Holy Trinity of X-Men Comics

[your_name_here]

Just set something up in the Spidey forum.
What are the 3 most beloved/influential/definitive stories across the franchise?
Let’s discuss/debate and see if we can reach a general consensus.

[nandes]

The Draco, Holy War and She Lies With Angels.

jk. Hard to beat Dark Phoenix Saga/Mutant Massacre/Fall of the Mutants

[Havok83]

Dark Phoenix Saga

Inferno

House of X/Powers of X

Those were all game changers for the entire line and all for the most part highly praised and loved. The DPS reached emotional beats that no X story had done before and effectively closed a chapter in X-men and allowed Claremont to thrust the book in a new direction after. Inferno fully realized what the X-crossovers would be after dabbling with the concept in Mutant Massacre and FOTM. HOX/POX is the most radical departure from the status quo that the line ever saw. Its too soon to determine where it will net out but its already proven to be a definitive story regardless of where this run goes

[Dante Milton]

Phoenix Saga

Days of Future Past

God Loves, Man Kills

[Master of Sound]

Phoenix Saga

Days of Future Past

God Loves, Man Kills

Those are the ones of the older days and rightfully so. Of later I would say AoA, Messiah Complex and HoX-PoX

[Exodus]

Age of Apocalypse

Dark Phoenix

E is for Extinction

[yogaflame]

Pick from Claremont, Morrison, and Hickman's runs, one each if we want to be more equitable(let's be real, Chris did all the heavy lifting).

Days of Future Past- practically impossible to pick only one of his stories, but this one created the 'dystopian alternate timeline' trope that has become seminal to the franchise, was Storm's first showing as team leader, and introduced Mystique and her Brotherhood[to the Xworld].

E is for Extinction-introduced secondary mutations, brought Emma into the core team, and presented the threat of wholesale genocide as an ever-present danger.

House of X-introduced the nation of Krakoa, and the Resurrection Protocols.

[FFJamie94]

For the Claremont era, I'm going with
Dark Phoenix
Days of Future Past
God Loves, Man Kills

I'm going to be different with modern a feature full runs (and I've mentioned this trilogy before).
Grant Morrison's New X-Men
Uncanny X-Force
HOXPOX (this could be replaced with Hickman's run through if it sticks the landing).

[gambitxremy]

Messiah complex
Messiah war
Second coming

[Thundershot]

Dark Phoenix Saga
E is for Extinction
HoX/PoX

They all are the representation of the three biggest eras of X-Men. Are they all my personal faves? No.... I enjoyed Inferno quite a bit as well as X-Tinction Agenda, but I wouldn’t call them tentpoles.

[nx01a]

In terms of the most beloved...
Dark Phoenix Saga
Days of Future Past
Age of Apocalypse

In terms of the most game-changing...
Giant Size X-Men (A true second genesis ushering in the international X-Men plus jump starting mutant selling power and critical dominance.)
E is for Extinction (Mutant genocide finally sticks, a template for 'No More Mutants' and every threat that followed. It also outed the X-Men and the school to the world, a true game-changer.)
HoX & PoX (Immortality, uniting X-Men and their worst villains, exploring the long cosmic game of Man vs Mutant vs Machine.)

Mutant Genesis deserves a mention for being both beloved and game-changing. X-Men #1 is the best selling comic of all time and it introduced the iconic and (for some) definitive costumes of the most famous X-Men which were popularized further in the animated series, video games, and other spinoff material. It's literally X-Men at the peak of the franchise's popularity.

[WebLurker]

Phoenix Saga

Days of Future Past

God Loves, Man Kills

Agreed; the film series clinched that, if nothing else.

[Captain Nash]

Dark Phoenix and Days Of Future Past for sure. I'm torn on the third one. Inferno and Muir Island Saga both were stories that were resolutions to SO many plot lines that if the books had ended right after them, it would have felt complete (which is odd since MIS only came 2-3 years after Inferno). God Love Man Kill is revered. and AoA was an absolutely brilliant twist to the franchise. E is for Extinction and HOX/POX were game changing.

But I think I may have to go with Mutant Genesis that is X-Men (1991) 1-3. There was something that felt just absolutely epic and timeless in that storyline. A gathering of almost all of the X-Men's biggest names, excepting Nightcrawler and Shadowcat. It wasn't so much a rebirth of the X-men franchise as bringing it into a new era. So yeah, I'm going to go with Mutant Genesis.

[charliehustle415]

Ohhh I like this, but I do think this will show a lot of posters age because it will definitely show mine.

#1 (with a gods damn bullet): X-Men Mutant Genesis
#2: Age of Apocalypse
#3: New X-Men

[Havok83]

Alot of people picking stuff from Morrison but IMO, he didnt really have a single strong defining story. The influence of his writing is more in the entire run as a whole, then an actual story arc. E is for Extinction for example set the stage for his run but it wasnt a particularly great story or influential, at least not like HOX was for Hickman.

Dark Phoenix and Days Of Future Past for sure. I'm torn on the third one. Inferno and Muir Island Saga both were stories that were resolutions to SO many plot lines that if the books had ended right after them, it would have felt complete (which is odd since MIS only came 2-3 years after Inferno). God Love Man Kill is revered. and AoA was an absolutely brilliant twist to the franchise. E is for Extinction and HOX/POX were game changing.

But I think I may have to go with Mutant Genesis that is X-Men (1991) 1-3. There was something that felt just absolutely epic and timeless in that storyline. A gathering of almost all of the X-Men's biggest names, excepting Nightcrawler and Shadowcat. It wasn't so much a rebirth of the X-men franchise as bringing it into a new era. So yeah, I'm going to go with Mutant Genesis.

Muir Island Saga was a hot mess and Claremont left in the middle of it, not being able to properly execute or resolve the plots he had created. You are better off sticking with Inferno over it