(Image Credit: 20th Century Fox)
Time travel is as much a part of many classic X-Men stories as metaphors for prejudice and Mutant powers. Such has been the case with Age of Revelation; a miniseries based around one possible dark future for Marvel Comics. However, the grand finale resolved a mystery involving the identity of a new villain, who was exposed as a former X-Man gone evil and presumed dead.

Written by Jed MacKay, with art by Ryan Stegman, X-Men: Age of Revelation Finale #1 was the capstone of the event. The plot centered around Revelation, the former X-Men Cypher, whose powers were enhanced after he became the Heir of Apocalypse. Revelation was meant to bring order to the world through peaceful means. However, he secretly schemed to to turn Earth into a gestalt planet, aka Ego The Living Planet, with his mind in control.

What few X-Men survived brought the minds of Cyclops and Beast to the future, inhabiting their older selves’ bodies. This was revealed to be a side effect of the future Beast and Cyclops going back in time. As in Days of Future Past, they intended to stop their timeline from ever existing. However, when it became clear Revelation had won, their past selves were returned to their proper place in time. It was hoped they might put right what had gone wrong, if their future selves had failed.

(Image Source: Marvel Comics / Ryan Stegman)

This led to two horrifying revelations. First, the future Beast told the future X-Men that he had not gone into the body of his past self as intended. Secondly, when Cyclops returned to the present, his Beast confirmed that he did not visit the future. This raised the question of who had been impersonating the present Beast in the Age of Revelation future.

What X-Men enemy is the 3K Chairman?

The final page centered around a new X-Men villain called The Chairman. His face hidden by a helmet, The Chairman is one of the minds behind the new supervillain group 3K. The identity of The Chairman has been a mystery since his introduction in July 2024’s X-Men #1. However, this page confirmed him as the original Beast, as he used his classic catchphrase, “Oh my stars and garters!”

(Image Source: Marvel Comics / Ryan Stegman)

The original Beast went mad with power during the Krakoa era. As the head of X-Force, which supervised the Mutant nation’s defenses, Dr. Henry McCoy began exploring more and more questionable means toward the end of ultimate security. This included cloning himself several times.

One of these clones, based upon Beast as what he saw as the best version of himself, replaced the original. This Beast is the one currently serving on the X-Men. As for the original, he was presumed to have died in 2024’s X-Force #50, sacrificing himself to save his best friend, Wonder Man. It is now apparent, however, that the original Beast somehow survived and has returned as The Chairman.

X-Men: Age of Revolution Finale #1 is now available at comic shops everywhere.