Watch Out, X-Men: Marvel Is Ready to Erase Mutant History With Help From Some Familiar Villains

The history of mutants in the Marvel Universe is long and complex... but it's about to be threatened by a terrifying new villain, as the X-Men heroes Cable and Bishop must battle the evolved Children of the Vault for the future of mutantkind. After the monstrous Vacuna emerges as the mutants' newest enemy, Cable and Bishop will need to travel through time to save their history in the exciting Timeslide one-shot.

The fierce time-traveling warriors Bishop and Cable recently defeated the Children in the acclaimed miniseries Children of the Vault, squashing their past beef in the process, making them the perfect X-Men to fight Vacuna.

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Timeslide is this year's version of Timeless, an annual Marvel tradition where glimpses of Marvel's future are revealed, with Cable and Bishop witnessing these brief visions. Details about Vacuna, as well as an early preview for Timeslide, were revealed in an interview with Steve Foxe for AIPT, with Foxe stating that Vacuna can "literally consume the very existence of mutants."

"Vacuna, who got a SICK design from Ivan Fiorelli, can literally consume the very existence of mutants from the timestream. He’s a big, bombastic existential threat that’s also an excuse to throw together two of the X-Men’s coolest characters and force them to work together with the fate of everything on the line. And with the timestream fracturing, as Vacuna starts to achieve his goal, Bishop and Cable begin to get glimpses of potential futures to come for the Marvel Universe…"

Related Next Year's Big Marvel Storylines Revealed as Cable & Bishop Time-Travel to Save Mutantkind As iconic X-Men heroes Bishop and Cable travel through time to stop a horrible foe in Timeslide, the heroes will witness the Marvel Universe's future.

The Children Of The Vault Have A Plan To Destroy Mutantkind

They evolved a villain who can literally devour the past

The Children of the Vault are a group of post-humans - or Homo novissima - who use their temporally isolated City to artificially evolve themselves over thousands of years, becoming stronger and more deadly in each new generation. The Children's general goal is to wipe out humanity and mutantkind to make room for their uncontested rule. Most recently, the Children rebranded themselves as the selfless heroes known as the "Children of Tomorrow," releasing a virus that convinced humanity of their heroism. Thankfully, the combined efforts of Bishop of Cable ruined the Children's plans... but unfortunately, this caused the villains to have an even deeper vendetta against mutantkind, leading to the creation of Vacuna.

His design for Vacuna and how various powers work incorporate sick bits of cosmic/body horror into the mix, Cable and Bishop have real ‘90s heft to them, and you just get a thrill out of every timeline we revisit.

The preview for Timeslide sees Eva Bell - the time shifting mutant known as Tempus who was a part of The Five on Krakoa - returning to the X-Men's present to warn them about Vacuna. After the Children's defeat they began work on creating Vacuna immediately, crafting a new Child who acts as a "chronal tunneler" with hyper-senses, allowing Vacuna to travel to key points in mutant history at will, and then devour them forever. Tempus reports that not only has Vacuna already started devouring these turning points, but that if it continues, the timestream will be irreparably damaged, and mutantkind may cease to exist. In a horrifying glimpse at the Children's newest weapon, Vacuna is seen devouring Wolverine's escape from the Weapon X program, which would lead to Wolverine never becoming a hero.

Fighting The Children Will Reveal Marvel's Epic Future

Saving the past almost always impacts the future...

In order to save mutantkind's past, Bishop and Cable will journey with Eva Bell through the future, revealing secrets of stories to come from Marvel's heroes and villains. From Doctor Doom's new status as the Sorcerer Supreme to the debut of the New Champions, Vacuna's assault on history will allow Marvel fans a glimpse into what is to come in 2025 and beyond. Yet, if Cable and Bishop are unable to defeat Vacuna, there might be no future for the mutant race at Marvel... something these X-Men icons will stop at nothing to prevent.

Vacuna is a vicious "chronal predator" with one goal in mind: the erasure of all mutant past, present and future. Cable and Bishop are going to need to use every drop of their X-Men training if they hope to defeat the Children of the Vault's newest weapon, or the future of Marvel may be doomed.

Your changes have been saved X-Men The X-Men franchise, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, centers on mutants with extraordinary abilities. Led by the powerful telepath Professor Charles Xavier, they battle discrimination and villainous mutants threatening humanity. The series explores themes of diversity and acceptance through a blend of action, drama, and complex characters, spanning comics, animated series, and blockbuster films.

Timeslide #1 from Marvel Comics debuts on December 25th, 2024.

Source: AIPT