The protagonists are the X-Men, a group of teen-aged mutants: a subspecies of the human race, who possess latent super-human abilities from birth, due to the presence of the mysterious "X-Gene" within their genetic codes.

It sets them apart from the rest of humanity and despite being feared and distrusted by the general public and authorities, they use their super-powers to prevent and stop unnatural threats to both the human and mutant race, while being mentored by Professor Charles Xavier, The X-Men's founder and a world-renowned expert on genetics and the world's most powerful telepath.

The series focused on Wolverine's secret son Jimmy Hudson, Jean Grey, and several other mutants dealing with the aftermath of Ultimatum.

The heads of the Ultimate Universe line, Bill Jemas and Joe Quesada, originally tried to hire Brian Michael Bendis to write the title, but he declined.

[2] Marvel hired Scottish writer Mark Millar, who was best known at the time for his run on The Authority and was largely ignorant of the X-Men franchise.

Millar's roster soon expanded to include teleporting Nightcrawler, intangible Kitty Pryde and power absorbing Rogue.

Common to the Millar period was an edgy tone, featuring quick action-driven plots and less moral X-Men.

The third Ultimate X-Men writer was Brian K. Vaughan, best known at the time for his work on Y: The Last Man, and, subsequently, Saga.

[6] On working within the Ultimate Universe, Vaughan wrote: "In my mind, the X-Men shouldn't be teachers or celebrities or even traditional superheroes.

A new series, Ultimate Comics: X, debuted in early 2010 and featured Kitty Pryde, Wolverine's son, Jimmy Hudson and Jean Grey.

The series stars Jimmy Hudson, Kitty Pryde, Johnny Storm, Bobby Drake and Rogue.

The series also features the amoral, Mengele-like mutant super-weapon project Weapon X, the shady Hellfire Club and many more.

In addition, the Academy of Tomorrow is the Ultimate Marvel version of a spin-off X-Men team called the New Mutants.

In this world, the group consists of: headmistress Emma Frost, who can turn her skin into organic diamond; Cyclops' older brother Havok (Alex Summers), who shoots concussive blasts from his hands; airborne Sam Guthrie, or Cannonball; mutant genius Doug Ramsey, also known as Cypher; Canadian speedster Jean-Paul Beaubier, or Northstar; Havok's girlfriend, Lorna Dane, the magnekinetic Polaris; Roberto da Costa, the Brazilian solar-powered Sunspot; and recently Angel.