In which John Sublime sucks; Angel Salvatore rules; trauma does not justify evil; and you should never, ever, ever mess with Jean Grey.

X-PLAINED:

• A horrifying revelation
• The universe where Jay and Miles work for Cassandra Nova
• New X-Men #118-120
• John Sublime (more) (again)
• The U-Men
• Psychic energy, gender-reveal party-style
• The Stepford Cuckoos
• One way to disperse a mob
• An uncivil conversation
• The death and/or discomfort of many U-Men
• An awakening of sorts
• Squaring the phoenix
• Hank McCoy’s “coming out”

NEXT EPISODE: The Shi’ar invade!

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In which several individuals are not what they seem; John Sublime sucks; Cyclops talks Xorn down from a cosmic ledge; we meet the inimitable Beak; and Cassandra Nova makes herself (limitedly) known.

X-PLAINED:

• John Sublime
• Marvelscope™
• New X-Men 2001 Annual
• New X-Men #117
• Xorn
• X-Corporation
• The U-Men
• Ao Jun (and his super gross mutant power)
• Synchronized heists
• Psychometry vs. telepathy
• A big eventual twist
• Beak (Barnell Bohusk)
• A kiss
• Some really fucked up use of telepathy
• Some Moira MacTaggert continuity nonsense

NEXT EPISODE: U-Men vs. X-Men

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In which we start the Morrison Run; Professor X gets his hands on Chekhov’s gun; Cassandra Nova raises X-villains to a new level of weird; and humanity is running on borrowed time.

X-PLAINED:

• No-Girl
• New X-Men #114-116
• Grant Morrison and their approach to the X-Men
• Superhero fashion
• Cerebra
• Beast’s new look
• Ugly John
• Interpersonal dynamics
• Cassandra Nova (somewhat)
• Donald Trask
• Master Molds
• Wild Sentinels
• Emma Frost (more) (again)
• Negasonic Teenage Warhead (the original)
• The fall of Genosha
• Secondary mutations
• The most strapless bra of all time
• The Black Bug Room
• Summers problems
• Official X-Men and the designation thereof
• Wonder Man and mutants

NEXT EPISODE: Beast has a bad day

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In which Dr. Jey McCreight joins us to discuss all things X-Genetics!

X-PLAINED:

• The genetics and taxonomy of Marvel’s merry mutants

NEXT EPISODE: The Morrison run begins!

Follow Dr. Jey on Bluesky, and check out Beyond X and Y!

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In which we totally forgot to record a cold open (sorry); a lot of characters die (but not in Earth-616); Vampires may already be in command of America’s atomic arsenal; and we revisit a favorite.

X-PLAINED:

• What If vol. 2 #9
• What If vol. 2 #24
• What If: Magik #1
• Rahne Sinclair (moppet stage)
• The deaths of the Silver Age and All-New-All-Different X-Men
• Fancy television
• Sliding-scale ransom
• Then Ani-Men, somewhat
• The Living LASER, somewhat
• An orgy of satiation
• Wolverine, Lord of the Vampires
• Several highlights of Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose
• Vampire nonsense
• The Darkhold
• The Montessi Formula
• Some alligators
• August 5
• Frank Punisher, Vampire Hunter
• What If vol. 2 #37 (briefly)
• A kinder alternate history
• A singularly beautiful montage
• The Soul Staff
• Summers family connections
• How Wolverine climbs

NEXT EPISODE: Unspooling the X-Gene, with Dr. Jey McCreight!

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In which Asher Elbein joins us to discuss the complicated intersections between Magneto, big feelings, and international politics.

X-PLAINED:

• Some complicated intersections between Magneto, big feelings, and international politics.

Check out links to some of what we discuss in this episode on our blog.

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In which we do a thing and are not even sorry.

X-PLAINED:

• X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Next Episode: Magneto, with Asher Elbein!

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In which we provide some inroads to resisting fascism in your community; pacifism has amazing abs; Cyclops and Wolverine play revolutionary chicken; Amelia Voght fails to live up to her narrative potential; Jean Grey continues to make spectacularly bad choices; Polaris deserves better; and Wolverine finally gets to stab Magneto.

X-PLAINED:

• Community action and aid
• X-Men #112-113
• Uncanny X-Men #393
• Genosha (more) (again)
• Northstar (more) (again)
• Dazzler (more) (again)
• Sunpyre (more) (again)
• Hector Rendoza (more) (again)
• Paulie Provenzano (more) (again)
• Frenzy (more) (again)
• Amelia Voght (more) (again)
• St. Sebastian thirst traps
• Sewer adventures
• Post-Apocalypse Cyclops (more) (again)
• Awkward conversations about feelings
• Implausible knitting
• The Age of Apocalypse X-Babies
• A protracted confrontation
• Bad strategy
• A confusing ruse
• Some stabbing
• What happens to the unlikeliest X-Men
• Jean Grey as Charles Xavier’s heir
• Best potential uses of Hector Rendoza

NEXT EPISODE: The secret (retconned) origin of Wolverine!

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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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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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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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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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