The X-Men have starred in amazing comics over the years. For many Marvel fans, the X-Men are the best of the best. They've had an interesting road to the top; for years, they were one of Marvel's weakest concepts, but the '80s and '90s made them comics' biggest team. The greatest talent in the industry's history has worked on the X-Men, creating memorable tales.
Superhero comics are known for their interconnected nature, and the X-Men are no different. However, not every X-Men comic goes somewhere. Many of them have endings that never get expanded, or their concepts aren't revisited.
10 Uncanny X-Men: The Draco Was Hated And Has Been Ignored Since It Dropped
Writer Chuck Austen has created many controversial X-Men comics. He wrote Uncanny X-Men and X-Men for about three years, even though everyone hated every story he wrote. Uncanny X-Men: The Draco, by Austen and artists Sean Phillips, Philip Tan, and Takeshi Miyazawa, introduced readers to Azazel, a demonic mutant who was the father of Nightcrawler.
This story has been roundly hated since it dropped twenty years ago. The story has never been retconned, but it's rarely been brought up since. It's theoretically important to Nightcrawler's history, but no one ever references it.
9 Chris Claremont's 2000 Return To The X-Men Books Made No Impact
Writer Chris Claremont is the entire reason the X-Men are popular. He wrote the book for seventeen years, from 1974 to 1991. After nine years away, Claremont returned to the X-Men books in the year 2000, writing X-Men and Uncanny X-Men, working with artists Leinil Yu, Adam Kubert, and Tom Raney. He created a new faction of mutants, the Neo, for the X-Men to face, and fans were excited.
Claremont was wildly creative during his time on the books, introducing new characters in most of his issues. However, with Joe Quesada taking over as Editor-In-Chief, Marvel was in a period of flux, and Claremont's second run didn't do as well as his old one. He only wrote nine issues of each book and then left, as Grant Morrison was soon coming to write the X-Men. Magneto slaughtered the Neo after Claremont left, so even his new characters disappeared.
8 X-Men (Vol. 6) #4 Had Jean Grey Defeat Nightmare, And It Didn't Matter
X-Men (Vol. 6) hasn't been very good, but the first three issues weren't terrible. The fourth issue was where readers realized the book wasn't worthwhile. Written by Gerry Duggan with art by Javier Pina, the book focuses on Nightmare, on a rampage because of Doctor Strange's death, attacking the X-Men's dreams.
Jean Grey stops him, her telepathic powers somehow defeating what is basically the god of dreams. Jean is powerful, but not that powerful. On top of that, Duggan gets the fact that Jean was the Phoenix and the one who destroyed the D'Bari star system wrong. Jean Grey telepathically defeating a cosmic being hasn't been referenced at all since.
7 Age Of X-Man Has Been Completely Forgotten Less Than Four Years Later
There are plenty of hated X-Men stories, with Age of X-Man standing tall among that number. The story spun out of X-Men Disassembled and involved the X-Men trapped in an alternate universe created by X-Man. The story was basically an Age of Apocalypse rehash with a twist, but fans didn't show up for it.
The story followed AoA's example by using multiple miniseries and one-shots. Behind the scenes, the book was a placeholder event as Jonathan Hickman was about to reboot the X-Men line completely. However, this story made no impact; characters in the books don't talk about it, and fans rarely think about it.
6 2017's Astonishing X-Men Never Happened As Far As Any Character Is Concerned
There are X-Men comics fans want to forget, something that sums up 2017's Astonishing X-Men perfectly. Written by Charles Soule, each issue of the book had a different big-name artist, with Leinil Yu, Jim Cheung, Mike Deodato, Ed McGuinness, and more penciling an issue. The book pits a team of X-Men against Shadow King and Proteus, and sees Xavier getting resurrected.
Technically, Xavier's return had an impact, but no one has ever brought up how he was resurrected – his mind transplanted into Fantomex's body – which seems like it should have come up. On top of that, Shadow King and Proteus's actions have also never been referenced.
5 X-Men (Vol. 6) #8 Pit The X-Men Against MODOK, And No One Has Cared Since
Marvel missed many opportunities in 2022, and one of those was getting rid of Gerry Duggan as writer of the X-Men. X-Men (Vol. 6) is often god-awful, and issue 8 is another example. Written by Duggan with art by Javier Pina, it saw the X-Men freeing a cruise liner from MODOK and AIM soldiers. It's a meaningless comic.
X-Men (Vol. 6) tells many stories like this. It's an action book where the X-Men fight an enemy, with each issue focusing on one character. This one is supposed to focus on Wolverine, but it doesn't do a very good job of that.
4 God Loves, Man Kills Is Out Of Continuity
Not every X-Men story that goes nowhere is bad. Some of them are among the greatest X-Men comics ever. God Loves, Man Kills is an example of that. Written by Chris Claremont with art by Brad Anderson, the book sees the X-Men and Magneto team up to battle Reverend Stryker, an anti-mutant bigot killing mutant children.
Reverend Stryker and his Purifiers do make an appearance down the line in the X-Men books, but this story doesn't affect those appearances. It's an out-of-continuity story, which somehow makes it a lot more powerful. It allowed Claremont and Anderson to do things they couldn't do otherwise.
3 Marvel Wants Everyone To Forget X-Corp
X-Corp, by writer Tini Howard and artist Alberto Floche, was an interesting concept during the Krakoa Era that failed. The comic was meant to shine a light on the corporate dealings of Krakoa, bringing Krakoan technology to the world. The book starred M, Archangel, Mastermind, Trinary, Selene, and Multiple Man, as they battled the Fenris Twins, who worked for a human corporation trying to poach Krakoan tech.
The book's first issue sold well, but each issue lost about ten thousand readers per month until it ended with issue five. Marvel hasn't picked up any threads from the book. They don't want anyone to remember it, so no one will be reminded of how epically it failed.
2 X-Men (Vol. 5) #18-19 Is Great, But Its Impact Was Botched
X-Men history has given readers great stories, especially the Jonathan Hickman-written sections of the Krakoa Era. X-Men (Vol. 5) #18-19, with art by Mahmud Asrar, picked up on a plot line from earlier in the series. It follows Synch, Wolverine, and Darwin as they spy on the Children of the Vault, where time is different, spending hundreds of years surviving.
In the end, Synch is the only one to escape. The plot line was picked up in vol. 6, but completely botched, with Darwin and the older version of Wolverine being revealed to have survived. Hickman wanted this plot to have more meaning, but Duggan botched it and destroyed its impact.
1 X-Men (Vol. 6) #3 Pits The X-Men In A One-Off Fight With The High Evolutionary
X-Men (Vol. 6) stands tall among the biggest comic disappointments of 2022, but there are some good issues of the book. X-Men (Vol. 6) #3, by Duggan and artist Pepe Larraz, pits the new X-Men team against the High Evolutionary, Luminous, and his Evolutionary Guard. It's a pretty great fight, with the X-Men triumphing over their foe.
The X-Men against the High Evolutionary in the Krakoa Era is an awesome idea, but this is the only time it comes up. Duggan had the High Evolutionary battle with Rogue when writing Uncanny Avengers, which is why he appears in this issue. With Rogue off the team, there's been no return of the High Evolutionary.