In this feature we examine comic book stories and ideas that were not only abandoned, but also had the stories/plots specifically "overturned" by a later writer (as if they were a legal precedent). Click here for an archive of all the previous editions of The Abandoned An' Forsaked. Feel free to e-mail me at bcronin@comicbookresources.com if you have any suggestions for future editions of this feature.

Today, we look at the revelations regarding who, exactly, were the original members of Professor Xavier's X-Men.

In the original X-Men #1 (by Stan Lee, jack Kirby and Paul Reinman), Jean Grey meets Professor Charles Xavier and the X-Men and becomes the last member of the original group of five...

We've addressed in a past Abandoned an' Forsaked that this was actually NOT Jean and Xavier's first meeting (Chris Claremont later retconned it so that Jean and Xavier met when Jean's powers first manifested and he helped put a clamp on them at the time). But that doesn't change that the X-Men had five original members.

Or DID they? Go to the next page to discover their retconned-in sixth original member!

In X-Men #20 (by Roy Thomas, Werner Roth and Dick Ayers), we got a flashback that explained how Xavier lost the use of his legs, in battle with the evil Lucifer!

However, in X-Treme X-Men #44 (by Chris Claremont, Igor Kordey, Greg Adams and Sandu Florea), we see that a young girl saved Xavier's life after he lost the use of his legs and then slaughtered the bad guys to protect Xavier as she brought him to safety...

In X-Treme X-Men #7 (by Chris Claremont and Salvador Larroca), we see that Xavier recruited Sage to be a spy for the original X-Men...

In X-Treme X-Men #3 (by Claremont and Larroca), we see that it still kills Sage that Xavier made the other heroes while she was a spy, instead...

So yeah, Sage was an original member of the X-Men! This is pretty much NVER referenced, but it happened!

That's it for this installment!

Send any suggestions for future notable comic book retcons to brian@cbr.com!