Marvel’s superheroes have seen their fair share of dystopian futures, but Earth X has to be by far the most depressing. The consequences of Reed Richards’ attempts to save the world’s energy crisis set in motion a series of events that turns the entire human race into mutants – Inhumans – and in the 20 years that follow, so does death and destruction.

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Along with this version of Earth comes the revelations about how the Celestials chose the planet to keep them alive and to make sure heroes like Cyclops, Captain America, and Spider-Man were chosen to protect the Universe’s creators from dying out. To get you up to speed, we’ve put together 10 things to know about Marvel’s bleakest timeline.

10 10. Every Human Has Superpowers

You’d think a world where everyone has superpowers would be pretty cool, right? Well in Earth X, that’s not the case. It appears as though it’s the fault of Mister Fantastic – an old, bearded man living in Latveria under the guise of the now deceased Doctor Doom. However, the fate of the human population lies at the feet of Black Bolt.

In an attempt to stop his own people from being persecuted, he released the Terrigen Mists into Earth’s atmosphere so that they could survive amongst others who share their powers. Unfortunately, many superheroes suffer as a result, with some losing their powers and others losing their lives.

9 9. Vibranium Is The Cause Of Everyone’s Mutation

The Celestials are an alien race covered in vibranium armor, and the only way they can reproduce is by planting pockets of vibranium energy into different planets in order for their race to expand. The meteor that crashed into Wakanda all those years ago and gave T’Chaka and his people the ability to create advanced technology was actually put there by The Celestials.

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Once it got into the soil, it soon reached the ‘embryo’ of the Celestials’ next lifeform, helping it to grow and eventually be born. As soon as the Terrigen Mists were unleashed, Wakanda saw more extreme cases of mutation, giving a whole manner of animals the ability to speak and turning T'Challa's head into that of an actual panther.

8 8. Superheroes Are The Antibody

One of the huge revelations in Earth X is that all superheroes – regardless of their powers, sex, or race – were created with a Celestial Seed. The same goes for all mutants, aliens, and monsters that exist within the universe. These seeds were due to trigger at different points, whether through evolution like the X-Men or by specific events.

When Bruce Banner absorbed the gamma radiation, or Matt Murdock got blinded as a child, or when Peter Parker was bitten by a spider, it caused the seed to germinate. This meant that their ability to change was always going to happen, but these incidents made the mutation happen quicker than possible.

7 7. The New Mutated Race Cannot Age

When the Terrigen Mists fell to Earth, it meant that none of the new mutants would be able to age at all. Heroes who currently had powers wouldn’t have their growth halted, such as Reed Richards growing long grey hair and a beard. Other superheroes like Cyclops gained a receding hairline, and Spider-Man put on a fair amount of weight.

Perhaps the most affected by the mutation of the human race was Logan and Jean Grey (later revealed to be Madelyne Prior). Wolverine is seen lounging about on the sofa drinking beer in a dingy apartment, whilst Prior is obese and constantly complains about how much Logan has let himself go.

6 6. The Ability To Procreate Is Gone

As a result of the inhabitants of Earth gaining superpowers, it meant that people had lost the ability to procreate. We see few examples of children on Earth X, showing us an even bleaker view of the dystopia Jim Krueger created.

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The only young child we see is a version of Bruce Banner – now separated from his split personality of the Hulk – riding on top of the once Incredible beast, now a sad, ape-like creature who’s lost just as much as anyone else. It’s a sad state of affairs, and in a state of cruel irony, the only reproduction is that of the menacing Celestials that intend on wiping out the planet.

5 5. The Celestials Want To Destroy Earth

This may seem a little odd, but because of Black Bolt’s actions, the Earth’s people have mutated 300 years sooner than they should, and this was never the plan of the Celestials. According to these all-powerful aliens, it was not their destiny for this to happen prematurely.

As a result, the Celestials plan to wipe out the human race and move on to another planet, but thanks to a little help from Galactus, the humans aren’t down and out just yet. It is revealed that Franklin Richards – the son of Reed Richards and Sue Storm – stops the Celestials and is indeed the new Galactus, whilst Tony Stark sacrifices himself to kill the Celestial born from the Earth’s core.

4 4. Galactus’ True Purpose

One thing Earth X does so well is give meaning to everything that has ever happened, due to the deep conversations X-51 and Uatu the Watcher have throughout. Whether explaining the purpose of heroes like Namor, the Inhumans, and the Fantastic Four, or the reason for existence and everything in between, everything is given great context.

When it came to explaining Galactus’ role in the Marvel universe – or more so why he devours planets – the reasoning was to restore balance to the Celestials modus operandi of impregnating planets with their vibranium energy. Galactus needed to maintain this balance, hence he needs to consume so many planets to do so.

3 3. Many Of The Events In Earth X Came To Fruition Canonically

The Earth X miniseries is underrated, and rarely gets talked about when discussing the best Marvel stories of all time. Regardless of its reception from the masses, there’s no denying it did a great job of predicting some of the future storylines we saw within the Marvel Universe.

For example, Loki turns Thor into a woman after convincing Odin it’d teach him a lesson in humility (something Jane Foster has become in the Thor publications). Black Panther and Storm are married in Earth X (7 years before it happened elsewhere), and the Daily Bugle go out of business as a result of Spider-Man revealing his true identity (which happened in Civil War).

2 2. Not Everyone Suffered As A Result Of The Mutations

Whilst many superheroes died thanks to Black Bolt’s decision to turn everyone into Inhumans due to the expelling of Terrigen Mist across the Earth’s atmosphere, some actually benefited from it. Warren Worthington III AKA Archangel lost his fortune; however, he learned humility from such loss and became a great aid to the downtrodden members of civilization.

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The Thing settles down with Alicia Masters and has a couple of children called Hank and Buzz, and Norman Osborn becomes the President of the United States. Okay, so there aren’t many cases of positivity in this very bleak world, but for some, there was a silver lining.

Venom crushes Peter Parker in comics

This isn’t quite as clear cut as it sounds, and in no way is it revealed Eddie Brock and Peter Parker are related. In Earth X, Parker has a daughter called May, and she has now successfully connected with the alien symbiote, becoming Venom in the process.

Throughout the miniseries, Parker tries to teach his daughter the same lessons Uncle Ben once taught him, especially the great power, great responsibility mantra. But toward the end of their story, Parker dons the Spider-Man costume once more and puts his own unique spin on those famous words he’s lived by his entire life as the web-slinger.

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