Being an X-Men fan in the 2010s was not easy. Marvel kicked off the decade fine, but changed their tune as the years went on. The publisher marginalized the X-Men, pushing them into their own little corner and deprived them of A-list talent or much advertising. For most X-Men fans, the 2010s were a huge disappointment, with way more bad than good.
However, that doesn’t mean that there weren’t any good stories from the 10s. There are some great X-Men stories from the 2010s, but readers just have to look a little harder for them, before things picked up at the end of the decade.
10 All-New X-Men: Yesterday’s X-Men Started With A Lot Of Potential
Weird things happen to the X-Men all the time, and fans expect shenanigans. They weren’t ready for All-New X-Men: Yesterday’s X-Men, by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Stuart Immonen. Beast, his mutation killing him and at his lowest ebb, brings his teenage X-Men classmates from the past to the present, opening a whole temporal can of worms.
Bendis’s time on the X-Men books isn’t beloved, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some great moments. The first story of All-New X-Men is definitely the best the book got. Bendis and Immonen create some great moments in a story that is better than it gets credit for.
9 Uncanny X-Men: Everything Is Sinister Pits The X-Men Against Mister Sinister
Post-Schism, Uncanny X-Men was relaunched starring Cyclops’s Extinction Team, a group of Omega level mutants like Emma Frost, Colossus, Magneto, Namor, Hope Summers, Magik, and Danger. The book’s first story arc, written by Kieron Gillen with art by Carlos Pacheco, Jorge Molina, Rodney Buchemi, and Brandon Peterson, threw this team directly into the fire.
When Mister Sinister decides he wants to know the secrets of the Dreaming Celestial, the X-Men jump into action. Gillen created the greatest version of Mister Sinister ever with this story. It’s an underrated gem from a time that doesn’t get enough credit for just how good it is.
8 Amazing X-Men (Vol. 2) #1-6 Brought Nightcrawler Back To Life
Jason Aaron’s run writing the X-Men is better than it gets credit for, with his final word on the team being Amazing X-Men (Vol. 2). Working with artists Ed McGuinness and Cameron Stewart, the book brought together a new X-Men team – Wolverine, Storm, Beast, Iceman, Firestar, Northstar, Marvel Girl, Warbird, and Angel – to bring Nightcrawler back from the aterlife. What readers got was a swashbuckling good time.
Nightcrawler had been dead since early in the Utopia Era and fans were happy to have him back. Aaron was a pretty great X-Men writer, and fans got exactly the kind of story they were expecting from this one. Amazing X-Men wouldn’t last long, but it’s first story arc lived up to the book’s title.
7 X-Men: Schism Dropped A Massive Change On The X-Men
The X-Men have often gone too far, but X-Men: Schism saw them endanger the entire mutant race with internecine conflict. Written by Jason Aaron with art by Carlos Pacheco, Frank Cho, Daniel Acuña, Alan Davis, and Adam Kubert, the book saw a new Hellfire Club set their sights on the X-Men. This conflict would break Wolverine and Cyclops’s friendship, and splinter the mutant race.
Schism is five issues of great X-Men action. It has a little bit of everything, building a great conflict, both between the X-Men and Hellfire Club and Wolverine and Cyclops. It’s Aaron’s first time masterminding the X-Men, and he knocked it out of the heart, helped out by some brilliant artists.
6 Wolverine And The X-Men (Vol. 1) #1-4 Is A Barnstormer
Wolverine has always been a reliable member of the X-Men. After Schism, he did something he’d never done before: became the headmaster of his own mutant school. Wolverine And The X-Men (Vol. 1) #1-4, by writer Jason Aaron and artists Chris Bachalo and Nick Bradshaw, chronicled the beginning of the Jean Grey School.
Wolverine And The X-Men (Vol. 1) borrowed a lot from Grant Morrison’s New X-Men, putting readers back into the school setting for the first time in years. This gave the book a nice nostalgia pop, but even divorced from that, it’s a very good story. Aaron proved he had the chops with this one.
5 Extermination Brought A Plot That Ran Too Long To An End
X-Men history is full of strangeness, but the years that the teenage original X-Men were running around in the present were a little much. It took a while for fans to realize that Marvel was just milking what was once a good idea for all it was worth. The concept had run its course not long after Bendis left the books, but it wouldn’t actually end until 2018.
Extermination, by writer Ed Brisson and artist Pepe Larraz, saw a mysterious attacker begin to attack the young X-Men. It was revealed to be a younger version of Cable, in a race against time as Ahab has his own plans for the young X-Men. It’s a great story and a better ending for the O5 than anyone could have imagined they would have gotten so many years after their story petered out.
4 Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 3) #1-4 Was A Great Beginning
There are many underrated X-Men stories out there, but few can match Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 3) #1-4, by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Chris Bachalo. Bendis’s Uncanny X-Men gets a lot more flack than All-New, but the irony is that it started out very good. Fugitive Cyclops teaming with Emma Frost, Magneto, and Magik teaming up to become superhero terrorists is actually very fun.
The opening story introduces some cool new mutants, gives readers some great Bachalo art, and pits the new team against the Avengers. It’s four solid issues of fun, and it’s a shame the rest of the book couldn’t be more like this story.
3 Avengers Vs. X-Men Is Uneven But It’s Still A Blast
Avengers vs. X-Men is a strange story. Written by Brian Michael Bendis, Jonathan Hickman, Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, and Jason Aaron with art by John Romita Jr., Olivier Coipel, and Adam Kubert, the story definitely feels like it’s written by five different people. However, there’s still a lot to love about it as a story.
While it does paint the X-Men in a bad light, it’s still a cool X-Men story. It shows just how desperate everyone had become. On top of that, there is some great action and art throughout. Everyone does a great job, but Kubert’s issues are especially great.
2 The Dark Angel Saga Is Brutal Brilliance
Uncanny X-Force isn’t technically an X-Men book, but that didn’t stop it from being the best X-Men book of its generation. The best story of the series borrows characters and elements from The Age of Apocalypse, a 1990s Marvel gem, and sees the book pay off its plots with Archangel. Uncanny X-Force: The Dark Angel Saga is amazing, and that’s all there is to it.
Written by Rick Remender with art by Jerome Opeña, Billy Tan, Rich Eisen, Mark Brooks, Scot Eaton, and Esad Ribic, the book sees the team sent to the Age of Apocalypse universe while Archangel becomes the new Apocalypse. The battle that follows is pure hype. This story has it all and stands tall above nearly everything else.
1 House Of X/Powers Of X Righted The Ship
There was a long period of mediocre X-Men tales, but all of that changed when Disney purchased 20th Century Fox and Marvel got the X-Men’s film rights back. X-Men status quo changes are a big deal for fans, but few of them are as iconic as 2019’s House of X/Powers of X. Written by Jonathan Hickman with art by Pepe Larraz and R.B. Silva, it kicked off the Krakoa Era.
The two books that are one has it all. Amazing writing, beautiful art, huge surprises, killer action, and great characterization all combine to create a story that jumped onto the greatest X-Men stories list immediately. It’s a modern classic and made up for years of Marvel making a laughingstock of the X-Men.
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