Ultimate X-Men: Tomorrow People (Comics) | Review

Most X-Men stories pit heroes against human bigotry or mutant supremacists. This one rewrites the rules completely: what happens when mutants never existed in the first place, when the world's been redesigned to suppress evolution itself before it could begin?

Writer Mark Millar (Marvel Knights Spider-Man: Venomous, Wolverine: Old Man Logan) and artist Adam Kubert (Superman: Last Son of Krypton, X-Men: Fatal Attractions) launched this storyline as the opening arc of Ultimate X-Men, establishing the foundation for everything that eventually followed in Marvel's Ultimate Universe.

The Tomorrow People introduces a world where mutants are just beginning to emerge and nobody knows what that means yet, where Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr are racing against time to find these young people before Weapon X turns them into weapons.

The story kicks off with Sentinels attacking the X-Men in the Savage Land, but this isn't your standard robot rampage. These machines were built by someone who knows exactly what mutants are and how to kill them, raising an uncomfortable question: who built killer robots for a threat that supposedly just started appearing?

The setup reveals layers quickly: Charles Xavier has been secretly gathering young mutants through Cerebro, building a team without government approval or public knowledge. His first recruits include all the familiar names but with completely unfamiliar faces.

Scott Summers, Jean Grey, Hank McCoy and others are teenagers discovering their abilities in a world that doesn't have a framework for understanding what they are, what they're becoming, or how to process them yet or what comes next for any of them.

Magneto enters as Xavier's ally rather than his enemy, at least initially. Both men share the same goal of protecting emerging mutants from a government program that's been operating in the shadows, experimenting on captured mutants and turning them into living weapons through brutal conditioning and genetic manipulation.

The Weapon X program represents everything twisted about humanity's first response to mutant-kind. Instead of dialogue or understanding, they chose dissection and weaponization. Mutants became test subjects, their bodies and minds broken down for military control.

Wolverine exists as their greatest success and most dangerous prisoner, a man whose memories have been stripped away and replaced with brutal programming designed to make him the perfect killer for whoever holds his leash and controls his fate.

When the X-Men discover Weapon X's existence, the mission becomes clear: infiltrate the facility, free the prisoners, expose the program. What they find inside changes everything because this isn't about rescue anymore but survival against enemies who've been preparing for this war before anyone knew there would be one.

The truth behind Weapon X connects to larger conspiracies within the Ultimate Universe's power structure. Government officials knew about mutants before the public did and built an entire infrastructure designed to either control or eliminate them.

Xavier's dream of peaceful coexistence takes a beating when you see what humanity does with advance knowledge. The philosophical debate between Xavier and Magneto gets tested in real time: how do you extend an olive branch to people who've built concentration camps before you even knew you were different or dangerous?

Millar doesn't shy away from the brutality. Weapon X isn't sanitized or softened for younger audiences. The experiments leave scars, both physical and psychological and the rescued mutants aren't instantly grateful heroes ready to join Xavier's school for the gifted.

The arc builds toward a confrontation that forces Xavier to make choices he never wanted to face. Saving his students means acknowledging that some humans will always see mutants as threats to be eliminated rather than people to be protected and that realization reshapes how he approaches building his team going forward.

Adam Kubert's artwork brings visceral intensity to every page. His character designs ground the X-Men in reality without losing their iconic elements. Costumes look tactical rather than theatrical, like something people would actually wear into some serious combat situations.

The action sequences carry weight because Kubert understands how to choreograph fights that feel dangerous. When Wolverine goes berserk, you see the violence rather than implied camera cuts. When mutant powers manifest, they look painful and uncontrolled, like abilities that haven't been trained or refined yet by years of practice.

Facial expressions do heavy work in quieter moments, capturing uncertainty and fear in mutants who discovered they're not human anymore. Pacing moves fast without feeling rushed. Millar introduces characters efficiently, establishes their powers and personalities.

Mark Millar's writing strips away decades of continuity and starts fresh. His Xavier isn't the serene mentor figure but a pragmatic leader making hard calls in impossible situations. The dialogue feels natural for teenagers thrust into extraordinary circumstances, mixing humor with genuine fear about what's happening to their bodies.

Tomorrow People succeeds because it treats the X-Men premise seriously without drowning in melodrama. Millar and Kubert built a foundation that respects the core concept while modernizing for audiences who've seen mutant stories told a thousand different ways.

Connections to the broader Ultimate Universe matter here. This isn't isolated storytelling but setup for conflicts that ripple through Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate Fantastic Four and The Ultimates. Weapon X program becomes a recurring threat and questions about government control over superhumans become central themes.

If you want familiar X-Men dynamics with decades of established relationships, stick with the main continuity but if you're ready to see what happens when mutants emerge in a world completely unprepared for them, this is the X-Men story worth reading.

Ultimate X-Men: The Tomorrow People physical edition collects issues #1-6 of the monthly ongoing series in a trade paperback and Ultimate X-Men Epic Collection. For digital readers, it's fully accessible on Amazon Kindle, ComiXology and Marvel Unlimited.