The mysterious comic book will debut in August.


Ahead of this weekend’s C2E2 convention in Chicago, Marvel Entertainment is teasing big changes to its X-Men comic book line, with the announcement — albeit absent many details — of something called, appropriately, Extermination.


The promotional image for the series shows the original X-Men in both their first, Jack Kirby-designed costumes and the more recent outfits designed by artist Jamie McKelvie for the current X-Men: Blue comic book series, each of them looking either shocked or in pain for mysterious reasons. The image features the creative team for the title, Ed Brisson and Pepe Larraz, and the tagline, “Exterminate the past. Eliminate the future.” A date of August 2018 is also displayed.


In current Marvel comic book continuity, the teenage versions of the original X-Men have been brought forward in time to the current day, creating a time paradox that has yet to be resolved. It’s possible that Extermination will be a storyline that wraps up this dangling plot thread, heralding in another makeover of the X-Men franchise, following last year’s ResurrXion relaunch.


Curiously, Marvel’s announcement explained that more information about Extermination will be revealed at the True Believer panel at the upcoming C2E2 convention, explaining that panel attendance “requires Marvel Mastercard or Marvel Mastercard invitation, current Marvel Unlimited Plus membership or emailed RSVP confirmation for entry.”


Marvel has run True Believer panels — ticketed private events that require membership to Marvel subscription programs to attend — for some time, traditionally featuring the chance to unveil merchandise and hear creators talk about upcoming projects. This may be the first time that an official reveal of a new series will be made at such an event.


C2E2 is set to run Friday-Sunday at the South Building at McCormick Place in Chicago.