New X-Men

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New X-Men
The New X-Men in X-Men: Messiah Complex. Art by Humberto Ramos.
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Schedule	Monthly
Format	Ongoing
Number of issues	New X-Men: 46 (Ended)
Main character(s)	Disbanded Previous: Surge Hellion Dust Elixir Mercury Rockslide X-23 Prodigy Anole Pixie Gentle Armor Xavier Institute students
Creative team as of June 2007
Writer(s)	Craig Kyle Christopher Yost
Artist(s)	Skottie Young
Colorist(s)	Jean Francois Beaulieu
Creator(s)	Nunzio DeFilippis Christina Weir Michael Ryan

New X-Men refers to two superhero comic books published by Marvel Comics within the X-Men franchise. The first was New X-Men, a title that was in use during Grant Morrison's tenure on X-Men, a series which transitioned into the Joss Whedon / John Cassaday launch of Astonishing X-Men. This article concentrates on the second series New X-Men, originally titled New X-Men: Academy X and a continuation of New Mutants.

New X-Men (also New X-Men: Academy X), relaunched from New Mutants volume 2, was launched during the X-Men ReLoad event. It resumes directly where the most recent New Mutants series ended, with the same writers, artists and cast of characters. The Academy X subtitle was dropped from the title when the new creative team of Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost took over the series with issue #20.

Whereas the other X-Men comics mostly deal with established adult mutants, this comic concentrates on the lives of young students residing at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning as they learn to control their powers and, as of late, to survive the backlash against mutants that befell them as part of House of M.

After the 2007 crossover Messiah CompleX, the New X-Men title was canceled. It will be replaced by Young X-Men in April 2008, written by Marc Guggenheim and feature a small squad of the X-Men students, some from Kyle and Yost's run and some new faces.

[edit] Founding

New Mutants/New X-Men began where Grant Morrison's run on New X-Men ended. The school was rebuilt and Emma Frost and Cyclops were named the headmasters of the school. They organized the students fifteen-year-olds and older into several squads who trained together.

Featured are two teams, the New Mutants, whose members tend to be more clean-cut, and the Hellions, whose members are generally more belligerent. The rivalry—not only academically, but certainly also in private matters—plays a significant role in the series.

The cast of this series are described in the following paragraphs.

[edit] Squads

[edit] New Mutants squad

The New Mutants squad's tutor is Dani Moonstar. It is co-led by Wind Dancer and Prodigy.

• Wind Dancer, a.k.a. Sofia Mantega. A girl from Venezuela who controls winds and could hear others' voices carried by the wind from far away. Wind Dancer lost her powers as a result of M-Day and was thought to go back to Venezuela, but it was later revealed she stayed in New York and has since joined the New Warriors.
• Prodigy, a.k.a. David Alleyne, could absorb any non-superhuman talents from nearby people. Although depowered now, he has regained the talents originally acquired before M-Day. (Depowered)
• Icarus, a.k.a. Jay Guthrie, can fly, sing mesmerizingly and heal himself rapidly. Jay's wings were amputated in issue 20 and was killed in issue 26 of the series by Reverend Stryker.
• Wallflower, a.k.a. Laurie Collins, exudes pheromones which alter the feelings of other people. Killed in issue 25 by the Purifiers.
• Elixir, a.k.a. Josh Foley, is an Omega-class biological manipulator who ironically was a rabid mutant-hater before he found out he was one himself.
• Surge, a.k.a. Noriko Ashida, is a Japanese girl who constantly absorbs static electricity and can discharge it as electric blasts or bursts of superhuman speed.

[edit] Hellions squad

The Hellions squad's tutor is Emma Frost. It is led by Hellion.

• Hellion, a.k.a. Julian Keller, is telekinetic.
• Dust, a.k.a. Sooraya Qadir, is a shy girl from Afghanistan who can turn herself into a living whirlwind of dust. She regularly dresses in a niqab.
• Mercury, a.k.a. Cessily Kincaid, a shapeshifter whose body is composed of non-toxic liquid mercury.
• Rockslide, a.k.a. Santo Vaccaro, able to manifest a physical body comprised of solid rock from the immediate environment and launch limbs at great velocity.
• Tag, a.k.a. Brian Cruz, could psionically "tag" a person so that bystanders are compelled to run away from the person.
• Wither, a.k.a. Kevin Ford, can destroy organic matter on touch. He accidentally killed his father when his powers manifested.

[edit] Other squads

There are also other teams advised by different X-Men. For a complete list of students prior to Decimation see Xavier Institute student body.

Alpha Squadron, tutored by Karma (formerly by Northstar). Consists of:

Corsairs advised by Cyclops consists of:

Paragons, tutored by Magma (formerly tutored by Wolfsbane), consists of :

Gambit's squad, introduced in X-Men, consists of:

Rogue's squad, shown in Uncanny X-Men is never named. Storm's squad, mentioned in New X-Men, has one survivor, the student called Gentle.

Iceman's squad- the Excelsiors, Beast's squad- the Exemplars, and Colossus' squad- the Acolytes have only been mentioned, but never actually appeared. It is unknown which squads students such as Armor and Blindfold were in.

[edit] X-Men trainees

In the aftermath of Decimation, the mutant student body in the academy dropped from 182 to 27. At least 45 depowered students were killed. And out of the remaining students, Emma Frost picks a select group to train as "New X-Men":

As time progressed, several members were added and/or earned the right to be in the team.

While other M-day survivors were killed off during villainous attacks by Stryker and his men or left the mansion.

The rest of the students are instructed to remain in school grounds, some providing assistance to the current X-men teams and trainees.

Most of the students listed above were confirmed in New X-Men #21 and in X-Men: The 198 Files. Indra and Quill were confirmed in Decimation - The Day After, while Bling was confirmed in X-Men vol. 2 #177.[1]. Tito Bohusk, one of the children of former Xavier students Beak and Angel, has also retained his mutant powers, which was shown in New Warriors #7.

[edit] New X-Men

The plot summary in this article or section is too long or detailed compared to the rest of the article. Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot.

[edit] Childhood's End

Issues #20-23

Cover of New X-Men #20, pencils by Mark Brooks. This issue marks not only a new direction for the title, but the dropping of Academy X from its title.

As a result of the Decimation event, in which the Scarlet Witch's magicks de-powered most of the mutant population, only 27 of the 182 students enrolled at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning still retain their powers, and the comic changed its name to simply New X-Men. In response to the increasingly desperate situation that mutants now faced, Emma Frost has disbanded all the former training squads (most of which had lost much of their membership to the Decimation) and integrated those students she deemed capable of combat, including new addition X-23, to a new team that is essentially a junior team of X-Men, while relegated the others to the sidelines and an unknown future, since Emma seems to have abandoned the general education program formerly in place at the school.

[edit] Crusade

Issues #24-27

Cover of New X-Men #27. Pencils by Paco Medina.

Of the former New Mutants, Prodigy lost his powers; Wind Dancer left the school almost immediately, but Prodigy has been forced to stay to avoid wide-spread attacks worldwide against former mutants who are now seen as easy targets by mutant-haters. Forty-two of the other de-powered students were killed in an attack by the anti-mutant fanatic, Reverend William Stryker. Furthermore, Icarus was misled by Stryker into allowing his wings to be amputated, and was later killed by Stryker after serving his purpose in leading the former Hellion Dust to her apparent death (although the "vision" showed Dust disappearing as a threat, it was later revealed that the girl who had arrived in the burqa was actually X-23, Dust's roommate with a nearly undefeatable healing factor). A sniper working for Stryker was responsible for the shooting death of Wallflower. Elixir, who had a former romantic relationship with Wallflower and witnessed her death, killed Stryker using a more volatile and dangerous side to his powers. He was reduced to a near-catatonic state due to the stress and overstrain over this event, compounded with his inability to save any of his former classmates after Stryker's prior attack.

[edit] Nimrod

Issues #28-32

Cover of New X-Men #29, pencils by Paco Medina.

After a long and bloody battle that saw numerous students wounded and Quill murdered, The New X-Men were able to defeat the Purifiers and Elixir killed Stryker, which caused his gold skin to turn black. Soon after they received a visit from Ms. Marvel who informed them that Jay was dead and that he had written the letters NIMR on the ground next to him. David deduced that it was Nimrod and was proven right when they received a distress call from Forge, who was forced to repair Nimrod for fear that Storm may be hurt. They then went off, with David in tow, to help Forge, only to be shot down by Nimrod and attacked by a horde of robots. Forge tricked Nimrod into downloading into a new prototype body he had built that has a firewall to keep Nimrod from harming mutants. Nimrod was sent to help the New X-Men defeat the robots, but was mistaken for a threat. When he was attacked, his prime directive took over and he imploded part of the building.

Hellion protected the team from harm, and they attempted to defend themselves from Nimrod, but the robot proved to be unbeatable. Rockslide was incinerated, but was later reassembled with a new look, and the others were unable to defeat Nimrod until David and Forge figured out away to stop him by overflowing his power core. X-23, Mercury, and Surge managed to send Nimrod back in time. X-23 was severely injured, forcing Hellion to ask Emma Frost to push his powers to their fullest so he could make it back to the mansion for help. This caused him to increase his flight speed to above Mach-5 and even allowed him to destroy a Sentinel. Hellion forced Elixir to snap out of his catatonia to heal X-23 and then collapsed to the floor.

[edit] Mercury Falling

Issues #33-36

Cover of New X-Men #33. Pencils by Paco Medina.

Wither has been living in Mutant Town with a strange woman who is revealed to be Selene, the Black Queen, who seduces him into using his powers to kill. Back at the mansion, a memorial is held to honor all the X-Men and students who have perished. David decides to stay at the mansion, and Hellion's "unlocked" powers have become too much for him to control when used.

Mercury is captured by Kimura. She is experimented on and tortured by scientists who use her living mercury to create a skin for Predator X. The New X-Men and some of the Astonishing X-Men, including Emma Frost, arrive to rescue Mercury. Kimura is mentally tortured by Emma, who also gives her telepathic commands her to kill the remaining members of the institute that tortured X-23.

[edit] Quest for Magik

Issues #37-41

Cover of New X-Men #39. Pencils by Skottie Young.

The Institute students are transported from the school into Limbo by Belasco. He captures and tortures several of the students, questioning them on the whereabouts of Illyana Rasputin. The few students who evaded Belasco's capture, including Rockslide, Anole and Pixie, are attacked by a group of Belasco's monsters. Anole's right arm is sliced off during the battle with them. The group of students are then confronted by Illyana who offers her help. Back on Earth, Surge and Hellion, who had avoided capture by not being inside at the time, discover from O*N*E that Amanda Sefton, the current ruler of Limbo, was admitted to a hospital in Germany in a coma.

Illyana reveals that she can defeat Belasco with a Soulsword, but having lost her own, she persuades Pixie to allow her to create a new one from her soul. Before Illyana can finish, she is stopped by Anole, who regrows a new gargantuan arm, and Rockslide. Illyana tells the students that Pixie, who now has a "soul dagger" created from the fraction of her innocence and soul that was taken, is the key to stopping Belasco.

Surge and her group, having revived Sefton, break into Limbo and confront Belasco with the other students. It is revealed that Belasco wants Illyana back because he loves her. He attempted to resurrect her from the House of M version he sensed, but when Illyana came back soulless, Belasco banished her. Pixie kills Belasco with her Soulknife, losing more of her innocence. Illyana attempts to steal the rest of Pixie's soul, but memories of her past self come back when Colossus speaks to her. She sends the X-Men and students home, then retakes the throne of Limbo. At the Institute, Anole and Pixie are made members of the New X-Men.

[edit] World War Hulk

Surge, Hellion, Rockslide, Mercury, Dust, Elixir and X-23 are training with Beast when Hulk arrivies at the X-Mansion. Despite their best efforts, the team is eventually defeated by the Green Goliath, and are only saved by the arrival of the Astonishing team.^[1] In #2 the Stepford Cuckoos, Prodigy, Pixie and other students are seen looking down on the X-Mansion watching the fight. When the Astonishing team is defeated, The Stepford Cuckoos send a telepathic call for help to the Uncanny team, X-Factor and Excalibur. In #3 after all X-Men were defeated and Hulk went to grab Professor X, Mercury launched an attack on him. He threw her towards the grave yard. Hulk asked what happened and Mercury explained the story. Hulk realized that he was being a hypocrite and went back to New York. Elixir helped heal all the injured X-Men too.

[edit] Children of X-Men

Issues #42-43

At the Xavier Institute, the New X-Men and students recover from their recent battles. Rockslide learns that he is a psionic entity that draws from the earth in order to create and reform his golem-like body. Mercury determines Indra to be the youngest student at the Institute, leading him to fear that he will be a priority target for the Purifiers. Surge kisses Hellion as a means of driving Prodigy away from the danger that seems to surround the team. This pushes David to allow the Stepford Cuckoos to unlock the psychic barriers in his mind that prevented him from remembering all of the information he had absorbed as a mutant; he also ends his relationship with Surge. Elixir slips into a depression because of the overwhelming potential of his Omega-level powers, and while he is shaken out of it by Loa's advances, the Institute staff fear that he could become "the next Magneto."

Meanwhile, the Purifiers, now led by Matthew Risman, lure Predator X into pursuing Dust using one of her spare niqabs, until it changes direction towards Alaska.

[edit] Messiah Complex

Issues #44-46

Following the detection of a new mutant in Alaska, Cyclops tells the new X-Men that they are being held back from action. Disobeying his orders, several of the New X-Men, along with Armor, confront the Purifiers in Washington. As they're engaged in combat with them, Lady Deathstrike and her Reavers appear, and badly wound Hellion. They manage to escape due to the intervention of the undercover Rictor, who calms Pixie enough for her to teleport them between the Church and The Institute. Iceman offers to go get them and bring them back to the school. Returning to the mansion for medical help, the students come under attack from Predator X, who had been feasting on the remains of the students buried on the grounds. Confronted by Armor and Gentle, they try to keep the monster back from the medical bay, where it sensed vulnerable and easy prey. Driven back, Pixie remembers that X-23 was able to kill one of the Predators in their first encounter and attempts to teleport it to Laura. However, her spell mis-fires and she teleports all the present students, Predator X, Beast and Nightcrawler to Muir Island, where X-23 and the rest of X-Force and the X-Men were in battle with the Marauders. During the final battle, Cyclops pits the New X-Men against the Marauders, realising the team would be unfamiliar with the abilities of the students. The resulting fight goes to plan, Pixie stabbing the Malice-possessed Omega Sentinel and Dust attacking Exodus internally while Emma Frost distracts him with a telepathic battle. In the fall out of the battle, with Professor X's life hanging in the balance, the future of the students is unknown.

[edit] Young X-Men

The new series premieres on the upcoming "Divided We Stand" X-men storyline debuting on April 2008. Young X-Men will be written by Marc Guggenheim and pencilled by Yanick Paquette. The new line-up is seemingly made up of Rockslide, Dust, Blindfold, Wolfcub and two new characters, Ink and Greymalkin. Recruited by Cyclops, their first mission is to hunt down and destroy the newest incarnation of the Brotherhood. ^[2]

It is also known that five of the original New Mutants--Danielle Moonstar, Magma, Karma, Cannonball and Sunspot will be involved with the first story arc as well.

[edit] Collections

[edit] Trade Paperbacks

[edit] External links

• New X-Men on Marvel.com
• X-Men Fan Site

[edit] References