The X-Men have had a long and storied journey since their creation. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, they would go from being canceled to one of the most popular comics in the industry. Some of the best creators in the industry have worked on their books, telling stories that have defined the team and hidden gems that everyone forgets about it.
These creators have helped give the team their identity, taking Lee and Kirby's civil rights allegory team and expanding upon the concept, creating a franchise that has touched the lives of millions of fans around the world.
10 Roy Thomas
Roy Thomas has an interesting place in Marvel history. He was the guy who often took over for Stan Lee after he left a book, with this one and Avengers being the biggest of his career. Working with artists like Neal Adam, Thomas would take Lee and Kirby's start with the book and run with it, expanding on Xavier's origin and introducing new mutants like Havok and Polaris.
Havok and Polaris would go on to become big parts of the X-Men, with Havok even leading the team on multiple occasions. Thomas did a great job throwing new and interesting foes at the teams and building on the concept.
9 Joss Whedon
After Grant Morrison left Marvel, it was time for the X-Men to change again. Marvel went outside the world of comics and got writer/director Joss Whedon to write a new flagship book, Astonishing X-Men. Whedon would take a back to basics approach with the team, bringing the team back to its superhero roots, including the return of the more classic superhero costumes.
His work heavily echoed Claremont's and focused on Kitty Pryde, a fan favorite character who often got lost in the shuffle. After Morrison's revolutionary work with the mutants, Whedon's more classic approach set the team in a new direction.
8 Louise Simonson
Louise Simonson never wrote Uncanny X-Men, but she still has a huge place in X-Men history. She created X-Factor, bringing the original five X-Men back together for the first time in years and would flesh the characters out immensely. She'd also work on New Mutants, helping to create the next generation of mutants.
Simonson was responsible for the creation of some big mutants, like Cable and Apocalypse, who would go on to become one of the most popular and deadly villains in the Marvel Universe. Simonson worked closely with Chris Claremont, helping to usher the X-Men through one of their most popular times and bringing a lot to the mythos of the group.
7 Jason Aaron
Jason Aaron started his time with the X-Men by writing a fan favorite run on Wolverine. Eventually, he would be responsible for the limited series, Schism, which would see Wolverine and Cyclops come to blows and split the team in half. Aaron would follow the adventures of Wolverine and the students and faculty of the new Jean Grey school in Wolverine and the X-Men and Amazing X-Men.
Aaron's splitting of two of the most important X-Men changed the status quo of the X-Men books for years and finally gave Wolverine his chance to shine as a team leader. Aaron's WatX would refocus on the school aspects of the X-Men, introducing a bunch of new young mutants and fleshing out Quintin Quire, making him a fan favorite.
6 Brian Michael Bendis
While Bendis wrote two X-Men books, Uncanny X-Men and All-New X-Men, his biggest change to the mutant team didn't come in either of those books- it was in the event series, House Of M. At the end of this story, Scarlet Witch would fatefully utter three words- "No More Mutants"- and change the X-Men for over a decade.
Depowering the vast majority of mutants, it completely changed the X-Men. On the brink of extinction, the team had to adapt to an entirely new paradigm. While Bendis would make some changes in his later X-Men work- bringing the past versions of the original X-Men into the present in All-New and highlighting a more militant Cyclops in Uncanny- none of these changes can match House Of M's seismic change to the team.
5 Jonathan Hickman
Hickman has only been writing the X-Men since the summer of 2019 but he's already massively changed the franchise. Giving the mutants their own nation was an inspired choice and a logical extension of Grant Morrison's work almost twenty years earlier. He would take a familiar supporting character, Moira MacTaggert, and make her into one of the most important mutants ever.
Hickman quickly changed everything readers knew about the X-Men and it has paid dividends so far, igniting the most fertile time for the team since their '90s heyday and bringing them back to the forefront of the Marvel Universe.
4 Fabian Nicieza
Fabian Nicieza would start with the mutants on New Mutants, with Rob Liefeld, and would help co-create X-Force with the artist. He would take over X-Men with issue twelve and stay on the book until issue forty-five, writing the book through one of its most popular periods and working on stories like the X-ecutioner's Song, Age of Apocalypse, and The Phalanx Covenant.
Nicieza was also a co-creator of Deadpool, helping make a character that would have a meteoric rise in popularity. Nicieza brought the book through a huge boom period, satisfying readers and keeping the X-Men at the top of the sales chart.
3 Scott Lobdell
Scott Lobdell was the writer of Uncanny X-Men throughout the '90s. One of the main architects of the X-Men line at the time, Lobdell was integral in the creation of many of the biggest stories of the time, also worked on Excalibur and X-Factor, and created the new young mutant team, Generation X. It's safe to say that without Lobdell, the '90s comics scene would have been very different.
While the quality of Lobdell's work was always hit or miss, he remains one of the most important writers to have worked on the team, writing the flagship book and keeping it as one of the best selling comics of the '90.
2 Grant Morrison
Taking over the X-Men in 2001, Morrison would bring his gonzo writing style to the team and completely redefine them for the 21st century. Focusing more on the school and changes to the mutant race than superhero antics, Morrison's New X-Men was a breath of fresh air after the convoluted continuity of the '90s. Taking away the flashy costumes and highlighting the team as teachers and rescue workers, he would focus on a lot on Cyclops and give readers some shocking twists and turns throughout his time on the book.
Morrison brought a sense of newness to the X-Men that they had never really had before. Morrison made mutants feel like the future and while Marvel editorial did their best to erase the more revolutionary aspects of his run after he went back to DC out of spite, future creators like Aaron, Remender, and Hickman would run with his concepts and use them to make their own changes to the X-Men.
1 Chris Claremont
While Len Wein was the one who brought the X-Men back to prominence with Giant-Size X-Men, it would be Chris Claremont who really took the new team and ran with it, completely changing them and making the X-Men into the juggernaut they are today. Chris Claremont spent over a decade on X-Men, putting out some of the greatest stories in comics history and completely changing the way readers looked at mutants.
Without Chris Claremont, the X-Men would be very different. He made the characters into well rounded individuals and created pretty much everything that everyone loves about them. Chris Claremont took the X-Men and made them into the most popular comic ever.