After 66 issues, Marvel Comics had accepted that the X-Men just didn’t resonate with fans the way they’d hoped. In 1970, the team of teenage mutants were relegated to guest appearances in more popular characters’ titles while their own series ran reprints of their earlier adventures.
Four years later, we were introduced to a scrappy Canadian mutant who would herald the arrival of an all-new, all-different team if X-Men in Giant-Size X-Men #1 the following year with a more international feel. The X-Men won their own title back and the rest is history!
Minor Crossover: The one-shot that introduces the ‘All-New, All-Different’ X-Men largely stands alone, though the following arc in the main X-Men series carries on immediately from that, at least initially.
Must-Reads: Issues marked with a ✔are essential to the story.
Spoilers: The issue descriptions and fallout section contain spoilers, so be warned!
See how this story fits into the wider Marvel Universe with these reading orders:
- X-MEN FAMILY, 1971-1977 – All-New, All-Different X-Men
Want to keep it simple? Here’s the chronological reading order without story descriptions, or spoilers:
- Giant-Size X-Men #1 [1/3]
- X-Men #94-95
| Title, Issue & Synopsis |
| Giant-Size X-Men #1 [1/3] Cyclops returns from a dangerous mission to locate a new mutant. The X-Men have been lost which prompts Professor X to form a new team to return to the island of Krakoa and rescue them. Cyclops and the new recruits – Banshee, Nightcrawler, Storm, Sunfire, Thunderbird and Wolverine – discover Krakoa itself is sentient. The original X-Men are rescued and the mutants combine their powers to launch Krakoa into Earth’s orbit and escape. 1st appearance: General Chasen, Colossus/Peter Rasputin, Krakoa, Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner, Alexandra Rasputina, Illyana Rasputina (unnamed), Nikolai Rasputin (unnamed), Storm/Ororo Munroe, Thunderbird/John Proudstar |
| Title, Issue & Synopsis |
| X-Men #94 Most of the original X-Men and Sunfire decide to leave the X-Men. But Cyclops stays and trains the new recruits over the course of several weeks. Beast (Hank McCoy, now a member of the Avengers) contacts the X-Men when Count Nefaria and his Ani-Men take over the US military’s Valhalla Base in Colorado, threatening to launch nuclear missiles unless the world pays him a ransom. With the Avengers already dealing with other threats, the X-Men fly to Valhalla Base. Nefaria’s disruptor beam obliterates the X-Jet, leaving the team falling to their deaths… 1st appearance: Dragonfly/Veronica Dultry, Helen Rachelson (unnamed), Archibald Stancheck (unnamed), Kenneth Sturdy (unnamed) |
| X-Men #95 Teamwork helps the X-Men land safely. They break into Valhalla Base, but knock-out gas weakens them and makes the Ani-Man more of a challenge. Their battle disables the doomsday clock and ends the threat. Thunderbird and Banshee give chase when Nefaria escapes, but Thunderbird’s assault on Nefaria’s jet makes it crash. Professor X telepathically feels Thunderbird’s death. The X-Men win but at the cost of one of their team. |
See how this event fits into the wider Marvel Universe with these reading orders:
- X-MEN FAMILY, 1971-1977 – All-New, All-Different X-Men
| Must Reads | Issue & Fallout | Event/ Crossover |
| ✔ | Classic X-Men #1 (1986) Immediately following the battle with Krakoa, Wolverine takes an interest in Marvel Girl (Jean Grey) which causes friction with Cyclops. | |
| ✔ | Giant-Size X-Men #4 (2006) Storm and Thunderbird face each other in the Danger Room during the weeks-long training initiation. | |
| Classic X-Men #2 (1986) Storm helps Jean Grey move in with Misty Knight. | ||
| ✔ | Giant-Size X-Men #4 (2006) Following the mission to stop Count Nefaria, Storm personally mourns Thunderbird. | |
| ✔ | Classic X-Men #3 (1986) The X-Men return Thunderbird’s body to his home in New Mexico; his brother, James Proudstar, steals the body and gives Thunderbird a warrior’s funeral. | |
| Champions #1 (1975) Angel and Iceman go on to form the Champions. | THE WORLD NEEDS CHAMPIONS | |
| X-Men #97 (1976) Lorna Dane (now calling herself Polaris) is revealed to have chosen Havok over Iceman. | ||
| ✔ | X-Men #98-101 (1976) Marvel Girl allies herself with the X-Men, but doesn’t rejoin; the X-Men go on an impromptu mission in space and battle robotic versions of the original X-Men; when the team crashland on Earth, ‘Jean Grey’ emerges as the Phoenix (though the Phoenix Force is later revealed to have taken on Jean Grey’s form). | |
| ✔ | Avengers #164-166 (1977) Unlike Thunderbird, Count Nefaria is revealed to have survived the crashing jet. | |
| ✔ | X-Men #104 (1977) The X-Men replace their destroyed jet with the Blackbird. | |
| ✔ | X-Men #109 (1978) The Canadian government send super-agent Weapon Alpha (James Hudson) to try and bring Wolverine back to Department H by force. | |
| ✔ | X-Men #120-121 (1979) Canada’s very own super-team, Alpha Flight, try to bring Wolverine back home, only to fail again. | |
| Iron Man #116 (1978) The Ani-Men are all killed by Spymaster. | ||
| ✔ | X-Men Annual #4 (1980) It’s revealed that the citizens of Winzeldorf were chasing Nightcrawler because they assumed he was behind the murders committed by Stefan Szardos. | |
| X-Men #139-140 (1980) Angel officially rejoins the X-Men. | ||
| Uncanny X-Men #160 (1982) Colossus’ sister, Illyana Rasputin, rapidly ages to her teenage years after briefly being lost to Belasco in Limbo. | ||
| Magik #1 (1983) Illyana Rasputin takes on the codename Magik. | MAGIK | |
| New Mutants #14 (1984) Magik joins the trainee mutant team, the New Mutants. | MAGIK | |
| New Mutants #16-17 (1984) James Proudstar first appears and is revealed to have joined Emma Frost‘s Hellions and taken on the codename Thunderbird in the hope of taking his revenge on Professor X and the X-Men for causing his brother’s death. | AWAY GAME |
| Must Reads | Issue & Fallout | Event/ Crossover |
| ✔ | Uncanny X-Men #193 (1985) James Proudstar finally gets his shot at revenge on Professor X who gets a chance to explain what happened; James takes on the name and identity of Thunderbird, but decides not to kill Professor X when he becomes uncertain that he was truly to blame for his brother’s death. | |
| Uncanny X-Men #194 (1985) After losing her powers, Storm makes the trip back to Kenya to visit the place where she was once worshipped as a goddess. | ||
| ✔ | X-Factor #1 (1986) The original X-Men (including Marvel Girl, having emerged from the Phoenix cocoon) go through the ‘third genesis’ when they form a new team called the X-Terminators while masquerading as the mutant-hunting X-Factor; this being the third genesis retroactively makes the ‘All-New, All-Different’ X-Men the ‘second genesis’. | THIRD GENESIS |
| Uncanny X-Men #219 (1987) Havok officially rejoins the X-Men. | ||
| ✔ | Alpha Flight #52 (1987) Flashbacks reveal why Wolverine made his decision to leave Department H in favour of joining the X-Men. | |
| Uncanny X-Men #254 (1989) Polaris joins the ‘Muir Island X-Men’, though they’re not an official X-Men team. | DISSOLUTION & REBIRTH | |
| ✔ | What If #9 (1990) Uatu the Watcher looks in on Earth-105709 where the all-new X-Men died on their first mission. | MAYHEM ON THE MOON |
| ✔ | Excalibur #31 (1990) Spores released from Krakoa take the form of Vega-Superior and the Vega-Men (copies of the X-Men who fought Krakoa); Nightcrawler defeats these ‘children’ of Krakoa. | |
| ✔ | Quasar #15 (1990) Krakoa is revealed to have been collected up by the Stranger for experimentation; Krakoa and the other alien species are released by the Overmind. | |
| ✔ | What If? #23 (1991) Uatu the Watcher looks in on Earth-913 where the original X-Men escaped Krakoa and the all-new X-Men were never formed. | |
| Marvel Comics Presents #72-84 (1991) The dark truth about the Weapon X Program is revealed. | ||
| ✔ | New Mutants #99-100 (1991) James Proudstar joins X-Force as Warpath in the hope of finding a new direction for himself. | A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH |
| ✔ | X-Men #1-3 (1991) The X-Men (and a number of other mutant teams) go through another ‘genesis’; Beast, Iceman and Marvel Girl officially rejoin the X-Men. | MUTANT GENESIS |
| ✔ | Uncanny X-Men #284-286 (1992) Colossus is revealed to have a mutant brother, Mikhail Rasputin. | MUTANT GENESIS |
| Marvel Comics Presents #101-108 (1992) Nightcrawler returns to Winzeldorf. | MUTANT GENESIS | |
| Wolverine #75 (1993) After the Adamantium is stripped from Wolverine’s bones by Magneto, his claws are revealed to be bone.. | FATAL ATTRACTIONS | |
| ✔ | What If? #60 (1994) Uatu the Watcher reveals alternate universe Earth-94040 on which Cyclops and Marvel Girl marry and the X-Men disband, leaving the Avengers to deal with Krakoa. | |
| X-Men Unlimited #4 (1994) Nightcrawler learns Mystique is his mother. | ||
| ✔ | Generation X #1-3 (1994) A new team of trainee mutants, Generation X, become the ‘fourth genesis’. | FOURTH GENESIS |
| ✔ | X-Force #-1 (1997) An insight into James Proudstar’s youth, growing up alongside his Vietnam war hero big brother, John Proudstar, is revealed. | FLASHBACK |
| What If? #98 (1997) On Earth-69798, Mystique raised Nightcrawler and he never joined the X-Men. | ||
| Uncanny X-Men #390 (2001) Colossus gives his life to end the threat of the mutant-killing Legacy Virus. | THE CURE | |
| Uncanny X-Men #392 (2001) Sunfire’s sister Sunpyre joins the X-Men. | EVE OF DESTRUCTION | |
| Origin #1-6 (2001-2002) Wolverine’s origin is finally revealed. | ||
| New X-Men #133 (2002) Sunire rejoins the X-Men as a part of the global X-Corporation. |
| Must Reads | Issue & Fallout | Event/ Crossover |
| Storm #1-6 (2006) Storm’s childhood years are revealed. | WEDDING OF THE CENTURY | |
| ✔ | X-Men: Deadly Genesis #1-6 (2006) A man called Vulcan breaks free of Krakoa’s floating ‘corpse’ and returns to Earth; Vulcan reveals himself to be Cyclops’ brother and the leader of the first team of new X-Men who went to Krakoa to rescue the originals and died trying; Professor X erased Cyclops’ memories of this and recruited the ‘All-New, All-Different’ team to perform the mission. | DECIMATION |
| Uncanny X-Men #475 (2006) With the past behind him, Warpath agrees to join the X-Men. | ||
| What If? Featuring X-Men: Deadly Genesis #1 (2007) On Earth-98193, Vulcan‘s X-Men team survived the battle with Krakoa. | ||
| ✔ | Wolverine: Origins #28 (2008) Wolverine learns his first fight with the Hulk was set up by Romulus to attract Professor X’s attention. | ORIGINAL SIN |
| ✔ | X-Men: Original Sin #1 (2008) Professor X reveals that Wolverine tried to assassinate him after he was recruited into the X-Men under Romulus’ command; Professor X freed Wolverine from Romulus’ control and agreed to help him if he joined the X-Men, initially suppressing those memories. | ORIGINAL SIN |
| ✔ | X-Force #11 (2009) Selene resurrects Thunderbird as she starts building an army of undead mutants. | |
| ✔ | Young X-Men #8 (2008) The Young X-Men encounter another Krakoa, but its connection to the original is never revealed. | |
| New Mutants #1 (2009) Magik joins the X-Men. | ||
| Astonishing X-Men #33 (2010) The X-Men face a Krakoa/Brood hybrid created by Kaga. | ||
| ✔ | X-Force #25 (2010) Thunderbird attacks Genosha as one of Selene’s army; Warpath ‘kills’ his resurrected brother. | NECROSHA |
| ✔ | Chaos War: X-Men #1-2 (2011) Thunderbird is resurrected again along with numerous other dead heroes when the gates to the Underworld are opened; he dies again saving Earth’s ley lines. | CHAOS WAR |
| X-Men: Regenesis #1 (2011) All of the X-teams go through major changes once agains. | REGENESIS | |
| ✔ | Wolverine and the X-Men #1-3 (2011) The supposed ‘grandson’ of Krakoa becomes the artificial grounds and security measure for Wolverine’s Jean Grey School for Higher Learning; this Krakoa was rescued by Wolverine after an abusive upbringing. | REGENESIS |
| Uncanny X-Men #14-17 (2012) Mister Sinister us revealed to have created a new Krakoa as his island base. | AVX: AVENGERS VS X-MEN | |
| Wolverine and the X-Men #33-34 (2013) The Hellfire Academy mass-produce Krakoas as a defensive system; the Krakoas are killed by the X-Men. | ||
| ✔ | House of X #1-6 (2019) Krakoa is transformed into an island haven for mutantkind by Professor X: Krakoa is used to resurrect deceased mutants, increasing the mutant population on the island. | HOUSE OF X/POWERS OF X |
| ✔ | X-Men: X of Swords Handbook #1 (2020) It’s revealed that the original Krakoa somehow escaped the Stranger and returned to the Atlantis Ocean. | X OF SWORDS |
| ✔ | X-Men: The Trial of Magneto #5 (2022) The Scarlet Witch assists the X-Men, allowing them to resurrect mutants lost in the distant past; Thunderbird (John Proudstar) is resurrected. | |
| ✔ | Giant-Size X-Men: Thunderbird #1 (2022) Thunderbird is reunited with his brother, Warpath. | DESTINY OF X |
| ✔ | X-Men: Hellfire Gala #1 (2023) The organisation Orchis massacre 250,000 mutants on Krakoa; the attack ends the ‘Krakoan Age’ and costs the mutants their ability to resurrect lost team members. | FALL OF X |
| X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic #121 (2024) Thunderbird and Warpath are confirmed to have survived he Krakoan massacre, having been away from the island at the time. | ||
| ✔ | Giant-Size X-Men #1 (2025) Legion sends Ms Marvel (Kamala Khan) to the past, creating a divergent version of the X-Men‘s fight with Krakoa. | SECOND GENESIS REVISITED |
| Collected Edition Title | Includes… |
| All-New, All-Different X-Men Masterworks vol.1 Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men vol.1 Uncanny X-Men Omnibus vol.1 X-Men Epic Collection: Second Genesis (vol.5) | Giant-Size X-Men #1 X-Men #94-95 |
| Giant-Size Marvel Giant-Size X-Men 40th Anniversary Marvel 75th Anniversary Omnibus Marvel Firsts: The 1970s vol.2 Ultimate X-Men vol.1 X-Men: First Class – Finals X-Men: Dream’s End X-Men: We Are the X-Men | GIant-Size X-Men #1 |
Reading Order ©OmniverseComicsGuide 2024
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