Children of the Atom

• Publisher — Marvel Comics • Schedule — Monthly • Date — March – August 2021 • Issues — 6 • Main Char Team — Cyclops-Lass Gimmick Cherub Marvel Guy Daycrawler • Writers — Vita Ayala • Artists — Bernard Chang Paco Medina Cover Artist R.B. Silva Erick Arciniega Jesus Aburtov • Editors — Senior Editor Jordan D. White Editor Shannon Andrews Ballesteros Head of X Jonathan Hickman • Letterers — VC's Travis Lanham • Colorists — Marcelo Maiolo David Curiel

Children of the Atom was originally announced in January 2020 for an April 2020 debut, but the series was delayed due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was eventually announced to come out in January 2021 and later rescheduled for March 2021 debut. The series is part of the X-Men line's Reign of X, following the conclusion of X of Swords crossover. It was advertised as the introduction of the teenage vigilantes as the X-Men's sidekicks. Writer Vita Ayala calls this series “the only human perspective book that we have in the X-line right now.” They also mentioned that the series is from the point of view of the teenagers who idolize the X-Men growing up and see and them as superheroes. The characters made a cameo appearance in the story "Race" featured in Marvel's Voices #1.

The Children of the Atom are teen vigilantes living in New York City dreaming of joining their heroes, the X-Men, on Krakoa. They stop Hell's Belles during a robbery on one of their missions, which earns praise from the X-Men while raising concerns from the Avengers that the teens are putting themselves in danger, due to Kamala's Law still being in effect. During one of their attempts to use the gateway to enter Krakoa, the Children of the Atom are captured by the U-Men before being rescued by the X-Men. It is then revealed that the teens are non-mutants and are using alien technology to emulate their powers: • Cyclops-Lass (Beatrice Bartholomew) – Heat beam technology inside her visor. • Cherub (Gabriel Brathwaite) – Flight via exosuit and sonic blast from his hand harp. • Gimmick (Carmen Maria Cruz) – Absorption and manipulation of kinetic energy through her gauntlets. • Marvel Guy (Benjamin Thomas) – Chemically induced suggestions through pheromones released from his gloves. • Daycrawler (Jason Thomas) – Short-range teleportation field generator on his belt. This development results in rejection from the X-Men, questioning their actions claiming themselves as mutants. However, the X-Men thanks them in their efforts of disbanding an anti-mutant hate group and locating three lost citizens. After receiving an invitation to the Hellfire Gala, Gimmick is revealed as the only mutant in the team, possessing shapeshifting abilities. This revelation causes friction in the group, resulting in Gimmick leaving the team for Krakoa. She later rejoined the team to stop Hordeculture from stealing Krakoan flowers.

Series writer Vita Ayala confirmed that Children of the Atom ended its run with issue #6, released in August 2021.