Popverse's top stories

• Veronica Roth's Divergent series is back with the first new novel in 8 years, The Sixth Faction | Popverse
• Marvel releases Avengers: Doomsday trailer - but only for CinemaCon attendees
• MEMBERS ONLY: The Live Action One Piece has fixed one of the manga's worst characters - Sanji [Popverse Jump]

After years as the dominant lifeform on Earth, Marvel's mutants are once again the underdogs - and in the line-wide revamp fo the X-Men starting this summer, they're invented a way mutants can discreetly signal to one another even in a crowded space with flatscans - that is, non-mutants.

This Marvel hand-sign, called the 'Midnight Bark,' premiered in Saturday's Blood Hunt Free Comic Book Day special, and now the sign's creator, Uncanny X-Men writer Gail Simone, is explaining how to make the sign yourself - as well as an alternate name for it, the 'Midnight M.'

"The key is looseness, it’s not supposed to be immediately noticeable to observers. So fingers, wrist, and thumbs are loose," writes Simone. "Basically, you make the Ditko web-shooting shape, BUT hand hangs down loose at the wrist. Thumb is out, fingers loose. Thumb is loose and doesn’t connect with middle fingers, unlike Spidey. Fingers make a hanging ‘M’ shape."

Simone goes onto say that it isn't just an identifying sign, but also a question.

"That’s it, that’s how you can signal other mutants. It is an ‘are you okay’ signal and ‘are you one of us’ and ‘do you need help’ sign," Simone explains. "Now you can find others like you!"

Look for the sign to re-appear in the upcoming new X-Men series, including Simone's Uncanny X-Men.

Want more? Make sure you've read our list of all the best Marvel Comics stories of all time, and get ready for all the free Marvel comics coming as part of this year's Free Comic Book Day 2026 / Comics Giveaway Day  2026 events.