The X-Men are one of the most abused superteams in comics by their creators. Sure, superhero stories are all about persevering over the worst odds, but there’s something about the X-Men’s mission that makes that creators love to put them and their fans through the wringer. The team’s world is much darker place than any other team’s, and this has made their adventures even more dangerous. Over the years, the members of the group have suffered every indignity imaginable, and that includes deaths. Readers have gotten some of the most iconic and important deaths out of X-comics, with some of those deaths coming out of nowhere at fans.
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Surprises like this are one of the big reasons why we love superhero comics, but looking at the history of the team and their enemies, many of these deaths were shocking. They came out of nowhere, and left readers gobsmacked. These ten X-Men deaths shocked everyone, their surprising nature making them legendary.
10) Fantomex
Fantomex isn’t the most popular X-character, but he has a rather vocal fandom. The character became a favorite of fans thanks to New X-Men and Uncanny X-Force, but he disappeared for a while before being brought back for Astonishing X-Men (Vol. 4). Fans were excited to see him again, especially in a book with Psylocke, but he played an extremely minor role in the team, and eventually gave up his body so that Xavier could come back to life in it. No one expected this death, and it was one of many bad decisions made over the course of this 18-issue mistake of a reboot.
9) Professor X
Professor X has died plenty of times over the years, and it’s almost always pretty shocking honestly. However, the most shocking of his deaths came in the underrated Avengers vs. X-Men. Xavier tried to talk sense into the X-Men after they kept following the Phoenix Five and then ended up helping the Avengers and X-Men in their final battle against Cyclops. And then Cyclops killed him. It was a moment that came out of nowhere, and led to several years of everyone hating Cyclops for it.
8) Captain Britain II
The Krakoa Era saw a new volume of Excalibur and a new role for the former Psylocke Elizabeth Braddock as Captain Britain. She was the star of the new volume of the book, and that’s why her death in “X of Swords” was so shocking. She was set against Isca the Unbeatable, and while it might seem like the end of the fight was assured, most fans figured she’d win somehow (mostly because she was a favorite of Tini Howard, who was one of the main ideators of the story). She was killed, smashed into a million pieces, and was unable to be resurrected with the Krakoan method, but she did get better later.
7) Cyclops
Cyclops is the greatest X-Man, and he has died several times over the years, with numerous deaths in the Krakoa Era. However, his most shocking death came after Secret Wars. The resulting Marvel reboot that came after the story opened up after a time skip and Cyclops was dead, killed after doing something “terrible” to the Inhumans and villainized by the world. We’d found out that he ended up secretly dying of Terrigen Mist-related M-Pox in Death of X, with Emma Frost using her powers to make everyone think he was killed by Black Bolt after leading mutants to destroy a Terrigen Mist cloud. Personally, I don’t know what’s more shocking: the fact that he died in a time skip out of nowhere after being the most important mutant on the planet or how bad the explanation was.
6) The X-Men in House of X #4
The Krakoa Era changed the X-Men for five years, and it kicked off with one of the most shocking X-Men (team) deaths ever. This came in House of X #4, when Cyclops, Jean Grey, Wolverine, M, Nightcrawler, Mystique, Archangel, and Husk went to the Orchis Forge to destroy it and end the threat of Nimrod. However, members started dying almost immediately, and as the issue went on, we’d watch each of them get killed, even though they ended up succeeding. This issue was wild, and fans were buzzing over how everything would work out with some of the most popular X-Men dead. Their death was a shock to the system, as was their resurrection in issue 5.
5) Emma Frost
Uncanny X-Men #281 was the beginning of a new era in 1991, and it kicked off with a major, shocking death (that I feel like no one remembers). The X-Men were invited to the Hellfire Club to discuss attacks against members of the Inner Circle when the team, Emma Frost, and the Hellions were attacked by Sentinels. Emma was killed in the early going of the battle, as were numerous Hellions (and Jean Grey). It was later revealed that she moved her mind out of her body, but her death was a shock for a lot of people who picked up this issue.
4) Genosha
New X-Men is the best X-book of the 21st century, and it kicked off with the death of millions. Genosha was one of the most important parts of the X-Men mythos, a country based on South Africa-inspired apartheid against mutants, and it became even more important when it became a mutant country under the control of Magneto. This plot point began at the end of the end of the ’90s, and not even two years later, Genosha was completely destroyed, with 16 million mutants dying. No one expected Marvel to do anything like this, and it changed the tenor of the X-books in the years to come.
3) Xorneto
So, to understand why this death is so shocking, you have to go back to the days of the New X-Men story “Planet X” and forget the later retcon that Xorn was Magneto the whole time (Grant Morrison did not plan this plot line, by the way; that was all Marvel killing all of their work on the X-Men after they went back to DC). We thought that this was a Magneto story, so seeing Wolverine actually cut Magneto’s head off after he killed Jean Grey was a massive shock. We’d seen Magneto “die” before, but usually, those deaths weren’t nearly as cut and dry about him getting beheaded. It was an awesome page turn moment, which is why the reveal a few months later that it was Xorn all along, and not Magneto, was so rage-inducing for those of us who loved “Planet X”.
2) Jean Grey
Jean Grey is one of the most iconic X-Men, and is known for her deaths with the team. It’s hard to say that Jean dying is ever shocking now, but “Planet X” was a massive shock because she died not once, but twice. The first time she was killed by Wolverine after the two of them were thrown into the sun, a mercy killing by the man who loved her and wanted to end her suffering. However, she was resurrected by the Phoenix Force, saving both of them. The real shocking death was when Xorneto killed her. For several years, Marvel had been building up to the return of Phoenix Jean, so for them to kill her basically right away was a massive surprise.
1) Thunderbird
Giant-Size X-Men #1 introduced readers to an all-new group of mutants, including the Apache warrior Thunderbird. He was the team’s hothead, and fit perfectly with the new group. Then, he died in X-Men (Vol. 1) #94, his second appearance, when the team went up against Count Nefaria. Characters on teams die all the time; some of them are created to die, but they’re usually built up in a way that makes people miss them. However, readers didn’t get to know him at all before they killed him. No one expected for this new character to die almost immediately, but here we are.
What X-Men deaths shocked you? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!
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