"We're still exploring the nature of what the X-Gene is, but in issue #6 we hint that the X-Gene is in fact man-made technology. That's why Stryker is able to do what he does to mutants, because of his ability to communicate with technology," Spencer explained. "We are going to explore the history of the X-Gene. We'll touch on that in issue #12. That is going to be another big, shocking moment for readers who have been following along."
"That is going to be a major part of the book as well. There will be consequences for his actions. Val Cooper, who is a major part of our story, will have to deal with a lot of them. She's a new Ultimate character that I'm enormously proud of and a love to write," Spencer continued. "We are going to see in issue #8 that Val has more problems on her hands then she even realizes. That's another one I think is going to surprise the hell out of people. It's fun because we're still in our set up phase. Really our first year is all about setting the foundations and stage. We are now at the point though where the twists will start coming real fast."
One of the Spencer's unknown twists is Quicksilver's true agenda, which has been murky since "Ultimate Comics Fallout." Is the former member of the Ultimates insane? Is he out to destroy mutants or save them? According to Spencer, readers may soon get answers.
"Pietro is the focus of issue #7 and we're going to spend some time with him. We'll answer a couple of the questions we posed about what he's doing, why he's doing it, and who's instructing him to do it. He's one of my favorite characters to write in the book. He has been since we started setting things up in 'Ultimate Comics Fallout,'" said Spencer. "We've seen him make a play in the private sector with Worldwide Solutions. We'll find out more about the extent of that. We've seen him make a political power play with his grabbing the president's ear. The ramifications of both of those moves on his part are going to be felt throughout this series. I believe at the beginning of issue #7 it's going to be really clear to the readers just how devastating those choices he's made have been for mutants throughout the entire United States."
Looking to the upcoming arc of "Ultimate Comics X-Men," Spencer will focus on some characters that have only appeared briefly -- like Quicksilver -- and others who have not appeared in the book yet at all, meaning readers will be taking a break from Kitty's rag-tag team of teen mutants.
"The biggest thing about the second arc is that we're not going to spend any time with the kids. We're going to be doing quick stop ins across the country and across the globe and seeing the reverberations of what happened with Kitty, Rogue, Bobby, Johnny and Jimmy. So we're now going to take six issues away from our main cast and in this age of impatience it's a little terrifying for a writer to do that," said Spencer. "Knowing what I know about the third arc though, which is about starting to connect these things and seeing how they're all inter related, it's going to make it so much sweeter when we come back to Kitty and company in issue #13."
One of the locales Spencer visits in the second arc of "Ultimate Comics X-Men" is the Southeast Asian Republic, home to two new mutant dominated cities; the Celestial and Eternal cities ruled by brothers Xorn and Zorn. Jonathan Hickman introduced the cities and their rulers in his recent "Ultimate Comics Hawkeye" mini-series.
"Jon set up a really amazing other component to mutants' statuses in the Ultimate Universe with the appearance of Xorn, Zorn and their cities. We're going to be playing with all of that in a big way. We started to see a little bit of that in issue #6 when the Oracle appeared, but issue #8 will link these two stories very intimately," said Spencer. "Ultimate Hawkeye' ended with Karen Grant, Liz Allen and Derek Morgan -- the stars of 'Ultimate Comics X' -- still in the SEAR. What they're doing and what's happening there is going to be a huge moment. I know lot of 'Ultimate X' fans have wondered when we're going to see those characters and what's going to happen to them. All I can say is make sure you check out that issue because they are the focal point there."
