Release: January 2026 | Writer: Jed McKay | Artists: Tony Daniel & Mark Morales | Colorists: Fernando Sifuentes | Letterer: Clayton Cowles
As X-Men #23 brought us back to the status quo, X-Men #24 reminds us that 3K is still working in the shadows while Cyclops is still imprisoned by the X-Men.
If you haven’t read my review of X-Men #23, read it HERE!
Body swapping, power struggles and...clones? Yes, clones. Those are the topics on today's X-Menu as we dive into X-Men Issue #24.
*SPOILER WARNING AHEAD!*
EVIL MEETUP:
Cassandra Nova is meeting with Astra and Wyre. These group is known as 3K a group that has been missing their Chairman as they continue their dastardly plans. 3K has been trying to find a consistent way to create a drug that turns humans into mutants. While they've had some success, they struggle to find a definitive manner to do this. Nova tells the other two that with their Chairman being absent, it's time to move forward.
Earlier that day, we see Astra working in her lab. Tubes and lab components are spread around everywhere. She is talking to a man, warning him that Cassandra Nova may be up to something and have something up her sleeve. The man leaning against the wall is...Joseph, the clone of Magneto.
For those that don’t know, Joseph is a DNA child of Magneto. Or for easier terms, a clone of the legendary X-villain. She takes his face into her hand and tells him that when she gives him the word in their meeting later, she wants him to destroy Cassandra Nova. He tells Astra to not call him Joseph, but to call him who he truly believes he is, Magneto.
Meanwhile Cassandra Nova is at dinner with Myriad. Cassandra is complaining to Myriad that she can't trust Astra. And as long as she has a clone of Magneto with her, with the same Psi-Blocking helmet that he has, she can't do anything about it.
The distrust continues on as we see Wyre with his X-Men team that dons the cover of X-Men #16. Wyre wants to take advantage of the distrust between Astra and Nova. He sees what's going to happen and wants to use that to his advantage with his X-team. He tells his team that they have control over who will kill the other first. Nova or Joseph.
Back in the current day inside the meeting room from earlier, Nova takes the role of the new "Chairman" of 3K. Astra disagrees with a smile and looks at Wyre to ask him if he'd like to weigh in on this decision that she's making. He smiles and says that he doesn't wish to be a leader. Not only that, but him and his X-Men have discussed that they'd rather sit back and watch to see who wants this title of Chariman more. Cassandra Nova or Astra.
Astra doesn't hesitate as she calls for Joseph who reminds her to call him Magneto. He launches metal shards from the table at Nova who stops them with ease. She knew this was going to happen, so she calls for Myriad.
Who appears behind Joseph, removing his helmet, leaving him vulnerable for Nova to strike. She drops Joseph with ease when Astra teleports behind her with a sharp object from her costume placed towards her neck. She's threatening to kill Nova as they hear a voice from behind.
Its...Beast? And he claims that he is the Chairman. Over the next few pages, The Chairman explains his absence and why he looks like Beast now. Let me try and outline this for you.
Beast at the end of Krakoa uploaded his consciousness to a "Synthetic Body" which was "The Chairman" that was seen in X-Men #17. During the process of switching minds in Age of Revelation, the mind of Beast swapped with THIS version of Beast. Not the one currently on the X-Men team. Because of this, his synthetic body shut down until his mind finally returned. Make sense? Cool. Let's continue on.
The Chairman explains how he pretended to be the Henry McCoy that Scott Summer's knew and how at the end of the day, there was nothing they could do to stop Revelation.
Schwarzchild of Wyre's X-Men asks beast if this future can be changed. Chairman looks at Schwarzchild and says that change will happen, he just won't be alive to see it. He orders the team to kill Schwarzchild due to him being on the X-Men's team. Not Wyre's X-Men but the ACTUAL X-Men, deeming him a traitor to 3K.
Everyone a part of Wyre’s X-Men reign down blows onto him as The Chairman finally breaks the big news to the leadership of 3K.
He has a way to create their X-Virus. And everyone in 3K is ecstatic to know that their scheme's goal is within arms reach finally.
CONCLUSION
Where I commended Issue #23 for being easily accessible for readers that skipped Age of Revelation, I can't really say the same for Issue #24.
When reading through this issue it does require some minor general knowledge of the Age of Revelation and Krakoan X-Men arcs. Or at least, that's how I felt reading this. Luckily, I've known these things, but they are an easy Google search away if you're a reader whose completely lost as to what's going on. While it does try its hardest to explain this through Chairman's dialogue, it took a couple reads to really understand what is going on. At the end of the day, this issue is more just for exposition and the big reveal of Chairman being Beast more than anything else. Which I don't hate at all.
At least this issue does answer why in the last issue Beast's mind didn't change like Cyclops' did. The Chairman pretending to be the "good" Beast that we know and love throughout the entire Age of Revelation run is a cool little surprise.
Reading this the first time I wasn't too into it to be completely honest. But after taking my time reading it a second and third time to write up this review, I actually don't dislike this issue at all. I gave it some flack for needing to research some elements of the story, but that really isn't that big of a problem. There's a lot of moving parts right now in this ongoing story so I'm intrigued to see how this all plays out.