If you're an X-Men fan like me, you're probably already salivating over the prospect of the next big X-Men crossover, Second Coming - the conclusion to the trilogy that began with Messiah Complex and continued (after a fashion) in Messiah War.

Messiah Complex ended with Hope, the first mutant born after M-Day, being spirited into the future by Cable. Second Coming will, with some certainty, be the story that brings her home.

Running through several of the X-Books released in the early part of next year, the events are, naturally, shrouded in mystery. We know that it concerns the return of Hope to the present. We know it'll likely mean that we finally see a victory in the fight between her protector, Cable, and former X-Man Bishop (who wants Hope dead). But it will definitely answer one question that's been on everyone's lips: who is Hope?

So far, it's been kind of an open secret that Hope - the mutant child whose birth precipitated the events of Messiah Complex - is actually Jean Grey. Of course, it's so open a secret that it's hard not to wonder if there's actually a little bait-and-switch at work. Perhaps Hope isn't Jean at all.

In which case, we have to ask again: who is she? The safest non-Jean bet is that she's actually Madelyne Pryor, Jean's embittered (and long-dead) clone. This, however, seems ruled out as an answer by the fact that Pryor recently appeared as the villain in a recent Uncanny X-Men arc where she was still dead and most definitely not in the future, although she was a psychic ghost. Still, this seems to take care of that question, unless it was actually designed to set up her reappearance...

But if not her, then who else? Could Hope instead be Rachel Grey? Again, it's possible, but not probable. The "real" Rachel is alive right now, albeit in space. Still, she's got the same red hair and green eyes as Jean, and similar powers. But if Rachel isn't the daughter of Scott and Jean, she's lost what made her interesting in the first place, and there was never any suggestion that Rachel herself would be special. It could be made to fit, if editorial rewrites so demanded, but it wouldn't be the answer anyone wanted.

It could be that Hope is actually Phoenix - a separate, Jean Grey-esque entity with a predilection for women with red hair and green eyes. It could be that Second Coming, with all the religious connotations that title offers, is referring to the resurrection of the Phoenix. And certainly, Bishop's insistence that Hope will kill millions of humans and doom the mutant race forever makes sense when you consider that the Phoenix has happily fed on entire stars before, with no regard for those her actions killed. That's the kind of disregard for life that you'd expect would upset people.

Of course, maybe Hope isn't Jean, or Madelyne or Rachel or Phoenix. She's just Hope, a new character. It makes the "Second Coming" title work in a different way, but it does explain why so much emphasis has been placed on developing Hope as an independent character recently. Maybe she's supposed to be new. After all, Hope is now fully distinct from all the other characters mentioned on this list.

If their memories are forced into her corporeal body, Hope herself will essentially cease to exist as a character and person. Is that right? If she was an existing character like Jean coming back to life, why doesn't she have her ‘own' memories?

Still, after years of waiting, there isn't long left until we know. Of course, while I'm here, I'm going to throw out a couple more predictions for Second Coming and see how close I get things.

Prediction 1: Cable is going to die. He's aged almost 20 years since he left the ‘present' with Hope, and he was already old before that. As a time-traveller, he's easy to bring back, but in the meantime his alternate reality counterpart, Nate Grey, just came back to life. With Cable's own title apparently coming to an end with #25, the decks are clear for the conveniently-living Nate Grey to have a little time in the spotlight.

Prediction 2: Bishop will almost cause the massacre he's trying to prevent - and Hope will stop him. Since Messiah Complex, Bishop has sacrificed everything in his attempt to kill Hope, in a potentially misguided attempt to save human lives and change the future. Perhaps it's that determination to kill Hope that actually leads to the deaths of thousands. It'd be a classic tragic-hero twist in the story.

Still, those are just guesses, mind. See you all back here once the story's out?

James writes Alternate Cover every Monday at Den Of Geek. His previous column can be found here.