Uncanny X-Men Returns This November with Disassembled! But Where Is Wiccan?

Marvel Comics’ Uncanny X-Men is returning with a weekly storyline which is teasing the end of the famous mutant team. The 10-part weekly series will debut on November 14, 2018, and is said to feature almost every X-Men member throughout history. While I am clearly excited, I keep wondering what Billy Kaplan aka Wiccan has been up to.

The return of Uncanny X-Men was teased during San Diego Comic-Con 2018, and now Marvel Entertainment has released some details. The first issue is set for a November 14, 2018, release. It will be written by Ed Brisson, Matthew Rosenberg, and Kelly Thompson. The art team includes Mahmud Asrar, R.B. Silva, Pere Perez and Yildiary Cinar. All of them are very familiar names in the comic book industry and I’m looking forward to their work.

The story being told is titled “Disassembled”, and it is a reference to the 2004 storyline Avengers Disassembled by Brian Michael Bendis and David Finch. Avengers Disassembled debuted in August 2004 and concluded in January 2005. It was in the wake of this series that Young Avengers was created and the world got Billy Kaplan/Wiccan and the beginning of the queerest Marvel superhero team ever.

According to Marvel, the upcoming Uncanny X-Men story is an “epic tale of mystery and tragic disappearance” and “an adventure so Earth-shattering, it could very well be the X-Men’s FINAL mission.” The new story also sounds similar to Avengers: No Surrender, another weekly series that ended after 16 weeks (in June 2018) and opened the doors for the current new Avengers comic book series.

Of course, more information about Uncanny X-Men will continued to be shared as the release date nears. If you look at the artwork, you will notice many mutants that don’t necessarily get the spotlight. There is a lot of representation going on and I hope every character gets the chance to shine. Also, seeing a very different looking Psylocke is interesting.

Now, coming to Wiccan. I get he’s not officially a member of any X-Men team in the present timeline. However, I have my fingers crossed he appears in the upcoming story. He is a very powerful mutant after all (literally one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Comics Universe) and that’s why I can’t understand any of the X-Men not reaching out to him for help. Wiccan didn’t even show up when the Terrigen Mist was infecting mutants around the world.

Prodigy, Cannonball, and Sunspot (Billy’s former teammates) are in the artwork, but no Wiccan. Has he decided to live with Hulkling in a dimension he created where everything is perfect? I don’t know. Perhaps the comic book writers don’t want a being as powerful as Billy to be part of storylines because it diminishes high stakes? Again, I don’t know.

The panel below, from New Avengers (2015) Issue 18, is the last we saw  Billy and Teddy. It was released in November 2016.

Wiccan does join the X-Men in certain future timelines (Dr. Strange and the Sorcerors Supreme, Battle of the Atom). I just wish the writers decide to have him join in the present timeline, too.

Are you a fan of Billy Kaplan? Let me know what you think of the upcoming Uncanny X-Men series.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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