New X-Men
The cover toNew X-Men #114, the first issue of the series. Art byFrank Quitely.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Schedule	Monthly
Genre	Superhero
Publication date	May 2001 – March 2004
No. of issues	44 (#114–156 +Annual 2001)
Main character	List Angel Salvadore Beak Beast Cyclops Emma Frost Jean Grey Stepford Cuckoos Wolverine Xorn
Creative team
Created by	Grant Morrison Frank Quitely
Written by	List Grant Morrison Chuck Austen
Penciller	List Frank Quitely Leinil Francis Yu Igor Kordey Ethan Van Sciver Phil Jimenez Chris Bachalo Marc Silvestri
Inker	List Prentis Rollins Danny Miki

New X-Men is anAmerican comic bookongoing series, written byGrant Morrison and featuring themutantsuperhero team, theX-Men. It was a retitling of the then-ongoing second volume of the mainX-Men series, and shares the series' numbering, as opposed to creating a different ongoing series with a new number one issue. During a revamp of the entireX-Men franchise, newly appointedMarvel Comics Editor-in-ChiefJoe Quesada spoke of his idea for flagship titles likeX-Men to regain some of their "former glory," as well as regaining critical acclaim.^[1]

To that end, Quesada recruited writer Grant Morrison, at that point best known for their high-profile works atDC Comics, both in theVertigo imprint of mature titles inThe Invisibles, as well as a long run in theDC Universe with the company's premiere super hero team, theJustice League of America in theJLA title.

The full run of Morrison'sNew X-Men consisted of eight full story arcs with one issue designed to be read in between the first and second arcs, as all stories inNew X-Men are largely interconnected and tell a long-form narrative.

• "E Is for Extinction" (#114–116, illustrated byFrank Quitely) –Cassandra Nova destroysGenosha using a new series ofSentinels andEmma Frost returns to the X-Men.
• "The Man from Room X" (Annual 2001, illustrated byLeinil Francis Yu) – A Chinese army officer, Ao Jun, is concluding the secret sale of a powerful captive mutant,Kuan-Yin Xorn, withJohn Sublime. To prevent that sale,Domino, of Asia'sX-Corporation, is welcoming the X-Men at Hong Kong. Sublime is there promoting hisU-Men, humans with grafted mutant organs. When Xorn contemplates committing suicide, which due to his mutation would destroy Hong Kong, Cyclops attempts to persuade him to instead join the X-Men.
• "Imperial" (#118–126, illustrated byEthan Van Sciver,Frank Quitely andIgor Kordey) – Delving deeper into the motivations of Cassandra Nova, this story further fleshed out the makeup of the Xavier Institute's student body by introducing new students such asAngel Salvadore andBeak, as well as giving a more in-depth focus on theStepford Cuckoos and theU-Men.
• "New Worlds" (#127–133, illustrated byIgor Kordey,John Paul Leon,Phil Jimenez andEthan Van Sciver) – In the aftermath of both the Genoshan genocide and Cassandra Nova's revelation of Professor X's mutant powers, as well as his school's function as a mutant haven, the X-Men must try to broker peace amidst rising human/mutant tensions, while still combating the mutant threats arising worldwide. This story arc not only dealt with the fallout of Genosha's destruction, but also began the psychic affair shared by Cyclops and Emma Frost.
• "Riot at Xavier's" (#134–138, illustrated byFrank Quitely) – This arc is centered aroundQuentin Quire, who is fleshed out as a super-intelligent young teenager that is a pupil of Professor X's mutant school at the X-Mansion. When he finds out he is adopted, and a mutant celebrity calledJumbo Carnation is killed by anti-mutant racists, Quire begins to mock Xavier's pacifistic teachings, hero-worships the mutant supremacistMagneto, and assembles a gang of militant classmates to kill humans in retaliation. Their rage is fueled by consumption of the fictional drug "Kick", which supercharges their mutant abilities.
• "Murder at the Mansion" (#139–141, illustrated byPhil Jimenez) – After finding her husband in a "mental" sexual relationship with Emma Frost, Jean thrusts Cyclops out of the shared mindscape to quarrel with Emma. Using the power of thePhoenix, Jean burns through Emma's psychic defenses, ultimately revealing her hidden past. As Jean is about to discover whether or not Scott was physically unfaithful to his wife during an assignment in Hong Kong, he breaks into the room containing Jean and Emma and demands that Jean search his mind for the answer. As Jean understands that her husband's affair was not physical, Cyclops leaves the mansion. Hours later, Beast discovers Emma Frost's crystalline remains, shattered in a million pieces.Bishop arrives to investigate her death, in which every member of the X-Men is suspect.
• "Assault on Weapon Plus" (#142–145, illustrated byChris Bachalo) – Cyclops, who has recently left the X-Men after his psychic affair with Emma Frost was exposed, is found by Wolverine drinking at theHellfire Club, and is contemplating quitting the X-Men. Incidentally,Sabretooth is also dining at the facility. Wolverine is aggressive toward Sabertooth, but is unable to escalate an argument into a conflict because it is against the rules of the Hellfire Club for patrons to fight within the building.Fantomex arrives and convinces both Cyclops and Wolverine to join him in breaking into theWeapon Plus installation floating in orbit around the Earth.

It is in this story that Wolverine discovers most of the details of his past (although they are not revealed to the reader), and where it is discovered thatWeapon X is actually WeaponTen. Weapon Plus is also discovered to go back to at leastWorld War II, with their first program revealed to be Operation: Rebirth which created the originalCaptain America (who is designated by the program asWeapon I).

• "Planet X" (#146–150, illustrated byPhil Jimenez) –Jean Grey,Beast, andEmma Frost leave theX-Mansion whileXorn forces the newest member of the "Special Class",Dust, to attackProfessor X and destroy Cerebra. Confronting Xavier, Xorn imprisonsDust in a jar to keep her from helping the professor, and then removes his mask, to reveal that he isMagneto in disguise. Magneto, enjoying the lack of progress Xavier has made in improving mutantkind's lot since his "death" (partly due to his manipulations), has begun to teach his militant anti-human philosophy to the Special Class while indulging in the mutant-power enhancing drug Kick, supplied to him by his helper, Esme of theStepford Cuckoos.
• "Here Comes Tomorrow" (#151–154, illustrated byMarc Silvestri) – In the far future, human X-ManTom Skylark evades a pack of Crawlers (foot soldiers genetically engineered fromNightcrawler's DNA, along with the powers of other X-Men, namelyJamie Madrox,Scott Summers, and others) amongst the ruins of theX-Mansion. HisSentinel partner, Rover, dispatches the Crawlers. Tom is met byE.V.A., a representative of theXavier Institute, now an interspecies organization. Together, they transport the Phoenix Egg, found on the Moon, to the X-Men's secure headquarters in the Manhattan Crater. But a Crawler has hitched a ride inside the compound, replicating itself with Multiple Man DNA and attacking with the force of an army with Cyclops' DNA. E.V.A. and Tom are rescued by the efforts of a bird-man named Tito (descended from Beak), but the Phoenix Egg is teleported back to the Crawlers' master and creator: Beast's future self.

It is in the final act of this arc that Jean, using the Phoenix Force, allows Scott to return to the X-Men and begin a life with Emma Frost in an act of compassion and love, as well as ensuring that the future in which she now resides never comes to pass.

Some of the more long-lasting changes occurred during Morrison's run. Beast undergoes a secondary mutation that gives him a lion-like creature rather than his former ape-like appearance. Emma Frost was introduced as a member of the team. The ties between Jean Grey and the Phoenix (leaning into the second retcon Claremont establishes) were revisited and the death of Phoenix occurs in Morrison's run. The school expanded from simply a training center to a legitimate school with dozens of mutant students, a story idea that was first explored in the X-Men film.^[2] One of the more controversial events ofNew X-Men happened in issue #115 when the island ofGenosha and its inhabitants, includingMagneto, were completely destroyed. This set the tone that dominated the rest of Morrison's tenure on the book.^[1]

In June 2004,Chuck Austen, previously the writer ofUncanny X-Men, moved toNew X-Men with issue #155. The title of the series reverted to its original title ofX-Men in July 2004 with issue #157 during the "X-Men Reload" event.

Grant Morrison intended Xorn to be Magneto from his first appearance. As Morrison stated in an interview after they leftNew X-Men, "In my opinion, there really shouldn't have been an actual Xorn – he had to be fake, that was the cruel point of him".^[3] In fact, soon after the revelation of Xorn's identity inNew X-Men #146, readers pointed out that clues that Xorn was actually Magneto had been hidden throughout Morrison's run.^[4][5] According to then-X-Men writerChuck Austen, the X-Men editors liked the Xorn character and hoped Morrison would change his mind about the revelation; when he did not, the editors asked Austen to bring Xorn back as a separate character. Marvel also wanted to continue using Magneto; Austen stated that "Marvel saw value in Magneto not being a mass-murderer of New Yorkers."^[6] Morrison has expressed criticism of this subsequent retcon in interviews.^[7][8]

Marvelretconned the Xorn/Magneto revelation and brought back Xorn and Magneto after Morrison's departure. InUncanny X-Men #442 and 443, Xavier takes the body of Magneto to Genosha where they hold a funeral for the deceased mutant leader. However, in the last page ofExcalibur #1, Xavier meets Magneto alive and well on Genosha. In subsequent issues ofExcalibur, Xavier and Magneto debate the true identity and motives of Xorn, the individual whose bandage-wrapped body they brought to Genosha. In the same month, Magneto returned inChris Claremont's newExcalibur book, Austen'sX-Men #157 introduced a new Xorn named Shen Xorn. Shen Xorn claims to be the twin brother of the original Xorn (now referred to as Kuan-Yin Xorn) who, under the influence of the entity known asSublime, had pretended to be Magneto. This claim is supported when Emma Frost conducts a thorough mind scan of Shen. Not too long after, Shen Xorn disappears when he unleashes the gravitational forces of a black hole in the course of helping the X-Men defeat an attack by aBrotherhood of Mutants led byExodus. Later, Shen Xorn is revealed to have been one of the mutants depowered due to the events of theHouse of M miniseries.

The true identity of Xorn, and his relationship to the character Magneto, became a subject of confusion to fans. Marvel refrained from giving a complete explanation, eventually hinting that the summer 2005 crossoverHouse of M would clear up the situation.^[9] The Xorn entry in theOfficial Handbook of the Marvel Universe: X-Men 2005 stated that "Kuan-Yin eventually revealed himself to be aduplicate of the X-Men's nemesis Magneto, a transformation believed to have been caused by Magneto's daughter, theScarlet Witch." This explanation was based on a suggestion inHouse of M #7 whereinDoctor Strange speculates that Wanda has been 'playing with the world' for far longer than even she knows, and may have been responsible for her father's puzzling rebirth. An alternative explanation has since been given in the pages ofNew Avengers since, according to Marvel editorTom Brevoort, "nobody was satisfied with that offhanded non-explanation, and it didn’t make a heck of a lot of sense by itself even as a throwaway".^[10]

As far back as 2003, popular television and film writerJoss Whedon was rumored to be Morrison's successor on theNew X-Men title.^[11] In an interview, Whedon clarified he was asked to take over theNew X-Men title, but this was instead changed to a new volume ofAstonishing X-Men to accommodate his collaboratorJohn Cassaday. Whedon then clarified that his run onAstonishing was a direct continuation of Morrison's work when he said, "I was readingNew X-Men and loving it. The other part of the equation was [working with] John Cassaday. I had been talking about doing something with John for years. Then, once I signed on, I was told it wasn'tNew X-Men butAstonishing X-Men. I was like 'What?' But I took the same premise and cast that Grant established and worked from there because I was caught up in that book."^[12]

• Greene, Darragh. (2015)"'Here Comes Tomorrow': The Ethics of Utopianism in Grant Morrison'sNew X-Men."ImageTexT 8.2 Web journal.

• 2001 comics debuts
• 2004 comics endings
• Superhero comics
• Comics by Grant Morrison
• X-Men titles

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