Marvel has big plans for the X-Men and the future of mutants. A new interview with comic writer Jonathan Hickman reveals that a weekly series is coming to kick off 2022. This series will also lead into a multi-year plan for the franchise and it all starts once the upcoming event Inferno ends.

Jonathan Hickman has been leading the latest generation of X-Men stories. The team's status quo drastically changed with his two series House of X and Powers of X and has since branched off into a broad expanse of titles surrounding the mutant's new nation of Krakoa. The interconnectivity of these stories has led to a broad build-up of the inner workings of Krakoa and the myriad of challenges the X-Men have been facing. Hickman recently announced that he would be stepping away for another Marvel project, but the X-Men's story has a lot left in it.

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In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Jonathan Hickman revealed that the X-Men would be returning with a weekly series. Beginning January 2022, there will be a new comic every week involving the X-Men. The exact title has not yet been revealed, nor what its focus will be. What IS known is that it will come after Hickman departs the X-Books following Inferno and there are no signs of the story stopping anytime soon. Marvel and Hickman have spent quite a bit of time setting up the current status quo, but Hickman promises that the next act will be big.

Hickman states, "In an effort to facilitate both things, we've all spent the last six months or so reorienting the line, me creating Inferno to assist with that, and then bringing in some new writers to add to the existing team, and then plan for the next several years of X-books. So after Inferno, I'll be leaving to go work on my 'Next Big Marvel Thing' and starting in January the X-Line will rocket forward starting with a weekly series that leads into the very cool, refocused, line of books."

The departure of the "Head of X" marks a big shift for the current run of X-Men books. However, this departure was known. It wasn't unexpected and therefore has made it possible to plan ahead for the future. It sounds like January 2022's series will kick off another major part of the X-Men's story, though there are "several years" left to come within the current paradigm. Already, some comics within the X-Line have come to an early end, or wrapped up their stories. X-Men is beginning anew with Gerry Duggan and Pepe Larraz, bringing a team of mutants together using the X-Men's new method of voting for a team (which happened at the Hellfire Gala). Lots of changes are happening, but fans shouldn't be too concerned as it seems like the bigger picture is still being developed and executed.

The X-Men's world has changed radically and they've been facing different threats and challenges. Resurrection is a process with lots of concerns and caveats, while political alliances are as fragile as ever where mutants are concerned. There are numerous major events still to come before January even rolls around, including Inferno - coming in September - and currently, The Trial of Magneto - which just began. The X-Men are showing no signs of slowing and their story keeps becoming more complex with every issue and event that occurs. Even though Jonathan Hickman is leaving, the upcoming weekly series is just one more reason for fans of the X-Men to be excited about what the future holds.

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Source: Entertainment Weekly