The X-Men are famously Marvel’s most powerful heroes, but now they’re near unbeatable thanks to the debut of a god-tier mutant hero. Since 1980, Jean Grey’s Phoenix has been the marker for power in Marvel lore, and while X-Men’s new hero doesn’t quite have total control of reality, they’re absolutely the next best thing.
New Hero Rift Can Travel Back in Time
The X-Men Can Fail Until They Win
In today’s Expatriate X-Men #1 – from Eve L. Ewing, Francesco Mortarino, Raúl Angulo and Ariana Maher – fans see the power of Rift, aka Reginald McNair. Previously introduced as a teenager in Exceptional X-Men #4, ten years have passed and Rift is now in greater control of his powers. When the team run an extraction mission that turns south, Rift simply turns back time so they can try again, with full knowledge of where they went wrong.
Rift can open holes in space-time, allowing him to teleport as well as time-travel to the past and various potential futures. As a younger hero, he struggled to control his powers, but after Age of Revelation’s time jump, he’s now the X-Men’s MVP.
How Rift’s Powers Work in X-Men Lore
Age of Revelation is a new event that jumps ten years into Marvel’s future, revealing a world where Revelation has conquered most of America, using a virus to kill the majority of the human population. In this new world, most mutants live under Revelation’s thumb, while a few operate as rebel heroes or rogue mercenaries.
The Expatriate X-Men – including Kamala Khan’s Ms. Marvel, Bronze and Melee – are the latter, sent on a mission by Mystique to rescue fellow mutant Lyrebird. The mission goes to hell when a possum sets off the enemy base’s alarms, exposing the team and resulting in Lyrebird getting shot.
In response, Rift takes the team back in time to try again. While it seems like Rift’s powers take something out of those he shifts back in time, it’s clearly something the team has done many times before, and Rift teleports multiple times during the mission, suggesting that opening ‘rifts’ isn’t particularly tiring.
With the ability to run every mission multiple times, it seems that the only limit on Rift’s power is that he has to remain alive to use it. It’s hard to imagine a more effective superpower than getting to experience every mission again and again, learning each time, until you get it right.
Is Rift a Permanent Addition to X-Men Lore?
While it’s likely that the Age of Revelation timeline will be averted when the event ends, Rift and his powers already exist in mainstream, Earth-616 lore. Indeed, he’s already started training under Emma Frost’s tutelage. What fans are seeing in Expatriate X-Men is how powerful Rift will be if he continues to hone his powers alongside the X-Men.
This kind of tease is exactly what flashforward stories like Age of Revelation do best, setting up Rift as a huge new addition to X-Men lore by demonstrating what he’ll be capable of a little further down the road.
Expatriate X-Men #1 is available now from Marvel Comics.
- Movie(s)
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X-Men (2000), X2, X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), X-Men: First Class (2011), The Wolverine (2013), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), Deadpool (2016), X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), Logan (2017), Deadpool 2 (2018), Dark Phoenix (2019), The New Mutants, Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)
- First Film
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X-Men (2000)
- TV Show(s)
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X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men, X-Men (1992), X-Men: Evolution (2000), Wolverine and the X-Men (2008), Marvel Anime: Wolverine, Marvel Anime: X-Men, Legion (2017), The Gifted (2017), X-Men ’97 (2024)
- Video Game(s)
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X-Men: Children of the Atom (1994), Marvel Super Heroes (1995), X-Men vs. Street Fighter (1996), Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter (1997), Marvel vs. Capcom (1998), X-Men: Mutant Academy (2000), Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (2000), X-Men: Mutant Academy 2 (2001), X-Men: Next Dimension (2002), Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds (2011), Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (2011), X-Men Legends (2005), X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse (2005), X2: Wolverine’s Revenge (2003), X-Men (1993), X-Men 2: Clone Wars (1995), X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse (1994)
- Character(s)
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Professor X, Cyclops, Iceman, Beast, Angel, Phoenix, Wolverine, Gambit, Rogue, Storm, Jubilee, Morph, Nightcrawler, Havok, Banshee, Colossus, Magneto, Psylocke, Juggernaut, Cable, X-23
- Comic Release Date
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213035,212968