X-Men


The X-Men are a superhero team in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer/editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby, the team first appeared in The X-Men #1. Although initially cancelled in 1970 due to low sales, following its 1975 revival and subsequent direction under writer Chris Claremont, it became one of Marvel Comics's most recognizable and successful franchises. They have appeared in numerous books, television shows, 20th Century Fox's X-Men films, and video games. The X-Men title may refer to the superhero team itself, the eponymous comic series, or the broader franchise, which includes various solo titles and team books, such as the New Mutants, Excalibur, and X-Force.
In the Marvel Universe, mutants are humans born with a genetic trait called the X-gene, which grants them natural superhuman abilities, generally manifesting during puberty. Due to their differences from most humanity, mutants are subject to prejudice and discrimination; many X-Men stories feature social commentary on bigotry, justice, and other political themes. The X-Men have fought against various enemies, including villainous mutants, human bigots, supervillains, mystical threats, extraterrestrials, and evil artificial intelligences. In most iterations of the team, they are led by their founder, Charles Xavier / Professor X, a powerful telepath who runs a school for mutant children out of his mansion in Westchester, New York, which secretly is also the headquarters of the X-Men. Their stories have frequently involved Magneto, a powerful mutant with control over magnetic fields, who is depicted as an old friend of and foil to Xavier, acting as an adversary or ally.

Background and creation

In 1963, with the success of the Fantastic Four, co-creator Stan Lee wanted to create another group of superheroes. Unlike Lee's earlier creations such as Spider-Man who acquired their powers through scientific means, Lee decided that this new group of heroes were "mutants", born with powers as he had grown weary of creating separate origins for each superhero.
In a 1987 interview, Kirby said:
The X-Men, I did the natural thing there. What would you do with mutants who were just plain boys and girls and certainly not dangerous? You school them. You develop their skills. So I gave them a teacher, Professor X. Of course, it was the natural thing to do, instead of disorienting or alienating people who were different from us, I made the X-Men part of the human race, which they were. Possibly, radiation, if it is beneficial, may create mutants that'll save us instead of doing us harm. I felt that if we train the mutants our way, they'll help us – and not only help us, but achieve a measure of growth in their own sense. And so, we could all live together.

Lee devised the series title after Marvel publisher Martin Goodman turned down the initial name, "The Mutants," stating that readers would not know what a "mutant" was.
Within the Marvel Universe, the X-Men are widely regarded to have been named after Professor X. The original explanation for the name, as provided by Xavier in The X-Men #1, is that mutants "possess an extra power... one which ordinary humans do not!! That is why I call my students... X-Men, for EX-tra power!"

Publication history

1960s

The first issue, cover-dated September 1963, introduces the original team, with Marvel Girl presented as a new pupil at Charles Xavier's school, apparently the first female student, and meeting Cyclops, Beast, Angel, and Iceman. Cyclops, whose eyes shoot powerful beams unless they are controlled by a visor, is the central protagonist. Beast is apelike in appearance but speaks in sophisticated diction; Iceman is hedonistic and energetic; Angel comes from a wealthy background and has wings protruding from his back; and Marvel Girl is hyperfeminine. The masculine characters often express their attraction to Marvel Girl. The first issue also introduces the team's archenemy, Magneto. Magneto appears frequently throughout the series.
Early The X-Men issues go on to introduce Magneto's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, featuring Mastermind and Toad. Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch were initially introduced in issue #4 as members of the Brotherhood, but later reformed and joined the Avengers. The comic focused on a common human theme of good versus evil; issue #8 first introduces the theme of prejudice against mutants, which eventually comes to function as an allegory for racism or other forms of bigotry. Issue #12 introduces Cain Marko, the Juggernaut, Professor Xavier's stepbrother, and implies that Marko was responsible for the accident that paralyzed Xavier. Issues #14 to #16 introduce the Sentinels, mutant-hunting robots designed by Bolivar Trask. The title lagged in sales behind Marvel's other comic franchises. Writer Roy Thomas and Werner Roth replaced Lee and Kirby by issue #20. Issue #28 introduces Banshee; initially an antagonist, Banshee will go on to become a member of the X-Men.
In 1969, Thomas and illustrator Neal Adams briefly rejuvenated the comic book. They gave regular roles to two recently introduced characters: Alex Summers and Lorna Dane, later called Polaris. Issue #64 introduced Sunfire, a Japanese mutant. However, these later X-Men issues failed to attract sales and Marvel stopped producing new stories with issue #66, later reprinting a number of the older comics as issues #67–93.

1970s

In Giant-Size X-Men #1, writer Len Wein and artist Dave Cockrum introduced a new team that starred in a revival of The X-Men. The new team featured in a reboot of the ongoing X-Men series, which Chris Claremont began writing with issue #94, with Cockrum continuing as illustrator. This new team replaced the previous members with the exception of Cyclops, who remained. This team differed greatly from the original, now "an international cadre of mutants with diverse and often traumatic personal histories". Unlike in the early issues of the original series, the new team was not made up of teenagers. Marvel's corporate owners, Cadence Industries, had suggested the new team should be international, feeling it needed characters with "foreign appeal". So each character was from a different country with varying cultural and philosophical beliefs, and all were already well-versed in using their mutant powers, several being experienced in combat.
The "all-new, all-different X-Men" were led by Cyclops, from the original team, and consisted of the newly created Colossus, Nightcrawler, Storm, and Thunderbird, and three previously introduced characters: Banshee, Sunfire, and Wolverine. Wolverine had been previously introduced as an antagonist of the Hulk. However, this team would not remain whole for long; Sunfire quit shortly after their first mission, and Thunderbird died on the next. Filling in the vacancy, a revamped Jean Grey soon rejoined the X-Men. Clarement emphasized the character development of Grey, whose powers increased dramatically as she adopted a new name, Phoenix in issue #101. Angel, Beast, Iceman, Havok, and Polaris also made significant guest appearances. Claremont introduced a significant non-mutant supporting character, Moira MacTaggert, in issue #96; MacTaggert operates a genetic research facility on Muir Island. Claremont became known for his strong female characters, sometimes called "Claremont Women." The series presents Storm and Phoenix as close friends, in a manner that scholar Ramzi Fawaz views as allegorical for alliances between liberal feminists and emerging Black feminism. 1977 presented a new space opera story line, "The Phoenix Saga", that particularly emphasizes the alliance of these two characters; Fawaz calls it "arguably the most canonical story line in The X-Men's publishing history." The story includes the Shi'ar Empire, Lilandra Neramani, and the Starjammers.
Beginning with issue #108, John Byrne replaced Cockrum as the primary artist. Claremont and Byrne had previously collaborated on the Iron Fist and Luke Cage series. Their run met with critical acclaim, and produced such landmark storylines as the introduction of Alpha Flight and the Proteus saga. Other characters introduced during this time include Amanda Sefton and Mystique.
Wolverine is initially overshadowed by the other characters, although he creates tension in the team as he is attracted to Jean Grey, who is Cyclops' girlfriend. While Claremont considered writing Wolverine out of the series, Byrne advocated for his continuing inclusion, partly because the character is Canadian and this is also Byrne's nationality. Wolverine became increasingly developed and popular as a character, becoming the breakout character on the team. X-Men #100 introduces the "fastball special", a combat maneuver in which the super-strong Colossus throws Wolverine at a distance as if he were a projectile weapon; this tactic recurs in many future battles. Stories of the late 1970s establish Wolverine's murky past and unstable nature, which he battles to keep in check. Wolverine's name was revealed as "Logan" in X-Men #103 ; X-Men #116 first introduces Wolverine's healing factor, and issue #124 first suggests that he has a reinforced skeleton.

1980s

The 1980s began with the comic's best-known story arc, the "Dark Phoenix Saga", which saw Phoenix manipulated by Mastermind, now a member of the Hellfire Club, and becoming corrupted with an overwhelming lust for power and destruction as the evil Dark Phoenix. The Hellfire Club also included the telepathic femme fatale Emma Frost, who became an increasingly significant character. The story results in the death of Jean Grey. The disco singer mutant, Dazzler, previously introduced in her own miniseries, also appeared in the story and eventually joined the X-Men. This story arc also introduces a new character, the exuberant young girl Kitty Pryde. Thirteen years old, Pryde is Marvel's first canonically Jewish superhero. Immediately after, Claremont and Byrne created "Days of Future Past", in which Wolverine and Kitty Pryde experience a dystopian future for mutants. Byrne left the series shortly after its completion. The Morlocks, deformed mutants who live underground, first appear in The Uncanny X-Men #169. In 1983, Cyclops meets Madelyne Pryor, eventually revealed as a clone of Jean Grey. Other important storylines include the saga of Deathbird and the Brood, the invasion of the Dire Wraiths and The Trial of Magneto!, as well as X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills, the partial inspiration for 20th Century Fox's film X2: X-Men United. In this period, Claremont and Byrne particularly emphasized the theme that mutants are oppressed by human bigotry.
By the early 1980s, X-Men was Marvel's top-selling comic title. Its sales were such that distributors and retailers began using an "X-Men index", rating each comic book publication by how many orders it garnered compared to that month's issue of X-Men. The growing popularity of Uncanny X-Men led to the introduction of a number of ongoing spin-off series, such as the ongoing New Mutants, about a younger adjunct team, which began in 1982. As Fawaz puts it, "Unlike the X-Men, the New Mutants were brought together not for the purposes of an egalitarian peace-keeping mission but to learn the proper use of their powers, which they experienced as monstrous physical burdens threatening their own safety and that of their loved ones." He describes them as presenting the "most diverse cast of any mainstream superhero comic," including Karma, Danielle Moonstar, Sunspot, Cannonball, and Wolfsbane, and Magik. In 1984, Claremont collaborated with Bill Sienkiewicz for the New Mutants' "Demon Bear Saga", which was critically acclaimed.
Spin-off miniseries included the first four-issue Wolverine solo miniseries, by Claremont and Frank Miller, as well as the following six-issue Kitty Pryde and Wolverine by Claremont and Al Milgrom. Other miniseries included Storm and Illyana: Magik and X-Men and the Micronauts. In 1983, Alpha Flight, a group of Canadian superheroes created by Byrne as Wolverine's original team, received their own ongoing series.
Comics scholar Douglas Wolk describes autumn 1985 as the "peak of X-Men's world beating phase", when a single month produced the double-sized Uncanny X-Men #200, the two-part miniseries X-Men/Alpha Flight, an X-Men Annual, a New Mutants Special Edition, and Heroes for Hope, a fundraiser for relief of the 1983-1985 famine in Ethiopia. The following year, a new series began, resurrecting Jean Grey and re-uniting the original X-Men under the name X-Factor. The series was initially written by Bob Layton, without Claremont's participation.
In a controversial move, Professor X relocated to outer space to be with Lilandra Neramani, Majestrix of the Shi'ar empire, in 1986. Magneto then joined the X-Men in Xavier's place and became the director of the New Mutants. The Darwinian villain Apocalypse first appeared in X-Factor #6. Longshot who had been first introduced in his own miniseries the previous year, joined the X-Men in Annual #10. Longshot came from another dimension called the Mojoverse, ruled by a mad dictator obsessed with TV named Mojo, who also became a recurrent adversary of the X-Men.
When Claremont conceived a story arc in 1986, the "Mutant Massacre", which was too long to run in the monthly X-Men, editor Louise Simonson decided to have it overlap into several X-Books. In the story, many of the Morlocks are slaughtered by new villains, the Marauders. The story line brought Sabretooth into conflict with the X-Men and particularly Wolverine. The story was a major financial success.
In 1987, Claremont wrote a new crossover, "The Fall of the Mutants", in which the team appears to have been killed but actually relocates to Australia. In the course of the story, Angel has his wings removed; Apocalyapse turns him into a cyborg and replaces them with new mechanical wings, and he takes on the name "Archangel." Over the next years, the main title had multiple disconnected protagonists. Sales began to decline. The success of the crossovers Mutant Massacre and The Fall of Mutants in countering these flagging sales led the editors to decide internally that multi-title crossover stories would appear annually.
Mister Sinister, another villain fixated on Darwinism like Apocalypse, first appeared in The Uncanny X-Men #221. Marvel launched an ongoing Wolverine title written by Claremont with art by John Buscema in November 1988. Uncanny X-Men #235 introduces the oppressive nation of Genosha, an allegory for apartheid in South Africa. 1989 saw the publication of the Inferno crossover, in which the X-Men struggle to rescue Magik from demonic forces. The Uncanny X-Men #244 introduces Jubilee, a Chinese American teenager, to the X-Men team. Marc Silvestri became one of the most prominent artists for the series in the late 1980s.
In the Claremont era, Storm is the most prominent character and the main protagonist. The shapeshifter Mystique is the most commonly appearing villain of the period. Other new additions to the X-Men during this time were Rogue, Psylocke, and Forge.
  • X-Men
  • * Uncanny X-Men, vol. 1 – a team of young mutants with superhuman abilities led and taught by Professor X ; the team expanded when Xavier recruited mutants from around the world ; a reformed Magneto became the headmaster after Xavier had left Earth ; the team later relocated to the Australian Outback after the events of The ''Fall of the Mutants ; after the X-Men is disassembled, the team reformed to fight the mutant-rights abuse of Genosha.
  • * X-Factor, vol. 1 – the Original Five set up a business advertised as mutant-hunters for hire, and secretly trained the captured mutants to control their powers and reintegrate them into society.
  • * Excalibur, vol. 1 – Nightcrawler, Shadowcat and Rachel Grey teamed up with Captain Britain and Meggan to form a group of mutants based in Europe after the apparent death of the X-Men during The Fall of the Mutants.
  • X-Men in Training
  • * New Mutants, vol. 1 – a group of teenaged students of the School for Gifted Youngsters gathered by Professor X.
  • Other Teams
  • * Alpha Flight,'' vol. 1 – Canada's premiere team of super-heroes organized under the auspices of the Canadian government's Department H.