Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

<figure id="attachment_24102" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-24102" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.xplainthexmen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/X527.jpg"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-24102" src="https://www.xplainthexmen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/X527.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="618" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.xplainthexmen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/X527.jpg?w=1024&#38;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/www.xplainthexmen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/X527.jpg?resize=300%2C181&#38;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/www.xplainthexmen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/X527.jpg?resize=768%2C464&#38;ssl=1 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-24102" class="wp-caption-text">Illustration by David Wynne</figcaption></figure> <p>In which Jean Grey crosses several lines; Emma Frost is killed; Bishop and Sage visit from <em>X-Treme X-Men</em>; mutants are weird; the plot thickens; Emma Frost is resurrected; and we learn several secrets of fly reproduction.</p> <p>X-PLAINED:</p> <ul> <li>The brothers Xorn</li> <li>A question of reading order</li> <li><em>New X-Men</em> #139-141</li> <li>Cosmic force problems</li> <li>A showdown</li> <li>A brief tour through the mind of Emma Frost</li> <li>A murder most foul</li> <li>Bishop (briefly) (again)</li> <li>Sage (briefly) (again)</li> <li>Many suspects</li> <li>One way to get drugs, I guess?</li> <li>A mysterious shack and its mysterious contents</li> <li>Perils and advantages of being a living computer</li> <li>A murder weapon</li> <li>Angel and Beak’s excellent babies</li> <li>A resurrection</li> <li>A subtly remarkable taxicab</li> <li>The advent of mixed-case lettering in Marvel comics</li> <li>How Angel and Beak’s reproductive cycle corresponds to actual fly reproduction</li> </ul> <p>NEXT EPISODE: Assault on Weapon Plus</p> <hr /> <p>Check out the visual companion to this episode <a href="https://www.xplainthexmen.com/2026/06/as-mentioned-in-episode-527/">on our blog</a>.</p> <p>Find us on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jay-miles-x-plain-the-x-men/id862258051">Apple Podcasts</a> or <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/3dB4KyeOeylfiIVImshFY2?si=ee5e912a53114820">Spotify</a>!</p> <p>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 <a href="https://www.patreon.com/xplainthexmen">right here</a>!</p> <p>Buy rad swag at <a href="https://xplainthexmen.dashery.com/">our Dashery shop</a>!</p>

<figure id="attachment_24050" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-24050" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.xplainthexmen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/X526.jpg"><img decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-24050" src="https://www.xplainthexmen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/X526.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="618" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.xplainthexmen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/X526.jpg?w=1024&#38;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/www.xplainthexmen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/X526.jpg?resize=300%2C181&#38;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/www.xplainthexmen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/X526.jpg?resize=768%2C464&#38;ssl=1 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-24050" class="wp-caption-text">Illustration by David Wynne</figcaption></figure> <p>In which you should use drugs only with caution; a famous shirt makes its debut; Wolverine is the new Mary Worth; and you were never Quentin Quire’s age (unless you were).</p> <p>X-PLAINED:</p> <ul> <li>What Quentin Quire’s been up to since discorporating</li> <li><em>New X-Men</em> #135-138</li> <li>The Special Class</li> <li>Basilisk</li> <li>Ernst</li> <li>Dummy</li> <li>No Girl</li> <li>Whether the Xavier School should admit human students</li> <li>Quentin’s new look</li> <li>Kick (more) (again)</li> <li>The Omega Gang</li> <li>That one t-shirt</li> <li>How to punch up your Power Point presentation</li> <li>A somewhat fraught camping trip</li> <li>The Special Class vs. U-Men</li> <li>A secret</li> <li>Some kind of weird affair</li> <li>A riot, of sorts</li> <li>Wolverine’s unfortunate soul patch</li> <li>What actually happened to Jumbo Carnation</li> <li>Telepathic deconstruction</li> <li>The Cuckoos vs. Emma Frost</li> <li>A somewhat mysterious secondary mutation</li> <li>Denouement</li> <li>The subsequent evolution of Quentin Quire</li> <li>What’s happening to xplainthexmen.com when the show ends</li> <li>The telepathy-telekinesis overlap</li> </ul> <p>NEXT EPISODE: Murder!</p> <hr /> <p>Check out the visual companion to this episode <a href="https://www.xplainthexmen.com/2026/05/as-mentioned-in-episode-526/">on our blog</a>.</p> <p>Find us on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jay-miles-x-plain-the-x-men/id862258051">Apple Podcasts</a> or <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/3dB4KyeOeylfiIVImshFY2?si=ee5e912a53114820">Spotify</a>!</p> <p>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 <a href="https://www.patreon.com/xplainthexmen">right here</a>!</p> <p>Buy rad swag at <a href="https://xplainthexmen.dashery.com/">our Dashery shop</a>!</p>

<figure id="attachment_24019" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-24019" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.xplainthexmen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/X525.jpg"><img decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-24019" src="https://www.xplainthexmen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/X525.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="618" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.xplainthexmen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/X525.jpg?w=1024&#38;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/www.xplainthexmen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/X525.jpg?resize=300%2C181&#38;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/www.xplainthexmen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/X525.jpg?resize=768%2C464&#38;ssl=1 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-24019" class="wp-caption-text">Illustration by David Wynne</figcaption></figure> <p>In which Warren Kenneth Worthington III is a terrible teacher; we are all Magneto’s children; Sooraya Qadir deserves a better origin story; teenagers have a lot of feelings; and we meet one of the modern age’s most controversial mutants.</p> <p>X-PLAINED:</p> <ul> <li>The destiny of Quentin Quire</li> <li><em>New X-Men</em> #131-134</li> <li>An underattended funeral</li> <li>How to fly? Kinda? I guess?</li> <li>A kiss</li> <li>A friendship</li> <li>Another bit of ruby quartz marginalia that will never be mentioned again</li> <li>A somewhat ill-founded psychic metaphor</li> <li>Emma Frost’s Dark Phoenix costume</li> <li>Some kind of weird affair</li> <li>Echoes of 9/11/2001</li> <li>Genosha, a year later</li> <li>Ghosts</li> <li>Polaris’s paternity</li> <li>Shocker (the mutant one)</li> <li>The last words of Genosha</li> <li>Islamophobia post 9/11</li> <li>Sooraya Qadir (Dust)</li> <li>An attempted hijacking and the aftermath thereof</li> <li>Some Shi’ar nonsense</li> <li>X-Corporation Mumbai</li> <li>Jumbo Carnation</li> <li>Telepathy class</li> <li>An artist’s interpretation of the fate of mankind if mutants are not driven out, as predicted by Bolivar Trask</li> <li>Accountability</li> <li>Professor X’s weird little paintings</li> <li>X-adjectives</li> <li>Best and worst X-Men with whom to share a psychic rapport</li> </ul> <p>NEXT EPISODE: Quentin Quire’s teen angst bullshit gets a body count!</p> <hr /> <p>Check out the visual companion to this episode <a href="https://www.xplainthexmen.com/2026/05/as-mentioned-in-episode-525/">on our blog</a>.</p> <p>Find us on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jay-miles-x-plain-the-x-men/id862258051">Apple Podcasts</a> or <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/3dB4KyeOeylfiIVImshFY2?si=ee5e912a53114820">Spotify</a>!</p> <p>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 <a href="https://www.patreon.com/xplainthexmen">right here</a>!</p> <p>Buy rad swag at <a href="https://xplainthexmen.dashery.com/">our Dashery shop</a>!</p>

<figure id="attachment_23986" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-23986" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.xplainthexmen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/X524.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-23986" src="https://www.xplainthexmen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/X524.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="618" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.xplainthexmen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/X524.jpg?w=1024&#38;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/www.xplainthexmen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/X524.jpg?resize=300%2C181&#38;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/www.xplainthexmen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/X524.jpg?resize=768%2C464&#38;ssl=1 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-23986" class="wp-caption-text">Illustration by David Wynne</figcaption></figure> <p>In which Xorn goes out on the town; silverware is morally neutral; Cyclops pursues dubious counsel; the X means ten; and Fantomex is eminently enjoyable.</p> <p>X-PLAINED:</p> <ul> <li>The parentage of Hope Summers</li> <li><em>New X-Men</em> #127-130</li> <li>Mutant Town</li> <li>A monster who is not a monster but is, perhaps, a metaphor</li> <li>X-Corporation Paris</li> <li>The whole Phoenix situation</li> <li>Fantomex</li> <li>Weapon XII</li> <li>A gene-hazard</li> <li>Corporal Animal</li> <li>E.V.A.</li> <li>The Weapon Plus program (somewhat)</li> <li>The World (somewhat)</li> <li>The Shi’ar Empire vs. Earth</li> <li>Xorn variations</li> </ul> <p>NEXT EPISODE: A Memorial of Magnetism</p> <hr /> <p>Check out the visual companion to this episode <a href="https://www.xplainthexmen.com/2026/05/as-mentioned-in-episode-524/">on our blog</a>.</p> <p>Find us on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jay-miles-x-plain-the-x-men/id862258051">Apple Podcasts</a> or <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/3dB4KyeOeylfiIVImshFY2?si=ee5e912a53114820">Spotify</a>!</p> <p>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 <a href="https://www.patreon.com/xplainthexmen">right here</a>!</p> <p>Buy rad swag at <a href="https://xplainthexmen.dashery.com/">our Dashery shop</a>!</p>

<figure id="attachment_23958" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-23958" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.xplainthexmen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/X523.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-23958 size-full" src="https://www.xplainthexmen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/X523.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="618" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.xplainthexmen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/X523.jpg?w=1024&#38;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/www.xplainthexmen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/X523.jpg?resize=300%2C181&#38;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/www.xplainthexmen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/X523.jpg?resize=768%2C464&#38;ssl=1 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-23958" class="wp-caption-text">Illustration by David Wynne</p> <dd></figcaption></figure> <p>In which Wolverine learns to fly; pants are a basic human right; we decide to cherry-pick our Xorn retcons; Xavier’s eyebrows follow his mind; and the first year of <em>New X-Men</em> ends with a bang.</p> <p>X-PLAINED:</p> <ul> <li>The origin of the Shi’ar Imperial Guard</li> <li><em>New X-Men</em> #124-126</li> <li>The current state of Charles Xavier’s body</li> <li>G-Type</li> <li>Neosaurus</li> <li>Plutonia</li> <li>Schism</li> <li>Oracle</li> <li>Stuf</li> <li>Gladiator (more) (again)</li> <li>Angel disambiguation</li> <li>Several plans</li> <li>Mutant justice</li> <li>Several miracles of magnetism</li> <li>Mummudrai</li> <li>Horror movie shit</li> <li>Subtle visual foreshadowing</li> <li>A ruse</li> <li>Education</li> <li>Long-lost family members</li> <li>What may or may not come after this</li> </ul> <p>NEXT EPISODE: Fantomex!</p> <hr /> <p>Check out the visual companion to this episode <a href="https://www.xplainthexmen.com/2026/05/as-mentioned-in-episode-523/">on our blog</a>.</p> <p>Find us on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jay-miles-x-plain-the-x-men/id862258051">Apple Podcasts</a> or <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/3dB4KyeOeylfiIVImshFY2?si=ee5e912a53114820">Spotify</a>!</p> <p>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 <a href="https://www.patreon.com/xplainthexmen">right here</a>!</p> <p>Buy rad swag at <a href="https://xplainthexmen.dashery.com/">our Dashery shop</a>!</dd>