The X-Men are Marvel’s most lore dense team. The group’s history is known for being extremely complicated, with multiple characters from the past and future, and several different alternate universes and futures being canon at any given time. The team has decades of lore under its belt, with numerous branching connections snaking back and forth, and it basically represents its own corner of the Marvel Universe. Looking back over the 63-year history of the group, there are so many cool little pieces of lore, many of which have become foundational in the ensuing years. However, others have slipped through the cracks.
X-Men lore is full of so many cool little gems that used to be important, but never really went anywhere or did go somewhere but their time is long past. Some of these would be a lot of fun to revisit, and Marvel loves to bring back the past for those nostalgia pops. These seven pieces of X-Men lore need to be revisited, reminding fans of their favorite eras of the team.
7) Exodus
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Exodus took years to reach his potential, but has completely disappeared. The mutant first appeared in the ’90s as the leader of Magneto’s second team of Acolytes, a powerful and mysterious mutant who would get fleshed out as a knight from the medieval era who was friends with Black Knight and fought Apocalypse. The Krakoa Era made him into a full character for the first time ever, but he’s been nowhere to be found since the end of Krakoa. It’s a travesty and there is so much potential for the character in the new X-Men status quo. Marvel has a best of all time villain on their hands, and don’t know what to do with him.
6) The Upstarts
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The ’90s were the time of the X-Men, and there was some wild creativity in the early years of the decade. One of the most underused, but fun, ideas of the early ’90s was the Upstarts. The group was made up of numerous young villains — Fabian Cortez, Trevor Fitzroy, Siena Blaze, Shinobi Shaw, the Fenris Twins, Graydon Creed, and Gamesmaster — all trying to kill older mutants and get points for a mysterious prize. It was such a cool idea, and then after Lee, Potracio, and Liefeld left, it got dropped. The Upstarts have showed up several more times, but they’ve never recaptured the cool ideas of the beginning of the group.
5) The World
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New X-Men was an innovative mutant comic, and one of the coolest ideas it introduced was the World. The World was the facility where Weapon Plus operated, the program that created Captain America, Nuke, Wolverine, Deadpool, and all of the other Weapon X mutants. This new facility could slowdown and accelerate time within it, allowing it to create generations of new living weapons in days. It’s one of those things that should be in the backpocket of every X-creator out there, because it is the idea that can keep on giving.
4) The Phalanx
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House of X/Powers of X kicked off the Krakoa Era, but it also seemed liked it was going to bring back a ’90s X-Men enemy that hadn’t been heard of in a bit: the Phalanx. These techno-organic beings were basically the Borg of the Marvel Universe, but as time went on they morphed into something different, and Jonathan Hickman set them up as some kind of cosmic reaper that existed outside of time. However, his plans changed drastically, so that the Phalanx disappeared from the books, replaced by the Dominions. The Phalanx are just sitting there, ready for their close-up, and it would be awesome if Marvel brought them back.
3) Arakko
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The Krakoa Era innovated the X-Men comics, and introduced readers to one of the coolest ideas ever: the planet Arakko. Arakko was Mars, terraformed by the most powerful Omega-level mutants, with the sister island of Krakoa planted in one of its oceans. Krakoa is gone, but Arakko is still there with its martial mutant culture and Apocalypse somewhere nearby. This is another idea that was perfectly set up for the current X-books by the Krakoa writers, but has barely been touched.
2) The Mojoverse
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The Mojoverse is one of those cool little X-Men ideas that never really got replicated by other teams. This is the home of the Spineless Ones, and their dimension is run by whoever can keep them entertained the best. That’s been Mojo. He’s every scumbag producer you can imagine, and produces the worst filth you can imagine to entertain the Spineless Ones. That idea can be taken a million different ways, and no one ever really takes it as far as they could.
1) The Outback Era
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The Outback Era of the X-Men is one of the coolest times in the team’s history. The group had just defeated the Adversary in Dallas and walked through the Siege Perilous, faking their death. They showed up at the old Reavers base in the Outback, now invisible to surveillance technology, and set up shop, using the Aboriginal mutant Gateway to travel around the world. This period of the X-Men was one of the most interesting; it was perfect Claremont X-Men, with one of the most varied and fun rosters ever. Marvel has noticed our love for it — the new volume of Uncanny X-Men has the same vibe as this era and there’s about to be a Outback-set miniseries — but there are plenty of little ideas from that time that could be brought into the present.
What’s you favorite piece of X-Men lore? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!