House of X and Powers of X

House of X and Powers of X (abbreviated as HOX and POX) are two 2019 comic book miniseries published by Marvel Comics featuring the X-Men by writer Jonathan Hickman and artists Pepe Larraz, R. B. Silva, and Marte Gracia. Both books are part of a crossover storyline within the Marvel Universe that lead to the "Dawn of X" relaunch.

House of X
Cover of House of X #1
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Format	Limited series
Genre	Superhero
Publication date	July – October 2019
No. of issues	6
Main character(s)	X-Men
Creative team
Written by	Jonathan Hickman
Penciller(s)	Pepe Larraz
Inker(s)	Pepe Larraz
Letterer(s)	Clayton Cowles
Colorist(s)	Marte Gracia
Editor(s)	Jordan D. White Annalise Bissa

Powers of X
Powers of X #1
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Format	Limited series
Genre	Superhero
Publication date	July – October 2019
No. of issues	6
Main character(s)	X-Men
Creative team
Written by	Jonathan Hickman
Penciller(s)	R. B. Silva
Inker(s)	R. B. Silva Adriano Di Benedetto
Letterer(s)	Clayton Cowles
Colorist(s)	Marte Gracia
Editor(s)	Jordan D. White Annalise Bissa

Publication history

After Jonathan Hickman completed his run on Avengers and New Avengers with the 2015 crossover "Secret Wars", he stepped away from Marvel Comics for a time to focus on creator-owned projects. His return was announced in March 2019. Some days later, it was revealed that he would write two interlocking miniseries entitled House of X and Powers of X, with penciling by Pepe Larraz and R. B. Silva respectively. Marvel Editor in Chief C. B. Cebulski said that "We are excited to have Jon back with the Marvel family, and we could not have asked for a better creative team to help usher the X-Men into a whole new era"

The comics marked a company-wide relaunch of the X-Men. To this end, all ongoing X-Men comics - Uncanny X-Men, Mr. and Mrs. X, X-Force, X-23, and the Age of X-Man miniseries - were cancelled.

In early 2024, as the Krakoan age of X-Men launched by HOX/POX was drawing to a close, an experimental edition of this series arranged in chronological order was released on Marvel Unlimited. Inspired by the chronological order feature on the DVD of Memento, it is described by editor Jordan D. White as a fun different perspective, but "NOT the recommended way to read the series!"

Plot

Part 1: "The House that Xavier Built"

Several ambassadors arrive at the Jerusalem Habitat, responding to a telepathic message sent by Charles Xavier to recognize a new sovereign nation of mutants, called Krakoa. The ambassadors are met by the newly appointed Krakoan ambassador Magneto.

Near the sun, spacecraft approach the station known as "The Forge," home base of a human group called Orchis. Orchis is the self-proclaimed "last hope" for humanity, made up of various members of human organizations such as A.I.M., S.H.I.E.L.D., Hydra, Alpha Flight, and others, allied to prevent the extinction of homo sapiens to mutants.

Meanwhile, a team made up of Mystique, Sabretooth, and Toad infiltrate the base of Damage Control searching for information in the databases. While they get what they searched for, Sabertooth maims several guards in the chaos and is eventually captured by the Fantastic Four.

Part 2: "The Last Dream of Professor X"

In a dark future Earth, humans and mutants are locked in an apocalyptic, decades-long war, ultimately stemming from the creation of the mutant nation-state on Krakoa. A series of journal notes interspersed throughout the issue provide historical backstory.

Part 3: "The Uncanny Life of Moira X"

In a retcon of Moira MacTaggert, it is revealed that Moira is also a mutant. Her gift allows her, on dying, to start over as a baby while retaining all of the memories of her past lives. In this way, the different histories of the X-Men are seen to be timelines that she has lived through. She is told during one of her timelines by Destiny that she has 10, perhaps 11 timelines in total.

Part 4: "We Are Together Now, You and I"

Professor X and Moira McTaggert visit Magneto on his island base in Bermuda. Magneto agrees to Professor X and Moira's proposal, a long-term plan to guarantee the future of mutantkind.

Part 5: "This Is What You Do"

At the Temple of Concordance, the X-Men attack the Church of Ascendancy, an organization dedicated to the worship of the machines. Omega Sentinel confronts the X-Men and Rasputin IV kills all the remaining X-Men and the Sentinels.

Meanwhile, Apocalypse leads Wolverine's War form and Cypher's Famine form into an old machine databank to find an information crystal. War releases Mother Akkaba, also known as Moira, from her stasis. The Year One Hundred storyline is revealed to take place during Moira's ninth life.

Part 6: "Once More unto the Breach"

Cyclops informs X and Magneto that he has assembled a team in order to attack the Mother Mold facility orbiting the Sun. After meeting, they embark on the mission.

Part 7: "It Will Be Done"

On Krakoa, X and Magneto contact Marvel Girl to monitor the mission. Wolverine and Nightcrawler are successful in destroying the collars, but the ship is boarded by Orchis forces. The humans activate the Mother Mold, not knowing whether it will be sane or not. X tells them to do whatever it takes to stop it. Nightcrawler teleports Wolverine onto the collar before being instantly evaporated by the sun. Wolverine's healing factor allows him time to carve through it before he too is evaporated as the Mother Mold hurtles into the sun.

With the mission complete, Cyclops tries to locate Jean's pod, but Doctor Gregor executes him. The Sentinel drones arrive, intercept Jean's pod, and work to kill her. As his proteges have seemingly all died at the hands of humans once again, X cries and vows "no more".

Part 8: "Something Sinister"

X and Magneto head to the island of Bar Sinister to seek Mister Sinister's assistance to build a database of mutant DNA. He declines, but is promptly killed by another Mister Sinister clone with the mutant gene. That version readily agrees to help. Xavier then wipes the memory of their meeting from Mister Sinister's mind.

Part 9: "Society"

On Krakoa, X, Magneto, Storm, and Polaris assemble and are joined by five other mutants: Eva Bell, Proteus, Hope Summers, Elixir, and Egg. Magneto explains that the five mutants, collectively known as The Five, are able to revive deceased mutants. Storm brings The Five and the revived mutants out, proudly announcing that The Five has allowed the nation of Krakoa to defeat death. The revived mutants enter the crowd as Storm calls them the "Heroes of Krakoa".

Part 10: "For the Children"

X meets with Forge and asks him to modify Cerebro to allow it to store duplicate mutants' minds. In another timeline, X and Magneto meet with Emma Frost in the Louvre in order to recruit the Hellfire Corporation to aid in the establishment of Krakoa.

Part 11: "I Am Not Ashamed"

One month prior to the events of the series, Xavier uses Cerebro to offer Krakoa's miracle drugs to all of humanity.

Part 12: "House of X"

When Xavier sees all of Moira's lifetimes, Xavier is crushed by the experience and the revelation that mutant-kind will always lose. Moira explains that the one constant throughout all her lives is that Professor X is a good person and that she had to break that part of him to ensure mutant survival.

Characters involved

Main characters

Issues	Main characters
House of X #1-6 Power of X #1-6	Alia Mendel Apocalypse Archangel Black King Cardinal Cyclobel Cyclops Cypher Destiny Exodus Human Torch Husk Invisible Woman Krakoa Librarian Magneto Marvel Girl Mister Fantastic Mister Sinister Moira MacTaggert Mystique Nightcrawler Nimrod Omega Sentinel Penance Professor X Rasputin IV Sabretooth Storm The Thing White Queen Wolverine Xorn

Reception

House of X holds an average rating of 9.2 by 130 professional critics, while Powers of X holds a rating of 8.8 by 121 critics on review aggregation website Comic Book Roundup.

Prints

House of X issues

Issue	Title	Publication Date	Comic Book Roundup Rating	Estimated Sales to North American Retailers (First Month)
#1	"The House That Xavier Built"	July 24, 2019	9.2 by 32 professional critics.	185,630
#2	"The Uncanny Life of Moira X"	August 7, 2019	9.3 by 24 professional critics.	101,972
#3	"Once More Unto the Breach"	August 28, 2019	8.9 by 20 professional critics.	109,110
#4	"It Will Be Done"	September 4, 2019	9.3 by 19 professional critics.	119,366
#5	"Society"	September 18, 2019	9.5 by 16 professional critics.	139,306
#6	“I Am Not Ashamed of What I Am”	October 2, 2019	9.3 by 19 professional critics.	158,396

Powers of X issues

Issue	Title	Publication Date	Comic Book Roundup Rating	Estimated Sales to North American Retailers (First Month)
#1	"The Last Dream of Professor X"	July 31, 2019	8.9 by 25 professional critics.	167,840
#2	"We Are Together Now, You and I"	August 14, 2019	8.7 by 22 professional critics.	107,524
#3	"This Is What You Do"	August 21, 2019	8.8 by 21 professional critics.	100,267
#4	"Something Sinister"	September 11, 2019	8.5 by 17 professional critics.	127,076
#5	"For the Children"	September 25, 2019	8.5 by 17 professional critics.	137,550
#6	"House of X"	October 9, 2019	9.0 by 16 professional critics.	160,845

Collected editions

Title	Material Collected	Format	Publication date	ISBN
House of X/Powers of X	House of X #1-6, Powers of X #1-6	Hardcover	November 2019	ISBN 978-1-302-91570-4

In other media

• Marvel: Future Fight Features an alternate costume for Magneto, Wolverine, Professor X, Jean Grey and Storm based on his House of X incarnations.
• Marvel Contest of Champions Features an alternate costume for Magneto based on his House of X incarnation. Professor X, main costume based his House of X incarnation.

References