X-Men comics have given Marvel fans some of the most interesting alternate timelines and universes. Age of Apocalypse and Days of Future Past serve as two of the most iconic alternate timelines in all of Marvel comics. In terms of stakes, however, House of M takes the cake.
Created by the impossibly powerful Scarlet Witch and her reality-warping powers, this new timeline gave every single person exactly what they wanted. Nonetheless, Wolverine retains his new memories and convinces the other heroes that they are living a lie.
This story was one of the most interesting we've seen in X-Men history. It'd be a good one to catch up on before the upcoming WandaVision series debuting on Disney Plus. Here are the top ten things fans should know about House of M.
10 Everyone Agrees: Wanda Needs to Die
During the Avengers Disassembled storyline, Wanda Maximoff lost control of her reality-warping abilities. The ensuing chaos resulted in the deaths of several Avengers. In response, heroes from all over the Marvel universe, including the X-Men and Avengers, assembled to try and find a solution.
In the end, the majority of the heroes agree, Wanda had to go. Her powers were way too devastating, and there was simply no way to help her control them. After hearing the news, Quicksilver quickly rushed to his sister's side, convincing her of a solution that could fix everything: create a reality where everyone gets what they wanted.
9 Mutants Rule
In this new reality, mutants are the majority. It was Magneto's greatest desire that mutants rule while humans are in the minority. Humans are viewed as second class citizens. They suffer the constant struggle and persecution that their mutant counterparts had experienced in the original reality.
Many of Marvel's most famous institutions are made up of mutant characters rather than human ones. The most famous of these is SHIELD, now comprised of characters such as Mystique, Rogue and Toad.
8 The House Of Magneto
In this new mutant dominated world, Magneto is the global dictator. His House of M is the royal family of this reality, made up of Magneto, Scarlet Witch, her children, Quicksilver and Polaris.
While he is viewed as a noble ruler among most mutants, many humans do not appreciate Magneto's style of dictatorship. Among the humans, a resistance has slowly formed underground. This movement is lead by none other than Power Man himself, Luke Cage.
7 Spider-Man's New Life
Of the many new lives our favorite Marvel heroes find themselves in, none is more interesting than that of Peter Parker's. In this new House of M reality, Spidey is a famous celebrity. Everyone knows his secret identity, and he has gained his fame through being an actor, superhero, wrestler, and businessman.
Most importantly, in this reality, Peter is married to Gwen Stacy. George Stacy and Uncle Ben are also still alive. All of the tragedy in Peter's life had been washed away, and being Spider-Man was no longer destroying his personal life.
6 Wolverine Kept His Memories
Wolverine is the only hero in House of M to remember the world before Wanda altered reality. Perhaps it had something to do with his healing factor or perhaps his greatest wish was to know the truth. Regardless, it is Wolverine that starts to bring everyone together, showing our favorite comic heroes that they are living a lie.
Not only does Logan retain his memories from the mainstream reality, but he actually also regains the memories of his origins. One of Wolverine's defining characteristics was his amnesia and his mysterious Weapon X origins. Logan regaining these memories was a game-changer for the character.
5 Hawkeye Resurrected
During the Avengers Disassembled storyline, Hawkeye is one of the Avenger casualties. Wanda's loss of control was the indirect reason for his death. During House of M, it is revealed that in this new reality Hawkeye never died.
Upon learning this fact, Wolverine is stunned. Once Hawkeye learned of his fate, he became extremely distraught and left the resistance. When House of M ends and reality is set right again, it appears that Hawkeye had been resurrected. This is most likely due to Wanda's guilt over the archer's death.
4 Layla Miller
Other than Wolverine, there is one other mutant in House of M who knows the truth. Layla Miller is a mutant with the powers to restore people's memories from the base reality. She is a key player in the series, and without her, the world never would have been set right again.
Doctor Strange reasons that Layla was actually created by Scarlet Witch. Deep inside Wanda's subconscious, she must have known something would go wrong. So, as a failsafe, she created Layla to help set things right.
3 Magneto Kills Quicksilver
Towards the end of the story, Wolverine has gathered quite the team of Marvel heroes and villains to go up against the royal house of Magneto. Hoping to set things right, this team makes their way to Genosha to get Wanda to fix reality once and for all.
Once Magneto's memories are restored, he becomes enraged. Learning his son Quicksilver is the one responsible, Magneto crushes the speedster into a bloody pulp using large pieces of steel. Although Scarlet Witch quickly brings her brother back to life, this murder on the count of their father is shocking nevertheless.
2 No More Mutants
Just after bringing her brother back too life, Wanda scolds her father. "We're freaks, Mutants... You chose this over us and you ruined us... Daddy!" Then Scarlet Witch uttered three words that have become iconic in Marvel history. No more mutants.
In the next instant, the world has been returned to normal. Things weren't exactly the same, however. The world's mutant population had been reduced from millions to a couple hundred. Mutants were now on the brink of extinction.
1 The Collective
Sometime later, it was revealed that the collective energy from all the depowered mutant's powers was revealed to still be out there. It merged with a postal worker named Michael Pointer. Confused and disoriented, Pointer entered Canada and killed every member of Alpha Flight (except Sasquatch) using this collective energy.
Pointer eventually learns to control the seemingly limitless energy of the collective, joining the team Omega Flight.