<figure id="attachment_23883" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-23883" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.xplainthexmen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/X521.jpg"><img decoding="async" class="wp-image-23883 size-full" src="https://www.xplainthexmen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/X521.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="618" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.xplainthexmen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/X521.jpg?w=1024&#38;ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/www.xplainthexmen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/X521.jpg?resize=300%2C181&#38;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/www.xplainthexmen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/X521.jpg?resize=768%2C464&#38;ssl=1 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-23883" class="wp-caption-text">Illustration by David Wynne</p> <dd></figcaption></figure> <p>In which John Sublime sucks; Angel Salvatore rules; trauma does not justify evil; and you should never, ever, <em>ever</em> mess with Jean Grey.</p> <p>X-PLAINED:</p> <ul> <li>A horrifying revelation</li> <li>The universe where Jay and Miles work for Cassandra Nova</li> <li><em>New X-Men</em> #118-120</li> <li>John Sublime (more) (again)</li> <li>The U-Men</li> <li>Psychic energy, gender-reveal party-style</li> <li>The Stepford Cuckoos</li> <li>One way to disperse a mob</li> <li>An uncivil conversation</li> <li>The death and/or discomfort of many U-Men</li> <li>An awakening of sorts</li> <li>Squaring the phoenix</li> <li>Hank McCoy’s “coming out”</li> </ul> <p>NEXT EPISODE: The Shi’ar invade!</p> <hr /> <p>Check out the visual companion to this episode <a href="https://www.xplainthexmen.com/2026/04/as-mentioned-in-episode-521-snowflakes">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>