Marvel NOW! is almost upon us and one of the titles forthcoming is ALL-NEW X-MEN. The idea is the original X-Men will somehow travel forward into the present day Marvel 616-Universe. It's been stated that this will be the team early in their careers. Time travel can always be a tricky business but there will be a lot to see here when the past meets the present.
Time travel isn't a new concept to the X-Men. We've seen it many times throughout the different series. One of the biggest stories was 'Days of Future Past.' This will be a new take on the idea as it is now the past coming to the present rather than the present going into the future.
There has been many changes since the team wore their original outfits. Not only will we be seeing the younger characters arrive (and Jean Grey returning from the dead in a sense), the young X-Men will be in for many shocks and you would think they'd want to run back to their time period as fast as possible. Each original member will learn quite a bit about what they are to become in their future.
== TEASER ==Jean Grey
The young, innocent and hopeful X-Man will have to come to terms that she has died…more than once. If they are going to remain in the present for some time, we have to assume they'll be able to uncover everything their future selves have done. Jean gained the power of the Phoenix Force and destroyed entire star systems and ended billions of lives. Later she indirectly caused Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor's marriage to crumble. She and Scott end up getting married only to have him psychically cheat on her with Emma Frost, a former X-Men villain who became co-leader of the team. Aside from cheating, there's also what Cyclops did in AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #11.
When Jean arrives, she will see that she was held in high regard. People still looked up to her and the good she did accomplish. Wolverine was also deeply in love with her and named the new X-Men school after her. She has quite a bit to live up to.
Angel
Warren Worthington III pretty much had it all. He had some hard times dealing with the fact that he had actual wings growing out of his back. He quickly came to terms with it and continued to thrive on the team and in the business world. All of that was taken away when his wings were torn off and he was reborn as Death for Apocalypse. For a time his skin was blue and he only had razor sharp feathers. He managed to overcome that and eventually found love with Psylocke. Now that he has lost his memory and essence of who he was, his past self could easily get pretty depressed thinking about all the hardships he's going to go through.
Will he be able to prevent these things from happening if he returns to his own time period?
Beast
If we're talking about the hairless Hank McCoy traveling to the present, he should be in for a shock as well when he gets a look at his future self. Not only has he grown blue fur, but he's also gone through a couple changes. He went from his regular furry look to becoming more cat-like. And then there was that ridiculous costume he wore in ASTONISHING X-MEN. That's gotta be embarrassing as well. (I never understood how he kept that on).
Hank can be happy that he's respected as one of the most brilliant guys around the Marvel Universe. But he hasn't exactly had the best of luck in the romance department. Although he is still sort of with Abigail Brand. Hopefully he won't find out what he had to do on that mission with the Secret Avengers (in SECRET AVENGERS #16).
Iceman
Bobby was always the trickster of the group. This class clown grew up to become...an accountant. He also goes through some changes. There was the time he lost control of his power and had to wear a big old belt to prevent his powers from freezing everything over. Emma Frost took over his body and he discovered he could use his powers on a more molecular level. If parts of his body were shattered, he could repair it. Lately he's been seen making separate Icemen in the middle of battles.
There's also his budding relationship with Kitty Pryde. There's been some debate (at least on the Comic Vine Podcast) that there might be an age difference between the two. Perhaps it's not really much of one.
Cyclops
Cyclops went from being the greatest X-Man to pretty much their worst enemy. This is the guy that first came up with the idea for a covert X-Force squad and recruited X-23, despite Wolverine's wishes. He basically walked out on Maddie and their infant son when Jean returned from the dead. He later cheated on Jean with Emma during Emma's telepathic sessions. He encouraged Idie to kill during REGENESIS.
His recent actions in AVENGERS VS. X-MEN could be blamed on the Phoenix Force being a part of him. He turned on the last remaining member of the Phoenix Five in order to claim all the power for himself. He topped this off with doing an unthinkable act. Whether or not he's forgiven for being influenced by the Phoenix Force remains to be seen. (Maybe young Cyclops will take the place of present-day Cyclops).
Adjusting to the Future
It's been said that this team will remain in the present for a while. We will find out specifically at what point in the past they will journey to their future. We don't know how they can actually travel into their future since time travel in the Marvel Universe generally doesn't allow that. By them discovering what will happen, that changes what they know. Unless their memory gets wiped before they travel back, we're going to see some reality altering changes similar to HOUSE OF M.
This doesn't even include all the other crazy events in the Marvel Universe that has happened such as CIVIL WAR, SECRET INVASION, SECOND COMING, the deaths of friends and family, etc.
ALL-NEW X-MEN is definitely going to be an upcoming title to check out.
Tony Guerrero is the Editor-in-Chief of Comic Vine. You can follow him on Twitter @GManFromHeck. If his past self visited the present, he'd probably be pretty excited to see the job he'll get to have.