In the wake of X-Men: Schism, Marvel's mutants are split down the middle and heading in two divergent directions. While Wolverine's team is following in the footsteps of Xavier's original plans for the X-Men, the Cyclops-led team based in Utopia is on a different track. Dubbed his "Extinction Team," the primary purpose of the team is to stand between mankind (not just mutantkind) and threats that would render them extinct.  It sounds like a unique kind of mission for the X-Men, but an interesting question on writer Kieron Gillen's Formspring reframes it in a familiar way.

Gillen was asked: "The x-men seem a lot like the old superhero team The Authority lately. is that intentional?"

"The Authority are certainly one of the big influences on [Uncanny X-Men]," answers Gillen. " The Extinction Team are certainly the closest the MU has ever had to something that occupies the niche the Authority dominated in the Wildstorm U."

While saying that most modern super-hero comics were inspired by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch's The Authority isn't too far off-base, seeing this straight correlation by Gillen fires off my fan synapses and helps define a team that, frankly, I was having trouble with even after reading Uncanny X-Men #1. Although I don't want to see Gillen and crew follow this analogy too closely, it makes me more interested to see where the book goes next.

Also, isn't it interesting that in the pin-up for Avengers vs. X-Men that it's Cyclops's X-Men versus the Avengers pictures? Both Wolverine and Beast seem to be lunging after their former teammates in the X-Men rather than the Avengers, who they currently owe more allegiance to.