Comic Books

X-Men Monday #284 – Joe Casey Talks ‘Weapon X-Men’

Plus, an eXclusive look at ‘Weapon X-Men’ #1!

February 10, 2025

Welcome, X-Fans, to another uncanny edition of X-Men Monday at AIPT!

Yes, X-Men Monday did tell you all about Weapon X-Men — a team of Wolverines from across the multiverse — back in March 2024. But it turns out that wasn’t the original Weapon X-Men. The original Weapon X-Men comes from the imagination of former Uncanny X-Men and Cable writer Joe Casey (who explains the Weapon X-Men saga in great detail across multiple posts in his Substack newsletter, which I highly recommend).

Fast-forward to today and Weapon X-Men #1 is set to go on sale February 19, 2025. Then, you can learn why Wolverine, Cable, Deadpool, Chamber, and Thunderbird are coming together — and whether all these Marvel hotheads can even get along. Of course, there’s much more to Weapon X-Men, and Joe’s here to break it down. Let’s see what he has to say.

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

AIPT: Welcome to X-Men Monday, Joe! You wrote X-Men regularly during one of the most significant periods in the franchise’s 60+ year history. How does it feel to return and play with Marvel’s mutants again several eras later?

Joe Casey: Well, first of all, I would direct anyone interested in my past work on Uncanny X-Men to check out my Substack newsletter where I’ve got a regular series of entries called “RecolleXtions” where I do a deep-dive, issue-by-issue excavation of that run, with my insights on the work, 20+ years later. It’s free to subscribe, so I guarantee you’ll get your money’s worth. As for how it feels to come back… it certainly feels less fraught with anxiety than in 2001. With Uncanny X-Men, I was obviously much younger, still developing as a writer, still feeling my way through a lot of stuff. Now, on Weapon X-Men, I know exactly what I’m doing and I think the proof is right there in the pages.

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

AIPT: That’s good to hear! For readers just learning about Weapon X-Men for the first time, what’s your elevator pitch for the series?

Joe: Here’s the most right-to-the-point answer I can give… and it was there in my original pitch document for the series: They’ll save the world — if they don’t kill each other first. The series goes far beyond the normal jurisdiction of your typical X-books. It’s also a celebration of the greater, classic Marvel Universe… using iconic X-characters that don’t normally interact with it.

AIPT: Let’s talk about your lethal cast, which is packed with hotheads with short fuses. What can you tease about the inter-team dynamics between Wolverine, Deadpool, Cable, Chamber, and Thunderbird?

Joe: Well, let’s see… obviously, we start with the “big three.” The movie stars. I’ve written Wolverine and Cable before. There’s already a certain familiarity there, so those two feel a little like coming home. They’re obviously both alphas, which means there’s always going to be a bit of tension between them. But they’ve also been through so much, both separately and together, that they realize that the two of them need to be there in equal measure if this new team is going to work.

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

Now, when it comes to writing Deadpool — which I’ve never done before — it’s been truly mind-blowing. As you might expect, he provides the real “meta” aspect of this series, the one who’s able to comment on events — as they’re happening — in the same way that a real-life Marvel fan might, reading the book. That gives the stories a whole new dimension that’s really fun.

Chamber is a character I’ve always had a certain affinity for. That’s why I made him an official X-Man when I wrote Uncanny X-Men back in the day and why he’s a part of this team now.

And finally, there’s Thunderbird — the “forgotten X-Man” — whose emotional dilemma ends up being the main driving factor in our first batch of stories.

AIPT: This week’s first X-Fan question comes from Chamber’s Dermatologist, who was a huge fan of your “Poptopia” and “X-Corp” storylines. Chamber’s Dermatologist wanted to know what draws you to Chamber as an X-Man and character in general.

Joe: For my money, Chamber is the most visually iconic mutant that was introduced in the ’90s. His power, its effect on his appearance… it completely epitomized mutants as a concept in that initial, post-Chris Claremont era. And, for whatever reason, he seemed to be a difficult character to nail once Scott Lobdell and Chris Bachalo weren’t steering the ship in Generation X. So the temptation for me as a writer has always been there to get my hands on Chamber and make him work. I got close in Uncanny X-Men but no one really picked up the baton after I left that gig. So I’m back to take another swing at it, to make him as iconic a character as I think he deserves to be.

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

AIPT: Thunderbird has so much potential as a character since his resurrection in the Krakoan era, so it’s great you picked him up for your roster. What has been the most exciting aspect of writing this resurrected Giant-Size X-Men icon?

Joe: The thing about Thunderbird is that he’s been dead for the entirety of modern X-history. That’s 50 years of published comic books. For me as a writer, that’s the best of both worlds, because he’s both iconic (in his own way) and he’s a relatively clean slate. His motivation is clear; he’s painfully aware that he’s missed out on a helluva lot. And the fact that he’s now compelled — or more to the point, he’s desperate — to prove himself to be the hero he feels he was always meant to be is the first main subplot of the series, and it all comes to a dramatic head in Weapon X-Men #5.

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

AIPT: X-Fan Duck with a hat said you’re introducing the ‘Wolverines of Mass Destruction’ in Weapon X-Men #2. We’ve seen various incarnations of “Robot Wolverine,” from Albert in Larry Hama’s Wolverine run to the Sentinel Zeroes in the Krakoan era. What makes the Wolverines of Mass Destruction stand out and — potentially — be more destructive than those previous incarnations?

Joe: What makes the WMDs different is 1) their construction doesn’t begin and end with appropriating Wolverine’s adamantium skeleton. You’re right, we’ve seen that before. These things are actually fueled by Wolverine’s patented berserker rage! And 2) that they’re not the end-all, be-all of the first story arc. As lethal as they are, they end up as a vital step in the direction of introducing the ultimate nemesis for the Weapon X-Men team in issue 3, the next great villain in the Marvel Universe — Weapon Exile!

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

AIPT: X-Fan Frankenstaquio was wondering if some of your ideas from your Uncanny X-Men run, such as the Church of Humanity, Stacy X, X-Corps) might appear in Weapon X-Men.

Joe: As much as I might think those characters and concepts might have some juice left in the tank, Weapon X-Men is about plugging into the larger Marvel Universe, so the canvas is much larger, more conceptually expansive than your typical mutant book.

AIPT: How has it been collaborating with artist ChrisCross? What types of visuals can readers expect to find in the pages of Weapon X-Men?

Joe: I think, if you’ve seen some of the preview pages floating around, then his work speaks for itself. Cross is a great combination of classical and modern. And in Weapon X-Men, he’s taken things to a new level.

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

AIPT: X-Fan Ian A said that in your essay, “Playing God and Discovering My Own Mutanity” in The Unauthorized X-Men, you describe the minor epiphany you had years after your Uncanny X-Men run: “Mutants are truly metaphors for… comic book fans.” Has that revelation informed your return to the X-books?

Joe: Not particularly. But the difference in Weapon X-Men — at least to any other X-book — is that the mutant condition is not an inherent component of the series. It’s there, to be sure, but it’s not the primary element.

AIPT: Finally, your Substack newsletter you mentioned earlier is always a must-read, and it’s fun to learn about the stories that could have been, like “X-Men: Amazing Adventures.” Beyond Weapon X-Men, what are the chances you might dust off and revamp some of those older ideas that never saw the light of day?

Joe: While I’m generally a “never say never” kind of guy, ultimately things like that aren’t typically up to me. I guess you’d have to ask Tom Brevoort.

AIPT: Good thing Tom’s got his own newsletter — ask away, X-Fans. But on that note, thanks for stopping by X-Men Monday, Joe!

Remember, X-Fans, Weapon X-Men #1 goes on sale February 19, 2025. As this week’s X-Men Monday eXclusive, we’ve got the full preview from writer Joe Casey, artist ChrisCross, inker Mark Morales, colorist Yen Nitro, and letterer VC’s Clayton Cowles.

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

In the next edition of X-Men Monday: It’s our annual Valentine’s Day special, featuring Tom Brevoort, Stephanie Phillips, Murewa Ayodele, Ashley Allen, and other X-creators sharing everything from their favorite X-romances to their secret mutant crushes. Best of all, it drops this Friday on Valentine’s Day! If you missed our increasingly wild editions from the First Krakoan Age, click the links below.