C2E2 2013 - X-Men Panel

As new mutants emerge around the world, the mutant race may just be able to bounce back! Or at least it COULD, without the looming threats of Apocalypse, the Sentinels, and Cyclops himself! The all-star panel featured Executive Editor Tom Brevoort, Editor Jordan D. White, Rick Remender (UNCANNY AVENGERS), Brian Wood (X-MEN), Ramón Pérez (WOLVERINE & THE X-MEN), Declan Shalvey (VENOM) and Arune Singh (Director of Communications) talking about the future of mutantkind going into the 50th Anniversary of the X-Men. After some chat about what's happening in the coming issues of the X-Books, they hit us with some pretty heavy announcements:

X-Men: Battle of the Atom
Launching in September (the actual anniversary month), Brian Michael Bendis, Jason Aaron, and Brian Wood brings us an epic event that crosses ALL NEW X-MEN, UNCANNY X-MEN, X-MEN, and WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN where the past, present, and future collide. The time-displaced original five X-Men embark on a mission that goes so wrong that they have to go back to the past where they belong.

They are confronted by a team from the far future detailed in conceptual sketches as Kate Pryde, Beast, Ice-Thing, Molly Hayes, Deadpool, Lady Xorn.

"All four of the books crossing over in this event will be changed forever as well as the world of mutants," said editor Jordan D. White. "No one can guess how it ends."

Wolverine Killable
Something so big is going to happen that it makes the historically indestructible Wolverine killable. As our scrappy Canadian mutant is equipped with an adamantium skeleton and an advanced healing factor, many fans will be speculating on how this will be possible. "Sabretooth is assembling X-Men foes to kill Wolverine," said writer Paul Cornell, describing the arc as "a gritty Western style story." Historically, big changes for the popular character has happened in team books while his solo title remained focused on his adventures. This is the first time that such a game-changer will be happening in the Wolverine solo title. The arc leads Wolverine "in the valley of the shadow of death with Kitty Pryde by his side.

With big changes on the horizon, Cornell informed the audience, "Not saying you're gonna like it, saying you're gonna react."

Arune Singh added: "In the end of the book, you might all hate Paul for it," before making a joke that Doctor Octavius will be taking over Wolverine's body, alluding to the controversial end of Amazing Spider-Man , which earned a collective groan from the crowd.

The arc starts off at the end of issue 6 and goes full on in issue 7, coming to you August 2013.

The end of X-FACTOR
Issue #262 will be the end of X-FACTOR in September 2013. This got many gasps from the crowd, as it is a huge fan favorite. "Sales have been good and steady but Peter wants to wrap the story," Arune Singh explained. The general consensus of the panel was that with the current "Hell on Earth War" as epic as a story as writer Peter David had every hoped to accomplish, it seemed a natural end of an era. The issues after "Hell on Earth War" will focus on wrapping up the personal stories of the team, including Polaris interacting with Quicksilver for the first time in the quest to find out if Magneto is truly her father, and an explanation to the connection between Shatterstar and Longshot.

Peter David was unable to attend as he is still recovering from a stroke, but he explained in a hilarious video featuring his daughter the what and why of the decision to end his more than two decade run of the series:

*
Feel free to follow my adventures on Twitter or Instagram. If you're at the convention, I'll be visiting Geeks OUT Booth 1180 so stop by and visit!

GEEK ON!