Many fans are excited about Marvel’s upcoming X-Men comic reboot, but the end of Krakoa isn’t sitting well with a lot of longtime readers.
The X-Men are undergoing a massive shift in the upcoming next phase of their story, From The Ashes.
Currently, the X-Men are in the throes of the Fall of X, which sees the fragile existence between mutants and humans shaken to its core.
At SXSW, Marvel announced the plans for the new direction following the end of the Krakoa Era, but fans are not entirely on board yet.
Fans are let down by X-Men: From The Ashes’ new direction
Reddit user zayyuhx shared a post to the Xmen subreddit to test the temperature of fans. It consisted of an image of all the Krakoa Era X-men logos and another of the new From The Ashes logos.
“So…how we feeling?” zayyuhx asks the subreddit. Fan reaction is, unsurprisingly, mixed.
For the majority of fans, the tone seems to be dour. The Krakoa Age, which kicked off with 2019’s House of X #1, was heralded as a massive change in direction for the property. Many fans see the new From the Ashes direction as a step back.
“The Krakoa era had too many books, absolutely. But the setting was the first evolution of the X-Men’s progressive basis since Grant Morrison’s run,” NoWordCount said. “This just feels like a massive conceptual step backwards, that exists purely for the sake of brand synergy and appealing to nostalgia.”
“What happened to Krakoa being a “seminal moment” that would permanently change X-Men stuff forever? This kinda feels like they just wanna roll back the last couple years for nostalgia” angry-nitr0-panda added.
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“You know how nobody really talks about that era right before HOXPOX?” ClintBarton616 added, referring to the 2019 story arc We Have Always Been. “Feels like the same energy.”
Others remain hopeful for the new direction, though. Many are excited for a return to classic X-Men stories and settings as the mutants go from being a world power to outcasts and outlaws yet again.
“I am enjoying Fantastic Four, Avengers, Doctor Strange, and Thor right now, and those are all back-to-basics/throwback-ish books IMO,” synthscoffeeguitars said. “So I’m cautiously optimistic that I’ll feel the same about this X line: Good and fun comics that I look forward to reading every week.”
“What I don’t like is what appears to be a solid walking back from Krakoa, an era of X-men I have loved. But we’ll see. However, those are some truly great creative teams.” ThrownAwayFlail added.
“Strong creative team but the 90s throwback stuff makes me extremely worried.” misty_gish said.
The upcoming arc, From The Ashes, returns the X-Men’s status quo to something more classic. The story will see three distinct X-Men teams set up across the USA, each with their own challenges and priorities.
From The Ashes kicks off with X-Men #1 in July 2024.