According to writer Kieron Gillen, the upcoming Marvel Comics series Immortal X-Men, featuring the governmental body of Krakoa the Quiet Council, will be the X-Men's version of the popular comedy-drama Succession. Launching as part of the upcoming new "Destiny of X" era for the X-Men after the disastrous Trial of Magneto and Inferno shook up the mutant's political status quo, the Immortal X-Men series has already promised to be filled with the backstabbing, convoluted alliance forming, and dirty secret reveals that Succession is known for.
While neither has directly inspired the other, Gillen is confident that that both Immortal X-Men and Succession share some fun similarities in relation to how their characters engage with each other in manipulative and wildly condescending ways. Succession is a black comedy drama on HBO created by Jesse Armstrong that premiered in 2018 to critical acclaim, and has only continued to grow in its popularity. The suspenseful and anxiety-producing show focuses on the Roy family, who own and run a multimedia conglomerate and are constantly fighting each other to gain control of the company amid the patriarch of the family Logan Roy's declining health. Similarly, Immortal X-Men will follow the Krakoan Quiet Council while they contend with the massive reveal of the secret that was Moira X, Magneto leaving the Council, wars on multiple fronts, a double agent in their midst, and a constant power struggle between the main players.
In the past Gillen has described Immortal X-Men - which will feature art by the talented Lucas Werneck - as a series where the main characters either think they're in The West Wing, Veep, or House of Cards, all intense political shows. However Kieron Gillen's recent comparison to Succession, in an exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly, sounds even more accurate because of the familial spin that Succession puts on a regular high-stakes political drama, something that the X-Men also must contend with as one big "happy mutant family." Not only are some members of the Quiet Council literally family—Nightcrawler is Mystique's biological son and Destiny and Mystique are married—but many members of the Council have known each for years and have long standing and complicated relationships with one another, making the drama that will surely occur in Immortal X-Men even juicier!
The Entertainment Weekly article noted:
So there you have the first order of business for the Quiet Council: Figuring out who should replace the Master of Magnetism in government. Those certainly aren't small shoes to fill! And that question gives Immortal X-Men some Succession vibes, as Gillen notes.
"I like Machiavellian characters with plans," Gillen says. "I hadn't watched Succession when I started writing Immortal, but Succession has a lot of Immortal in it. I'd love to do an homage cover from behind Magneto's chair."
Gillen hypothetical homage cover would be a perfect Succession-style cover for a future issue because Magneto is leaving the Council. One of the major sources of drama and political intrigue that happened in the first season of Succession was, "Which Roy child will replace Logan as the head of the company?" and similarly, one of the first major questions for Immortal X-Men will be, "Which mutant will replace Magneto as one of the figure heads of the Krakoan government?" There are a lot of fun options for who could replace Magneto, like the immortal energy vampire Selene, the powerful Limbo sorceress Magik, or even the tough Cable.
Beyond replacing Magneto, the Quiet Council will need to contend with Mister Sinister's dark machinations, the cult-like religious intensity of Exodus, and Colossus, who is secretly a spy for his Krakoa-hating mutant brother Mikhail Rasputin. There is certainly no shortage of potential drama that can unfold at the hands of Kieron Gillen and artist Lucas Werneck, and rest assured that Immortal X-Men, which will focus on specific members of the Council each issue, will be a wild ride. Make sure to pick up Immortal X-Men by Marvel Comics when it debuts on March 30th, 2022, and see for yourself how similar to Succession it really is!
Source: Entertainment Weekly