Wolverine & the X-Men #5

Trivia · 8 facts

• First appearance of Xanto Starblood, an alien zoologist and villain created by Jason Aaron and Nick Bradshaw; he serves as the principal antagonist of the 'Mutatis Mutandis' arc and recurs throughout Aaron's run.
• Story title: 'Mutatis Mutandis (Part 1): Congratulations! It's a Brood!' — released February 8, 2012, with an April 2012 cover date.
• Written by Jason Aaron; art by Nick Bradshaw (pencils and inks), with additional inks by Walden Wong; colors by Justin Ponsor; letters by Rob Steen; edited by Nick Lowe under editor-in-chief Axel Alonso.
• Beast's biology class — in which students are miniaturized to tour a mutant body from the inside — serves as the issue's comic centerpiece, with Kid Gladiator's humiliation at the hands of white blood cells providing character comedy.
• Kitty Pryde's apparent pregnancy, introduced as a cliffhanger in issue #4, is recontextualized here: Beast diagnoses her as infected by microscopic Brood drones that are consuming her from within rather than gestating normally.
• The Hellfire Club's manipulation of the Worthington Industries board freezes Angel's assets, stripping the school of its primary funding source and prompting Wolverine to recruit Quentin Quire for a space-casino scheme.
• Xanto Starblood's cameo appearance (unnamed in this issue) at the end of the issue — leading the Brood swarm toward Earth after dispatching S.W.O.R.D. agents — sets up the full confrontation resolved in issues #6–7.
• The issue has been collected in the Wolverine & the X-Men by Jason Aaron Omnibus (Marvel, multiple printings), which gathers issues #1–42 and Annual #1 of the first volume.

Cast · 18 characters

Full credits

Key issues in Wolverine & the X-Men

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#1 1st appearance — Warbird

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#20 1st appearance — Shark-Girl

Variants (1)