Ultimate X-Men (2024)

Ultimate X-Men
Ultimate X-Men #8
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Format	Ongoing series
Genre	HorrorSchool
Publication date	March 2024
Main character(s)	Ultimate X-Men
Creative team
Created by	X-Men by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee
Artist(s)	Peach Momoko
Letterer(s)	Vc Travis Lanham
Editor(s)	Wilson Moss

Ultimate X-Men is a reimagination of the X-Men in the Ultimate Universe, by Peach Momoko.

Ultimate X-Men by Peach Momoko is the third comic released in the Ultimate Universe line, alongside Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate Black Panther. It is a reimagination of the X-Men in general, and the Armor character in particular. The comic also introduces Maystorm, a character that Momoko designed for the variant cover of X-Men #27.^[1] That cover was part of a larger project named "New Champions", which produced covers reflecting unexpected sidekicks of other superheroes as the recently created Spider-Boy; Maystorm was the first one to be used in an actual story, while the others would show up in the Spider-Woman comic.^[2] Despite being an X-Men comic, the comic has very little in common with the usual products of the franchise. Momoko explained "My Ultimate X-Men isn't directly influenced by classic X-Men stories. I like to believe [Editor-in-Chief] C.B. [Beluski] and Jonathan Hickman chose me because they wanted something completely new and different, so I think sometimes no influences is a good thing".^[3]

Hisako Ichiki attended Kirigaya Minami Middle School in Kirisaki City, located in Hi No Kuni, one of the seven sovereign super-nations of the world, ruled by the Harada-Yoshida Alliance headed by the Sun Emperor. She had a close friendship with her classmate Tsubasa (whose name means "wing", mirroring Hisako's friend Wing from Astonishing X-Men), who gifted her an omamori depicting a person inside an armored figure. Unfortunately, Tsubasa was subjected to frequent bullying from both classmates and school staff, eventually committing suicide by hanging. This event led to her developing depression and distancing herself from school.

On the day of her graduation, she receives a note instructing her to go to the nearby temple shrine. There, she encountered a shadowy figure who appeared to know both her and Tsubasa. The figure returns the omamori that Tsubasa had previously given her and proceeded to blame her for Tsubasa's suicide before disappearing. Upon witnessing a floating apparition resembling her deceased friend, Hisako rides her bike home while screaming in terror. She collides with a car, but is unharmed due to a psionic exoskeleton that resembled Tsubasa's omamori, seemingly manifested from herself.

Upon discovering her newfound abilities, she feels a mixture of shock and fear before returning home. The local news reported the car crash the following day, but her identity remains unknown. On that day, she decides to revisit the shrine and places flowers beneath a tree. However, Hisako is confronted by the shadow entity once again. The entity attacks, claiming that its curse was already in motion. However, Hisako's powers protect her until it vanished again. A ghostly apparition of Tsubasa appears once more, instructing her to answer her phone. Hisako received a call informing her that the school coach, who was rumored to have bullied Tsubasa, had committed suicide by hanging. She is stunned as she speculates something unimaginable is happening.^[4]

Later, while lying on her bed, Hisako dreams about one time when she talked with Tsubasa. After waking up upon seeing the shadow, Hisako heads out to her motorcycle-riding class. After stopping at a hill, Hisako is approached by a girl who recognizes her as the one from the car wreck. She introduces herself as Mei Igarashi. Inviting her for a walk, Hisako tells Mei that she got a similar note just like before, telling her to go to the old science lab at a abandoned school. She mentions about the shadowy figure and how a teacher of hers had died. Upon finding a stuffed animal, Hisako and Mei are confronted by a security guard. The shadowy figure is found in the room where the stuffed animal came from, stating that the three bullies that picked on Tsubasa are no longer around. The security guard then disintegrates as the shadowy figure chases after the girls. Just then, Mei suddenly emits a gust of wind and Hisako then manifests the armored figure around herself. Elsewhere, a boy appearently feels the psychic effects of the attack, implying he's connected to the shadow as he states he recognizes Hisako. Later at the Iridori High School entrance ceremony, Hisako narrates about three boys who were found hanging at their old middle school. She then finds that Mei is her classmate. Hisako formally introduces herself.^[5]

After flashing back to when she last used a Japanese spirit board and briefly met a strange male student, Hisako finds a 10 yen coin on the ground as Mei considers it lucky. After being asked about her powers, Mei tells Hisako that she doesn't know how the wind attack she caused happened, but she assumes that it happened because she needed it badly. In a flashback to months ago, it's shown Mei was a fan of Storm and followed her actions in West Africa. As Mei is pressured by her mother to meet with the neighbors, she visits the house next door and sees a scared cat, meeting its owner, the strange boy tied to the shadow. He grabs the cat as it scratches her, as the blood wound triggers unkwown effects. During a domestic quarrel between her parents, Mei tries to intervene and her father slaps her, as her powers manifest for the first time and she is kicked out. In the present, during a game of kickball, Hisako gets Mei familiar with Nico Minoru who she claims has something strange about her and that her parents are psychic. After a classmate tells Hisako and Mei not to be on their phones while on the bench, Nico turns to them and states she figured out that Hisako and Mei are "mutants" too. This leaves Hisako and Mei confused about that comment.^[6]

After a test, Hisako goes to her mom's restaurant to help out where she notices a scratch on her bike. While bike riding, she is approached by a person named Amano who thinks that Hisako knows what happened to the boys who committed suicide. While trying to ride away, Hisako is ambushed by the shadowy figure who has now possessed Amano. After the shadow attacks and then retreats with his host, Hisako is seen using her abilities which is witnessed by several onlookers, including Mei, who reluctantly uses her lightning powers to get people to stop filming by bricking their phones. A few days later after getting their tests back, Hisako and Mei find that one person's phone was overlooked and the footage is leaked on to the Internet, going viral.^[7]

Later, the leaker, Noriko Ashida, meets with Kageyama, the psychic boy tied to the shadow. They briefly discuss Hisako before he leaves, stating a "friend" is calling him. After getting contacted by the shadowy figure again, Hisako calls on Mei and Nico as her charm is analyzed. Just then, the shadow appears. After a brief attack, it is repelled when Nico's magnifying glass turns into the Staff of One, Hisako and Mei learn from Nico that she got the magnifying glass from her grandmother but was unaware of its capabilities. It's shown Noriko works in sugar dating during her free time, as she incapacitates a client who starts harassing her. Meanwhile, Nico tells Mei about the rumors and urban legends regarding the term "Mutant", that a few are cultists who declare themselves superior to the human race and the next step of evolution. Mei suggests that the girls form a team to investigate the cult, which is rumored to be covertly researching their powers and performing blood rituals to trigger them. They settle on the name of "X-Men" inspired jokingly by their bad grades and Mei's enthusiasm for superheroes. ^[8]

Chase Magnett from Comicbook.com points that the comic has little relation with the broader narrative of the Ultimate Universe, the usual X-Men tropes, or even the superhero genre. He thinks that the comic aims to expand the franchise's genre boundaries.^[9]

Shaun Corley from Screen Rant points that the comic skips almost all the key characters and elements of X-Men lore, such as the X-Mansion and Sentinels, and characters such as Professor X, Cyclops, Wolverine and Storm. He considers that, by doing so, Momoko focus instead on the core theme of the X-Men, that of people feeling lonely in a world that fears them.^[10]

• Official website