Hickman's Run - What could have been, and what it did for the Franchise...

[Krakoa]

I disagree with basically all of this. I don't think there was ever going to be a reset with Moira's 11th life, or if there was, it would be minor changes. I think her 11th life was always going to be metaphorical -- not necessarily in the exact way Percy did it, but similar. Marvel comics are way too intertwined to pull off a reset like that without toppling events outside the X-line. I also disagree with those saying that the resurrection protocols were ever intended by Hickman to be revealed as a fake. He's been so clear with why he created them.

I think people overthink how much Hickman likes to put all of the toys back in the box. His two most prominent Marvel runs definitely didn't do that. The Future Foundation was a huge status quo shift for the FF left completely intact at the end of his run. Secret Wars cured Doctor Doom's face, sent the FF away, and didn't really reverse any of the events of Hickman's Avengers runs except for the obvious not-leaving-the-universe-destroyed.

At the end of the day from podcasts Hickman has been on, it seems incredibly clear to me that the reason he left was not creative interference but that he wasn't going to get the amount of money he could doing other projects, and pandemic delays meant he was on the books for longer than he anticipated before getting to the point he wanted to, and that a short storyline ending the Krakoa arc was less interesting to the other writers than just going on with this cool new status quo. I think that his plans for Moira overall definitely changed -- he's said that, because of the way the Moira book idea was discarded to accommodate. Everyone wants there to be this Hickman vs. other writers conflict when it actuality he seems to have a ton of respect for everyone he worked with which is why he's continuing to work with them at Substack LOL.

I definitely agree w/ your general optimism that we're still going tho! This era is new and exciting.

[Rzerox21xx]

X-men are older than 30. X-men #1 from Lee made 30 in 2021

sorry I mean 60th Anniversary, I guess I was reading up on the the 30th Anniversary celebration from 1993 that i have fond memories of getting especially Fatal Attractions. Typo

[Kingdom X]

When it comes to how many plot elements Hickman introduced (like OP mentioned ranging from Phalanx to Children of the Vault) I do think some of them would have been part of his endgame, but I do honestly think some of it was just cool ideas that he threw out for other writers to pick up or that he could go back to if they didn’t. Even Hickman’s original format for the X-Men book was going to have the first 12 issues focus on new elements of Krakoa that launched into different books instead of just launching all at once like Dawn of X did.

It feels like we missed out on a TON because his primary Moira plot wrapped up weirdly, but I think a lot of the side plots were open season to begin with. We probably did miss out on some good Phalanx stuff tho, but here’s hoping Ewing picks it up.

[Devaishwarya]

What HiX-Man did for the Franchise was pushed and developed their stale and stagnant "Heroes of a Humanity that fears and hates them" out of and beyond the perpetual victim sinkhole in which they've been hopelessly mired for far too long.
What the Franchise did for me was make me fully invested and interested in these characters once again.

And while I do feel we were absolutely and woefully short-changed with his early departure and that his Moira plot was bungled beyond recognition...I cannot fault what we are getting from the other writers like Duggan Ewing and Ayala, going forward, that I really do enjoy.

With respect to what his actual end-game was/might have been? I cannot miss what I never had.

[Rift]

Next year will be their 60th Anniversary… 1963-2023.

And also the 20th anniversary of Hellion's debut. Things are really lining up.

[LordUltimus]

I think it's pretty clear Hickman was setting up for a "mutants become tyrants in the future" plot. He even had Omega Sentinel quote Cyclops' "Did you think we would just take it" word for word.

[Milici]

I thought we agreed that there was no way that the original 5 were less than 30, the only person that says otherwise is JDW.

[yogaflame]

I thought we agreed that there was no way that the original 5 were less than 30, the only person that says otherwise is JDW.

I still believe in the sliding time-line. If anything, Hickman only reinforced it with canonization in Powers of X. It's only been around 10 years since the team initially formed, so Cyke could actually be 27(with an extra decade mentally from raising Nate in the future). So 6:1, publishing years to character years.

[StormBorn06]

Next year will be their 60th Anniversary… 1963-2023.

Maybe we'll get a Life Story for the X-Men.

[KurtW95]

Next year will be their 60th Anniversary… 1963-2023.

And what a way to celebrate. Seeing them all having abandoned their mission and hanging with murderous villains on a weird cultish ethnostate where every character is off model.

[Rift]

And what a way to celebrate. Seeing them all having abandoned their mission and hanging with murderous villains on a weird cultish ethnostate where every character is off model.

I agree, it's awesome. The franchise is finally in a great place again.

[Force de Phenix]

I'm just saying, HoM was the start of the constant genocide plots.

That started with Days of Future Past, then the Legacy Virus, E for Extinction. House of Maximoff wasn't anything new at all since the X-Men have been written in extinction stories since the 1980's because they worked. I'd say that ever since sentinels were introduced in the 60's, they've lived in a constant state of being the target.

The whole premise of them not having agency and being the victim never worked once they became OP and introduced Ex Machina characters. The stories fell flat because they weren't believable. People like the "inhuman-ization" of mutants because they worked together, created a safe haven, and became more organized recognizing their powers in order to protect themselves. They've always criticized the means to their goals, and most of the stories come from external conflicts.

The Hickman run is almost like an origin story of Attilan with a different IP. The story came before the characters and their personalities got a little reboot to fit in the story better.

[Sutekh]

The Hickman run is almost like an origin story of Attilan with a different IP. The story came before the characters and their personalities got a little reboot to fit in the story better.

10 years ago - Inhumans writers "We are gonna eat the X-Men's cake with this terrigen cloud / nuhuman stuff!"

Now - X-Men writers "Hold my beer..."

[Celestialbodies]

Now that it has been a few months since Hickman officially left the franchise, and the Krakoa Era continues in many of the same hands that were already working on it with Hickman post-House/Power of X (or they have worked with Hickman before, like in Gillen's case. Pick-up Immortal X-Men if you have not already...and I am now starting to think that many of the plot threads that Hickman may have dropped could have been picked up by Gillen for the Eternals series and being tinkered with in fun ways in Immortal X-Men and could even be the crux of the idea for the EaX event...sorry, WAY out there with that thought, please ignore lol)

Anyways...I feel like it is a great time to reflect on what Hickman managed to accomplish, yet again, with, at worst, the 2nd best franchise wide reboot in X-Men History. Regardless of your feelings about it, due to how Successful the Krakoa Age has become, there are now 3 distinct ages for the X-Men. Golden Age (Original X-Men), Claremont (Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, etc..), and now Hickman (Krakoa + Villains into Political Allies).

That comes from someone that believed
1. the destruction of the Mansion was a new age...nope
2. then Utopia...nope
3. then Regenesis...nope
4. then Bendis and there is no need for the ... for that trainwreck
5. then there was Limbo, Central Park, Young Versions, Old Versions, then a random clean up with eXtermination
6. straight into the Great Mutant Hope Nate Grey/The Last X-Men Story (based on the timelines I have seen, I am not sure if Editors gave that writing team 3-4 months (starting in Nov 2018) to see results OR if the Editors knew they would be handing things off to Hickman by July 2019...regardless they used 3 of those months on that Terrible Nate Grey becomes Savior/Destroyer storyline, then the Parallel Pocket Universe and Cyclops & Wolverine "gritty street DEPRESSING" X-Men storylines (the main thing most people remember about those are that Wolverine and Cyclops reunite to butcher some Enemies in their reunion after they were both Dead, they Killed Evan in the pocket universe (Teen Apocalypse Clone...) and Betsy loved Blob and Blob loved Betsy).....

None of the above, even with incredible creators and stories buried in there, hold a candle to what Hickman did in 12 weeks with House and Power of X.

Which had me wondering how Hickman originally intended it to end...and have had many ideas about that since Inferno, but the one that sounded the most plausible, due to how little Hickman was using Moira, was that Inferno would have really been THE END for Krakoa and MOST of the Mutants...at least until Moira intentionally kills herself after realizing that SHE was the Problem the entire time. Just think about her 1st lifetime...I do not seem to remember any End of the World type of War occuring when she peacefully died in her sleep...so I think Hickman originally planned to have her realize this and for her 11th (and Final Life) she would have stayed in her Village this time. She might have sent Xavier, Magneto, and Apocalypse some cryptic notes about how "if I did things right this time, you will not know who this, how I know what I know, or why I am sharing it with you, regardless you will never know my name and you will never find me so do not look...here is what you need to know" It would be the Confession of Moira X in 3 parts basically. But the end of Inferno would have seen us right back to the founding of Krakoa...but this time without Moira. I can even see Charles thinking about that Letter as he introduces the Resurrected X-Men at the end of Power of X #6, how "none of it would have been possible without you....X" (since Moira would have just signed her confession X...bc of course she would have...goosebumps just thinking of how corny and PERFECT that would have been...it could have even explained 1 of the Major Reasons they left Moira OUT of so much of the story...it could have always been the plan to remove her and then act like the rest of the Krakoa run went pretty much the same way except for Inferno of course...this time....oooooo, that would have been goooood....this time, when Xavier is revealing Resurrection to the Mutant Population, he does it with Destiny at the head of the queue. Xavier would have stated that he wanted to make sure every Mutant knew that Resurrection was not only for those called X-Men, but for every Mutant that had been lost...)...I love my imagination.

My main reason for making this post is to discuss what you believe was actually Hickman's plans for Moira and Inferno and everything, while also discussing how this is one of those cases where, as much as it sucks, it might have been for the best that the story just be allowed to continue. There are STILL soooooooooooooo many ideas that he planted that have not NEARLY been explored enough even though they are a central theme for his run (Mutant Circuits, Hybrids, THE CHILDREN OF THE VAULT(!!!!! UGH I JUST REMEMBERED THEM and what I am pretty sure Darwins "sacrifice" will mean for all of that going forward...or would have...sigh...Still one of the best arcs in an X-Men Comic though. Wolverine (Laura), Synch, & Darwin spend Centuries in the Vault....incredible!) and I am really hoping that we see them explored some more.

With the reveal of that last page in Immortal X-Men, it definitely looks like Gillen will be toying with the idea of what Moira's Powers could sow in sinister hands....and I am REALLY looking forward to that series now.

But anyway, what are your thoughts about Hickman's run? What it meant to you, the line, etc...? What do you think was Hickmans original plan?

I can't lie, I was looking forward to Hickman taking the X-men cosmic, when he hinted at Galactus/Phoenix Force and included Franklin in the list of Omegas. I hoped we'd eventually get a war between the X-men, vs. Phalanx/Dominions. With the Omegas on the front lines, then Franklin, Galactus, and the Phoenix Force pulling up and starts to wreck s^&*!


I guess, I can settle for Franklin not being a mutant, Galactus not being involved, and the Echo hosting the PF instead....YEAWWWWWNN!!!

[PeterParked]

I think Hickman's 3 part plan was the one outlined in Powers of X, Krakoa then Mars/Space/Chimeras then Mutants/Phalanx/Homo Novissima. The second part is definitely the one that was skipped completely, but I think except for an end it could not write anymore because the story was going to continue on Krakoa, the general gist was given on Inferno. We know Hickman wanted to move the story on, so Krakoa was going to end and the mutant nation move to Mars, in the end they basically kept them both to keep the status the other creators still wanted to write about. But I guess the final phase big revelation would have been, exactly like in Inferno, that Orchis was actually manipulated by machines, and that Omega Sentinel was this sort of antithesis of Moira. Omega Sentinel traveling back in space from a future where mutants had won the way it was revealed in Inferno was probably the way he envisioned to bring the Phalanx/machines part of the story in the present and tie all together. Obviously we would have had a big final battle between mutants and machines. It's hard to say if the Moira part where she's revealed to be a traitor was part of the original story or the new one they devised when they decided to stay on Krakoa, but it's possibile, it certainly makes more sense to have Moira lose their powers than ending everything with a total reset of the story when she dies and starts the 11th life. I think the 11th life was more a safe-measure Hickman put in the story in case the story wasn't well received as a way to get rid of Krakoa etc.