Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Uncanny X-Men #13 (2025)

The X-Men have featured some of Marvel’s best superpowered couples. From Cyclops and Jean Grey to Rogue and Gambit, these mutant love stories are some of the sweetest pairs of lovebirds that Marvel has to offer. However, the Uncanny X-Men series has been coyly teasing a new blossoming romance between two of the young new additions to the team, and it couldn’t be cuter.

In Uncanny X-Men #13 (2025), by Gail Simone and David Marquez, Deathdream suddenly jolts his fellow Outliers out of bed as the team of juvenile X-Men travel into the recesses of the surrounding swamp.

Deep within the thicket of the Louisiana bayou, the Outliers discover an obsidian black tomb, echoing with the voices of the dead. However, as the mausoleum nears, nervous tensions rise among the Outliers, Calico and Jitter hands for only a moment before Ransom calls them both out for blushing. Sweetly enough, this isn’t the first instance of young love between Calico and Jitter.

The Outliers' Calico And Jitter Are Falling In Love

Uncanny X-Men #13 (2025) - Written by Gail Simone; Art by David Marquez; Color by Matthew Wilson; Lettering by VC’s Clayton Cowles

While a fleeting moment of touching hands may simply seem like a small instance of a schoolyard crush, with the X-Men, no romance is ever that simple or mundane. back to the days of a teenage Scott Summers and Jean Grey meeting each other for the first time. What began as a simple crush has evolved into one of Marvel’s most complicated love stories, which currently persists despite light-years keeping the lovers apart. Among many factors, the greatest quality that bonded the two heroes together was their shared misfit status.

Calico and Jitter are no different from Cyclops and the Phoenix all those years ago. The Outliers have earned their name for a reason; each member has been plagued with enormous downsides to their powers, packed together with unrelenting traumas. These experiences pull the party together and, in Calico and Jitter’s case, foster a sense of budding love among those who have been rejected by the world. Calico is a mutant born into a strict anti-mutant family. Jitter was routinely beaten until her powers let her fight back. Together, the two have found a home of shared understanding.

A Dance of Beginnings: Calico and Jitter’s First Tender Moment

When Did Calico and Jitter’s Romance Begin?

In Uncanny X-Men #9 (2025), the X-Men take the night off following a brutal conflict with Cyclops’s team. While the elder of the team share a toast, Calico sneaks off by herself, catching Jitter’s attention. Jitter discovers that Calico is a ballet dancer, but one who has never had a partner to dance with. Without a moment of hesitation, Jitter activates her power and s Calico as her partner in the dance. As the X-Men share their toasts, the two young mutants intertwine themselves in a ionate dance, noting that “Sometimes, you dance best when there’s no music.”

As Jitter’s one-minute timer runs out, all Calico can muster is a meek “Oh,” before the beautifully ionate fantasy fades back to reality. For only a moment, both mutants felt important; they felt loved. Once again, the Outliers, like many X-Men, don’t come from good homes and happy lives. They are outcasts and freaks, sometimes to their own families. But in this tender, fleeting instance, Calico and Jitter felt important and valued to each other. These flickering sparks may be small as of now, but they have the momentum to become something greater.

Romance Is A Cornerstone Of The X-Men Franchise

Gail Simone Is Equally Known For Her Romantic Writing

Romance isn’t a foreign concept to the ongoing Uncanny X-Men series. Throughout this entire run, writer Gail Simone has deeply emphasized the ionate intensity of Rogue and Gambit’s relationship. Simone is well-known among her fans for using romance in her writing. Online, the writer actively engages with her audience about their favorite X-Men crushes and romances. Even in Gail Simone’s other work, like DC’s Secret Six (2008) series, romance, both in the traditional and literary sense, has become a staple of the writer’s work.

But ultimately, romance isn’t foreign to the X-Men either. As mentioned before, romances, especially messy ones, are so common among the franchise that they constitute one of the pillars that the X-Men currently stand on. It may not be every reader’s favorite part of the story, but it’s certainly not foreign to the franchise. Although their moments together have been brief, the instances shared between Calico and Jitter hint at a blossoming romance between two of the X-Men’s most endearing young sweethearts.

Uncanny X-Men #13 (2025) is now available from Marvel Comics.