The X-Men have always fought to prove to the world that mutants can coexist peacefully with humans, but there have been times when members of the Marvel Comics team have come close to destroying the world. This has nearly happened when the mutants lose control, and it has also almost happened when the mutants make terrible mistakes. However, there are also cases where the X-Men have destroyed the world, creating a separate timeline that shows what happened when the mutants crossed the line. The X-Men have almost always been able to turn things around and save the world, but since timelines never revert and only diverge, there are many moments where the mutants have destroyed everything.
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From the times that the X-Men caused a post-apocalyptic timeline to other times where they were able to save the day just in the nick of time, here are times when the X-Men almost destroyed the world.
10) New Mutants (The Brood)
Professor Charles Xavier created The New Mutants to be the next generation of the X-Men, teenagers he brought in to educate and train. However, there were many times when Professor X lost control of his team, and they ended up making drastic mistakes. One of these times came with the Brood, who are among the X-Men enemies with the power to destroy the Marvel Universe.
The X-Men barely beat the Brood when they fought them in the past, and these aliens have destroyed entire civilizations. That made it a huge mistake when the New Mutants stole the King Egg from the Shi’ar Empire and brought it to Earth. Massive armadas of Brood showed up in Krakoa to retrieve it, and they would have destroyed everything if Broo hadn’t accidentally eaten the egg and become the absolute king of the Brood.
9) Beast (Age Of X)
Beast started a downhill trajectory when Cyclops assassinated Professor X while possessed by the Phoenix Force. He began to experiment with scientific experiments beyond what was morally right. By the time he ended up in Krakoa and Professor X put him in charge of X-Force, he finally went off the deep end.
He sent heroic mutants on assassination missions, and he humiliated some of the most honorable X-Men, including Colossus. Finally, he went full evil in the name of protecting mutants, and X-Force was sent to kill him before it was too late. He would have destroyed everything and started a war with humanity if not for a resurrected Beast with his old-school personality bringing Wonder Man into the story. They were able to get the corrupted Beast to give up on his mission.
8) Cyclops (AvX)
Cyclops was at the forefront of the Avengers Vs. X-Men storyline. The entire basis of this storyline was the Phoenix Force heading toward Earth. The Avengers wanted to take Hope Summers into custody to protect her from taking on the Phoenix. However, the X-Men believed that the Phoenix could aid the mutants on Earth, disregarding the inherent dangers it posed. When the Phoenix Force arrived, it went into five mutants, including Cyclops. By the end, only Cyclops was left standing and killed Professor X. He finally fell before the Phoenix could go dark, and this saved the world, while Cyclops became a martyr for mutantkind.
7) Revelation (Age of Revelation)
Age of Revelation is the latest X-Men crossover storyline, and it marks a new chapter arriving 30 years after Age of Apocalypse. The story jumps 10 years into the future and depicts a world where Douglas Ramsay, empowered by Apocalypse, reshapes the world into a mutant utopia. The event follows Douglas, as Revelation, who uses his power to influence through his spoken word, and he ends up changing the world based on a terrible lie, allowing mutants to thrive. While the story has yet to be told in full, it reveals that even mutants considered to be the most worthless in Marvel history can destroy the world.
6) Jean Grey (Dark Phoenix)
The first time a mutant actually came close to showing the power to destroy the world was when Jean Grey, under the control of the Phoenix Force, did so. The Dark Phoenix actually destroyed all life on another planet by consuming its star. She then returned to Earth and ended up facing trial by the Shi’ar Empire for her crimes, only to sacrifice herself before she could lose control again. It could have gone worse, as a What If…? issue showed that if she had not sacrificed herself, the Dark Phoenix would have taken control, and she would have killed all the X-Men and then consumed the sun, destroying this Earth as well.
5) Magneto (Ultimatum)
When Magneto first arrived in comics, he was the leader of the powerful Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. He sought to bring humankind to its knees more than once. However, there is one instance in the Ultimate Marvel Universe when he almost destroyed the entire world, and it started when he killed Professor X by snapping his neck. He then used his magnetic powers to start a flood that killed over 100,000 people, and possibly as many as 400,000. No, Magneto was not an X-Men at the time, but he has been a member on more than one occasion on different versions of Earth, and here, what he did was the worst act of war he ever committed.
4) Hope Summers (Started Bishop’s Future)
There have been many world-ending events that caused diversions of Earth in the Marvel Universe. One that has no name happened on Earth-1191 and involved the Mutant Messiah. On this Earth, Hope Summers was able to give all mutants their powers back after M-Day. This earned her the nickname “Mutant Messiah.” However, she murdered a million humans in the “Six-Minute War,” causing the U.S. government to pass legislation to capture mutants and use Sentinels to hold them in concentration camps. It was a dystopian future for mutants, and Bishop traveled to the past to find Hope and kill her before she could cause this devastating event to happen.
3) Mystique (Started Days of Future Past)
Sometimes, it doesn’t take much to cause the end of the world for mutants. In the case of Days of Future Past, it was just an assassination attempt. In this case, it was Mystique, who was the leader of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, who assassinated U.S. Senator Robert Kelly. This led the U.S. government to initiate its Sentinel program, but it soon got out of control. The Sentinels ultimately overpowered the U.S. government, killed regular heroes like the Avengers and Fantastic Four, and seized power. With a full-scale nuclear attack threatened against America, Rachel Summers sent Kate Pryde back 30 years to the past to stop the assassination and keep this future apocalypse from happening.
2) Legion (Started Age of Apocalypse)
The Age of Apocalypse timeline was caused by one mutant who attempted to do too much to fix the world, ultimately destroying it. Professor X’s son, Legion, went back in time to kill his father’s enemies to make the X-Men’s lives easier in the future. However, when he tried to kill Magneto, Professor X sacrificed his life to save him, and this caused Legion to disappear from existence. With Xavier dead, Magneto started the X-Men, but he wasn’t strong enough to stop Apocalypse from conquering the world. This entire world-shattering event occurred because of Legion, who was ultimately responsible for everything.
1) Professor X (Onslaught)
Professor X made a massive mistake that actually destroyed the world for many heroes. After Magneto ripped out Wolverine’s adamantium skeleton, Professor X realized his old friend was too far gone and shut down his mind. However, this had an unintended effect. Magneto’s intense emotions and negative feelings, combined with Xavier’s repressed anger, created the being known as Onslaught. At first, Onslaught wanted to destroy humans, but he soon learned mutants were just as hateful and decided to destroy everything. In the end, he killed the Avengers and Fantastic Four, before he destroyed the world, creating two different planes of existence, including the much-derided Heroes Reborn retcon. It took Franklin Richards’ immense powers to eventually fix it.
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