MUTANTS 427
child prodigy of Susan “Invisible Woman” Storm and Reed “Mr. Fantastic” Richards of
the Fantastic Four , has been hinted at many times as the world’s most powerful mutant
and in certainly story arcs this has become true ( Onslaught ; Earth X ).
Among villains, Erik Magnus “Magneto” Lehnsherr stands as the fi rst and most-
common mutant foe of the X-Men. He has organized mutant teams of his own and
even established entire mutant colonies. While Magneto’s role as nemesis has fl uctuated
over the years, Apocalypse is the villain that has continually been a threat to X-Men
teams and mutants everywhere. Like Magneto, he seeks a mutant-dominated world,
but unlike Magneto, he is nearly immortal and has been working towards the goal for
thousands of years. Glimpses into the future reveal that his success would mean tre-
mendous devastation for humans and mutants alike. Nathaniel “Mr. Sinister” Essex has
teamed with both Magneto and Apocalypse over the years in trying to orchestrate the
demise of the X-Men, as well as gaining more mutants for him to experiment with.
Dozens of series have been published over the years featuring mutants. Th ough
most have been miniseries, a signifi cant number of mutant-based ongoing series have
survived over the years with various reincarnations or re-launchings. Most mutant
series have focused on teams or groups rather than individuals, with Wo l v e r i n e prov-
ing to be the only substantial and long-standing solo success. Th e Uncanny X-men has
proved most successful with consistent publication since 1963. Launched in 1983, New
Mutants had the staying power for 100 issues before transitioning into the title X-Force ,
which lasted over 120 issues. Th is series deals with a second generation of mutants who
start as students at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters in New Mutants and eventu-
ally strike off on their own under the leadership of Cable in X-Force. X-Force and New
Mutants were revived as series in 2008 and 2009, respectively. Another spin-off series,
X-Factor , appeared in 1986 and lasted until its 150th issue in 1998. Th is series focused
on the original X-Men (Angel, Beast, Cyclops, Iceman, and Jean Grey) as they worked
for the government to improve human-mutant relations and protect mutantkind. Th e
series was revamped again in February, 2006, as a detective agency for mutants under
Jamie “Multiple Man” Madrox. Excalibur served as the UK-based version of X-Men
from 1988 to 1998, headed by Captain Britain, with a mixture of original mutants and
expatriates from X-Men. Th is series has also been re-launched several times since its
original run. Th e most erratic mutant-based title currently running is Exiles , which
deals with a cast of ever-changing mutants who jump through the multiverse saving
parallel Earths and entire universes from collapse. Th ough non-mutants occasionally
make the team, the crux of membership contains mutants and the title itself suggests it
is an “X-title.”
In later X-titles and comics, mutants serve as a metaphor for outsider groups in
general, but their initial stories in X-Men do not evoke a particularly strong theme
of outsider status, beyond the typical “super-powered humans” model which certainly
was not new within comics in 1963. Th eir focus in those early issues is to learn to use
their abilities and to counteract those mutants who attack and attempt to rule over
humankind. In that fi rst issue, Professor X explains of mutants, “Not all of them want
