This year's X-Men Vote is officially open from Tuesday through Friday, as fans of Marvel Comics get to choose the newest hero to join Krakoa's mutant squad. The winner of the fan vote will be revealed during 2023's Hellfire Gala event before the mutants Fall of X crisis begins.
The candidates for this year's X-Men Vote are Cannonball, Dazzler, Frenzy, Jubilee, Juggernaut and Prodigy. This will be the third year in a row that Marvel has hosted the annual X-Men Vote, where readers get to vote on the final member of the newest X-Men roster, who will then go on to appear in the main X-Men series for the coming months. Marvel recently announced that voting for 2023's X-Men Vote opens Tuesday morning and ends on Friday, February 3. Fans can visit the X-Men Vote page to cast their votes for their favorite contenders in this year's X-Men Vote.
Who Will Be Joining Krakoa's Newest X-Men Team?
The annual X-Men Vote has many ramifications outside just choosing a new team member for the X-Men roster. Not only does it completely impact the group and personal dynamics of the next year's X-Men team, but the losers have each formed one-time "Secret X-Men" teams in the days and months following the vote, and if the character is a lesser known hero (or former villain) it often helps to skyrocket them into popularity. The first X-Men Vote in 2021 had Strong Guy, Forge, Tempo, Boom-Boom, Marrow, Armor, Cannonball, Sunspot, and Banshee, Polaris as contestants, with Magneto's daughter and iconic magnet-mutant Polaris winning the vote, and rounding out Krakoa's very first formal X-Men team. The losers of that first vote went on to form the first Secret X-Men team, led by former New Mutant Sunspot, starring in the Secret X-Men one-shot that saw the mutants taking on various enemies in space while engaging with a dark Shi'ar Empire secret.
The list of candidates this year is primarily made up of familiar faces, many of whom have served on X-Men squads in the past at some point. New Mutants mainstay Cannonball has been both an X-Man and an Avenger, and has recently spent time in space with his wife and daughter. Dazzler has been associated with the X-Men since she was first introduced in 1979 as a disco singer who uses her mutant powers to put on incredible light shows. Frenzy served on several villainous teams, including Magneto's Acolytes, Apocalypse's Alliance of Evil and Mr. Sinister's Marauders. She has recently turned to the side of the angels, first as a staff member at the Jean Grey School and later as a member of S.W.O.R.D. Fan-favorite Jubilee was introduced as a fresh young face on the team in the 1980s, but has ascended to elder statesman status following her time on the X-Men, Generation X and Excalibur. Juggernaut is another former villain who has become an ally to his step-brother Charles Xavier's squad of mutant heroes. Though not technically a mutant, the powers bestowed on him by the ancient god Cyttorak make him an unstoppable force who would provide much-needed muscle on the team. Finally, Prodigy is the newest face among the candidates, but his time as part of the New X-Men, Young Avengers and X-Factor Investigations have made him a formidable hero.
Last Year's Vote Had Some Surprise Contenders
Last year's 2022 X-Men Vote included Armor, Avalanche, Blind!, Firestar, Gentle, Gorgon, Micromax, Penance, Siryn, and Surge, with the controversial Firestar being elected to the team, causing continual friction for the former Avengers hero ever since. The rest of the contestants who did not make it on the 2022 team then spontaneously formed a Secret X-Men team, which fought against Hydra after they infiltrated the Hellfire Gala in X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #50 - #55, which will be published in print for the first time in an upcoming 2022 Hellfire Gala trade paperback.
The graphic for this year's X-Men Vote is much darker than last year's, with what looks like rotting bark on it, perhaps spelling potential doom for the nation of Krakoa in the lead up to 2023's Fall of X, an apparently calamitous war that will decide the future of the mutant's destiny.
The future of the mutant race could depend on the quality of this year's official X-Men roster, so fans should make sure to cast their ballot in Marvel Comics annual X-Men Vote this week, the result of which will be fatefully announced during the Hellfire Gala this summer.
Source: Marvel Entertainment