The Hellfire Gala unveils the new X-Men team, including the 2022 fan vote winner
The second annual Hellfire Gala is now one for the books, with the entire 2022 event taking place in July 13’s X-Men: The Hellfire Gala one-shot from writer Gerry Duggan and artists Kris Anka, Russell Dauterman, CF Villa, Matteo Lolli, Rain Beredo, Frank Martin, Matt Milla, and Matthew Wilson.
Among the many unforeseen surprises in the one-shot (and there are a few), the one thing we knew for sure would happen is the second annual vote for a new X-Men team - including a member voted on by readers themselves.
So who made the cut? Along with a perhaps surprising winner of the aforementioned fan vote, there are some mainstays - and some even bigger surprises than the member elected by fans.
Oddly enough, the votes for the new X-Men members are revealed by Scarlet Witch, who is allowed to psychically tap into the minds of the mutants of Krakoa to take volunteers and nominations for X-Men membership and to take a tally of the vote.
In the first round of winners of the X-Men election, it's announced that Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Synch will all remain on the team - while the newest member, elected by fans (but nominated in the story by Emma Frost), is Firestar, for whom it's stated the vote was "not close".
(We don't know if that applies to the real world or just on Krakoa, as Firestar's real-world fan vote tally isn't revealed in the issue).
After she accepts her place on the team, Firestar is quietly confronted by her former Avengers teammate Tony Stark, who implies that she should act as a spy among the X-Men for the rest of Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
Scarlet Witch then reveals that Forge has been chosen to be part of the team - much to his apparent chagrin, as he's working on a secret black ops project for Magneto and Xavier
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