Comic book writer Jonathan Hickman is leaving the X-Men books after his Inferno miniseries - for now. In 2019, superstar writer Hickman revitalized the X-Men line. He established a creative new status quo for the mutant race, in which the mutants had gathered on the living island of Krakoa to found a new mutant nation. Hero and villain alike were welcome on Krakoa's shores.

Back in the '90s, the X-Men were Marvel's superstars. They've gradually declined in prominence since then, overtaken by the Avengers, but under Hickman they have been reinvigorated. He has assembled a crew of skilled writers to explore his new status quo, including the likes of Leah Williams, Si Spurrier, Al Ewing, Gerry Duggan, Tini Howard, and Benjamin Percy. Still, over the last few months it's become clear some of Marvel's plans for the line were changing; Williams' Hellions has come to a premature end, with the writer instead helming an event miniseries called The Trial of Magneto that explores the Scarlet Witch's death, while Spurrier's Way of X is also coming to a close. Fans began suspecting something major had changed.

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Entertainment Weekly has now confirmed Jonathan Hickman is departing the X-Men line after his upcoming Inferno miniseries - for now. According to Hickman, his original pitch was a three-act, three-event narrative, with House of X forming the beginning of that story. He was, however, aware his ideas could resonate too well, and that instead of continuing the story he could simply leave with the new status quo established. "So, during the pandemic, when the time came for me to start pointing things toward writing the second-act event, I asked everyone if they were ready for me to do that, and to a man, everyone wanted to stay in the first act," Hickman told EW in an exclusive interview. "It was really interesting, because I appreciated that House of X resonated with them to the extent that they didn't want it to end, but the reality was that I knew I would be leaving the line early."

Moira MacTaggert stands among the fallen X-Men on Inferno #1 cover.

Hickman is something of a slow-burn writer, planting ideas that he intends to develop at a later date; indeed, his main X-Men run felt more like an anthology series than a typical monthly book, with almost every issue standing apart from the rest and preparing the way for future stories. Inferno looks set to pick up a lot of these, featuring the return of enigmatic reincarnating mutant Moira MacTaggert and Mystique's attack on Krakoa - one motivated by Xavier and Magneto's refusal to resurrect her long-lost wife, Destiny. It feels as though Hickman is tying up a lot of the most tantalizing loose threads before he moves on to his next project for Marvel, which he jokingly describes as his "Next Big Marvel Thing."

The X-Office has apparently spent the last six months planning the future of the X-Men line, and Hickman has worked with the various creative teams - including some new writers - to help plan for the next several years of X-books. It's quite possible he then intends to return to move on to phase two of his overarching plan, having given Marvel the extra time to enjoy the Age of Krakoa. Meanwhile, Jonathan Hickman's Inferno seems more intriguing than ever - even if it certainly won't fulfill its much-marketed threat of "burning Krakoa to the ground."

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Source: Entertainment Weekly