Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

Jay Edidin & Miles Stokes

Because it's about time someone did

  • 51 minutes 37 seconds
    513 – Eve of Destruction

    In which Jay and Miles make an announcement; the X-Men are down to bare bones; Cyclops and Corsair are stunningly bad at feelings; Trish Tilby is stunningly bad at journalism; Magneto says goodbye to nuance; and Jean Grey assembles a team.

    X-PLAINED:

    • X-Corps vs. X-Corp
    • A thing that will be happening in a few months
    • The story so far
    • Uncanny X-Men #391-392
    • X-Men #111
    • The state of the X-Men
    • A short-lived Cyclops costume
    • A reunion
    • A sorry excuse
    • Resolution, somewhat
    • Genosha (more) (again)
    • Conflict of interest
    • Several excellent villain speeches
    • Joanna Cargill (Frenzy) (again)
    • Jean-Paul Beaubier (Northstar) (again)
    • Hector Rendoza
    • Yet another angry mob
    • Paulie Provenzano (Omerta)
    • Leyu Yoshida (Sunpyre)
    • Ice skating in Rockefeller Center
    • Our picks for a new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants

    NEXT EPISODE: Eve of Destruction concludes!

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    2 February 2026, 1:55 am
  • 46 minutes 8 seconds
    512 – You Can Get Anything You Want at Stryfe’s Restaurant

    In which it’s rude to eat in a helmet; Cable does his best villain bit; Bishop is clearly unfamiliar with early X-Force; we’re pretty sure clones still count as people; and Stryfe is the surprise MVP of Gambit & Bishop: Sons of the Atom.

    X-PLAINED:

    • Another time Stryfe and Bishop teamed up
    • Gambit & Bishop: Sons of the Atom #3-6
    • Some of the Witness’s fancy swag
    • An extremely awkward meal
    • Stryfe in four pages
    • Unsubtle foreshadowing
    • The relative ethics of killing Stryfe
    • A visual representation of time
    • Somewhat logical consequences
    • Bad clone ethics
    • Future uncertainty
    • Le Bête Noir
    • Hell-lord / anti-Phoenix disambiguation
    • A fancy t-shirt
    • The appropriate amount of mean to be to Stryfe
    • When Gambit and Bishop: Sons of the Atom takes place relative to The Search for Cyclops (more) (again) (inconclusive)
    • Reasons not to live under a crypt in New Orleans
    • Betty Noir’s
    • Relative (fictional) body counts
    • Business-casual Stryfe
    • Lucas Bishop, kitten guy
    • Relitigating the X-traitor

    NEXT EPISODE: Eve of Destruction (and some bonus Summers family bullshit)

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    19 January 2026, 3:13 am
  • 45 minutes 7 seconds
    511 – Night Science

    In which we unapologetically ship Gambit and Bishop; pelicans are deeply alarming birds; Charles Xavier watches your sex dreams; the Witness is a Whole Continuity Thing; and the T’ieves Guild is really just here to steal your stuff.

    X-PLAINED:

    • Destiny’s frequently retconned diaries
    • Midi series
    • Gambit (more) (again)
    • Bishop (more) (again)
    • Gambit and Bishop: Sons of the Atom Alpha
    • Gambit and Bishop: Sons of the Atom #1-2
    • When Gambit and Bishop: Sons of the Atom takes place relative to The Search for Cyclops
    • Some things pelicans get up to
    • An upsetting dream
    • Ethics of telepathy (more) (again)
    • Night science
    • Some of what Stryfe has been up to
    • French nouns
    • A theoretical Orphan Black video game
    • The Witness (LeBeau) (more) (again)
    • The Witness Cave
    • How to make Bishop a more central X-character
    • The relative importance of T’ieves Guild continuity

    NEXT EPISODE: Stryfe in a diner!

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    12 January 2026, 3:37 am
  • 1 hour 59 minutes
    510 – Giant-Size Special #14 (feat. Alex Paknadel)

    In which we attempt an all-Cyclops Winter special; X-Men are bad at processing grief; writer Alex Paknadel X-Plains his upcoming Cyclops miniseries; every character (except Cameron Hodge) is someone’s favorite; and you remain the best listeners of any podcast, ever.

    X-PLAINED:

    • Clones of Cyclops
    • Gwen Warren
    • Our year in review
    • X-Men: The Search for Cyclops #1-4
    • Ahmed and his mustache
    • Emotional support boats
    • A monkey
    • Apoca-lips
    • Anias
    • Boxes of fire
    • One way of coping with trauma
    • Ozymandias (more) (again)
    • The relative criminality of a trail of questions
    • Cat lady problems
    • Twice as many cat ladies named Anias as you’d expect
    • Terrible logic
    • Caliban (more) (again)
    • Several unpleasant reunions
    • Alex Paknadel’s definitive Cyclopses
    • Fun with minor characters
    • Proxy characters and “highly polished surfaces”
    • Characters to revisit
    • Sentinels
    • Cyclops vs. his own powers
    • Cyclops’s powers vs. continuity
    • Who Scott Summers is when he’s alone
    • The punch dimension
    • The 11th Annual Super Doctor Astronaut Peter Corbeau Awards for Excellence at X-Cellence
    • Many people to whom we are profoundly grateful

    NEXT EPISODE: Gambit & Bishop: Now Kiss Sons of the Atom

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    Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men is 100% ad-free and listener supported. If you want to help support the podcast–and unlock more cool stuff–you can do that right here!

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    5 January 2026, 4:46 am
  • 55 minutes 59 seconds
    509 – No Fun Will Be Had

    In which Marrow just want to be left alone; Spider-Man remains hapless; S.H.I.E.L.D. is unhelpful; Colossus dies; Shadowcat leaves the X-Men; and we are all on board for Mutants to Watch Out For.

    X-PLAINED:

    • How Magik caught the Legacy Virus
    • Marrow (again)
    • Spider-Man and Marrow #1
    • Uncanny X-Men #390
    • X-Men #110
    • A fancy club
    • A terrible plan
    • The Legacy Virus (more) (again)
    • Some deeply contrived “science”
    • A life-affirming display of social interaction
    • The death of Colossus
    • A very silly sound effect
    • Acceptable handwriting
    • Nostalgia
    • A double send-off
    • Closure
    • Mortality in Otherworld
    • Imaginary crossovers

    NEXT EPISODE: Winter Special!

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    Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men is 100% ad-free and listener supported. If you want to help support the podcast–and unlock more cool stuff–you can do that right here!

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    15 December 2025, 3:44 am
  • 54 minutes 25 seconds
    508 – Destiny’s Doodles

    In which Professor Xavier is a jock; all of Shadowcat’s friends are dead; Storm recruits a team; Bishop makes new pals; and everyone gets festive.

    X-PLAINED:

    • Some of Mystique’s secret kids
    • Uncanny X-Men #389
    • X-Men #109
    • Charles Xavier’s workout routine
    • Two funerals
    • Rave (the drug)
    • The wrong necklace
    • Destiny’s doodles
    • A large knife
    • Charles Xavier/Moira MacTaggert backstory
    • A snowball fight
    • A very sketchy circus
    • A break-up
    • “Christmas cheer”
    • A mysterious package
    • An X-Men nativity
    • Sage (Tessa)
    • Origins of X-Treme X-Men
    • Several gifts, some more mysterious than others
    • Charles Xavier’s legacy
    • Warwolves (more) (again)
    • Archangel’s color vision

    NEXT EPISODE: Colossus dies!

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    Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men is 100% ad-free and listener supported. If you want to help support the podcast–and unlock more cool stuff–you can do that right here!

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    8 December 2025, 4:07 am
  • 1 hour 1 minute
    507 – Comic Book Logic

    In which there are a lot of explosions in X-Force; Great Britain-616 is to intelligence as Canada-616 is to military; Alastair Stuart used to be fun; Emma Frost is here to stomp on your dreams; Chamber joins the X-Men; and the Generation X kids graduate themselves.

    X-PLAINED:

    • Revolution (again)
    • Counter-X (again)
    • X-Force #114-115
    • Generation X #75
    • Yet another origin of humanity and/or life on Earth (again)
    • The World Engine
    • Accurate representation of CD-Rs
    • Genetech
    • A swimsuit interlude
    • Agent Corben
    • Alastair Stuart (more) (again)
    • A kidnapping
    • A really amazingly terrible plan
    • A particularly large explosion
    • The remaining 14 issues of X-Force vol. 1
    • An interlude at Applebee’s
    • Bad times at the New Xavier School
    • A murder (more) (again)
    • Intersectional superheroism
    • An additional bonus murder
    • An invitation
    • Many goodbyes
    • What happens next to the Generation X kids

    NEXT EPISODE: The end of Revolution

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    Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men is 100% ad-free and listener supported. If you want to help support the podcast–and unlock more cool stuff–you can do that right here!

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    1 December 2025, 4:34 am
  • 45 minutes 54 seconds
    506 – The House at the End of the World

    In which Jay remains angry at a font; a person who is obviously Kang the Conqueror is not in fact Kang the Conqueror; the pig men deserve better; and Nightcrawler should never, ever, ever be allowed to attempt grief counseling.

    X-PLAINED:

    • Storm/Cable
    • Cable #85-86, 88
    • Cable (more)(again)
    • Earth-4935
    • Mother Askani
    • Irene Merryweather
    • Several cryptic witches
    • Are you as dangerous as you think martial arts training for advanced students
    • Shin
    • An unlikely sound effect
    • The Black Dawn
    • A time catapult
    • An End of Time
    • Earth-805110
    • The House on the Borderline
    • Gaunt
    • One of Esad Ribic’s more entertaining accomplishments
    • A fight
    • One way to weaponize the T-O virus
    • The future past of Rachel Summers
    • Cable’s friendship with Moira MacTaggert
    • Streets of Fire
    • Grief counseling? Sort of? I guess?
    • A very impressive spear
    • Our muppet counterparts

    NEXT EPISODE: Two endings!

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    Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men is 100% ad-free and listener supported. If you want to help support the podcast–and unlock more cool stuff–you can do that right here!

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    17 November 2025, 5:12 am
  • 51 minutes 28 seconds
    505 – The Amulet of Ass

    In which Widget takes a heel turn; there is some confusion over sword identification; we appreciate Sir Benedict of the Falls; the Braddock family has a lot going on; and Otherworld changes hands.

    X-PLAINED:

    • Names for flying horses
    • Excalibur (2001 miniseries) #1-4
    • Captain Britain (Brian Braddock) (briefly) (again)
    • The Black Knight (Dane Whitman)
    • Darkmoor Research Facility
    • Sword and amulet distribution
    • Strider the Horse
    • Why all the horses of Asgard have Tolkien names
    • Sir Benedict of the Falls and his many axes
    • One way to win a bridge fight
    • Sword pops
    • Several continuity errors
    • Holographic James Braddock
    • The Dad Cave
    • Otherworld eugenecists
    • A coronation
    • A twist
    • Some potential X-Factor lineups
    • Life expectancies of mutants with healing factors

    NEXT EPISODE: Cable fights some guys.

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    Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men is 100% ad-free and listener supported. If you want to help support the podcast–and unlock more cool stuff–you can do that right here!

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    10 November 2025, 2:54 am
  • 55 minutes 59 seconds
    504 – One Day, Four Ways

    In which Banshee is chronically hapless; the team gets new costumes (again); Chamber is a self-fulfilling prophecy; toddlers will sell you out in a hot minute; Moira MacTaggert is definitively not in; we are frustrated by excessive ambiguity; and it’s not Rashômon, but it’ll do.

    X-PLAINED:

    • Banshee post-Generation X
    • Generation X #71-74
    • Interior decorating
    • New costumes (again)
    • Chamber, but a housecat
    • A meet-cute
    • Teen angst
    • Fashion
    • An extremely awkward conversation
    • A brief history of boba in the United States
    • A fracas
    • Fun things to do with extra skin
    • Evolving teacher-student relationships
    • Poor interrogation technique
    • Husk vs. international terrorism, in general
    • Ghosts of the Massachusetts Academy
    • Villains and heroes we think would be neat as the reverse
    • A world in which Peridot of Steven Universe imprinted on X-Men

    NEXT EPISODE: Fast times in Otherworld!

    Check out the visual companion to this episode on our blog.

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    Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men is 100% ad-free and listener supported. If you want to help support the podcast–and unlock more cool stuff–you can do that right here!

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    3 November 2025, 3:06 am
  • 1 hour 51 seconds
    503 – Dream’s Anticlimax

    In which history repeats itself; Senator Kelly prevaricates (and then dies); Magneto keeps the cape on; Mystique does evil science; Post remains irrelevant (and then dies); Pyro saves the day (and then dies); Cable is a large man; Moira MacTaggert does the astral nasty (and then dies); and we really, really, really want to go to Froggy World.

    X-PLAINED:

    • Moira MacTaggert’s mutation
    • A dubious plan
    • Evidence that we are in the wrong universe
    • Other crossovers named “Dream’s End”
    • A significant disclaimer
    • Uncanny X-Men #388
    • Cable #87
    • Bishop: The Last X-Men #16
    • X-Men #108
    • A surprise presidential platform
    • Sir Gordon Phillips and his guests
    • The new Brotherhood of Mutants
    • Cable’s hair
    • A lot of movie allusions
    • An ambiguous explosion
    • A deeply pointless retcon
    • An illusion
    • Cable’s psimitar
    • Pyro’s last stand
    • Dickalogue
    • Astral sex
    • The (apparent) death of Moira MacTaggert
    • A weird bonding moment in a cemetery
    • How to identify a time traveler
    • The (actual) death of Senator Robert Kelly
    • Mutant-free parts of the Marvel Universe
    • Froggy World

    NEXT EPISODE: Generation X!

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    Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men is 100% ad-free and listener supported. If you want to help support the podcast–and unlock more cool stuff–you can do that right here!

    Buy rad swag at our Dashery shop!

     

    20 October 2025, 2:22 am
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