Now that the Fox-produced series of X-Men films have come to an end with plans to incorporate the characters into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the future, the X-Men comics are also getting rejuvenated. Comic writer Jonathan Hickman, who previously worked on series for both Avengers and Fantastic Four, sat down for an interview with Entertainment Weekly to detail his "multiyear plan" to reinvent X-Men.
Having previously reinvigorated Fantastic Four and Avengers in comic book form, Hickman's position at Marvel seems specifically suited to X-Men. "You don’t want to do archaeology or nostalgia tropes," he explained. "My job is to do new stuff with it, and launch us into a newer age of X-Men." His first two comic series based around the league of mutants will launch later this month, with the Pepe Larraz-illustrated House of X, and R.B. Silva-illustrated Powers of X. Both will run for six issues each.
"This is something I’ve been writing and rewriting in my head since I was a kid," he said. "I’ve been in the kitchen for a long time with it. I get the ingredients, I get what makes a good meal." When the two series come to an end, Marvel plans a huge relaunch of X-Men. Some of his previous contributions to Marvel have resulted in elements taken for movies in the MCU, but when it comes to the X-Men movie series reboot coming in the future, he said it's not something he's tried to think about while writing.
"I think one of the big mistakes that some people make at Marvel Comics is that we are reactive to what they’re doing in the Marvel films," Hickman added. “We should not be taking our creative cues from the direction they’re taking things in the movies. That kind of defeats the point."
However, if they were to use elements from these two mini-series, he wouldn't be mad about it. "When Marvel films gets around to the X-Men and we’ve done interesting stuff and they want to use it, that’s awesome," he continued. "If they don’t, then they don’t. One makes your job expendable, the other one makes you priceless. I like having value to my work."
House of X starts on July 24, with the first issue of Powers of X to follow on July 31.
