Published Jul 20, 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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The X-Men just debuted exciting new costumes, with high-tech nanites giving Wolverine, Rogue, Gambit and more drastic redesigns that even they didn't see coming. Here's why the X-Men are suddenly sporting a whole new wardrobe, and how it's linked to a major death...
The X-Men have a long history of matching costumes, with their very first appearance depicting Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Angel, Iceman and Beast wearing matching uniforms as students at Xavier's school. While the franchise's iconic heroes have worn striking solo outfits over the decades, they've also returned to matching blue and yellow again and again.
However, the new costumes Marvel just introduced are a million miles away from the identical blue and yellow bodysuits. While sharing a major theme, they're also highly unique to each character.
X-Men's Hellfire Murder Introduces New Nanite Costumes
This week's X-Men: The Hellfire Murder will see the mutant heroes attend their yearly gala, this time with a masquerade theme. This year, the festivities are hosted by the villainous Sebastian Shaw, and will lead to a "locked-room mystery" that will see Wolverine and Jubilee attempting to solve a dramatic murder.
X-Men: The Hellfire Murder #1 is written by Saladin Ahmed, Jed MacKay, Gail Simone, Eve L. Ewing and Erica Schultz, and drawn by Tony Daniel, Luciano Vecchio, Federica Mancin, Aaron Kuder, Joëlle Jones, Cory Smith, Mark Morales and Oren Junior, with colors by Fernando Sifuentes and lettering from Ariana Maher.
Now, a preview of the issue shows where these new costumes actually come from. As the X-Men congregate in Shaw's manor, the billionaire supervillain releases sophisticated nanites into the air, dressing his guests for the occasion. There's a matching masquerade theme, but each hero gets a unique new costumed identity.
The fact that these costumes were chosen by Shaw makes them even more significant, since they appear to be his commentary on his longtime foes...
X-Men's New Costumes Include New Codenames
Marvel recently shared Luciano Vecchio's designs for the X-Men's new costumed identities, revealing the codenames for their masquerade identities. With the context of Shaw being the one who created these identities, there are some fun details, and it's apparent that the X-Men's male heroes fare significantly worse than the women.
Wolverine, Cyclops and Gambit find themselves rebranded as the Wolf, the Hound and the Fool, while Jubilee, Rogue and Storm become the Star, the Sun and the Queen - stylistically appropriate for Shaw, who covers his predatory nature with superficial charm and feigned gentility.
It's an exciting idea to have the X-Men's personalities represented through costumes and codenames chosen by their enemies - the type of concept that the Hellfire Gala is uniquely capable of showcasing. However, Shaw's prominence suggests he won't be around to bait the X-Men much longer...
It's Pretty Clear Which X-Men Character Is About to Die
As Shaw announces big plans to be unveiled at the gala and teases his intent to act as a new leader for mutantkind, it's getting more and more probable that he's the victim whose murder Wolverine and Jubilee will be investigating. Shaw is clearly planning something big, and his death would complicate his plans even further.
Shaw being the victim would make this crime even more mysterious, given he is both on the home turf of his own mansion and incredibly hard to kill. Shaw's mutant power allows him to absorb any kinetic energy used against him, with any attack just making him stronger and more durable. With Shaw planning the gala, who had the time and opportunity to think up a way to kill him on his home turf?
The obvious answer is that the Hellfire Gala's crime will be a trick by Shaw himself, but the answer will only be revealed when X-Men: The Hellfire Murder hits comic stands later this week.
X-Men: The Hellfire Murder #1 is coming July 22 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) ·