When the Beast brought the adolescent incarnation of the X-Men from the past to the present day in 2012's All-New X-Men #1, the founding X-Man inadvertently set off a domino chain of destructive consequences. The mutant teens have not only had an impact on their future timeline, they've come to think of it as home, and if they return to their time period, they'll have to give up all memories of their present day adventures and leave their current heroic missions unresolved. It makes sense, then that they've put off returning home, but that's a decision which is about to put every mutant in the Marvel Universe at risk.
It all happens this August when Ed Brisson and artist Pepe Larraz kick off the five issue X-Men: Extermination, which forces the Original Five to confront their past, present and futures in order to save all of mutantkind. And if the teasers to the event, which have been running in the back matter of recent X-Books, are any indication, they're in for the fight of their lives.
RELATED: X-Men Extermination Event Will Tie Into Every Uncanny X-Men Story
CBR spoke with Brisson about those teasers, which are set in dystopian possible future, the struggles the original X-Men will face in his story, the major X-teams that play supporting roles, and the villains his cast will face off against.
CBR: So Ed, you've been working in the world of X-Men on solo books like Cable and Old Man Logan for a while now. How does it feel to be given a high profile X-Men event like Extermination?
Ed Brisson: Nerve wracking, to say the least. Pretty sure I’m not going to sleep the week leading up to the release.
The goal of Extermination is to bring the story of the Original Five X-Men that started in 2012 with All-New X-Men #1 to its conclusion. I think it’s been understood for a while now that they need to go back to their own time. This story hammers home the how and why of it. We get into the implications of why them being here is a bad idea for the long term.
RELATED: Extermination Post-Credits Scene Kills an Entire X-Men Team
The fine line we have to ride here is that we do not want to undo anything that’s been done. Every story that’s been told matters. All changes that have happened, matter.
In Extermination, we’re pushing the Original Five X-Men’s backs against the walls and forcing them to fight for the past, present and future. They’re going to have to make some incredibly difficult decisions and sacrifice on a level that they’ve never had to in the past. It’s not going to be easy.
Page 2: [valnet-url-page page=2 paginated=0 text='Extermination%20Will%20Not%20Retcon%20Any%20X-Men%20Stories%20Out%20Of%20Existence']
The teasers for Extermination suggest that your protagonists are grown up versions of the Original Five who live in a dystopian future, a future that's less-than-ideal because they never returned home. Is this indeed the case? Is Extermination a tale set primarily in this future?
In the teasers, we have the kids as adults, 20 years in the future, but in the main series (Extermination #1-#5), the story will be set present day. Our protagonists are the Original Five, still as teenagers.
What's it like writing them? Which of their character dynamics have you enjoyed most?
I’m deep into writing the series and still not over the elation of writing the Original Five. These are characters I’ve loved since childhood, and it feels completely surreal to be here telling their story.
RELATED: Who Is the Mysterious X-Man on the First Page of Extermination?
At this point, I’m really enjoying playing with the complicated relationship between Jean and Scott. It’s a tough one to navigate, but also one that means a lot to a lot of people -- even though it has changed dramatically since the Original Five came back in 2012.
In the past, you mentioned that the very nature of this project means you'll get a chance to sort of run wild throughout X-Men history. What are some of the eras you'll be referencing and be digging deep into?
Primarily, the story will be taking place present day, with implications that the Original Five being here this long is about to have some incredibly devastating long-term effects on mutantkind. What and why are something you’ll have to read to find out.
The mantra going into this series was, “Your Back Issues Matter.” Every. Single. X-Men. Story. Counts. If it happened in an issue you’ve read, it happened for real. There’s no rewriting history so it didn’t happen, no trickery. There are real stakes for the kids, here, and those past stories play a part in it. There will be some nods to Silver Age adventures and even some fallout from said adventures.
We've talked about your main cast, but the world of the X-Men is huge and packed with fan favorite characters. So what can you tells us about the supporting players that will play significant roles in the story?
The Original Five will be the primary focus, but we’re going to give plenty of other X-Men a chance to shine within the series, including a few blast-from-the-past characters who’ll have minor, yet important roles. Because Ahab is one of the main baddies here, Rachel will also be heavily involved.
RELATED: Jean Grey Joins Forces with a Fan-Favorite X-Men Team in Extermination
In addition to the Original Five, we’ve got X-Men Red, X-Men Gold and a reunited classic X-Force team coming together to help save the young X-Men. I’m particularly excited about reuniting classic X-Force, as I’ve always been a huge fan of that team.
There are also a few new characters -- including twins that pop up in the preview pages. It’s been fun watching people speculate on who those two are.
There are a couple adversaries the team must face in Extermination. One is Ahab, Master of the Hounds. He’s here from the future with his horde of mutant trackers to have at the Original Five X-Men. The why and what is something you’ll have to read to find out, but considering he comes from a future where mutants are hunted and killed, we can assume that it’s not a good thing.
There’s another, mysterious figure, who seems to be helping Ahab in hunting down the Original Five, but who he is and what his motivations are is something I can’t spoil. I will say that it’s something that I’ve very excited about and feel that readers are going to either love or want to kill me over.
Page 3: [valnet-url-page page=3 paginated=0 text='Sorry%20X-Fans%20-%20Not%20Every%20X-Man%20Will%20Survive%20Extermination']
I'm particularly excited that you're collaborating with artist Pepe Larraz who did fantastic work on another recent big team event, Avengers No Surrender. What’s it like working with Pepe?
Oh, man. Pepe is great. Just an amazing collaborator. I’ve been a fan of his work for some time now, so getting the chance to work with him is incredibly exciting for me.
This series demands some pretty big action pieces; tender emotional scenes; horrific moments; and scenes that may seem to be initially mundane and Pepe handles them all with equal verve. I never thought a page of someone shopping for milk could look so beautiful, but it does. Similarly, there’s a scene with one of our Original Five being tortured that Pepe finds a way to sell without having to cheap out on making it grotesque. It’s an oddly meditative page.
RELATED: Extermination’s Kill List Just Added Two New X-Men
Marte Gracia is providing colors on the book and is just knocking it out of the park. I’m looking at #1 colors right now and this thing is a work of art. Readers should read the book twice, once for story and a second time just to appreciate and study the art on its own.
Any final hints and teases you can leave us about X-Men Extermination? It seems like by the very nature of X-Men history and what it means to the Marvel U this is a story that can and will go to some big, crazy places.
This story is going to have a lasting implication on the X-Men as a whole. We’ve got a few REALLY BIG surprises in store that I don’t want to hint at for fear of spoiling.
The only two things I’ll share are: Not every X-Man is going to make it out of this alive and the ending is going to leave a lot of jaws on the floor.