5 Greatest Eras of the X-Men in Marvel Comics

The X-Men weren’t always the most popular team in comics. There was a time when the men and women of X were basically the least popular team in the industry, at Marvel or DC. They sold well enough to keep their comics published, but not well enough for new stories. All of that would change with 1974’s Giant-Size X-Men #1, which put the team on the road to superstardom. Since then, the group has become the bestselling superhero team ever — X-Men (Vol. 2) #1 sold eight million copies and Uncanny X-Men and X-Men were the bestselling comics throughout the ’80s, ’90s, and early ’00s. The team are legends nowadays, with legions of rabid fans.

Over the decades, the X-Men have had numerous eras, each one trying to bring something new and popular to the team. Sometimes, like in the current Tom Brevoort era, the books don’t land as well as they once did. Other times, though, we get the best X-Men stories imaginable. These five eras of the X-Men are the best, and they made the team into superstars.

5) The Krakoa Era

The Krakoa Era was amazing for the X-Men. At the beginning, at least. Marvel got the film rights back to the group and enlisted superstar writer Jonathan Hickman to reboot the franchise. Hickman and a group of handpicked creators gave mutants a new nation on the mutant island of Krakoa, launched numerous books of every kind you can imagine and went to town. Hickman eventually left the books, and the quality fell dramatically, but there were still amazing series like X-Men Red and Immortal X-Men, with stories like “Sins of Sinister” and A.X.E. Judgment Day showing that the line still had it. The sad part is that if the X-books could have stayed of the same quality they were in the beginning of the era, this time period would have been number one, but even with the doldrums of the end, there’s still a lot to love from this era.

4) Utopia Era

The Utopia Era has one of two beginnings: either Avengers/X-Men: Utopia, which pit the team against Norman Osborn’s Dark Avengers and ended with the creation of Utopia, or the end of “Messiah Complex” in 2008, when the group moved to San Francisco. This era of the X-Men was honestly pretty great. We got Kyle and Yost’s X-Force, Matt Fraction and Kieron Gillen writing Uncanny X-Men, Uncanny X-Force became a modern legend, Jason Aaron started writing Wolverine solos, New Mutants returned, and X-Men: Schism birthed Wolverine and the X-Men, all leading up to Avengers vs. X-Men. The era took them in new directions, as they did their best to survive as a greatly reduced mutant race. It can sometimes be depressing, but there are so many amazing stories from this era it isn’t funny.

3) New X-Men Era

So, on the one hand, taken literally, the New X-Men Era includes some real stinkers, mainly because Chuck Austen was writing Uncanny X-Men at the time. However, Morrison’s New X-Men is a masterpiece, the Scottish scribe taking the building blocks of the team — the Shi’Ar, the Phoenix Force, the Hellfire Club, Weapon X, Magneto, mutant history, and dark dystopian futures — and using them in new and exciting ways. During this period, which lasted from May of 2001 to March of 2004, readers got some amazing X-books like X-Force/X-Statix, as well as Claremont’s X-Treme X-Men, which was perfect for long time fans of the scribe. However, New X-Men was the crown jewel, a perfect X-book with art from luminaries like Frank Quitely, John Paul Leon, Phil Jimenez, Chris Bachalo, and X-Men legend Marc Silvestri. It was everything that the X-Men should be, and we haven’t seen its like since.

2) Outback Era

The X-Men’s Outback era closed out the ’80s and rang in the ’90s for the X-Men. The era’s beginning point comes sometime around 1988’s Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #229 and would run until 1991’s Uncanny X-Men #280. After defeating the Adversary in Dallas, the X-Men walked through the Siege Perilous, faking their death and taking over the Australian Outback base of the Reavers. This era introduced one of the most beloved rosters of the group — Storm, Wolverine, Havok, Polaris, Rogue, Colossus, Dazzler, Longshot, Psylocke, and Jubilee — and would take from them on adventures across the world. Readers got the beginning of the Genosha plot, “Inferno”, “X-Tinction Agenda”, the whole Shi’Ar/Warskrull affair and the Magneto/Zaladane Savage Land war, and “The Muir Island Saga”, as well as the swan song of Chris Claremont’s first run. On top of that, New Mutants, X-Factor, and Wolverine were all excellent, and readers got the amazing miniseries Wolverine/Havok: Meltdown #1-4, among others. It’s a brilliant era full of amazing stories.

1) The Early ’80s Era

Chris Claremont is the greatest X-Men writer ever. His work in the late ’70s laid the groundwork for the team, but it wouldn’t be until the ’80s that things would really pick up. The early ’80s saw Claremont give the team some of its greatest stories. This era runs from the end of “The Dark Phoenix Saga” until about, in my opinion, Uncanny X-Men #200, when Xavier left the team and Magneto took his place. During this period, we got stories like “Days of Future Past”, the Brood Saga, “Lifedeath”, and many more. We also got the rise of the New Mutants, Wolverine got his first solo series in 1982, as well as Storm and Illyana: Magik, Kitty Pryde and Wolverine, and several other minis. It was an amazing time for the team, cementing their greatness, and allowing them to grow into Marvel’s most popular team.

What’s your favorite X-Men era? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!

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