X-Men

The X-Men in X-Men v6 #12.

The X-Men are a superhero team that features in Marvel Comics.

History

Origin

The X-Men in X-Men v1 #1.

The X-Men were a team of Mutants and their allies formed by Professor X. Gifted with the power of telepathy, Xavier saw the growing prejudice towards the growing mutant population and became determined to create a world of peaceful co-existence between humans and mutants. (X-Men v1 #1)

Over the years, Xavier realized that other mutants had alternative plans for mutantkind's future. In Israel, he met a mutant named Magnus. Radically opposing to Xavier's dream, Magnus believed that a species war between mutants and humans for dominance of the Earth was inevitable, and that mutants must take their rightful place as the supreme species. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #161) In Egypt, after an encounter with an unscrupulous mutant telepath known as the Shadow King, Xavier vowed to protect the world from the threat of evil mutants, endeavouring to foster peaceful coexistence between mutants and humans. (X-Men v1 #117)

Xavier had now met a number of other mutants and had grown concerned, and began formulating his first ideas to gather mutants and train them in the use of their powers for the greater good. Charles tracked down Moira MacTaggert, a former lover and a specialist in mutants in her own right, securing her assistance in tracking down mutants for his cause. (X-Men: Legacy v1 #208) Later Xavier's travels brought him to Tibet where he discovered a mysterious walled off city. Upon further investigation he discovered that the city was enthralled by the alien invader known as Lucifer and led a rebellion against the would-be world conqueror. Although Xavier foiled Lucifer's plans, a falling block fell on top of him crippling Xavier from the waist down. (X-Men v1 #20) Taken to a hospital in India, Charles was told by doctors that he would never walk again. He was then nursed back to health and put through physiotherapy with a young American nurse named Amelia Voght. Three months later the couple moved into an apartment together in Bombay. There Xavier began working on schematics for a mutant detecting computer he called Cerebro. Charles and Amelia later returned with Xavier to the United States to start up Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #309)

Ultimately, with Moira's support, Xavier decided to set up a school to secretly train mutants to protect a world that hates and fears their kind, dubbing them his X-Men. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #300) Charles and Moira later set up a training facility nearby as well. (X-Men: Deadly Genesis v1 #5)

Xavier became aware of two other mutants, Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, and offered them to the chance to return with him to America to hone their powers. Pietro refused on their behalf, but they were later recruited by Magnus -- now calling himself Magneto -- who was also gathering mutants to his cause. (Uncanny Origins v1 #2) Learning of Magneto's intentions, Xavier and Amelia traveled to the long abandoned Auschwitz concentration camp to confront Magneto on the anniversary of his time there during World War II. There Xavier attempted a final plea to Magneto to work with him to bring about peaceful co-existence between humans and mutants. However by this time Magneto had given in fully to his hatred of the human race and refused to listen. Upon leaving, Magneto warned Xavier that when they next met, it would be as enemies. (X-Men v2 #-1)

First Class

As the uncanny X-Men were formed, their first mission led them to a direct confrontation with Xavier's old friend, Magnus. He had now declared himself the Master of Magnetism and was now known as Magneto. The conflict took place in Cape Citadel, in a military base Magneto had claimed. This was the first clash of Magneto and Xavier's rivalling ideologies. Through Xavier's guidance, the X-Men succeeded in stopping Magneto from taking over the Cape Citadel missile base, forcing the master of magnetism to flee. Although the X-Men acted as super-heroes, growing anti-mutant sentiment eventually marred their reputation. (X-Men v1 #1)

Later, a mutant teleporter known as the Vanisher began stealing government secrets. This saw Professor X offering the X-Men's aid to the government to stop him. Xavier himself defeated the Vanisher by using his mental powers to cut off his access to his powers, allowing the X-Men to easily capture him and his minions (X-Men v1 #2) Afterwards, Angel had another personality shift following exposure to radiation unleashed by a test by Stark Industries. The X-Men stood back to allow the armored hero Iron Man deal with the danger posed by the Angel until he reverted back to normal. (Tales of Suspense v1 #49) Xavier later agreed to return the favor when Iron Man sought the X-Men's aid in tracking down his rogue Avengers teammate the Hulk. However the Hulk ultimately evaded capture before the X-Men could get involved. (Avengers v1 #3) The X-Men later met the supremely powerful hero known as the Sentry, assisting him in defeating his foe the General who was attempting to steal nuclear weapons to launch against the nation of France. (Sentry/X-Men v1 #1) Xavier soon located another mutant, the immovable Blob who was working as part of a carnival freak show and sent the X-Men to recruit him. However Charles soon learned the error of welcoming the Blob in with open arms when he turned out to be uninterested in joining the X-Men and later attacked the school. While the X-Men kept the Blob and his army of carnies at bay, Xavier completed a device that allowed him to wipe out all memory of the X-Men's headquarters and secret identities from the mind of the Blob and his cohorts. (X-Men v1 #3)

Magneto would later resurface to plague the X-Men, forming his own group called the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. The terrorist team consisted of Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch, Toad and Mastermind. They first confronted the X-Men when conquering the nation of Santo Marco, but met defeat. (X-Men v1 #4) he X-Men were lured into a trap by Magneto and were taken aboard his Asteroid M headquarters, the X-Men managed to escape without the aid of Xavier. Charles later revealed to his students that he feigned his lost powers as a final test to see if his students could handle themselves without his aid. Subsequently, the Brotherhood escalated the animosity between them with a full-on attempt to capture the X-Men, with no success. (X-Men v1 #5) Soon Professor X was enthralled by the Puppet Master and the Mad Thinker who then used Xavier to order the X-Men to attack their foes the Fantastic Four. Although the two teams were forced to fight each other, Xavier eventually broke free from the Puppet Master's control and exposed the entire ruse. The Puppet Master and the Thinker then fled before they could be captured by the Fantastic Four and the X-Men. (Fantastic Four v1 #28)

Anti-mutant sentiment was on the rise, prompting scientist Bolivar Trask to engineer the Sentinels that were massive mutant-hunting robots with the purpose of apprehending and incapacitating mutants. (X-Men v1 #14) Unexpectedly, the robots revolted against their own creator, seizing both Trask and Professor X to subject them to their robotic overlord, the sinister Master Mold, who planned to enslave the entire human race. The X-Men saved Xavier and devised a strategy to dismantle the menace of the Sentinels. (X-Men v1 #15) The encounter culminated with Trask's demise, but his legacy would haunt mutantkind since his deadly machines became the greatest threat mutantkind faced in the years to come. (X-Men v1 #16)

Fearing an imminent threat, Professor X pressed the group to find new recruits. They unsuccessfully pursued Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch and Spider-Man, though managed to recruit Mimic, who had just regained his memories and powers following a lab explosion at Metro College. He joined the X-Men despite the Puppet Master using him as his pawn to destroy the group. (X-Men v1 #27) Soon after, the X-Men learned of Factor Three, an organization that sent agents Ogre and the enslaved Banshee after them in an attempt to kidnap Professor X. Freeing Banshee from Factor Three's control, the X-Men easily defeated Ogre. (X-Men v1 #28)

Factor Three struck again when Professor X attempted to free his stepbrother from the powers of the Juggernaut. The resulting experiment of both science and sorcery ended with the Juggernaut's revival and Xavier on the brink of death. Factor Three mentally contacted the Juggernaut and tried to recruit him. (X-Men v1 #32) The X-Men ultimately stopped the Juggernaut with the aid of Doctor Strange, who banished Marko to the Crimson Cosmos. However, during the process, Factor Three managed to kidnap Professor X. (X-Men v1 #33)

When Banshee attempted to contact the X-Men after locating Factor Three's European headquarters, his message was interrupted, leading the X-Men to briefly fight Spider-Man, mistakenly believing the wall-crawler to be a member of Factor Three. (X-Men v1 #35) Not being able to afford the airfare to Europe, the X-Men tried to raise money and ended up taking a loan from the wealthy philanthropist father of Tom Regal after the X-Men aided in stopping Tom's rampage as the armored Mekano. (X-Men v1 #36)

Arriving in Europe, the X-Men were captured by Factor Three, whose membership included the Vanisher, the Blob, Unus, and Mastermind as well as two unknown villains: the Changeling and the Mutant Master. The group found the X-Men "guilty" of betraying mutantkind and sentenced them to death. Before executing the X-Men, Factor Three revealed their intentions of sparking a nuclear World War III by attacking both the United States and the Soviet Union. (X-Men v1 #37)

When Professor Xavier learned of an impending invasion from the alien Z'nox race, he decided to place himself in seclusion in order to prepare a counterattack. Approached by a terminally ill Changeling, Professor X made a deal with the dying mutant, who aided him in his plan by posing as Professor X for the X-Men, while the real Xavier secretly expected for the invasion. Jean Grey was the only member of the X-Men who was made aware of Xavier's plan, having her telepathic powers unlocked by her mentor as Changeling took his place. (X-Men v1 #65)

Hidden Years

Back in full health, Charles had the X-Men brief him on their activities while he was in hiding. But the treatment appeared to have an effect on Xavier's mind as he began treating his X-Men like they were still students. (X-Men: The Hidden Years v1 #1)

Learning that his students failed to confirm if Magneto had died in their last encounter, Charles sent them back to the Savage Land to investigate. The original team, except Iceman who quit the team, went on the mission leaving Lorna and Havok in reserve. The group hit turbulence entering the Savage Land and were forced to crash land. They were soon knocked out by drug tipped darts from a local tribe. Detecting this, Charles ordered Havok, Loran, and Iceman to rescue them, Alex and Lora agreed but Bobby once again refused to follow orders. Meanwhile, the male members of the X-Men awoke to learn that Marvel Girl was sent to the land of the dead, and assumed that she had died in the crash. (X-Men: The Hidden Years v1 #1) However, they soon learned that the natives were literal and that Jean was sent to an actual land. Cyclops, and Hank fought their way to the underground river where those who were dead or dying were sent to this land while Angel tried to locate it from the air. While Hank and Scott located an ancient and advanced city while Angel was knocked out by the strong wind currents. (X-Men: The Hidden Years v1 #2) Havok and Lorna arrived in the Savage Land and began searching for their comrades, gaining the aid form Ka-Zar. Angel meanwhile was rescued by a flying woman named Avia and slaves who worked for the Nhu'Ghari who enslaved those sent to their "land of the dead" to build their cities. Back in the states, Bobby decided to finally answer the Professor's calls for help and search for his friend. Meanwhile, Scott and Hank evaded capture from the Nhu'Ghari while Marvel Girl awoke to find that the Nhu'Ghari served the apparent ghost of Magneto. (X-Men: The Hidden Years v1 #3)

Magneto revealed to Jean how he survived their last encounter and used his astral form to trick the Nhu'Ghari to do his bidding by making them think he was a ghost. He then began collecting the restorative volcanic gas found in the region as part of a plot to enslave humanity and had a number of balloons filled with it ready to be launched. Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Beast, and Angel were soon reunited and they battled Magneto, however the fight caused volcanic instability. Although they managed to flee the slaves, the X-Men found themselves trapped. Taking Magneto and Avia with them they attempted fled the destruction in Magneto's blimp, but soon found themselves caught in a massive storm. (X-Men: The Hidden Years v1 #4) As they bucked the storm, Magneto jumped ship with Avia following after him. Angel tried to follow her but the storm was too powerful. With the blimp breaking up, each of the X-Men latched themselves to a different balloon in the hopes that they could ride the storm out and safely return to the surface. Cyclops, Beast, and Marvel Girl found themselves crash landing in Africa where they were found by the young weather controlling mutant named Ororo Munroe. Meanwhile, Havok, and Lorna continued to search for the missing X-Men in the Savage Land unaware of their fates. (X-Men: The Hidden Years v1 #5)

Deadly Genesis

Professor X decided to recruit another new team to face Krakoa and save his X-Men. This new group of X-Men from all parts of the globe consisted of the German demon-looking teleporter Nightcrawler, the Canadian berserker and federal agent known as the ferocious Wolverine, the Irish former member of Factor Three Banshee, the African wind rider Ororo, rebaptized as Storm, the Japanese son of the atom Sunfire, the Russian metallic strongman Colossus, and the stubborn Native American Thunderbird. This group succeeded in freeing the original X-Men and, as both groups combined their powers to send Krakoa into Earth orbit, its threat ended. (Giant-Size X-Men v1 #1)

Phoenix Saga

In an attempt to eliminate Professor X, the mercenary Erik the Red brainwashed Havok and Lorna Dane, the latter of whom was rebranded as Polaris, into attacking the X-Men. His scheme failed thus forcing him to retreat from the battle. Simultaneously, mutant-hater Stephen Lang reactivated the deadly Sentinels. (X-Men v1 #97)

Aware of the massacre in their Empire, the Shi'ar arrived on Earth demanding the execution of Phoenix. Xavier invoked Arin'nn Haelar, an irrefutable Shi'ar duel of honor. Knowing her Imperial Guard would certainly win, Majestrix Lilandra agreed to challenge the X-Men. Putting up a valiant fight, the mutants fell one by one during a long battle on the Blue Area of the Moon. With only Cyclops and Phoenix left standing, Summers was hit by a stray energy bolt. Set into a panic, Jean Grey was able to utilize her full power as Dark Phoenix. To avert the loss of the entire solar system, as it had been ordered by Lilandra, Xavier ordered the X-Men to combat Phoenix. Jean Grey regained control once more and activated a weapon in order to sacrifice herself and prevent another disaster. (X-Men v1 #137)

Schism

The life of the X-Men later came under threat from an unexpected enemy in the form of Kade Kilgore, the 12-year-old heir of Kilgore Arms, a billionaire weapon manufacturer empire. (Wolverine & the X-Men v1 #16) Kilgore regarded the business of hunting and killing mutants as a very lucrative activity. To increase anti-mutant sentiment, Kilgore recovered Quentin Quire's from his stasis and set him free upon the world. When Cyclops and Wolverine attended an international arms conference, speaking in the name of Utopia in order to prevent mutants from being persecuted, Quire committed a psychic terrorist attack, causing several nations all over the world to activate their Sentinels. Successful in his plan, Kade Kilgore was crowned the new Black King of the Hellfire Club. (X-Men: Schism v1 #1) Following this simultaneous activation of several sentinels, Cyclops dispatched several teams to protect humans from being harmed by malfunctioning machines. Meanwhile, Mayor Sinclair expedited the grand opening of the Mutant History Museum to improve the X-Men's reputation. While Cyclops kept coordinating his missions on Utopia, Emma Frost was sent with the most powerful X-Men to the opening alongside some students. (X-Men: Schism v1 #2) Kilgore's Hellfire Club took this opportunity to set a bomb during the opening. Despite Wolverine's objections, Cyclops ordered one of the youngest X-Men students, Idie Okonkwo, to stop the Hellfire Club henchmen by any means, which led to their deaths. (X-Men: Schism v1 #3) As the bomb went off, a gigantic Sentinel was created and marched to a defenseless Utopia. As Utopia counted only with the power of teenagers, Cyclops decided to stay and protect the island, while Wolverine wished to evacuate it. The debate escalated into a brutal fight between the two X-Men. (X-Men: Schism v1 #4) Ultimately, as the Sentinel arrived at Utopia, the students chose to stay and managed to destroy it. Their difference, however, ended up being more than could be reconciled. Wolverine decided to leave with other X-Men and students to resettle the institute in Westchester. (X-Men: Schism v1 #5) Due to the schism, each resident on Utopia was forced to choose to remain with Cyclops or go back to the mutant school with Wolverine. (X-Men: Regenesis v1 #1)

House of X

Later on, Professor X with the assistance of Magneto and Moira came to establish a mutant nation on the living island of Krakoa. (House of X v1 #1) As a result, the X-Men disbanded, as they were believed to no longer be needed. However, they ultimately reformed when Cyclops and Jean Grey gathered an army of mutants to rescue the Swordbearers of Krakoa during the Krakoa-Arakko War in Otherworld. (X-Men v5 #15) After this event, Cyclops and Jean Grey decided to permanently recreate the team going as opposed to accepting positions on the Quiet Council of Krakoa, since they felt that Krakoa needed heroes working in their best interests, representing and fighting for mutantkind. To recreate the X-Men, they decided to call for elections. (X-Men v5 #16)

Overview

In appearance, the X-Men were a team of superpowered Mutants all possessing different abilities. (X-Men v1 #1)

At first, the X-Men came to wear special uniforms that were made for them. (X-Men v1 #1) To congratulate the X-Men after their graduation, Professor Xavier allowed the team to begin wearing individualized costumes. (X-Men v1 #39)

Originally, the X-Men were secretly based in the home of Professor X at the X-Mansion. (X-Men v1 #1)

During the Krakoan Age, the X-Men were based in the Treehouse that was an organically grown dwelling made from a seedling from Krakoa. It was situated on a plot at the southwest corner of Central Park 86th Street Transverse which had been purchased by the White Queen. On that site, a specially grown seed was made that had been designed by Cypher, Krakoa and Forge. A Krakoan Gateway was situated inside that allowed the X-Men quick access to various sites including Krakoa itself. (X-Men v6 #1)

For a time, the X-Men made use of the Gateways that were a form of teleportation system developed by the living island of Krakoa. Krakoa came to grow special flowers that could manifest as portals that linked one location to another. The Krakoan Gates was used by the X-Men as a fast method of travel from one point to another. (House of X v1 #1)

Members

• Professor X :
• Cyclops :
• Angel :
• Beast :
• Iceman :
• Marvel Girl :
• Havok :
• Polaris :
• Wolverine :
• Nightcrawler :
• Thunderbird :
• Storm :
• Colossus :
• Rogue :
• Gambit :
• Cable :
• Psylocke :
• Bishop :
• Magneto :

Notes

• X-Men was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby where they made their first appearance in X-Men v1 #1 (September, 1963).
• In 2004, Stan Lee recalled, "I couldn't have everybody bitten by a radioactive spider or exposed to a gamma ray explosion. And I took the cowardly way out. I said to myself, 'Why don't I just say they're mutants? They are born that way."
• In Kirby Effect: The Journal of the Kirby Museum (2012), Jack Kirby in an interview in 1987 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."

In other media

Television

• In Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, the X-Men had guest appearances in the setting of the animated television series starting with a flashback in "The Origin of Iceman".
• In X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men, the X-Men appeared in the setting of the animated television series pilot.
• In X-Men, the X-Men appeared in the setting of the 1990s animated television series.
• In X-Men: Evolution, the X-Men appeared in the setting of the animated television series.

Films

• In X-Men, the X-Men appeared in the setting of the live-action film.
• In X-Men: First Class, the X-Men appeared in the setting of the live-action film.

Video games

• In The Uncanny X-Men, the X-Men appeared in the setting of the 1989 video game.

Appearances

• X-Men v1: (1963)
• Uncanny X-Men v1:
• X-Men: Gold:
• X-Men v6:

External Links

• Marvel Database Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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