[1] Although initially cancelled in 1970 due to low sales, following its 1975 revival and subsequent direction under writer Chris Claremont, it became one of Marvel's most recognizable and successful franchises.

In the Marvel Universe, mutants are humans born with a genetic trait called the X-gene, which grants them natural superhuman abilities, generally manifesting during puberty.

Due to their differences from most humanity, mutants are subject to prejudice and discrimination; many X-Men stories feature social commentary on bigotry, justice, and other political themes.

The X-Men have fought against various enemies, including villainous mutants, human bigots, supervillains, mystical threats, extraterrestrials, and evil artificial intelligence.

In most iterations of the team, they are led by their founder, Charles "Professor X" Xavier, a powerful telepath who runs a school for mutant children out of his mansion in Westchester, New York, which secretly is also the headquarters of the X-Men.

Their stories have frequently involved Magneto, a powerful mutant with control over magnetic fields, who is depicted as an old friend of and foil to Xavier, acting as an adversary or ally.

"[7] Early X-Men issues introduced the original team composed of Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Beast, Angel, and Iceman, along with their archenemy Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants featuring Mastermind, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and Toad.

In 1969, writer Roy Thomas and illustrator Neal Adams rejuvenated the comic book and gave regular roles to two recently introduced characters: Alex "Havok" Summers (Cyclops' brother, who had been introduced by Roy Thomas before Adams began work on the comic) and Lorna Dane, later called Polaris (created by Arnold Drake and Jim Steranko).

The "all-new, all-different X-Men"[12] were led by Cyclops, from the original team, and consisted of the newly created Colossus (from the Soviet Union/Russia), Nightcrawler (from West Germany/Germany), Storm (from Kenya), and Thunderbird (a Native American of Apache descent), and three previously introduced characters: Banshee (from Ireland), Sunfire (from Japan), and Wolverine (from Canada).

[16] The growing popularity of Uncanny X-Men and the rise of comic book specialty stores led to the introduction of a number of ongoing spin-off series nicknamed "X-Books."

When Claremont conceived a story arc, the "Mutant Massacre", which was too long to run in the monthly X-Men, editor Louise Simonson decided to have it overlap into several X-Books.

This period also included the emergence of the Hellfire Club, the arrival of the mysterious Madelyne Pryor, and the villains Apocalypse, Mister Sinister, Mojo, and Sabretooth.

Though the frequent crossovers were criticized by fans as well as editorial and creative staff for being artificially regular, disruptive to the direction of the individual series, and having far less lasting impact than promised, they continued to be financially successful.

The book is often referred to as the Morrison-era, due to the drastic changes they made, beginning with "E Is For Extinction", where a new villain, Cassandra Nova, destroys Genosha, killing sixteen million mutants.

Morrison also brought reformed ex-villain Emma Frost into the primary X-Men team, and opened the doors of the school by having Xavier "out" himself to the public about being a mutant.

The bright spandex costumes that had become iconic over the previous decades were replaced by black leather street clothes reminiscent of the uniforms of the X-Men films.

This period included the resurrections of Colossus and Psylocke, a new death for Jean Grey, who later returned temporarily in the X-Men: Phoenix - Endsong, as well as Emma Frost becoming the new headmistress of the institute.

[citation needed] Several short-lived spin-offs and miniseries started featuring several X-Men in solo series, such as Nightcrawler, Jubilee, Madrox, X-23, Gambit and Rogue.

Notable story arcs of this era are "X of Swords" (2020), "Hellfire Gala" (2021), "Trial of Magneto" (2021),"Inferno" (2021), "X Lives of Wolverine/X Deaths of Wolverine" (2022), "Judgment Day" (2022), "Dark Web" (2022–2023), "Sins of Sinister" (2023) and "Weapons of Vengeance" (2023).

... as a book, The X-Men has always represented something different – their powers arrive at puberty, making them analogous to the changes you go through at adolescence – whether they're special, or out of control, or setting you apart – the misfit identity theme.

Characters who are related to time travel include: Apocalypse, Bishop, Cable, Old Man Logan, Prestige, Hope Summers, Tempus, and Stryfe.

The topic of fate takes center stage yet again in a story arc called "The Extremists" involving attacks against the Morlocks due to one of them seeing a dark future for their people.

Other characters such as Jean, Prestige, Evan Sabanur, Hope Summers, and Warren Worthington III have all been wary of their fates and have all taken measures to alter their futures.

Most famously this is addressed in Jean Grey when she gains near omnipotence through the Phoenix and Professor Xavier after he violently uses his powers against Magneto, unintentionally creating Onslaught.

When Sabretooth's human son Graydon Creed ran for office, the X-Men sent in Cannonball and Iceman to discreetly join his campaign team and find anything on his anti-mutant agenda.

[141] Xavier's ideology has drawn comparisons to assimilationism and model minority politics, while Magneto, originally depicted as a mutant supremacist, is later portrayed as a liberationist advocating self-determination through mutually assured destruction.

[142] Pulitzer-winning national security journalist Spencer Ackerman has stated on the Cerebro podcast that "the importance of the X-Men as a universe of stories, as a mythos, is that we should always be debating who is right.

Created by Nocenti and Art Adams, Mojo's grotesque appearance and obsession with television ratings are a direct commentary on the often exploitative nature of entertainment media.

Mojo's realm, where citizens are addicted to his gladiator-like television programs, mirrors the real world's fixation with reality TV and the spectacle of media.

Iceman and Angel have also joined the original Champions alongside Black Widow, Ghost Rider and Hercules as well as having frequent partnerships with Firestar and Spider-Man as "The Amazing Friends".