The title was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, met with a lukewarm reception, and eventually became a reprints-only book in 1970.

Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the series launched in September 1963,[1][2] introducing in its first issue the original five X-Men (Warren Worthington III/Angel, Hank McCoy/Beast, Scott Summers/Cyclops, Robert "Bobby" Drake/Iceman, and Jean Grey/Marvel Girl) and their teacher, Charles Xavier/Professor X as well as their nemesis, the supervillain Erik Magnus Lehnsherr/Magneto.

Lee's run lasted 19 issues, and featured the X-Men battling villains such as Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants (which included the siblings Wanda Maximoff/the Scarlet Witch and Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver);[5] the Sentinels, giant robots programmed to destroy all mutants, and their creator Bolivar Trask; and Cain Marko/the Juggernaut, Xavier's stepbrother transformed by a mystical gem and seeking revenge on Xavier.

[16] The Angel appeared without the X-Men in a three-part story involving the murder of his father at the hands of his uncle, Burt Worthington, a.k.a.

[21] Havok and Polaris, as recounted in a flashback in Incredible Hulk #150 (April 1972), leave the X-Men after a bitter quarrel with Iceman and move to New Mexico.

In a present-day appearance in the same issue, they encounter and battle the Hulk, who mistakes Polaris for his former lover Jarella, and a biker gang.

[22] As a team, the X-Men assisted Spider-Man in capturing Michael Morbius in Marvel Team-Up #4 (Sept. 1972), written by Gerry Conway, after one of Xavier's colleagues is abducted by the vampire.

1974), written by Len Wein, Xavier teamed up with the Defenders to battle against Magneto and his reformed Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

[32] The title featured a new, international team consisting of Scott Summers (Cyclops) of the United States, Ireland's Sean Cassidy (Banshee), the Japanese mutant Shiro Yoshida (Sunfire), and James "Logan" Howlett (Wolverine) from Canada, along with new characters Ororo Munroe (Storm) out of Kenya, the German Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler), Piotr "Peter" Rasputin (Colossus) from Russia in The Soviet Union, and John Proudstar (Thunderbird), a Native American.

For the remainder of the decade, the X-Men fought enemies such as Stephen Lang and his Sentinels, Magneto, Banshee's cousin Black Tom Cassidy and Cain Marko/the Juggernaut, the Shi'ar Erik the Red and the Imperial Guard, Arcade, Wolverine's former colleagues, the Canadian superhero team Alpha Flight,[36] and MacTaggert's son Proteus.

Comics writers and historians Roy Thomas and Peter Sanderson observed that "'The Dark Phoenix Saga' is to Claremont and Byrne what 'the Galactus Trilogy' is to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

"[40][41] The storyline also saw the introduction of recurring antagonists the Hellfire Club, and its Inner Circle consisting of Sebastian Shaw, Emma Frost, Harry Leland, Donald Pierce, along with Mastermind, previously a member of Magneto's Brotherhood.

[46] The end of 1986 saw the first crossover between X-Men titles, the "Mutant Massacre", which saw a large number of Morlocks killed by the Marauders, acting under orders from the mysterious Nathaniel Essex/Mister Sinister[47] The late 1980s saw several other crossovers: 1988's "Fall of the Mutants"[48] and 1989's "Inferno", which resolved the issue of Madelyne Pryor by revealing her to have been a clone of Jean Grey created by Sinister.

The cast was shaken up, with the addition of Psylocke, the Dazzler, Longshot and Havok in early 1987, as well as the first appearances of NPR-TV reporter Manoli Wetherell in #226 (1988),[49] new teenage mutant Jubilation Lee/Jubilee in #244 (1989), and Remy LeBeau/Gambit[50] in Uncanny X-Men #266 (1990).

The X-Men left their traditional residence in Westchester County, New York, and lived variously on Alcatraz, Muir Island and in the Australian outback.

The "X-Cutioner's Song" crossover was released in the fall of 1992[55] and resulted in the outbreak of the Legacy virus, a mutant-specific plague which continued as a story element in X-Men comics until 2001.

Davis's run included "the Twelve" crossover from #370–375, in which Apocalypse sought the only 12 mutants, which also ran in his X-Men title, again being treated as a biweekly publication.

He was replaced by Ed Brubaker, who wrote a 12-part epic space opera story "The Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire", as a follow-up to his miniseries X-Men: Deadly Genesis.

[65][66] The new volume featured the Extinction Team, containing members of the X-Men whom Cyclops had retained to deal with potential threats to the mutant race's survival.

As part of All-New, All-Different Marvel, Uncanny X-Men was relaunched, written by Cullen Bunn with art by Greg Land.

[74] This incarnation of the team features Lucas Bishop, Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler, Jean Grey, Ororo Munroe/Storm, Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock/Psylocke, Jean-Paul Beaubier/Northstar, Robert "Bobby" Drake/the Iceman, Hank McCoy/the Beast, Laura Kinney/X-23, Lorna Dane/Polaris, Jubilation Lee/Jubilee, Katherine Anne "Kitty" Pryde/Shadowcat and Sam Guthrie/Cannonball as well as trainee X-Men Hisako Ichiki/Armor, Victor Borkowski/Anole, Megan Gwynn/Pixie, Idie Okonkwo/Oya, Robert Herman/the Glob, Santo Vaccarro/Rockslide.

Following the 10th issue, the series began focusing on a new team of X-Men featuring Scott Summers/Cyclops, James "Logan" Howlett/Wolverine, Alex Summers/Havok, Jamie Madrox/the Multiple Man, Rahne Sinclair/Wolfsbane, Illyana Rasputin/Magik, Danielle Moonstar/Mirage, Xi'an Coy Minh/Karma.

After this volume, all X-Men titles were cancelled and two intertwining six-issue miniseries written by Jonathan Hickman, called "House of X" and "Powers of X",[75] began a weekly run in July 2019 and concluded on October of the same year.

In another flashback recounted in Incredible Hulk #150 (April 1972), Alex Summers/Havok and Lorna Dane/Polaris also left the group soon after, due to a dispute between Havok and Iceman over Polaris, and moved to New Mexico.

It is unknown whether they rejoined the team following the "Secret Empire" storyline in Captain America #172–175 (April–July 1974) and prior to being captured by Krakoa in Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975).

Scott Summers/Cyclops, Hank McCoy/the Beast, James "Logan" Howlett/Wolverine, Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock/Psylocke, Anna Marie LeBeau/Rogue, Remy LeBeau/Gambit, Ororo Munroe/Storm, Jean Grey, Warren Worthington III/the Archangel, Robert "Bobby" Drake/the Iceman, Lucas Bishop, Sam Guthrie/Cannonball, Joseph After Charles Xavier/Professor X briefly disbands the team to expose the Skrull infiltrator, the team learns of the Twelve.

All the mutants in San Francisco battle against Norman Osborn's Dark Avengers and the group of Dark X-Men he forms under the Emma Frost/Black Queen, including Tyrone Johnson and Tandy Bowen/Cloak and Dagger, Daken (posing as Wolverine), Hank McCoy/Dark Beast, Calvin Rankin/Mimic, Raven Darkholme/Mystique (posing as Professor X), Namor MacKenzie/Namor the Sub-Mariner, and Michael Pointer/Weapon Omega.

In his role as mentor, he has typically been present in the book, but he has notable absences, including issues #43–64 (dead, later retconned as preparing for the Z'Nox), #200–273 (with Lilandra Neramani in Shi'ar space; replaced as Headmaster by Magneto during most of this absence), #340–351 (in government custody after the Onslaught crisis), #379–386 (educating Cadre K in space), and #495–513 (rebuilding his mind in X-Men: Legacy).

After moving to San Francisco, many other mutants continually appear as background characters or allies, but apart from during crossovers they are rarely considered part of the team roster.

Until 2011, Uncanny X-Men remained Marvel Comics' only Silver Age title to retain its consecutive issue numbering since its conception, even during the early 1970s reprint hiatus.