Published Sep 15, 2026, 9:00 AM EDT
Robert Wood is a writer and editor based out of Cheshire, England. He is the author of 'The False Elephant: and 99 Other Unreasonably Short Stories' - 100 stories, each told in exactly 100 words.
Rob got into comics via Bendis' Ultimate Spider-Man and the UK anthology 'The Mighty World of Marvel,' which was running Frank Miller's Daredevil, Classic Hulk and Contest of Champions II.
Prior to journalism, he worked in copywriting and copyedited for Oxford University Press. He is on X as @PinchTwigs and Instagram as roobwoodjourno.
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There's no couple in X-Men lore more dedicated than Cyclops and Jean Grey, and yet Scott Summers is now leading a dedicated anti-telepath team assembled to take down the love of his life.
The new team brings together a roster of mutants who are immune to telepathic attack, all for the purpose of hunting down Jean Grey and Emma Frost after the longtime X-Men members go rogue. But for once, Cyclops is on the wrong side.
The team appear in the recent What If...? X-Men #1 - an alt-universe story which explores a timeline where Cassandra Nova killed her 'brother' Charles Xavier in the womb, taking his role as a mentor of the franchise's mutant heroes and corrupting them into her service.
Cyclops, aka Scott Summers
The field leader of this new X-Men team, Cyclops believes that Cassandra Nova took him in and helped him control his powers, seemingly at the cost of one of his eyes. In fact, she killed his brother Havok and isolated Scott at her academy, training him up as an attack dog to track down any of the captured telepaths that escaped her grasp.
What If...? X-Men #1 comes from the creative team of Ashley Allen, Sumit Kumar, Sonia Oback and Clayton Cowles.
As in mainstream X-Men lore, Cyclops can fire powerful blasts of concussive force, with a maximum output comparable to an atomic bomb. He's the only member of the team who isn't immune to telepathy, allowing Nova to take control of his mind and use his powers as her personal gun.
Wolverine, aka Logan
In this timeline, Cassandra Nova contrived a fake 'rescue' of Wolverine from Weapon X, using his gratitude to turn him into her personal weapon. Wolverine's design signifies that he never truly escaped however, with his visor mimicking the brainwashing helmet used by the anti-mutant black ops operation.
As in Marvel's mainstream, Wolverine possesses a powerful healing factor and enhanced senses, as well as bone claws coated in unbreakable adamantium. Also as on Earth-616, Wolverine possesses multi-layered telepathic resistance, with his shattered memories making it incredibly hard for any telepath to either read or control his mind, though it isn't impossible.
Wolverine is particularly immune when he enters a berserker rage, at which point he acts on pure instinct. In Marvel's mainstream, Wolverine has used his berserker rages to defeat telepathic fighters like 'Mr. X' who can predict his moves by reading his mind, showing the pronounced difference between the two states.
Rogue, aka Anna Marie
One of X-Men's heaviest hitters, Rogue has two distinct power sets. First, her natural mutant ability to drain the memories, skills and powers of anyone she makes physical contact with. In the timeline of What If...? X-Men, Nova deliberately triggered Rogue's powers at the most traumatic opportunity, convincing her she's a 'monster' in order to make her more malleable.
Rogue's second power set comes from an early encounter with Carol Danvers' Captain Marvel (then Ms. Marvel), when she nearly killed Carol by absorbing her lifeforce. The experience permanently increased Rogue's strength and durability while also granting her the power of flight.
Because Danvers' memories were also absorbed into Rogue's mind, she has two consciousnesses which (in both this and mainstream canon) she's able to cycle to fend off telepaths. Given her powers and psychic immunity in this continuity, it seems Nova pitted her against Carol Danvers at some point.
Psylocke, aka Betsy Braddock
Nicknamed "Cassie's demon" by Emma Frost, Psylocke is a former initiate of the ninja death cult known as the Hand. In Marvel's mainstream, both Betsy Braddock and Kwannon have used the 'Psylocke' codename, but Betsy is the one with the history of telepathic immunity, making it more likely that this is her.
Psylocke is unique in being a telepath who Nova allows to roam free, but only because she's achieved total psychic dominance over her. Nova is even able to manifest her body within Psylocke, tearing her way free in order to corner Jean and Emma.
Psylocke possesses immense telepathic and telekinetic power, as well as expertise at honing psionic energy into a 'psychic knife' that scrambles the minds of those impaled with it. In mainstream canon, her telepathic immunity was a gift from her reality-warping brother Jamie Braddock, aka the mutant Monarch.
Destiny, aka Irene Adler
A surprise member of Cyclops' roster, Destiny has never actually served on the X-Men before, instead acting as a longtime rival and member of the Brotherhood. Destiny possesses the ability to see all possible futures, using major events as waypoints she can use to guide events towards her preferred outcome.
Destiny uses a crossbow to hunt Nova's enemies, using her powers to predict where her opponents will step next. She's a surprisingly ineffective member of Nova's X-Men, and given the nature of her powers and her tactics in Marvel's mainstream, it's entirely possible that she joined the team specifically because she foresaw Jean and Emma escaping Nova's control, and is working undercover to ensure her defeat.
Destiny has minor telepathic abilities that she mostly dedicates to communicating with those closest to her and hiding herself from other telepaths. This is aided by her seeing so many different potential futures at once, making it incredibly difficult to parse her thoughts.
Cassandra Nova Xavier
A psychic parasite known as a 'Mummundrai,' Nova was drawn to Charles Xavier in the womb due to his immense mutant potential. Copying his DNA, Cassandra was able to construct a biological form possessing Xavier's Omega-level telepathy, but was destroyed in the womb by her 'brother.'
In Marvel's mainstream, she used her powers to knit together a new body over several decades and attacked the X-Men, stealing Xavier's identity. The main conceit of What If...? X-Men #1 is a world where instead of Nova, it was Xavier who died in the womb, leaving his sister free to predate on mutantkind and strive for godhood.
In the world of What If...? X-Men #1, Cassandra has begun a campaign of infecting the world's telepaths with Mummundrai, siphoning their power to fuel her own abilities. As a result, she is able to warp reality itself, limited only by the existence of a plane of reality known as the Netherworld, which tethers her to a physical state.
As the comic ends, the implanted Mummundrai hatch, turning Nova into a psychic dragon whose limits have been totally removed, and she consumes the Netherworld, seemingly achieving godhood. While her X-Men roster have turned against her, she ends this one-shot issue way beyond the powers of any mutant team.
What If...? X-Men Sets Up A Whole New Mutant Saga
What If...? X-Men #1 ends on a huge cliffhanger, with Cassandra Nova assuming her ultimate form and Jean Grey unlocking her full potential as the Phoenix. While Marvel has yet to announce a follow-up to this What If...? oneshot, this story is very much unfinished, and there's a lot more to do with this unique reality where Cassandra Nova supplanted Xavier.
In a twisted world where one of the X-Men's biggest villains took over as their mentor, Cyclops leads a mutant roster dedicated to hunting down rogue psychics, unknowingly bringing about a psionic apocalypse.
What If...? X-Men #1 is available now from Marvel Comics.
TV Show(s) X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men, X-Men (1992), X-Men: Evolution (2000), Wolverine and the X-Men (2008), Marvel Anime: Wolverine, Marvel Anime: X-Men, Legion (2017), The Gifted (2017), X-Men '97 (2024)
Video Game(s) X-Men: Children of the Atom (1994), Marvel Super Heroes (1995), X-Men vs. Street Fighter (1996), Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter (1997), Marvel vs. Capcom (1998), X-Men: Mutant Academy (2000), Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (2000), X-Men: Mutant Academy 2 (2001), X-Men: Next Dimension (2002), Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds (2011), Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (2011), X-Men Legends (2005), X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse (2005), X2: Wolverine's Revenge (2003), X-Men (1993), X-Men 2: Clone Wars (1995), X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse (1994)
First Film X-Men (2000)
Character(s) Professor X, Cyclops, Iceman, Beast, Angel, Phoenix, Wolverine, Gambit, Rogue, Storm, Jubilee, Morph, Nightcrawler, Havok, Banshee, Colossus, Magneto, Psylocke, Juggernaut, Cable, X-23
Comic Release Date 213035,212968
English (US) ·