X-Men: Marvel Spotlights the Three New Mutant Students on the Team

Earlier this week, Marvel revealed more details about Eve Ewing and Carmen Carnero’s Exceptional X-Men, the third of the three flagship X-Men titles that will be launching this Summer as part of the relaunch of the X-Men comic book line post-Krakoa called “From the Ashes.” While Gail Simone and David Marquez’s Uncanny X-Men will be closer to a traditional superhero series (protecting a world that hates and fears them), and Jed MacKay and Ryan Stegman’s X-Men will about proactively taking down major threats with a powerful strikeforce, that leaves Exceptional X-Men as the series that will spotlight the teaching side of the X-Men, as Kitty Pryde and Emma Frost will be forced to work together to teach three new young mutants to become superheroes.

Marvel has now revealed the three variant covers for Exceptional X-Men #1, with the new mutant heroes – Axo, Bronze, and Melee, receiving prominent exposure on all three covers, with one of the variants being the first of a series specifically dedicated to spotlighting the new heroes introduced in this series.

Why is Kitty Pryde going back to teaching new mutants?

The collapse of the Krakoan Age for the X-Men was a tragic situation for everyone involved, and it has resulted in difficulties for mutants who are now forced to re-integrate into traditional society after getting used to having their own powerful mutant nation. That is difficult enough for established mutants, but what about the new mutants whose powers have just emerged? They are the ones who are dealing with the downside of the public’s anti-mutant reaction (fueled by the villainous organization, Orchis, which caused the fall of Krakoa) without having ever experienced the upside of the mutant island paradise.

Kitty Pryde is one of those mutants who has struggled the most with the fall of Krakoa, especially as Kitty was forced to embrace some pretty aggressive tactics during the battle against Orchis (once Orchis declared war on the X-Men, Kitty basically went full Punisher on Orchis. She killed a LOT of people), and she just wants to check out, and have a stress-free life as a barista in her hometown of Chicago. However, Emma Frost will convince her that they need to help these mutants who had no connection to Krakoa, but are suffering the backlash nonetheless. Emma, Kitty, and their three new charges are featured on these variant covers by Joelle Jones and Elizabeth Torque.

Which new mutant gets the first cover spotlight for Exceptional X-Men?

There is little information out there on the three new mutants who will be taught by Emma and Kitty, except that we know that Axo has powers that involve stirring up people’s emotions, Melee is a fighter with stealth skills, and that Bronze is a Bronze-skinned mutant who seems to have hair that she can use as whips.

That’s why David Baldeon’s series of character spotlight covers are so useful, as we can easily see, in his first spotlight cover on Bronze, that a simple focus on the new hero shows her personality in a major way. She’s clearly a peppy, upbeat hero, with her little heart hand gesture centering the image.

Baldeon’s second cover spotlight will likely be out ahead of Exceptional X-Men #1’s release on September 4th.

Source: Marvel