Anyone who was a big fan of comic books in the 1990s or even early 2000s will tell you that theX-Menwere one of, if not the biggest franchises in the world. They had multiple comics being published, numerous animated series, and a successful live-action film franchise. The X-Men were everywhere, but then, almost overnight, it seemed, they were phased out, and The Avengers became the go-to superhero team for audiences. Characters like Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Ant-Man became icons, and expressions like “Avengers assemble” became part of the public lexicon. In 2019, it felt like the entire world was waiting to seeAvengers: Endgame, a movie that made more in its opening weekend than anyX-Menfilm did in its entire domestic run.
While audiences certainly loved The Avengers, it did not mean they didn’t love the X-Men. It was more behind-the-scenes factors by Marvel and its parent company, Disney itself, to downplay the importance of the X-Men while raising the profile of the characters for which they were investing millions of dollars in movies. Yet despite an editorial team that wanted to downplay the X-Men, like in any fight against the Sentinels or Magneto, the X-Men persisted and remained popular in the hearts and minds of fans. Now, in 2024, the X-Men look to be making a big return, and theMarvel Cinematic Universewill need them after years of Marvel downplaying their importance. Like a Phoenix (Force), here is the rise, fall, and rise again of the X-Men.
The X-Men Popularity and Why Marvel Phased Them Out
When the X-Men first debuted in 1963, they were not the biggest hit for the company and were canceled in 1970 due to low sales. In 1975,Giant Size X-Men#1 hit the shelves, which featured a new diverse team that saw the introduction of Nightcrawler, Storm, and Colossus. It also brought over Wolverine, who was previously introduced inThe Incredible Hulka year prior. Writer Chris Claremont soon took over the title and launched an epic run thatincluded many iconic X-Men storylineslike “The Dark Phoenix Saga” and “Days of Future Past”, while also expanding the scope of the comic to include cosmic threats and introducing many fan-favorite characters, including Gambit, Rogue, Kitty Pryde, Jubilee, and Psylocke just to name a few.
By the early 1980s,X-Menwas Marvel’s top-selling comic title. Its sales were such that distributors and retailers began using an “X-Men index”, rating each comic book publication by how many orders it garnered compared to that month’s issue ofX-Men.Marvel would cash in with many spin-offs, includingNew Mutants,X-Factor,X-Force,Excalibur, and a solo Wolverine title. All this success led the X-Men to be highly prioritized for adaptation, including the hitX-Men: The Animated Series, which built into the hype for 2000’sX-Men.
Despite 20th Century Fox president Tom DeFalco having little faith in the project, X-Men became a smash hit at the time and had the third-highest opening day of any film, behindStar Wars: Episode I – The Phantom MenaceandThe Lost World: Jurassic Parkwith $21.4 million.X2: X-Men United, released three years later, then opened to $85.9 million for the three-day weekend and was the fourth-biggest weekend at the time behind onlySpider-Manand the first twoHarry Pottermovies. 2006 was the peak of popularity asX-Men: The Last Standopened to $122.8 million over the Memorial Day weekend holiday andheld the record for the biggest Memorial Day weekenduntilPirates of the Caribbean: At World’s Endone year later.
Yet, in 2005, a movement behind the scenes was being made that would change the X-Men franchise forever.
The Avengers Step Up To The Plate
2005 was the year that Marvel Studios looked to launch its own independent film production company to have greater control over its characters, while also gaining more profits off these box office hits. Marvel only made 1% of the box office ofX-Menfilms, compared to the potential 100% they could make by making their own films. Marvel Studios moved forward with their own independently produced films, which in 2008 resulted inIron ManandThe Incredible Hulk.Iron Manwas a surprise hit, taking a B-list character and catapulting him to superstardom. The Monday morningafterIron Manopened to an impressive $98 million weekend, Marvel announced plans forIron Man 2,Thor,Captain America: The First Avenger, andThe Avengers.
In preparation for their independent feature film plans, The Avengers' status started to be raised in the comics. Following the “Avengers: Disassembled” arc in 2004, the brand was relaunched asNew Avengersin 2005. 2006 saw Marvel Animation releaseUltimate AvengersandUltimate Avengers 2, raising the profile of the heroes. In 2005,House of Mwould be an event that would change the X-Men franchise forever, and cemented Earth Mightiest Heroes as Marvel’s biggest title.
The series saw Wanda Maximoff, aka The Scarlet Witch, a character closely associated with both The Avengers and the X-Men, alter reality and create a world where mutants are the dominant species on the planet, and every one of the heroes is living their ideal life. The event ends with Scarlet Witch realizing she has been manipulated by her brother Quicksilver, and she takes her frustration out on all mutants. She says three words that will change the Marvel Universe forever: No more mutants.
Reality is reset to its original setting but at a terrible price. 98% of the Earth’s mutant population is depowered, and the mutants are now an endangered species. Following this, Avengers characters took center stage in many of Marvel’s biggest events like 2006’sCivil War, 2007’sWorld War Hulk, 2008’sSecret Invasion, 2010’sSeige, and 2011’sFear Itselfwhile the X-Men were typically in their own corner of the universe dealing with their own threats, occasionally interacting with the larger stories.This all culminated in 2012’sAvengers vs. X-Men, which saw the two teams come into conflict over The Phoenix Force.
Members of the X-Men, like Cyclops, want to use the Phoenix to restore Earth’s mutant population, while the Avengers fear the destructive capabilities of the Phoenix Force. The two sides clash, and by the end of the story, most of the X-Men have shifted to the Avengers' side after Cyclops becomes overwhelmed by the power of the Phoenix. The comic ends with the Avengers defeating Cyclops and Earth’s mutant population being restored.
The House of Ideas Divided Against Itself
FollowingAvengers vs. X-Men, The Avengers spotlight only grew as the Marvel Cinematic Universe increased the viability of the heroes. Despite 2014 featuring thecritically acclaimed box office hit ofX-Men: Days of Future Past, Marvel did not seem interested in building hype for X-Men-related films. While this was not an issue when Marvel Studios was an independent company, once it became part of the Walt Disney Corporation, it was unlikely Disney would want to promote their competitors.
In addition, Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter was still angry about the deal20th Century Fox had gotten over on them for theX-Menfilm rightsand didn’t want to assist them anymore, hoping that Fox would give the rights backup and Marvel could profit off them once more. This led to a series of decisions behind the scenes to downplay theX-Men.
At Phoenix Comic-Con in 2014, X-Men writer Chris Claremon appeared onThe Nerdistpodcast alongside Wolverine creator Len Wein, writer Marc Bernardin, and writer Heath Corson. Claremont said:
“I have to say quite honestly as I understand it now the X department is forbidden to create new characters… All because all new characters become Fox’s film property. There will be no X-Men merchandising in the foreseeable future, so why promote Fox material?”
Related:Best Deadpool & Wolverine Comics to Check Out Before the Film Drops
How much of this is true has never been officially confirmed by Marvel, but even fans at the time could see this was true. The last X-Men movie to receive merchandising was 2009’sX-Men Origins: Wolverine, which was released three months before Disney purchased Marvel and, therefore, Marvel Studios. Disney looked to promote the characters they had upcoming films for, so the remaining MCU Phase 1 films had toylines and tie-in video games. Meanwhile, there was no merchandise for 2011’sX-Men: First Classor 2013’sThe Wolverineoutside traditional comic book-related merchandise.
X-Men ‘97marks thefirst time an animated series based on the charactershas been on the air sinceWolverine and the X-Menwas canceled in 2009, 15 years ago. There have been no majorX-Mengames, and fans were frustrated whenMarvel vs. Capcom: Infinitedid not feature any X-Men characters since the franchise launched withX-Men vs. Street Fighterback in 1996.
Meanwhile, in 2013, Marvel started to push the Inhumans as a possible replacement for the X-Men. The Inhumans were another race of superpowered people on Earth that were introduced inFantastic Four#45 in 1965. The Inhumans were never the most popular Marvel characters, but after turning Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America into big household names, Marvel looked to turn the Inhumans into the next big title. It would allow them to solve the problem the X-Men were originally created for in the comics: make an easy explanation for someone having superpowers without a complicated backstory.
Inhumans Attempt to Become the New X-Men
The Inhumans got a major push in the comics, with the 2013 storylineInfinity(which was a major source of inspiration for the MCU filmAvengers: Infinity War) ending with a bomb filled with a substance known as Terrigen Mist being released upon the planet, which would activate the latent Inhuman gene in humans all over the world. This storyline and the Inhumans themselves were featured heavily inAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D.seasons two and three, looking to lay the groundwork for a planned film. The movie was scrapped andreformatted into a poorly received ABC showthat aired in 2017, one year afterInhumans vs. X-Menhit comic shelves, where it was revealed the Terrigen Mist, the material that activates the Inhuman gene, was deadly to mutants.
Despite Marvel’s push to make the Inhumans the next big title, it never really took. The only true success of the initiative was the introduction of Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel.Her original creators intended for her to be a mutant, but due to the Inhuman push at the time (and likely not wanting to tie her in with the X-Men and potential future films), she was made an Inhuman. Funny enough, when Ms. Marvel joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe, her originally planned mutant origin story was restored, and she became the first mutant in the Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline.
The X-Men remained popular due to comic fans having years of association with them, and the film side of the franchise had found its groove with R-rated entries like 2016’sDeadpooland 2017’sLogan. 2017, though, would see a major change to the entire entertainment industry, as Disney would begin the process to acquire 20th Century Fox. The deal was finalized in 2019, and with it, Disney gained control of the franchise andcanceled all X-Men projects in development. The final twoX-Men-related films were waiting to be released:Dark PhoenixandNew Mutants. Both films were released with little hype, withNew Mutantsreleasing during the COVID-19 pandemic, and both were box-office disappointments. However, it was clear that Disney and Marvel had big plans for the franchise.
X-Men Under Disney
In 2019, the same year thatDark Phoenixwas released in theaters to little fanfare, Marvel Comics made a major push to revamp the X-Men line of comics. July 2019 saw the launch of the dual comics,House of XandPowers of X, by writer Jonathan Hickman and artists Pepe Larraz, R. B. Silva, and Marte Gracia. Both comics introduced a massive change to the status quo as the X-Men, Brotherhood, and various other mutant threats united to form theisland nation of Krakoa, a home for all mutants, and made themselves known on the world stage. The series kicked offDawn of X, a major overhaul for the X-Men line with different titles exploring different factions of this new mutant nation. For the first time in fifteen years, The X-Men were put into the spotlight of the Marvel Universe.
Also, in July 2019 at San Diego Comic-Con, Kevin Feige hinted at plans for “The Mutants” but gave no further details. In the following years, though, elements from the X-Men franchise would be incorporated into the MCU.WandaVisiondelved more into Scarlet Witch’s backstory and featured a fun meta cameo of Evan Peters playing a new Quicksilver, referencing him playing Quicksilver in the FoxX-Menfilms.
Related:X-Men: All the Movies in Chronological Order
The following Disney+ MCU series,The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,introduced the island of Madripoor, a common staple of the X-Men comics. Patrick Stewart played a variant of Professor X inDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, while both Ms. Marvel and Namor forBlack Panther: Wakanda Foreverwere called mutants.The Marvelsmid-credit scene saw Monica Rambeau stranded in another universe, one with the X-Men, withKelsey Grammer reprising his role as Beast fromX-Men: The Last Stand. The desire for X-Men is so prevalent that it is even referenced inShe-Hulk: Attorney at Law, where the character breaks the fourth wall and asks, “When are we getting the X-Men?”
Marvel is now looking to do a big X-Men push in 2024. The release ofX-Men ‘97looks to return to a time when the X-Men were Marvel’s biggest title. Following it will beDeadpool & Wolverine, the third entry in the Deadpool film franchise that will see the Merc with the Mouth make his way into the MCU and be joined by other characters from 20th Century Fox Marvel films, including Hugh Jackman reprising his role as Wolverine.
X-Men Reborn
X-Men ‘97andDeadpool & Wolverinemake up a majority of Marvel’s 2024 slate. After years of relying on characters like Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Doctor Strange, The Guardians of the Galaxy, and Captain Marvel, Marvel Studios now finds themselvesrelying on the X-Men. Fans of the Merry Mutants certainly have had a rough couple of decades. Now, almost 20 years after the events ofHouse of Min the comics shifted the X-Men’s place in the Marvel Universe as well as behind one of the company’s biggest brands, they are now roaring back into the spotlight.
With fears of superhero fatigue setting in as major movies based on popular brands bomb at the box office, the X-Men’s return will either be one last grasp at relevance or the shot in the arm the genre needs. With a wide roster of characters, six decades of iconic storylines, and various spin-offs and material to draw from, and now all under Marvel’s control, the X-Men are about to make their grand return to the forefront of Marvel and likely will stay there for years to come.
X-Men ‘97premiered on Disney+ on June 06, 2025, andDeadpool & Wolverineopens in theaters on Jun 05, 2025.
