COMICS: Kieron Gillen Talks In Details About "Schism", "Regenesis" And Much More!

Many thanks to Hero Complex for the following excerpts. Be sure to click on the link below to head on over to the site, where you'll find much more from the Uncanny X-Men and Generation Hope writer on what's in store for the mutant race in the coming months. For now, here are a few of the main points, all of which hint at some huge changes for the popular characters following the events of "Schism" and "Regenesis".

Not wanting to spoil the story, the core disagreement is about how much of the present should you be willing to give up for the future. As I said, Cyclops made all sorts of hard, leaning gray decisions — which he’s doing to make sure the mutants have a future. Wolverine, while involved in most of the gray decisions, thinks that Cyclops is still working in some kind of bunker-siege mindset and acting against principles which should be sacrosanct. In the issues that [came out last week], the only mutant present to stop terrorists is a 14-year-old girl. Scott gives her the order … and she’s now a murderer. Logan thinks that kids should never be in that kind of situation. Kids should be kids. Cyclops thinks that in the current state, that’s a luxury they simply can’t afford.

And Hope’s the mutant messiah. Or, if you listen to other people, she could be the mutant anti-Christ. Her second coming seems to have precipitated new mutant births — except their powers are deformed and crazed until she manages to touch them, which stabilizes them. And also seems to lend some manner of uncanny personal loyalty to her. Hope’s literally Messianic, and that’s scary. The five mutants are beginning to realize that this instinctive control she has over isn’t right, and pushing against it — and the events of Schism bring that into sharp focus. By which I mean, open confrontation and shouting.

Regenesis is the morning after. Schism leads to this fracture between Wolverine and the X-men. Wolverine has a plan to do something else. The Utopia mutants have a plan to do something else. People choose sides, and then go and do it. A bad divorce would be a good metaphor. They’re not openly warring groups or anything — they both believe they’re doing what’s best for mutants — but there’s an obvious tension between them. The Regenesis special is basically everyone choosing their side … and saying why. Schism is specifically about the conflict between Cyclops and Wolverine. Regenesis is the response of everyone else.

This is a schism. It’s a break. Could it heal eventually? Maybe. But not in the current context and not with the key players in place. There is bad blood between them. I’d say it’s more likely to cross over into violence in the near future than any kind of reconciliation. The best they could hope for is some manner of detente.