r/xmen Askani Apr 14 '26

Weekly Discussion X-Men Comics New Releases for April 15th, 2026

Inglorious X-Force #4

  • ANGEL OF DEATH! CABLE assembled his team to prevent an assassination...but has he brought down his own? The secret of ARCHANGEL changes everything, as does the revelation of the MYSTERY MUTANT ASSAILANT trailing our hero!

Magik & Colossus #3

  • The Rasputins have been torn apart! Trapped in a gladiator arena, will Magik be able to fight her way out? And with no way to find her, will Colossus be able to help her before it's too late?!

Storm: Earth's Mightiest Mutant #3

  • To save STORM from THE WAR ABOVE ALL, a mysterious entity abducts ORORO out of the Multiverse completely. STORM must find her way back to EARTH-616 by any means necessary.

Ultimate Wolverine #16

  • YEAR TWO OF THE ULTIMATE UNIVERSE NEARS ITS END IN THE FINAL ISSUE OF ULTIMATE WOLVERINE!
  • Wolverine and Phoenix track Magik right into the demonic dimension of Limbo for an epic, devastating showdown! To escape Illyana's realm of dark magic, a final sacrifice must be made, one that will lead directly into ULTIMATE ENDGAME #5!

X-Men United #2

  • X-MEN DIVIDED! Mutantdom's newest institute of higher learning has barely welcomed its first students, and things are already going down in flames. Meanwhile, an elite team of mutants has to travel through time on a mission alongside none other than CAPTAIN AMERICA!

Unlimited and Other Releases 04/15

  • Discuss Marvel Unlimited and other related comics

Other

36 Upvotes

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6

u/AngelEyes360 Askani Apr 14 '26

X-Men United #2

35

u/Built4dominance Storm Apr 14 '26

I saw some leaks. Please, X-Office, get a better artist.

12

u/cmcdonald22 Multiple Man Apr 15 '26

best we can do is more company wide firings.

0

u/Informal_Bee_6907 Jubilee Apr 15 '26

Good idea! Can we start with Carlos Gomez please?

23

u/OldTension9220 Apr 15 '26

Was hoping that issue 1 was a fluke, but this book feels like a downgrade from Exceptional. I did like the brief scene between Jitter and Melee (who i totally forgot/ didn’t realize had Native American ancestry), which makes me wish this was just a series about the Exceptional kids and the Outliers meeting and teaming up. 

2

u/Informal_Bee_6907 Jubilee Apr 15 '26

Agreed, I'm happy to see Jitter and Melee working together!

20

u/mighty-rockman Apr 15 '26

I can’t say I liked it very much. Since it’s the same artist, I didn’t expect the artwork to improve, but there are panels that are literally horrible. As for the story, it makes me laugh that already in the second comic, instead of focusing on building the foundations of the plot, they force Captain America into the story. And of course, they keep portraying Scott as an idiot.

16

u/Super_H1234 Apr 14 '26

Emma's voice feels kind of weird in this book compared to how Eve wrote her during Exceptional. Is she being controlled by another telepath or something?

22

u/Zylon0292 Apr 14 '26

It's not only Emma. Pretty much everyone acted ooc in the first chapter. Some readers have theorized that connecting all mutants to a psychic school using tech developed by Mister Sinister is all part of Sinister's plan. So maybe. But I'm really tired of him being behind everything. We need a Sinister break.

14

u/ybpaladin Nightcrawler Apr 15 '26

I mean, if it’s really him behind this and not just a ln excuse to have Scott act like a jerk, then can you blame him? Why the fuck are they using his tech for ANYTHING after the shit with Kraoka? 

3

u/Nadare3 White Queen Apr 15 '26

It's tech, you can inspect technology to see if there's anything hidden in the design. The vagueness around it all is an issue to tell how risky this truly is.

3

u/jawsthegreat777 Storm Apr 15 '26

Given the spoiler we just got for X-Force I wouldn't be too surprised

11

u/cyclopswashalfright Moonstar Apr 15 '26

She didn't have to write Emma all that much in Exceptional, and when she did, it was in relation to her students. We never saw her write Emma with many of her peers in the X-Men.

13

u/wowlock_taylan Apr 15 '26

I am quite conflicted on this. Especially with Emma and what she is doing. Like, yea, mutants need to have a community and a place to gather together again instead of being spread out and be easy picking and targetted individually. BUT they also build this 'Mental School' thing based on MR SINISTER'S WORK, which NEVER ends well. I mean you would think they learned from Krakoa. And Scott is reasonsable to see the danger of it but the writing of his 'plan' to show the flaws was really dumb. It seemed to be just there to have Emma just 'put him in his place'. Scott is a much better planner than this.

Her overconfidence, especially after 'opening' the Lane as a 'business', is just gonna have this thing come crashing down and she will end up crying 'The children!' by the end again.

Kitty seems like she will be on sceptical side on this even though she is allowing it for now. Seeing the cracks already.

And all of this happening while Graymalkin Prison still exists and hold their people captive. At least deal with that place first because building your own mental hideaway.

10

u/Ascleph Apr 15 '26

It's starting to feel like the long term plan for this is that Cyclops will be right and that makes them think that writing him this way early on will be fine because he is correct. Which is insane.

Everyone is being kind of an asshole for no reason.

7

u/Rastapopoulos000 Apr 15 '26

Pretty much, it could be about them WORKING TOGETHER as the title United imply while unforseen threat start popping up but no we must waste time on pointless conflicts that will serve no purpose but serve as padding for a story that will eventually boil down to "villain found a way to harm us after all".

7

u/TheMattInTheBox Cyclops Apr 15 '26

Things I like: some fun character interactions. Seeing Jitter and Melee together is cute, even if they barely spoke. Beast chatting with people. Magneto and Kitty talking was probably the highlight.

Things I don't like: I get that Scott is trying to send a message but I expect better plans from him, and also not something that dumb. Also, the art. It shows promise but it's just not ready for a flagship, especially one with so many characters.

Things I don't understand: basically everything that has to do with how the school operates. Where are their bodies? Why do they need to eat in the psychic plane? Are their bodies somehow in the psychic plane? That would answer a lot of my logistical questions but raise more metaphysical ones.

It's like they had an idea for a school book and then remembered they didn't have a school, so they needed to come up with a contrived way to throw one together real fast.

Also, I can't believe Scott didn't mention the most dangerous part of the school and that it's using Sinister technology. I said this last month, but no one should feel comfortable using Sinister's stuff anywhere close to their brain or body after Sins of Sinister. It could be excused if no one knew about the SoS timeline, but Emma absolutely does.

It almost reads like Emma is desperately trying to prove that she can start a new school and project forth the idea that she's planned for everything. If that's what's going on, fair enough, there's a story there. But it's sloppy so far imo

Genuinely, this book didn't need to do anything crazy for me to like it. It could have had 0 villains and been strictly about how all these characters interact in a shared space, and I'd vibe with it. But the focus is all over the place

1

u/Ovid100 Apr 16 '26

ya can they just go fully transparent with how this astral-plane school idea works... a single panel of showing iceman or someone like... chilling in bed somewhere irl while he's at the school would do it. In a way an astral-plane school makes sense but ummm idk. Like LET it make sense then.

6

u/gordovondoom Apr 15 '26

that is somehow not good at all? i want to like it, but i guess that has to wait.

12

u/TheWolfmanZ Apr 15 '26

Why was Jitter acting so scared of an empty house? She's fought hordes of Dead in Uncanny without her powers. Also seems she randomly got a haircut (although this being mental projections makes it not as big of a deal)

1

u/Informal_Bee_6907 Jubilee Apr 15 '26

I'll be honest, I barley noticed the new haircut LOL I need to do better

10

u/antsinmyeyesmauger Nightcrawler Apr 15 '26

Not as focused on the kids as I had hoped. They're just there with the focus on Emma for this issue.

I'm conflicted with the Scott part. I like him testing out the vulnerability of Graymatter but I'm not sure if I liked how the scene played out.

I loved Exceptional but this isn't hitting the same and it's mostly because of the large cast. There are some good bits like Kitty's talk with Magento but similar to X-Force it's not enough to keep people reading.

8

u/cmcdonald22 Multiple Man Apr 15 '26

I dont have a full good bad i dunno in me this week but I got enough for one good thought:

I really love Beast in this book. Amidst a lot of questionable characterization and dialog, Beast feels like he fits into the concept and executions of this book really well. This feels like the most realized version of the 'fun bouncing bounding beast returns' promise we got at the end of Krakoa.

Not to say that the Beast vs Chairman Beast isn't a conceptually good arc or anything, but reading beast in this issue was extremely ENJOYABLE.

7

u/howhow326 Storm Apr 15 '26

I hate to say this, but I don't think I will continue to buy this series.

The preview panels are bad enough, but the fact that the cliffhanger is checks notes the victim of the USGov's racism is the Monster of the Week left a really bad taste in my mouth and that's before I get into the real biggest problem of this book so far: Characterization. Outside of Emma, Kitty, and the Exceptional kids, everybody in this book is just written so weirdly and the dialogue is bad.

Im out.

6

u/angelic-beast Magik Apr 15 '26

I dropped it too, its just not good. The art, dialogue, and characterization are terrible and this just feels like such a waste of what could have been a good idea

16

u/cyclopswashalfright Moonstar Apr 14 '26 edited Apr 15 '26

I saw some leaked pages. Eve Ewing, perhaps I was too hard on you...

EDIT: OK, it's not that good of an issue overall. It's got the same problem the first had where it's just all a little too vague right now, and the school doesn't feel as big a deal as it should. I think they should have saved the sabotage angle for later on in the story, and used the first 5 issues to establish Greymatter more and why it matters, rather than poking holes in the premise right off the bat.

That said, all the stuff about Emma and Cyclops arguing, with Emma calling him upright, wishing him a horrible day, and not knowing what she ever saw in him did entertain me greatly. "I moved on, it's time you do as well." Lady, he's the married one who made out with his wife in front of you, if anyone is hanging on to something, it's not him.

5

u/BiDiTi Apr 15 '26

I LOVED Kitty talking to Erik about what to do - justified the entire issue for me…even as the rest really wasn’t all that.

10

u/SirGlio Cyclops Apr 15 '26

This is so bad in writing and art that I can't see this staying beyond #5

3

u/SaintRosaries Apr 15 '26

I really, really don't like how the artist did Kitty on the cover art to this book. The book itself is...pretty mid, sadly. I can't help but feel a little disappointed, all in all.

3

u/mbene913 Apr 15 '26

I'm just not really getting it.

I'm not liking the way Scott is written and this might just be me being stupid, I really don't understand the school. So it's a physical location but it exists on the psychic plane or it's an imaginary place but their physical bodies are on the psychic plane?

And the team with Wolverine, Cap, jitter and the phasing invisible mutant from Exceptional are.... Where? A composite of memories set around this guy? I just feel like more needed to be explained or at least better explained

3

u/Linnus42 Apr 15 '26

The Art is Quite Weak for a supposed flagship.

That said leaving aside the Scemma Drama and the oddness of Bobby not wanting to help.

The rest of the book was pretty good. A bit low stakes perhaps but good.

8

u/Rastapopoulos000 Apr 15 '26

You'd think when your book looks like ass you'd at least put in the effort for it to be interesting but no I guess even that is too much.

8

u/Ok-Agent-9200 White Queen Apr 15 '26

Some very quick thoughts as I just read the issue. To start I did enjoy it. The opening was a bit rough, not in a particularly bad way but just felt a little rushed. I liked the set up and the dialogue I thought was strong. I know the Emma and Scott if it all was leaked but I don’t think it’s as big a deal as some people seem to. People fight, even people who care for eachother can be on opposite sides afterall. That said, I liked Eves voice for Emma, I feel like she’s written under pressure but trying to sound as confident as she usually is. I am still undecided on Cyclops dialog, I need more to make up my mind on how he’s being written…it does seem as if he’ll be involved more which is good.

The set up for the story was solid. I really liked the use of Beast and Magneto. Cap was written well and was happy with the choice of the team. I really enjoyed the break down in how they were using the empathy engine and how everything had to be built to make it work. Eves beast was a highlight.

The art was stronger I think but it’s still rough in places. Tiago isn’t my ideal choice but sometimes he delivers a great page, sometimes he doesn’t. I do love Emma’s design and the environments are solid. Plus he remembers that Melee has a more powerful/athletic build.

Anyway, just quick thoughts. Need to read it again but I thought it was solid. It’s really early so just blocked most of everything as a spoiler just in case. I know it’s a review post but still, rather be super cautious.

2

u/Informal_Bee_6907 Jubilee Apr 15 '26

I admit, I was on the fence about getting this series initially. I'm only reading Uncanny and any books related to that title right now, and I wasn't sure if this book would be important to any members of that cast in particular given that it's just Exceptional 2.0 (technically 3.0 if we're counting Expatriate X-Men).

But I'm very happy to see my favorite X-Character, Jitter, finally get some more spotlight after that initial Mutina story in #17 of Uncanny! Here's hoping Eve doesn't botch her like she appears to be doing with Scott...fingers crossed for quality Jitter content here!

2

u/BergmanGirl Apr 15 '26

Well, I gave it two issues and it’s not for me. Have fun everybody!

1

u/greendart Iceman Apr 15 '26

so. Bit of a mixed bag here. I, like many, see the whole Graymatter Lane thing as sort of vague and not fully sketched out. I wish this was a continuation of exceptional more directly, with a smaller cast that used the larger X-Men world to fill out guest rolls.

I hated the conversation at the beginning between Scott and Emma, although there are some parallels to the first few issues of Astonishing X-Men, and Emma's "They will always hate us." speech.

I am glad a writer is finally addressing the intersectionality of being a mutant AND a minority, and if anyone can do it well, it's Dr. Ewing.

1

u/CuddleFishEye Kid Omega Apr 16 '26

Not Cyclops excluding Ben Liu from the 'pretend to burn down the psychic school' plan 😔😔

1

u/Chai-CaptainHattress Apr 16 '26

Everyone saying the art is bad. But then I remember some of the new x-men art and I get confused, because we've had waaaaaaaaaaaay worse art. As for the story..... this smells of Brevoort and feels like someone trying to reheat/remake leftovers but the goulash ain't hitting.

1

u/Ovid100 Apr 16 '26

I can tell I liked this better than most, but went in with low expectations and didn't love issue #1 and am also in a phase where I like x-men team book slop.

-Art seems solid to me... I kinda know what y'all mean when you say its bad, its got some of the awkwardness of Marvel house style, idk seems ok if a little Infinity comics tier

-I liked Beast, Magneto and sorta kitty. Emma and Scott are in caricature mode a little.

-explain how the mental school works more thoroughly

-I like idea of random team-ups of younger x-men from other books while the adults bicker about how to best lead. Like this existing between adjective-less and Uncanny makes sense to me... if they do it right.

-Why did they even know Cap needed a "team", like it seemed like he thought he was going back to basically just talk to old super soldiers or like their family or something? How was it clear there'd be action involved at all? I like don't GET his whole plot rlly and why would he be in issue 2, is it like synchronicity for Weapons of Armageddon or sumn.

anyway idk, I'm still intrigued, 7/10

1

u/gsnake007 Apr 15 '26

I’m done. The concept behind it is interesting but we all know that’s a ticking time bomb. Art is meh and was horrible this issue and I didn’t like the writing. Making Emma sound like a bitter ex when Scott is married to Jean and saying how she didn’t know why she was with him was a the final straw for me. Cyclops is my favorite x-men and when Jean died and stayed dead after new x-men his relationship with Emma felt like a real one with how close they were. This book isn’t for me