X-Men's New Leader Officially Announced By Marvel

Published Sep 6, 2026, 4:00 PM EDT Nicolas Ayala is a Senior Writer for the Comics team at ScreenRant, with over five years of experience writing about Superhero media, action movies, and TV shows. Sign in to your ScreenRant account One underrated mutant finally leads their own X-Men team for the first time in their Marvel Comics history. Mutantkind's perpetual struggle has led to the birth of some of the Marvel Universe's greatest leaders. Cyclops guides the main X-Men team through all kinds of warfare, while Storm, Jean Grey, Emma Frost, Magneto, Wolverine, and Kitty Pryde have taken turns replacing Scott Summers. Magneto and Mystique have directed the Brotherhood of Mutants in their quest for aggressive mutant liberation, while Havok successfully steered the government-sanctioned X-Factor, and Cannonball, Dani Moonstar, and Karma evolved from students to leaders of the New Mutants. As the future son of mutantkind's top field commander, Nathan Summer a.k.a. Cable finds it easy to lead her own team, X-Force, which has undergone numerous radical transformations since its inception, evolving from a militarized student body into the most notorious mutant black-ops squad. Cable assembled the original 1991 X-Force line-up as an independent strike team to aggressively hunt down threats before they could harm mutantkind. The original X-Force gave way to the reality-TV-themed X-Statix before they were reimagined as a lethal strike team led by Wolverine, Arcangel, and X-23. The Krakoan era transformed the squad once again, organizing them as the mutant nation's official CIA-equivalent intelligence and security network. X-Force undergoes two major changes in 2026, with Cable assembling the Inglorious X-Force and Tabitha Smith a.k.a. Boom-Boom taking over the same team as they become the Fugitive X-Force. Boom-Boom Is The Leader Of The Fugitive X-Force Fugitive X-Force #1; Written By Tim Seeley; Art By Áthila Fabbio After Cable and his team of X-Force suspects-turned-allies seemingly discover who will assassinate President Kamala Khan in the future, Nathan Summers disappears, leaving the X-Force to investigate. Boom-Boom, a founding member of both the Inglorious X-Force and the very first X-Force line-up, steps up to replace Cable and lead them in their quest to find him, rebranding them as the "Fugitive X-Force." The team's new name isn't arbitrary, though, as they're framed for murder and thus find themselves to stay on the run while they attempt to solve the mystery of Cable's disappearance. Boom-Boom's Fugitive X-Force brings back the main four members of Cable's Inglorious X-Force: Kamala Khan a.k.a. Ms. Marvel, Warren Worthington III a.k.a. Archangel, and Akihiro a.k.a. Hellverine. Other temporary recruits like Resonant, Speedburn, and Unveil aren't confirmed to return, and the second X-Force team consisting of Shatterstar, Warpath, Rictor, and Pug-Smasher are absent from all promotional material released so far, despite fighting Cable's team in Inglorious X-Force #9. However, Domino will likely play a key role in Boom-Boom's new squad. Marvel Is Finally Shining The Spotlight On Tabitha Smith Boom-Boom's Leader Role Has Been Three Decades In The Making Throughout the last thirty-five years, almost every founding member of the original X-Force line-up introduced in the pages of New Mutants #100 in 1991 has achieved varying degrees of mainstream relevance. Cannonball, Shatterstar, and Warpath pop up regularly both individually and as members of other teams, while Cable and Domino quickly became household names after their first missions with the original X-Force. Cable and Domino also made their live-action debut together in Deadpool 2, where Shatterstar also appeared briefly as an X-Force recruit. Only the feline mutant Feral faded into obscurity as much as Boom-Boom. The launch of Boom-Boom's Fugitive X-Force unlocks the destructive potential of Tabitha’s mutation, a plasma-based power suite that shares a striking resemblance with other mutants like Jubilee. Jubilee, who became a fan-favorite mutant thanks to X-Men: The Animated Series in the 1990s, possesses the ability to project firework-like explosions that look and behave quite similarly to Tabitha Smith’s plasma "bombs". Boom-Boom can shape, size, and delay the detonation of her energetic spheres, meaning she can manufacture silent, marble-sized concussive pops to unlock doors or construct house-sized plasma charges capable of flattening battlefields. Commanding Fugitive X-Force is her first leadership role and her biggest opportunity to showcase her full power. Which version of X-Force do you like the most? Fugitive X-Force #1 is available December 9 from Marvel Comics Movie(s) X-Men (2000), X2, X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), X-Men: First Class (2011), The Wolverine (2013), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), Deadpool (2016), X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), Logan (2017), Deadpool 2 (2018), Dark Phoenix (2019), The New Mutants, Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) TV Show(s) X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men, X-Men (1992), X-Men: Evolution (2000), Wolverine and the X-Men (2008), Marvel Anime: Wolverine, Marvel Anime: X-Men, Legion (2017), The Gifted (2017), X-Men '97 (2024) Video Game(s) X-Men: Children of the Atom (1994), Marvel Super Heroes (1995), X-Men vs. Street Fighter (1996), Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter (1997), Marvel vs. Capcom (1998), X-Men: Mutant Academy (2000), Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (2000), X-Men: Mutant Academy 2 (2001), X-Men: Next Dimension (2002), Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds (2011), Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (2011), X-Men Legends (2005), X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse (2005), X2: Wolverine's Revenge (2003), X-Men (1993), X-Men 2: Clone Wars (1995), X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse (1994) First Film X-Men (2000) Character(s) Professor X, Cyclops, Iceman, Beast, Angel, Phoenix, Wolverine, Gambit, Rogue, Storm, Jubilee, Morph, Nightcrawler, Havok, Banshee, Colossus, Magneto, Psylocke, Juggernaut, Cable, X-23 Comic Release Date 213035,212968