The post-Inferno to end of the Krakoa era X-titles thread

[Clive_Reston]

Observations first, then wild speculation!

X-Force #37 continues the ongoing plot, although there's room for space both before and after #36 if necessary. Logan's not around, despite his appearance on the cover. Legion of X #10 picks up right after #9 (and has a nice little allusion to "The Ballad of Halo Jones"!). Scarlet Witch #2/2 includes Storm and takes place shortly after Judgment Day. Venom #16 continues directly from #15, and (like all the other Dark Web books except Mary Jane & Black Cat, which remains anomalous) leads into Dark Web Finale #1. And this week's Love Unlimited and X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comics continue their respective ongoing storylines.

Now for the wild speculation. Legion of X and Immortal X-Men > Sins of Sinister continue to appear wildly incompatible with each other (down to the editorial note at the end of the former, which says "Follow Nightcrawler and Mother Righteous into Sins of Sinister #1!"). BUT.

Immortal #9 indicates that Moira VI.10 is Sinister's last opportunity to get his assassination attempt right (or "I have to go back to Moira V and do Judgment Day again"--or, it seems, just give up on that plan and go forward). When VI.10 dies, everything will presumably reset to shortly before the Quiet Council meeting in that issue. In Sins of Sinister #1, when we see Doug a year in the future, he's got his Warlock arm. At the end of that issue, in year 10, Sinister is referring to a "first Moira run": presumably he starts Moira VII.1 as a new save point when he comes out of the Pit after the first year. But then, when he wants to find VII.1 to kill her and start over, she's gone... and (here's where the baseless speculation starts) she (and, I suspect, VI.10) don't die until the Dominion comes and eats the Earth 1000 years later. Which takes us back to shortly before the beginning of Immortal #9, at which point Sinister, having seen how catastrophically his plan goes, abandons it...

...And meanwhile, Legion of X #9 suggests that the catastrophic events of #9-10 only happen because Doug and Warlock came by the Altar at the right moment. If Legion #7-10 take place after the Council meeting in Immortal #9 as it goes if Sinister abandons his plan (when Kurt's horns are brand-new), post-SOS, then the assassinations in Immortal #9 and the SoS timeline are what kept Doug and Warlock from visiting the Altar!

I am probably overthinking this again, but it's fun to think about.

[Clive_Reston]

Just a couple of titles this week. Storm & the Brotherhood of Mutants #1 is off in the Sins of Sinister timeline, and is excellent (also, we may want to take note that Quick's first appearance was in X-Men Red #6 a few months ago!). And Bishop: War College #1 is at some point after Marauders #7-10. Meanwhile, both Infinity Comics serials from the past few weeks are still going on, with no further placement indicators.

[Clive_Reston]

Lots of books this week, and one very interesting/what're-we-gonna-do-about-this development: Marauders #11 is, I think, the first print-first comic to explicitly footnote one of the current digital-only Infinity Comics! ("Nature Girl's oil rig attack" is footnoted to X-Men Unlimited [Infinity Comic] #44.) [And, I think, it may be the first digital-only comic to be footnoted in a print-first comic since GAM3 12 footnoted "The Hunt for the Tomorrow Stone"? I must be forgetting something.] Also, Nightcrawler appears with horns.

Nightcrawlers #1 is off in the Sins of Sinister timeline... but includes a text page in which that timeline's Sinister specifically remembers the "turning it off and on again" scene from Legion of X #7. Hm. I gather we're going to have to wait a few months to resolve the "where does the SoS timeline branch off" question.

Wolverine #30 continues the sequence of the past few issues. One-eyed Beast shouldn't appear after this, I suspect.

Despite their connecting covers, X-Men #19 and Captain Marvel #46 do not actually intersect in terms of events--looks like that won't happen until Captain Marvel #49. X-Men notes that "Knowhere descended into a black hole" (i.e. GOTG5 6) "before Krakoa was revealed," which doesn't seem like a problem, but is worth keeping in mind. This issue (and the last two pagers of #18) seem to be after Cyclops' scene in Captain Marvel #43.

X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #74 is a one-off with the X-Terminators; it's "Valentine's Day," but that can be a topical reference.

Speaking of holidays and digital-only comics, though, since we've had some Christmas-season-specific things recently, particularly Dark Web, Mighty Marvel Holiday Special: Iceman's New Year's Resolution Infinity Comic #1 (published at the end of 2021) can finally go around here! (If we're going with my chain of logic whereby the 2021 Hellfire Gala was a New Year's Eve party, the Iceman special can't have happened then; this year, Christian Frost is alive and Bobby's not busy terraforming Mars...)

And one other small note: Escapade is on Krakoa as of Marauders 10, so her first appearance (in Marvel's Voices: Pride (2022)) should be sometime before Marauders 7-10.

[Clive_Reston]

Tiny update this week. Immoral X-Men #1 is off in the Sins of Sinister timeline (which appears to be taking place in publication order, although the three titles involved are changing their publication sequence every month). Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain #1 has no placement cues more specific than "sometime after Knights of X." Sabretooth & the Exiles #4 is still in the everything-happening-very-quickly mode of the miniseries so far, meaning it's still sometime before Destiny of X (also, Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead, as they say). Deadpool #4 is... an X-title in name (and trade dress) only, for the most part, although this issue includes both a text page from Sage and a thing happening to Valentine Vuong that is bizarrely similar to something that happens to Emma Frost in Immoral X-Men this week. And X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #75 starts a new storyline involving Marrow, Feral, Artie and Leech; it could really go anywhere around here so far.

[Clive_Reston]

This week's X-Force #38 follows directly from #37. One-eyed Beast is still around, so it's before Wolverine #30.

Rogue & Gambit #1--and huh, those card suits in the logo design seem unusually loaded right now--is a bit of a conundrum, since it involves the two title characters (currently busy in Captain Marvel), Lady Deathstrike (currently busy in Deadpool) and Reuben Brousseau (currently busy in Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain). To say nothing of Juggernaut being identified as a villain! It's definitely after X-Men Red #10 for Manifold.

Jean Grey, Rogue, Logan and Jubilee turn up at the end of Spider-Man: Unforgiven #1, leading into next month's X-Men: Unforgiven.

[Midnighter]

A few other elements from other series:
in She-Hulk 10 there is a brief sequence in which Jen fights alongside Iceman and Ms. Marvel against demons. I think it's meant to be a reference to Dark Web.
In Strange Academy: Finals 4 Magik continues to have the look in black, so the whole saga should take place before New Mutants 25/28.
Presumably at the end of Finals Dessy will return to normal and be a student again, since she appears in Hulk 12 at the Academy along with Dr. Strange (who should still be dead in Finals) and Zoe Laveau.
Based on Magik's look and attendance at the Academy, the sequence of events should be:
Strange Academy: Finals - New Mutants 25/28 - Midnight Sons - Return of Doctor Strange (Strange 10, I think after Dark Web) - Hulk 12

[StrayLamb]

A few other elements from other series:
in She-Hulk 10 there is a brief sequence in which Jen fights alongside Iceman and Ms. Marvel against demons. I think it's meant to be a reference to Dark Web.

I think it is supposed to be a reference to Dark Web, but that probably won't work. She-Hulk 10 has to take place before Reckoning War for Jack of Hearts, and Reckoning War has to take place prior to Dark Web for Ben Reilly.

In Strange Academy: Finals 4 Magik continues to have the look in black, so the whole saga should take place before New Mutants 25/28.
Presumably at the end of Finals Dessy will return to normal and be a student again, since she appears in Hulk 12 at the Academy along with Dr. Strange (who should still be dead in Finals) and Zoe Laveau.
Based on Magik's look and attendance at the Academy, the sequence of events should be:
Strange Academy: Finals - New Mutants 25/28 - Midnight Sons - Return of Doctor Strange (Strange 10, I think after Dark Web) - Hulk 12

There may be a problem with Strange Academy and Midnight Suns.

The miniseries opens with Agatha Harkness a professor at Strange Academy, and we see Zoe, Iric, Alvi, and Dessy among the students, while Magik is already wearing her new golden armor.
In Strange Academy 17, however, many students leave the school, including Zoe and Dessy.
Some return in Strange Academy 18 but Dessy, Zoe and Iric follow Emily to the Dark Dimension. In this issue we see elderly Agatha Harkness and Magik in the old headpiece (but otherwise in civilian clothes) at a teachers' meeting at the beginning.
Zoe and others return to the school in Strange Academy: Finals 2, but not Dessy and Iric.
At the end of Midnight Suns, however, Agatha Harkness is thought to be dead (she is actually rejuvenated), and Dessy (in a non-demonic version as seen in Finals) is happy to rejoin Zoe at Strange Academy.

It would therefore seem impossible for Agatha Harkness to be present at the reunion in Strange Academy 18. Unless you place Midnight Suns between pages 1 and 2 of this issue.
On page 1 of Strange Academy 18 the teachers are talking about the fact that some students are dropping out of school, and increasingly so.
On page 2 we see that they are almost all in the basement of the Sanctum Sanctorum.
It is possible that while Emily and others left the school immediately after Strange Academy 17, others (Zoe, Dessy, etc.) stayed for the period when Midnight Suns took place, and then left the school before page 2.

Looks like we'll have to make a choice between Magik's look and Agatha Harkness' availability.

[Clive_Reston]

Looks like we'll have to make a choice between Magik's look and Agatha Harkness' availability.

I suspect that Magik has kept her old (black) outfit to wear sometimes, when the gold armor is in the wash or whatever: she's also wearing it on pg. 7 of Immortal X-Men 10, for what that's worth.

[Clive_Reston]

This week's Nightcrawlers #2 jumps the Sins of Sinister timeline another 90 years forward (if you're wondering what all that Krakoan on the text page translates to, it's just the series titles and issue numbers of the 11 issues involved in Sins of Sinister). New Mutants: Lethal Legion #1 is just sometime after the end of the recent New Mutants series. X-Men #20 continues the Brood storyline that's also going on in Captain Marvel. Scarlet Witch #3 guest-stars Polaris, but it's not particularly placement-sensitive (of course, it's a Steve Orlando comic, so it connects to some deep cuts, specifically the Sword in the Star). And Mary Jane & Black Cat #4 is, somehow, apparently still happening during Dark Web (S'ym is involved; I suspect there's now a generation of creators who know S'ym well but don't recognize who he's based on).

[Clive_Reston]

Wolverine #31 nominally starts a new storyline, but picks up immediately after the end of #30. Bishop: War College #2 and Captain Marvel #47 both continue directly from their previous issues as well. Immoral X-Men #2 is off in the Sins of Sinister +100 timeline. And The X-Cellent vol. 2 #1... continues to have zilch to do with any other X-books (although Doctor Strange appears).

[Clive_Reston]

This week: Marauders #12 wraps up that series, and Storm & the Brotherhood of Mutants #2 continues the Sins of Sinister timeline. (Worth noting: Storm's connection to Ayesha, which is a bit of a story point there, seems to have first been mentioned in the Marvel Tarot one-shot back in 2007... and I don't think has otherwise come up aside from last month's Scarlet Witch #2 backup story!)

The interesting stuff this week is over on Marvel Unlimited. Marvel's Voices Infinity Comic #44 and 45 begin a story with Negasonic Teenage Warhead, who has apparently left Krakoa since we saw her last (in X-Men #8); it also involves Deadpool, Emma Frost, etc. And X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #79 finishes up the Marrow/Feral arc, and involves Chamber having died (and been beheaded?) recently. I'm sure I'm overlooking something obvious, but when did that happen?

[Michael]

Also, just to note, Illyana is wearing her black costume AGAIN in Marauders 12. I think we're definitely going to have to go with "Illyana keeps a spare copy of her old costume".

[Clive_Reston]

I think we're definitely going to have to go with "Illyana keeps a spare copy of her old costume".

Honestly, I am very happy about that--makes things much easier.

There's a new arc beginning in this week's X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #80, with Pity Girl, Good Arson, etc., from the story in the 2022 Marvel's Voices: Pride special. Jubilee appears; so do (bearded) Nightcrawler, Prof. X, Storm (in an old costume; she keeps one of those too!), Emma Frost, et al.

Jubilee is also in X-Men: Unforgiven #1, along with Rogue, Logan, Jean and the Treehouse. Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain #2 has no evident placement considerations. Deadpool #5 continues to be only semi-nominally an X-title. Sabretooth & the Exiles #5 finishes that miniseries, still pretty much right after the previous Sabretooth mini (although its final page could be much later, which I suspect will be necessary when we get to the follow-up).

This week's Invincible Iron Man #4 has Feilong, Emma Frost and Armor in it, and Gerry Duggan has noted that he's coordinating the timelines of that series, X-Men and the forthcoming Uncanny Avengers series. Also, I didn't notice Emma's appearance (along with Lourdes Chantel!) in Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #8 a few months ago; it's brief but it's very funny.

[Clive_Reston]

Wow, there are three different X-related Infinite Comics serials running right now! Besides the X-Men Unlimited one I mentioned last week (and bearded Nightcrawler may necessitate nudging back some other X-Men Unlimited storylines if we want to keep it sequential; I'll see how things shake out after Sins of Sinister), there's the Marvel's Voices Infinity Comic serial that started with #44 (with Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Deadpool & Emma Frost), and now also Love Unlimited: Gwenpool Infinity Comic starting with #43 (which prominently involves Wither and Elixir, for those of you who miss the 2003 New Mutants series)...

Also this week: Rogue & Gambit #2 (Black Panther appears), Wolverine #32 (mostly the day after #31), and Immoral X-Men #3 (which is, as expected, about 900 years after Storm and the Brotherhood of Mutants #2 in the SoS timeline).

Meanwhile, wow that Fall of X teaser looks promising.

[Clive_Reston]

This week's Captain Marvel #48 and X-Men #21 both continue their parts of the Brood thing. I don't *think* we've already seen the call for help from Kwannon that appears in the X-Men issue; it'll apparently all resolve in Captain Marvel #49. Storm & the Brotherhood of Mutants #3 continues directly from Immoral X-Men #3, and the Infinity Comics serials continue this week.

Two other small notes. Last week's Wolverine #32 has a Quiet Council scene... but neither Nightcrawler nor Sinister are present, which could mean something or could just mean they were elsewhere that day.

And, continuing with the idea that "mutants keep their old costumes around to wear when their new costumes are in the wash," I'm going to say that Thunderbird is one of those, which means that 1) Giant-Size X-Men: Thunderbird can be moved back so it's closer to New Mutants #24, 2) therefore X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #44-49 no longer has to take place between pages of X-Men Red #3, and can in fact move back to where I've got #41-43, shortly before Destiny of X starts. (There's a Council meeting in #46, but we very conveniently don't see Nightcrawler, Hope or Magneto at it, and Storm has an old costume on too! Destiny and Colossus are present, though, so it's definitely after Inferno as well as after GSX: Thunderbird and, obv, X-Men Green.)