X-Treme X-Men is a 2022 comic book limited series published by Marvel Comics. It's written by Chris Claremont with art by Salvador Larroca.
The series, starring the titular X-Men, is set in the shared Marvel Universe, and sees both creators return to familiar characters - Claremont wrote the X-Men books for many years, and worked with Larroca on the original 2001 X-Treme X-Men series.
X-Treme X-Men provides examples of:
- All Just a Dream: The initial sequence is a nightmare Kitty is having of meeting Ogun at the bar where she works.
- Battle Discretion Shot: After Ogun possesses Beasty-Brute, their final battle with Wolverine is unseen. The comics shows Wolverine popping his claws, then cuts away. Ogun reappears as a bodiless spirit later in the issue, saying Logan drove him out, but Beasty-Brute's fate is unclear.
- Body Surf: After being evicted from Kitty, Ogun jumps between different hosts for the remainder of the series. He's even able to possess the robotic Scrap in the final issue, claiming that the genetic traces left when Kitty and Ororo phased through it gave him a way to reach it.
- The Brute: One of the antagonists is Beasty-Brute, a large brawler who favours physical confrontation against the X-Men.
- The Bus Came Back:
- Villains Sanzu, Beasty-Brute and Soulscream all return after their first appearance in 2020's Wolverine: Black, White & Blood #1-2.
- Ogun returns for the first time since 2015's Wolverines, although the story may be chronologically earlier than that one.
- Purity activist Alice Tremaine appears for the first time since 2002 limited series Mekanix.
- Continuity Nod:
- Kitty is still working at Belles of Hell, the bar where she worked during the Mekanix mini-series.
- Storm mentions they are global marshals now. Her team became the X.S.E. (X-Treme Sanctions Executive) during the "Intifada" arc, but were officialized in issue #46 (last issue).
- Rogue is still powerless. Her next appearances post-XXM were Uncanny X-Men #444 and X-Men #157 onwards, where she was part of Havok's team during Reload and with restored powers.
- In issue #4, Sage reminds Bishop that, as a child in Hindu Kush, she learnt to hold an assault rifle - events first shown in X-Treme X-Men (Vol. 1) #44.
- In issue #5, Rogue reminds Gambit that she went to the Gates of Heaven to bring him back. This happened back in X-Treme X-Men (Vol. 1) #18, an epilogue to the "Invasion"/Khan arc.
- Deader than Dead: Rachel Summers uses her Phoenix Force powers to "expunge every fiber of [Ogun's] being from existence". This basically means she is erasing his soul from existence, since Ogun was practically a ghost at this point.
- The End... Or Is It?: The Galérer are defeated, the Purity riot is calmed, Ogun is seemingly killed and Scrap, the last Genoshan Sentinel, is shattered. But Alice is still an anti-mutant extremist and the final scene shows she's planning to rebuild Scrap. The series ends with a "The End?" caption over that scene.
- Interquel: Although it's published in 2022, it's set much further back in the X-Men's history, before the Krakoan Age changed the status quo. It also serves as a sequel to Kitty's series Mekanix, revisiting some dangling plot threads.
- Mr. Exposition: Rachel reads Wolverine's mind in order to give the reader a brief recap of the events of Wolverine and Kitty Pryde mini-series.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Of all people, Sage, using a page from Xavier's book, deescalates a furious human mob with a speech about human-mutant relations.
- Not Quite Dead: Kitty gets caught in the power nullification field in issue #3 while partly phased through the ground, seemingly dying. Turns out that she was just momentarily stunned from shock and a quirk of her powers means that the nullification only messed up her ability to become solid.
- Power Nullifier: In the cliffhanger of issue #3, Alice's pet wild sentinel activates a power nullifier energy field that removes the heroes' powers.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Ogun shows them. After her nightmare, Kitty's eyes also glow with a red shine.
- Rule of Symbolism: After her nightmare, Rachel embraces Kitty to comfort her, and large, fiery wings (the Phoenix's) are seen behind her.
- Sequel Series: It's an Interquel, but serves as a sequel to the original 2001 X-Treme X-Men series and the 1984 Kitty Pryde and Wolverine series. As of issue #3, plot threads from 2002's Mekanix are also followed up.
- Series Continuity Error: Cannonball (Sam Guthrie) was part of team/XSE at the end of Vol. 1, and acted as an agent in Chris Claremont's first Uncanny X-Men arc during 2004 X-Men Reload. However, he does not show up in any preview, in the first issue, or during the arc.
- Two Lines, No Waiting: The two main plotlines are Ogun's attack and the Purity rally in Chicago.
- Variant Cover: There are three variant covers for the first issue, including one that shows the X-Men as cute anthropomorphic cats.
