E-mail the X-Office: Rally for Betsy Braddock and Show Your Support!

As we all know by now, Marvel’s X-Force, written by Geoffrey Thorne, will be concluding with issue #10 this coming April. While it’s always tough to say goodbye to a series, this cancellation presents an important opportunity for fans of Betsy Braddock, aka Captain Britain, to make their voices heard.

So, how can we show our support?

1. Email the X-Office:

It’s simple! Let Marvel know that we want more of Betsy Braddock. Please take a moment to send a polite and kind email to the X-Office at:

📧 officex@marvel.com

In your message, share your appreciation for Betsy’s character, express your desire to see her more in future comics, and ask about her role in upcoming storylines. The more personal and sincere, the better!

2. Join the Conversation on Tom Brevoort's Substack:

Tom Brevoort is the Senior Editor of the X-Office, and he’s an excellent resource for getting feedback to Marvel’s higher-ups. You can use the comments section on his Substack to express your support for Betsy and inquire about her future. You can find his Substack here:

🔗 Tom Brevoort's Substack

What to Avoid: Please be sure to keep your messages positive, respectful, and focused solely on Betsy. We want Marvel to know that Betsy’s fans are excited and passionate about her future. Here’s what to avoid:

• Don’t bring up other characters. This is not about comparing Betsy to others, but simply showing how much we love her and want to see more of her story.
• Avoid insulting or criticizing creators, past or present. This is about showing support for Betsy and keeping the tone constructive.
• Don't be aggressive or passive-aggressive. Remember, we’re sending a message of love for the character, so let’s keep the tone friendly and respectful.

Let’s unite and make our voices heard!

Marvel Confirms Betsy Braddock to Star in New X-Men Book

Marvel Comics has officially confirmed that Betsy Braddock, alongside Rachel Summers, will be taking center stage in a forthcoming X-Men title set to debut in the highly anticipated "FROM THE ASHES" era. While details about the new series are still under wraps, fans can now rest easy knowing that Betsy Braddock will usher in the new era, emerging from the ashes.

"Sins of Sinister" Crossover Announced for January 2023

COMING IN JANUARY 2023... Enter now… the Sins of Sinister. A New World. A New Disaster. Mister Sinister’s plans come to fruition beyond his wildest dreams…AND his darkest nightmares. Can the X-Men survive the experience? Can anyone? Discover how twisted mutantkind becomes when Mister Sinister achieves victory in Sins of Sinister, a new crossover coming to the X-Men..

As we all know, Tini Howard will unfortunately write a new book featuring Captain Britain, which will probably be announced in the coming days. In the meantime, Knights of X became the lowest-selling X-book in July (with the exception of the X-Cellent, which has the benefit of being a niche title). Knights of X #4 barely held onto the Top 80 at #79 in the Sales Ranking. According to Comic Book Revolution: "I have no idea why Marvel Comics thought rolling out the exact same title with the same writer but under a new name would actually trick readers into thinking this was worth reading."

Marvel To Resume New Comics Releases

Newsarama: Marvel Comics has outlined its plans to resuming shipping weekly comic books following an extended break due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Marvel will begin releasing new titles starting May 27, with what it calls a “balanced release schedule” aimed at publishing comic books “in the most thoughtful way we can for fans, creators, and the industry during these unpredictable times,” in the words of their release.

The publisher promises further updates as shipping resumes. Marvel’s currently released schedule, for the weeks between May 27 and July 8, follows:

Marvel Comics Release Schedule for X-Books (available in print and digital):

Wednesday, May 27:

• Marauders #10 (FEB200894)

Wednesday, June 3:

• Astonishing X-Men by Joss Whedon & John Cassaday Omnibus HC (OCT191092)
• X-Men Vol. 1 TPB (JAN201051)

Wednesday, June 10:

• Excalibur #10 (FEB200891)
• New Mutants #10 (FEB200892)

Wednesday, June 17:

• Dawn of X Vol. 5 TPB (JAN201049)

Wednesday, July 1:

• Dawn of X Vol. 6 TPB (JAN201050)
• Excalibur TPB (JAN201053)
• X-Men Milestones: Messiah War TPB (FEB201064)

Wednesday, July 8:

• X-Force #10 (FEB200893)
• X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills Extended Cut #1 (FEB200885)
• Marauders Vol. 1 TPB (JAN201052)

Marvel Not Releasing Any New Titles This Week, Exalibur #10 Delayed

Newsarama: Marvel Comics has confirmed to Direct Market comic book retailers that it will not be releasing any new comic books digitally on April 1. The decision follows Diamond Comic Distributors' announcement last week that it would be suspending distribution of new print titles beginning April 1, including Marvel's titles due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

In a statement Tuesday from Marvel Entertainment president Dan Buckley, the publisher announced it has decided to withhold releasing new titles digitally this week while leaving room to alter their decision in future weeks, calling it "a fluid situation with details changing every day."

Diamond has not announced when they'll resume release of print titles, and this decision today leaves Marvel the option to reconsider digital-first release - and/or other print distribution options - down the road.

Comixlogy currently lists Excalibur #10 as available on April 8 2020.

STAY SAFE. STAY HOME.

SDCC: Uncanny X-Men & X-Men: Black Announced

• At Marvel Comics’ panel presentation for its X-Men line at Comic-Con International in San Diego, the publisher dropped a tease for the return of the Uncanny X-Men title at the panel.

• Uncanny X-Men will be released in November. No creative team has been announced for the title yet.

• Marvel also revealed that X-Men Black is actually an entire line of one-shot comics, rather than a single series, with each title headlined by a major mutant villain and running weekly in October; each issue will feature back up stories focusing on Apocalypse written by Lonnie Nadler and Zac Thompson.

• X-Men Black: Magneto #1 by Chris Claremont and Dalibor Talajic

• X-Men Black: Mojo #1 by Scott Auckerman and Nick Bradshaw

• X-Men Black: Mystique #1 by Seanan McGuire and Marco Failla

• X-Men Black: Juggernaut #1 by Robbie Thompson and Shawn Crystal

• X-Men Black: Emma Frost #1 by Leah Williams and Chris Bachalo

Marvel Teases Classified 'X-Men' Comic

X Classified #1 Classified (W) • Classified (A) Cover by: Classified Variant A Cover by: J Scott Campbell Virgin Variant A Cover by: J Scott Campbell Variant B Cover by: J Scott Campbell Virgin Variant B Cover by: J Scott Campbell Variant Cover by: Skottie Young Classified! On Sale: 07/25/18

CBR: As Marvel’s “Fresh Start” initiative rolls into the summer, the publisher is teasing a classified X-Men comic for July. There is no creative team and title attached to the project, but it does have the ominous title of X Classified #1, variant covers by J. Scott Campbell and Skottie Young, and a release date of July 25.

For Marvel to keep any and all information regarding this X-Men comic a secret must mean it will have a tremendous impact on the X-franchise. It’s also not clear if X Classified will be a new ongoing series, miniseries or event, and if this encompasses the entire X-Men line of comics or individual titles.

However, earlier this month Marvel released cover art for Extermination, a new comic debuting in August 2018 from the creative team of writer Ed Brisson and artist Pepe Larraz, with covers by Mark Brooks. While the teaser doesn’t include any story details, Brooks’ artwork shows the classic X-Men team apparently re-merging with their time-displaced X-Men Blue counterparts.

Another possibility is this comic could spin out of The Hunt for Wolverine. An infographic for the event ended with a mysterious classified image, which could be alluding to a new ongoing series for the resurrected Wolverine.

X-Men ResurrXion

Flashback Friday: Psylocke

Marvel.com: Betsy Braddock has had one weird road to being a super hero! Psylocke might be throwing down with Magneto in this week’s UNCANNY X-MEN #19, but she might not have been so bold back in her first appearance. In fact, as longtime X-fans will know, the woman known as Betsy Braddock has actually changed more than her appearance since she first showed up in the Marvel UK comic CAPTAIN BRITAIN #8 in 1976 by Chris Claremont and Herb Trimpe.

The sister of the title hero, Betsy displayed some telepathic abilities, worked with S.T.R.I.K.E., and even took over as Captain Britain for a brief adventure. She would go on to appear in other Marvel UK books like THE DAREDEVILS and SUPER SPIDER-MAN AND CAPTAIN BRITAIN before making the jump across the pond in NEW MUTANTS ANNUAL #2.

In that issue, Mojo and Spiral jumped her and used her to help dazzle the children of Earth with a new animated series. Though executing the usual evil plan, Mojo did help restore Betsy’s previously lost sight and granted her the name Psylocke. After the New Mutants rescued her, she decided to attend Xavier’s school in order to get a better handle on her powers.

After serving with the X-Men for a while, an amnesiac Psylocke wound up in the Hand’s possession where they continued to brainwash her into thinking herself the assassin Lady Mandarin. The group also altered her appearance so she would more seamlessly blend in with Hong Kong. Luckily, Wolverine restored Psylocke, as seen in the pages of UNCANNY X-MEN #256–258, but Betsy retained the incredible fighting skills she learned as well as her now-iconic psychic knife.

Around this same time a ninja named Kwannon also appeared with Betsy’s old face. The case of mistaken identity bounced back and forth for a while until ultimately coming to a conclusion that left Psylocke in control once again. Braddock continued fighting the good fight, even getting a power upgrade thanks to the Crimson Dawn, but she fell in the first few issues of X-TREME X-MEN; she got better in UNCANNY X-MEN #455.

Later she helped the reality-hopping Exiles save several existences in the pages of both EXILES and NEW EXILES. She also played a big part in X-MEN: SWORD OF THE BRADDOCKS and starred in her own 2010 limited series. Upon fully returning to the Marvel Universe, Psylocke has become a big part of the X-Men again, appearing in books like UNCANNY X-FORCE, X-MEN, and UNCANNY X-MEN.

Flash Forward

The most recent volume of UNCANNY X-MEN marks just one more step in the long relationship between Psylocke and Sabretooth. They first met one another in the pages of UNCANNY X-MEN #213, not long after Betsy enrolled at the school. After quickly taking out Rogue, the then-villainous ‘Tooth entered the mansion to do the same with Betsy, but she used her powers—enhanced by Cerebro—to stun him before running away. Braddock held her own pretty well, but ultimately Sabretooth got the drop on her, but not before Storm and Wolverine showed up to pick up the slack. Later in UNCANNY X-MEN #328, Psylocke stepped in to stop an enraged Boom Boom from getting herself killed in Sabretooth’s cell, an act that led to her own evisceration. While running around with the Exiles, Psylocke actually started a relationship with the Age of Apocalypse version of her enemy. Most recently, the two came together on the same team.

Rumor: New 'X-Men' Book To Be Announced Soon

BleedingCool: Rumor has it that last week at the ComcisPRO meeting, Marvel Comics told comic book retailers that they could look forward to a new main X-Men title and Star Wars title to be announced soon.

Marvel have the twice-monthly X-Men Gold and X-Men Blue titles coming from ResurrXion as well as all manner of other titles. But that means no Uncanny X-Men or X-Men… could one of them also be relaunched? Maybe even for the upcoming Make Main Marvel relaunch?

ECCC (March 2-5) might be the place to make such actual announcements. But C2E2 (April 21-23) and Wondercon (March 31-April 2) are close on its tail…

Masters of Kung Fu & More

Marvel.com: Before you pack your bags to tag along to Battleworld, review this list of some of the deadliest, most skilled fighters in the Marvel Universe to help you hone your body and mind for combat.

Psylocke

Once a psychic with very little by way of martial arts skills, Elisabeth Braddock survived being kidnapped, brainwashed, and trained by the Hand, to re-emerge as formidable physical force. Although talented with swords and open-handed, Braddock’s most dangerous hand-to-hand ability remains the merger of her two abilities giving rise to a psychic knife that she wields without peer.

How Far Disney is Going to Bury the X-Men

The beginning of the end for the X-Men.

Business Insider: At first it seemed coincidental that the X-Men were fading in popularity, while the Avengers were rising.

Then there was a conspiracy theory that Marvel, which was bought by Disney in 2009, was downplaying the mutant superheroes because their film rights were owned by 20th Century Fox.

After all, X-Men comics of the past decade have featured the decimation of the mutant population, a negative portrayal of the team in a big crossover in which they battled the Avengers, the death of star hero Wolverine, and the retconning of two popular characters to cut their ties to the X-Men. Meanwhile, the number of X-Men series seemed to be gradually declining, while there were fewer and fewer licensed X-Men products.

The theory was all but confirmed last summer, with reports that Disney forbade the creation of new X-Men characters and with senior vice president of publishing Tom Brevoort telling a fan: "If you had two things, and on one you earned 100% of the revenues from the efforts that you put into making it, and the other you earned a much smaller percentage for the same amount of time and effort, you'd be more likely to concentrate more heavily on the first, wouldn't you?"

It's understandable that Disney would do this. As Alex Abad-Santos pointed out at Vox, "The Avengers" earned about twice as much in the box office ($1.5 billion) as the entire North American comic market in 2013 ($870 million). In other words, movies matter a lot more than comic books. Still, it's a shame to see the company squelch such a rich creative property — one that has millions of fans and thousands of official or unofficial cocreators — for cold, commercial reasons.

The more you look, the more you'll see just how much Disney is burying the mutants, even while continuing to publish several X-titles to keep fans from freaking out.

For instance, go to marvel.com and you'll find few prominent mentions of the X-Men. The top stories on the site right now feature Daredevil, the Avengers, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Spider-Man, Spider-Gwen, and the Agents of Shield. Marvel owns the exclusive film rights to most of those characters, along with rights to its own versions of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch and a profit-sharing deal for Spider-Man with Sony, which holds the film rights.

Marvel's shop page includes only three X-Men items in a list of 60 featured-product popular picks.

Marvel's subscriptions page features more than 50 titles, and only four of them star characters from the X-Men.

Marvel's movies page prominently features the Disney movies, and only by clicking the "All" tab and scrolling to the bottom can you find Fox's movies.

Games like Marvel's "Mighty Heroes" apparently don't have any X-Men:

Where are the X-Men?

The disappearance of the X-Men is astonishing given how big they used to be.

Wolverine, Professor X, Storm, Gambit, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Magneto, and company were popular going into the '90s and blew up after the launch of a Fox Kids cartoon in 1992. This was followed by wave after wave of X-Men action figures, X-Men lunchboxes, and everything else, more video game appearances than any character but Spider-Man, hundreds of characters, a bunch of spinoff teams, and many, many comics.

The group represented something inspiring as genetic outsiders who rise above bigotry, and they were edgy and exciting, with wildly complex and imaginative storylines.

Even "Avengers" director Joss Whedon has acknowledged that the X-Men are Marvel's best characters (and he's written a great X-Men series himself). As he told "In Focus" in 2005 — with comments that would later seem ironic — "The thing about the X-Men is they have a coherent core. The Avengers to me is tough. I wouldn't approach the Avengers, I wouldn't approach the Fantastic Four. The X-Men are all born of pain, and pain is where I hang my hat."

To see how popular the mutants used to be, look at the top comics in 1991, per Comichron, when an X-title topped the charts in six months:

X dominance grew over the next decade, with the mutants winning seven months in 1994, nine months in 1998, and a stunning 11 months in 1999:

The mutants won 11 months again in 2001:

But things started going downhill after that. X-titles won only two or three months in 2002. They won only one month in 2003, three in 2004. In 2005, they didn't win any months, except for a universe-wide "House of M" crossover issue that featured the X-Men prominently and an issue of the newly launched "New Avengers" that featured Wolverine on the cover.

In 2007, Marvel beat DC for the top comic in every month, but none of the comics were X-titles (though two had Wolverine on the cover):

And that has been the status quo ever since, with universe-wide crossovers starring the Avengers sharing top billing with Spider-Man, while the X-Men languish on the bottom shelf.

What's next for the mutants?

Disney recently sidestepped its standoff with Sony, which was widely thought to be bungling the Spider-Man movies; however, it may have a harder time winning concessions from Fox, which has been building a promising movie universe of its own, even without much comics and merchandising support.

Disney is supposedly promoting the Inhumans — humanoid alien characters whose film rights it owns — as replacements for the X-Men, with an Inhumans movie scheduled for 2019. But it will take a lot more than that to get fans to forget some of the best characters Marvel ever created.

Marvel Heroes Prepare for Battle in New "House of M" Teaser

Marvel's event teasers keep on coming, and this time they've shifted the spotlight towards the 2005 event "House of M." IGN has revealed the latest image, this one by artist Jorge Molina, featuring the "House of M" versions of Magneto, Wolverine, Psylocke, Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man and others aggressively and defiantly standing at the ready.

The teaser is the latest in a long line of mysterious callbacks to past Marvel events, kicked off by the unveiling of new "Civil War" art just prior New York Comic Con. In the week since the convention, teasers alluding to "Age of Ultron" and "Marvel Zombies," "Days of Future Past" and "Planet Hulk" have all been revealed. While not yet confirmed, these retro-facing teasers may be connected to the "Secret Wars" event by Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic announced at NYCC.

Marvel Teases Big, Violent Wedding Plans for April

Psylocke is cordially invited!

The 50 Greatest X-Men of All-Time

Marvel.com: In commemoration of the X-Men’s 50th anniversary, Marvel.com brought together a panel of experts, including fans and professionals alike, to select the 50 all-time greatest members of the team.

11. Psylocke

First Appearance: Captain Britain (1976) #8 

Joined the X-Men: Uncanny X-Men (1963) #213 

Why She’s #11: “Being an X-Man has been a transformative experience for Betsy Braddock—literally. Joining up after taking down no less a threat than Sabretooth, Psylocke would see her mind mangled and body swapped after falling through the Siege Perilous and being abducted by Mojo. Persevering, the psychic ninja adapted, learning new skills, and becoming a key player in the fight for mutantkind. She found a love with Archangel that survived tragedy and even overcame death to continue her struggle for what’s right. In recent years, Betsy has emerged as one of the more headstrong warriors among the X-Men, be it on the main team or with X-Force, making tough choices others would shy away from and continuing to sacrifice for friends, lovers and above all, the cause.” – Ben Morse 

Digital Spotlight Comic: Uncanny X-Men (1963) #256 

Marvel Teases "Marvel" #1

CBR: Marvel Comics has kicked off the new week with a teaser for a project referred to simply as "Marvel" #1, including the names of dozens of the publisher's characters.

No further information has been made available at this time. You can spot Psylocke between Kid Omega and Iron Man.

Marvel #1

Begin with the best super heroes in comics -- Marvel does it FIRST!! HUGE story coming soon to fans, worldwide.

Marvel Vs. Capcom Origins: Psylocke

PSYLOCKE

First Appearance: UNCANNY X-MEN #213

“MvC Origins” Appearances: Playable character in “Marvel Super Heroes,” assist character in “Marvel vs. Capcom"

Bio: Elizabeth Braddock, Betsy to her friends, grew up in the U.K. with her older brother Jamie and her twin Brian, better known as Captain Britain. Betsy worked for S.T.R.I.K.E.’s psi division after her mutant telepathy manifested, lost her eyes in the line of duty, then was kidnapped by the extra-dimensional media mogul Mojo, who gave her new cybernetic eyes but forced her to star in his wild tv shows. She joined the X-Men, swapped bodies with a ninja name Kwannon, trapped the Shadow King within her own mind, died, and was later resurrected. In fact, there's not much Psylocke hasn't done in her life.

Where She Was in 1995: In SPIDER-MAN TEAM-UP #1 The Hellfire Club wanted J. Jonah Jameson dead for sticking his nose in where it didn’t belong. Spider-Man and the X-Men--namely Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, and Psylocke--battled it out with Hellfire minions while trying to keep the pesky publisher alive. Think the heroes got a “thank you”? Think again.

Where She Was in 1999: Psylocke found herself fighting for the fate of the universe in the Brood and Badoon’s Contest of Champions. The telepathic mutant ninja took on the Invincible Iron Man, using her mental abilities to trick Tony into seeing her as the Lady Mandarin. Unfortunately for Betsy, Iron Man saw through her illusion and hit her with a healthy heaping of electricity, knocking her out of the tournament.

More on Marvel.com

X-Solicits for December 2012

	Uncanny X-Force #35 Rick Remender (w) • Phil Noto (a) Cover by: Julian Totino Tedesco Variant cover by: Simone Bianchi Final Issue! • FINAL EXTINCTION CONCLUDES AND SO DOES UNCANNY X-FORCE! • Rick Remender’s landmark run comes to a conclusion with one of the most shocking moments in X-Force history. • What will become of what’s left of X-Force?
	X-Men #39 Seth Peck (w) • Paul Azaceta (a) Cover by: David Lopez • Domino teams up with Daredevil to take down Armitage! • Action! Adventure! Romance!? • But whose side will Domino take in the end?

Marvel NOW! teases new X-Force title?

IGN has released new Marvel NOW! teasers, one looks like it might possibly be X-Force relaunched? We have no confirmation that Uncanny X-Force is ending, but it's been strongly implied that Rick Remender's run on the title will be ending soon.

Tuesday Q&A: Rick Remender

Marvel.com: We caught up with the busy Remender and piled on the questions until we learned all we could about his plans for Avengers and X-Men alike.

Marvel.com: Segueing over to the X-side of the fence, what can you say about the new member joining X-Force in UNCANNY X-FORCE #27 and #28?

Remender: Well it’s something that we saw Grant Morrison touch upon in his last arc, with the evolution of E.V.A. becoming her own person, and I would put a big Spoiler Warning over this: If you’ve read UNCANNY X-FORCE #27, then you know that Fantomex takes the hit. It was something that Grant had set up as happening in his future story and I thought that it would be nice to respect that and actually show it happen. Beyond that, I also wanted Fantomex to take the hit because this is going to be a very Wolverine-centric arc. All the characters have had a lot of spotlight time in this, but Wolverine has not had a lot of personal stuff to deal with. And here he is now where the methodology of X-Force and what they’ve done with Evan, and then Fantomex cloning and growing a new Evan, have left Wolverine in a bit of a spot where he’s got this student of his who’s Apocalypse. And this is because of Fantomex, and now Fantomex is not there. Fantomex is off the picture so he’s dumped this in Wolverine’s lap to deal with.

Beyond that, we’ve revealed that the new leader of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants is Daken, and this is somebody who’s got a lot of resentment against his father, as well as members like Sabretooth and Mystique, and they’ve taken Evan and they plan on using The Shadow King to warp the kid’s mind to use him as their own personal Apocalypse. So the evolution of E.V.A. comes out of the death of Fantomex and her character will be developed as we move forward.

Marvel.com: What makes them the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants? Is revenge their basic mission?

Remender: Well I like the idea of just leaning into the evil aspect of it, and it is revenge, and power. They don’t have any relatable motives other than revenge and power, and I like the simplicity of that. They’ve all got personal contacts, every member of the Brotherhood has a personal grudge against one of the members of the X-Force, and their goal is to basically take this Apocalypse [clone] and to use him to kill them; when you’ve got your own pet Apocalypse nobody can really come messing with you all that much.

You’ve also got in Daken somebody who’s been leaning toward becoming a bad guy. Going back to his origin and being raised by Romulus and who he is, he sees his father as a fraud. He sees his father as a charlatan. This guy is a savage who kills and he dresses up in frilly super hero costumes to make it okay, and he sees that as weakness. He’s leaning completely into his savage nature, but bubbling underneath that is a kid who sees his dad has a school to help mutants, who has taken in people like Quentin Quire and this kid Evan who is Apocalypse, but he didn’t get an invitation to come join. His father has never extended a hand to him to come be a part of the school or to learn to be a better man. He’s given him a lot of passes. For how bad Daken is Wolverine always seems to give him a pass, but he never offered that inclusion into his world. So I guess the theme that I’m exploring there is how far a son will go to earn his father’s respect, even going so far as to kill him to earn it.

Marvel.com: A lot of evil’s going on with you! Masters of Evil, Brotherhood of Evil Mutants…any team-up between those two groups coming?

Remender: That’s definitely not going to happen now, but there is the [upcoming] UNCANNY AVENGERS and my SECRET AVENGERS. They cross pollinate a bit. You’ve got things like Father who was introduced in X-Force, Fantomex’s mother and Psylocke’s dad who are involved with Father in creating the Descendants so there is interconnectivity there.

Marvel.com: What is the “Final Execution” as referred to in September’s UNCANNY X-FORCE #31?

Remender: Well, I don’t want to say who all is going to be a part of being executed. It’s a big arc for Wolverine, and it’s something that [editor] Nick Lowe and I spent a lot of time talking about on how we can actually incite change, to grow him, to develop him in a way that’s maybe we haven’t seen in a while. That is where UNCANNY X-FORCE then bleeds over into UNCANNY AVENGERS. Those two books have a lot of connective tissue. I would say in UNCANNY AVENGERS, 50% stems from AvX and 50% stems from the events of the “Final Execution” arc in UNCANNY X-FORCE.

Wolverine’s state of mind, who he is, where he’s at, and what his purpose is in the UNCANNY AVENGERS is very clearly defined in the events of both books. So it’s something that sort of naturally grew. The idea for UNCANNY AVENGERS came to me from all of that, from “Oh, well this and this and this makes sense if you do this.” So the events of “Final Execution” are going to shatter a lot of lives, and I’m getting to the point of what I’ve been doing with the nature/nurture debate and all of the father and son stuff that we’ve been seeing throughout the series. It gets to the point of how it affects these characters moving forward in a way that helps grow them so that they’re not in any way stagnant.

Marvel.com: Is there an inclination for you, having two titles like SECRET AVENGERS and UNCANNY X-FORCE, to draw common threads between them?

Remender: You want to feel like these people share a universe, and I work really closely with Kieron Gillen and Jason Aaron to make our X-books have those threads that continue one through the other. I think it’s important to try and do that when you can if there [are] natural places for it.

But the interconnectivity shouldn’t feel like you have to read one to get the other. I always try to make sure that things are defined enough in their own books. If you didn’t read UNCANNY X-FORCE and you didn’t read the Deathlok arc and get to know Father or see Lady Deathstrike in #5.1 and get an idea for the coming robot revolution she was talking about, that stuff will be completely defined in SECRET AVENGERS. So you don’t have to read that. But if you do read it, you’ll get to see these characters bouncing around the universe a little bit and it makes them feel more cohesive, I think.