History
A Dream is Born
The result of a leap in natural evolution, mutants, or Homo superior, are born with superhuman abilities which generally, though not exclusively, manifest themselves at puberty. Often seen as a threat, mutants are hated and feared by a notable percentage of humans. Charles Xavier long held dreams of forging a future where both mutants and humans could live peacefully together, but recognised that there would be conflict and danger along the way. To help protect mutantkind he transformed his families ancestral Westchester mansion into the Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, welcoming any mutant who wished to help foster a better future for both Mutants and humans, promising to help them develop and master their mutant abilities. This included constructing the Danger Room to test and train mutants and developing Cerebro, a powerful mutant detector. The first class of mutants he took in consisted of Jean Grey, Havok, Cyclops, Iceman, Beast and Angel. Initially just students, these six would go on to become the initial X-Men, dedicated to defending mutants and humans alike against a variety of threats.
Xavier's dream was not without detractors, both of the human and mutant variety, and an early mission for the young X-Men would bring them into direct conflict with Xavier's old friend turned enemy Magneto and his Brotherhood, who believed that mutants and humanity could never coexist, as well as clashing with a number of other threats including Xavier's step-brother Juggernaut, Unus the Untouchable and Sauron. Despite their heroic actions mass-hysteria against mutants continued to grow and gave birth to the US government's anti-mutant task force Project Wideawake, led by William Stryker and Bastion.
Project Wideawake was a serious threat to mutants, especially when, following the assassination of the anti-mutant politician Graydon Creed, Stryker partnered with Bolivar Trask to create the Sentinel Project, creating enormous machines capable of tracking and neutralising mutants. Project Wideawake received government and public backing on the basis that all mutants they took in were sent to camps where they could be monitored and a cure for their 'condition' could be developed. However following an attack by Magneto and his Brotherhood on one such camp the truth was revealed to the world, Project Wideawake was performing fatal experiments on mutants in their efforts to create their cure. Magneto would declare war on humanity and led a direct and destructive attack on the White House, which was only stopped by the X-Men. With little options available Xavier shut down Magneto's brain, leaving him powerless and comatose. It's reputation tarnished, Project Wideawake was officially shut down.
Road to Apocalypse
In the aftermath Cyclops would leave the X-Men for the Brotherhood, disillusioned with Xavier's dream. Soon after a violent confrontation with the anti-mutant terror group the Purifiers led to Xavier expanding the ranks of the school, introducing new mutants like Storm, Shadowcat Nightcrawler and Petra, the latter of which was the daughter of Charles' old flame Moira MacTaggert, who had once been a close ally of Xavier's but had been missing for many years. Petra's efforts to find out what Xavier knew about her mother's disappearance brought the X-Men into conflict with an underground group of mutants known as the Marauders as well as the dark geneticist Mister Sinister. Xavier revealed to Petra that her mother didn't disappear, she chose to leave Xavier and his cause after claiming that his methods would doom mutants. He doesn't know where she went, only that she left him a warning - when Apocalypse comes, be ready.
Apocalypse was an ancient mutant, potentially the very first of his kind, and had been in a deep slumber for several centuries under the care of Clan Akkaba. After sensing that the tide was turning against mutant kind Clan Akkaba rose Apocalypse from his slumber, and En Sabah Our would begin his work. Apocalypse believed entirely in the survival of the fittest, believing that while mutants deserved to rule the planet they had to earn it. He enacted a plan in which he caused a series of catastrophic events around the world with the aid of his Four Horsemen to see who would survive and thrive. With the entire world at stake the X-Men would have no choice but to reunite with Cyclops and work alongside him and the Brotherhood of Mutants to battle against Apocalypse and his followers to prevent a global catastrophe.
Their initial attempts to stop Apocalypse directly resulted in tragedy when Apocalypse killed Havok in front of his brother, Cyclops, and lover, Jean Grey. The X-Men suffered further when Angel was unwillingly transferred by Apocalypse into his new Horseman of Death following the death of the original by the X-Men's ally Wolverine. With the situation dire, Xavier was forced to seek help from his old friend turned enemy, Magneto. While Xavier had returned Magneto's mind to him he had left him unable to unlock his powers due to Xavier's psychic blocks, leaving Charles with no choice but to remove them, granting Magneto his powers back with the warning that they would be shut off for good should Magneto betray them in their battle with Apocalypse.
The combined forces of the X-Men and Brotherhood, led by Xavier and Magneto, alongside a number of their allies, battled back against Apocalypse, taking down the Horsemen in the process, but still Apocalypse was such a force that he held off their attacks single handed. As this battle was going on Cyclops and Jean made their way into the depths of Apocalypse's pyramid-like headquarters, knowing that the celestial technology there could be the solution to beating Apocalypse. It was inside Apocalypse's headquarters that they shockingly found Moira MacTaggert, revealed to have been working with Apocalypse but accepting that she had failed in her efforts to save mutants 'once again'. Moira revealed that part of Apocalypse's technology was a direct link to the time stream, and that this was the solution to stopping him. When Apocalypse finally retreated into the depths of his base Cyclops and Jean, assisted by Moira, unleashed the force of the time stream, trapping Apocalypse within and seemingly ending his threat to the world. In the aftermath Cyclops left the Brotherhood, grieving for his brother, while both Magneto and Moira vanished to carry out their own agendas.
Dark Angel Saga
As the X-Men mourned Havok, Jean Grey second guessed her role as field leader and considered leaving the team. It was during this time that the X-Men investigated one of Mister Sinister's laboratories, in which Jean accidentally released and was consumed by the entity known as the Phoenix Force, granting her new abilities and enhancing her own. While not understanding everything about the Phoenix Force Jean found new confidence, something which would come in useful when the X-Men clashed with Shadow King, who had returned to terrorise Xavier and his students. Shadow King seemed highly powerful and overwhelmed the X-Men until Jean tapped into her new powers and seemingly wiped Shadow King out with a vast display of force. Jean's new power threatened to overcome her until a Xavier projected a vision of Havok into her mind, helping her to control it, albeit with the threat of Jean's powers growing uncontrollable in the back of both of their minds.
Shortly after this the X-Men's lineup would shift. Angel and Beast would leave with Warren, still struggling with the memories of being the Horseman of Death, stepping in to take over Worthington Industries and Beast working as his right hand man to keep an eye on his close friend, while Petra and Shadowcat would travel to Japan with Wolverine, having learned that Petra's mother Moira had been sighted there. The X-Men would be joined by Mystique's daughter Rogue and the thief Gambit as well as the Russian powerhouse Colossus.
Angel and Beast sought to use Worthington Industries to help mutants, which led to Angel financing Cyclops' secret team, X-Force. It was while examining Warren's blood as a test for a new serum that would enhance mutant powers that Beast discovered the truth, that the seed Apocalypse had implanted in Angel was still coursing through his blood, slowly overwhelming him. Beast, realising that Warren was compromised, attempted to warn the X-Men but was attacked by Famine, under the orders of Ozymandias. Beast barely survived thanks to the intervention of X-Force, who had also discovered the truth around Warren's role in Clan Akkaba's plans to bring Apocalypse back to their universe. Meanwhile Warren's Archangel persona finally took control while Warren was visiting the X-Men, leading to an attack by War and Pestilence, who led Archangel back to Apocalypse's former stronghold where, using the blood of Apocalypse that ran through his veins, Archangel was able to control the technology there. Clan Akkaba's intentions were for Archangel to open the time stream portal once again, allowing Apocalypse to return.
Archangel had other plans however, intending to use Apocalypse's celestial technology to recreate Earth in his own image, believing that Apocalypse had left too much to chance and that the only way for mutants to prosper was with him at their helm and to wipe out anyone who opposed him. The X-Men and X-Force, forced to reveal their existence, fought back against Archangel and Clan Akkaba. Jean would use the powers of the Phoenix to try and purge Warren from the Archangel persona but it was too closely linked to Warren's own growing feelings of disgust at how the world treated mutants. Instead she destroyed the death seed within him and painfully purged the blood of Apocalypse from his veins, removing Warren's ability to control the celestial technology. Apocalypse's headquarters became unstable, forcing the X-Men and X-Force to flee. Beast however stayed with Warren, not wanting to leave his friend alone and the two vanished when the stronghold disappeared into the time-stream, their location unknown.
Paraphernalia
Equipment: Cerebro
Transportation: Blackbird
Weapons: None known.
Notes
- No special notes.
Trivia
- No trivia.
See Also
- Appearances of X-Men (Earth-762)
- Team Gallery: X-Men (Earth-762)
- Fan-Art Gallery: X-Men (Earth-762)
Links and References
- None.