Confirmed: Hickman is leaving the X-Men after Inferno

[The tall man]

I love Hickman as much as the next Person, he is probably my favorite modern writer. But he isn't God

The way I saw it, he started a story, the current writers aren't finished with their story yet, so instead of filling out his run with stuff that doesn't matter, he is leaving it for a while until the books catch up with him


If we all saw interviews with Ewing saying "He had to ended his story early because another writer wanted to get to point B quicker" People would say how much it sucked that Ewing never got to finish his story and that there are major problems at Marvel.

No, here it seems the X line just took a life that's bigger than Hickman. He may have had the best story ever, but it would have been at the expense of other writers.

It just seems he is making a comprimise and leaving the door open for future events


If he hated his time, he wouldn't still be at Marvel planning his next big thing

No he isn't God but he was brought in to revitalize the x-franchise and Marvel give his pitch the green light. Both editorial and the other writers knew upfront what Hickman's plans were, there were no surprises. The other writers were telling stories in support of Hickman's overall storyline, their individual stories doesn't supersede his. It's not on him to wait for them to finish their stories, he is/was the head of X; they had to follow his lead. With all the writers meeting they had I'm sure he impressed upon them that he was building to act two and they had sufficient time to plan their storylines accordingly to Sync up with his. But it seems they went rogue, they decided to disregard what he wanted and follow their own script. And JDW did not step in or intervene in anyway. So Hickman is probably thinking that his position as head of X is meaningless, his three act storyline is being disregarded, the writers he brought in to support his story are doing their own thing so he's thinking what the hell is going on. He told his FF story, he told his Avengers story but he was prevented from telling his X-men story. And again the other writers are their to support his overall three act storyline, yes they have some freedom/autonomy to tell their own stories as long as it supports what Hickman is doing. If he is ready to move on to act two its not on them to say no we don't want to yet. Basically Hickman was undermined by the other writers and not supported by editorial. And now it seems some x-fans are saying he is unnecessary to Krakoa going forward, he single handedly made the X-men relevant again with HOX/POX and now some are ready to toss him aside. Would there be a Krakoa without Hickman?

[Digifiend]

Is Spider-Man a mutant again? I am not following that corner of the Marvel U, so maybe they announced something, but having a group of writers taking over a weekly book before revealing it was all a stopgap before Hickman took over sounds like something Marvel would do.

Peter's never been a mutant.

Spider-Man would be so far out of the norm for Hickman.

Yeah, Hickman doesn't DO solo books. He's done FF, Avengers, and now X-Men. What's left? Guardians of the Galaxy, and Champions?

With him leaving and not playing out his original ideas, Im more inclined to believe that Marvel will actually retcon alot of this run, especially some of the uncharacteristic actions of some characters. That theory that Krakoa and/or Xavier has had some psychic influence on everyone is feeling more likely as does the one about the characters being invalidated as merely clones and not the actual characters as we've been led to believe. I can also see a soft reset happening around Moira dying

Moira dying would reboot the entire Marvel universe. She needs to be depowered.

[Jackraow21]

Moira dying would reboot the entire Marvel universe. She needs to be depowered.

And lo and behold, in the original Mark Brooks promo image for House of X/Powers of X, I did spy a certain someone holding Forge’s old power nullifier gun. Hmm…

[JamJams]

I'm very very happy with this. I was upset that Hickman was leaving and felt like he was going to rush the ending to this story he starts in HOX/POX.
But what is happening is they are just going to stay in Act 1 of the X-Men for a while. Then when they're ready they'll bring Hickman back in and do Act 2, potentially sticking to that for a while, until finally reach Act 3.

This kind of long-term storytelling is refreshing because Act 1 has felt very rushed with all the books trying to find their footing and tell a story before the meta story moved on to the next part.

[Dinosaur Hulk]

We can't just have good things, can we? :/ Sigh.

This is Hickman's story.
Even if other writers contribute to this or touch on his plot threads, he must be the one writing major events such as X of Swords/Inferno etc and the main series.

But now... I just hope he comes back for the grand finale. That he will be even interested in doing so after Substack and whatever he's going to do for Marvel for the next couple years. I can almost see solicits like "IT WAS ALL LEADING TO THIS" and "THE EPIC STORY 10 YEARS IN MAKING".

Ugh... firstly- one of my least favourite writers picks up Hulk after brilliant Ewing's run, then Peter Parker gets sidelined again, and now this? Marvel does everything so I have nothing to read from them. If they cancel Hellions next, I am done.

[Kingdom X]

Y’all i dont know about this whole, “he’ll come back for the conclusion,” stuff. Sure there’s a chance but if the X-line started going in a different direction WHILE he was head of X, there’s no guarantee that the line will at all accommodate his story in a few years. There’s also no guarantee that Hickman will even still be at Marvel. If he was just transitioning to mini-events with extended breaks than they would have said that instead of making a big deal about him leaving the x-books.

[Bruce Wayne]

No he isn't God but he was brought in to revitalize the x-franchise and Marvel give his pitch the green light. Both editorial and the other writers knew upfront what Hickman's plans were, there were no surprises. The other writers were telling stories in support of Hickman's overall storyline, their individual stories doesn't supersede his. It's not on him to wait for them to finish their stories, he is/was the head of X; they had to follow his lead. With all the writers meeting they had I'm sure he impressed upon them that he was building to act two and they had sufficient time to plan their storylines accordingly to Sync up with his. But it seems they went rogue, they decided to disregard what he wanted and follow their own script. And JDW did not step in or intervene in anyway. So Hickman is probably thinking that his position as head of X is meaningless, his three act storyline is being disregarded, the writers he brought in to support his story are doing their own thing so he's thinking what the hell is going on. He told his FF story, he told his Avengers story but he was prevented from telling his X-men story. And again the other writers are their to support his overall three act storyline, yes they have some freedom/autonomy to tell their own stories as long as it supports what Hickman is doing. If he is ready to move on to act two its not on them to say no we don't want to yet. Basically Hickman was undermined by the other writers and not supported by editorial. And now it seems some x-fans are saying he is unnecessary to Krakoa going forward, he single handedly made the X-men relevant again with HOX/POX and now some are ready to toss him aside. Would there be a Krakoa without Hickman?

The fact that the other writers won out over Hickman points to JDW being on their side in the first place. It certainly shows that editorial doesn't want to rock the boat and prefer safe choices to maintain the current status quo. It's obvious editorial just wants the current gravy train to continue and doesn't care about the long term viability of the X-books or letting Hickman tell his story.

[cranger]

he was a mutant before?

Sorry, mostly a joke about the flip flop nature of the Marvel U and partly because it seemed like at some point in the 90s everything that could be called a mutant was (and I apparently incorrectly thought that included Peter, but I think now it was something on his book that boasted that he was a non-mutant, oops)

[Nomura99]

The fact that the other writers won out over Hickman points to JDW being on their side in the first place. It certainly shows that editorial doesn't want to rock the boat and prefer safe choices to maintain the current status quo. It's obvious editorial just wants the current gravy train to continue and doesn't care about the long term viability of the X-books or letting Hickman tell his story.

It also shows that Hickman is OK with things turning out like this. If he actually wanted to, he could've put his foot down and either force his "phase 2" anyway or play hardball and **** up the flow of the X-Office and cry foul against Marvel.

Seems Hickman felt a combination of "these guys/gals have the right mindset to make this work" and "I'm fine with my initial ideal growing larger and be being the culprit of a big new Era (instead of just one big 3 year story)".

We'll see if he regrets playing ball with Marvel and facilitating this process.

[D.Z]

I'm very very happy with this. I was upset that Hickman was leaving and felt like he was going to rush the ending to this story he starts in HOX/POX.
But what is happening is they are just going to stay in Act 1 of the X-Men for a while. Then when they're ready they'll bring Hickman back in and do Act 2, potentially sticking to that for a while, until finally reach Act 3.

This kind of long-term storytelling is refreshing because Act 1 has felt very rushed with all the books trying to find their footing and tell a story before the meta story moved on to the next part.

Those acts are scrapped.

[Mercury]

Who says that he won't return? Anyway, the man has revived the X-line. He even said that he planned the X-Books for the next couple of years. I trust him and he can return for the end of his story. I love the Karkoa era. The thing is that if has written bid for the middle act then by prolonging the Krakoa stories he is not needed right now BUT he can return in the return in the future to finish his story.

I have a feeling this is exactly what will happen. He is going to continue working for Marvel, so obviously, they are still on good terms. But, also, how could he not feel proud of the fact that fans, creatives, and editorial have all loved, embraced, and want to continue dwelling in the world he created? That's not to say he didn't experience a bit of disappointment at not getting to complete the arc he initially envisioned, but I imagine it must be a bittersweet experience for him.

[cranger]

It also shows that Hickman is OK with things turning out like this. If he actually wanted to, he could've put his foot down and either force his "phase 2" anyway or play hardball and **** up the flow of the X-Office and cry foul against Marvel.

Seems Hickman felt a combination of "these guys/gals have the right mindset to make this work" and "I'm fine with my initial ideal growing larger and be being the culprit of a big new Era (instead of just one big 3 year story)".

We'll see if he regrets playing ball with Marvel and facilitating this process.

I think the paycheck makes whatever happens a lot easier to roll with, and he is self-congratulating himself by calling putting it on the same pedastal as Giant Size X-Men, and if everything goes downhill from here he knows it can't be pinned on him so I cannot see him having any regrets.

[Marvel Wars]

So disappointed, this is the first time after more than 20 years reading comics that I'm thinking about stopping...

[MechaJeanix]

I have two minds about this. First I am a bit disappointed because I wanted to see Hickman's full story. I wanted to see a big battle (if we can even call it that) between mutant vs machine that was set up in POX. I loved HOX/POX but Hickman's X-men book was both hot and cold for me. I'm fine with him going as long as Duggan continues with the X-men book because I am loving that book. I love that the new era gets to continue even if it is not exactly what Hickman had in mind. I hope we get years of creative stories that were inspired by the world Hickman created for the X-men.

[H-E-D]

I think a lot of you misunderstood what they hired Hickman to do.