Release: October 2026 | Writer: Jed McKay | Artist: Frederico Vicentini | Colorist: Dave Curiel | Letterer: Clayton Cowles
The X-Men have arrived to stop Chairman from releasing the X-Virus. But can Chairman pull Cyclops to his side and convince him that what he’s doing is right?
*SPOILER WARNING AHEAD!*
SOMETHING ISN’T RIGHT:
Lundqvist stands in front of the Trask statue, feeling what we all do. That something just isn't right about this statue, but he can't put his finger on it. His associate Coleman arrives and teases him a bit.
All while on the 3K mothership, the X-Men and 3K continue to battle, with the X-Men finally getting a bit of the upper hand finally.
Juggernaut and Magik take care of Galatea while Psylocke's mind is attempted to be taken over by Psychovore, who 100% regrets making that dumb decision.
While this fight rages on, Beast, Sue Storm, and Mr. Fantastic are still trying to do their best to pull information from Magneto's DNA but are struggling. Magneto's DNA is proving to be much harder than Reed expected. Reed needs Ben here to help him with this experiment, but Ben is busy with Johnny taking on Chairman and his lackeys.
Chairman tries to launch his X-Virus, but for some reason when he clicks the button, nothing happens at all to his anger. He screams at Wyre to get down to the wiring and see what's going on. If it’s unfixable, then he has the authority to "escalate" their release.
TIME TO ESCALATE:
Down at the location of the machine, Juggernaut is wrecking the unit, leaving the Virus unable to be released...so we think. Because now Wyre is more than happy to escalate the release and make it so the X-Men can do nothing to stop them.
Johnny taunts Joseph about being a ripoff of Magneto before literally trying to take their breath away with his heat. When a majority of the Chairman's team is teleported away during this, the X-Men arrive. Successful in defeating 3K, Cyclops is now face-to-face with the Chairman.
They go back and forth. Chairman tries to get Cyclops on his side, using their history to try and goad him into seeing his vision. Cyclops remembers the pain this Virus brings to everybody and stands his ground, denying the Chairman's hand in partnership.
And with that line drawn in the sand, the X-Virus is now loose.
CONCLUSION
Wow, I thought Age of Revelation was a well-done story, but DNX is pleasantly surprising me. Taking the story beats from that and turns them into something that is a joy to read.
The conversation between Cyclops and Chairman was intense. It was almost cinematic in nature. It demonstrates the history between these two men who've lived through an X-Virus, and now both have very different views on it. The conflict is heavy with very serious implications. At the end of the day, it's a comic book; who knows what will stay from this story that has a mutant and human-killing virus, but for the time being I'm enjoying the story and am hopeful for the future of X-titles that this could be the standard of storytelling going forward.
Before this ends, I have to ask the question: where is Revelation during all of this? That’s not a knock; that’s a genuine question. I'm genuinely curious if Revelation, who was seen as the villain previously, could possibly be the one who’s the savior for mutants and humans.