The Hellfire Gala gets bigger as Marvel teases a "secret" X-Men announcement

Hellfire Gala
(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

Update: Marvel has released a new trailer for its upcoming 'Hellfire Gala' X-Men crossover, which runs through most of the current 'Reign of X' X-Men line in June.

Along with an entertainment TV-style red carpet rundown of some of the heroes' special outfits for the Gala (most of which can be seen in the gallery below), the trailer teases a "secret" announcement to be made during the Hellfire Gala.

Here's the trailer:

What the "secret" announcement is remains, well, a secret - though there are some clues as to what we might expect.

There's Marvel's recent promise that a new title from creators Leah Williams and Valerio Schiti will be revealed in June, as well as 'Head of X' Jonathan Hickman's new title and full creative team. Those could make for prime announcements for the Hellfire Gala - but they're not exactly "secret" so much as unrevealed.

The "secret" news could also key into the fate of Storm, who recently announced she is departing the X-Men, and who X-Men group editor Jordan D. White has been teasing will get a big summer 2021 story for a while now.

"I think you might be referring to a really amazing Storm development that I cryptically mentioned recently," White told Newsarama back in August 2020. "That is in the very early stages, but... it's amazing. Unfortunately, it's something that won't be happening until next year. But I think you will know it when you see it - it's pretty huge."

Whatever it is, it may be announced in the Planet-Size X-Men one-shot, which Marvel has previously promised will signal a new direction for the X-Men line.

Original story follows

Marvel's 'Reign of X' X-Men titles are heading toward their own special line-wide mini-event this June in the Hellfire Gala, a kind of Krakoan mutant prom where the X-Men and their allies will don high-fashion red carpet looks with mutant twists and celebrate the debut of a new X-Men line-up.

Nearly all of Marvel's mutants will be in attendance, with almost every title in the 'Reign of X' line joining in the Hellfire Gala, and to wit, Marvel has released a spate of variant covers showing off the Krakoan fashion the cast members of each title will wear to the Gala.

The covers released so far (with links to buy them), and the characters shown on each, include:

  • Excalibur #21 with Jubilee, Gambit, Gloriana, Rictor, and Monarch
  • Hellions #12 with Havok, Psylocke, Mister Sinister, Exodus, and Mystique
  • Marauders #21 with Pyro, Banshee, Sebastian Shaw, Bishop, and Iceman
  • New Mutants #19 with Mirage, Warlock, Karma, Magik, and Warpath
  • SWORD #6 with Frenzy, Manifold, Khora, Wiz Kid, and Magneto
  • Way of X #3 with Dazzler, Pixie, Nightcrawler, Mercury, and Loa
  • X-Corp #2 with Mastermind, Selene, Madrox, and Sunspot
  • X-Force #20 with Wolverine, Sage, Domino, Beast, Kid Omega, and Professor X
  • X-Men #21 with Sunfire, Synch, Colossus, Wolverine, and Cannonball
  • X-Factor #10 with Polaris, Northstar, Aurora, Daken, Prodigy, Eye-Boy, and Kyle

Here's a gallery of all the covers:

The Hellfire Gala will run through all these titles in June, as well as a one-shot titled Planet-Size X-Men #1, which is billed as setting up the next chapter in the saga of mutantdom and Krakoa with ramifications that will be felt throughout the line - as well as the Marvel Universe.

The Hellfire Gala will also mark the in-universe debut of the new official X-Men team of Krakoa, with a new X-Men #1 featuring the line-up coming in July.

Stay on top of everything X-related with our listing of all the planned X-Men comic book releases for 2021 and beyond.

George Marston

I've been Newsarama's resident Marvel Comics expert and general comic book historian since 2011. I've also been the on-site reporter at most major comic conventions such as Comic-Con International: San Diego, New York Comic Con, and C2E2. Outside of comic journalism, I am the artist of many weird pictures, and the guitarist of many heavy riffs. (They/Them)