Marvel has revealed this year’s edition of the annual Hellfire Gala special will be titled X-Men: The Hellfire Murder. The book, which will see Wolverine/Logan and Jubilee investigate a murder at a soirée held by Sebastian Shaw, will feature contributions from current X-Men creators like Jed MacKay (X-Men), Gail Simone (Uncanny X-Men), Eve L. Ewing (X-Men United), Saladin Ahmed (Wolverine), Erica Schultz (Rogue), Tony Daniel (X-Men), Luciano Vecchio (Uncanny X-Men), and Federica Mancin (Storm: Earth’s Mightiest Mutant).
The synopsis reads, “When an iconic mutant power player is murdered at an exclusive masquerade hosted by Sebastian Shaw, it falls to Wolverine and Jubilee to solve a locked-room mystery that has dire consequences for all mutantkind. Everyone is a suspect. And the party isn’t over yet…”
Vecchio took the lead on designing this year’s Hellfire Gala outfits. He states, “Doing Hellfire Gala designs is always a pleasure. This time around, it’s a masquerade, so the challenge was to come up with looks that divert from each character’s classic iconography to reflect their mask’s theme. The dress code is a callback to classic Hellfire Club attire, so there’s 18th century fashion mixed with corsets and leather gear, but mixing up the gendering of those elements, resulting in something elegant and sexy.”
Established during the X-Men’s Krakoa era in 2021, the Hellfire Gala has generally set the stage for the next year of X-Men storylines. It proved to be a violent affair from the start, with the inaugural event culminating in the apparent murder of Scarlet Witch (who got better), while 2023’s edition ended with the mass murder that kicked off the “Fall of X” event. After taking the next year off, the event returned with last year’s Hellfire Vigil one-shot.
The book will be released on July 22, with variant covers by R.B. Silva, Rogê Antônio, Skottie Young, and more unannounced at the time of writing. You can check out Silva’s artwork, Vecchio’s designs, and a longer, albeit redacted synopsis below. In the meantime, Jubilee will star in Deadly Reunion, the Marvel’s Voices Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month special by Gene Luen Yang and Michael YG, releasing April 29.
