X-Men
| X-Men | |
|---|---|
| File:X-Men174.jpg The X-Men Art by Salvador Larroca. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | (Uncanny) X-Men #1 (September 1963) |
| Created by | Stan Lee Jack Kirby |
| In-story information | |
| Base(s) | X-Mansion or Xavier Institute for Higher Learning (formerly Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters) |
The X-Men are a team of comic book superheroes in the Marvel Comics universe. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, they debuted in X-Men #1 from September 1963, the same month as the premiere of The Avengers.
The X-Men franchise, with its original stories of youthful alienation in which teens literally are the freaks they often figuratively feel like, has grown to become one of the most popular comic books producing dozens of spin-off series over the years and turning some of its writers and artists into industry stars.
Since the 1980s, the X-Men universe has branched into both television and film including one of the most successful Saturday morning programs, X-Men: The Animated Series. The year 2000 saw the debut of following series X-Men: Evolution and the long-awaited X-Men movie directed by Bryan Singer. Its sequel X2 was released in 2003 and became the sixth highest grossing film of the year. A third X-Men movie is scheduled for release in May 2006.
The X-Men are mutants, who in the Marvel universe are humans who, through a sudden leap in evolution, are born with latent superhuman abilities which generally manifest themselves at puberty. Ordinary humans, Homo sapiens, often hate mutants, here termed Homo superior, because of prejudice and the fear that mutants will replace them. It must be noted, however, that not all of humanity fears and hates mutantkind. This fact is worsened by a number of mutants and most notably the team's archnemeses Magneto and Apocalypse, who use their powers to try to disrupt and dominate the human society. The X-Men were gathered by the benevolent Professor Charles Xavier, a.k.a. Professor X, a wealthy mutant who founded an academy to train young mutants to protect themselves and the world from Magneto and other menacing threats.
The X-Men franchise contains a richly diverse cast that is perhaps comics' most multicultural. During the 1970s, the roster was changed to further reflect this multiculturalism adding characters from Germany, Ireland, Russia, Africa and Japan. This multicultural theme has persisted over the years with more and more characters of different ethnicities and cultural backgrounds constantly being added to the mythos.
The team's name is derived from the fact that mutants are "extra" powered due to their "X-Factor gene" which was coined by Professor X. Co-creator Lee recalled in his book Son of Origins of Marvel Comics and elsewhere that he devised the series title after Marvel publisher Martin Goodman turned down the initial name, "The Mutants."
History Of X-Men
Beginning
The X-Men were founded by the paraplegic telepath Professor Charles Francis Xavier, a.k.a. Professor X. Xavier gathered the X-Men under the cover of Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters at a large country estate at 1407 Graymalkin Lane in Salem Center, a city in Westchester County, New York. The original X-Men consisted of five teenagers still learning to control their powers namely Cyclops/Scott Summers, Marvel Girl/Jean Grey, Angel/Warren Worthington, Beast/Hank McCoy and Iceman/Bobby Drake. Early X-Men issues also introduced the team's archnemesis Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants featuring Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Mastermind and the Toad.
In 1969, writer Roy Thomas and artist Neal Adams rejuvenated the franchise and introduced two new characters Havok/Alex Summers and Polaris/Lorna Dane. However, these early X-Men issues failed to attract sales and Marvel stopped producing new stories with issue #66. After a hiatus, the series continued with reprint of earlier material in issue #67-93.
1970s
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In Giant-Size X-Men #1 (1975), writer Len Wein and artist Dave Cockrum introduced a new team that would appear in new issues of The X-Men beginning with issue #94. Rather than teenagers, this group consisted of adults who hailed from a variety of nations and cultures. The "all-new, all-different X-Men" were led by Cyclops from the original team and consisted of the newly created Thunderbird/John Proudstar, Colossus/Piotr Rasputin, Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner and Storm/Ororo Munroe, along with three previously introduced characters, Sunfire/Shiro Yashida, Banshee/Sean Cassidy and, most notably, Wolverine/Logan (also known as James Howlett) who would become the breakfast character.
The revived series was illustrated by Cockrum and later John Byrne and written by Chris Claremont, who would become the series' longest-standing contributor. The run met great critical acclaim and produced the "Dark Phoenix Saga" and "Days of Future Past"; arguably two of the greatest story arcs in Marvel Comics as well as X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills; the base of the 2003 movie X2. New characters and teams that were introduced included Kitty Pryde, the Morlocks, the White Queen of the Hellfire Club, Rogue, Rachel Summers and Dazzler/Alison Blaire.
1980s
In the 1980s, the growing popularity of Uncanny X-Men and the rise of comic book specialty stores lead to the introduction of several spin-off series nicknamed "X-Books", most notably The New Mutants, X-Factor and Excalibur. This plethora of X-Men-related titles led to the rise of crossovers, sometimes called "X-Overs", storylines which would overlap into several X-Books, sometimes for months at a time and usually once per year; including the Mutant Massacre, the The Fall of the Mutants and Inferno.
Notable additions to the X-Men have been Shadowcat, Rogue, Dazzler, Psylocke, Longshot and Jubilee. A controversial move was to have Professor X relocate to space in 1986 to be with his beloved Lilandra, Majestrix of the Shi'ar Empire, making Magneto the head of the X-Men. This period also included the arrival of the mysterious Madelyne Pryor and the return of Jean Grey.
1990s
In 1991, Marvel revised the entire lineup of X-books, creating X-Force led by the mysterious warhawk Cable written by Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza and launched a second X-Men series simply called X-Men. The original series of this title having been already renamed to Uncanny X-Men.
Internal friction split the X-Men books' creative teams. Claremont left after only four issues of X-Men due to clashes with Marvel editors and with Lee, thus ending his fifteen-year run as X-Men writer. Months later, Liefeld and Lee left Marvel with several other popular artists including former X-Men artists Marc Silvestri and Whilce Portacio to form Image Comics.
Notable additions to the X-Men have been Gambit, Forge, Jubilee, and Bishop. Notable story arcs of this time are the "The X-Tinction Agenda" in 1990, "X-Cutioner's Song" in 1992, "Phalanx Covenant" in 1994, "Legion Quest"/"Age of Apocalypse" in 1995, "Onslaught" in 1996 and "Operation: Zero Tolerance" in 1997.
The 1990s saw an even greater number of X-books with numerous ongoing series and miniseries running concurrently. These included Generation X starring another team of teenage mutants and X-Man starring a powerful young mutant Nate Grey, an alternate version of Cable from the "Age of Apocalypse" reality. Marvel launched solo series for characters including Cable, Gambit, Bishop and Deadpool, the last a sarcastic mercenary antagonist of X-Force. In 1998 Excalibur and X-Factor ended and the latter replaced with the parallel world series Mutant X starring Havok.
2000s
In 2000s, Claremont returned to Marvel, he was removed on his two flagship titles in early 2001 and moved to a new spinoff series X-Treme X-Men. Morrison left Marvel on 2004 and Xtreme X-Men was cancelled. Marvel added new series like Weapon X, Exiles, the new X-Force; later retitled X-Statix, New X-Men a teenaged soap opera comic focusing on the lives of the new young mutants at the Institute , Ultimate X-Men, a reinvention of the concept featuring of the X-Men set in the Ultimate Marvel Universe and meant to appeal to new readers, and Astonishing X-Men with writer Joss Whedon.
The bright spandex costumes that had become iconic over the previous decades were gone, replaced by black leather street clothes reminiscent the uniforms of the X-Men movies. Xavier left in order to restore a vague sense of order and stability to the wasted land, leaving Cyclops and Emma Frost as the new leaders of the Institute which now functions as a large-scale school.
Notable additions to the X-Men have been X-23, Stacy X, Emma Frost, Xorn and Sage. This period also featured the return of Rachel Summers, now Rachel Grey, Jean Grey's daughter from an alternate future. Also memorable villains, most notably Cassandra Nova. Decades-long relationships all disintegrated specially Jean Grey and Cyclops. This period also included the deaths and resurrections of Psylocke, Colossus, and most recently, Northstar.
Several short-lived spin-offs and mini-series started including Gambit, Rogue, District X, Phoenix: Endsong, Colossus: Bloodline and Jubilee. As well, Cable and Deadpool's books, Soldier X and Agent X, were rolled into one book, Cable and Deadpool.
The mid-2000s have been dominated by the reality-warping changes of the crossover event House of M, which temporarily created a mutant paradise with Magneto as the world's leader. Its conclusion drastically altered the mutant population on Earth, reducing it to a few hundred individuals with all others, including X-Men members, losing their powers.
Notable story arcs of this time are "House of M" in 2005, "Wild Kingdom" in 2005, and Decimation in 2005 and 2006.
Real-life comparison
The entire X-Men franchise is built on a sociopolitical undercurrent. Mutants are often seen as a metaphor for racial, religious and other minorities that face oppression - including, specifically, the struggle of African-Americans, discrimination against homosexuals, Anti-semitism and the case of the Red Scare. Also on an individual level, a number of X-Men serve a metaphorical function as their powers illustrate points about the nature of the outsider.
Racism
Professor X has been compared to African American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and Magneto to the more militant Malcolm X. The X-Men’s purpose is sometimes referred to achieving "Xavier’s dream" perhaps a reference to King’s historic "I Have a Dream" speech.
Template:QuoteSidebar X-Men comic books have often portrayed mutants as the victim of mob violence, evoking images of the lynchings of African-Americans in the age before the American civil rights movement.
While this interpretation has become commonplace, it is not without its critics. In 2002, comics critic Julian Darius argued in "X-Men is Not an Allegory of Racial Tolerance" that a close examination of early X-Men comics would make Magneto not Malcolm X, but the radical revolutionaries of the Black Panthers. Sentinels are thought to often represent oppressive forces like the KKK giving a form to denial of civil rights and amendments, Disney's Gargoyles also did this with the Quarrymen. In the earliest comics, Xavier expressed no concern with mutant rights but instead focusing on stopping mutant menaces. He was, wrote Darius, explicitly counter-revolutionary.
Homosexuality
Another civil rights metaphor applied to the X-Men is that of gay rights. Comparisons have been made between the mutants' situation, including the concealment of their powers and the age they realize these powers and homosexuality. This was illustrated in a scene of the second X-Men film, directed by openly gay director Bryan Singer in which Bobby Drake "came out" as a mutant to his parents. In addition, the first film featured a scene in which Senator Robert Kelly questioned whether mutants should be allowed to teach children in school, mirroring such debates as that over Section 28, in which Sir. Ian McKellen (who played Magneto in the film) was involved.
The comic books delved into the AIDS epidemic during the early 1990s with a long-running plotline about the Legacy Virus, a seemingly incurable disease similarly thought at first to only attack mutants.
Anti-semitism
Somewhat more explicitly suggested is the comparison to anti-semitism. Magneto, a Holocaust survivor sees the situation of mutants as similar to those of Jews in Nazi Germany. At one point he even utters the words "never again" in a 1992 episode of the X-Men animated series. In the comic books, Magneto has routinely sought to establish a "mutant homeland" which may be a parallel to modern day Israel. The mutant slave labor camps on the island of Genosha, in which numbers were burned into mutants’ foreheads, show much in common with Nazi concentration camps as do the internment camps of the classic Days of Future Past storyline.
"Red scare"
Occasionally, undercurrents of the "red scare" are present. Senator Robert Kelly's proposal of a "Mutant Registration Act" is similar to the efforts of Congress to effectively ban communism in the United States. In the 2000 X-Men film Kelly exclaims "we need to find out who these mutants are and what they can do," even brandishing a "list" of known mutants (a reference to Senator Joseph McCarthy's illedged list of Communist Party members). It should be noted, though, that issues of class stratification have never been part of the X-Men’s creed.
As a subculture
In some cases, particularly in Grant Morrison’s stories of the early 2000s, mutants were portrayed as a distinct subculture with “mutant bands” and a popular mutant fashion designer who created outfits tailored to mutant physiology. Also the series District X takes place in an area of New York City called "mutant town." These instances can also serve as analogies for any minority within the population that establishes a specific subculture of its own.
Director Bryan Singer has remarked that aside from specific differences of race or sexual orientation, the X-Men franchise has served as a metaphor for acceptance of all people for their special and unique gifts. The mutant "power" that must be hidden from the world is analogous to feelings of difference and fear usually developed in everyone during adolescence. Part of the attraction of the X-Men is that it offers a sanctuary to openly explore and celebrate your differences within a unique subculture.
Characters
This metaphorical content is also present, more personally rather than politically, in some of the characters. For instance, Cyclops must wear a visor or specialized glasses at all times to keep his powers in control and has thus grown-up emotionally restrained; Rogue, whose mutant power prevents her from establishing physical contact with others, feels an enormous sense of personal isolation and the scientifically brilliant Beast must always fight the perception that he is a monstrous brute due to his furry, animalistic appearance. Thus, the effects of alienation on one's well-being and psyche are often explored in the franchise.
Character diversity
Since Giant-Size X-Men #1 (1975), the X-Men have also become famous for their wide cultural and ethnic diversity.
International characters
Long before international characters became popular in the comics world, the X-Men franchise brought in characters from all over the world such as from:
- Africa: Algeria (M), Egypt (Apocalypse), Kenya (Storm), Morocco (Jetstream), South Africa (Maggott)
- Americas: Apache (Thunderbird I, Warpath), Brazil (Sunspot), Cajun (Gambit), Canada (Sabretooth, Alpha Flight, Wolverine, and the Quebecois Northstar and Aurora), Cheyenne (Forge, Moonstar), Chinese American (Jubilee), First Nations (Shaman), Jewish American (Shadowcat), Mexico (Rictor), Puerto Rico (Cecilia Reyes, Tag), Venezuela (Wind Dancer)
- Asia: Afghanistan (Dust), Bangladesh (Thunderbird III), China (Xorn I and II), Japan (Sunfire, Sunpyre, Silver Samurai, Shinobi Shaw, Yukio and Mariko Yashida), Vietnam (Karma)
- Europe: Austria (Mystique and Destiny), England (Chamber, Psylocke, Captain Britain, Mr. Sinister, Pete Wisdom and Toad), France (Fantomex although by choice, Tarot), Germany (Nightcrawler, Fenris and Maverick), Greece (Avalanche), Ireland (Banshee, Siryn and Black Tom Cassidy), Netherlands (Beak), Poland (Magneto, also Jewish), Russia (Colossus, Omega Red, Darkstar, Magik, Soul Skinner, Mikhail Rasputin and Alexi Vazhin), Scotland (Wolfsbane and Moira MacTaggert), Spain (Empath)
- Middle East: Israel (Gabrielle Haller and Sabra)
- Oceania: Aborigine (Gateway), Australia (Pyro,Slipstream, Lifeguard), Māori (Kiwi Black)
Religious, sexual and other minorities
In addition, characters within the X-Men mythos also reflect religious, ethnic or sexual minorities. Examples of Jewish characters include Shadowcat and Sabra, whilst Dust has Muslim beliefs and Thunderbird III and Karima Shapandar are followers of the Hindu faith. In terms of sexuality, homosexual characters include Northstar, Destiny, and Karma, Anole, with Mystique portrayed as being bisexual. The comics have also featured mutants whose mutation results in physical disfigurement as well as the granting of powers, with the Morlocks, inspired in part by the Morlock characters created by H.G. Wells, having portrayed to some degree the experience of disfigured people in late twentieth century American society.
Fictional places
The X-Men also introduced several fictional locations which are regarded as important within the shared universe in which Marvel Comics characters exist:
- Genosha, an African island near Madagascar and a long-time apartheid regime against mutants.
- Madripoor, an island in Southeast Asia, near Singapore. Associated with Viper.
- Muir Island, a Scottish island commonly associated with being the place of Moira MacTaggert's laboratory.
- Savage Land, a hidden prehistoric location in Antarctica.
- Krakoa, the Living Island.
Appearances in other media
Cartoons
- The X-Men occasionally guest-starred on Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. Spider-Man, Iceman and Firestar were the three regular heroes. The X-Men made their first ever animated appearance on the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends episode "The Origin of Iceman". Appearing in this particular episode (in a flashback sequence only) are Professor X and the five original X-Men: Iceman, Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Angel, and Beast. The next appearance on Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends was in the episode "A Firestar is Born." Making appearances in this particular episode are Professor X, Cyclops, Angel, Wolverine, Storm, and Juggernaut (plus Magneto in a cameo appearance). The X-Men would return the following season in the episode entitled "The X-Men Adventure." Making appearances there were Professor X, Cyclops, Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Sprite, and Thunderbird.
- In 1989, Marvel Productions produced a pilot X-Men episode for NBC called Pryde of the X-Men. The series was never picked up but the single episode aired infrequently in syndication during the Marvel Action Universe series and was later released on video.
- In 1992, the Fox Network launched an unrelated X-Men animated series with the roster of Beast, Cyclops, Gambit, Jean Grey, Jubilee, Professor X, Rogue, Storm and Wolverine with Bishop and Cable frequently guest starring. The series was an extraordinary success becoming one of the most watched animated series in television history and helping widen the X-Men's popularity. It continued for five seasons ending in 1997. It was put back in Fox's line up for several months after the first movie was released.
- In 2000, Warner Brothers Network launched X-Men: Evolution which portrayed the X-Men as teenagers attending regular high school in addition to the Xavier Institute. The series ended in 2003 after its fourth season.
- In 2007, Marvel Studios will put out a new X-Men animated show that will primarily feature Wolverine, this time using a mesh of 2D/3D animation for characters and backgrounds. Avi Arad, CEO of Marvel Studios, stated "X-Men is one of Marvel's crown jewels and it makes sense to focus on the popular Wolverine character for our second animation project."
Films
The first attempts to make a film version of the X-Men began in the late 1980s along with Spider-Man and Hulk films. James Cameron, director of Aliens and The Terminator, was said to be the most likely director of the films but it never came to fruition. In 1996, FOX produced a television movie based on the X-Men spinoff Generation X.
- In 2000, 20th Century Fox released X-Men, a $75 million film adaptation of the comic, directed by Bryan Singer. The film, along with the Blade series and Spider-Man gathered approval from fans and enough good reviews to begin a revival of superhero-themed movies..
- In 2003, the sequel X2: X-Men United also directed by Singer, was released. This film was loosely based on the 1982 graphic novel God Loves, Man Kills. It was an even greater success than the first movie and many fans and critics considered it a superior film.
- In 2006, a third movie X-Men 3 directed by Brett Ratner will be released. Singer did not direct the third X-Men movie, as he signed on to direct Superman Returns and director Matthew Vaughn was slated to direct, but dropped out in June 2005 due to "personal issues".
- Spin-offs: Lauren Donner, producer for the first two movies, has said the movie studio is interested in producing two spin-off films. One film will star Wolverine, in which Hugh Jackman will reprise his role as the clawed warrior. Screenwriter Sheldon Turner is currently working on bringing Magneto to the big screen in his own spin-off film. The plot will deal with the character's friendship turned sour with Charles Xavier. Turner has stated that "It's going to take place from 1939 Auschwitz up to 1955 or so." So it's unlikely that Ian McKellan will be reprising the role. Rebecca Romijn, who plays Mystique in the X-Men franchise has been approached about a Mystique film. Reputable movie news site http://www.superherohype.com is now reporting that X-Men 3 screenwriter Zak Penn is now writing a third X-Men spin-off film as well.
Cast
The line-up of all three X-Men films:
Video games
There are several video games for various platforms starring the X-Men. Many of them are 2D fighting games such as 1994's X-Men: Children of the Atom, 1996's X-Men vs. Street Fighter and 2000's X-Men: Mutant Academy. There was also a 3-D fighting-game called X-Men: Next Demension The most recent in the series are the role-playing games X-Men Legends (2004) and its 2005 sequel X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse. The characters also appeared in the Marvel vs. Capcom series.
Star Trek crossovers
In two instances, members of the X-Men have encountered characters from the fictional Star Trek universe.
In the first, the X-Men encountered the U.S.S. Enterprise crew captained by James T. Kirk, as featured in the original Star Trek series.
In 1995, a crossover special entitled Second Contact depicted a meeting between the X-Men of the time and the crew of the Enterprise-E from the film Star Trek: First Contact. The Enterprise-E crew had been attempting to return to their own time period immediately following the events of the film (in which they had travelled to the year 2063 in their reality), and somehow crossed over into the X-Men's reality and time period instead. The story in this special led into a crossover novel published by Pocket Books entitled Planet X, in which the X-Men were drawn into the Star Trek universe at a period of time which was, from the Enterprise-D crew's perspective, a short time after the events of Second Contact, but from the X-Men's perspective almost immediately followed the comic story. Ironically, the cover of this novel featured both Charles Xavier and Jean-Luc Picard; Picard was portrayed by Patrick Stewart, who would play the role of Xavier five years later in the feature X-Men film.
Awards
The characters and titles have received a good deal of recognition over the years. Issues 334 through 337 of Uncanny X-Men, and issues 53 through 57 of volume two of X-Men, were part of the Onslaught storyline which was a top vote getter for the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Comic-Book Story for 1997.
See also
- List of X-Men
- List of X-Men characters
- List of X-Men comics
- List of X-Men video games
- History of the X-Men comics
- Bibliography of X-Men titles
- Bibliography of Uncanny X-Men titles
References
- Dussere, Erik The queer world of the X-Men Salon.com July 10 2000 Accessed on September 29 2005
- Fecteau, Lydia Mutant and Cyborg Images of the Disabled Body in the Landscape of Science Fiction 12 July 2004 available online as word document Accessed on September 29 2005
- Morrison, Grant The geek shall inherit the earth The Evening Standard August 10 2000 Accessed on September 29 2005
External links
- MarvelDirectory.com
- Official Marvel Picture site
- The X-Men Trailer
- Official webpage at Marvel.com
- MDP:X-Men - Marvel Database Project
- The X-Men Central
- Chronology.Net (X-versum continuity and timelines)
- Children of The Atom (Information on the 1953 SF novel that was a precursor to the X-Men, and author Wilmar Shiras)
- GameFAQ's Comic Book FAQ: X-Men
- UncannyXmen.net
- X-Men Index (Directory of X-Men resources)
- DRG4's X-Men the Animated Series Page
- Mutant High
- Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Awards
- X 3 - Español
- InvertedStripes.com