The Arthurian X-Men team Excalibur goes full Lord of the Rings in their newest Marvel Comics series, Knights of X, written by writer Tini Howard featuring art by Bob Quinn. The team fights for the survival of mutants in the magical realm of Otherworld. With elves, swords, dragons, magic, and wizards it is clear that Knights of X is fully leaning into the high fantasy world building that Excalibur gave fans, especially since Betsy Braddock and her Knights of X will apparently be on the quest for a lost mutant relic that could save all of Otherworld.
Knights of X is one of the new "Destiny of X" series spinning out of recent mutant events such as Inferno, The Trial of Magneto, and X-Lives/X-Deaths of Wolverine. It is the continuation of the popular Excalibur series that began back in 2019. Excalibur ended with Merlyn effectively winning his war against the Starlight Citadel and the "witchbreed" (Otherworld's derogatory term for mutants), and Captain Britain getting stuck behind the Krakoan portal to Otherworld, trapping her and others in the violent fantasy world.
The upcoming Knights of X not only has many allusions to classic high fantasy stories but also has imagery based on the fan favorite X-Men event, Days of Future Past. The recent announcement from Marvel reveals an exciting synopsis for the fantasy-fueled Excalibur journey:
"The gates to Otherworld are closed — and Captain Britain is trapped on the wrong side! Usurpers Merlyn and his right-hand man, King Arthur, are now in control of Lunatic Citadel. Furies the size of Sentinels raze villages to the ground in their hunt for the “witchbreed”... The Knights of X gather to restore the rightful order and rescue desperate mutants — but their quest is about to get so much bigger than that. This is the era of destiny…and the fate of Otherworld lies at the center of mutantkind’s future."
The new team of questing mutants who partner with Betsy Braddock to form the Knights of X are: Rictor, Shatterstar, Bei the Blood Moon, Gambit, Rachel Summers, and Gloriana. Rounding out the team is Shogo, Jubilee's adopted son, in dragon form as well as two surprise team members who have yet to be revealed.
The synopsis for the series alludes to the fact that Betsy and the Knights of X's battle against Merlyn, Arthur, and the Furies is not just a fight for Otherworld, but also for all of Krakoa, so there will most likely be an external threat presented by the evil sorcerer. The writer for Excalibur, and now Knights of X, had this to say about Captain Britain's latest quest:
"You'll recognize many of the Knights from Excalibur’s past - both my run and the classic - in a quest for a precious treasure that crashes our high fantasy tale into that most classic X-Men story - fighting for an Other world that hates and fears them."
While the gorgeous main cover by Yanick Paquette depicts Captain Britain and her team in all their Lord of the Rings glory, it is the variant cover by Rod Reis that really provides a look into how the Knights' battle against Merlyn might play out. In an image reminiscent of the anti-mutant posters famous in the alternate reality world of Days of Future Past, the cover also features Rachel Summers, as well as King Arthur's "Furies" which look a lot like magical Sentinels, making the allusions to this horrifying future very obvious.
Tini Howard has spent the last two years developing the mutant mythos of Otherworld, and the Knights of X with Bob Quinn are a continuation of this trajectory. While the X-Men have always dabbled in a wide variety of genres, this is one of the first times that an entire modern series will be playing into high fantasy tropes and imagery. Fans of the X-Men team Excalibur who also love The Lord of the Rings should be sure to check out Knights of X #1 when it debuts in April 2022.
Source: Marvel Entertainment