How Many Extinction Events Against The Mutants?

[Doctor Know]

Haven’t we been here before? I was reading the Fall of X thread and someone made a comment of how many extinction/genocides the X-Men have gone through/Marvel has penned and produced. Figured we could count the ways and discuss them.

Off the top of my head there is:

Days of Future Past - Death By Sentinels.

Operation Zero Tolerance - More Sentinels, More Death.

Genosha destroyed in New X-Men - SENTINELS, man!

Fall of X - ORCHIS and Nimrod (a Sentinel from the Future) Har Dee Har.

No More Mutants/Decimation - By Scarlet Witch.

Legacy Virus - Recurring through the 90s titles.

M-Pox/Terrigen Cloud - Inhumans

Edit to Add:
Hope Summers arc: Messiah Complex, Kyle & Yost X-Force, Messiah War and Second Coming

Sins of Sinister



I’m sure there a more. Please list yours and share your thoughts.

[Gray Lensman]

Everything from Decimation to AvX is effectively an extinction event, since "No More Mutants" is hanging in the air like the Sword of Damocles during all of them. Then, right after Stupid Wars we are back to "All Extinction, All The Time" due to the Xyklon B, er, Terrigen cloud killing all mutants it contacts to drive IvX.

Here's a thought experiment, maybe we should list EVERY X-event since the first go at extinction and see which list is shorter, extinction or everything else combined. My money is on the latter.

[Havok83]

This has been discussed before but I wouldnt consider DOFP nor Legacy Virus extinction events. DOFP was a potential future, not anything the then present day 616 mutants ever dealt with. If you are gonna count that then why stop there and not include every other alternate future story with similar themes?

[Rift]

That time Lady Deathstrike stabbed Hellion. An attack on Julian Keller is an attack on all mutants.

[whitecrown]

Everything from Decimation to AvX is effectively an extinction event, since "No More Mutants" is hanging in the air like the Sword of Damocles during all of them. Then, right after Stupid Wars we are back to "All Extinction, All The Time" due to the Xyklon B, er, Terrigen cloud killing all mutants it contacts to drive IvX.

Here's a thought experiment, maybe we should list EVERY X-event since the first go at extinction and see which list is shorter, extinction or everything else combined. My money is on the latter.

I echo this. The X-Men of the 21st century became obsessed with mutant-only issues, which translates to extinction events. They weren't allowed to branch off and deal with space or fantasy sagas as they did in the past. The days of the Phoenix Sagas, Brood Saga, Age of Apocalypse, Inferno, Fall of the Mutants, etc. are long gone.

[Havok83]

I echo this. The X-Men of the 21st century became obsessed with mutant-only issues, which translates to extinction events. They weren't allowed to branch off and deal with space or fantasy sagas as they did in the past. The days of the Phoenix Sagas, Brood Saga, Age of Apocalypse, Inferno, Fall of the Mutants, etc. are long gone.

space stories didnt go away this century. Whedon handled it in his run with the Breakworld stuff. Brubaker wrote a year long Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire saga which had several spinoff minis. Bendis wrote a couple of space crossovers (Trial of Jean Grey, Black Vortex). I know around hte same time WATX went there with Kid Gladiator and AXM did a few space arcs. The all female team did too when Deathbird returned. In ResureXion, we had Poison X, Venomized, Negative Zone War, and Mr and Mrs. X had a Shi'ar arc. We have had S.W.O.R.D and now X-men Red dealing with space stuff. Maraurders v2 dealt with more space stuff. The first arc of New Mutants went there too. Hickman's X-men went there early on for the Brood and later when Jean, Storm and Cyclops protected Xandra. Space has been a recurring place that Duggan has tackled throughout his run. There's actually been quite a bit of space storylines over the past 20 years.

As far as fantasy storylines, lets not forget about X of Sword and all the Otherworld and magic things that Excalibur and its spinoffs have fully embraced. War of Realms, Realm of X, Exiled too

[shooshoomanjoe]

How about the mutant massacre?

[Havok83]

How about the mutant massacre?

I dont think the Mutant Massacre itself, but Fall of the Mutants, which it led into counts

[Micabe]

How about the mutant massacre?

You mean the attack on the Morlocks perpetrated by mutants at the behest of a maniacal mutated Geneticist who is obsessed with mutants?

[whitecrown]

space stories didnt go away this century. Whedon handled it in his run with the Breakworld stuff. Brubaker wrote a year long Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire saga which had several spinoff minis. Bendis wrote a couple of space crossovers (Trial of Jean Grey, Black Vortex). I know around hte same time WATX went there with Kid Gladiator and AXM did a few space arcs. The all female team did too when Deathbird returned. In ResureXion, we had Poison X, Venomized, Negative Zone War, and Mr and Mrs. X had a Shi'ar arc. We have had S.W.O.R.D and now X-men Red dealing with space stuff. Maraurders v2 dealt with more space stuff. The first arc of New Mutants went there too. Hickman's X-men went there early on for the Brood and later when Jean, Storm and Cyclops protected Xandra. Space has been a recurring place that Duggan has tackled throughout his run. There's actually been quite a bit of space storylines over the past 20 years.

As far as fantasy storylines, lets not forget about X of Sword and all the Otherworld and magic things that Excalibur and its spinoffs have fully embraced. War of Realms, Realm of X, Exiled too

In terms of major storylines or crossover events though, the major ones have all been mutant/extinction related. House of M/Decimation, Endangered Species, Messiah Complex, Second Coming, Schism, Avengers vs X-Men, Inhumans vs X-Men, etc. Most of the stuff you mentioned were arcs in ongoing books but never the main event. Even for something like The Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire (since that's one of the few highlights for me during this era of X-Men), that was quickly shunted off over to the cosmic side of Marvel.

Compare that to the major crossover events of the 90s like X-Cutioner's Song, Fatal Attraction, Age of Apocalypse, Onslaught, The Twelve, Eve of Destruction, etc. They all focused on mutant big bads like Stryfe, Apocalypse, Magneto, or Onslaught. The emphasis was not on mutants being hunted down to the point of extinction again and again until you decide you really don't care anymore because after extinction attempt #38, everyone's more or less still around.

[whitecrown]

I dont think the Mutant Massacre itself, but Fall of the Mutants, which it led into counts

The only part of Fall of the Mutants which would count towards mutant extinction would be the New Mutants side of thing, with Cypher's death and the non-mutant villain.

X-Factor was fighting Apocalypse trying to take over the world. The X-Men were fighting a supernatural threat in the form of the Adversary trying to destroy the universe while aided by Roma and Merlin. And Freedom Force were secondary villains/reluctant allies.

[Rev9]

Surprised no one mentions Sins of Sinister universe climax ..It is the greatest mutant extinction event by sheer numbers. Essex torched trillions of mutants in an attempt to become a dominion with survivors being 3 or 4 individuals tops!

[JB]

Surprised no one mentions Sins of Sinister universe climax ..It is the greatest mutant extinction event by sheer numbers. Essex torched trillions of mutants in an attempt to become a dominion with survivors being 3 or 4 individuals tops!

It is kind of funny how Sins of Sinister was mostly an event about mutants becoming the dominant ones of the universe and then at the very end it concluded with the extermination of mutants lol

[ARkadelphia]

The end of Rosenberg’s run just before HoX/PoX where Beast’s mutant cure gets into the hands of the world’s governments.

[IN-a-Synch]

You have to throw Second Coming in there