In September 1963, a comic book titled The X-Men #1 hit newsstands, introducing a group of teenagers with powers they could not control and a teacher who could read their minds. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had created a team unlike any other before them. They were not born from radioactive spiders or gamma radiation, but were mutants, humans born with an X-gene that granted them superhuman abilities, usually manifesting during puberty. The story began at a school for gifted young mutants located in a mansion in Westchester, New York, run by Professor Charles Xavier. Xavier, a powerful telepath, believed that mutants were the next step in human evolution and that his role was to teach them to use their powers for good. The original team included Cyclops, whose eyes shot powerful beams unless controlled by a visor; Beast, an apelike figure with sophisticated diction; Iceman, a hedonistic and energetic youth; Angel, a wealthy young man with wings; and Marvel Girl, a hyperfeminine student. The first issue also introduced the team's archenemy, Magneto, a powerful mutant with control over magnetic fields who was depicted as an old friend and foil to Xavier. The series initially focused on a common human theme of good versus evil, but by issue #8, it began to explore the theme of prejudice against mutants, which eventually came to function as an allegory for racism and other forms of bigotry. The title lagged in sales behind Marvel's other comic franchises, and by 1970, it was cancelled due to low sales. However, the story of the X-Men was far from over.
The All-New Team
In May 1975, a new team of mutants was introduced in Giant-Size X-Men #1, marking a turning point for the franchise. Writer Len Wein and artist Dave Cockrum created a new team that starred in a revival of The X-Men, which Chris Claremont began writing with issue #94. This new team replaced the previous members with the exception of Cyclops, who remained. The new 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 from the Soviet Union, Nightcrawler from Germany, Storm from Kenya, and Thunderbird, a Native American of Apache descent. Three previously introduced characters, Banshee from Ireland, Sunfire from Japan, and Wolverine from Canada, also joined the team. 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. Claremont emphasized the character development of Grey, whose powers increased dramatically as she adopted a new name, Phoenix, in issue #101. 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. The 1977 space opera story line, The Phoenix Saga, particularly emphasizes the alliance of these two characters and is arguably the most canonical story line in The X-Men's publishing history.The Dark Phoenix Saga
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, a pivotal moment that would haunt the X-Men for decades. 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 May 1983. 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 2003. 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.The Record-Breaking Issue
In October 1991, Marvel revised the entire lineup of X-Men comic book titles, centered on the launch of a second X-Men series, simply titled X-Men. Initially written by Claremont and illustrated by Jim Lee, the first issue of this series is the highest selling comic book issue in history, selling more than eight million copies. Retailers pre-ordered over 8.1 million copies of issue #1, generating and selling nearly $7 million, though retailers probably sold closer to 3 million copies, making it, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the best-selling comic book of all time. Guinness presented honors to Claremont at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con. With the return of Xavier and the original X-Men to the team, the roster was split into two strike forces: Cyclops's Blue Team, chronicled in X-Men, and Storm's Gold Team, in The Uncanny X-Men. A new character, Bishop, a soldier from another dystopian future, soon joined the Gold Team. Internal friction soon split the X-books' creative teams. In a controversial move, X-Men editor Bob Harras sided with Lee and Uncanny X-Men artist Whilce Portacio over Claremont in a dispute over plotting. Claremont left after only three issues of X-Men, ending his 16-year run as X-Men writer. At the time of his departure, he was the longest-running author of the series. Marvel replaced Claremont briefly with John Byrne, who scripted both books for a few issues. Byrne was then replaced by Fabian Nicieza and Scott Lobdell, who would take over the majority of writing duties for the X-Men until Lee's own departure months later when he and several other popular artists, including former X-title artists Liefeld, Portacio, and Marc Silvestri, would leave Marvel to form Image Comics. Jim Lee's X-Men designs would be the basis for much of the X-Men animated series and action figure line as well as several Capcom video games.The House of M
In August 2005, the House of M crossover, written by Brian Michael Bendis, began. In January 2006, the outcome of the story was that Scarlet Witch manipulated reality to depower 98% of the mutant population. The institute, formerly run as a school, served as a safe haven to mutants who are still powered. Several short-lived spin-offs and miniseries started featuring several X-Men in solo series, such as Nightcrawler, Jubilee, Madrox, X-23, Gambit and Rogue. Cable and Deadpool books were merged into one book, Cable & Deadpool. Notable additions to the X-Men have been Armor, Pixie and Warpath, while former villains such as Lady Mastermind, Mystique, and Sabretooth became members of the X-Men. Notable story arcs of this decade are Gifted in 2004, House of M in 2005, Deadly Genesis in 2005-2006, Decimation in 2006 and Endangered Species in 2007. The X-Men were also involved in the Civil War and World War Hulk storylines. In September 2006, Storm married Black Panther. In 2007, the Messiah Complex storyline saw the destruction of the Xavier Institute and the disbanding of the X-Men. It spun the new volume of Cable, following Cable's attempts at protecting Hope Summers. X-Men was renamed into X-Men: Legacy which focused on Professor X, Rogue, and Gambit. Under Cyclops's leadership, the X-Men later reformed in Uncanny X-Men #500, with their new base located in San Francisco. In April 2008, a new X-Force series was launched, now led by Wolverine. Joss Whedon's run of Astonishing X-Men ended in July 2008. In 2009, Messiah War, written by Craig Kyle and Chris Yost to serve as the second part in the trilogy that began with Messiah Complex, was released. Utopia, written by Matt Fraction, was a crossover of Dark Avengers and Uncanny X-Men that served as a part of the Dark Reign storyline. A new New Mutants volume written by Zeb Wells, which featured the more prominent members of the original team reunited, was launched. Magneto joined the X-Men during the Nation X storyline to the dismay of other members of the X-Men, such as Beast, who left the team. Magneto began to work with Namor to transform Utopia into a homeland for both mutants and Atlanteans.The Krakoan Age
On the 14th of May 2019, Marvel announced they would cancel all the X-Men titles and relaunch the entire lineup. Jonathan Hickman would have full creative control; this began with two rotating bi-weekly six-issue limited series called House of X and Powers of X. After the 12 issues are released, Hickman penned the flagship title and several new and traditional titles were released. It was subsequently announced in July 2019 at San Diego Comic-Con that there would be six new X-titles as part of Marvel's Dawn of X campaign. Following the end of the X of Swords crossover, the sequel relaunch Reign of X will encompass a new era in the X-titles. Destiny of X featured the Second Krakoan Age of X-Men after the events of Inferno and X Lives of Wolverine/X Deaths of Wolverine. Mutantkind's unparalleled growth and prosperity on the island nation Krakoa was threatened during the Fall of X by the human supremicist organization Orchis. Marvel teased the X-Men's final battle for Krakoa's future in the two interconnected titles Fall of the House of X and Rise of the Powers of X. Several miniseries and one-shots started featuring several X-Men in team-up and solo series such as Giant-Size X-Men featuring Jean Grey, Emma Frost, Magneto, Nightcrawler, Fantomex, Storm and Thunderbird, Wolverine, Cable, Juggernaut, Sabretooth, Rogue and Gambit, Astonishing Iceman, Children of the Vault featuring Cable and Bishop, Uncanny Spider-Man featuring Nightcrawler, Jean Grey, Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant and Ms. Marvel: Mutant Menace. Notable addition to the X-Men have been Synch, Ms. Marvel, and Rasputin IV. Notable story arcs of this era are X of Swords in 2020, Hellfire Gala in 2021, Trial of Magneto in 2021, Inferno in 2021, X Lives of Wolverine/X Deaths of Wolverine in 2022, Judgment Day in 2022, Dark Web in 2022-2023, Sins of Sinister in 2023 and Weapons of Vengeance in 2023. The X-Men were also involved in the Empyre, The Last Annihilation, King in Black, Devil's Reign, Contest of Chaos storylines.The Social Allegory
The conflict between mutants and normal humans is often compared to real-world conflicts experienced by minority groups in America such as African Americans, various religious or non-religious groups, ethnic minorities, autistic individuals, the LGBTQ community, etc. It has been remarked that attitudes towards mutants do not make sense in the context of the Marvel Universe, since non-mutants with similar powers are rarely regarded with fear. X-Men editor Ann Nocenti remarked that I think that's literary, really , because there is no difference between Colossus and the Torch. If a guy comes into my office in flames, or a guy comes into my office and turns to steel, I'm going to have the same reaction. It doesn't really matter that I know their origins. ... as a book, The X-Men has always represented something different , their powers arrive at puberty, making them analogous to the changes you go through at adolescence , whether they're special, or out of control, or setting you apart , the misfit identity theme. Also on an individual level, a number of X-Men serve a metaphorical function as their powers illustrate points about the nature of the outsider. Racism: Although this was not initially the case, Professor X has come to be compared to civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King Jr. and Magneto to the more militant Malcolm X. Magneto, in the first film, quotes Malcolm X with the line By any means necessary. X-Men comic books have often portrayed mutants as victims of mob violence, evoking images of the lynching of African Americans in the age before the civil rights movement. Sentinels and anti-mutant hate groups such as Friends of Humanity, Humanity's Last Stand, the Church of Humanity, and Stryker's Purifiers are thought to often represent oppressive forces like the Ku Klux Klan giving a form to denial of civil rights and amendments. 1980s storylines involving the fictional island nation of Genosha, where mutants are segregated and enslaved by an apartheid state, are widely interpreted as a reference to the contemporary situation of apartheid in South Africa. Chamber in 2002 explicitly cites the Norman Rockwell painting The Problem We All Live With. The miniseries portrays using the mutant context affirmative action, National Guard troops escorting a new student, sympathetic and antagonistic majority members, and majority-supremacist terrorism. Some mutants avoid confrontation and seek integration, while more militant mutants play the race card, reject their human-given names, and denounce those who do not as Stepin Fetchit and Uncle Tom. Antisemitism: Explicitly referenced in recent decades is the comparison between antimutant sentiment and antisemitism. Magneto, a Holocaust survivor, sees the situation of mutants as similar to those of Jews in Nazi Germany. At one point he even utters the words never again in a 1992 episode of the X-Men animated series. The mutant slave labor camps on the island of Genosha, in which numbers were burned into mutant's foreheads, show much in common with Nazi concentration camps, as do the internment camps of the classic Days of Future Past storyline. In the third X-Men film, when asked by Callisto: If you're so proud of being a mutant, then where's your mark? Magneto shows his concentration camp tattoo, while mentioning that he will never let another needle touch his skin. In the prequel film X-Men: First Class, a fourteen-year-old Magneto suffers Nazi human experimentation during his time in the camps and witnesses his mother's death by gunshot.The Global Team
Characters within the X-Men mythos hail from a wide variety of nationalities. These characters also reflect religious, ethnic or sexual minorities. Examples include Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, Magneto and Sabra who are of Jewish descent. Dust, Ms. Marvel, and M who are Muslim, Nightcrawler who is a devout Catholic. Neal Shaara/Thunderbird who is Hindu. Jubilee is Chinese American, Gambit is born to Cajun parents from New Orleans and Rogue is from Caledecott County, Mississippi both of whom are Southerners. Warpath and his brother, the Thunderbird, are Native Americans of Apache descent. Storm represents two aspects of the African diaspora as her father was African American and her mother was Kenyan. Karma was portrayed as a devout Catholic from Vietnam, who regularly attended Mass and confession when she was introduced as a founding member of the New Mutants. This team also included Wolfsbane, a devout Scottish Presbyterian, Danielle Moonstar, a Native American of Cheyenne descent, Cannonball, and was later joined by Magma, a devout Greco-Roman classical religionist. Different nationalities included Wolverine, Aurora, Northstar, Deadpool and Transonic from Canada; Colossus and Magik from Russia; Banshee and Siryn from Ireland; Dust from Afghanistan; Psylocke, Wolfsbane and Chamber from the United Kingdom; Sunfire, Armor, Surge and Zero from Japan; Sunspot from Brazil; M from Monaco; Nightcrawler from Germany; Sabra from Israel; Omega Sentinel, Neal Shaara, Kavita Rao, Indra and Trinary from India; Velocidad from Mexico; Oya from Nigeria; Primal from Ukraine. LGBT themes: Some commentators have noted the similarities between the struggles of mutants and the LGBT community, noting the onset of special powers around puberty and the parallels between being closeted and the mutants' concealment of their powers. In the comics series, gay and bisexual characters include Anole, Bling!, Destiny, Karma, Mystique, Psylocke, Courier, Northstar, whose marriage was depicted in the comics in 2012, Graymalkin, Rictor, Shatterstar, Shade, the Ultimate version of Colossus and later Iceman after revealing that he is a mutant; the comics version of the character was then revealed to be gay in 2015. Transgender issues also come up with shapechangers like Mystique, Copycat, and Courier who can change gender at will. It has been said that the comic books and the X-Men animated series delved into the AIDS epidemic with a long-running plot line about the Legacy Virus, a seemingly incurable disease thought at first to attack only mutants, similar to the AIDS virus which at first was spread through the gay community. In the film X-Men: First Class, Hank McCoy is asked by his CIA boss why he never disclosed his mutant identity, and his response was you didn't ask, I didn't tell. Communism and socialism: Occasionally, undercurrents of the real-life Red Scare are present or the events of the Red Scare in history are alluded to. Senator Robert Kelly's proposal of a Mutant Registration Act is similar to the efforts of United States Congress to try to ban communism in the United States. In the 2000 X-Men, the storylines continued to explore these themes, making the X-Men a powerful allegory for social justice and civil rights.In September 1963, a comic book titled The X-Men #1 hit newsstands, introducing a group of teenagers with powers they could not control and a teacher who could read their minds. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had created a team unlike any other before them. They were not born from radioactive spiders or gamma radiation, but were mutants, humans born with an X-gene that granted them superhuman abilities, usually manifesting during puberty. The story began at a school for gifted young mutants located in a mansion in Westchester, New York, run by Professor Charles Xavier. Xavier, a powerful telepath, believed that mutants were the next step in human evolution and that his role was to teach them to use their powers for good. The original team included Cyclops, whose eyes shot powerful beams unless controlled by a visor; Beast, an apelike figure with sophisticated diction; Iceman, a hedonistic and energetic youth; Angel, a wealthy young man with wings; and Marvel Girl, a hyperfeminine student. The first issue also introduced the team's archenemy, Magneto, a powerful mutant with control over magnetic fields who was depicted as an old friend and foil to Xavier. The series initially focused on a common human theme of good versus evil, but by issue #8, it began to explore the theme of prejudice against mutants, which eventually came to function as an allegory for racism and other forms of bigotry. The title lagged in sales behind Marvel's other comic franchises, and by 1970, it was cancelled due to low sales. However, the story of the X-Men was far from over.
The All-New Team
In May 1975, a new team of mutants was introduced in Giant-Size X-Men #1, marking a turning point for the franchise. Writer Len Wein and artist Dave Cockrum created a new team that starred in a revival of The X-Men, which Chris Claremont began writing with issue #94. This new team replaced the previous members with the exception of Cyclops, who remained. The new 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 from the Soviet Union, Nightcrawler from Germany, Storm from Kenya, and Thunderbird, a Native American of Apache descent. Three previously introduced characters, Banshee from Ireland, Sunfire from Japan, and Wolverine from Canada, also joined the team. 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. Claremont emphasized the character development of Grey, whose powers increased dramatically as she adopted a new name, Phoenix, in issue #101. 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. The 1977 space opera story line, The Phoenix Saga, particularly emphasizes the alliance of these two characters and is arguably the most canonical story line in The X-Men's publishing history.
The Dark Phoenix Saga
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, a pivotal moment that would haunt the X-Men for decades. 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 May 1983. 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 2003. 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.
The Record-Breaking Issue
In October 1991, Marvel revised the entire lineup of X-Men comic book titles, centered on the launch of a second X-Men series, simply titled X-Men. Initially written by Claremont and illustrated by Jim Lee, the first issue of this series is the highest selling comic book issue in history, selling more than eight million copies. Retailers pre-ordered over 8.1 million copies of issue #1, generating and selling nearly $7 million, though retailers probably sold closer to 3 million copies, making it, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the best-selling comic book of all time. Guinness presented honors to Claremont at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con. With the return of Xavier and the original X-Men to the team, the roster was split into two strike forces: Cyclops's Blue Team, chronicled in X-Men, and Storm's Gold Team, in The Uncanny X-Men. A new character, Bishop, a soldier from another dystopian future, soon joined the Gold Team. Internal friction soon split the X-books' creative teams. In a controversial move, X-Men editor Bob Harras sided with Lee and Uncanny X-Men artist Whilce Portacio over Claremont in a dispute over plotting. Claremont left after only three issues of X-Men, ending his 16-year run as X-Men writer. At the time of his departure, he was the longest-running author of the series. Marvel replaced Claremont briefly with John Byrne, who scripted both books for a few issues. Byrne was then replaced by Fabian Nicieza and Scott Lobdell, who would take over the majority of writing duties for the X-Men until Lee's own departure months later when he and several other popular artists, including former X-title artists Liefeld, Portacio, and Marc Silvestri, would leave Marvel to form Image Comics. Jim Lee's X-Men designs would be the basis for much of the X-Men animated series and action figure line as well as several Capcom video games.
The House of M
In August 2005, the House of M crossover, written by Brian Michael Bendis, began. In January 2006, the outcome of the story was that Scarlet Witch manipulated reality to depower 98% of the mutant population. The institute, formerly run as a school, served as a safe haven to mutants who are still powered. Several short-lived spin-offs and miniseries started featuring several X-Men in solo series, such as Nightcrawler, Jubilee, Madrox, X-23, Gambit and Rogue. Cable and Deadpool books were merged into one book, Cable & Deadpool. Notable additions to the X-Men have been Armor, Pixie and Warpath, while former villains such as Lady Mastermind, Mystique, and Sabretooth became members of the X-Men. Notable story arcs of this decade are Gifted in 2004, House of M in 2005, Deadly Genesis in 2005-2006, Decimation in 2006 and Endangered Species in 2007. The X-Men were also involved in the Civil War and World War Hulk storylines. In September 2006, Storm married Black Panther. In 2007, the Messiah Complex storyline saw the destruction of the Xavier Institute and the disbanding of the X-Men. It spun the new volume of Cable, following Cable's attempts at protecting Hope Summers. X-Men was renamed into X-Men: Legacy which focused on Professor X, Rogue, and Gambit. Under Cyclops's leadership, the X-Men later reformed in Uncanny X-Men #500, with their new base located in San Francisco. In April 2008, a new X-Force series was launched, now led by Wolverine. Joss Whedon's run of Astonishing X-Men ended in July 2008. In 2009, Messiah War, written by Craig Kyle and Chris Yost to serve as the second part in the trilogy that began with Messiah Complex, was released. Utopia, written by Matt Fraction, was a crossover of Dark Avengers and Uncanny X-Men that served as a part of the Dark Reign storyline. A new New Mutants volume written by Zeb Wells, which featured the more prominent members of the original team reunited, was launched. Magneto joined the X-Men during the Nation X storyline to the dismay of other members of the X-Men, such as Beast, who left the team. Magneto began to work with Namor to transform Utopia into a homeland for both mutants and Atlanteans.
The Krakoan Age
On the 14th of May 2019, Marvel announced they would cancel all the X-Men titles and relaunch the entire lineup. Jonathan Hickman would have full creative control; this began with two rotating bi-weekly six-issue limited series called House of X and Powers of X. After the 12 issues are released, Hickman penned the flagship title and several new and traditional titles were released. It was subsequently announced in July 2019 at San Diego Comic-Con that there would be six new X-titles as part of Marvel's Dawn of X campaign. Following the end of the X of Swords crossover, the sequel relaunch Reign of X will encompass a new era in the X-titles. Destiny of X featured the Second Krakoan Age of X-Men after the events of Inferno and X Lives of Wolverine/X Deaths of Wolverine. Mutantkind's unparalleled growth and prosperity on the island nation Krakoa was threatened during the Fall of X by the human supremicist organization Orchis. Marvel teased the X-Men's final battle for Krakoa's future in the two interconnected titles Fall of the House of X and Rise of the Powers of X. Several miniseries and one-shots started featuring several X-Men in team-up and solo series such as Giant-Size X-Men featuring Jean Grey, Emma Frost, Magneto, Nightcrawler, Fantomex, Storm and Thunderbird, Wolverine, Cable, Juggernaut, Sabretooth, Rogue and Gambit, Astonishing Iceman, Children of the Vault featuring Cable and Bishop, Uncanny Spider-Man featuring Nightcrawler, Jean Grey, Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant and Ms. Marvel: Mutant Menace. Notable addition to the X-Men have been Synch, Ms. Marvel, and Rasputin IV. Notable story arcs of this era are X of Swords in 2020, Hellfire Gala in 2021, Trial of Magneto in 2021, Inferno in 2021, X Lives of Wolverine/X Deaths of Wolverine in 2022, Judgment Day in 2022, Dark Web in 2022-2023, Sins of Sinister in 2023 and Weapons of Vengeance in 2023. The X-Men were also involved in the Empyre, The Last Annihilation, King in Black, Devil's Reign, Contest of Chaos storylines.
The Social Allegory
The conflict between mutants and normal humans is often compared to real-world conflicts experienced by minority groups in America such as African Americans, various religious or non-religious groups, ethnic minorities, autistic individuals, the LGBTQ community, etc. It has been remarked that attitudes towards mutants do not make sense in the context of the Marvel Universe, since non-mutants with similar powers are rarely regarded with fear. X-Men editor Ann Nocenti remarked that I think that's literary, really , because there is no difference between Colossus and the Torch. If a guy comes into my office in flames, or a guy comes into my office and turns to steel, I'm going to have the same reaction. It doesn't really matter that I know their origins. ... as a book, The X-Men has always represented something different , their powers arrive at puberty, making them analogous to the changes you go through at adolescence , whether they're special, or out of control, or setting you apart , the misfit identity theme. Also on an individual level, a number of X-Men serve a metaphorical function as their powers illustrate points about the nature of the outsider. Racism: Although this was not initially the case, Professor X has come to be compared to civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King Jr. and Magneto to the more militant Malcolm X. Magneto, in the first film, quotes Malcolm X with the line By any means necessary. X-Men comic books have often portrayed mutants as victims of mob violence, evoking images of the lynching of African Americans in the age before the civil rights movement. Sentinels and anti-mutant hate groups such as Friends of Humanity, Humanity's Last Stand, the Church of Humanity, and Stryker's Purifiers are thought to often represent oppressive forces like the Ku Klux Klan giving a form to denial of civil rights and amendments. 1980s storylines involving the fictional island nation of Genosha, where mutants are segregated and enslaved by an apartheid state, are widely interpreted as a reference to the contemporary situation of apartheid in South Africa. Chamber in 2002 explicitly cites the Norman Rockwell painting The Problem We All Live With. The miniseries portrays using the mutant context affirmative action, National Guard troops escorting a new student, sympathetic and antagonistic majority members, and majority-supremacist terrorism. Some mutants avoid confrontation and seek integration, while more militant mutants play the race card, reject their human-given names, and denounce those who do not as Stepin Fetchit and Uncle Tom. Antisemitism: Explicitly referenced in recent decades is the comparison between antimutant sentiment and antisemitism. Magneto, a Holocaust survivor, sees the situation of mutants as similar to those of Jews in Nazi Germany. At one point he even utters the words never again in a 1992 episode of the X-Men animated series. The mutant slave labor camps on the island of Genosha, in which numbers were burned into mutant's foreheads, show much in common with Nazi concentration camps, as do the internment camps of the classic Days of Future Past storyline. In the third X-Men film, when asked by Callisto: If you're so proud of being a mutant, then where's your mark? Magneto shows his concentration camp tattoo, while mentioning that he will never let another needle touch his skin. In the prequel film X-Men: First Class, a fourteen-year-old Magneto suffers Nazi human experimentation during his time in the camps and witnesses his mother's death by gunshot.
The Global Team
Characters within the X-Men mythos hail from a wide variety of nationalities. These characters also reflect religious, ethnic or sexual minorities. Examples include Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, Magneto and Sabra who are of Jewish descent. Dust, Ms. Marvel, and M who are Muslim, Nightcrawler who is a devout Catholic. Neal Shaara/Thunderbird who is Hindu. Jubilee is Chinese American, Gambit is born to Cajun parents from New Orleans and Rogue is from Caledecott County, Mississippi both of whom are Southerners. Warpath and his brother, the Thunderbird, are Native Americans of Apache descent. Storm represents two aspects of the African diaspora as her father was African American and her mother was Kenyan. Karma was portrayed as a devout Catholic from Vietnam, who regularly attended Mass and confession when she was introduced as a founding member of the New Mutants. This team also included Wolfsbane, a devout Scottish Presbyterian, Danielle Moonstar, a Native American of Cheyenne descent, Cannonball, and was later joined by Magma, a devout Greco-Roman classical religionist. Different nationalities included Wolverine, Aurora, Northstar, Deadpool and Transonic from Canada; Colossus and Magik from Russia; Banshee and Siryn from Ireland; Dust from Afghanistan; Psylocke, Wolfsbane and Chamber from the United Kingdom; Sunfire, Armor, Surge and Zero from Japan; Sunspot from Brazil; M from Monaco; Nightcrawler from Germany; Sabra from Israel; Omega Sentinel, Neal Shaara, Kavita Rao, Indra and Trinary from India; Velocidad from Mexico; Oya from Nigeria; Primal from Ukraine. LGBT themes: Some commentators have noted the similarities between the struggles of mutants and the LGBT community, noting the onset of special powers around puberty and the parallels between being closeted and the mutants' concealment of their powers. In the comics series, gay and bisexual characters include Anole, Bling!, Destiny, Karma, Mystique, Psylocke, Courier, Northstar, whose marriage was depicted in the comics in 2012, Graymalkin, Rictor, Shatterstar, Shade, the Ultimate version of Colossus and later Iceman after revealing that he is a mutant; the comics version of the character was then revealed to be gay in 2015. Transgender issues also come up with shapechangers like Mystique, Copycat, and Courier who can change gender at will. It has been said that the comic books and the X-Men animated series delved into the AIDS epidemic with a long-running plot line about the Legacy Virus, a seemingly incurable disease thought at first to attack only mutants, similar to the AIDS virus which at first was spread through the gay community. In the film X-Men: First Class, Hank McCoy is asked by his CIA boss why he never disclosed his mutant identity, and his response was you didn't ask, I didn't tell. Communism and socialism: Occasionally, undercurrents of the real-life Red Scare are present or the events of the Red Scare in history are alluded to. Senator Robert Kelly's proposal of a Mutant Registration Act is similar to the efforts of United States Congress to try to ban communism in the United States. In the 2000 X-Men, the storylines continued to explore these themes, making the X-Men a powerful allegory for social justice and civil rights.