In Extermination #1, young Bobby Drake, aka Iceman, was kidnapped by a young, apparently murderous version of Cable, leading to the X-Men in this latest issue pondering on his fate. The present-day Iceman rationalizes that, because he hasn’t disappeared like Cyclops did when his younger self died, it must mean that Young Bobby is still alive. That logic would seem to fit in with what we’ve seen up until now (even if different writers have approached the conundrum differently), but Hank McCoy puts forward a different theory.

Perhaps, Beast reasons, the original five X-Men have been in the present day for so long that the timeline is already irrevocably changed. If that’s the case, then whatever happens to them now would potentially have no impact on their older selves. “Time Paradoxes are difficult to unravel” Beast posits, perhaps in the greatest understatement of his career.

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This may not seem like a huge revelation, but think about it: Up until now, the stakes concerning the original X-Men have never been terribly high. After all, we know that they won’t die because their older selves are still alive. This little wrinkle throws that certainty out of the window, and opens up their fate to whatever comes at them; they could die, face mutilation or worse, and their older selves would not be affected.

It’s a smart caveat created by Brisson, and certainly one that adds weight to the drama unfolding in Extermination. In the process, this effectively eliminates a plot point that not only added a confusing element to these characters, but is one that hasn’t even been mentioned, referenced or used since it was first mentioned on the page. The final fate of the original X-Men is finally uncertain, and that’s going to make for some good comics as Extermination unfolds in the weeks ahead.