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The X-Men are a team of comic book superheroes in the Marvel Comics universe. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, they debuted in X-Men #1 from September 1963, the same month as the premiere of The Avengers.
The X-Men franchise, with its original stories of youthful alienation in which teens literally are the freaks they often figuratively feel like, has grown to become one of the most popular comic books producing dozens of spin-off series over the years and turning some of its writers and artists into industry stars.
Since the 1980s, the X-Men universe has branched into both television and film including one of the most successful Saturday morning programs, X-Men: The Animated Series. The year 2000 saw the debut of following series X-Men: Evolution and the long-awaited X-Men movie directed by Bryan Singer. Its sequel X2 was released in 2003 and became the sixth highest grossing film of the year. A third X-Men movie is scheduled for release in May of 2006.
The X-Men are mutants, who in the Marvel universe are humans who, through a sudden leap in evolution, are born with latent superhuman abilities which generally manifest themselves at puberty. Ordinary humans, homo sapiens, often hate mutants, here termed homo superior, because of prejudice and the fear that mutants will replace them. It must be noted, however, that not all of humanity fears and hates mutantkind. This fact is worsened by a number of mutants and most notably the team's archnemeses Magneto and Apocalypse, who use their powers to try to disrupt and dominate the human society. The X-Men were gathered 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 menacing threats.
The X-Men franchise contains a richly diverse cast that is perhaps comics' most multicultural. During the 1970s, the roster was changed to further reflect this multiculturalism adding characters from Germany, Ireland, Russia, Africa and Japan. This multicultural theme has persisted over the years with more and more characters of different ethnicities and cultural backgrounds constantly being added to the mythos.
The team's name is derived from the fact that mutants are "extra" powered due to their "X-Factor gene" which was coined by Professor X. Co-creator 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."
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The X-Men were founded by the paraplegic telepath Professor Charles 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 city in Westchester County, New York. The original X-Men consisted of five teenagers still learning to control their powers namely Cyclops/Scott Summers, Marvel Girl/Jean Grey, Angel/Warren Worthington, Beast/Hank McCoy and Iceman/Bobby Drake. Early X-Men issues also introduced the team's archnemesis Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants featuring Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Mastermind and the Toad.
In 1969, writer Roy Thomas and artist Neal Adams rejuvenated the franchise and introduced two new characters Havok/Alex Summers and Polaris/Lorna Dane. However, these early X-Men issues failed to attract sales and Marvel stopped producing new stories with issue #66. After a hiatus, the series continued with reprint of earlier material in issue #67-93.
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, Storm/Ororo Munroe, Sunfire/Shiro Yashida, Banshee/Sean Cassidy and most notably the previously introduced 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 "Days of Future Past"; arguably two of the greatest story arcs in Marvel Comics as well as X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills; the base of the 2003 movie X2. New characters and teams that were introduced included Kitty Pryde, the Morlocks, the White Queen of the Hellfire Club, Rogue, Rachel Summers and Dazzler/Alison Blaire.
In the 1980s, the growing popularity of Uncanny X-Men and the rise of comic book specialty stores lead 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 The Fall of the Mutants and Inferno.
Notable additions to the X-Men have been Psylocke/Betsy Braddock, Longshot, Jubilee/Jubilation Lee and Gambit/Remy LeBeau. 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.
In 1991, Marvel revised the entire lineup of X-books, creating X-Force led by the mysterious warhawk 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 written by Claremont and illustrated by Jim Lee.
Internal friction split the X-Men books' creative teams. Claremont left after only four issues of X-Men due to clashes with Marvel editors and with Lee, thus ending his fifteen-year run as X-Men writer. Months later, Liefeld and Lee left Marvel with several other popular artists including Marc Silvestri and Whilce Portacio to form Image Comics.
Notable story arcs of this time are the "The X-Tinction Agenda" in 1990, "X-Cutioner's Song" in 1992, "Phalanx Covenant" in 1994, "Legion Quest"/"Age of Apocalypse" in 1995, "Onslaught" in 1996 and "Operation: Zero Tolerance" 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 that last a sarcastic mercenary antagonist of X-Force. In 1998 Excalibur and X-Factor ended and the latter replaced with the parallel world series Mutant X starring Havok.
Wandering plot lines and forgettable new villains plagued Claremont's return to Marvel and the X-Men in 2000, leading Marvel's new Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada to remove him from the two flagship titles in early 2001 and move him to a new spinoff series X-Treme X-Men. At the same time, Marvel cancelled or overhauled many series and added new series like Weapon X, Exiles and the new X-Force; later retitled X-Statix. Many of these new comics were sarcastic, cynical or deeply responsive to the established look of the superhero comic book and were a distinct reaction to the increasingly predictable nature of Marvel comics in the 1990s.
The focus of 2001 was the ascent of writer Grant Morrison and artist Frank Quitely to X-Men retitled New X-Men. Morrison's run was lauded as being both original and rejuvenating. The bright spandex costumes that had become iconic over the previous three decades were gone, replaced by black leather street clothes reminiscent of the dressed-down chic of the film The Matrix and the X-Men movies. In New X-Men, the Xavier Institute grew in size and scope and introduced several powerful and memorable villains, most notably Cassandra Nova; Xavier's evil twin sister. During the Morrison run, Emma Frost went from vicious Hellfire Club villain to icy member of the mutant squad, Xavier was publicly "outed" as a mutant and the decades-long relationships of Jean Grey and Scott Summers and Lorna Dane and Alex Summers all disintegrated. In the meantime, Uncanny X-Men was written by Joe Casey, followed by Chuck Austen which neither one were received well with fans.
Another popular new X-Men series was Ultimate X-Men, writer Mark Millar and artist Adam Kubert's reinvention of the concept featuring teenaged versions of the X-Men and meant to appeal to new readers. Ultimate X-Men was set in the Ultimate Marvel Universe, alongside Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimates, a dark post-9/11 world that feared mutant terrorism and reflected the heightened militaristic climate of the Bush-era United States. Iconic characters were substantially overhauled and given new backgrounds, while meant to be refreshingly current for a new generation.
In 2004, Morrison left New X-Men and Marvel prepared for what was already being called the "post-Morrison period". Marvel cancelled X-Treme X-Men and placed Claremont back on Uncanny X-Men. The company also launched Astonishing X-Men with writer Joss Whedon; well-known as the creator of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and artist John Cassaday; Planetary.
With the departure of Morrison, the X-Men franchise shifted yet again attempting to incorporate some of the newer energy of the previous run with more traditional elements. Following the destruction of the mutant paradise of Genosha by the deadly sentinels under the influence of Cassandra Nova, Xavier left in order to restore a vague sense of order and stability to the wasted land; recounted in the short second series of Excalibur), leaving Cyclops and Emma Frost as the new leaders of the Institute which now functions as a large-scale school. Jean Grey was killed off during Morrison's run but was later resurrected by the Phoenix in the Phoenix: Endsong miniseries, allowing the former White Queen and Scott Summers to pursue a relationship which was a controversial move that both intrigued and alienated long-term fans.
Several short-lived spin-offs marked the 2004-2005 including books focusing on Gambit, Rogue, Bishop; in the mutant ghetto of District X and Jubilee. New on-going series included a relaunch of the Morrison-era New Mutants title, which was shortly relaunched as New X-Men: Academy X, a teenaged soap opera comic focusing on the lives of the new young mutants at the Institute, with many of the original Claremont-era New Mutants showing up as the teaching staff.
The current period has been dominated by the reality-warping changes of the summer crossover event House of M, which has temporarily created a mutant paradise with Magneto as the world's leader. Its recent conclusion has drastically altered the mutant population on Earth, reducing it to a few hundred individuals with all others apparently losing their powers permanently including founding X-Men members Iceman and Angel as well as Magneto himself, although Iceman's powers have since returned suggesting he was not truly "Decimated". The full repercussions of "House of M" have yet to be fully revealed. Some Fans speculate in the upcoming X-Men: Deadly Genesis arc the Return of either Thunderbird or Krakoa as the new main villian after the depowering of Magneto.
The entire X-Men franchise is built on a sociopolitical undercurrent. Mutants are often seen as a metaphor for racial, religious and other minorities that face oppression - including, specifically, the struggle of African-Americans, discrimination against homosexuals, Anti-semitism and the case of the Red Scare. 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.
Professor X has been compared to African American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and Magneto to the more militant Malcolm X. The X-Men’s purpose is sometimes referred to achieving "Xavier’s dream" perhaps a reference to King’s historic "I Have a Dream" speech.
| 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 |
X-Men comic books have often portrayed mutants as the victim of mob violence, evoking the lynchings of African-Americans in the age before the American civil rights movement.
While this interpretation has become commonplace, it is not without its critics. In 2002, comics critic Julian Darius argued in "X-Men is Not an Allegory of Racial Tolerance" that a close examination of early X-Men comics would make Magneto not Malcolm X, but the radical revolutionaries of the Black Panthers. In the earliest comics, Xavier expressed no concern with mutant rights but instead focusing on stopping mutant menaces. He was, wrote Darius, explicitly counter-revolutionary.
Another civil rights metaphor applied to the X-Men is that of gay rights. Comparisons have been made between the mutants' situation, including the concealment of their powers and the age they realize these powers and homosexuality. This was illustrated in a scene of the second X-Men film, directed by openly gay director Bryan Singer in which Bobby Drake "came out" as a mutant to his parents. In addition, the first film featured a scene in which Senator Robert Kelly questioned whether mutants should be allowed to teach children in school.
The comic books delved into the AIDS epidemic during the early 1990s with a long-running plotline about the Legacy Virus, a seemingly incurable disease similarly thought at first to only attack mutants.
Somewhat more explicitly suggested is the comparison to anti-semitism. 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. In the comic books, Magneto has routinely sought to establish a "mutant homeland" which may be a parallel to modern day Israel. The mutant slave labor camps on the island of Genosha, in which numbers were burned into mutants’ foreheads, show much in common with Nazi concentration camps as do the internment camps of the classic Days of Future Past storyline.
Occasionally, undercurrents of the "red scare" are present. Senator Robert Kelly's proposal of a "Mutant Registration Act" is similar to the efforts of Congress to effectively ban communism in the United States. In the 2000 X-Men film Kelly exclaims "we need to find out who these mutants are and what they can do." It should be noted, though, that issues of class stratification have never been part of the X-Men’s creed.
In some cases, particularly in Grant Morrison’s stories of the early 2000s, mutants were portrayed as a distinct subculture with “mutant bands” and a popular mutant fashion designer who created outfits tailored to mutant physiology. Also the series District X takes place in an area of New York City called "mutant town." These instances can also serve as analogies for any minority within the population that establishes a specific subculture of its own.
Director Bryan Singer has remarked that aside from specific differences of race or sexual orientation, the X-Men franchise has served as a metaphor for acceptance of all people for their special and unique gifts. The mutant "power" that must be hidden from the world is analogous to feelings of difference and fear usually developed in everyone during adolescence. Part of the attraction of the X-Men is that it offers a sanctuary to openly explore and celebrate your differences within a unique subculture.
This metaphorical content is also present, more personally rather than politically, in some of the characters. For instance, Cyclops must wear a visor or specialized glasses at all times to keep his powers in control and has thus grown-up emotionally restrained; Rogue, whose mutant power prevents her from establishing physical contact with others, feels an enormous sense of personal isolation and the scientifically brilliant Beast must always fight the perception that he is a monstrous brute due to his furry, animalistic appearance. Thus, the effects of alienation on one's well-being and psyche are often explored in the franchise.
Since Giant-Size X-Men #1 (1975), the X-Men have also become famous for their wide cultural and ethnic diversity.
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:
In addition, characters within the X-Men mythos also reflect religious, ethnic or sexual minorities. Examples of Jewish characters include Shadowcat and Sabra, whilst Dust has Muslim beliefs and Thunderbird III and Karima Shapandar are followers of the Hindu faith. In terms of sexuality, homosexual characters include Northstar, Destiny and Karma, as well as currently teenage Anole with Mystique portrayed as being bisexual. The comics have also featured mutants whose mutation results in physical disfigurement as well as the granting of powers, with the Morlocks, inspired in part by the Morlock characters created by H.G. Wells, having portrayed to some degree the experience of disfigured people in late twentieth century American society.
The X-Men also introduced several fictional locations which are regarded as important within the shared universe in which Marvel Comics characters exist:
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 said to be the most likely director of the films but it never came to fruition. In 1996, FOX produced a television movie based on the X-Men spinoff Generation X.
The line-up of all three X-Men films:
| Character | Actor(s) |
|---|---|
| The X-Men: | |
| Professor X/Charles Xavier | Patrick Stewart |
| Cyclops/Scott Summers | James Marsden |
| Storm/Ororo Munroe | Halle Berry |
| Jean Grey | Famke Janssen |
| Wolverine/Logan | Hugh Jackman |
| Rogue/Marie | Anna Paquin |
| Iceman/Bobby Drake | Shawn Ashmore |
| Colossus/Piotr Rasputin | Daniel Cudmore |
| Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner | Alan Cumming |
| Beast/Dr. Hank McCoy | Kelsey Grammer |
| Shadowcat/Kitty Pride | Ellen Page |
| Jubilee/Jubilation Lee | Kea Wong |
| Angel/Warren Worthington III | Ben Foster |
| Leech | Cameron Bright |
| Brotherhood members: | |
| Magneto/Erik Lensherr | Ian McKellen |
| Mystique | Rebecca Romjin |
| Toad | Ray Park |
| Sabretooth | Tyler Mane |
| Pyro/John Allerdyce | Aaron Stanford |
| Juggernaut/Cain Marko | Vinnie Jones |
| Callisto | Daria Ramirez |
| Stacy X/Miranda Leevard | Omahyra Mota |
| Multiple Man/Jamie Madrox | Eric Dane |
| Other villains: | |
| William Stryker | Brian Cox |
| Lady Deathstrike/Yuriko Oyama | Kelly Hu |
| Other characters: | |
| Senator Kelly | Bruce Davison |
| Moira MacTaggert | Olivia Williams |
There are several video games for various platforms starring the X-Men. Most of them are 2D fighting games such as 1994's X-Men: Children of the Atom, 1996's X-Men vs. Street Fighter and 2000's X-Men: Mutant Academy. There was also a 3-D fighting-game called X-Men: Next Demension The most recent in the series are the role-playing games X-Men Legends (2004) and its 2005 sequel X-Men Legends 2. The characters also appeared in the Marvel vs. Capcom series.
In 1995, Pocket Books published Planet X, a novel that featured the X-Men sharing an adventure with the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Ironically, the cover of this novel featured both Charles Xavier and Jean-Luc Picard. Picard was portrayed by Patrick Stewart, who would play the role of Xavier five years later in the feature X-Men film. Similar crossovers occurred in comic book form as Marvel had just launched a new series of Star Trek comic books. These crossovers were roundly criticized by fans of both franchises.