...: Dazzler doling out the final beating to Alex.[Punch to the gut] That was for making me care about you. And this - [Roller-skate axe-kick to the head] - was for just generally being a terrible person, really.
- Bait-and-Switch: Issue #1 ends with the girls ending up in an arena with a blood-spattered, snarling Wolverine (Laura Kinney). But then come the opening of Issue #2...Laura: (cheerfully): Oh, hey. What're you guys doing here?
- Baseball Episode: The portal that the girls and the rest of Alex and the Collector's prisoners use to escape dumps them in the middle of baseball game being held on Krakoa between the Knights and the New Mutants.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: Alex (Dazzler's vampire ex-boyfriend and the leader of the human trafficking ring that kidnaps her and her friends) and the Collector (who hired him to capture and imprison the X-Terminators on his space station).
- Breast Attack: Jubilee accidentally singes one of Boom-Boom's boobs when she fires at a vampire that's biting Boom-Boom. When Boom-Boom complains, Jubilee punches the other one.
- Censor Box: A variant. Black censor boxes are overlaid on the swearing in speech bubbles, but white Symbol Swearing text is also added to the censor boxes. Part of the discussion of Dazzler's derriere gets peach emoji added over the critical word.
- Chromosome Casting: Downplayed. The core cast of heroes is entirely female, but Alex and many of the nameless vampires are male.
- Clothing Damage: Exaggerated After using her powers at a subatomic level to blow up the Collector's ship, Jubilee not only burnt away all her clothes, but all her hair as well.
- Content Warnings: On each issue, there's a small, formal parental advisory warning on the cover. After which the first page of the comic is a full page parental advisory, at least partly playing the trope for laughs.
- Issue 1 states:It contains crude humor, alcohol usage, partial nudity, strobe effects, violence, and some of your favorite mutants acting like absolute dumbasses. READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
- Issue 2 states:It contains graphic violence, drug reference, suplexes, partial nudity, and a pervert vampire. READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
- Issue 3 states:It contains gore, comic mischief, extensive discussion of Dazzler's ass, nudity, also more than partial nudity and is probably not suitable for any audiences.
- Issue 1 states:
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Boom-Boom is at one point shown Force Feeding a vampire one of her explosive energy spheres. Another vampire gets Wolverine's fist shoved clean through his torso, before Jubilee sticks her hand in the hole and sets off some fireworks.
- Defenestrate and Berate: Played straight in the prologue. After Dazzler catches Alex talking to another woman in Dazzler's own apartment, she throws his clothes and his vinyl out of the window. Alex is below on the street, begging her to give him another chance and spare his record collection.
- Evilutionary Biologist: Alex claims to be one of these and cites it as the reason for why he is estranged from the rest of the Vampire Nation.
- Fight Dracula: Subverted. Dracula does turn up as an antagonist, but he's seeking legal recompense from Krakoa for all the vampires the heroes killed, not physically fighting them. Jubilee then points out that as they'd accepted the defector Alex's invitation, all of those vampires had technically committed treason anyway — and Dracula ends up offering the heroes a bounty rather than punishing them.
- Go-Go Enslavement: The women that Alex captures are forced to wear various skimpy costumes. The only silver lining is that they have a selection they can choose from. Boom-Boom and Jubilee do not seem to mind, at least.Boom-Boom: [gasp] I love that costume! Give me it!
Jubilee: Trade outfits with me! - I Have You Now, My Pretty: Alex has an entire prison complex full of women for his own personal pleasure.
- Innocently Insensitive: Boom-Boom expresses sympathy for Laura for being made to fight endless battles and for being forced to dress like Wolverine.Laura: This... is what I was wearing when I was taken. This is my uniform!
- Interrogation Flashback: The Framing Device for the story takes place in the present, where Dazzler and her friends are on trial before the Quiet Council (as their escapades have inadvertently caused a diplomatic incident between Krakoa and the Vampire Nation) as they attempt to explain what happened to them and why.
- Kryptonite-Proof Suit: Alex wears a Lightbringer amulet, which protects him from sunlight's usual effects on vampires. It also shields him from Dazzler's light powers.
- Love-Interest Traitor: A variant, as Dazzler's already dumped Alex before she discovers that he's a bad guy. And a vampire.
- Mirror Monster: The second issue has Alex summon a maze of mirrors around the girls. If they look a reflection in the eye, it emerges and starts fighting them. Boom Boom tried blowing it up but it just reforms, it's cracked state now providing many more surfaces for reflections. The issue ends with Alex sending vampires in after the heroes blindfold themselves.
- Ms. Fanservice: Boom-Boom, though it leads to mockery from Jubilee."You look like if Barbie was a sex addict."
"Boom-Boom, you look like the final stop on a bimboification spectrum."
"And you look like Glinda the Good Witch's porn parody." - Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Trapped in a maze of magic mirrors that create evil doppelgangers to attack them, Boom-Boom responds by just blowing the whole thing up. The mirror maze immediately reforms, only now every pane is cracked and creates a dozen doppelgangers at a time.Jubilee: What'd I tell you about hubris, you dumb tart?!
Boom-Boom: Why do you keep bringing up circumcision at a time like this?! - Nobody Poops: Lampshaded. The prison cell that Alex throws the X-Terminators into doesn't have any privacy for their bathrooms, much to the women's disgust.
Laura accuses Alex of doing this because he's into watching girls pee. - One-Winged Angel: The Collector drops his human-like form in favor of his far more monstrous true one while fighting Wolverine.
- Refuge in Audacity: Jubilee manages to defend the X-Terminators from Dracula's accusations by saying that Alex was technically a defector from the Vampire Nation, making him and the other vampires in his employ non-citizens and thus justifying the girls' actions in fighting them. Additionally, she argues that they should actually be rewarded for defeating traitors to Dracula's reign, and Dazzler adds that if they are released, they'll be able to cash in a bounty on Alex as well. Against all odds, this actually works.
- Sailor Fuku: As part of the 'costume selection, Jubilee's forced to wear a sexy, if stereotypical, Japanese school uniform.
- Symbol Swearing: There is a lot of swearing, all of it obscured this way. It's also deliberately emphasized, with rectangular black Censor Boxes overlaid on the white speech bubbles and the profanity symbols, in white, within those boxes.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Jubilee and Boom-Boom seem to enjoy each others company which almost exclusively consists of ribbing each other. It's an improvement from the days when they couldn’t stand each other.
- "Will Return" Caption: The final issue states: "The X-Terminators Will Return"
- Wrestler in All of Us: When fighting her evil mirror self, Dazzler ends up in a sharpshooter. Played with earlier in the same issue when the ladies realise they're in an arena and expected to fight for the crowd's entertainment.Jubilee: Listen, I watch WWE. I've been waiting for this moment my entire life. Just follow my lead. C'mere, Tabi -
Boom-Boom: No.
Jubilee: [Now in the background, as Dazzler and Wolverine analyse the situation] Lemme suplex you! - You Can Leave Your Hat On: Dazzler gets Boom-Boom to start a striptease for the audience that's watching them fight for their lives in order to get them to let out enough noise to amp her own powers. Boom-Boom also uses that chance to charge her energy blasts and fire them from her boobs after she lets down the straps of her dress.
