Mark Millar almost revamped the mainstream X-Men line after Civil War

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With his Ultimates artist Bryan Hitch and "Old Man Logan" artist Steve McNiven

(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

Mark Millar may be best known for his creator-owned Millarworld comic books these days, but the writer made his name in American comic books revamping some of Marvel Comics’ top characters - the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and X-Men - for its Ultimate Universe line. But as it turns out, Millar was tapped to revamp the mainstream X-Men books too, in a project that never came to fruition.

In the midst of cleaning his home office, Millar seems to have uncovered a treasure trove of work material on his classic Marvel Comics work, including everything from Wolverine’s “Enemy of the State” to “Old Man Logan” and more – including notes on the canceled X-Men revamp.

“Sorting my office and found a pile of notes from a project Marvel wanted [Bryan Hitch] and I to do after The Ultimates, a line-wide revamp of the X-Men line with Steve McNiven on the other book. How funny!!” Millar tweeted.

Though Millar hasn’t made much of the content of the story pitch public, he explains that his Ultimates creative partner Brian Hitch would have drawn his X-Men series, while Steve McNiven would have drawn a second title. Interestingly, the pitch dates back to 2005, around the time Millar was working on Civil War with McNiven - the Marvel Comics limited series that altered the Marvel Universe and remains one of Marvel’s best-selling and impactful stories of all time.

Millar would have taken over the X-Men line shortly after the “X-Men: ReLoad” re-branding that kicked off in 2004 following writer Grant Morrison’s exit from the series. “ReLoad” centered on Chris Claremont’s X-Treme X-Men, Chuck Austen’s X-Men, and Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men. Millar wound up writing Wolverine, with the seminal story “Enemy of the State”, in May 2005.

George Marston
George Marston
Entertainment Writer

I've been Newsarama's resident Marvel Comics expert and general comic book historian since 2011, and now I'm the Entertainment Writer at GamesRadar+. 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)