Marvel’s X-Men franchise has plenty of amazing stories for fans to read, but sooner or later, you’re going to run out of iconic arcs. That’s why we’ve collected 10 great stories even hardcore fans forget exist.

Here are 10 underrated titles that never appear on recommendation lists. Even if you’re the world’s most hardcore X-Men fan, we think there’s something here you haven’t read yet.

10

Brotherhood

From Howard Mackie and Esad Ribić

Set during a time when Marvel was experimenting with what the X-Men franchise could be, 2001’s The Brotherhood follows a new version of the franchise’s villains. Taking the name of Magneto’s old team, a new group of ‘evil’ mutants set up cells across the world and promptly fall prey to betrayal.

It’s a tragic story of idealists gone wrong, and a forgotten companion to the beloved cult classic X-Force/X-Statix run from Peter Milligran and Mike Allred, with the Brotherhood deciding to target the team as a public statement.

9

I [Heart] Marvel: My Mutant Heart

From Daniel Way, Peter Milligan, Tim Fish, Marcos Martín and Ken Knudtsen

In 2006, Marvel released a series of anthology romance one-shots, telling short stories set within its various franchises. ‘My Mutant Heart’ zeroes in on the X-Men, with a tragic promise from Wolverine’s past, a rom-com between Cannonball and Lila Cheney, and a bizarre film noir parody starring the X-Men’s unexpected rizz-lord Doop that’s worth the price of admission alone.

The X-Men have often benefited from the anthology format, given the franchise’s sprawling cast, and that fact is doubly true here. Fans of the format can also check out Web of Romance (Spider-Man), Marvel Ai (Avengers), Outlaw Love (villains) and Masked Intentions (The New Warriors.)

8

Colossus: Bloodline

From David Hine and Jorge Lucas

Someone is attacking Colossus’ family, forcing the X-Men’s powerhouse to team-up with his villainous brother Mikhail to uncover the culprit and stop the slaughter. Colossus rarely gets the solo time of other heroes, and this story expands his personal lore while telling a freaky whodunnit that gives Piotr Rasputin a very personal enemy.

7

X-Men Movie Prequel Comics (Wolverine, Rogue, Magneto)

From Jay Faerber, Karl Waller, Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Alan Evans, Joe Pruett and Mark Texeira

Intended as official prequel stories to the 2000 X-Men movie (which is also adapted in comic form), these comics explore what some of the central characters were up to before their cinematic debut. Each one-shot story was later collected in the X-Men: The Movie trade paperback.

Wolverine faces the Silver Samurai, Rogue is locked up in a mutant prison, and Magneto meets Professor X for the first time. Each issue is a satisfying standalone story that will give you a new perspective on the iconic movie, even if the later films didn’t exactly treat the comics as gospel.

6

Heroes for Hope: Starring the X-Men

From Jim Starlin, Bernie Wrightson, George R. R. Martin, Alan Moore, Stephen King, et al

A fundraising effort to address the 1983 famine in Ethiopia, Heroes for Hope saw a murderer’s row of luminary creators donate their time and talents to this project. Icons like George R.R. Martin and Stephen King wrote sections of the story, unleashing an entity that feeds on despair and hunger.

While there’s a little jank from so many creative teams passing the story along, the experimental storytelling is interesting even by itself, and it’s worth picking up this come just to see Stephen King introduce his one and only X-Men villain.

5

X-Men: The Phalanx Covenant

From Larry Hama, Scott Lobdell, Fabian Nicieza, Todd DeZago, Steve Epting, Adam Kubert, Steve Skroce, Ken Lashley, Joe Madureira, Jan Duursema, Roger Cruz and Tony Daniel

In X-Men’s most underrated crossover story, a group of humans merge with the cybernetic aliens known as the Technarchy and unleash hell. The event splits up its storyline into three subplots – a must with such a large cast – and introduces the new ‘Generation X’ heroes to X-Men lore.

While not the easiest event story to pick up (there are some running threads that aren’t introduced or wrapped up by the event itself), it’s a blockbuster, consequential X-Men story with some unique character combinations, and one fans often overlook.

4

X-Men Unlimited: Green

From Gerry Duggan and Emilio Laiso

Fans often approach Marvel’s digital-first ‘Unlimited’ comics with caution, given the often inferior art and increased likelihood of inconsequential stories. However, ‘X-Men: Green’ bucked the trend. The story sees X-Men student Nature Girl turn villain thanks to humanity’s abuse of the environment, leading to a huge upgrade in her power set

She also gathers a team of environment-focused villains who call themselves the X-Men Green (including energy-vampire-pterodactyl Sauron and Gwen Stacy clone Spider-Girl.) It’s a fun ‘student turns bad’ story that uses characters the franchise was otherwise neglecting.

Duggan’s sense of humor is on show as the bizarro team come together, and Laiso reinvents Nature Girl into the compelling villain ‘Armageddon Girl.’ This X-Men story is proof of the digital comics’ ability to tell great stories starring less well-known characters, knitting various underutilized bits of lore into an interesting narrative that fans shouldn’t miss.

3

Pryde and Wisdom

From Warren Ellis, Terry Dodson and Karl Story

Spinning out of ’90s Excalibur, X-Men does X-Files as mainstay hero Kitty Pryde and mutant James Bond Peter Wisdom hunt a mutant serial killer. It’s a superhero spy story without costumes, allowing Kitty to fully escape her ‘kid sister’ status with the X-Men and engage in easily her most underrated romance.

Pryde and Wisdom is a three-issue miniseries with a lot of ideas, satirizing the crime genre and even parodying DC’s John Constantine while also following the titular heroes as they tear around London.

2

Ultimate X-Men/Fantastic Four, aka Ultimate X4

From Mike Carey, Pasqual Ferry and Leinil Francis Yu

An easily forgotten event spinning out of Marvel’s original Ultimate Universe, Ultimate X4 sees the X-Men and Fantastic Four turned against each other by Rhona Burchill. Rhona is the Ultimate Universe’s answer to the Mad Thinker, and a truly disturbing enemy – one who experiments on both herself and her childhood friend out of jealousy towards Reed Richards.

The Ultimate Universe was always a little meaner than Marvel’s mainstream, adding weight to the two team’s discomfort working together, and enlivening a running animosity between Wolverine and the Thing.

1

X-Men Unlimited: Latitude

From Jonathan Hickman and Declan Shalvey

Marvel pulled out all the stops to launch its digital X-Men comics, with a story from acclaimed writer Jonathan Hickman and all-star artist Declan Shalvey. Told vertically in a constant down-scroll, the story sees Wolverine attack AIM in an attempt to free mutant prisoners.

The story takes advantage of the (otherwise questionable) format of Infinity Comics to tell a story where Wolverine is constantly falling, starting out on a space station and plunging lower and lower until he’s fighting underground.

Hickman is at his best in a stripped-down story that’s all about the aura, and Shalvey is the perfect artist to sell Logan’s irritation as he plows through two dozen AIM soldiers. It’s a thrilling tale from two industry icons, and worth checking out even if you’ve been steering clear of Marvel’s digital offerings.

Those are the 10 underrated X-Men stories that even hardcore fans forget – let us know below what other arcs belong on this list, and what you think of our ranking.

Movie(s)

X-Men (2000), X2, X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), X-Men: First Class (2011), The Wolverine (2013), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), Deadpool (2016), X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), Logan (2017), Deadpool 2 (2018), Dark Phoenix (2019), The New Mutants, Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)

First Film

X-Men (2000)

TV Show(s)

X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men, X-Men (1992), X-Men: Evolution (2000), Wolverine and the X-Men (2008), Marvel Anime: Wolverine, Marvel Anime: X-Men, Legion (2017), The Gifted (2017), X-Men ’97 (2024)

Video Game(s)

X-Men: Children of the Atom (1994), Marvel Super Heroes (1995), X-Men vs. Street Fighter (1996), Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter (1997), Marvel vs. Capcom (1998), X-Men: Mutant Academy (2000), Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (2000), X-Men: Mutant Academy 2 (2001), X-Men: Next Dimension (2002), Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds (2011), Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (2011), X-Men Legends (2005), X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse (2005), X2: Wolverine’s Revenge (2003), X-Men (1993), X-Men 2: Clone Wars (1995), X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse (1994)

Character(s)

Professor X, Cyclops, Iceman, Beast, Angel, Phoenix, Wolverine, Gambit, Rogue, Storm, Jubilee, Morph, Nightcrawler, Havok, Banshee, Colossus, Magneto, Psylocke, Juggernaut, Cable, X-23

Comic Release Date

213035,212968