14 Craziest Things We Learned From House Of X And Powers Of X

Any fan of Marvel comic books will be aware of the incredible work Jonathan Hickman has done over the years. His sensational runs on the Secret Warriors, Fantastic Four and the Avengers has given him legendary status among many readers - and for good reason too.

Following the conclusion of Secret Wars, which turned out to be one of Marvel's craziest crossover events, Hickman took a few years off from the Marvel brand. However, he returned earlier this year to put his stamp on everyone's favourite team of mutant superheroes, the X-Men.

If you're worried that his hiatus might've dampened his creative juices, though, then you'll be happy to hear that Hickman is better than ever. There've only been twelve issues of his introductory series, House of X and Powers of X (pronounced 'Powers of Ten'), but we've seen plenty of craziness already. Former foes have joined forces, allies have revealed shocking secrets about themselves and everyone is gearing up for a war that seems destined to happen regardless of what is done to prevent it.

With the highly-anticipated Dawn of X on the way, let's take an in-depth look at what Hickman has already set-up and how that will affect the ongoing X-Men story in the coming future.

If you grew up reading Chris Claremont's run on the X-Men, then you'll know who Moira MacTaggert is. The Scottish mutant researcher and geneticist has played a key supporting role over the years, becoming a key ally of Xavier's early on. Although she's an interesting character who has played a part in the X-Men history, she was never really considered a major player... until now.

Hickman has always done a great job of taking the supporting cast from the background and pushing them to the forefront of a major story, and he's done exactly that with Moira. Instead of being a human ally, Hickman has changed her back story and made her a mutant with the ability to reincarnate. Every time she dies, she maintains the memories and information she obtained from her previous life.

While most would've likely used this knowledge to win millions on the lottery, Moira (who is now referred to as Moira X in the comics) uses her ten lives to try and help her mutant brethren. From siding with Xavier, Magneto - and even Apocalypse at one point - to assassinating the entire Trask family, she's literally explored every angle to try and save the mutant race from certain doom.

We witness her go through nine of her lives, but she comes to the same conclusion each time. Whatever happens, whatever she does and no matter how far she's willing to go, the mutants always lose out to humanity somehow. Which leads us to our current timeline where she opens up her mind to Xavier and shows her what the future has in store for mutant-kind.