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Many superhero comics have dealt with apocalyptic situations, but few have done it as well as the X-Men comics have. Over the years, the X-Men have dealt with more than their share of extinction level events. From all powerful foes and terrible dystopian futures to nightmarish alternate universes, the team has had to deal with the worst of anti-mutant bias.
These X-Men stories are always among the most exciting. The X-Men comics were always trendsetters when it came to apocalyptic stories and there are plenty for fans to love.
10 House Of M Set The Stage For Years Of X-Men Comics
Writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Olivier Coipel created House Of M. Though it has a few problems, it’s hard to deny its impact on the X-Men. Billed as a team-up between the Astonishing X-Men and the New Avengers, the two groups got together and decided how to fight the Scarlet Witch and got way more than they bargained for. She recreated the world, giving her friends their deepest desires and making mutants the dominant force in the world.
In the last battle, Scarlet Witch removed the mutant’s powers, blaming them for all of the bad things in her life. House Of M is drawn out but is still worth a read, as it set the stage for years of X-Men stories.
9 Astonishing X-Men: Unbreakable Saw One X-Man Sacrifice It All For The Earth
Astonishing X-Men: Unbreakable is the culmination of writer Joss Whedon and artist John Cassaday. The X-Men are transported to Breakworld, where a prophecy says that a mutant will destroy the world. They intend to strike first and destroy the Earth, with only the X-Men standing in their way. In the end, they fight their way to the weapon, only to find that it’s just a giant bullet and there’s little they can do to stop it.
Kitty Pryde steps up and uses her phasing powers to phase the bullet through the Earth, staying with it to make sure it can’t destroy another planet on its way through space. Astonishing X-Men had strong focus on Kitty, so having her save the day and the Earth was fitting.
8 The Twelve Saw The X-Men Prevent Apocalypse From Taking Over The Future
The X-Men are the king of dystopian futures and in one of them, Apocalypse rules the Earth with an iron first. Cable was sent to this future as a child and came back to stop it from occurring. This is all came to a head in The Twelve, the last X-Men story of the ’90s. Running through X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, Wolverine, X-Man, and Cable, the story saw the X-men try to prevent Apocalypse from gathering The Twelve, a dozen mutants who could make him a god.
The Twelve is one of the X-Men’s best forgotten stories. It closes out the ’90s era of the X-Men in bombastic, action-packed fashion, saving the future from the machinations of Apocalypse.
7 Avengers Vs. X-Men Pitted The Two Teams Against Each Other The Phoenix Force
Avengers VS X-Men has its ups and downs. The crux of Avengers VS X-Men sees the two teams battle it out over the Phoenix Force, eventually splitting it among five X-Men. The power begins to corrupt them, causing them to turn on each other. Avengers VS X-Men ends with Cyclops turning full Dark Phoenix and the two groups having to team up to stop him from destroying the world. While it does suffer a bit from having so many writers, it’s still an exhilirating story.
6 Powers Of X Contains Several Dark Alternate Futures
House Of X/Powers Of X changed the X-Men books forever. Powers Of X, by writer Jonathan Hickman and artist R.B. Silva, focused on four different time periods. Ten years before the founding of the X-Men, the present, a hundred years from the present, and a thousand years from the present. The last two present very different dystopian futures.
A hundred years from the present shows humanity has slaughtered nearly every mutant and began to remake themselves in machines’ image. A thousand years from the present highlights a world ruled by Homo Novissima. Both of these futures involve mutants hunted to near extinction, and humans becoming something else completely, ending both races in profoundly different ways.
5 E Is For Extinction Sees The X-Men Stop An Enemy Out To Destroy Mutantkind
E Is For Extinction is the inaugural story arc of New X-Men, Grant Morrison’s amazing X-Men book. Joined by artist Frank Quitely, Morrison pits the team against new villain Cassandra Nova. Nova’s first actions against mutants is a doozy, launching a Mega-Sentinel attack on the mutant nation of Genosha, killing sixteen million mutants.
This was only the beginning of Nova’s attack as she planned to use Cerebra to kill every mutant on the planet. The X-Men stopped her but Nova came close to extinguishing mutantkind in one fell swoop.
4 The Age Of Apocalypse Lived Up To Its Name
The Age Of Apocalypse is one of the most beloved X-Men stories of all time. The Age Of Apocalypse takes place in an alternate timeline where Legion traveled to the past and accidentally killed his father, Charles Xavier. The Age Of Apocalypse also saw Magneto’s X-Men pitted against Apocalypse, the ruler of America. The story was dark – nearly human in America is dead or enslaved and the human nations of Europe plans a doomsday strike against Apocalypse.
Running through ten books, it took the X-Men comics’ penchant for playing around in dystopian alternate universe to the Nth degree. It’s well remembered by fans and is still considered one of the best X-Men stories of all time.
3 Days Of Future Past Is The Grandfather Of Comic Dystopian Futures
Days Of Future Past is considered one of the best alternate future stories of all time. Taking place in Uncanny X-Men #141-142, by writer Chris Claremont and artist John Byrne, Days Of Future Past was set in a future ruled by Sentinels, with all of the superheroes and most of the X-Men dead. The team makes a desperate plan to send one of their own back in time to prevent their terrible future from happening.
Days Of Future Past is iconic. Claremont and Byrne created so many amazing moments, ones that have been copied repeatedly. Every comic dystopian future that came after it took a cue from this one.
2 The Dark Phoenix Saga Is Possibly The Greatest X-Men Story Ever
The Dark Phoenix Saga is one of the greatest X-Men stories ever. Chronicled in Uncanny X-Men #129-138, by writer Chris Claremont and artist John Byrne, it was the culmination of the Phoenix storyline. Jean Grey’s mind is tampered with by the Hellfire Club and it unleashes her dark side. Becoming the Dark Phoenix, the X-Men have to try to stop their friend from devouring the universe.
The Dark Phoenix Saga saw the X-Men do everything they could to save both their friend and the universe. It’s a powerful, poetic story that still stands up to this day. It cemented the X-Men as a team that could save the universe and is still one of their greatest triumphs and tragedies, regardless of the retcons.
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