In a final confrontation on planet Coppelius, home world of the synths, Picard (Patrick Stewart), the La Sirena crew, and Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), await the Romulan warbirds led by General Oh on their way to kill the synthetics, and plan to stop Soji and Sutra (Isa Briones) from summoning dangerous synthetics who will bring about the annihilation of organic life. Picard hopes that the Federation will provide assistance and that Starfleet will come to help them. We also get cameos from a couple of Picard’s old friends.
As usual, there are more Star Trek Easter eggs and references in this episode, calling back to The Next Generation and Voyager.
Disclosure: ViacomCBS is GameSpot’s parent company.
In what seems to be becoming a regular thing, a well-known dataminer, Senescallo, leaked a bunch of upcoming Call of Duty content on Reddit, revealing plans for the rumored Modern Warfare 2 Remaster, along with details on new maps and weapons that are headed to Modern Warfare (you know, the latest one) Season 3.
Perhaps the biggest bit of information revealed by the Call of Duty leak seems to indicate that the highly anticipated Modern Warfare 2 Remaster could be sold from within Modern Warfare (2019) and as a standalone game. Further, spotted by Eurogamer, the Reddit leak indicates that Activision only plans to remaster the Modern Warfare 2 campaign, not the multiplayer.
Based on the leak, players will be able to purchase the remaster as a standalone game and will receive the Underwater Demo Team Classic Ghost Bundle with their purchase. Alternatively, players could purchase the Ghost Pack: Oil Rig Bundle from within Modern Warfare to receive the MW2 campaign remaster, a legendary skin for Ghost, weapon blueprints for the M4A1 and 1911, and a few other commodities.
Purchasing the Modern Warfare 2 Remaster from within Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is expected to cost 10,000 COD points, which comes out to about $80. It’s currently unclear how much the standalone version would cost.
Remaster’s aside, the leak also revealed some information about Modern Warfare Season 3, which is expected to release in the coming weeks. It seems that two maps from previous titles will be making a return to the franchise in the third season — Backlot (Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare) and Village (Modern Warfare 3).
Source: Reddit user SenescalloSource: Reddit user Senescallo
Additionally, an SKS Sniper and a Renetti Pistol are likely two be added along with two new Operators, Alex and Ronin. Lastly, Season 3 could be receiving creator codes, which would allow players to support their favorite Call of Duty creator with any in-game purchases. Activision and Infinity Ward have yet to confirm any of this, so of course take it all with a grain of salt.
Actor John Turturro, who’s wanted to make a spinoff movie about his flamboyant bowling ball-licking cameo character from The Big Lebowski for almost two decades, finally got the Coen Brothers’ permission about five years ago. The result is an uneven blending of the suave, arrogant Jesus Quintana and the 1974 French film Going Places by Bertrand Blier.
The Jesus Rolls follows most of the major beats from that movie — the end credits acknowledge The Jesus Rolls as being based on Blier’s original novel and screenplay adaptation — while only providing sporadic charm and unruly happenstance. It’s a harmless mess but there’s never a moment where it doesn’t struggle to justify its existence.
One slight SPOILER at the top, for those of you wondering why, or how, Turturro would want to craft (or borrow) an entire story around Lebowski’s “sex offender.” Well, one of the first things The Jesus Rolls does is turn the whole Jesus “exposing himself to an eight-year-old” tale from the Coens’ film into a misunderstanding made by a very dumb, inappropriate crook. Jesus is not a “pederast,” to use the term John Goodman’s Water said in Lebowski. No, Jesus is just a fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants petty thief who enjoys roaming the landscape aimlessly while seeking his next sexually-fluid fling.
The aforementioned aimlessness doesn’t exactly suit the film all that well, however, as we bounce around from one tacky, out-of-touch scenario to the next, with Jesus and his friend Petey (Bobby Cannavale), who’s also his reluctant romantic partner at times, just kind of winging things after Jesus gets out of Sing Sing. One can forgive Turturro, who wrote and directed The Jesus Rolls, for trying to take Coen Bros-light approach to things, but his idea to adapt Going Places, from 46 years ago, just means that the situations and dialogue are going to feel pretty clunky and unenlightened. Basically, Jesus was molded to fit Going Places when it should have been the other way around. Or, best case scenario, just drum up an original story.
The “call in some favors” cast can be fun, in this low-budget romp, as you’ll see Christopher Walken, Jon Hamm, Tim Blake Nelson, and J. B. Smoove pulling one-day-on-set cameos. These stunt-casting scenes help spice up some of the movie’s wanderlust vapidity, but guest appearance-wise, it’s Susan Sarandon and Pete Davidson who help give the film a little extra helping of story. As a fresh out of the joint ex-con who’s wooed by Jesus and Petey, Sarandon is the closest thing we have to an audience surrogate with a touch of depth.
The third headliner here, along with Turturro and Cannavale, is Amélie’s Audrey Tautou, who plays the duo’s paramour of sorts. The surrogate family atmosphere the trio occasionally manifests is endearing but ultimately no one feels like an adult here. A lot of that has to do with the movie being based on a slice of rambunctiously chauvinist French cinema from four decades ago. The Jesus Rolls starts out as if it’s going to be a Jesus showcase, like how movies get made out of popular SNL characters, but it fast dissolves into something bizarre and, sadly, banal.
While television has created some huge stars, the fact remains that most TV actors are expendable. The main cast of beloved series such as Friends, The Big Bang Theory, and Game of Thrones have been able to command huge salaries on back of those shows’ massive popularity, and executives are clearly happy to pay them. But actors are rarely more important than the series itself, and stars are usually written out of a show when they decide to leave (or are fired).
But while a main character might simply be killed off or moved out of town once an actor leaves the role, there’s an even easier solution for smaller roles and supporting cast members–simply change the actor. The producers of Friends weren’t about to recast, say, Ross, but switching the actor who played his ex-wife was no problem. Similarly, characters played by younger children frequently have to be recast when the kids grow up, go to school, or simply leave the profession.
Actor switches happen all the time, and many go unnoticed by viewers. But there have been some bigger ones over the years. Some of these were smaller roles in huge shows, and some surprisingly big switches that were unavoidable to keep the series going. And some were totally deliberate recastings. So here are 11 key actor changes that have taken place over the years…
]]>
11. Alura Zor-El in Supergirl
Kara’s Kryptonian mother Alura Zor-El was played by Laura Benanti in the first two seasons of Supergirl, but filming commitments elsewhere meant she couldn’t return for Season 3. But her replacement was a familiar name to DC fans–Erica Durance, who played Lois Lane in Smallville.
]]>
]]>
10. Helene Beesly in The Office
Pam’s mom Helene first appeared in The Office Season 2, played by Shannon Cochran, in the episode “Sexual Harassment.” The character didn’t appear again until Season 6, when she had been replaced by Linda Purl. From that point, Helene became a more regular character, appearing in five episodes in Season 6 and 7.
]]>
]]>
9. Carol Willick in Friends
When an actor is switched after just one episode, it’s usually easy to forget that there was ever a change. But when that show is as endlessly rewatched and discussed as Friends, then even the smallest inconsistency is hard to ignore. Ross’s ex-wife Carol was played by Anita Barone in Episode 2 of Friends back in 1994. By Carol’s next appearance, seven episodes later, she had been replaced by Jane Sibbett, who continued to play her throughout the next decade of the classic show.
]]>
]]>
8. The Mountain in Game of Thrones
Game of Thrones had two notable recastings throughout its 10-year-run. Gregor Clegane–aka The Mountain–was played by three different actors. Conan Stevens appeared as the character in Season 1, with Ian Whyte taking over for Season 2. The role was recast yet again for Season 3, with Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson playing The Mountain all the way through to his death at the Battle of King’s Landing in Season 8.
]]>
]]>
7. Morgan Matthews in Boy Meets World
The casting of children in shows that could potentially span many years is always problematic–sometimes, the characters need to age faster or slower than the kids in real life, and sometimes, it’s simply a matter of real life getting in the way. In Boy Meets World, young Morgan Matthews was played by Lily Nicksay for 35 episodes, before being replaced in 1993 by Lindsay Ridgeway. According to co-star Rider Strong, Nicksay, who was only 7 when she left, simply didn’t enjoy making the show. Nicksay did however return to reprise the role two decades later, in the 2017 series finale of spin-off Girl Meets world, appearing alongside Ridgeway for a very meta in-joke.
]]>
]]>
6. James Kent in True Blood
The smart and sensitive vampire James Kent was introduced into True Blood in Season 6, played by Luke Grimes. But within a season, he had been recast, with Nathan Parsons taking over for the final Season 7. The official reason from HBO at the time was because of “the creative direction of the character.” But a subsequent report in Buzzfeed stated that it was because Grimes was uncomfortable playing a gay character, and the show’s producers were unwilling to rewrite the scripts to accomodate him.
]]>
]]>
5. Daario Naharis in Game of Thrones
Daario was another recast character in Game of Thrones. He was played initially by Ed Skrein for three episodes in Season 1, but when the character returned in Season 4, Skrein had been replaced by Michiel Huisman. At the time, it was reported that Skrein left to focus on his movie career, but he subsequently denied this was the case. “My plan was to stay with Game of Thrones for the long haul,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “That was always my plan. It was a wonderful experience, but politics led to us parting ways.”
]]>
]]>
4. Most of the cast in Last Man Standing
There are few shows that have had quite so many dizzying recastings as the Tim Allen family sitcom Last Man Standing. Some characters, such as Kristin Baxter, were recast after a single season (Alexandra Krosney to Amanda Fuller), while others, like sister Mandy, made it through six seasons before getting a new actor (Molly Ephraim to Molly McCook). Younger brother Boyd has been played by four different actors (Evan and Luke Kruntchev, Flyn Morrison, Jet Jurgensmeyer), while Nick Jonas’ guest role in season 1 was recast for Season 2 when his character became a regular. And if all that wasn’t confusing enough, one actor was given two completely separate roles–Jonathan Taylor Thomas played restaurant boss John Baker in Season 2 and 3, and then returned for Season 4 as a new character named Randy, which was the name of his Home Improvement character.
]]>
]]>
3. Ann Veal in Arrested Development
Arrested Development was a very self-referential show–how many series would make repeated jokes about its own impending cancelation? The recasting of George Michael’s very forgettable girlfriend Ann after one episode, from Alessandra Torresani to Mae Whitman, was in fact part of the joke that none of the characters could really remember her any time they met. In fact, the original plan was to keep the gag going and recast the role for every single episode she appeared in. But Whitman was so good at playing the boring, bland Ann that she was kept on for the next three seasons.
]]>
]]>
2. Bobby Draper in Mad Men
Another prominent swap of child actors was in Mad Men, where Don Draper’s son Bobby was played by no fewer than four youngsters across its seven seasons. In order, they were: Maxwell Huxabee, Aaron Hart, Jared S. Gilmore, and Mason Vale Cotton. However, Kiernan Shipka, who played Bobby’s older sister Sally throughout the whole show, subsequently revealed that there were also some “unofficial” Bobbys who appeared briefly in specific scenes, including “Bucket Head Bobby” and “Slurpee Bobby.”
]]>
]]>
1. Becky Conner in Roseanne
The initial cast switch for Becky Conner might have been done through necessity, but as the years went on, producers came to embrace having two actors in the role. Lecy Goranson played Becky in Roseanne’s first four seasons, but left the show in 1993 to attend college. Sarah Chalke replaced her, and played Becky throughout Seasons 5, 6, and 7. With Season 8 expected to be the final one, the bold decision was made to have both actors play the role–Goranson would appear when her school schedule allowed, with Chalke covering for her at other times. But the confusion didn’t stop there. When Roseanne was renewed for its controversial ninth and final season, Chalke took on the role full-time again. And when the series made its short-lived return in 2018, Goranson was back, but with Chalke rejoining the show in a new role–Andrea, a surrogate mom hired by Becky. Phew! On the current iteration of the series, the Roseanne-free The Conners–Goranson continues to portray the role of Becky.
]]>
Disclosure: ViacomCBS is GameSpot’s parent company
We here in the IGN UK office really like Rezzed. The indie-focused show is: a) Packed to the airy rafters with new, exciting, and deeply strange games, b) Within walking distance of our office, and c) Has a pub on-site.
It’s the best, basically, which makes it very sad that the show has been postponed to this summer. Thankfully, its online equivalent, Rezzed Digital is running in its stead, and its organisers gave us a healthy bunch of the games that should have been on show this weekend to try out from the comfort of our quarantine zones. Here are some of our favourites, which we highly recommend you look up, wishlist and mentally bookmark for future reference.
The Falconeer
Imagine if in Waterworld – yes, the infamously bad post-apocalypse movie featuring Kevin Costner – everyone flew around on the giant eagles that saved Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings. Now imagine those eagles also have canisters strapped to their back that collect lightning from storm clouds, which can then be fired at other eagles. You’re now part of the way to understanding The Falconeer, a gorgeous eagle dogfighting game. Or, should I say eaglefighting?
The Falconeer shares a surprising amount with Failbetter’s Sunless games, in that it takes place in a vast, dismal open world dotted with safe harbours where you can dock (or, in this case, perch) to take on mercenary work. That work is often challenging; all the missions I undertook in the demo resulted in the quest giver being rather angry with my performance. Part of it is down to the combat, which – as aerial fights often are – is a little tricky to get the hang of, but also because the instructions aren’t all that clear to begin with. But while there’s a room for extra clarity, The Falconeer has already nailed its beautiful aesthetic and haunting atmosphere; that it manages to be so somber despite its daft bird combat premise is fantastic. – MP
Shadows of Doubt looks like one of those Minecraft maps surgically enhanced by lighting mods, shaders and heavy-duty hardware. But it plays like- er, well I’m not sure what else plays like this, because it’s a simulated open world detective-stealth game. Haven’t come across too many of those. Made by one-man developer Cole Jefferies, it’s a game about the bits of detective work usually deemed unsexy by games – i.e. the actual detective work. Every one of the hundreds of persistent citizens in your procedurally generated dystopian noir city have names, jobs, and houses. You can explore every single apartment, and every room in those apartments. Some of those apartments have TVs playing the sound of real-life detective dramas on them, which isn’t important, but I love anyway.
You piece together cases by visiting crime scenes, interviewing suspects and, quite often, circumventing the law to find the evidence you need. My favourite touch? Your internal notes and objectives are controlled by your own internal red-string corkboard, where you can pick up and rearrange every clue you deem important. Even in its very early stages, I’m overwhelmed by the possibilities in here, and excited by how deep this little thing could get. – JS
Remember how the Max Payne games told the story via graphic novel segments before each mission? That’s also how noire thriller Liberated reveals its narrative, but it goes one step further: you play the game within those panels, too. As the pages of the dystopian story turn, the key panel of the issue becomes the frame for a black-and-white side-scroller that combines the atmospheric puzzler approach of Limbo and Inside with snappy stealth and gunplay.
When fights break out fantastic ‘BANG’, ‘POW’, ‘UUGH’, and ‘HEAD SHOT’ onomatopoeia words erupt from your weapon and enemies. Scraps are over quickly thanks to low health pools, and so it’s encouraged to sneak and blend in with the shadows to keep yourself alive.
There’s multiple perspectives, too, which provide different gameplay opportunities. As freedom fighter Barry, a member of ‘The Liberated’ who are rebelling against an autocratic state, you’re reliant on little more than your pistol and a phone to hack into computers. But when perspective switches to one of the city’s cops, you’re able to use automatics weaponry and even pilot a bomb-setting drone in one scene, setting up a bloodbath for members of The Liberated. It’s all a bit grim, but nonetheless stylish fun. – MP
It might be structured like Dead Cells, and look like Katana Zero, but this absurdly stylish 2D action roguelite actually reminds me most of Doom (and not just because of the Mick Gordon-esque metal that kicks in during every fight). At first glance, it looks like other combat platformers of its kind, but its combat is faster, meaner and, in my limited experience, cooler. A mixture of light and heavy slashes, dashes – that do not make you invulnerable, crucially – and an ammo-limited gun make up the building blocks, but the cement holding them altogether is how they chain together.
Any time you connect with a hit, your double-jump recharges, meaning you can more or less stay airborne for entire fights. It’s not only thrilling, it’s important, as things begin to tend toward the direction of ‘bullet hell’ before long, forcing you not only to fight well, but move well to make it through its twisting, generative single-screen maps. I want to do much more fighting. I need to do much more moving. – JS
The name may sound like a cynical SEO trap, but Fallen Flag Studio’s project provides a novel new perspective on edge-of-your-seat boss rush games. Eldest Souls’ combat is built around a charge attack; build up a meter until completely full and your protagonist will dash at the enemy for a strike, but also momentarily gain the Bloodthirst buff. This allows for a powerful overhead sword-swing that not only badly stings a boss, but also restores a chunk of health. Already you can likely see how a battle plays out.
While each boss is distinctly in the mold of Dark Souls (the first two in the demo are a werewolf with a giant bone shield and a colossal knight with a towering halberd), it’s Eldest Souls’ nuances that make it stand out. You’re not limited by stamina for attacks, but you can only dash three times in succession before a cool-down kicks in. It means you can go hog wild on damage, but approaches and escapes demand finesse. Victories also unlock further abilities, such as a dash that deals a flurry of blows as it finishes, which encourages some fun, sometimes risky playstyles. – MP
How can something that looks this pretty be this dark? The Almost Gone is less of a point-and-click adventure than a point-and-click drama, pitched dreamily between the micro-detail of the Room series and a European art film. The story is, I think, about a child planted in the middle of a divorce, but it’s told through the medium of picking through remains of a literally cracking family home and its surroundings. Its best idea is also its biggest problem right now – every area you visit is atomised into tiny slices of room that can be rotated and prodded at to find clues and unlock new areas.
They’re gorgeous, pastel-shaded bits of architecture and clutter but, once you’re navigating between half a dozen at once, it can begin to feel more of a chore to navigate than it should. It’s a minor gripe, however (and could be easily fixed with a mini-map) and, once you get your head around each location, puzzles unfold naturally and satisfyingly across multiple rooms. Just be prepared to feel quite sad as you complete them. – JS
The surging popularity of card-based battlers has led to plenty of innovation, and Trials of Fire has several neat mechanics in its deck. Core of these is recycling; each card costs Willpower to play, but you begin each turn with none of the resource. Instead, you must scrap cards in your hand in exchange for Willpower. It’s a system that demands plenty of forward thinking, but is helped out by the fact that each of your three warriors has their own hand of cards. If one character doesn’t need to attack this turn, you can sacrifice their cards to provide Willpower for another character.
Trials of Fire features attack and spells cards with similar traits to games like Slay the Spire, but battles are played on on a hex-based grid, allowing for characters to move across the board each turn. This further complicates battles and allows for tactics such as flanking enemies with multiple fighters, and casting spells with areas of effects.
The battles are framed by a pen-and-paper style RPG adventure told through the turning pages of a dusty old book, but those elements feel merely narrative dressing for the elegantly designed battles, the arenas for which rise out of the tome’s pages. – MP
What drew me into A Monster’s Expedition was its self-billed genre – an open-world puzzle game. I kind of got it, but didn’t really have a sense of how it’d work in practice. What I quickly realised was that this wasn’t an open world in the sense of a city to explore or side-quests, but choices. At its heart, this is a sprawling, picturesque puzzler about rolling logs into place to get from miniature island to miniature island (it’s not far in approach from Stephen’s Sausage Roll). It also has a wonderful generated soundtrack to go with your moves, and some very endearing writing.
But its brilliance is that, pretty early on, you begin to see multiple routes appear, then fast-travel, and then you realise you can try things out in different order, and scratch an exploration itch. The only obstacle is your brain getting to grips with the puzzles and their growing set of internal rules (logs pushed on the side roll until they’re stopped, logs pushed from the end move square-by-square, etc.). From what I can tell right now, it’s something like a Metroidvania, except the gear-gating is based on your own neurons connecting and getting smart enough to work things out. I’m in. – JS
Endearingly low budget, Lord Winklebottom Investigates is a Sherlock Holmes point-and-click adventure, but Sherlock is a giraffe called Winklebottom and Watson is a hippo by the name of Dr Frumple. They’re just the first of a cast of beautifully drawn animal characters, all of whom are animated in a bizzare, stretchy way that makes the entire thing look like a hybrid between Terry Gilliam’s Monty Python skits and an Aardman show, with the static framing of a Wes Anderson movie.
It’s as gently strange and amusing as that sounds, too. It seems like half the cast is voiced by a single actor, and while it’s not clear if the game is in on that joke, it works in its favour. Each animal you meet natters away with one of several British dialects which only strengthens its appeal. Oh, and the very first puzzle involves making a cup of tea, which cements it as probably the most English game ever made. – MP
Though it may be (mostly) common knowledge that Chris Farley was originally cast as the voice of Shrek, Tommy Boy director Peter Segal recently spoke to Uproxx about how the DreamWorks Animation blockbuster, which spawned three hit sequels, was explicitly based on Farley’s chemistry with best friend and Tommy Boy co-star David Spade.
“After Tommy Boy, we got a lot of offers to do things together,” Segal said, “and I of course was dying to find another project for us. Because, again, I took the leap of faith with him after working on two different television projects with him before Tommy Boy. And then, I did offer him a couple of things. He, by the way, almost did Shrek.”
Farley actually recorded some dialogue for Shrek prior to his death in 1997. He was, of course, replaced by fellow SNL alum Mike Myers, and the rest is Scottish-accented history.
Segal added “Terry Rossio and Ted Elliot, who wrote Shrek, I met with them years after Shrek came out and they said, ‘You know who we patterned the donkey and the ogre off of? As far as their relationship? That was Spade and Farley in Tommy Boy. That’s why we wanted Farley.”
Given that Shrek was such a massive money-maker, and that Myers and Eddie Murphy’s voices are etched in history as Shrek and Donkey, it’s hard to imagine a Farley-style Shrek with a Spade-type Donkey. But it works if you consider the two of them swapping the role of “hyperactive character who annoys the glum character.”
Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.
Given that the sports world is currently on hiatus, along with the world of entertainment, ESPN is going to air famous Disney sports movies on Friday nights for families looking for programming they can watch together.
ESPN’s own press page announced that, starting March 27 with The Rookie (timed to MLB’s planned Opening Week), the network will continue to broadcast sports films over the next few Fridays. The lineup includes:
The Rookie (2002), starring Dennis Quaid
Glory Road (2006), starring Josh Lucas and Derek Luke – timed to the traditional NCAA Final Four weekend
Miracle (2004), starring Kurt Russell
Invincible (2006), starring Mark Wahlberg
Secretariat (2010), starring Diane Lane and John Malkovich
The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005), starring Shia LaBeouf
Glory Road is set to air Friday, April 3, at 8:30 p.m. ET. Additional air dates will be announced.
These films are also available to stream on Disney+. In fact, take a look at the best movies from Disney’s streaming site right here…
Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler.
There’s never been a better time to be an X-Men fan. Marvel relaunched the entire franchise in 2019 under the direction of writer Jonathan Hickman, anchored by a brand new mutant status quo wherein a united Professor Xavier and Magneto have created a home for their people on the island nation of Krakoa. Under the “Dawn of X” banner, Marvel has launched a number of new monthly X-Men comics that expand on this brave new world.
Now that we’re roughly half a year into the relaunch and the first wave of Dawn of X books are beginning to be collected in trade paperback form, we figured now is the time to look at the entire X-Men line and see which books have most lived up to their potential. Read on for a breakdown of all six books, as we rate each in terms of overall quality and in how much they add to the larger X-Men status quo.
A quick note before we start – we’re sticking to just the original six Dawn of X books that launched in October and November 2019. Marvel has since expanded the franchise even further with newer additions like X-Men/Fantastic Four and Wolverine, but we’d prefer to give those newer books more time to grow before passing judgment. And if you enjoy this new approach to comic reviews, why not check out IGN’s recent breakdown of Marvel’s The End one-shots?
Written by Jonathan Hickman | Art by Leinil Yu, RB Silva & Mahmud Asrar
As its straightforward name suggests, X-Men is the flagship book in the current line. Writer Jonathan Hickman picks up where he left off in House of X and Powers of X, introducing new threats to Krakoa and laying the groundwork for bigger conflicts to come. While the series features an ensemble cast of A-List X-Men, it tends to revolve mostly around Cyclops and the rest of the extended Summers family.
X-Men is an enjoyable read, if not quite as satisfying as Hickman’s previous work on House of X and Powers of X. The series requires a slight adjustment. Where each new chapter of those two miniseries added bold new details to the new status quo, X-Men is comparatively slower and more laconic. The emphasis on standalone, done-in-one tales also limits the scope of the series. Still, the series succeeds in recapturing the exciting, sci-fi-oriented flavor of Grant Morrison’s New X-Men, and the emphasis on Cyclops and his family helps the book maintain focus.
Unsurprisingly, with Hickman at the helm, X-Men is among the more important Dawn of X titles. The series has focused on introducing several ongoing threats to the nation of Krakoa and how that nation is finding its place on the global stage. It’s also revealed a number of other fascinating details about life in the mutant nation, including the implication that Cyclops, Jean Grey and Wolverine are involved in a three-way relationship.
That said, X-Men isn’t always the book leading the charge in Dawn of X. Arguably the biggest plot development of the last six months, the assassination of a key X-Men character, happens in another book and is only casually referenced in the pages of this series. Hickman seems to be working under the assumption readers are following along with the entire X-Men line, and that’s not necessarily a good thing.
[poilib element=”accentDivider”]
Marauders
Written by Gerry Duggan | Art by Matteo Lolli, Michele Bandini & Lucas Werneck
While the team featured in this series shares a name with Mister Sinister’s gang of mutant killers, they’re hardly villains. Marauders features Kitty Pryde leading a pirate-themed X-Men squad tasked with smuggling mutants out of authoritarian countries and delivering them to Krakoa. The series also deals heavily with the newly formed Hellfire Trading Company and the power struggle between Emma Frost and Sebastian Shaw as they work to control the flow of Krakoan wonder drugs to the outside world.
Marauders is easily the best of the first wave of new X-Men comics. Hickman himself named it as a favorite back at Comic-Con 2019, telling reporters writer Gerry Duggan was among the first to become involved with the Dawn of X relaunch and brought many fresh ideas to the table. That’s readily apparent in this book, which both takes full advantage of the new status quo and does the best job of exploring the deep bonds between longtime X-Men characters. Above all, the series is a worthy showcase for Kitty, pushing her in a new direction without feeling like a step back from her days as headmistress of the Xavier Institute.
Marauders may not have dramatically altered the course of the franchise so far, but it is heavily steeped in the new status quo created in House of X and Powers of X. Along with X-Force, Marauders does the most to show the far-reaching ramifications of Krakoa’s existence on the world stage. But ultimately, Marauders is more a character-driven series than a plot-driven one, so it’s best to head into the book with that in mind.
[poilib element=”accentDivider”]
Excalibur
Written by Tini Howard | Art by Marcus To & Wilton Santos
The latest incarnation of Excalibur deals with the intersection of magic and science in the new mutant world order, as Apocalypse (now a member of the X-Men nation) and the new Captain Britain (a mantle now carried by Betsy Braddock) lead a team against Morgan le Fay and her army of witches.
Excalibur is generally a series that sounds great on paper but comes up a bit lacking in execution. One of the bigger problems with this book is that, aside from Apocalypse and Captain Britain, most of the main characters feel superfluous and randomly chosen. The scripts also tend to be over-packed with information, which makes it difficult for the series to find its voice. The book does provide an interesting look at Betsy’s struggle to move forward after having spent years inside another woman’s body, and it’s been among the more visually consistent Dawn of X books so far.
Excalibur definitely finds its niche in the larger Dawn of X tapestry, exploring how science and magic are really two sides of the same coin when it comes to creation and evolution. But so far, the series mostly operates in its own corner of the franchise, without much tangible impact on the rest of the line. This series is more for fans of the Braddock family or the classic Excalibur comics than it is a crucial part of Dawn of X.
[poilib element=”accentDivider”]
X-Force
Written by Benjamin Percy | Art by Joshua Cassara, Stephen Segovia & Oscar Bazaldua
X-Force has always been the darker antithesis to the X-Men, dealing with major threats to mutantkind with extreme prejudice. But in the era of Krakoa, X-Force has now become an officially sanctioned team supervised by Professor X and Beast. They’re basically Krakoa’s version of the CIA, the only mutants with the authorization to kill.
Despite some early growing pains, X-Force is easily one of the best books to come out of the Dawn of X relaunch. Writer Benjamin Percy (who previously wrote Marvel’s Wolverine: The Long Road Home podcast) is adept at both channeling the tone of this new era of X-Men established by Hickman while bringing his own flavor to the book. X-Force is also one of the more visually distinctive X-books, especially thanks to Dean White’s haunting colors. X-Force succeeds in presenting a grim but necessary counterpoint to the rest of the line, showing the moral compromises that have to be made in the interest of safeguarding a new nation.
X-Force has actually been the single most important book in the new X-Men line. Issue #1’s cliffhanger really sets the tone for the series going forward and illustrates just how easily the new mutant nation can crumble if the X-Men don’t stay vigilant and proactive. Like many recent incarnations of the series, this X-Force delves deeply into the personal struggles these characters face in being part of a mutant wetworks squad. Can they kill in the name of Krakoa and still be worthy of Krakoa? Can the nation survive if they don’t?
[poilib element=”accentDivider”]
New Mutants
Written by Ed Brisson & Jonathan Hickman | Art by Rod Reis, Flaviano Armentaro & Marco Failla
No matter how many times the X-Men franchise evolves, there’s almost always a book devoted to a younger generation of up-and-coming mutant heroes. That’s where New Mutants comes in, as it shines a spotlight on members of the classic new Mutants roster along with other fan-favorite teams like Generation X and the cast of Wolverine and the X-Men. On top of that, the series also dabbles in the cosmic side of the X-Men franchise, with the Starjammers and the Shi’ar Empire playing a key role in the first arc.
New Mutants is easily the most inconsistent of the various Dawn of X books, as it basically alternates between two distinct, parallel storylines – one focused on Sunspot leading a team into Shi’ar territory and the other set back on Earth. The former story is by far the stronger of the two, thanks both to Rod Reis’ lush art and an enjoyably goofy, self-aware tone. The latter is very different in terms of tone and visual style, and we wish the series were a little more cohesive. The good news, at least, is that the collected editions reprint the series out of order so that each arc is grouped together. We’d definitely recommend reading New Mutants that way.
With Hickman co-writing the Shi’ar arc alongside regular writer Ed Brisson, it’s no surprise New Mutants carries some pretty significant ties to the core X-Men series. That story establishes sweeping changes to the Shi’ar hierarchy that will no doubt impact a great many Marvel books (especially with the Empyre crossover fast approaching) and also lays the groundwork for a major Brood storyline that’s picked up in the pages of X-Men. Coupled with a focus on Doug Ramsey and the growing hints of something big brewing on the Cypher/Warlock front, New Mutants will likely continue to be a big trendsetter for the franchise.
[poilib element=”accentDivider”]
Fallen Angels
Written by Brian Edward Hill | Art by Szymon Kudranski
Fallen Angels occupies the darkest corner of the Dawn of X status quo. This is a series that spotlights the social outcasts of the X-Men family, including Kwannon (now back in control of her own body), X-23 and the newly de-aged Cable. Working alongside Mister Sinister (a dubious ally on the best of days), Kwannon and her team fight to stop a digital virus that robs children of their free will.
For better or for worse, Fallen Angels shares a lot in common with Excalibur. Here, too, it’s mostly Kwannon’s struggle to reclaim her life and sense of identity that gives the book its dramatic weight. And like Excalibur, most of the remaining ensemble cast seem superfluous and randomly chosen like darts thrown at a board. It certainly doesn’t help that Fallen Angels has become the first casualty of the new X-Men line, ending on a less than satisfactory note after just six issues.
Despite the presence of Sinister, Fallen Angels doesn’t really add anything meaningful to the bigger X-Men picture. The book is mostly isolated from the rest of the line, as well as extremely visually and tonally divergent. Unless you’re invested in Kwannon as a character, you can safely skip Fallen Angels and wait for these characters to spin out into other titles like Cable’s solo series or the recently launched Hellions.
What’s your favorite Dawn of X comic so far? Let us know in the comments below.
[poilib element=”accentDivider”]
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
