Jonathan Hickman invokes classic X-Men event for new title

Inferno teaser — (Image credit: Marvel Comics)

Marvel Comics has announced the title of Jonathan Hickman's new, previously unrevealed X-Men series, though nearly everything else about the title remains a mystery.

Titled Inferno, the series will seemingly call back to the formative X-Men 'Inferno' crossover of the late '80s, at least in name. Marvel released a teaser image alongside the reveal of the title Inferno, but didn't give information about the rest of the creative team, or much of the plot.

The teaser, released with the slogan "The biggest secrets of Jonathan Hickman's X-Men run will burn away in Inferno!" seemingly shows several characters who have been central to the larger story of the founding of the mutant nation of Krakoa, including Magneto, a person who looks like Xavier without his trademark Cerebro helmet, Mystique, Emma Frost, and Moira MacTaggart.

The current Krakoa era, in which mutantkind has founded their own utopian mutant nation on the living island, kicked off with massive revelations about Moira MacTaggert, with the twin titles House of X and Powers of X revealing that Moira is in fact a mutant who has lived multiple lives, with multiple timelines forming her life, and her quest to understand and eventually liberate mutantkind.

That revelation led directly to Xavier founding Krakoa and organizing mutantkind, though Moira's nature has been kept a secret to the point where Mystique's precognitive wife Destiny has been denied resurrection despite mutantkind now having the ability to bring any mutant who dies back to life. As such, Mystique has been beholden to Xavier and Magneto, who have promised to resurrect Destiny if Mystique carries out a series of dangerous missions on their behalf. Mystique failed her latest mission in this week's X-Men #20, leading to Magneto and Xavier denying her request again.

Also adding to the complexity of what Inferno may actually be about, Magneto may have his own troubles before the title launches as August kicks off The Trial of Magneto, in which the mutant master of magnetism will be involved in a trial over an undisclosed - but serious - crime.

As for Emma Frost, she's been running the Hellfire Trading Company, Krakoa's import/export/navy organization which was initially co-run by Sebastian Shaw till Frost recently ousted him.

There's also a baby shown near Moira, and we don't actually know who this infant may be. The baby's inclusion could be a teaser about an important mutant birth, or it could even be Moira herself being reborn, as has happened numerous times in the past. Interestingly enough, a baby was kinda at the heart of the original 'Inferno,' which dealt with Cyclops's ex-wife Madelyne Prior, with whom he had a son who grew up to be Cable.

How does it all tie together? That's not clear - but each of the characters shown in the teaser has their share of secrets and machinations going on in Krakoa, and it seems that all of these various plots will come to a head when Inferno #1 launches in September.

Stay on top of everything coming up for Marvel's mutants with our listing of all Marvel's new X-Men comics through 2021 and beyond.

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)