X of Swords

"X of Swords" (pronounced "Ten of Swords") is a comic book crossover story arc set during the larger "Krakoan Age" storyline, which debuted in September 2020, published by Marvel Comics. It was part of Marvel's "Dawn of X" relaunch of its X-Men books, following the "House of X" and "Powers of X" storylines. "X of Swords" was followed by the 2021 "Hellfire Gala" storyline.

"X of Swords" (September – November 2020) was the first crossover of the Krakoan Age since the relaunch House of X and Powers of X event it concluded the Dawn of X publishing initiative and launched the Reign of X publishing initiative. As with Powers of X, "the 'X' in the title is meant to be read as 'Ten'". It was initially teased in Free Comic Book Day 2020: X-Men #1 before being announced at C2E2 in February 2020 as the upcoming 15-part X-Men summer crossover storyline. The title is a "reference to the Ten of Swords", a tarot card that "generally represents betrayal, rivalry and tragic endings".

Banshee, Glob Herman, and Trinary were set to have roles in X of Swords storyline as teased in Free Comic Book Day 2020: X-Men #1 but Banshee was replaced with his daughter Siryn, Glob Herman with Rockslide and Trinary was removed entirely. Regarding this, then-X-Men line's editor Jordan White revealed that Free Comic Book Day comics are done early and stories could change when revised, so they had meant to change the story and not the characters.

Entertainment Weekly highlighted that "as with so many 2020 comics, X of Swords was hit by big pandemic delays"; the crossover was "a collaboration between more than 28 creators" and "the fact that the creative team was stretched across the globe meant they were all affected by COVID-19 in different ways". On the impact of the pandemic, Excalibur and X-Corp writer Tini Howard commented,

I don't know if it would have been the same book on the original schedule because tinkering with the schedule caused problems, but also enabled us to do certain things. Everything about that book is very much a product of the situation and people functioning under specific conditions probably more than any other comic I've been a part of. [...] We were all working together on it so much, partially because we didn't have anywhere else to go in lockdown. So we were kind of losing our minds together and making this book. In a way I think it saved my year.

The groundwork for the storyline was established during Howard's Excalibur run. In June 2020, it was revealed that the crossover had increased to 24 issues – two prelude issues followed by a 22-part story. Screen Rant commented that in this style of crossover "creative teams work together, with normal stories suspended in favor of continuing the event". X of Swords: Creation #1, by writers Jonathan Hickman and Tini Howard with art by Pepe Larraz and Marte Gracia, was released in September 2020. The final issue, X of Swords: Destruction #1 by the same creative team, was released in November 2020. A 56-page companion guidebook, X of Swords Handbook, in an encyclopedic style was released alongside the crossover; "each entry features multiple paragraphs detailing each character's known history up until this event".

As part of the "Fresh Start" relaunch, an extra-sized issue in celebration of the long history of Marvel Comics includes a one-page story shows Apocalypse reminiscing about his original Four Horsemen who were lost so long ago.

During the House of X and Powers of X storyline, it is revealed that Moira MacTaggert, an ally of the X-Men, is a mutant whose power is to live many "lives". In her ninth life, she allied with Apocalypse and they both rescued the First Horsemen. Cypher and Professor X travel to the mutant island of Krakoa to establish the future foundation of their mutant paradise. Communicating with Krakoa, Cypher reveals its secret history. X and Magneto invite all former mutant villains to live on the island including immortal Egyptian mutant Apocalypse (En Sabah Nur). Both Krakoa and Apocalyse interact subtly – a hint of their shared past.