Prepare for EXTERMINATION on August 15.

The highly secretive series, brought to life—or death—by writer Ed Brisson and artist Pepe Larraz, tells a story set 20 years in the future as all of mutant existence is on the brink. The original X-Men squad—Cyclops, Iceman, Angel, Beast, and Marvel Girl—find themselves targeted for death. And the future of mutantkind lies squarely in the hands of its past.

Get the first look at Mark Brooks‘ cover for EXTERMINATION #2 right here:

And now jump into our chat with Ed Brisson, as we caught up with the writer to get a few more details about the upcoming series.

Marvel.com: EXTERMINATION sets off with the original team of mutants gathered by Charles Xavier all those years ago. Why them?

Ed Brisson: This series is about the Original Five—Jean, Bobby, Warren, Hank and Scott. Years ago, they were brought from the past to our present so that they could see how badly things went wrong with their older selves and, theoretically, fix it. They were only meant to be here briefly, but have stuck around for far, far too long and their presence is finally going to have some very serious consequences—not just for themselves and the X-Men, but for all of mutantkind.

Marvel.com: How do the early UNCANNY X-MEN stories influence this book?

Ed Brisson: Our mandate going into this was, “Your back issues matter.” Every single UNCANNY X-MEN story involving the Original Five X-Men matters. If the X-Men are here, then they’re not where they’re supposed to be, fighting those they’re supposed to fight. What happens when that past starts to unravel? What’s the butterfly effect on our present?

Marvel.com: In this new era, what about this team’s dynamic remains the same as those early stories? And what is most different about the squad today?

Ed Brisson: In a lot of ways, they’re still the wide-eyed kids they’ve always been, but having spent several years in our present, they’ve changed their perspective on a lot of things. Jean and Scotty aren’t the classic couple they’ve always been, Hank’s been experimenting with magic, Warren’s got himself some serious upgrades, and Bobby’s been able to open up about himself in ways that would not have been easy for him to do back in their time.

There’s a lot of reasons for each of them to want to remain in the present and that creates a real danger for everyone.

Marvel.com: This book has quite the ominous title…what can you tease about this extinction-level threat?

Ed Brisson: Not too much. We’re going to be throwing readers a lot of curveballs. All I’ll say is that this is a chance for us to clear the board a bit and that anything can happen to anyone at any time.

Prepare for the new series with the special post-credit scenes arriving across Marvel Comics! Then read EXTERMINATION #1, by Ed Brisson and Pepe Larraz, on August 15 and EXTERMINATION #2 on August 29!