Recently, Marvel grabbed attention with a teasing announcement regarding a new Midnight Universe. A new press release regarding the Midnight X-Men series has offered some definition to the new line. However, it seems that this new series will ignore everything that makes Marvel’s Mutant superheroes work.
initial press release for the Midnight line prompted intense speculation. Some thought it might be tied to the Midnight Sons franchise or be horror-themed. However, it seems the theories that Midnight is Marvel’s answer to DC‘s Absolute Universe were accurate. A follow-up announcement describes the Midnight Universe as where “hope dies in the shadows.”
The first book of the new line will be Midnight X-Men. The series will feature scripts by Invincible co-creator Jonathan Hickman and art by Matteo Della Fonte. However, the series’ description sounds like it has gone too far in offering a darker take on Marvel’s Mutants.
Midnight X-Men makes Mutants into monsters
Midnight X-Men will be set in a Manhattan where two factions fight for control of the city’s shadows. On one side stands the vampires. The other side is made up of the Mutant empyres. A Sword of Damocles has long hung over the peace between the two species. However, when it is threatened, it will be the unturned in the crossfire who suffer.
The cover for the first issue speaks to this conflict. It depicts a vampiric Storm and Nightcrawler wielding a sword. It is also said that these X-Men “no longer fight for acceptance.” Instead, “they hunger for blood.”
Marvel Comics have always acted as a metaphor for real-world minorities. Specifically, how the oppressed are demonized by those seeking scapegoats in their own quest for power. For that reason, many of the franchise’s villains are politicians, pundits, and pontiffs rather than evil Mutants.
Making Mutants into another gang of monsters fighting turf wars with vampires completely negates the morality that defines X-Men. Indeed, it would seem to justify the fear and hatred of those who paint Mutants as a threat to the society. Granting that the Midnight Universe is meant to be dark, this seems a step too far.
Beyond not seeming to understand what makes X-Men work, this also seems to misinterpret why the Absolute line has resonated with readers. The darkness there serves to make heroic souls shine brighter. By contrast, there is no light to be found in the Midnight Universe.
Midnight: X-Men #1 arrives in comic shops on August 5, 2026.
