An upcoming arc in the X-Men comicbook sees Wolverine pitted against Cyclops in a “shades of grey” dispute.
Wolverine and Cyclops have never gotten along well, but in an effort to produce more visceral conflict, and show readers that the X-Men story can showcase more than just good-guys beating up bad-guys, an upcoming mini-series, Schism, will create a grey deivide down the middle of the team.
For the first time, it will be unclear which mutants are the ‘good-guys’, as both have legitimate, ethical claims, and neither has evil intentions or methods. The factions will be lead by Wolverine and Cyclops. It’s a conflict which may come to violence between the opposing sides.
We don’t know too much about the actual conflict at this point, as the writers want to keep some secrets, but we can make some guesses.
It hasn’t been long since the mutant population was decimated, and Cyclops moved the X-Men to the island of Utopia, a sanctuary for all mutants. Cyclops has begun ordering assassinations of those in the normal population who oppose mutants most strongly.
This is likely what will bring about the divide, as Wolverine would likely take issue with these methods.
“At its core, ‘Schism’ is a story about Cyclops and Wolverine. There’s a lot of other characters and elements swirling around them, but at the end of the day it really comes down to these two men and how they differ in a couple of fundamental ways,” says Jason Aaron, the arc’s lead writer.
“Cyclops is the X-Men’s leader and Logan doesn’t want to assume his position. It’s not his natural instinct. This book isn’t about Wolverine coming in and suddenly deciding to lead his own branch of the X-Men. This story is really about a falling out between Scott and Logan and what brings that about. They find themselves at a real crossroads in their relationship and the differences that come between them pushes each of them in a very different direction.”
Aaron also comments that this story would be a good coming-in point for new readers, or for readers who have been away for a long time. The events of Schism will mark major changes in the way the X-Men fit into the Marvel Universe, and the events do not require a deep understanding of past threads to really understand.
Schism is planned to begin in July.
