‘Age of Revelation’ will take over the ‘X-Men’ titles in October

Marvel has announced an Age of Apocalypse-style event for the X-Men-related titles called Age of Revelation. Like the 1990s event — which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year — Age of Revelation will show us an alternate world and bring the relaunch of several X-related titles for the duration of the event.

The event will begin in October with Age of Revelation Overture #1 by Jed MacKay and Ryan Stegman, but if you want to get a sneak peak at what’s to come, Marvel is offering select retailers a “Shadow Drop Variant” next week of X-Men: Age of Revelation #0. (Which sounds similar to what they did with the #0 issue of Moon Knight following last year’s Blood Hunt event).

So what’s the story behind Age of Revelation? Well, if you’ve been following the X-Men titles over the last couple years, you know that Cypher, aka Doug Ramsey of New Mutants fame, has become the heir of Apocalypse. He won a tournament in the X-Men: Heir of Apocalypse miniseries, and most recently reappeared in MacKay and Stegman’s adjectiveless X-Men title as Revelation. He’s gotten a huge power boost, taking his natural mutant power of talking to things to the next level, as he now “commands Earth itself with his voice.” So he decides to make his own mutant haven/paradise, and then we jump 10 years into the future to see how it all works out. (Which is probably not well for the X-Men …)

Here’s more details from the PR:

AGE OF REVELATION takes current X-Men storytelling 10 years into the future. After being welcomed onto Cyclops’ X-Men with open arms, Revelation set out on the impossible task that Apocalypse entrusted him with: creating a world where only the fittest survived. With his linguistic mutant power amplified to an astonishing new level, Doug commands Earth itself with his voice, reshaping it as a utopian haven for mutantkind. It’s a mutant homeland built on an insidious lie, spreading across the planet and wiping out humanity until it becomes a mutant homeworld!

X YEARS FROM TODAY the Revelation Territories stretch from the Atlantic to the Mississippi – a mutant utopia ruled by the heir of Apocalypse. But beneath the surface, rebellion brews. As a ragtag X-Men team strikes from the shadows, Revelation faces threats from within. It all begins here – the dawn of the AGE OF REVELATION!

“Enter… the Age of Revelation!” MacKay said. “I’m extremely excited to be at the center of this event — we’re traveling to the alien future of the Age of Revelation, where the stories unfolding in the Revelation Territories and beyond will decide whether this is the dawn of a new world, or the end of one. We’ve been exploring a whole world, and it’s been really exciting to see other creators make corners of it their own!”

The event will bring many new tie-in titles featuring X-related characters and others from the Marvel U., like Spider-Man, the Avengers and Emma Frost’s ex-husband:

The zero issue that’s coming next week is by MacKay and Humberto Ramos, while MacKay and Stegman are the team behind the Overture issue in October that kicks everything off. No other creative teams have been announced yet, but Marvel’s promising more details next week.