7 Darkest X-Men Timelines, Ranked

The X-Men are all about the future. Charles Xavier’s dream of human/mutant co-existence is as much about the promise of a future defined by equality as it is about the present. The team is constantly fighting to make the world a better place not just for mutants, but for everyone, battling against the forces of oppression. This has led readers to numerous alternate universes and timelines to see how well they accomplish their missions elsewhere, stories that taught fans a terrible lesson: the group always fails. Their dream of peaceful co-existence never comes to pass and is instead replaced by something dark and horrific.

The X-Men brought the dark alternate universe to the Marvel Multiverse in 1980, making them more popular than ever. Since then readers have experienced some of the most terrifying timelines ever in their books. These are the seven darkest X-Men timelines, showing that the dream can turn easily turn into a nightmare.

7) What If… (Vol. 2) #38

What If… (Vol. 2) had two different stories with Wolverine as a vampire lord after being made a bloodsucker by Dracula, and the second one in issue #38 takes readers to a very dark future. As the lord of vampires, Logan is able to take control of most of the superhero and supervillain communities, feeding on the humans of New York City with impunity. By the end, basically every hero in the world is either dead or on his side but he comes to his senses towards the end and with the help of the astral form of Doctor Strange uses the Montesi Formula, killing every vampire on the planet. All of the heroes are dead, leaving the Earth less secure than ever.

6) “Here Comes Tomorrow”

New X-Men is an amazing X-book, more than living up to its name. Writer Grant Morrison took numerous X-tropes and brought them to new places, including the dystopia future. “Here Comes Tomorrow” took readers a hundred years into the future. Cyclops disbanded the X-Men after Jean Grey’s death with Beast stepping up to take his place. However, he ends up taking the mutant drug Kick and is possessed by John Sublime, becoming the Beast of the Apocalypse. He ends up creating an army of mutants and ends up wrecking the world, with only the newest generation of X-Men in his way. This world had become a blasted wasteland, one infested by the dark mutant chimeras with death around every corner.

5) “Age of Revelation”

“Age of Revelation” is the latest dark alternate timeline and it just so happens to be one of the least loved. The story took readers ten years into the future, where the X-Virus had ravaged the world and Revelation used his powers to forge his own empire in North America from the new mutants. Revelation’s territory is completely under his control, him using his power to control anyone he speaks with to control his army completely and enforce his will. Various heroes still fight for good but completely miss Revelation’s dark secret plan, with this world ending with the dark mutant lord becoming a composite entity made of every being on Earth, creating a living world from the planet.

4) Moira MacTaggert’s 9th Life

The Krakoa Era changed the X-Men for years, all because of the ten lives of Moira MacTaggert. Long thought a human, Moira was a mutant who resurrected at the start of her life every time she died, keeping all of her knowledge. She watched mutants lose in every life, which led to her 9th one. She ended up teaming with Apocalypse to fight humanity as a change of pace from earlier lives, who are able to create a Nimrod Sentinel. Humans begin to enhance their bodies with technology and mutants are hunted relentlessly. It’s a world that took its genetic war to terrible levels, with humanity trading their flesh for metal to defeat mutants.

3) “Sins of Sinister”

“Sins of Sinister” spun out of the Krakoa Era. Sinister joined the mutant nation and brought his DNA library with him, making Krakoan resurrection possible. No one trusted him though and did their best to make sure he hadn’t hidden anything in the samples. They found nothing, but Sinister was able to hide a way to make everyone like him. He started with Xavier, Emma Frost, Hope Summers, and Exodus, who begin to make Krakoa the ultimate power in the world. Soon, the entire nation is Sinister-ized and they conquer the Earth, moving into space and starting a millennia of conquest and victory. Sinister would end up having to work Moira MacTaggert to destroy the entire universe, putting this dark world to bed forever.

2) “Days of Future Past”

“Days of Future Past” was the original dark alternate X-future, taking readers to a world where Sentinels had taken over after Mystique assassinated Senator Robert Kelly. This led to the Mutant Registration Act and fleets of Sentinels going after mutants and superhumans. Eventually, the robotic overlords create concentration camps for mutants and anyone who could make mutant offspring. It’s a world of death and destruction, with mutants constantly trying to break the iron grip of the Sentinels on the planet.

1) “Age of Apocalypse”

“Age of Apocalypse” is a beloved story and took readers to the darkest world imaginable. In this timeline, Xavier was killed by the time-traveling Legion when he was in Israel with Magneto as a young man. This led to Apocalypse deciding that it was time to begin his war against the weak. Mags brings together his own group of X-Men to battle the mutant empire, with North and South America falling to Apocalypse and humanity retreating to Europe and Asia. The conflict was ended in nuclear war, but the world survived, with humans and mutants trying to build a new world out of the ashes of the old.

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

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