It’s sounding like the next X-Men Gold story will have some pretty big ramifications for those caught in the middle of “The Negative Zone War.” The arc will see Kitty Pryde, Rachel Summers and Nightcrawler reunited with their old Excalibur teammates Captain Britain and Meggan for a trip into the Negative Zone – a trip that will change them forever.
Marc Guggenheim is the writer behind “The Negative Zone War” arc, and in a recent interview with CBR he revealed that the team will emerge “fundamentally changed” by the anti-matter alternate dimension. The event will result in some major changes to the X-Men roster, as well as various characters’ personal stories -- like Colossus'.
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“Also expect to see some major moves in terms of Rachel, Kitty and Peter’s characters,” Guggenheim said. “They all come out of this Negative Zone arc fundamentally changed.”
The event will have far-reaching consequences for more than just those three X-Men, though. More characters will be dragged into the drama that will eventually see one of the core X-Men depart in a later issue.
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“Like I said, some very significant changes happen in the Negative Zone arc for Rachel, Kitty and Peter specifically,” Guggenheim said. “Storm has some character defining moments as well. Off of that arc, a member of the team will leave in #21.”
How exactly these characters will be changed remains to be seen. The Negative Zone is an ancient universe that is rapidly imploding on itself. Time passes faster in the dimension, which is largely devoid of evolved life except for small pockets here and there. The event will take place largely in the Negative Zone’s version of outer space and will draw inspiration from the Brood saga story arc.
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The event has a lot on its plate. It will be the longest X-Men Gold arc thus far that has to tackle both the Negative Zone arc and the mutant deportation arc that has been steadily building.
“‘The Negative Zone War’ arc set up our biggest and longest arc on X-Men Gold thus far,” Guggenheim said. “It’s a full five-issue story where we're going to bring back some of the members of the new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants that we met in our very first arc as well as pay off the mutant deportation storyline that’s been going on for the last several months.”