Summary

• Marvel has long teased the end of the Krakoan Era of X-Men; now it is finally here, which means that while the question of how it ends will be answered soon, so will the question of what comes next.
• A full timeline reset, retreat into the far reaches of space, or deep into the past, are all on the table. When considering what may follow the Krakoan Era, it is important to ask whether Marvel wants to try to do something as ambitious as it did with Krakoa, or to revert to more traditional forms of X-Men storytelling.
• Even if the end of the Krakoan Era doesn't mean something as drastic as some fans might speculate, it will still offer a great deal of potential for new, refreshing storylines.

Since 2019, X-Men storytelling has operated at an unparalleled peak, in what has been known as the Krakoan Era. From the Era's very conception, however, the end has been in sight. Now, Marvel is bringing this high point in X-history to a definitive close. As a result, years worth of speculation about how it will conclude, and what will come after, have reached their most frenzied peak.

The Krakoan Era offered some of the most complex stories in the franchise's long, rich history. Author Jonathan Hickan revolutionized X-Men storytelling, ambitiously reconceptualized its lore, and gave many different creators the opportunity to craft X-narratives unlike any that had come before. That is an imposing thing to follow; Marvel could opt for another total reset, reverting to a more "classic" formula for X-Men stories. Alternatively, it could take mutantkind to an unexpected, unexplored new place, or time. As fans have vigilantly searched for clues to the future in the past several years of story, some notable theories have emerged, whether plausible or not.

Reset The Timeline, Erase Krakoa From Existence

Chances: Moderate To High

On a narrative level, this would be the most concrete type of reboot, resetting the entire franchise to its pre-Hickman status quo – though this would be controversial, to say the least.

Jonathan Hickman's intertwined 2019 miniseries House of X/Powers of X – which rebooted the X-franchise, giving birth to the Krakoan Era – created a sprawling narrative across time and space, with Moira MacTaggert at its center. Like its beginning, the final act of the Krakoan era comes in the form of two interdependent miniseries, Fall of the House of X/Rise of the Powers of X. Moira has gone on to become one of X-history's greatest villains, and mutantkind's survival may come down to a plan to assassinate her, wiping the past five years of continuity completely.

Moira instigated the founding of the Krakoan nation, which she helped establish alongside Xavier and Magneto, bridging their opposing worldviews in a way no one had before. Whether she is a hero, or a villain, Moira is at the heart of the Krakoan Era. By successfully killing Moira MacTaggert before her powers manifested, the desperate remaining mutants in the current timeline would negate all the wonders, and triumphs, of mutantkind's Krakoan civilization – but it would also undo immeasurable suffering.

On a narrative level, this would be the most concrete type of reboot, resetting the entire franchise to its pre-Hickman status quo – though this would be controversial, to say the least. It would not erase half-a-decade worth of stories, but it would understandably feel like a step backward, for a franchise that has taken great leaps forward, evolving more in the past five years than it did for entire decades of its prior history. Still, there is a feeling among the fandom that ranks among the more likely options for what could come next after Krakoa.

Leave Earth Completely, Settle In Shi'ar Space

Chances: Low To Moderate

The success of Marvel's recently-concluded X-Men: Red series, which centered on the mutant civilization developing on the terraformed planet of Mars, has proven X-Men stories can work independent of Earth.

The X-Men franchise has had a long history with the seek asylum in Shi'ar space.

The success of Marvel's recently-concluded X-Men: Red series, which centered on the mutant civilization developing on the terraformed planet of Mars, has proven X-Men stories can work independent of Earth. It also made clear that the franchise has the potential to continue evolving beyond its reliance on the mutant-human conflict to provide interesting narrative dynamics. With this in mind, relocating mutant civilization, in its entirety, to Sh'iar space doesn't seem unreasonable, or entirely implausible. It would be a truly bold creative decision, but that is precisely what is needed to follow up the Krakoan Era.

In Powers of X #1, in the ninth life of Moira MacTaggert, mutantkind is said to have fled Earth for Shi'ar space entirely, with 80% of the mutant population residing on a colony known as Benevolence, while the remainder lived on the Shi'ar homeworld of Chandilar. While many of the ideas teased in Jonanthan Hickman's House of X/Powers of X have come to fruition, this thread has been conspicuously not followed up on.

Travel Back In Time, Settle In Deep Past

Chances: Low To Moderate

Retreating into the past would be a next level move for the franchise, one that pushes it forward, rather than returning it to a previous form. It would offer millennia worth of adventures, and adversaries, and almost untapped narrative potential.

Jonathan Hickman's reboot of X-lore fundamentally redefined the history of mutants, as much as it changed the trajectory of their future. Subsequent creators have pushed the boundaries of Threshold, an exceptional mutant civilization two billion years in Earth's past, in the most recent volume of Marauders. Threshold was an advanced, powerful society, which notably fought off an invasion by the ancient Shi'ar. Though Threshold eventually fell, its rise, and its civilizational peak, lasted an undefined number of millennia.

That is to say, if the present-day Earth cannot be made safe for mutants, they could find a way to flee into its far past, taking refuge in the most flourishing mutant civilization to have ever existed, one that sured even the heights reached by Krakoa. As with resettling in Shi'ar space, retreating into the past would be a next level move for the franchise, one that pushes it forward, rather than returning it to a previous form. It would offer millennia worth of adventures, and adversaries, and almost untapped narrative potential.

Threshold's appearances have been minimal so far, but have already connected to some essential parts of X-Men lore, including Grant Morrison's most radical invention, the villain Sublime. Threshold's own origins were revealed to be a temporal loop, as it was revealed that Kate Pryde sent the genetic material of the mutants killed in the Genosha massacre back in time, which eventually led to the rise of the mutant society. This would make it all the more fitting, if it were to become the setting for the next era of X-stories.

Create Their Own Pocket Dimension, Live Peacefully

Chances: Low

Giving Marvel's mutants their own dimension would truly allow their civilization to succeed – or fail – in a vacuum, on its own merits.

Though the most unlikely of the possibilities explored here, the "pocket dimension" theory combines the best of the Shi'ar and Threshold theories, as to where the X-Men franchise could go next. Throughout X-history, other dimensions have most frequently been a source of woe for mutantkind, with several notable antagonists originating from planes of existence operating unseen alongside the mainstream Marvel Universe. That said, were Earth's remaining mutants able to create their own pocket dimension to escape to, they could forge a healthy new version of Krakoan society, free from their current antagonists.

Setting the next era of X-Men stories in deep space, or the deep past, comes with a rich set of possible stories, with a nearly-endless variety of new enemies, new conflicts, and new versions of familiar characters for writers to explore. However, in each case, mutantkind is still once more fighting for survival against outside influences. Giving Marvel's mutants their own dimension would truly allow their civilization to succeed – or fail – in a vacuum, on its own merits. While interesting to consider, this would perhaps be more apropos for a Battleworld-style event series, rather than an ongoing line-wide reboot.

Defeat Orchis & Dominion, Repair Relations With Humankind

Chances: Moderate To High

While Marvel certainly has an opportunity to do something ambitious with the franchise yet again, it has invested years in the current versions of its characters. Following them in a post-Krakoa world, would certainly offer its own myriad compelling storyline opportunities.

As much as the end of the Krakoan period has been speculated about by fans, and hyped by Marvel, many readers are hesitant to embrace the idea that what comes next could be more of the same. While Krakoa, as a nationstate, might be gone, that doesn't mean the series will necessarily undertake an equivalent, or even greater, reset of its continuity, or its lore. The current era irrevocably changed X-Men storytelling, but the end of the era with Fall of X doesn't unequivocally have to change it again.

House of X/Powers of X introduced the immediate looming threat of Dominions, into X-lore. Fall of the House of X/Rise of the Powers of X seems almost certain to bring both full circle, by resolving each of these conflicts. If not permanently, at least as the predominant, overarching concerns of the franchise's next phase. It seems likely to seek to offer resolution to Moira MacTaggert's storyline, and to provide a worthy finish to what has been a spectacular high point in the history of the X-Men.

While Marvel certainly has an opportunity to do something ambitious with the franchise yet again, it has invested years in the current versions of its characters. Following them in the aftermath of victory against Orchis, in the wake of vanquishing the existential threat of a Dominion, but also in a post-Krakoa world, would certainly offer its own myriad compelling storyline opportunities. In this sense, a "soft" relaunch seems to most fans like the safest bet for what Marvel will follow the end of the X-Men's Krakoan era with.