The Black Vortex is a cosmic clash with an all-star creative team and huge cast of heroes and villains from the X-Men and Marvel’s cosmic character family.
Long-distance lovers Star-Lord and Kitty Pryde will be at heart of this event in the race for an ancient artifact that will empower some of our heroes. Who can control that power and how will change both teams?
Writers Brian Bendis and Sam Humphries answered questions and shared new art in a special Marvel call.
The upcoming story blasts off in The Black Vortex: Alpha then flow into Guardians of the Galaxy, All-New X-Men, Captain Marvel, Cyclops, Legendary Star-Lord, Nova and then The Black Vortex: Omega is the big finish.
Humphries and Bendis write the majority of the story and act as showrunners for the event. Humphries is writing the bookends, Black Vortex Alpha and Omega, with art by Ed McGuinness.
The impressive artist lineup also includes Andrea Sorentino, Paco Medina, Mike Mayhew, Valerio Schitti, and Mahmud Asrar.
The All- New X-Men first went into space to save Jean Grey and formed an alliance with the Guardians, and now they’re going again in search of the Black Vortex, an ancient mirror that grants its viewers incredible powers.
The team revealed super charged heroes and villains as a result of the Black Vortex as designed by McGuinness.
In Legendary Star-Lord Peter’s clash with his father led Kitty to space to help the new man in her life and that’s where The Black Vortex picks up.
Peter’s father doesn’t think of himself as a villain, but rather “an empire-builder” and has brought the Black Vortex and Thane together for a very specific purpose.
When Kitty gets in trouble saving Quill – the X-Men get in vortex. Bendis said not everything will be put back at the end–not all the characters are going back to their books, not all characters are going to make it out of this.
Readers may remember when Kitty and the young X-Men left the Jean Grey School after events in Battle of the Atom.
“Somethings happen in this story that will really challenge Peter and Kitty’s relationship, and take people aback if they think they know where that story is going.”
Peter and Kitty fans will be on the edge of their seats in every chapter. Bendis says their relationship is on the line here, and Humphries warned there’s no guarantee they’ll make it out of this a couple but joked how, “Kitty-Quill is great, much better than Kitty-Piotr or Kitty-Bobby.”
At this point the Guardians and the X-Men know each other better now than when they last met, so the team-ups and interactions are based on them needing each other’s help, and it goes to some dark places. But there will also be fun, particularly when you put Iceman and Rocket together.
Humphries noted that we’ve seen what happens when someone gets too much power too fast, and here some of the heroes are “going to face some very tough choices.”
“The Beast is a character that’s struggling with being the smartest man in the room but being surrounded by all these physics-breaking characters. Hank is given a level of cosmic knowledge that he’d give up his whole life for, an understanding of how the universe works and what his role in it is. He’ll be greatly altered as a result of this story.”
“Jean Grey, for instance, definitely knows what happens to her, and has a better understanding of how to handle the power as a result.”
Bendis explained what ties Guardians and the X-Men together is they’re both kind of positioned as outsiders and “there’s a connection of spirit there.”
Take a look at the “Cosmically Enhanced” designs by Ed McGuinness below:
Here’s more interior preview art from the upcoming crossover:
Andrea Sorrentino created “cosmically enhanced” variant covers for each chapter. The artist joined Bendis for a two-part story starring Tempus in last year’s Uncanny X-Men, All-New X-Men Annuals.
The Black Vortex begins in February.
By Editor