Uncanny X-Men #10 (2025) Review

Background – The kids finally become X-Men, Jubilee maybe gets a date, Nightcrawler hits retirement, and something stalks Rogue & Gambit.

Writing – The X-Kids – If these kids all make it out of this book at the end of it, they should become the new X-Factor team. Not this government oversight stuff, but just a straight up team. Each of the kids has their big damn hero moment. Let’s break them down:

Jitter: Jitter saves Deathdream with her powers. Jitter has been going through what I like to call “The Flash phase”. Over at DC comics, new speedsters have to try and center themselves to slow down and gain control. While she hasn’t exactly needed to slow down, she has needed to figure out how to use her powers in the allotted time she has. She runs out of time and starts to forget how to be a combat medic, but her teammates needs trumps her own fears and she manages to pull through.

Ransom: I think we officially found the leader of our new team. Ransom has become fiercely loyal to his new friends and was the most effective of them at holding of the Sentinel dogs. He saves Calico just when it looks like her time is up. Moving forward I hope the burden of leadership is a plot thread he has to learn.

Deathdream: If Calico is the little sister of the team, then Deathdream is the little brother. Hearing how Jitter was the first one to worry about him dying was very bittersweet. His moment comes when he is the one to ultimately end the battle by freeing the remaining biological parts of the Sentinel dogs and allowing them to pass in peace. I hope Wolverine’s fear of him has dissipated a bit in future issues.

Calico: The innocence of the team in human form. We’re only 10 issues in and she has had a complete character arc already. Going from a sheltered child who has been told all her life that she’s not a mutant to accepting her genetic structure as her own and learning the value of hard work has been delightful. She is more than willing to sacrifice herself to save her friends, so going forward I’d like to see her develop more self-worth. I just know we are going to see her incredibly unpleasant mother and family sooner rather than later and can’t wait to see her tell them to go away.

Wolverine and Jubilee – Shockingly Wolverine & Jubilee prove to be a complete non-factor in this fight. By the time they arrive, the kids have already beaten the sentinel dogs. Jubilee in a kind of weird moment asks a cop out on a date instead of following Wolverine across the police barricade. Maybe she was just SO enamored with the cop letting them through that she just HAD to ask him out?

Seeing Wolverine impressed by the kids is really sweet. He didn’t even want the kids around when they first showed up on the farm. He was tired of losing people, but they have now proven that they are more than capable of taking care of themselves. One thing this series has been very good at is showing just how damn old Wolverine is. He seems like a grizzled vet that is just tired of all this nonsense but is drawn back in continually by some pledge to a now non-existent dream. I’m definitely reading too much into this but maybe he’s happy the young ones can actually fend for themselves? Maybe he’s thinking that he could actually retire soon.

Watching the toll that losing Krakoa has taken on ALL mutants across all the X-Books and Avenger books has been great to see and read.

Nightcrawler – Speaking of retirement, Nightcrawler has outright asked the question and internally monologued that he is just done with all of this. The small town life suit shim just fine. He is touched that Mackenzie DeNeer and her kids bring him like 12 different German cakes and pies as well as a hat, gloves, and scarf as a thank you for saving them in an earlier issue. I can see this going one of two ways. Either Mackenzie and kids don’t show up again, or Kurt and her start a relationship. I’d be fine with either one, but I have a plea to Gail Simone. Gail, if you read this, PLEASE don’t immediately kill them off or break them up. Give Kurt a family that doesn’t involve the X-Men. Try and make it the status quo just for a bit. I want to see a happy Kurt for a long while.

Also occurring during the Nightcrawler bit is the revelation that Chelsea, the little girl who lives on the farm, is actually a mutant. She apparently has the power to create force fields and in a cute moment immediately picks out her Codename (Dome) for when she grows up and joins the X-Men. I think she may be the Harbinger of destruction that has been teased. She doesn’t want her dad to find out that she’s a mutant. Maybe his rejection sends her down the wrong path?

Rogue And Gambit – Our team leader and her husband are completely oblivious to everything that has been going on for the past 2 issues. Instead, they are on a well-deserved date night in New Orleans. Unfortunately, they are being followed by someone with green scaley arms. I can honestly say, with all my X-Men knowledge, that I have ZERO idea who this is supposed to be. He has beef with Gambit though, so maybe it’s a member of the Thieves Guild? My only nitpick with this story beat is that Rogue is touching Gambit with her bare hand and nothing is happening. Last I checked she couldn’t control her power again. Maybe I’m wrong and she gained permanent control during Krakoa, but the ending of that was such a mess I probably glazed over that event. Rogue hasn’t been written this well in ages.

Artwork – The art is great! Jitter’s “jittering” (Lets just call it that) is one of my favorite aspects of this issue. It’s like seeing a 3D image without those silly glasses. All the facials are on point and well defined and nobody’s age jumps up and down from panel to panel (Which seems to be a problem in some other X-Books.)

Final Thoughts – Let Scott have his strike team. Great character interactions, story developments, and a lot of fun action make this the X-Book to grab. This is the school book we need to satisfy our old time X-Men cravings.

4/5

Publisher:  Marvel

Writer:  Gail Simone

Artist: Andrei Bressan

Color Artist: Matthew Wilson

Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles

Cover Artists: David Marquez & Matthew WIlson

Genre:  Superhero

Format: Monthly

Release Date: 2/19/2025