clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

X-Men #1 might have solved the longest-running mutant love triangle

And it’s in an architectural diagram

Cyclops, Jean Grey, Wolverine, and a lot of confetti, in a variant cover for X-Men #1, Marvel Comics (2019). Mark Brooks/Marvel Comics~
Susana Polo is an entertainment editor at Polygon, specializing in pop culture and genre fare, with a primary expertise in comic books. Previously, she founded The Mary Sue.

X-Men #1, marking the new dawn of the X-Men, is a blast. But amid all the mad science, space travel, and sentient islands, there was one big revelation, fit to shake the walls of X-Men fandom.

At least... it certainly looks that way. Shippers, ready your pens.

[Ed. note: This piece contains spoilers for X-Men #1.]

“Be careful, they’re sure to be savvy — all those apes have PhDs!” Cyclops shouts as his team is attacked by a bunch of scientists-turned-gorillas in X-Men #1, Marvel Comis (2019). Jonathan Hickman, Leinil Francis Yu/Marvel Comics

The star of X-Men #1 is Scott Summers, recently named “captain commander” of Krakoa, field captain and defender of the fledgling mutant nation. You know him as Cyclops, founding member and leader of the X-Men.

This week’s issue, written by Jonathan Hickman and drawn by Leinil Francis Yu, spends a good amount of time with Cyclops’ expansive family on their new home, which is a giant Krakoan flower on the moon. Scott lives there now with his wife, Jean Grey; Scott’s two brothers, Havok and Vulcan; and Scott and Jean’s kids, Cable (whose mother was actually a clone of Jean) and Rachel (who is actually from an alternate future timeline).

Also, Wolverine lives with them.

Here’s where it gets really interesting

If you’ve been following our House of X/Powers of X coverage, you know that writer Jonathan Hickman loves to use infographics, charts, and diagrams to deliver exposition. Characteristically, X-Men #1 includes two pages of diagrams explaining the layout of the “Summer House” in minute detail.

And if you’ve really been following along, you’ll know that Hickman loves to include big revelations in very small details. Let’s take a look at the top down view of the bedrooms in the Summer House.

A top down view of bedroom locations in Scott Summers’ house on the moon, from X-Men #1, Marvel Comics (2019). Jean’s bedroom is between Scott and Wolverine’s, and they all appear to be conjoined. Jonathan Hickman, Tom Muller/Marvel Comics

Observe, that Cyclops, Jean, and Wolverine’s bedrooms are all on the right side of the diagram, with Jean’s bedroom in the middle. Additionally, the rooms appear to be conjoined in a way that none of the other bedrooms are.

This isn’t the only hint Hickman’s dropped

Many X-Men fans took very significant a look at this panel of Jean, Wolverine, and Cyclops sharing a beer in House of X #6. But that’s not all. Way back in last month’s Powers of X #4, readers were treated to ten “Sinister secrets” gathered by a gossipy Mister Sinister. The fifth one reads:

He’s the best there is at what he does. She’s married with a kid. The husband knows exactly what’s going on, but who is he to point the finger? He’s up to much the same, and more. Maybe this is just the new normal on the mutant island.

“He’s the best there is at what he does” is Wolverine’s habitual tagline. Married with a kid would seem to point to Jean, especially now that she and Scott are actually living with their variably time-lost children, at least one of whom is still young enough to be ordered to set the table. Jean and Wolverine have shared a mutual attraction that has occasionally blossomed into a love triangle situation where she’s torn between Logan and Scott.

Speaking of Scott, if he’s “up to much the same,” that likely points to the future reveal of his renewed relationship with Emma Frost, who was his partner of many years after Jean’s last death. Jean and Emma shared a rare moment of mutual respect — and a couple beers — at the same party pictured above.

It seems important to note here that one of the new three laws of mutants is “make more mutants.” One wonders how one balances pregnancy with being a superhero. Do baby mutants grow from eggs, too?

But reproductive issues aside, polyamorous X-Men simply makes sense on Krakoa. The only way for mutants to defeat the post-human threat is for them all to come together as one united people. And mutants don’t die anymore, so you can’t even ditch a bad boyfriend on a mission gone wrong. The X-Men have got to find a way to live with all the romantic entanglements of over 50 years of superhero soap opera.

It seems that Jean, Scott, and Logan — and maybe even Emma — might just have.

The next level of puzzles.

Take a break from your day by playing a puzzle or two! We’ve got SpellTower, Typeshift, crosswords, and more.

news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news
news