Fantomex is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Grant Morrison and artist Igor Kordey, the character first appeared in New X-Men #128. Fantomex is an escaped experiment from the Weapon Plus Program. He was designated as Charlie Cluster-7 while growing up in a high tech facility.

New X-Men is an American comic book ongoing series, written by Grant Morrison and featuring the mutant superhero team, the X-Men. It was a retitling of the then-ongoing second volume of the main X-Men series, and shares the series' numbering, as opposed to creating a different ongoing series with a new number one issue. During a revamp of the entire X-Men franchise, newly appointed Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada spoke of his idea for flagship titles like X-Men to regain some of their "former glory," as well as regaining critical acclaim.