Historical Look at the X-Men Part 2

Hey kids, here's part 2 of our historical look at the different X-Men teams that came out. Click HERE if you have to read Part 1.This one starts from after the Onslaught saga (where Xavier becomes the bad guy) all the way the Grant Morrison and his New X-Men team.

Operation Zero Tolerance-era

Ah pretty good times. Since Xavier surrendered to US authorities after the Oslaught incident, the X-Men had become adrift. Some members left the others stayed. Cannonball officially makes it as an X-Man and had some beef with Storm for awhile.

Shiar versus Phalanx

Another group of X-Men with Rogue, Gambit and the mysterious Joseph were recruited to space to help the Shiar fight the invading Phalanx.

Search for Xavier and Magneto Rex

I still have this issue (Uncanny X-Men # 360 and X-Men # 80 to be exact), actually, this was when I really got hooked into collecting comic books. Good times, and they had Chris Bachalo and Brandon Peterson in each book so they had a strong pretty strong line up both creatively and in the books. A couple of additions here and there as this era hit a fever pitch. They later added in Cyclops, Gambit, Jean, Angel, Iceman and Beast in the mix. The start of the era had the original five building their own lives too. This era ended with The Twelve storyline which 'killed' Cyclops for awhile.

Chris Claremont's Return

It's the return to the two teams for the X-Men. Uncanny had Jean Grey, Cable, Storm, Gambit and Beast. Rogue assumes leadership for 'X-Men' with Thunderbird II (Neal Shaara, former boyfriend of Karima Shapandar aka Omega Sentinel), Nightcrawler, Psylocke, Archangel, Wolverine, and Shadowcat (Kitty Pryde). Oh and there was a plot that 'shipped' Colossus with Rogue too. X-Men of course had Leinil Yu and focused on the X-Men battling the Neo.

Jean Grey's Emergency X-Men

As a response to the Magneto's rise to power (again) the newly returned Cyclops (he had bonded with Apocalypse for awhile) and Wolverine infiltrated Genosha. They get into a pinch and they get rescued by Jean Grey and her quick response team of mutants including Northstar.

New X-Men

Marvel decided to go a different route for the X-Men by the early parts of 2000. Grant Morrison ascends and converts adjectiveless to 'New X-Men'. He picks a tiny cast which includes Professor X, a cat-like Beast, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Wolverine and Emma Frost. Later additions to the team included Xorn who also becomes a faculty member. Of course Xorn turns out to be a traitor (Magneto in disguise and kills Jean after holding New York as hostage). It was also this time that Wolverine discovers that Weapon X is just part of the mysterious Weapon Plus program and it's also the first appearance of Fantomex.

Creators: Frank Quitely, Ethan Van Sciver, Marc Silvestri and Igor Kordey

Uncanny X-Men aka X-Corps

Nightcrawler also leads his own team of X-Men with Wolverine, Stacy X, Iceman, Angel, Chamber. Later additions include Juggernaut and Northstar. The team fought the Church of Humanity which crucified Generation X members Skin and Jubilee. This was also the time that Nightcrawler had thought he had become a priest.

Key Creators: Ian Churchill, Sean Phillips

X-Treme X-Men

So what happened to the other X-Men that didn't go well with the revamp? Chris Claremont again writes them in a new ongoing and calls it X-Treme X-Men. Their mission is to collect Destiny's diaries to be able to tell what happens to the world or at least stop them from ever occurring. Sage officially joins the team together with some newblood. Still the book didn't keep too long. In fact, they even did something foolish, come up with a sequel to 'God Loves, Man Kills'. I mean yeah, provided you've got Claremont writing but c'mon....

By the end of the story arc 'HERE COMES TOMORROW' the X-Men pick up the pieces from Jean's death.

Astonishing X-Men

Post New X-Men, the team goes back to wearing 'super hero' costumes ditching the leather. Emma Frost and Scott Summers re-opens the school. Kitty Pryde returns to the fold. New enemies like Ord of the Breakworld and Danger also expand the mythos. New member in the form of Armor and some issues are opened in this title while Colossus returns from the dead. Joss Whedon and John Cassaday as creative team! This was also the team that was the face of the X-Men for awhile including during House of M.

Havok's Second Field Team

Chuck Austen's run on the X-Men made changes to the team. Havok is the leader, renews his relationship with a slightly crazy Polaris. Juggernaut defects to a new Brotherhood. Peter Milligan continues the crazy Polaris thread and turns Gambit into the new Horseman of Death. Oh and there's also that insane plot that 'shipped' Angel and Cannonball's sister Husk.

X.S.E.

More exploits for the fallen remnants of X-Treme X-Men, Storm leads a new team which includes Bishop, Marvel Girl, Cannonball, and Wolverine. We got Alan Davis for a fight with Captain Britain baddie The Fury. X-23 also makes frequent appearances in this book teaming up with Psylocke and Marvel Girl.

Rogue's Rogue Team

Mike Carey picks up the slack from Milligan in 'adjectiveless' X-Men and creates a new team including Rogue, Cannonball, Iceman, Cable, Omega Sentinel with baddies Mystique, Sabretooth and Lady Mastermind. Lots of explosions and creative use of Rogue's powers. Hints of Messiah Complex start to drop in bits and pieces here in this book.

Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire

After the events of X-Men: Deadly Genesis, Charles Xavier leads a team to space to follow Gabriel Summers in his path of revenge against Shi'ar emperor D'Ken. Havok and Polaris joins as well as Vulcan's classmate Darwin and Marvel Girl, Nightcrawler and Warpath. This is where Corsair dies (of course, that's not the case anymore)

Messiah Complex X-Force

The 198 are suddenly rocked with the appearance of a mutant baby in Alaska. The X-Men respond and are shocked to find that the entire town has been attacked and burned with every local killed including babies... save for one. The X-Men, Mr. Sinister's Marauders (led by former teammates Gambit and Mystique) and the Purifiers try to outwit each other to get the baby. Cable 'betrays' the team only to be revealed that Bishop has that intention. During the hunt for Cable, Cyclops sanctions a new X-Force led by Wolverine and including some of the 'sharpest' members of the mutant community.

Hold on tight as we'll be diving into part 3 soon enough including the Nation-X era X-Men, Wolverine's Jean Grey School team, Cyclops' Utopia team, the All New X-Men and the new 'Charles Xavier School' team from Bendis' Uncanny X-Men.