Comic Book Questions Answered - where I answer whatever questions you folks might have about comic books (feel free to e-mail questions to me at bcronin@comicbookresources.com). Here is a link to an archive of all the past questions that have been answered so far.

Reader Jazzbo wrote in to ask:

Was there a reason why the X-Men weren't a part of the original Infinity Gauntlet series? Other than Wolverine and a brief cameo by Cyclops in one issue, no other X-characters are a part of the story, which seems like a strange choice as this was the height of popularity for those characters.I would assume there was some sort of editorial reason why they weren't involved, although I guess it could just be that Starlin doesn't like those characters? Anyway, I couldn't find anything online about it. Thanks.

Read on for the answer!

Jazzbo is correct that the only two X-related characters who take part in Infinity Gauntlet are Cyclops and Wolverine. In the case of Cyclops, we at least see that every other member of X-Factor were killed during Thanos' whole "kill half the universe with one snap of his fingers" routine...



but the X-Men and Excalibur just get "We don't know where they are"...



Later in issue #2, though, when Jim Starlin, George Perez and Joe Rubinstein spotlight how the various remaining heroes are dealing with the destruction to Earth also caused by Thanos apart from him killing off half the population, Wolverine is one of the heroes who get a spotlight...





In issue #3, both Wolverine and Cyclops are chosen by Warlock for a group of heroes to attack Thanos at his homebase...





Wolverine gets a good scene with Hulk where Warlock approaches them about killing Thanos when the time comes...





But during the actual battle, both Wolverine and Cyclops get taken care of easily...







In the final issue, when another user of the Infinity Gauntlet reverses everything that Thanos did, we don't even see Wolverine and Cyclops again.

Okay, so why just two X-Men in the comic?

It was, in fact, an editorial thing. Other editors were sort of wary of tying into Infinity Gauntlet, so the X-Men editor (Bob Harras, at the time, although I can't say for sure that he made the call - he might have farmed the decision out) told Starlin he could only use two X-Characters and Starlin would just have to choose who he wanted. Obviously, Starlin went with the most popular one, Wolverine, and I guess Cyclops is right up there with most popular X-Men.

The amusing thing, naturally, is that Infinity Gauntlet was a huge hit, so when it came time to do the sequel, suddenly the X-Men office was a lot more willing to make their characters available...



There ya go, Jazzbo!

If anyone else has a question, feel free to write in at bcronin@comicbookresources.com!