Originally called "the strangest teens of all time", the X-Men had only five members: Angel, Beast, Cyclops, Iceman, Marvel Girl (Jean Grey), and their teacher, Professor X (Charles Xavier). One of their first battles was with Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. (X-Men #1) As time passed, more members were added to the ranks, including: Havok (Cyclops' brother), Polaris, and Sunfire.

On a mission to fight the living island of Krakoa, however, there was a chance the X-Men would not return. Professor X recruited five new members to save the original team. They were: Colossus, Nightcrawler, Storm, Thunderbird, and Wolverine. (Giant-Size X-Men #1) They did help the original X-Men escape and further added to their ranks. Within a few missions, the X-Men would face their first loss: Thunderbird would give his life to stop a dictator. (X-Men #97)

One of X-Men's greatest challenges came when, during a space shuttle rescue, Jean Grey was transformed into the Phoenix. She now had incredible powers at her disposal. That power came to the attention of the X-Men's enemies, including members of The Hellfire Club. One such member, Mastermind, used his mutant power of illusion to convince Jean she was his lover in a 19th century fantasy. Only when the X-Men attacked the Hellfire club did Jean free herself from the illusion.

The damage had already been done. Seeing the destruction of the Hellfire Club, the Phoenix entity became Dark Phoenix. The Dark Phoenix attacked the X-Men, but it wasn't enough for her newfound evil emotions. She flew into deep space and destroyed a star for the sake of pure evil. When she returned to Earth, the X-Men had set a trap for her and managed to free Jean of the Phoenix force. At the same time, though, warriors from the Shi'ar empire captured the X-Men. They wanted to execute Phoenix/ Jean Grey for the destruction of the star and the loss of the 2 billion people living on an orbiting planet! Instead, the X-Men and the Royal Guards chose combat: the winner would decide the fate of Phoenix. Rather than be responsible for more lives lost, Jean sacrificed herself to prevent the Phoenix from returning. (X-Men #107)

Time passed and the X-Men added more members to their roster: Dazzler, Shadowcat, Rogue, Psylocke, Longshot, and Forge; while some of the members left: Beast joined the Avengers, Angel and Iceman left. After meeting and marrying Madelyne Pryor, Cyclops would turn over leadership of the X-Men to Storm. (Uncanny X-Men #201) In addition, Professor Xavier would leave as well, preferring to travel the galaxy with the Shi'ar empress, Lilandra.

After a conflict known as "The Fall of the Mutants", the X-Men moved their base of operations to the Australian outback and let the world believe they were dead. At the same time, the five original members of the X-Men (including a not-dead-after-all Jean Grey) regrouped as X-Factor. (X-Factor #1) Over in England, Nightcrawler and Shadowcat, believing the X-Men were dead, formed their own group: Excalibur. (Excalibur #1) While the X-Men were in Australia, a new villain called Mr. Sinister made his appearance. It was he who had cloned Jean Grey and created Madelyne Pryor.

The X-Men would return to the public world, however, but not before they were forced to pass though an object called the "Siege Perilious", which took away their memories. They eventually reformed the X-Men and added more new members: Strong Guy, Wolfsbane, Madrox the Multiple Man, Legion, and Gambit. Professor Xavier would return as well, having spent enough time in outer space with Lilianda. (Uncanny X-Men #278)

The group's reforming and Professor Xavier's timing could not have been better. It was then that their old enemy, the Shadow King chose to attack. After possessing members of the X-Men and then taking control of Xavier's son, Legion, the Shadow King was finally defeated. The question now, was: what to do with the X-Men...all 30 of them? (X-Factor #70) The answer was simple: form multiple teams: a new X-Factor, X-Men Gold, and X-Men Blue.

The new teams barely had time to relax. The X-Men Blue team was called on to stop Magneto and his band of followers, the Acolytes. (X-Men (2) #1-#3) For the X-Men Gold team, they faced a new villain, this time from the future: Trevor Fitzroy. He was closely followed by that time period's police force: Bishop, Randall, and Malcolm. (Uncanny X-Men #282) Randall and Malcolm would be killed by Fitzroy, but Bishop would later join the X-Men.

Over the next few months, the X-Men would be drawn into a battle with an X-Force villain, Stryfe. (Uncanny X-Men #294) It would be learned that Cyclop's child, Nathan, had grown up to become Cable. It was also learned that Cable was cloned and the clone became Stryfe. (Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix #1) Stryfe was defeated, but not before releasing the "legacy" virus into the world. In fact, one of the first victims to fall to the virus would be Colossus' younger sister, Magik. (Uncanny X-Men #314)

It was soon after this loss that Magneto began to offer haven for mutants around the world. His space station, Asteroid M, was rebuilt. Fearing an attack from space, the X-Men planned an attack designed to stop Magneto, possibly for the last time. After arriving on the station, the battle began. Xavier and Jean fought Magneto mentally. But, in an unplanned move, Wolverine attacked Magneto. This resulted in Magneto ripping the adamantium from Wolverine's skeleton! In a desperate move, Xavier, in retaliation, used his own metal powers to reduce Magneto to a vegetative mental state. (X-Men (2) #25) It was also at this time that a "evil parasite" leapt from Magneto to Xavier, which would cause Xavier to become Onslaught. (Wolverine #104)

Unknown to the X-Men, Legion was recovering from the coma he had been placed in since the battle with the Shadow King. He awoke from the coma and concluded that the world's human/ mutant problems began with Magneto. Since Magneto's ideals were too powerful to be stopped now, Legion would travel back in time! Legion traveled 30 years in the past, but as he fired on Magneto, Xavier jumped in front of the blast. (X-Men (2) #41) Now, Professor Xavier would never form the X-Men.

The "present" time reflected this change almost immediately as the world was thrown into "The Age of Apocalypse"-- a dark, almost hopeless world ruled by the X-Men's foe Apocalypse. In Xavier's honor, Magneto had formed his own band of rebels-the Astonishing X-Men. These X-Men were not the same as before: some members worked for Apocalypse (Cyclops, Havok, and Beast), some left the X-Men (Weapon X, Jean Grey, and Gambit) and some were completely different (Blink, Morph, Sunfire, X-Man, and Wild Child). (X-Men Alpha) With the help of Bishop (who had survived the reality-warp), Magneto realized that his reality was not the "correct" one at all! After defeating Apocalypse, the reality-shaping M'Krann crystal was repaired and the proper reality was restored. (X-Men Omega)

No sooner had reality returned to normal, than the X-Men faced a greater threat-a villain with the ability to hurl the "unstoppable" Juggernaut across the U.S.: Onslaught! (Uncanny X-Men #322) Before the Onslaught menace, though, a young man by the name of Joseph came to the attention of the X-Men. (X-Men Unlimited #11) This young man had very strong magnetic powers, but no memory of who he was. Is this man really Magneto, altered by the reality-shifting?

The X-Men had little time to answer that question as the menace of Onslaught hit them full force. (X-Men (2) #50) This was an unstoppable creature who seemed to know all the X-Men's secrets. In fact, this monster was an extension of Xavier's fears and hatred. (X-Men (2) #54) Onslaught was finally stopped, but not without the help of other Marvel heroes and the loss of many lives. (Onslaught: Epilogue)

As comics' most popular super-hero group, the X-Men's continuing adventures are guaranteed to be just as exciting. And the only the artists know for sure what will happen in the future (or the past).

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