What Are the Children of the Atom?

Marvel is adding an X-Men spin-off, Children of the Atom. Except, are they what people think they are?

Since the Dawn of X relaunch, the X-Men have been on a serious upswing in their stories. They have a nation. They have numbers. Any mutant can be resurrected. Meanwhile, what have they not had? According to Marvel, the X-Men are in a position to get sidekicks.

children of the atom marvel comics x-men — The Mentors

The new Children of the Atom series will be written by Vita Ayala with art by Bernard Chang. According to Ayala, “The initial seed of the idea actually came from [Editor] Chris Robinson: What if the X-Men had sidekicks? MY take on it became, what would actual kids from our current time be like, if they were X-Men sidekicks? What would Gen Z X-Men be like?”

This is a fair question. The X-Men are rarely idolized in their universe. Additonally, unlike the New Mutants or Generation X, the Children of the Atom may indeed be the first people who grow up wanting to be X-Men. However, I am not certain of several things.

Children of the Atom X-Men Marvel Comics — The New Characters

Firstly, there is a strange amount of overlap here. Comic book characters often have the same powers as others. Flashpoint is like Cyclops. The Human Torch is like Fire. The Flash and literally every other speedster, etc. Although, what are the chances five youngsters that have powers so close to existing X-Men? That is strange.

Moreover, their costumes… It isn’t odd for a character to have technological augmentations. This is strange, though because it seems like all five of these “sidekicks” have some technology used in their costumes. In fact, the new kid with the Nightcrawler-costume and powers has a robotic tail.

Children of the Atom X-Men Nauck Marvel — Todd Nauck’s Variant Cover

I am left to wonder if these kids are mutants or kids that have used tech to emulate their favorite X-Men. Since the announcement of Krakoa, some humans in Marvel have been worshiping mutants as gods on Earth. Could the Children of the Atom be some of those people?

Children of the Atom #1 will go on sale this April from Marvel Comics.