WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for X of Swords: Creation #1 by Jonathan Hickman, Tini Howard, Pepe Laraz, Marte Garcia, VC's Clayton Cowles, and Tom Muller, on sale now.

The first chapter of Marvel's anticipated X-Men crossover, X of Swords, ended with an unexpected connection to the wider Marvel Universe. In its final pages, Cyclops, Jean Grey and Cable landed on the Peak, the massive space station headquarters of S.W.O.R.D., the organization responsible for Earth's galactic security. A subsequent data page revealed that Earth has been unable to contact the Peak for weeks, leaving the status of its more than 6,000 resident agents unknown.

To coincide with the issue's release, Marvel announced that a new S.W.O.R.D. series by Al Ewing and Valerio Schiti will debut in December. But before it comes back in full force, we're taking a look back at what happened to S.W.O.R.D. in the first place.

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It's fitting that S.W.O.R.D.'s return to the spotlight would begin in an X-Men comic, since Joss Whedon and John Cassady created the agency in 2004's Astonishing X-Men #6. Led by Special Agent Abigail Brand, S.W.O.R.D. was described as essentially being a space-focused equivalent to S.H.I.E.L.D., charged with monitoring Earth's place in intergalactic society and safeguarding it against alien threats.

After being involved with an alien conspiracy to "cure" Earth's mutants by ridding them of their powers, Brand and S.W.O.R.D. remained supporting players in Whedon and Cassady's X-Men run, maintaining a tense relationship with the mutant heroes,. After working together to prevent a devastating attack on Earth by the government of the alien Breakworld, Bran and Beast put aside their differences and briefly dated, as she offered McCoy a position in the agency. Shortly thereafter, an ongoing S.W.O.R.D. comic featuring both characters debuted in 2009 although it ultimately only lasted five issues.

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S.W.O.R.D. hasn't been the most influential group in the Marvel Universe throughout its relatively short history but it does often play an important supporting part in various series. For example, while the agency itself was devastated by a sneak attack in the Secret Invasion event, Brand was vital in helping Mr. Fantastic get necessary intelligence and in reassembling Earth's scattered heroes for their final battle with the Skrull invaders.

Brand is the child of a human mother and alien father, whose genetics resulted in her distinctive green hair. She also has the ability to emit flames of some kind from her hands. These and other qualities make her ideally suited to be S.W.O.R.D.'s leader, and she and the agency have effectively become synonymous with one another since their introductions. It is rare that one appears without the other although following the Secret Wars event S.W.O.R.D. has been noticeably absent, with Brand instead appearing as a leader of the Alpha Flight space station.

Brand and S.W.O.R.D.'s symbiotic relationship will be restored by the upcoming S.W.O.R.D. series, in which Brand will again play a key role, following up on her appearance in the recent Empyre event, in which she resigned her position at Alpha Flight before beginning to assemble a new team.

The new S.W.O.R.D. series will also maintain the organization's connections to the X-Men franchise. Multiple famous mutants including Magneto, Cable and deep-cut characters like Fabian Cortez and Whiz-Kid are set to appear. This builds on a recent theme in the X-Men franchise, which has increasingly focused on the X-Men's relationship to the wider Marvel Universe.

While the X-Men have plenty of problems on their hands right now, the start of a new S.W.O.R.D. series heavily featuring X-Men suggests that the mutants might have big problems coming from outer space as well.

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