As Marvel’s X-Men line continues to expand, another classic X-team is being re-imagined for the ‘Dawn of X’ era. Via Polygon, Marvel has announced a new “X-Factor” series from “Gwenpool Strikes Back” writer Leah Williams and artist David Baldeón. The series will balance its storytelling between two teams: the Five, the group of X-characters who are able to combine their powers to resurrect their fallen mutant brethren, and the main X-Factor team, which will consist of leader Northstar, Polaris, Eye Boy, Rachel Grey, Prodigy, and Daken.
As they are X-Factor, investigation is the name of the game — in this case, their job is to investigate and confirm mutant deaths so that the Five can begin the process of resurrection without fear of creating a duplicate of a living mutant.
“We’d already planned on having X-Factor report to the Five for obvious resurrection work reasons,” Williams told Polygon, “but I asked [Jonathan Hickman and X-Men editor Jordan D. White] if we could focus a significantly greater concentration on the Five to not only help develop their evolving group dynamic, but also how they come to establish each resurrection protocol.”
Much of the team, according to Williams, was chosen for their investigative abilities, including Eye Boy’s x-ray vision and Rachel Grey’s telepathy. Others, however, offer unique story paths for the X-Men’s new status quo. After featuring Northstar in last year’s “Age of X-Man: X-Tremists,” Williams was interested in the opportunity to unpack how his relationship with his human husband will work on Krakoa. “Kyle is a human living in a world built for and by mutants — comparatively an outsider,” Williams said. “We’ll see a lot of their married life and will be exploring all the important nuance to their living situation in Krakoa.”
The 48-page “X-Factor” #1 will debut in April, featuring variant covers from Otto Schmidt, Ema Lupacchino, David Baldeón, and Tom Muller. The full exclusive, alongside two pages of unfinished art, is available over at Polygon.
