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When Marvel Comics relaunched its entire X-Men line in 2024, one of the guiding principles was a desire to bring the mutant franchise closer to the wider Marvel Universe — and this week’s X-Manhunt: Omega #1 underscored just how well that goal has been achieved. 

Spoilers for X-Manhunt: Omega #1 follow. Keep reading at your own risk.

X-Manhunt: Omega concludes the month-long storyline that has run through Marvel’s X-Men comic book line, in which Charles Xavier — the erstwhile Professor X who founded the X-Men, but has spent recent months in captivity following his actions at the end of the Krakoa era of the X-Men comic book line — escaped and traveled through the various X-comic books looking to resurrect his deceased alien wife Lilandra, and then find a space ship able to take the two to the heart of the alien Shi’Ar Empire she is from, to rescue their child.

And, at the end of the issue, it’s revealed that the entire storyline has been prologue to something else that Marvel has been promoting in recent weeks. The issue ends with this announcement:

Imperial is a four-issue series by Jonathan Hickman, Federico Vicentini, and Iban Coello that Marvel is promoting will “revolutionize Marvel’s galactic canon.”

Marvel’s description of the series runs, “Imperial finds the galaxies of the Marvel Universe on the brink of major upheaval, following the elimination of several of its most prominent leaders. Nature abhors a vacuum, and empires fall, rulers are overthrown and power is seized in a saga of intrigue, mysteries and war, all taking place against the backdrop of the formation of new galactic order in the Marvel Universe. With groundbreaking developments for HULKS, BLACK PANTHERS, NOVAS, GUARDIANS and COSMIC KINGS and QUEENS, Imperial lays the foundation for an entire new landscape of interconnected space-set stories, making it the must-read comic book of the summer!”

By bringing in Xavier, Imperial will reunite Hickman with one of the core cast of his acclaimed X-Men relaunch of 2019, House of X/Powers of X, which created and introduced the Krakoa era. Think of it as an unexpected next chapter of Hickman’s X-Men run: Outer Space of X, if you will.

X-Manhunt: Omega #1 is available now. Imperial #1 (of 4) will be released June 4.

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 / Comics Giveaway Day events.