X-Men franchise's legendary Age of Apocalypse crossover event, but reader excitement has been somewhat hampered by the idea among fans that they are caught in a loop, as the publisher continues to return to the well of its most memorable storylines from the past.

As catalogued on r/comicbooks, at least a subset of the Marvel fandom is not thrilled by the idea of a reprise of the Age of Apocalypse characters. Instead, many readers voiced their concerns that it is all too familiar.

It’s natural Marvel wants to do something to celebrate a milestone anniversary for one of their greatest achievements, yet this has the side-effect of calling attention to the achievement itself. Age of Apocalypse is iconic because it was daring and unprecedented, and some fans, at least, want Marvel to revisit that in spirit, rather than retread old territory.

Marvel's Age Of Apocalypse Anniversary "Sequel" Raises Fans Concerns, Rather Than Anticipation

X-Men Of Apocalypse: Alpha #1; Written By Jeph Loeb; Art By Simone Di Meo; Available September 3, 2025 From Marvel Comics

X-Men of Apocalypse, launching this fall, is a six-part series written by Jeph Loeb, with art by Simone Di Meo; bookended by the Alpha and Omega one-shot issues, the four-part main series will feature characters from the Marvel Multiverse's Age of Apocalypse timeline attempting to preserve their reality from destruction, which will result in conflict with the mainstream Marvel Universe's X-Men characters. The publisher has promised big action, and even bigger implications for the franchise, but for a contingent of fans, the announcement has been a source of fatigue, rather than excitement.

A chief complaint about comic book storytelling, specifically the superhero genre, is that characters often fall prey to a form of arrested development; Marvel is particularly susceptible to this criticism in many ways, chief among them the company’s refusal to let OG Spider-Man Peter Parker age with even a little bit of grace. From 2019-2024, the X-Men franchise was often an exception to this, but following an innovative, forward-thinking era, even Marvel’s mutants have started to “play the hits” more often again, with X-Men of Apocalypse being just the latest, most prominent example.

From one perspective, X-Men of Apocalypse is a revitalization of versions of the X-franchise's characters who were revolutionary at the time of their introduction, and in the intervening thirty years have become classic in their own right, warranting a spectacular anniversary comeback. On the flip side of that, some fans worry that the spectacle of returns like this is precisely the problem with Marvel Comics right now, as it takes the place of substantial new storytelling using exciting new characters.

Marvel Fans Sounded Off Online About The Feeling Of Retreading Familiar X-Men Territory

Blitzhelios Put It Best

To be fair, fans' hesitation to be excited about X-Men of Apocalypse feels less like a reflection on the plot of the series itself, as described by Marvel's advanced solicitations, and more an extension of the general unease at repetitive, or recursive, storytelling that has become commonplace at Marvel itself. This is perhaps best summed up by one reddit , /blitzhelios, who riffed on a Doctor Manhattan quote from Watchmen, which has become a meme in itself, suggesting that as time has progressed since 1995, one thing has remained constant: Marvel keeps returning to Age of Apocalypse.

[Readers] overall outlook on Marvel’s “sequel” stories, and its tendency to revisit tentpole events, has become increasingly skeptical the more the publisher has resorted to this “trick.”

In other words, it can be hard for Marvel readers to authentically react to news of a story like this, because their overall outlook on Marvel’s “sequel” stories, and its tendency to revisit tentpole events, has become increasingly skeptical the more the publisher has resorted to this “trick.” That said, this is just one outgrowth of a larger divide in comics, both among readers and creators; there are those who want to produce, or consume, something “new,” and those who gravitate toward comics as a nostalgic medium, and want to revisit classic stories.

Neither of these modes of superhero storytelling is wrong, per se; Al Ewing, for example, has been doing groundbreaking work with Immortal Thor, a large part of which has involved reinterpreting classic Marvel Comics Thor lore through an updated lens. In fact, the ability to take something familiar and do something new and unexpected with it is a virtue of ongoing superhero storytelling. At the same time, it isn't unreasonable for longtime, committed Marvel readers to crave something brand-new, and X-Men of Apocalypse is not that.

Fan Reaction To Marvel's "Age Of Apocalypse" Follow-Up Isn't One-Sided, But The Dissenting Voices Are Loud

Full Judgement Of The "Sequel" Must Wait Until Its Release

Of course, online fan discourse has its own tendency: to couch criticism in the harshest possible. That is why looking at the response to X-Men of Apocalypse on the internet will yield words like "boring" and "copycat," and worst of all, "derivative." It is safe to say that readers should wait to get a sense of the substance of the series before going this far, but it is noteworthy in the sense that it reveals a low opinion of the premise of the story, with the consensus being that it is "more of the same."

Complaints about repetitive Marvel storytelling aren’t without merit, but shouldn’t sink X-Men of Apocalypse before it is even released.

And, of course, this is only one sentiment among Marvel readers; others are excited for X-Men of Apocalypse’s potential, especially if it opens the door to more stories set in the Age of Apocalypse world, or more appearances by the alternate continuity’s unforgettable versions of characters like Wolverine, Gambit, and more. Further, the original series does deserve celebration, and for Marvel, this is one way of introducing a new generation of fans to the groundbreaking crossover. All that is to say, complaints about repetitive Marvel storytelling aren’t without merit, but shouldn’t sink X-Men of Apocalypse before it is even released.

No Story Is Ever Completely Over When It Comes To Superhero Comics

Not Even When Their Timeline Is Erased

Without question, recursive storytelling is an issue at Marvel Comics, as well as major rival DC; superhero storytelling, at the scale of the two largest companies in the industry, both of whom maintain century-long traditions of publication, is very much often a "one step forward, two steps back" kind of creative medium. However, those steps backward are not always entirely unenjoyable stories. In fact, quite the opposite. There is a reason superhero stories are always looking to the past, and that is because, as mentioned previously, so many readers are doing the same.

Part of superhero storytelling involves mining characters' past lore to use in an impactful way in contemporary stories, on both the small and large scale. X-Men of Apocalypse is an example of this, as much as it might also signify Marvel's hesitation to tell entirely new stories disconnected from what came before. Whether this series proves its critics wrong, or exemplifies what Marvel is doing wrong with the X-Men, will only become clear in due time when the series hits shelves and all readers can decide for themselves.