Marvel’s New X-Men Era Made Me See What’s Wrong with the Avengers (And How to Fix It)

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X-Men Senior Editor Tom Brevoort has revealed his original pitches for the franchise’s current slate of titles – and I think it shows that his approach to X-storytelling is actually exactly what Marvel’s Avengers books need in order to thrive. It also highlights what made Marvel’s Civil War so successful, and why Marvel is seeking to replicate that success with X-Men in 2025.

On his Substack, Tom Brevoort shared his initial email to outgoing X-Office Editor Jordan D. White, outlining his idea for what a line-wide relaunch would look like for the franchise. On the heels of an era of unprecedented unity for mutantkind, and cohesion between X-titles, Brevoort’s idea for a shake-up was to divide Marvel’s mutants once more, and let conflict arise between the disparate groups.

Surprisingly, I think this could also apply to the Avengers, who are traditionally associated with team unity, but many of whose best stories have, in fact, come from tensions within their membership.

Brevoort Shared His Original “From The Ashes” Pitch Sheet

Brevoort’s pitch list is fascinating for a number of reasons, and will promote discussion among X-fans about the direction of the “From the Ashes” Era of the franchise so far – which I can only assume was the Senior Editor’s intent when releasing it. First, have a look at the list in full, and then we can dig into it a bit deeper:

All right, enough time has now gone by that I can probably share this with you. What you see below is the text of the first e-mail I ever wrote about how to lay out a new X-Line in the aftermath of the end of the Krakoa era. It was written before the job of building that line had been given to me, but after an hour-long conversation with former X-Editor Jordan White brainstorming what such a landscape might look like. Given that, it’s remarkable on point as to many of the specific titles that we wound up building. Heck, I even had SENTINELS this early.

X-MEN – Primary heroic super hero team. Focused on universal situations whether they specifically involve mutants or not.

UNCANNY X-MEN – Secondary heroic super hero team. Philosophically at odds with X-Men. Focused primarily on mutant situations.

School X-MEN – Kitty and new players recruit new mutants and train them in the use of their powers. Wear modified school uniforms ala New Mutants or Generation X. This book effectively is NEW MUTANTS but it could use a stronger X-centric title.

X-FORCE – The Krakoa Mossad, clinging to the idea and ideals of their destroyed homeland and taking the fight to its enemies.

X-FACTOR – Government-affiliated mutant squad. Freedom Force. If integration is the goal, then these are the most integrated heroes.

WOLVERINE – Wolverine as a solo player. Pick him up living in remote cabin in Canada, where he’s brought back into the fight by somebody?

THE SENTINELS – People transformed into stealth Sentinels. Programmed to hunt down mutants, but they can do more and be heroic as well.

MYSTIQUE – Cool spy/espionage book with a morally ambiguous lead.

“Professor M”? Magneto wheelchair-bound?

Take founders and ANAD characters off the board for a while?

Brotherhood of X

Need fewer active mutants overall, and need to scatter the ones we know across the globe.

New villains. Old villains in new and interesting places. Some theoretically heroic mutants now in villain roles.

Mutants mostly living under the radar/inside the closet. A Red State future. Trying to pry open the door again/regain lost rights and cultural gains.

Mutants have families and friends and lives apart from being mutant super heroes. Not everybody drops everything else in their lives to live as a mutant full time.

Mutants interacting with normal people in society, good and bad.

Build relations between all X-Teams so they’re each in opposition to at least one other faction, providing story grist. So X-FACTOR doesn’t like SENTINELS because they’re anti-mutant but they’re forced to work with them. One team of X-MEN doesn’t agree with the stance of the other team of X-MEN. X-FORCE has a chip on its shoulder for X-FACTOR, whom they consider sell-outs. And so forth. Arrange the factions like on a wheel.

So a few things changed along the way, of course. X-MEN and UNCANNY switched premises, X-FORCE went in an entirely different direction, the founders and ANAD characters were well in evidence, and so forth. But ultimately, this is very much what we wound up doing. And possibly, this memo was one of the reasons why I was handed the job.

What I find especially noteworthy are the points at which Brevoort emphasizes the distinctions between different titles, which makes it clear that his plan was always to cultivate drama between the different X-Men teams and other mutant groups.

Take, for example, his note that the Uncanny X-Men would be “philosophically at odds with X-Men” – though intriguingly, he comments at the end that these two books “switched premises” – or how he suggests they “build relations between all X-Teams so they’re each in opposition to at least one other faction.” This, to me, is the core appeal of Brevoort’s approach, though many fans of the franchise’s previous Krakoan Era of mutant unity might not be entirely pleased with it. It is also an approach that I think could be suitably adapted to fit the Avengers franchise as well.

Earth’s Mightiest Heroes Could Use More Internal Conflict, Akin To Tom Brevoort’s Plans For Mutantkind

Hold On, Let Him Cook

Reading Tom Brevoort’s early pitch for X-Men’s “From the Ashes” Era gave me a better understanding of what Marvel is doing with the franchise, in both the short and long term. Surprisingly, though, it also made me start thinking about the publisher’s Avengers titles, and how they could be reinvigorated along similar lines. While in theory – depending on the era, the editorial edict, etc. – Earth’s mutant population exceeds that of its extant number of non-mutant superheroes, the truth is that the figures are about equivalent, in terms of out-of-universe character counts.

Meaning, Marvel has multiple teams of Avengers, nearly as many as it does of X-Men. However, these teams often operate in isolation, with different books, even as they tell similar stories, focusing on similar themes of team unity. Yet Marvel’s own GOAT crossover, Civil War, is a clear and present reminder that the peak of superhero drama involves pitting heroes against one another across an ideological divide. So, I don’t think it’s a stretch to suggest that Tom Brevoort’s plan for inter-X-team disputes could also be applicable to Marvel’s other greatest franchise.

Superhero Vs. Superhero Conflicts Are A Way To Generate Narrative Tension & Make Stories More Consequential

Small-Scale Civil Wars In The Superhero Community

“Arrange the factions like a wheel,” Tom Brevoort wrote in his “From the Ashes” pitch email. In other words, set up the dynamics between different X-squads so that however the wheel was spun, a potent narrative conflict could arise. When – not if – Marvel Comics wants to overhaul its Avengers titles, I think this would be a great way to bring more cohesion between the books; cohesion through disunity, by design, but still. In this way, the entire Marvel Universe doesn’t need to join a massive Civil War-level crossover, but those same tensions can be explored on a smaller scale.

I have to admit, I haven’t always agreed with Tom Brevoort’s comments about the X-Men franchise, since his takeover of the X-Office. Still, his pitch for why conflict between mutant teams is good for the franchise resonated with me, striking me as a keen articulation of a way to raise the stakes of superhero storytelling. While it can be expected for Marvel’s heroes to triumph over evil, when the X-Men and Avengers fight one another, there is no telling exactly what the outcome, or the toll, will be.

Source: Tom Brevoort, Substack

“}]] I like what this Marvel Editor is thinking.  Read More