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The X-Men have rarely burned brighter in pop culture than right now, whether it's people losing their minds over seeing James Marsden's Cyclops rip off his visor and open his optical faucet (so to speak) on some enemies in an Avengers: Doomsday teaser, a new generation of fans discovering Magik thanks to Marvel Rivals, or the 2024 relaunch of the X-Men titles at Marvel Comics. The man shepherding the X-line at Marvel, executive editor Tom Brevoort, has spoken about what's gone into taking the X-Men out of their critically and commercially successful Krakoan era in comics - where all mutants, both good and bad, lived together on an island called Krakoa.

In the 'From the Ashes' relaunch, and going into the 'Shadows of Tomorrow' publishing initiative from Marvel, Tom Brevoort explained to AIPT that the ethos defining the X-Men in comics today is very different than the one that guided them during Krakoa. 

"We very specifically decided to come out of a period where pretty much all of the X-characters lived in one central location, clustered in a big group, and spin them out into various locales, status quos, and different situations to try to create a little bit of disunity, chaos, and interesting story opportunities in having characters with different perspectives sort of push against one another, as the group as a whole tries to figure out what’s the way forward for mutantdom in a post-Krakoa landscape," Brevoort explained. "That sort of played itself out over however many months it’s been, so there’s a natural rejoining of people who have long-established histories, friendships, relationships, rivalries, and antagonisms built in between them."

As you might imagine, leaving behind such a bold and beloved vision for the X-Men came with its own growing pains. Brevoort elaborated on this later on in the interview, saying, "Well, I think there’s nothing but learnings [since relaunching the publishing line]. And it’s not even just learnings about the X-Men — it’s also learnings about the current state of the industry, what people are responding to, what they like, and what they think."

He continued, "I’ve felt from the beginning, and I’m kind of continuing to push in this direction, that the best sort of X-line is an X-line where most of the books function relatively independently and have their own particular direction, ethos, character situations, conflicts, and whatnot, rather than everything kind of being facets of one thing. We do that more or less successfully, and some books are better at it than others." 

With more eyes than ever looking towards the X-Men - given that Marvel Studios has plans to give them their own MCU movie - it's important that the X-line at Marvel Comics provide stories for both seasoned and new readers, Brevoort concluded. "We want stories and characters where there seems to be a hunger or an audience for, and stories and characters being put forward for some demographic that’s not otherwise being served," he summarized. "You know, a different sort of book for every potential reader." 

The X-Men appear in a number of comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Get ready for what's next with our guide to upcoming comics, how to buy comics at a comic shop, and our guide to Free Comic Book Day 2025.