Imperial War: Exiles #1 Review

By Matthew PetersonSeptember 8, 20253 Mins Read

With her throne usurped and her closest advisors turned against her, former Empress Xandra Nerimani is on the run. Fortunately, her parents have a little experience with being on the run… Your Major Spoilers review of Imperial War: Exiles #1 from Marvel Comics awaits!

IMPERIAL WAR: EXILES #1

Writer: Steve Foxe and Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Francesco Manna and Davide Tinto
Colorist: Erick Arciniega
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Editor: Annalise Bissa
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: September 3, 2025

Previously in Imperial War: Exiles: A coup at home has imperiled Shi’ar Majestrix Xandra, tearing her from the throne. Her only hope for survival lies in a mismatched group of renegades led by her father, Professor Charles Xavier, and her resurrected mother, Lilandra! But when faced with the awesome power of the Shi’ar Imperial Guard, the only way to survive is to run!

THE REVENGE OF THE DISPOSABLE WARRIORS

During the chaos unleashed by the machinations of The Grandmaster and Maximus the Mad, the Shi’ar Empire was overthrown, and Empress Xandra was betrayed and deposed by Electron, a senior member of her own Imperial Guard. This issue begins with that betrayal, but jumps about in time as her aunt, the deadly assassin known as Deathbird, pulls off a daring escape. Still, the Imperial Guard has the fastest ships in the galaxy, and they are quickly caught… or so it seems.

Flashback to earlier, as we see the Imperial Guard’s side of the story, as the entire crowd freezes in place, and Xandra’s parents (Professor Charles Xavier and Lilandra Nerimani) arrive to save their child, setting up a tense chess game and ending with Lilandra revealing that they still have a few allies floating about, and speaking four ominous words.

TO ME, MY EXILES!

With the reveal that her potential team members include Corsair, Danger, Kid Gladiator, and Rocket Raccoon, I’m quite interested in where this might end up going, and the return of the Shi’ar Death Commandos makes things even more complicated. With the character of Professor X having spent several months on the shelf post-Krakoa, this provides an interesting blank slate for him and his family. The biggest weakness of this issue is also the biggest weakness of the entire Imperial event: Too many moving parts. The back-and-forth of flashback and present day throughout the issue takes a lot of concentration to follow, and that makes this comic a slow starter for me. By the end, though, I was pretty excited about what could be in the offing.

BOTTOM LINE: TOOK A MINUTE TO GET GOING, BUT WORTH THE WAIT

I wasn’t expecting to leave Imperial War: Exiles #1 with either a sense of satisfaction or a possible new title for my pull list, but I ended up with both, even if Hickman has made the history of the Imperial Guard into a bit of a hash, ending up with a better-than-average 3.5 out of 5 stars overall. As someone who remembers the first run of Exiles fondly, the adventures of the Xavier/Nerimani family feel like a proper successor to that book.

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