Marvel Teases “Death of X”, But What Does It MEAN?

Something is coming for one – or all – of the X-Men, and it’s not good. But what is it? And what will the future bring?

Yesterday, Marvel teased the upcoming “Death of X” by issuing a press release with the above photo…and nothing else. I’m not even kidding. I got an almost completely empty email with only the image as an attachment. There’s no explanation, no information, no specific date, nothing. We have no idea if this is a plot arc in the current Extraordinary X-Men series like the Apocalypse Wars, a cross tie-in event with several titles like the Civil War II storyline, or if it will be its own series in the future.

A thought I had last night as I was pondering the ominous preview image was that this could somehow be related to Marvel’s struggle over the cinematic rights to the X-Men franchise, which is currently owned by 20th Century Fox. I obviously wasn’t the only person who had this thought. It’s an easy leap to make, with all the behind the scenes drama between Fox and Marvel for control over what was once a dominating presence. After all, it’s not like Marvel’s been threatening to kill off X-Men or anything. Oh, wait…

If you’ve been keeping up with Farid’s reviews (or, you know, reading the comics yourself), you’ll know that the X-Men are threatened with the Terrigen Mist, which has caused the spread of a disease (M-Pox) that is both a) deadly to existing Mutants and b) causing sterilization, stopping the birth of new Mutants. It’s entirely possible that “Death of X” is related to the ongoing story arc – that “X” in this case doesn’t refer to one particular Mutant, but Mutants in general.

You see, while Terrigen Mist is proving detrimental and sometimes fatal to Mutants, it is conversely increasing the number of Inhumans. Inhumans are similar to Mutants but have one main difference: Marvel owns the film rights (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. deals a lot with Inhumans). Some disagree with the idea that all of the X-Men will be killed off – the franchise is still valuable, even with contentious ownership – but it is still a possibility.

Others speculate that this may tie into Earth X – a concept that was mentioned but never expanded on in last year’s dramatic “Secret Wars” event.

Whether this teases the death of one of the X-Men, or Mutantkind in general, one thing is for certain: Marvel sure knows how to be dramatic!

What do you guys think “Death of X” might mean? Let us know in the comments!

Author: Jamie Sugah

Jamie has a BA in English with a focus in creative writing from The Ohio State University. She self-published her first novel, The Perils of Long Hair on a Windy Day, which is available through Amazon. She is currently an archivist and lives in New York City with her demon ninja vampire cat. She covers television, books, movies, anime, and conventions in the NYC area.

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