Marvel Exec Unpacks the X-Men's Post-Krakoa Era In Revealing New Letter: Read

Marvel Senior Editor Tom Brevoort, who currently leads the X-Office, has offered a detailed look at the original plans for the X-Men franchise's latest relaunch, sharing an early list of ideas he sent to previous X-Men Editor Jordan D. White, in which the current generation of stories for Marvel's mutants started to take shape.

On his Substack page, Brevoort shared a look "Behind the Curtain" at his pitch for Marvel's "From the Ashes" Era, which followed the criticially lauded and widely beloved Krakoan Era of the franchise, which largely redefined what X-Men stories were, and what they could be.

This first email between Brevoort and Jordan White shows how passionate the X-Men Editor has been about the ongoing projects since the beginning. For the most part, everything has followed his initial ideas, although with some notable exceptions.

According To Marvel's Tom Brevoort: "This Memo Was One of the Reasons Why [He] Was Handed the Job" Of Rebooting X-Men

Brevoort's Initial "From The Ashes" Pitch

Before taking over Marvel's X-Office, Brevoort had clearly been stewing on these ideas for awhile, as the list of pitches he shared makes clear:

All right, enough time has now gone by that I can probably share this with you. What you see below is the text of the first e-mail I ever wrote about how to lay out a new X-Line in the aftermath of the end of the Krakoa era. It was written before the job of building that line had been given to me, but after an hour-long conversation with former X-Editor Jordan White brainstorming what such a landscape might look like. Given that, it’s remarkable on point as to many of the specific titles that we wound up building. Heck, I even had SENTINELS this early.

X-MEN – Primary heroic super hero team. Focused on universal situations whether they specifically involve mutants or not.

UNCANNY X-MEN – Secondary heroic super hero team. Philosophically at odds with X-Men. Focused primarily on mutant situations.

School X-MEN – Kitty and new players recruit new mutants and train them in the use of their powers. Wear modified school uniforms ala New Mutants or Generation X. This book effectively is NEW MUTANTS but it could use a stronger X-centric title.

X-FORCE – The Krakoa Mossad, clinging to the idea and ideals of their destroyed homeland and taking the fight to its enemies.

X-FACTOR – Government-affiliated mutant squad. Freedom Force. If integration is the goal, then these are the most integrated heroes.

WOLVERINE – Wolverine as a solo player. Pick him up living in remote cabin in Canada, where he’s brought back into the fight by somebody?

THE SENTINELS – People transformed into stealth Sentinels. Programmed to hunt down mutants, but they can do more and be heroic as well.

MYSTIQUE – Cool spy/espionage book with a morally ambiguous lead.

“Professor M”? Magneto wheelchair-bound?

Take founders and ANAD characters off the board for a while?

Brotherhood of X

Need fewer active mutants overall, and need to scatter the ones we know across the globe.

New villains. Old villains in new and interesting places. Some theoretically heroic mutants now in villain roles.

Mutants mostly living under the radar/inside the closet. A Red State future. Trying to pry open the door again/regain lost rights and cultural gains.

Mutants have families and friends and lives apart from being mutant super heroes. Not everybody drops everything else in their lives to live as a mutant full time.

Mutants interacting with normal people in society, good and bad.

Build relations between all X-Teams so they’re each in opposition to at least one other faction, providing story grist. So X-FACTOR doesn’t like SENTINELS because they’re anti-mutant but they’re forced to work with them. One team of X-MEN doesn’t agree with the stance of the other team of X-MEN. X-FORCE has a chip on its shoulder for X-FACTOR, whom they consider sell-outs. And so forth. Arrange the factions like on a wheel.

So a few things changed along the way, of course. X-MEN and UNCANNY switched premises, X-FORCE went in an entirely different direction, the founders and ANAD characters were well in evidence, and so forth. But ultimately, this is very much what we wound up doing. And possibly, this memo was one of the reasons why I was handed the job.

It’s clear that he wanted to see a change in the post-Krakoa landscape . He sought not just change inside the comic books, but from a reader’s standpoint too. Just like Krakoa in the comics, the era overall represented a sense of togetherness among mutantkind. For the first time ever, the biggest names in the franchise banded together to create a singular era of peace. Individual stories, including team stories, were sidelined for the continuance of the overarching plot.

Essentially, Brevoort wanted to divide the X-Men again . To re-establish the unique dynamics between old allies and enemies, writers needed a chance to tell a story unattached to a different plot. Interestingly, Brevoort decided to reduce the overall number of known active mutants. In canon, much of the world’s mutant population died, or fled Earth, after Krakoa, but from an editorial perspective, it has helped establish the narrative importance of the current mutant lineups without over-complicating them with a constant barrage of different characters. Not only does this preserve the stories, but it enhances the impact when lost characters return.

By Focusing On Smaller Teams, And More Intimate Stores, The X-Men Franchise Can Thrive In Perpetuity

The X-Men Are in Good Hands – The Fans'

Another major change to the franchise that Brevoort wanted to initially see was the removal of the original X-Men and the All-New, All-Different X-Men from the major stories. While this wouldn’t have been permanent, its goal was to force the responsibility of recreating a mutant society on the younger generation. Of course, this didn’t end up being the case, but Brevoort has continued to focus on the overall grassroots structure that the various X-Men teams currently possess. By forcing the teams to focus on the surrounding areas, the franchise can now prioritize the finer elements of building a community.

That’s what the X-Men have always been about - community. While global society rejects mutant integration once more, mutants still work locally to create something equally valuable. This way, there can be more stakes again. It’s not just one society at risk, it's multiple smaller bands of mutants that must fight for their philosophies rather than follow the dream of one man. It is refreshing to read how invested Tom Brevoort has been from the beginning, even before assuming the role of X-Office Lead Editor. The X-Men are exactly where they should be, in the hands of a passionate fan.

Source: Tom Brevoort, Substack