‘X-Men United’ Welcomes You to Graymatter Lane, the Next Evolution in Mutant Schooling

Warning: Tread lightly, this article contains spoilers for X-MEN UNITED #1, which you should definitely pick up now!

Welcome to Graymatter Lane, the next step in mutant evolution! Following the fall of Krakoa, mutants have been scattered around the world. Now, in X-MEN UNITED #1 by Eve Ewing and Tiago Palma, Emma Frost offers mutantkind another chance to stand together at Graymatter Lane.

Professor Charles Xavier established a long history of mutant schooling, and Graymatter Lane continues in that tradition. However, this is no ordinary school, even by the X-Men’s most uncanny of standards. As the name suggests, Graymatter Lane is not a physical school, but rather a mind palace, accessible to mutants worldwide via the psychic plane. As Emma Frost opens Graymatter Lane’s doors to mutants around the world, Conductor of X Tom Brevoort teases what lies ahead for mutantkind’s latest endeavor.

Take a tour around Graymatter Lane with the X-MEN UNITED #2 preview below!

MARVEL.COM: In X-MEN UNITED #1, Emma Frost states that mutantkind has been scattered since Krakoa’s fall. How does she hope to bring them together with Graymatter Lane?

BREVOORT: The idea behind Graymatter Lane is that it’s more than simply a school. Rather, it’s a campus environment wherein mutants of all sorts from across the globe can meet and interact and develop together. In that, it’s the end product of Emma’s many years as an educator, from the Massachusetts Academy to her time in Genosha. And as we’ll see moving ahead, Emma’s vision for what Graymatter can offer extends beyond solely just mutants.

MARVEL.COM: How do Cyclops and Emma Frost's differing visions for mutantkind clash in X-MEN UNITED?

BREVOORT: Scott has been on the front lines on two separate occasions in which mutantkind gathered in large numbers—first at Utopia and more recently on Krakoa—and in both instances, they made themselves an irresistible target to those who would do them harm. So he’s skeptical that Emma’s ideas for the new campus pass the Health and Safety Test, and that creating a space inhabited by that large a number of mutants is simply inviting trouble, at least without adequate safeguards in place. 

But as we see in X-MEN UNITED #2 and thereafter, Emma’s position is that mutantkind needs a place to live and grow and congregate, for the mental and emotional well-being of everybody. So both are determined to do the right thing as they see it regardless of how the other one feels—which is where the best drama comes from. It’s always more interesting when characters can have a legitimate difference of opinion without one being absolutely right and the other being absolutely wrong.

MARVEL.COM: Schooling is an integral part of X-Men history. How does Graymatter Lane fit in that tradition? 

BREVOORT: On the most fundamental level, it’s a place where those who are experiencing the first blush of their onset mutantdom can find the company of fellow travelers and learn how to best use the gifts they’ve been endowed with for the betterment of all. It’s a large-scale actualization of the seed of Charles Xavier’s original dream of a place in which mutants could come together to learn about what they can do and find their place in the world.

MARVEL.COM: What can you tell us about the students at Graymatter Lane? What sorts of challenges will they face in X-MEN UNITED?

BREVOORT: Most of the students we’ll be seeing are already-established characters from throughout the many years of X-Canon. But there will be some new faces as well, starting with Mal, whom we meet for the first time in issue #1.

X-MEN UNITED #2
Written by EVE L. EWING
Art by TIAGO PALMA
Cover by STEFANO CASELLI
On Sale 4/15

The first challenge these young mutants will face unfolds in X-MEN UNITED #2 as the students of Graymatter Lane embark on a mission alongside none other than Captain America! What will they uncover as they travel through time with Steve Rogers to investigate the past?

The future of mutantkind begins here! Accept your invitation to Graymatter Lane and pick up X-MEN UNITED #2 at your local comic book shop on April 15.

Grab these comics and more at your local comic book shop! Or redeem then read your digital copy on the Marvel Unlimited app by using the code found in your print comic. Find and support your local comic book shop at ComicShopLocator.com.

To read your Marvel comics digitally, download the Marvel Unlimited app for iOS and Android devices. Gain an expansive catalog of 30,000+ comics spanning Marvel Comics history, plus access your entire digital library, including comics redeemed from print.