Merge:X-Men

The X-Men is a team of 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. Its sequel X2 was released in 2003 and became the sixth highest grossing film of the year. The third X-Men movie, X-Men: The Last Stand, 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 cast of the X-Men is among comicdom's most multicultural, and the stories touch upon themes relating to the status of minorities, including assimilation, tolerance, and beliefs regarding a superior race (real or perceived). During the 1970s, the roster was further diversified, adding characters from Germany, Ireland, Canada, the Soviet Union, Kenya and Japan. Different ethnicities and cultural backgrounds are frequently added.

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.

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 X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills, 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 wereShadowcat, 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
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. After Claremont left Scott Lobdell took over X-Men. And later would work with artist Joe Madureira.

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 "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, 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 "Deadly Genesis".

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 leaving Cyclops and Emma Frost, now a couple, as 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.

After runs by Chris Claremont and Peter Milligan on Uncanny X-Men and X-Men respectively, both books are starting anew with new creative teams and squads, with some members will be jumping from one squad to the other, while others will be brought in or stay in their respective squads.

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 that were featured outside the comic book realm more often than the others, consequently becoming widely known and more recognizable even for non-readers. Characters that 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.

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:
 * Africa: Algeria (M), Egypt (Apocalypse), Kenya (Storm), Maasai (Kidogo), Morocco (Jetstream), South Africa (Maggott)
 * The Americas: Apache (Thunderbird I, Warpath), Brazil (Sunspot), Cajun (Gambit), Canada (Sabretooth, Alpha Flight, Wolverine, and the Quebecois, Northstar and Aurora), Cheyenne (Forge, Mirage), Chinese American (Jubilee), Japanese American (Hisako Ichiki), Jewish American (Shadowcat), Mexican American (Feral, Thornn, Wraith, Skin), Mexico (Rictor), Puerto Rico (Cecilia Reyes, Tag), Venezuela (Wind Dancer)
 * Asia: Afghanistan (Dust, Sage), China (Xorn I and II), India (Indra, Thunderbird III), Israel (Sabra), Japan (Deathstrike, Psylocke/Revanche, Silver Samurai, Shinobi Shaw, Sunfire, Sunpyre, Surge, Yukio and Mariko Yashida), Philippines (Bishop), Thailand (Stonecutter, Tyger Tiger), Vietnam (Karma),
 * Europe: Austria (Mystique and Destiny), England (Jamie Braddock, Chamber, Psylocke/Revanche, Captain Britain, Mister Sinister, Pete Wisdom and Toad), France (Tarot and Fantomex, a non-native resident), Germany (Nightcrawler, Fenris and Maverick), Greece (Avalanche), Ireland (Banshee, Siryn and Black Tom Cassidy), Netherlands (Beak), Poland (Magneto), Russia (Colossus, Omega Red, Darkstar, Magik, Soul Skinner, Mikhail Rasputin and Alexi Vazhin), Scotland (Wolfsbane and Moira MacTaggert), Spain (Empath), Italy (Unus)
 * Oceania: Aborigine (Gateway), Australia (Pyro, Slipstream, Lifeguard, Bishop), Hawaii (Loa), Samoa Islands (Mondo), Māori (Kiwi Black)

Fictional places
The X-Men introduced several fictional locations which are regarded as important within the shared universe in which Marvel Comics characters exist:
 * Genosha, an African island near Madagascar and a long-time apartheid regime against mutants.
 * Madripoor, an island in Southeast Asia, near Singapore. Strong evidence from the Ultimate Guide To The X-Men Points out that Madripoor is located in the Philippine archipelago situated in Luzon, the country's main island. Associated with Viper.
 * Muir Island, a remote island off the coast of Scotland. Primarily known in the X-Men universe as the home of Moira MacTaggert's laboratory.
 * Savage Land, a hidden prehistoric location in Antarctica.
 * Asteroid M, An asteroid made by Magneto, a mutant utopia and training facility off of the earth's surface.

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.


 * Racism : 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 as achieving "Xavier's dream", perhaps a reference to King's historic "I Have a Dream" speech. Magneto, in the first film, quotes Malcolm X with the line "By any means necessary". X-Men comic books have often portrayed mutants as the victim of mob violence, evoking images of the lynchings of African-Americans in the age before the American civil rights movement. Sentinels are thought to often represent oppressive forces like the KKK giving a form to denial of civil rights and amendments.


 * Diversity : Characters within the X-Men mythos hail from a wide variety of nationalities (see "International Characters" section above). These characters also reflect religious, ethnic or sexual minorities. Examples of Jewish characters include Shadowcat and Sabra, whilst Dust is a devout Muslim, Nightcrawler a devout Catholic and Thunderbird III is a follower of the Hindu faith. Karma was portrayed as a devout Catholic who regularly attended Mass and confession when she was introduced as a founding member of the New Mutants. This team also included a devout Wolfsbane (a devout Scots Presbyterian), Danielle Moonstar (a Cheyenne Native American) and Cannonball (a devout Baptist), and was later joined by Magma, a devout Greco-Roman classical religionist.


 * Homosexuality : Another metaphor that has been applied to the X-Men is that of LGBT 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. Specifically, Bobby's mother asks him, "Have you tried not being a mutant?" In addition, the first film featured a scene in which Senator Robert Kelly questioned whether mutants should be allowed to teach children in school, mirroring such debates as that over Section 28, in which Sir Ian McKellen (who played Magneto in the film) was involved. Homosexual and bisexual characters include Northstar, Karma, a minor student character known as 'Anole' and longstanding X-Men antagonists Destiny and Mystique.


 * AIDS: 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. A similar storyline appeared in the X-Men animated series that aired in the 1990s.


 * Red Scare : Occasionally, undercurrents of the "red scare" are present. Senator Robert Kelly's proposal of a "Mutant Registration Act" is similar to the efforts of United States 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," even brandishing a "list" of known mutants (a reference to Senator Joseph McCarthy's list of Communist Party USA members).


 * Anti-Semitism : Explicitly referenced in recent decades is the comparison between anti-mutant sentiment and 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.


 * Anti-Catholicism : Within the X-books there is a metaphorical connection between anti-Catholic prejudices and the X-Men's maligned, outcast status. Just as Catholics were often mistrusted and feared in early United States history because of their loyalty to a foreign Pope, so are the X-men suspect because of their double loyalties both to the same laws as all other citizens and to the "mutant cause." Individual members of the X-Men (and related teams) who have been overtly identified as Catholics include: Nightcrawler, Havok, Gambit, Siryn, Banshee, Sunspot, Skin, and Karma.


 * As a subculture: 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 the way that minority groups establish specific subcultures of their own that distinguish themselves from the broader general culture. Director Bryan Singer has remarked that the X-Men franchise has served as a metaphor for acceptance of all people for their special and unique gifts. The mutant condition that is often kept secret from the world is analogous to feelings of difference and fear usually developed in everyone during adolescence.


 * Characters: 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.

Cartoons

 * The X-Men made their first ever animated appearance on the 1960s Marvel Super Heroes TV series. The original X-Men line-up (Angel, Beast, Cyclops, Iceman, and Marvel Girl) made an appearance in one of the Sub-Mariner episodes (the first part of Doctor Doom's Day). The story was essentially an adaptation of a Fantastic Four storyline. But since, Grantray-Lawrence Animation didn't have the rights to the Fantastic Four, they substituted them with the X-Men. Interestingly enough, the X-Men were never referred to as the X-Men. They were instead, referred to as Allies for Peace. The characters kept their original looks and individual names from the comics though.
 * The X-Men occasionally guest-starred on Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. Spider-Man, Iceman and Firestar were the three regular heroes. The X-Men first appeared on the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends episode The Origin of Iceman. Appearing in this particular episode (in a flashback sequence only) are Professor X and the five original X-Men: Iceman, Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Angel, and Beast. The next appearance on Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends was in the episode A Firestar is Born. Making appearances in this particular episode are Professor X, Cyclops, Angel, Wolverine, Storm, and Juggernaut (plus Magneto in a cameo appearance). The X-Men would return the following season in the episode entitled The X-Men Adventure. Making appearances there were Professor X, Cyclops, Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Sprite, and Thunderbird.  The X-Men Adventure'' was meant to be a pilot for an X-Men cartoon, featuring the X-Men characters in the episode, plus Lady Lightning (animated version of Carol Danvers/Ms. Marvel) and Videoman as members.  Needless to say, the cartoon never happened.
 * In 1989, Marvel Productions produced a pilot X-Men episode for NBC called Pryde of the X-Men. The series was never picked up but the single episode aired infrequently in syndication during the Marvel Action Universe series and was later released on video. In 1991, a 4-6-player arcade game was based upon this failed series starring Cyclops, Wolverine, Colossus, Storm, Nightcrawler, and Dazzler. Professor X and Kitty Pryde also appear.
 * In 1992, the Fox Network launched an unrelated X-Men animated series with the roster of Beast, Cyclops, Gambit, Jean Grey, Jubilee, Professor X, Rogue, Storm and Wolverine with Bishop and Cable frequently guest starring. The two-part piloting episode, "Night of the Sentinels" set off what would become a five season series. It was an extraordinary success, becoming one of the most watched animated series in television history and helping widen the X-Men's popularity. The five seasons ended in 1997. It was put back in Fox's line up for several months after the first movie was released.
 * In 2000, Warner Brothers Network launched the television show X-Men: Evolution, which portrayed the X-Men as teenagers attending regular high school in addition to the Xavier Institute. The series ended in 2003 after its fourth season.
 * In 2007, Marvel Studios will put out a new X-Men animated show that will primarily feature Wolverine, this time using a mesh of 2D/3D animation for characters and backgrounds. Avi Arad, CEO of Marvel Studios, stated "X-Men is one of Marvel's crown jewels and it makes sense to focus on the popular Wolverine character for our second animation project."

Films
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.
 * In 2000, 20th Century Fox released X-Men, a $75 million film adaptation of the comic, directed by Bryan Singer.
 * In 2003, the sequel X2 also directed by Singer, was released. This film was loosely based on the 1982 graphic novel God Loves, Man Kills. It was an even greater success than the first film.
 * In 2006, a third movie X-Men: The Last Stand directed by Brett Ratner was released. Singer was originally slated to direct the film but left the project to work on Superman Returns. Matthew Vaughn was then selected to take Singer's place but dropped out in June 2005 due to "personal issues", resulting in the project being given to Ratner. X-Men: The Last Stand made $120.1 million in its first weekend, though it failed to break the opening day record of $50,013,859 set by Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.
 * Spin-offs: Lauren Donner, producer for the first two movies, has said the movie studio is interested in producing two spin-off films. One film will star Wolverine, in which Hugh Jackman will reprise his role as the clawed warrior. Screenwriter Sheldon Turner is currently working on bringing Magneto to the big screen in his own spin-off film. The plot will deal with the character's friendship turned sour with Charles Xavier. Turner has stated that "It's going to take place from 1939 Auschwitz up to 1955 or so." Although it at first appears unlikely that Ian McKellen will reprise his role, recently he stated that he would actually be playing a younger incarnation of his character due to a CGI effect which is able to make him appear younger. Rebecca Romijn, who plays Mystique in the X-Men franchise, has been approached about a Mystique film. Reputable movie news site http://www.superherohype.com has reported that X-Men: The Last Stand screenwriter Zak Penn is now writing a third X-Men spin-off film as well. There are some rumors that a fourth movie will be made, but it has not been confirmed.

Video games
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 X-Men 2: Clone Wars.

There are several video games for various platforms starring the X-Men. Many 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 Dimension the most recent in the series are the role-playing games X-Men Legends (2004) and its 2005 sequel X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse. 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 X-Men: The Official Movie Game which will fill in the gap between X2: X-Men United and X3: The Last Stand.