At the beginning of the year, Marvel hosted their “second annual X-Men election” to decide who would become a member of the new X-Men team. Just like last year, it was a much-hyped event that culminated in a Hellfire Gala storyline across all the X-Books. Given the success of the inaugural year it’s no surprise that the publisher is repeating it again this year and revealed details for the giant-sized X-Men: Hellfire Gala one-shot this June.
The 72-page one-shot will be penned by Gerry Duggan, writer of the current ongoing X-Men title, who will be joined by artists Russell Dauterman, Matteo Lolli, C.F. Villa, and Kris Anka. Dauterman is drawing the main cover and you can expect variant covers to be revealed closer to the release date.
Fans will recall how the publisher went all out promoting the hell(fire) out of last year’s Gala, with reveals of new character fashion designs by Russell Dauterman, dozens of variant covers, and celebrity cameos in the pages of the storyline. Not to mention major ramifications for Marvel’s merry mutants including the “death” of the Scarlet Witch and terraforming and taking over the planet Mars.
The official press release teased even bigger developments that will also lead into the upcoming Judgment Day summer event:
At last year’s gala, mutants changed the face of the solar system, terraforming Mars and claiming it for mutantkind. This time around, they’ll once again set out to bring radical transformation to the Marvel Universe and are inviting every super hero on the planet to witness it. And when an uninvited guest crashes the party, the chaos that ensues will cause cracks in the very foundation of Krakoa and lead directly into the biggest Marvel story of the year– Kieron Gillen and Valerio Schiti’s JUDGMENT DAY! All that plus the reveal of the new X-Men lineup and the winner of the mega-popular X-Men fan vote. The seeds for what’s to come in the X-Men franchise over the next few years are planted right here!
Unsurprisingly, Duggan remained coy on what’s to come:
“Last summer your host Emma Frost invited you to celebrate Krakoa with some fireworks. This year, it’s about celebrating mutantdom’s friendship with humanity. Once again, we have a murderer’s row of talent crafting a one-shot with revelations that will chart the biggest stories in the Marvel Universe. All that, and meet a new team of X-Men.”
Find out if your favorite X-Men character won the vote and look for the X-Men: Hellfire Gala one-shot to arrive in stores on Wednesday June 29, 2022.
