X-Position: The 2016 That Was, The 2017 That Could Be

CBR: This week, X-PO’s readers sound off about their favorite X-Men moments of 2016 and single out the things they are most looking forward to in 2017. Take a look below for some of the responses, and have a happy New Year!

Who should win X-Character of the year and why?

“Definitely Psylocke. Betsy always goes for extreme over comfort zone and that’s one way we could describe her year. While most X-Men chose to run away and hide in Limbo, Psylocke allied herself with the Master of Magnetism himself in a most proactive fashion. She cares for mutantkind and is willing to do anything it takes to save her species, even if it means breaking up with her friends and joining a team full of psychopaths. That’s some commitment right there. Her journey to save Angel and Archangel and the guilt she feels over his situation was bittersweet and made up for some great reading.” – Ben

Uncanny X-Men #16 Spoilers & Art

Spoilers: The main cast of “Uncanny X-Men” all take the month off as the teen Jean Grey from “Extraordinary” makes a guest starring turn, along with the Stepford Cuckoos. The issue focuses on the Jean scene from “IvX” #1, focusing on Jean and the Cuckoos’ combined attempt to keep Karnak trapped in his own mind. Things have progressed from what we’ve seen before; Karnak is now running around in a mental prison set up by the telepaths to look like New Attilan. Psylocke doesn't appear in this issue, but is among the X-Men projected into Karkak's mind by the mutant telepaths.

Meanwhile, Fantomex struck a deal with one of Cuckoos, Irma, to allow him access to Karnak’s problem-solving skills. Irma would act as the bridge between Fantomex and Karnak, feeding altered analogues of the real problems Fantomex encounters in the World into Karnak’s vision. Then, as Karnak solves the similar problems in his trance, Fantomex knows what to do in the World. This side mission is of importance to Fantomex because he has been in control of the World for a while now, and members of the nefarious Someday Corporation infiltrated the World and stole parts of its tech. Fantomex uses Karnak’s abilities to make his way to where the Someday Corporation broke in. There, he finds the device they used to hack into the World’s systems — a slug-like device. He then places his psi-shielding plates back in his mask, locking Irma out of his mind. Panicked, Irma tells the others of her secret mission with Fantomex — and they aren’t too pleased. Fantomex continues on his quest, completely moving on from the matters of Inhumans and X-Men. “Let them have their war. I’m done with all that,” he says. Fantomex removed Someday’s influence from the World’s system — and filled the void with his own id, ego and super-ego. Calling it the “God-King Virus,” Fantomex prepares himself for a massive transformation — one that he says will render him unrecognizable. “I will become the world,” he says at the end of the issue, teasing a potentially major shift in who — and what — Fantomex is moving forward.

X-Solicits for March 2017

Inhumans Vs X-Men #6 (of 6)

• Charles Soule & Jeff Lemire (W)

• Leinil Francis Yu (A/C)

• Variant Cover by: Michael Cho

• Variant Cover by: Simone Bianchi

• Inhumans Variant Cover by: Ardian Syaf

• X-Men Variant Cover by: Terry Dodson

• The war between the Inhumans and the X-Men takes a dark turn leaving Inhumans hopelessly outmatched. Emma Frost, the White Queen, faces off against Medusa, queen of the Inhumans, as both fight for the future of their people. It all ends here. Don’t miss the epic oversized conclusion of INHUMANS VS X-MEN!

Uncanny X-Men #19

• Cullen Bunn (W)

• Edgar Salazar (A)

• Cover by: Ken Lashley

• When she left the ranks of his X-Men team, PSYLOCKE promised that if MAGNETO stepped out of line, she would end him. And now, in light of the events of INHUMANS VS. X-MEN, Psylocke is going to make good on that promise!

X-Men Prime #1

• Marc Guggenheim (W)

• Ken Lashley (A)

• Cover by: Ardian Syaf

• Variant Cover by: John Cassaday

• Venomized Variant Cover by: Kris Anka

• Connecting Variant Cover by: Elizabeth Torque

• Variant Cover by: TBA

• Resurrxion Begins Here!

• In the wake of their war with the Inhumans, the X-MEN are at a crossroads. Where do they go from here? Luckily, one beloved X-Men has the answer to that question: Xavier’s dream comes full circle as KITTY PRYDE returns to the X-Men, ready to lead them in their mission to protect a world that hates and fears them. The next chapter of the X-Men’s saga starts here!

ResurrXion: Where Is Psylocke?

After a week full of announcements, X-Men fans now know the scope of what lies ahead for Marvel’s mutants in 2017. A whole new slate of titles will arrive in April 2017 under the ResurrXion banner, including “X-Men Gold,” “X-Men Blue,” “Generation X,” “Weapon X,” “Iceman”, “Jean Grey” and “Cable.” As if that’s not enough, “All-New Wolverine” will continue as it is.

“Uncanny X-Men,” a series starring some of the X-Men’s toughest heroes, has seemingly been hit hard by the ResurrXion revamp. M, Psylocke, Archangel, Mystique and Fantomex are all nowhere to be seen in the initially announced lineup. That’s especially surprising for Psylocke, a character that has maintained a consistently prominent role in the line for the last 10 years. And while the adult Archangel has had his ups and downs over the past few years when it comes to his own sense of self, he’s been a mainstay on X-Teams for even longer than that.

X-Men Gold

Writer: Marc Guggenheim & Artist: Ardian Syaf

Lineup: Kitty Pryde, Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Old Man Logan and Rachel Grey.

Focus on more hopeful storylines and tapping into some of the nostalgia of older titles.

X-Men Blue

Writer: Cullen Bunn & Artist: Jorge Molina

Lineup: Jean Grey, Cyclops, Iceman, Beast, and Angel, with Magneto

Dealing with the original five being stranded in the present day, but also be aligning with Magneto, one of their greatest former foes.

Generation X

Writer: Christina Strain & Artist: Amilcar Pinna

Lineup: Jubilee, Nature Girl, Eye Boy, Bling, and Quentin Quire

You’re going to see these kids go through all the growing pains of finding their way, finding out who you love, trust, or don’t,

Weapon X

Writer: Greg Pak & Artist: Greg Land

Lineup: Old Man Logan, Sabretooth, Warpath, Lady Deathstrike, and Domino.

As part of Weapon X's bid to extinguish mutants forever, they’ll primarily be going after the mutants they know are going to “fight dirty.”

Jean Grey

Writer: Dennis Hopeless & Artist: Victor Ibanez

Jean’ll get a premonition that the future she feared is actually a lot closer than she thought. The Phoenix is a very real threat.

Iceman

Writer: Sina Grace & Artist: Alessandro Vitti

The book is primarily focused on older Iceman, because it’s really his journey, informed by the younger Iceman’s journey,

Cable

Writer: James Robinson & Artist: Carlos Pacheco

Focus on Cable traveling back and forth through different time periods in order to fix time itself.

All-New Wolverine

Writer: Tom Taylor & Artist: Leonard Kirk

The new story arc is a science fiction story about an alien contagion spreading throughout a US city, which is connected to Wolverine in some way that she doesn’t understand.

Additionaly, "Uncanny Avengers" writer, Gerry Duggan said he had no plans for Psylocke: "I’ve never had the opportunity to write her, but I hope to someday."

Inhumans Vs. X-Men #2 Unlettered Preview

Inhumans Vs. X-Men #1 Art

Inhumans Vs. X-Men #1 Spoilers

Spoilers: A group of X-Men (Rogue, Storm, Beast, Old Man Logan, Emma Frost, Young Beast, Magneto, Forge) discusses the last Terrigen Mist cloud. Beast reveals that he's out of time, and mutants only have 2 weeks before the cloud spreads across the whole planet. His only options are to leave the planet or die. Emma reveals that she has had a back-up plan in the past 8 months in case Storm's plan of peaceful co-existence fails. Magneto says to fight, refusing the mutants to be gassed. Beast is against this, with first-hand experience on the Inhumans and what they're capable of. Emma next outlines her plan to systematically take out the key Inhuman threats, starting with Karnak, who knows the truce will fail from his ability to sense weaknesses. Logan reminds Emma of the threat Lockjaw presents in jumping Inhumans around. They have a vote. Rogue votes no. Forge abstains. The rest are pro-attacking. Beast is outraged and walks out to warn the Inhumans, but Storm blasts Beast with a lightning bolt, revealing she was a part of Emma and Magneto's plan the whole time.

Later, at Black Bolt's club, a mysterious VIP wants to speak to him, whilst new performer 'Lady Shine' has been very successful. Emma is in the club, chatting with Black Bolt. She invites 'Lady Shine' in the room and declares the truce is over. Lady Shine pulls a gun out on Black Bolt, and he uses his power, saying "Don't". Lady Shine is actually Dazzler. Emma punches Black Bolt in the throat with her diamond form "for Cyclops" and Dazzler redirects the energy stored into Black Bolt, leaving him down.

Emma sends a mutant on Karnak's way. The mutant visiting Karnak is actually Jean Grey, and she's keeping him distracted in a time loop, replaying conversations six times over. Gorgon and Crystal are helping rescue a Russian mutant in Chechnya just before the cloud arrives. The Russian rescued mutant is actually Magneto, and he destroys the ship and holds everyone on board in metal, claiming he is the only one who saves mutants. Cut to Ms Marvel walking Lockjaw, when the dog suddenly disappears whilst she is on the phone. Fantomex knocks out Lockjaw with some drug.

At New Attilan, Medusa and Johnny Storm prepare new children to undergo terrigenesis until Torch notices something coming. Johnny flames on, Medusa wants to maintain their truce and talk, but if they want a fight, they will fight. The X-Men then dash towards New Attilan, including Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Old Man Logan, Magik, Iceman, Magneto, Psylocke, Sabretooth, Monet, Archangel, Sunfire, Strong Guy, Youn Cyclops, Young Angel, Young Iceman and Oya.

X-Men '92 #9 Art

X-Men '92 #9 Spoilers

Spoilers: The main X-Men, along with Lila Cheney, Abigail Brand, Death's Head and the X-Brood, are rushing back toward Earth aboard their stolen Shi'ar craft when the ship comes across a tear in space... and an enormous hand reaching through it. On Earth: Apocalypse exposits to Cassandra Nova and Joseph about the big hand's owner: back in the day, the M'Kraan race produced the first mutants, which in turn grew into the Celestials. One specific Celestial would come to be known as Xodus the Harvester: a galactic-scale warmonger who purged the mutant races of many a world, fearing that they might one day evolve into some new form of life superior to his Celestial brethren. The other Celestials disagreed with this, and banished him to another dimension. Xodus the Harvester became Xodus the Forgotten. It was inevitable that one day he would return, and Dead Girl unleashing the Montesi program caused the barriers between spaces to weaken enough that 'one day' has been fast-forwarded to 'today'. Apocalypse has known of Xodus for millennia, and claims that every hardship, battle and devastation he's inflicted on the X-Men over the years was done to toughen them up and prepare them for the horror to come. Now he wants to know if Nova and Joseph will join him. Back at Lilapalooza, President Kelly is complaining, until Xodus' form becomes so large as to be visible in the sky. A panicked riot starts, but the Professor is able to telepathically calm everyon as Lila teleports the space crew in. Happy reunions are had before everyone is distracted by Xodus again. Brand seems to know what it is but Kelly prevents her from sharing, blaming a need for secrecy on the X-Brood's presence. Brand is forced to depart to the Peak along with the X-Brood and Death's Head, then Kelly rounds on the Professor. He claims his bad attitude isn't about anti-mutant racism, but the X-Men failing in their role as the world's protectors, since most of the problems they solve stem from their own causes. He would rather trust another - and pulls an ankh-shaped key from his pocket, summoning Apocalypse, along with Nova, Joseph, the Upstarts and the remaining Horsemen (Mystique, Bastion and Exodus). Before Apocalypse can explain, Wolverine attempts to claw him, and a big fight breaks out. In the middle of all this, Apocalypse rounds on the Professor and lets him peek into his mind freely. Xavier sees the truth behind the words, and begs the X-Men to stop fighting and listen. Cable then shows up with X-Force and blasts a five-foot hole through Apocalypse's torso, killing him.