Time is running out for the X-Men. This week’s Timeslide #1, by writer Steve Foxe (Spider-Woman) and artist Ivan Fiorelli (Fantastic Four), revealed a glimpse into the not-too-distant future of the Marvel Universe with the time-traversing mutants Bishop and Cable. The time traveler Tempus took Bishop to the year 3077 to find Cable (before the events of the David Pepose-penned Cable: Love and Chrome, out in January) and warn of a threat to mutants past, present, and future: Vacuna. Created by the Children of the Vault to prevent the X-Gene that activates a mutant’s powers from ever evolving in the first place, Vacuna is a chronal tunneler who can travel the timestream at will to consume moments in time that mark turning points for the mutant species.
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Those moments in time are then removed from the timestream entirely, tearing time itself apart at the seams. With time trying to repair itself, Tempus explained that Vacuna would have to consume enough pivotal moments to reach a tipping point — beyond which the timestream would no longer be able to correct for the presence of mutants throughout history. If Bishop and Cable don’t stop Vacuna, Tempus said, mutants would be erased from existence.
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The frayed timeline revealed events yet to pass — Doctor Doom forcing heroes to submit to his will in One World Under Doom, the future Luke Cage in Power Man: Timeless, and the death of the X-Men under Revelation, the heir to Apocalypse — events even Tempus was unsure were from futures that can be or will be. She equipped Bishop and Cable with timesliders to pinpoint the pivotal moments in the history of mutantkind and intercept the time-eating Vacuna as he attacked the timeline.
Their first timeslide was to the X-Men’s battle against the Dark Phoenix (in X-Men #136), except the timeline was wrong: the new mutant Kamala Khan was part of the roster years before she would become Ms. Marvel. As Vacuna consumed this messed up moment in time, their second timeslide was to the future.
There they met an older version of Trista Marshall, the Exceptional X-Men’s Bronze, one of the last-surviving X-Men along with Sofia Yong/Jitter of the Outliers. Bronze revealed that Doug Ramsey, now the heir of Apocalypse called Revelation, did what Apocalypse could not: end the X-Men. She then presented a list of the events that led to this possible future, including XVX (X-Men versus Uncanny X-Men) and the 3K gene bomb (from the pages of Jed MacKay and Ryan Stegman’s X-Men).
Bishop and Cable then traveled to ancient Egypt in the time of En Sabah Nur: Apocalypse. And again to Magneto’s mutant haven Genosha on the eve of its extinction by Cassandra Nova and her Wild Sentinels (in New X-Men #115). Then Detroit decades in a future where Bishop protected his younger sister, Shard, from the XSE (Xavier Security Enforcers). And then some time in the 3800s, and then to the past in Chile during the Fall of X, where they first defeated the Children of Tomorrow (in Children of the Vault #4).
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As Vacuna arrived, so did Tempus, who planned to trap Vacuna in a time bubble. Bishop, Cable, and Tempus then transported themselves and Vacuna into the past Crèche where Madre watched over the temporal-accelerated Children, including Vacuna. By forcing him to consume the moment of his own creation, Vacuna ceased to exist, and the consumed moments were returned to the timeline.
“Mutantkind will never know how close it came to the end,” Tempus said before advising Bishop and Cable to try forgetting their glimpses of the future. “It can be a real mindf#%& when the future feels like your past.”
The end… and the beginning. Cable’s story continues in:
Cable: Love & Chrome #1
MARVEL’S MOST EXTREME MUTANT RETURNS! He’s been a soldier. An X-Man. A protector of the timestream. But even from his earliest days, the mutant known as Cable has been living on borrowed time, waging a lonely war against the ravages of the Techno-Organic Virus. Yet when a high-stakes mission in the future goes catastrophically awry, Cable is left stranded in the dystopian city of Salvation Bay – and will find himself caught in the midst of a civil war that will change his life forever. Get ready for big action, bigger threats and the biggest guns in the Marvel Universe, in this epic new series from Ringo Award-winning writer David Pepose (PUNISHER, SAVAGE AVENGERS) and superstar artist Mike Henderson (DAREDEVIL, DEADPOOL VS. OLD MAN LOGAN)!
On sale: Jan. 1, 2025
Weapon X-Men #1
WOLVERINE! DEADPOOL! CABLE! CHAMBER! THUNDERBIRD! Together on their very own X-team for the very first X-time – all in an X-tra-sized first issue! When a high-stakes mutant rescue mission from the ultimate global hot spot exposes the true enemy – possibly from within – an all-new team of all-action icons suddenly find themselves forged in fire. And the official membership policy is…no mercy allowed! Brought to you by returning X-writer, Joe Casey, and acclaimed artist, ChrisCross! Accept no substitutes – this is the one you didn’t even know you were waiting for! This is the real thing!
On sale: Feb. 19, 2025
