Jonathan Hickman has returned to Marvel in a big way. The former Fantastic Four and Avengers writer has taken over the X-Men franchise and introduced a lot of brave, new ideas into it. Using his skill at world building and his penchant for sci-fi concepts, his X-Men run already feels completely different from anything else readers have seen since Grant Morrison's New X-Men.
However, not everything has been perfect. While many of the changes made are great, they've lead to unforeseen consequences and things that aren't so great. This list will be highlighting both the great and the not so great.
10 Thing We Love: Mutant Power
Since the beginning, humans have hated and feared mutants for their destructive power. They've built massive robots designed only for killing them, tried to enact laws against their freedom, and relegated them to prisons and camps just for existing. However, when it comes down to it, mutants have had very little actual power on the world stage.
Hickman has changed all of that, giving the mutants their own nation, a nation who controls resources that humans want. For the first time, mutants stand united with an unshakable power base.
9 Thing We Hate: Mutant Unity?
Krakoa accepts all mutants, regardless of their past crimes or adversarial status with the X-Men. Mutants like Apocalypse, Mister Sinister, Sebastian Shaw, Mystique, Black Tom, and countless others are part of the nation's community, working with the X-Men in their goal of mutant survival.
This seems like a powder keg waiting for a spark. Not just because old leopards don't change their spots, but because of all the rivalries that have grown over the years between the X-Men and their enemies. While it's easy to accept someone like Magneto into the fold because of the amount of times he's worked with the X-Men, some of these others have always been enemies and could be just waiting for a chance to strike. It makes for a good story in the future, but as a reader, it just feels weird.
8 Thing We Love: Happy Cyclops
The last time readers saw Cyclops, he was a very different man. He had just returned form the dead into a world where his friends and family were presumed dead. Mutantkind was back on the skids again and he took it upon himself to bring together a team of X-Men to take care of any lingering mutant problems before the inevitable end of mutantkind.
The Cyclops readers see in the Hickman run is completely different from the one who came before. He's still the great leader and soldier he's always been, but he's much happier now. His people are doing well, he has his family around him, and for the first time in ages, things are looking up for everything he loves and believes in.
7 Thing We Hate: A Little Too Happy
In X-Men #2, Cyclops takes Prestige, Rachel Grey-Summers (his daughter from an alternate future), and Cable, Nathan Summers (his son who he sent to a future that was ruled by Apocalypse to cure a disease given to him by Apocalypse) on a trip to investigate another sentient island. It's a fun issue, but it presents a problem.
Prestige and Cable are both rather uncharacteristically quippy throughout the book. It makes for some good interplay, but it also goes completely against both of their characters. That's not the only time this sort of thing rears its head either. In House Of X #6, Wolverine gives a beer to Gorgon, one of his worst enemies. Mutants may be happier than they've ever been, but that doesn't mean that Hickman should completely change their characters.
6 Thing We Love: The Many Lives Of Moira X
Right out of the bat, Hickman hit readers with a big change involving a long time X-Men supporting character. Moira MacTaggert, a human evolutionary biologist who has worked with Xavier since the beginning, was revealed to be a mutant and one with a completely new power: when she dies, her life starts over again, allowing her to change things every time she comes back.
This was a huge change to a character that readers thought they knew and it set the tone for Hickman's run. Nothing was off limits and anything could be changed. He used his abilities to their fullest extent throughout House Of X and Powers Of X, positioning her as one of the most important character in the X-Men mythos.
5 Thing We Hate: The Many Problems With The Many Lives Of Moira X
Unfortunately, Moira's abilities open the doors to a lot of unanswered questions. When she dies, is the timeline ended or does it create an alternate future? What repercussions could her actions have on the timestream? Does her existence put the universe into an infinite loop unless she dies before her mutant abilities kick in?
Beyond that, her powers act as the ultimate reset button, a way out for future writers if they don't like the status quo that Hickman has set up. Knowing that at any time, Moira can be killed and change everything robs the current stories of their impact. This isn't the last time this sort of thing will be highlighted on this list.
4 Thing We Love: The Five
Hickman likes to think outside the box and introduce new things to the books he's done and one of the biggest of those is that he's basically abolished death for the X-Men and the mutant race. Enter The Five.
Goldballs, Tempus, Proteus, Elixir, and Hope Summers, using their powers in concert and some failsafes set up by Xavier, Magneto, and, of all people, Mister Sinister, are able to resurrect any dead mutant. First off, it's just an ingenious use of existing mutants' abilities (and a complete change to Goldballs' powers). Secondly, it allows him to bring back any mutant that has been killed in recent years, giving fans back some of their favorites.
3 Thing We Hate: Death Doesn't Matter
One of the big things about superhero stories is stakes. Knowing that the hero is in danger makes the stories that much more suspenseful and powerful. Sure, superhero don't stay dead, but readers have lost their favorite versions of heroes for long periods of time.
Abolishing death from the X-Men robs the stories of any drama they could have. Any mutant can instantly be resurrected and it cheapens their sacrifice. While it's done in a novel and intelligent way, the X-Men never being in danger will take the claws off the situations they are in.
2 Thing We Love: Xavier Is Back In Charge
Charles Xavier has pretty much been a non-entity in the X-Men book for a very long time, since at least the end of Grant Morrison's New X-Men run, before being killed off by a Phoenix possessed Cyclops in Avengers Vs X-Men. He was resurrected in Charles Soule's Astonishing X-Men run, but stayed out of things until recently.
Hickman changed all of that immediately, putting Charles back in charge of mutantkind and showing that his moves were the ones that made Krakoa's economic power base possible. With Magneto and Moira at his side, Xavier has a new dream for mutantkind, and it's great to have him back.
1 Thing We Hate: Xavier's Creepy Cult Leader Vibe
The biggest problem with the way Hickman's brought Xavier back is his character. This isn't the Xavier readers know from before. It's almost like the change from headmaster of a school to symbol of a race has gone to Xavier's head, because he's acting a lot like a cult leader throughout the books.
In flashbacks in Powers Of X, readers get to see the old Xavier and the change between the two time periods is very noticeable. Is Hickman commenting on what that kind of power can do to a person? Is there more to the whole thing than just a character change? Could Moira's Cerebro modification have anything to do with it? Regardless, this isn't the Xavier that a lot of readers want and it's very jarring.