The X-Men have become one of the most popular groups of superheroes of all time. The key to their success has been more than just a putting a certain clawed mutant front and center; it’s been the stories. See, what makes the team so refreshing compared to other superteams is that their tales are about more than just fighting bad guys. They have to deal with the bigotry of humanity, the supremacist beliefs of some mutants, and those who would use both sides to succeed and get what they want. These complexities have made the team’s stories something special. Not every X-Men story is amazing, but when an X-story hits hard, it’s a thing of beauty.
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One of the most interesting things about the team, though, is when it doesn’t take itself as seriously. Sure, life and death situations, the fight against bigotry, all of that is important but this is still comic books. Sometimes, a good old-fashioned bizarre plotline is what we all want and the X-Men comics have given us some truly weird ones. These five X-Men plotlines are the strangest in the team’s history, especially their crossover with the men and women of the Starship Enterprise
5) The Leprechauns of Cassidy Keep
Banshee is one of the most unsung members of the X-Men. He has one of the longest histories with the team, first battling against the original five with Factor Three before leaving his life of crime behind. Since then, he’s been on the team several times, including in the days after Giant-Size X-Men #1. Eventually, him and the X-Men ended up battling his cousin Black Tom Cassidy at Cassidy Keep and they discovered something quite bizarre about the castle – it was home to a rowdy bunch of leprechauns. They first showed up in X-Men (Vol. 1) #101-102, causing all kinds of mischief and messing with everyone in the Keep. They got involved with the X-Men during a battle with Tom and Juggernaut. Since then, the leprechauns have made numerous other appearances in X-Men comics, one of those weird little plotlines that keep popping up over the team’s history. Comics aren’t as blatantly stereotypical as they used to be, but they’ve become a venerable part of the X-Men’s corner of the Marvel Universe.
4) The X-Babies
The ’80s were a wild time for the X-Men, with writer Chris Claremont’s run with the team making them into the most popular superheroes in the land. Uncanny X-Men was the book to buy and Claremont took the team to all kinds of amazing places. One of the most interesting things about his first run is you can see him experimenting with the team’s concept in real time, finding new ways to write their tales and keep them fresh for readers. Things could get downright weird and one of the strangest things in the first Claremont run is the X-Babies. They were created by Mojo, the leader of the Spineless Ones. The Mojoverse, as it was called, was ruled by whoever got the highest ratings and the X-Men were favorites of the viewing public. So, the vile alien producer decided to create baby versions of the team. They’ve been showing up for years, just weird little young versions of the team. They even change their costumes to fit the times. It’s been a while since we’ve gotten a story starring them, but they do appear on a lot of variant covers nowadays.
3) The Resurrection of Nightcrawler
Nightcrawler is one of the most beloved members of the X-Men. Kurt Wagner is the team’s swashbuckling fuzzy elf, everyone’s best friend and brother. He’s the type to give you the shirt off his back and his deep Catholic faith has defined him as much as his charm. He’s always ready to give his all to save the day and one of the most tragic events in X-Men history was when he gave his life to save Hope Summers in “Second Coming”. His friends missed him but this is the Marvel Universe, so he wouldn’t be gone for ever. Amazing X-Men (Vol. 2) #1-6 was all about Azazel, the demon mutant that everyone thought was Kurt’s dad at the time, invading Heaven, with Nightcrawler jumping into battle with him. The X-Men showed up as well and found themselves in the middle of a pirate war between Azazel’s demonic forces and Nightcrawler and the Bamfs, imps that are basically small versions of him. The whole thing was exactly the kind of bizarre resurrection that you’d expect from Kurt Wagner, a big weird affair that isn’t talked about enough anymore.
2) Xavier and Mystique’s Marriage
Charles Xavier has quite a history, one that is often a surprise for both the team and the fans. He’s had children just pop up out of nowhere, it was revealed that him and Magneto were actually the best of friends, he enslaved the Danger Room’s computer when it became sentient, all kinds of little surprises that no one ever expects from everyone’s favorite bald guy. Back in 2012, he was killed and stayed dead for about five years, during which time the X-Men would learn of the last will and testament of Charles Xavier. During the will reading, attended by both Cyclops and Wolverine’s factions of mutants, they all got a pretty major surprise – Xavier and Mystique were married at some point and never got divorced. It was played for laughs at the time, but it was an idea with legs. However, we’ve never really learned much about it. Mystique did work with Xavier before the X-Men started (as revealed in her early ’00s solo series), so we know that they were closer than we thought but it’s still one of the most bizarre plots ever. Maybe one day, someone will do something interesting with it.
1) The ’90s Star Trek Crossover
The ’90s were a wild time to be an X-Men fan. I started reading their books full-time in 1991 and I was on the ground floor for some truly wild events, like Wolverine losing his adamantium or Xavier becoming Onslaught or Iceman finally becoming a character that people liked to read about. Marvel did everything they could to use the team to sell comics and in the mid ’90s, the publisher got the rights to publish Star Trek comics. Since this was Marvel in the ’90s, they decided that the best way to kick the whole thing off was to have the crew of the original Enterprise from the ’60s with the X-Men of the ’90s in Star Trek/X-Men #1. It was the return of artist Marc Silvestri to the team, making it something of a milestone. The story involved the reality-altering mutant known as Proteus, who has reanimated the body of Lt. Gary Mitchell, who became a god in the second pilot episode of the original series (“Where No One Has Gone Before”, which was the first appearance of Kirk after the failure of the original pilot “The Cage”). It’s such a bizarre comic and yet there’s something about it that fits both the Star Trek and the X-Men. Eventually, the team would meet the Next Generation crew, but so far, we’ve yet to see them meet Voyager or DS9’s crews.
What’s your favorite bizarre X-Men plot? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!
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