Mr. & Mrs. X Gives Fans the X-Men Wedding They Deserved

WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Mr. & Mrs. X #1 by Kelly Thompson, Oscar Bazaldua, and Rain Beredo, on sale now!

The summer of 2018 has been the season for superhero weddings in comic books…well sort of. With the two big publishers, DC and Marvel, touting huge superhero unions after decades of won’t they/will they tension building, when the moments of matrimony didn’t exactly come to fruition, a lot of comic fans were left somewhat disappointed. On the DC side of things, the outcome of Batman # 50, in which Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne were meant to be wed, subverted readers' expectations and was actually a brilliant meditation on the relationship between a pair of star-crossed superheroes and the personal identity convictions of two of comics most beloved characters.

However, in the Marvel camp, X-Men Gold #30's wedding which never came to be between Kitty Pryde and Colossus, a pair of on again/off again lovers whose long relationship has been mired in dramatic turns (including death itself) felt like a bit of a bait and switch. But that isn’t such a bad thing. In fact, a simple two page moment in the issue, in which Gambit steals the spotlight (like any goof thief) marked the start of something beautiful. It was the seed that would sprout into the X-Men wedding issue readers deserve, and arguably the best wedding issue in all of comics since Jean Grey and Scott Summers tied the knot in the pages of X-Men #30 back in 1994.

Mr. & Mrs. X is a book that comes hot off the heels of the five-issue miniseries Rogue & Gambit by writer Kelly Thompson and artist Pere Perez. In Rogue & Gambit, we follow what could be seen as the superhero equivalent of couples’ therapy for the titular X-Men duo. Over the course of the five issues, they relive their early encounters, the ups and downs of their relationship, and why they ever fell in love with each other in the first place. The miniseries was cathartic for both readers and the characters themselves and acted as a refresher for why fans glom on to these two being together. This exploration made their eventual engagement and subsequent wedding feel far more organic than the other big X-relationship which crumbled before our eyes (but to be fair, are Kitty and Peter really in the healthiest relationship? That answer is “no,” in case there was any confusion).

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Kelly Thompson returns as the scribe in Mr. & Mrs. X, this time with Oscar Bazaldua on art duties, and what these two have crafted is nothing short of magical. While the actual wedding ceremony itself doesn’t play in the pages (at least in a traditional sense), the readers don’t need it to. This is because the creators understand the “I dos” are not the most memorable part of a wedding. What matters is the drama leading up and the aftermath. That’s where stories truly live. Instead of focusing on mushy holy matrimony with white doves and flowing gowns, Thompson and Bazaldua give us an issue which begins with some great character moments (and a cameo of Bishop’s luxurious mullet) and ends with Rogue and Gambit honeymooning in outer space, only to have their bliss cut short when duty calls.

This is what all wedding issues should be. Not to be too reductive, but marriage is a pretty normal part of life for a lot of people, to the point where it’s commonplace and almost mundane on a macro level. Sure, it’s important to those getting hitched and the friends and family around them, but to the world at large it’s just another piece of the social fabric that envelops us all. It doesn’t have a massive impact unless it’s a union that breaks down barriers or triumphs over oppressive and antiquated laws (love is love, people). Mr. & Mrs. X understands this and puts our heroes right back into the thick of things. The universe doesn’t care they’re on their honeymoon. It doesn’t consider the years of turmoil and heartbreak have been put to rest. Life goes on, even after massive life-altering events.

For most folks, after marriage, the world goes back to normal. They return to their jobs. They still have their same friends and families. They go back to getting coffee from the same Starbucks’s they’ve been visiting every day for the last five years. Normalcy almost always wins. But normalcy for superheroes involves more than what we're accustomed to, especially for X-Men. Their norm consists of aliens, time-travel, persecution, and impromptu visits from Deadpool.

In its very first issue Mr. & Mrs. X pushes beyond the boundaries of your average wedding issue by embracing this fact. Sometimes, you don’t need a villain crashing the party or someone being stood up at the altar to cause drama. All you just need things to go back to normal…well, normal for these two, anyway.