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The X-Men is a team of comic book superheroes in the Marvel Comics universe. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, they debuted in The X-Men #1, published in September 1963.

The X-Men universe has branched into film and television, including one of the most successful Saturday morning programs, X-Men: The Animated Series. The year 2000 saw the debut of the long-awaited X-Men movie directed by Bryan Singer. The $75 million adaptation was an instant hit and took in over $296 million worldwide. Its sequel X2was released in 2003 and became the sixth highest grossing film of the year. The third X-Men movie, , was released May 26, 2006 and had the biggest Memorial Day opening of all time, taking in over $120 million over the four-day period.

Background

The X-Men are fictitious mutants who, as a result of a sudden leap in evolution, are born with latent superhuman abilities which generally manifest themselves at puberty. Many ordinary humans (Homo sapiens) harbor an intense fear and/or distrust of mutants (Homo superior), who are regarded by a number of scientists as the next step in evolution and are thus widely viewed as a threat to human society.

The tensions between mutants and the rest of humanity are exacerbated by the many instances in which mutants (including such X-Men archenemies as Magneto and Apocalypse) have used their powers to criminal or violent ends. The X-Men alliance was formed by the benevolent Professor Charles Xavier, a.k.a. Professor X, a wealthy mutant who founded an academy to train young mutants to protect themselves and the world from Magneto and other mutant threats.

The X-Men comic book series was one of comicdom's earliest and most influential trendsetters in adopting a multicultural central cast. During the 1970s, the roster was further diversified, adding characters from Germany, Ireland, Canada, the Soviet Union, Kenya and Japan. Characters representing many other ethnicities and cultural backgrounds have subsequently been added. The stories themselves often touch upon themes relating to the status of minorities, including assimilation, tolerance, and beliefs regarding a "superior race."

The team's name is widely said to be derived from the fact that mutants have "extra" powers due to their "X-Factor" gene (a word which was coined by Professor X). Co-creator Stan Lee recalled in his book Son of Origins of Marvel Comics and elsewhere that he devised the series title after Marvel publisher Martin Goodman turned down the initial name, "The Mutants." In addition to this "official" explanation, the X-Men are widely regarded (both within the Marvel Universe as well as by the readers of the series) to have been named after Xavier himself. In Uncanny X-Men #309, Xavier claimed that the name "X-Men" was never intended to be a self-tribute.

History

Beginning

The X-Men was founded by the paraplegic telepath Professor Charles Francis Xavier a.k.a. Professor X. Xavier gathered the X-Men under the cover of Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters at a large country estate at 1407 Graymalkin Lane in Salem Center, a small town in Westchester County, New York. The original X-Men consisted of five teenagers whom the professor taught to control their powers: Cyclops/Scott Summers, Marvel Girl/Jean Grey, Angel/Warren Worthington III, Beast/Hank McCoy, and Iceman/Bobby Drake.

Early X-Men issues introduced the team's arch nemesis Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants featuring Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Mastermind and the Toad. Ironically, the cast of this comic book series, which would in decades hence become a vehicle for stories about prejudice and racism, was originally racially and ethnically homogeneous, seemingly comprised entirely of the WASP-type character that was the de facto model for most comic book heroes at that time. Furthermore, their arch nemesis was Magneto, a character later portrayed as a Jewish concentration camp survivor, whose key followers, son and daughter, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch were Gypsies (Roma), an ethnic minority in Europe. Only one new X-Man was added, Mimic/Calvin Rankin, but was soon expelled by Xavier due to his arrogance.

In 1969, writer Roy Thomas and artist Neal Adams rejuvenated the franchise and introduced two new characters: Havok/Alex Summers and Lorna Dane, later called Polaris. However, these early X-Men issues failed to attract sales and Marvel stopped producing new stories with issue #66, although a number of the older comics were later reprinted as issues 67-93.

1970s

In Giant-Size X-Men #1 (1975), writer Len Wein and artist Dave Cockrum introduced a new team that would appear in new issues of The X-Men beginning with issue #94. Rather than teenagers, this group consisted of adults who hailed from a variety of nations and cultures. The "all-new, all-different X-Men" were led by Cyclops from the original team and consisted of the newly created Thunderbird/John Proudstar, Colossus/Piotr Rasputin, Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner and Storm/Ororo Munroe, along with three previously introduced characters, Sunfire/Shiro Yoshida, Banshee/Sean Cassidy and, most notably, Wolverine/Logan who would become the breakout character.

The revived series was illustrated by Cockrum and later John Byrne and written by Chris Claremont, who would become the series' longest-standing contributor. The run met great critical acclaim and produced the "Dark Phoenix Saga" and later the 1980's "Days of Future Past", arguably two of the greatest story arcs in Marvel Comics, as well as , the basis for the 2003 movie X2. Other characters introduced at this time include Mystique and Moira MacTaggart along with her genetic research facility Muir Island.

1980s

In the 1980s, the growing popularity of Uncanny X-Men and the rise of comic book specialty stores led to the introduction of several spin-off series nicknamed "X-Books", most notably The New Mutants, X-Factor and Excalibur. This plethora of X-Men-related titles led to the rise of crossovers, sometimes called "X-Overs", storylines which would overlap into several X-Books, sometimes for months at a time and usually once per year; including the Mutant Massacre, The Fall of the Mutants and Inferno.

Notable additions to the X-Men were Shadowcat, Rogue, Dazzler, Psylocke, Longshot and Jubilee. A controversial move was to have Professor X relocate to space in 1986 to be with his beloved Lilandra, Majestrix of the Shi'ar Empire, making Magneto the head of the X-Men. This period also included the arrival of the mysterious Madelyne Pryor and the return of Jean Grey.

1990s

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In 1991, Marvel revised the entire lineup of X-books, creating X-Force led by the mysterious war hawk Cable written by Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza and launched a second X-Men series simply called X-Men (the original series of this title having been already renamed to Uncanny X-Men).

Internal friction split the X-Men books' creative teams. Chris Claremont left after only three issues of X-Men due to clashes with artist Jim Lee and the Marvel editors, thus ending his fifteen-year run as X-Men writer. Months later, Liefeld and Lee left Marvel with several other popular artists including former X-Men artists Marc Silvestri and Whilce Portacio to form Image Comics.

Notable additions to the X-Men have been Gambit, Forge, and Bishop. Notable story arcs of this time are the "The X-Tinction Agenda" in 1990, "The Muir Island Saga" in 1991, "X-Cutioner's Song" in 1992, "Fatal Attractions" in 1993, "Phalanx Covenant" in 1994, "Legion Quest"/"Age of Apocalypse" in 1995, "Onslaught" in 1996 and "" in 1997.

The 1990s saw an even greater number of X-books with numerous ongoing series and miniseries running concurrently. These included Generation X starring another team of teenage mutants and X-Man starring a powerful young mutant Nate Grey, an alternate version of Cable from the "Age of Apocalypse" reality. Marvel launched solo series for characters including Cable, Gambit, Bishop and Deadpool, the last a sarcastic mercenary antagonist of X-Force. In 1998 Excalibur and X-Factor ended and the latter was replaced with the parallel world series Mutant X starring Havok.

2000s

In the 2000s, Claremont returned to Marvel and was put back on the primary X-Men titles. He was soon removed from his two flagship titles in early 2001 and created his own spin-off series, X-Treme X-Men. X-Men had its title changed at this time to New X-Men and new writer Grant Morrison took over. This era is often referred to as the Morrison-era, due to the drastic changes he made to the series, beginning with "E Is For Extinction", whilst bringing former villain Emma Frost into the primary X-Men team and opening the doors of Xavier's school. The bright spandex costumes that had become iconic over the previous decades were also gone, replaced by black leather street clothes reminiscent of the uniforms of the X-Men movies. Morrison also added the controversial new character, Xorn, who would go on to murder Jean Grey and wreak havoc on New York City (Whether Xorn was mind-controlled or not is disputed; see his entry for an insight into the controversy). In the meantime, the Ultimate X-Men were launched, set in Marvel's revised imprint.

Notable additions to the X-Men have been Emma Frost, Sage, Xorn, X-23, Chamber. New memorable villains were introduced as well, most notably Cassandra Nova. Notable story arcs of this decade are "Planet X","Here Comes Tomorrow", "House of M", "Gifted", "Decimation" and "".

Several short-lived spin-offs and mini-series started including Gambit, Rogue, District X, Phoenix: Endsong, Colossus: Bloodline and Jubilee. Cable and Deadpool's books were also rolled into one book, appropriately called Cable and Deadpool. A third primary X-Title was also introduced called Astonishing X-Men, written by Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon. A second New X-Men series took its place focusing on the lives of the new young mutants at the Institute.

This period included the return of Jean's Phoenix powers, as well as her subsequent death and eventual return, the resurrections of Psylocke and Colossus and Cyclops and Emma Frost, now a couple, becoming the new leaders of the Institute. The Institute formerly ran as a large-scale school, until the depowering of most of the mutant population. It now serves as a safe haven to those mutants who are still powered and as the home of the X-Men.

Notable Characters

Although the X-men roster in the comic books changes constantly through the years and had numerous past members, allies and villains, there are characters who were featured outside the comic book realm more often than others, consequently becoming widely known and more recognizable even for non-readers. Characters who often appear, especially in popular adaptations on TV series, Movies and Video Games, include the following:

Super Heroes

Super Villains

International characters

Since Giant-Size X-Men #1 (1975), the X-Men have also become famous for their wide cultural and ethnic diversity.
Storm, one of the first black superheroes.
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Storm, one of the first black superheroes.

Long before international characters became popular in the comics world, the X-Men franchise brought in characters from all over the world such as from:

Fictional places

The X-Men introduced several fictional locations which are regarded as important within the shared universe in which Marvel Comics characters exist:

Reflecting current social issues

The conflict between mutants and normal humans is often compared to conflicts experienced by minority groups in America such as Jews, African-Americans, Communists, Homosexuals, Catholics etc. 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.
Quotation
The X-Men are hated, feared and despised collectively by humanity for no other reason than that they are mutants. So what we have here, intended or not, is a book that is about racism, bigotry and prejudice.
Uncanny X-Men writer Chris Claremont, 1982

Northstar, one of the first gay superheroes.
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Northstar, one of the first gay superheroes.

Appearances in other media

Cartoons

A scene from Pryde of the X-Men.
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A scene from Pryde of the X-Men.

Films

Teaser poster for X-Men: The Last Stand
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Teaser poster for X-Men: The Last Stand

The first attempts to make a film version of the X-Men began in the late 1980s along with Spider-Man and Hulk films. James Cameron, director of Aliens and The Terminator, was rumored to have been selected as director, but the project never came to fruition. In 1996, FOX produced a television movie based on the X-Men spin-off Generation X.

Video games

 cover (GameCube version)
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cover (GameCube version)

The first X-men video game was released by LJN for the NES and was called Marvel's X-Men. That same year (1989) a computer game was also released based on the X-men. In the 1990s Sega of America released two popular X-men video games for its Sega Genesis; X-Men and .

There are several video games for various platforms starring the X-Men. Many of them are 2D fighting games such as 1994's ', 1996's X-Men vs. Street Fighter and 2000's '. There was also a 3-D fighting-game called the most recent in the series are the role-playing games X-Men Legends (2004) and its 2005 sequel . The characters also appeared in the Marvel vs. Capcom series. Konami also created n 1992 an X-Men (arcade game) which featured 6 playable X-Men characters: Cyclops, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Storm, Colossus, and Dazzler.

To coincide with the release of the third film, Activision has released ' which will fill in the gap between ' and .

References

External links

X-Men
Bibliography Uncanny X-Men | X-Men vol. 2 | Astonishing X-Men | Exiles | New Excalibur | | X-Factor | X-Men Unlimited | Ultimate X-Men
Major "Dark Phoenix Saga" | "Mutant Massacre" | "The Fall of the Mutants" | "Inferno" | "The X-Tinction Agenda" | "X-Cutioner's Song" |
"Fatal Attractions" | "Phalanx Covenant" | "Age of Apocalypse" | "Onslaught" | "" | "E Is For Extinction"
In other media : X-Men | X2 | '
: Generation X | Mutant X | Pryde of the X-Men | X-Men: The Animated Series | '
Locations Avalon | Asteroid M | Genosha | Madripoor | Muir Island | Savage Land | X-Mansion
Things Cerebro | Crimson Dawn | Danger Room | Fastball Special | Legacy Virus | M'Kraan Crystal | X-Jet
Other History | Teams | Bibliography of X-Men titles | Comics | Video games |

 


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