The X-Men had something of a time in the 2010s. The ’00s for the X-Men were remarkably uneven — we got New X-Men, but we also got Chuck Austen writing Uncanny X-Men and X-Men. Astonishing X-Men by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday was great for new fans, but was a Claremont pastiche with stories that kind of fell short (honestly, everyone was complaining about the book after the first story arc, partly because of the stories but also because of the delays). The Milligan run on X-Men had the hype but didn’t work. Claremont’s third Uncanny run was cool sometimes, as was Brubaker’s. Carey’s X-Men was good, as well. And of course, there was House of M, destroying the mutant side of the Marvel Universe in order to push the more traditional heroes. The ’10s started out pretty great, well until Bendis moved to the X-Men from the Avengers, but after 2013’s Infinity and the rise of the Inhumans doomed the X-Men for years until 2019.
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It was hard being an X-Men fan in the ’10s, and it’s hard to find legitimately great X-Men stories, especially compared to the prior decade. However, there are some great X-Men stories from this time period if you look hard enough. These ten ’10s X-Men stories are the best of an eh bunch, and weigh heavily towards the beginning of the decade and the end.
10) “Second Coming”
“Second Coming” is the culmination of a story that began in the ’00s. Hope Summers was the first mutant born after House of M, and the X-Men books developed her as a back story, as well as building up the threat of the returned Bastion and his council of anti-mutant racists who were all resurrected in the Yost/Kyle X-Force run. The Hope plot and the Bastion plot would come to a head in “Second Coming”, a story that saw Bastion unleash his greatest attack against the mutant isle of Utopia. “Second Coming” ran through all of the X-Men books of 2010 — Uncanny X-Men, X-Force, New Mutants, X-Men: Legacy. Hope and Cable return to the present and Bastion unleashes his final assault on the mutants. This is an extremely dark story, with a major death, and that can work against it, but it’s also a pretty cool ride for X-Men fans, paying off years of plotlines.
9) X-Men (Vol. 5) #3
The announcement that Jonathan Hickman was taking over the X-Men was moment of happiness for a fandom that had just been through years of Marvel doing everything they could to get the X-Men cancelled (it honestly felt like that; X-Men: Gold, Astonishing X-Men (Vol. 4), and “X-Men Disassembled” aren’t anything that you’d want to re-read). However, he only took over in the last half of 2019, which is going to limit the amount of Hickman that appears here, despite him being one of the X-Men’s best writers. Hickman’s X-Men (Vol. 5) spun out of House of X/Powers of X, and as a whole isn’t the greatest X-Men series ever (I have… thoughts on “X of Swords”), but there are a lot of cool stories. The best of 2019 is X-Men (Vol. 5) #3, by Hickman and Leinil Yu. Cyclops, Emma Frost, and Sebastian Shaw go to the Savage Land, where the Krakoans are growing the flowers that power their pharmaceutical markets, when something goes wrong. They meet Hordeculture, a group of villains who are basically The Golden Girls meet crazy comic book science. It’s one of the most entertaining moments in the entire Krakoa Era, and is definitely worth a read.
8) Avengers Vs. X-Men
Avengers Vs. X-Men, by Brian Michael Bendis, Jonathan Hickman, Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, Jason Aaron, John Romita Jr., Olivier Coipel, and Adam Kubert, isn’t a story with the best reputation. It pits the Avengers against the X-Men over the Phoenix Force and then goes crazy halfway through. It’s basically just a bunch of Marvel’s best creators of the early ’10s banging action figures together. However, that’s why Avengers Vs. X-Men has aged so well. It’s just an action-packed, turn off your brain story with one of the coolest Spider-Man moments ever, and a last issue that is one of the best big fight issues of the 2010s. It’s definitely not perfect and it makes Cyclops’s X-Men look pretty bad throughout, but in a decade with the paucity of good X-Men stories that the ’10s have, it’s one of the best.
7) “Everything Is Sinister”
After X-Men: Schism, Utopia got a lot less crowded, with Wolverine taking most of the kids and a large portion of the most experienced X-Men. Cyclops was left with a reduced force, but he also had all of the most powerful mutants, which leads up to Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 2) #1-4, by Kieron Gillen and Carlos Pacheco, four issues titled “Everything is Sinister”. Cyclops decides to create the most powerful X-Men team ever, naming it the Extinction Team — Cyclops, Emma Frost, Hope Summers, Magneto, Magik, Colossus (with the power of the Juggernaut), Storm, Namor, and Danger. This team has their work cut out for them, as Mister Sinister returns with a plan to get Celestial technology from San Francisco’s Golden Celestial. If you liked the more campy Sinister of the Krakoa Era, this is the story for you, as Gillen finally gives the character a personality beyond shadowy manipulator. The art by the late great Carlos Pacheco is sensational, making the story look like a billion dollars.
6) Wolverine and the X-Men #1-3
After X-Men: Schism (we’re getting there), Wolverine went back to Westchester and rebuilt the X-Mansion, dubbing it the Jean Grey Institute for Higher Learning, a slap in the face to Cyclops. Wolverine and the X-Men #1-3, by Jason Aaron and Chris Bachalo, tells the story of the first days of the school, as the New York state Board of Education visits at the worst time possible. The school is barely finished, Wolverine is tired and angry, and there’s a major threat to everything boiling up. Wolverine and the X-Men is the fun school book, and this three issue story does a great job of laying out its status quo and introducing the students and faculty — Kitty Pryde, Iceman, Beast, Rachel Summers, Toad, Husk, Doop, Warbird, Quentin Quire, Oya, Broo, Kid Gladiator, and more. There’s a splash of Morrison’s New X-Men combined with some good old-fashioned X-Men soap opera and some great action from Aaron and Bachalo.
5) “The Apocalypse Solution”
So, technically, Uncanny X-Force isn’t an X-Men title. However, it’s probably the best X-series of the ’10s, and its first story arc is amazing. Cyclops told Wolverine to end X-Force after “Second Coming”, but he and Archangel decided to keep the team going secretly, bringing in Psylocke, Fantomex, and Deadpool. Their first mission? Hunting down the newest incarnation of Apocalypse. This puts them into the battle against the Final Horsemen, in a battle that they might not be able to survive. This first story arc captures why this team was so awesome. Writer Rick Remender did a great job with all of the characters; even though Wolverine is there, he gives everyone a little something to do. Jerome Opena’s art is brilliant, his unique style and the painterly colors of Dean White doing so much heavy-lifting for the book. The book’s twist is shocking as its ending, and sets the stage for a series that remains highpoint of Marvel in general.
4) “Exogenetic”
Astonishing X-Men (Vol. 3) is an interesting book in that the first two writers have both been cancelled for sexual misconduct, but it still gave readers some great stories in its first six years. Ellis’s run only lasted ten issues, but both story arcs are pretty great (and out of print, so you can buy it without supporting Ellis on the secondary market). “Exogenetic” started towards the end of 2009, but most of the story took place in 2010. Ellis teamed with artist Phil Jimenez for a story that saw the X-Men dealing with bio-Sentinels, powerful anti-mutant tech made from dead mutants. Behind it all is the most unique mutant ever, who hates the X-Men for a very valid reason. “Exogenetic” is wild, and it’s a near-perfect X-Men, combining cool character work with some wild action. Jimenez’s art is gorgeous, and makes the story into one of the best-drawn X-Men books of the 2010’s.
3) X-Men: Schism
X-Men: Schism, by Jason Aaron, Carlos Pacheco, Frank Cho, Daniel Acuna, Alan Davis, and Adam Kubert, breaks apart the relationship between Cyclops and Wolverine that had been built up for years. A new Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club, a group of prepubescent human geniuses, decide to destroy the mutant race. An attack on the X-Men at a museum opening sees Cyclops order one of the X-Men’s young students to kill the Hellfire Club, while Wolverine tries to get there to do the killing instead, which leads to the big fight. This is a really cool story; it showed that Jason Aaron had the chops for the X-Men, and gave fans an awesome Wolverine/Cyclops fight, as a monster Sentinel prepares to destroy Utopia. The art is fantastic, with some of Marvel’s best artists giving readers some amazing imagery. X-Men: Schism breaks the X-Men, but it does it in the most entertaining way possible.
2) “The Dark Angel Saga”
Uncanny X-Force built up to “The Dark Angel Saga” which ran through Uncanny X-Force #11-18, by Rick Remender, Mark Brooks, and Jerome Opena. Archangel’s Apocalypse programming is taking over and the Dark Beast tricks the team to go to the Age of Apocalypse universe to retrieve the Life Seed, while Archangel prepares for his destruction of the Earth. This is an amazing eight issue story, one that revolves as much around the relationships of the team as anything else. It’s action-packed, and brutal, and easily one of the best sequels to The Age of Apocalypse that Marvel has ever put out. This is peak X-Men without the word X-Men on the cover, and you need to read it.
1) House of X/Powers of X
House of X/Powers of X, by Jonathan Hickman, Pepe Larraz, and R.B. Silva, kicked off the blockbuster Krakoa Era for the X-Men. If you’re an X-Men fan, you know what the story is about by now, but if you’re not this is the biggest change to the X-Men status quo ever. The X-Men create a mutant nation on the island of Krakoa, battle the anti-mutant forces of the Orchis Initiative, and drop multiple bombshells on readers. House of X is all of the action of the book, and Powers of X shows the consequences of the X-Men’s action on time and space across the past, present, and future. It’s an amazing, and while the Krakoa Era went bad as time went on and Hickman’s original story was changed, it’s still an amazing read.
What are your favorite X-Men stories of the ’10s? Sound off in the comments below.
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