Marvel shifts gears and begins what could be the biggest X-Men effort in decades

The X-Men might be about to become Marvel's biggest brand in its library once again.

After teasing some major changes on the horizon, Marvel Publishing VP/executive editor Tom Brevoort has revealed that the company is shifting gears - and shifting most all of his efforts - to work on the X-Men.

And its at the expense of him running the Avengers brand for the past 25 years, the franchise which he led to become Marvel's flagship with hits such as Avengers: Dissassembled, Civil War, Secret Invasion, Secret Wars, and more.

"... the big story is that, after a quarter of a century editing Avengers and its associated titles, I am going to be moving away from those characters and titles and instead stepping into the world of mutants," Brevoort has announced on his personal Facebook page. "Yes, that’s right, I’m afraid that it’s true—I’m the X."

We're told Brevoort will be keeping his VP and Executive Editor titles, but will also become the group editor for the X-Men titles, taking over from Jordan D. White who was in charge of the titles since 2018.

While Brevoort says the change "isn’t going to happen for a good long while yet," he has previously said August 1 was when his role within Marvel changed.

"I still have a ton of stuff cooking in AVENGERS (including next year’s big crossover event series) that needs to be seen to completion," Brevoort writes on Facebook. "And at the same time, current X-guru Jordan White and his team have a massive story that they’re in the middle of and that won’t run its course for a long while. What I do will grow directly out of what they’re doing—provided they leave me anything to work with. Did you read that HELLFIRE GALA book? Cripes!"

Why Tom Brevoort's job change at Marvel matters

It's hard to underestimate the influence Tom Brevoort has had on the modern era of Marvel, be it Marvel Comics, Marvel Studios, or Marvel bedsheets even. Brevoort took over the flagging Avengers comics titles in the late '90s - which at the time, and for two decades prior, had been overshadowed in popularity and sales by the X-Men. That all changed with 'Avengers Disassembled,' a storyline led by Brevoort and the Brevoort-chosen writer Brian Michael Bendis which led into a not-so-subtle reinvigoration of the Avengers title, which propogated multiple Avengers spin-offs, as well as mega-popular events such as Civil War, Secret Invasion, and Secret Wars (all three, which Marvel Studios' picked up to become multi-million dollar successes).

Brevoort is also Marvel's longest-serving employee, starting in 1989 as a college art major interning at the New York based publisher. Brevoort rose through ranks to become a full editor by the late '90s. On the back of his success reinvigorating the Avengers line (and the Marvel Comics line as a whole), he was made executive editor in 2007, and senior VP of publishing in 2011. Through it all though, he maintained the reigns as the direct editor of lines such as the Avengers and Fantastic Four, which included several of the team members solo titles.

For more, here's why Tom Brevoort's Marvel job change is a big deal (and not just for comics).

But in short, think about it this way: Marvel just moved their highest-qualified editor and shepherd of comics, characters, creators and fellow editorial/design/publishing talent to re-focus his energies centrally on the X-Men.

And make no mistake. Away from the Avengers. Not that its a diss on the Avengers, it's that the X-Men is now that important.

Make sure you've read all our recommended best Marvel Comics of all time.