The X-Men have gone through multiple potential futures and timelines over the years, and many of them have received deep explorations. While the X-Men have explored some of these timelines in-depth, others were only glimpsed in single issues of alternate reality titles like What If?... and Exiles. Still, some others some of them were hardly hinted at or shown once in even more fleeting ways.
In the early 2000s, Marvel offered glimpses of several alternate timelines in a series of Millennial Visions specials. These comics featured concept drawings and prose descriptions of wildly imaginative worlds from some of the era's biggest creators. While one of these specials introduced an early version of the fan-favorite X-Man Nocturne, some of these ideas never saw the light of day outside of 2000's X-Men: Millennial Visions or its 2002 follow-up, but now, we're taking a closer look at some ideas that are still worth revisiting.
P.I. ROGUE
The X-Treme X-Men featured a group of mutant heroes searching the world for the diaries left behind by Destiny before her demise. Although these diaries eventually turned out to be fakes created by Mysqitue to distract the X-Men, Rogue took other belongings that belonged to Destiny during their search in the world of Alex Maleev's "Rouge P.I." While the prophecies in the diaries weren't real, Rogue was able to soon create her own visions of the future.
Still missing one of the women who helped raise her, Rogue came into contact with too many of the remaining hairs and skin flakes left by Destiny on items like her scarves and glasses. This allowed Rogue to accidentally absorb the dangerous precognitive abilities that Destiny once possessed. When the X-Treme X-Men broke up, Rogue decided to instead use her newfound powers to continue being a detective. Becoming a private investigator, this version of Rogue was soon exploring New York and learning more about the potential fate of her clients, and the world around her. This premise could have easily been something of a companion piece to Jessica Jones' adventures in Alias and or Bishop's cases in District X, which took over-the-top superheroics to a more street level.
BY THE MAKER
In "By the Maker," Tom Derenick imagined a massive and expansive finale for the X-Men that plays out like a more streamlined version of X-Men: The End. After spending years fighting against his old friend Charles Xavier and never defeating him fully, Magneto finally made a surprising alliance with Deathbird. The deposed Shi'Ar royal was able to use Magneto and his tremendous power to stage a coup against Empress Lilandra, slaying her and allowing Deathbird to assume command of the Shi'Ar Empire.
Quickly turning her full attention to Earth, Deathbird assists Magneto in a new assault on the X-Men. Almost all the team is wiped out in the attack, with only a handful of survivors escaping the carnage. The last remaining mutants find themselves enhanced by the late Forge's final inventions, each of which unleashed the full potential of each mutant and gave them incredible new amplifications of their powers: Professor Xavier is fused with Cerebro and becomes a disembodied conscious. Xavier guides a now completely berserker Wolverine, with his healing factor being enhanced to Hulk-levels. Jean Grey has fully embraced her connection to the Pheonix Force, while Storm has become a sentiment weather pattern for the planet.
Colossus and Jubilee both receive major upgrades to their power, with Colossus now able to shift his density, strength, and shape while Jubilee's explosions are now strong enough to destroy entire cities. But this amplification worked too well on Rogue, whose ability to absorb the powers and life force of others has now been amplified to even connect through the air itself, forcing Rogue to wear a suit that covers her entire body, lest she risks killing everyone she goes near. Together, they are the last line of defense Earth has against Magneto and Deathbird.
X-PUNKS
In the world of Keith Giffen's "X-Punks," the eventual passage of the Mutant Rights Legislation Act helped begin the end of mutant persecution. Mutants were fully embraced and accepted into society, and groups like the X-Men are simply phased out and become the norm. However, society stills find a new target: the poor, working class. With the wealth gap in this timeline reaching crisis proportions, an entire generation of young humans and mutants born into a world where they'll never be given a chance.
A group of mutant street kids become the protectors of their local area and become the newest generation of X-Men. Refusing to become like the Nat-Puppets -- a slang term for mutants who have assimilated into modern culture -- four young mutants take on the names of the former heroes they once idolized: Rogue, Iceman, Beast and Angel. This reality grows more and more relevant with each passing year, with the ever-increasing wealth gap in the United States giving this story a real-world bite that could make it all the more memorable.
BROTHERHOOD'S KEEPER
The world of Manuel Gutierrez's "Brotherhood's Keeper" is a dark and cruel potential future for the Brotherhood of Mutants. The Brotherhood is still ruled over by Magneto, who's age has finally started to catch up to him. However, he's found a true partner in Rogue Darkholme, the result of Rogue and Mystique essentially fusing into a single being. Magneto has grown increasingly paranoid that Rogue has begun an affair with her ex-flame Gambit, which could lead to a coup attempt. Together, they've had a young daughter known as Plague.
With the power to create and control virus-sized "MicroSentienls" that can break through the skin of targets and cause havoc inside their bodies, they're already facing troubling odds. The chaos of the situation is only exasperated by the arrival of Pete Wisdom, who has grown disillusioned with humanity and wants to pull a power play against the Brotherhood, even if that means taking Plague under his wing and turning her into a devilishly clever threat. This is a dark and bleak look at one of mutantkind's greatest dynasties as it falls apart in a spectacular fashion that wouldn't be out of place in a mature readers' book.
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