Marvel Is Letting Comic Readers Vote For The Final Member Of The Next X-Men Team

Here in the old U.S. of A., we just came off of one of the most stressful elections in recent memory. It's enough to make you not want to think about any sort of election ever again. But the folks running the X-Men comics don't agree, so they're letting readers vote for the final member of the next X-Men team, representing the nation of Krakoa. What's Krakoa? I'm glad you asked, reader – it's a "sentient living island located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean," and the mutants of the Marvel universe have flocked there to set up their own democracy.

Good for them! In the current comics, a new X-Men team is being assembled and the mutants of Krakoa get to vote on who will join the line-up. And Marvel is letting readers get in on the fun by voting for one final member of the group. Does that imply that the readers are secretly mutants, since they're taking part in the vote? Maybe! Or maybe I'm reading too much into this.

I have never read a single X-Men comic in my life, friends, so this entire story is making my brain hurt a little. But here's what I've gleaned through extensive research: Mutankind has set up their own nation on Krakoa where they self-govern and have elections and all that fun democratic stuff. This means the newest line-up of X-Men is democratically elected to represent mutants on the world stage. The majority of the voting is, of course, fictional and set within the comic.

But to make things extra entertaining, Marvel is also letting readers vote for one final member of the team. You can vote here. Here's some more info:

In 2021, Mutantkind will be selecting the first X-Men team of the Krakoan Age and you are invited to take part in the election. Marvel's fan vote will be 100% responsible for the determination of the final member of this inaugural team, so choose wisely as your choice will have an everlasting effect on the future of the X-Men and the world at large. VOTING WILL BE OPEN FROM 12:00am EST JANUARY 27, 2021, TO 11:59pm EST FEBRUARY 2, 2021.

Your options include characters named Armor, Banshee, Boom-Boom, Cannonball, Forge, Marrow, Polaris, Strong Guy, Sunspot, or Tempo. I have no plans to take part in this, but if I did, I'd probably vote for either Boom-Boom or Strong Guy. Not because I know anything about those characters, mind you – just because they have the funniest names. I mean, Strong Guy? Pretty good name, if you ask me.

Anyway, it'll be interesting to see how this turns out. Perhaps Forge will lose but claim he really won, and then send his lawyer, Mutant Rudy Giuliani, all over Krakoa to try to pressure legislatures to flip the vote. I know that sounds pretty far-fetched, but this is a comic book we're talking about here. Thankfully, nothing that crazy could happen in the real world!