When did X-Men get too dark?

[ermac]

Since the 2000s we're seeing the X-line getting darker and darker each crossover (House of M, Decimation, AvsX, IvsX etc).

And I think the deconstruction of Xavier is extremely related to that. As each writer decided to retcon another skeleton on his closet, the writing became more focused on mutants as an endangered species and the X-Men as flawed individuals.

[manymade1]

I always thought Whedon's run was a huge stepping stone.

[mikelmcknight72]

My specific complaint is how unrelenting the darkness has often been.

[MechaJeanix]

It is hard to say because the X-men have had many darker stories but for me personally I felt the X-men got too dark with the extinction level events, and killing off so many of the beloved characters. When we had Jean, Scott, Wolverine and Xavier dead it was just too much for me. This pushed me to take a few years off from reading (and I had been an Xmen fan since I was a kid and a now almost 38 years old). It wasn't even just those classic characters but so many that they killed off left and right to make the stories shocking or edgy. It was just too much.

One of the things I love about Hickman's run is the resurrection protocols and the bringing back of so many of our favorite mutants. The X-men world seemed so dark for so long because they had faced so much violence and death to the point that they weren't just a minority but an extreme numerical minority. It felt like the X-men were never going to have real optimism again.

[mugiwara]

When Louse Simonson began to write X-books. She just loved to make the characters miserable.
Especially X-Factor during and after Mutant Massacre.

[Havok83]

When Louse Simonson began to write X-books. She just loved to make the characters miserable.
Especially X-Factor during and after Mutant Massacre.

outside of what happened with Warren, I dont really associate her X-Factor as a dark time for the characters or that book

Ditto for New Mutants. She did kill a couple of them but her tenure at the book was marked for being less dark that Claremont as she was mandated to write them more like children which is why we got the cartoony art and comedic plots

[AbnormallyNormal]

I think it's because the MCU has been SO light/poppy that by contrast XMen *appear* "dark".

Also it's true X-Men themes are more real, and more profound so I guess some may consider that "dark".

[xiyon]

X-Men was always dark, but its cast also strove to be heroic. They didn't always succeed, but you could always argue their intentions were heroic.

The past several years turned the franchise into a bad sitcom. Hickman's run is marginally better with all the bickering and pettiness gone, but replaced with cult-speak and, to paraphrase Battle Angel Alita, "standing by in the presence of evil". BUT HEY LOOK AT THE AWESOME ART!!!