The X-Men are a team of mutants brought together by Professor Charles Xavier, to defend mutantkind from those who hate and fear them, and to use their mutant powers for the benefit of both man and mutant.^[2]

Charles Xavier - a.k.a. Professor X - trained his students as X-Men, starting with Jean Grey^[3] and Iceman,^[4] followed by Cyclops^[5], Beast and Angel, who together formed the founding X-Men team.^[6]

Professor X also around this time contacted Sebastion Gilberti, who he believed was a mutant, but Sebastion's mother rejected Xavier's offer to take him in.^[7]

Amelia Voght, who was Charles Xavier's partner, left him after he formed the X-Men, as she was uncomfortable with his approach.^[8]

The next X-Men recruit was Polaris. However, after she almost died in a mission, her then-boyfriend Iceman angrily left the X-Men and Polaris departed with him.^[4] At some point after this Angel also left the X-Men.

Over time, new X-Men were recruited, including Storm, former Alpha Flight member Wolverine, Morph, former Brotherhood member Rogue^[9] and Gambit.^[2]

In a mission to raid the Mutant Control Agency headquarters, Morph was knocked unconscious when they threw themself between a Sentinel and Wolverine. Believed to be dead, the team left them behind.^[10]

Jubilee was twice rescued by the X-Men after Sentinels tracked her to a mall and her home, before she moved in with them at the Xavier Mansion.^[10]

For a time Beast was imprisoned before being pardoned and returning to the team.^[11] Morph had been found and brainwashed by Mister Sinister, before being sent to oppose their former teammates.^[12] Morph eventually freed themself from Sinister's control and returned with the X-Men^[13] before recuperating on Muir Island.^[14] When Morph did rejoin the X-Men, they quickly realised they still weren't ready and paused their active duty again.^[15]

Bishop time-traveled from the future to help the X-Men several times to disrupt the plans of Nimrod,^[16] Trevor Fitzroy and Master Mold^[17] and Apocalypse,^[18][19] sometimes joined by his sister Shard.^[20] The X-Men also several times encountered another time-traveler from the future called Cable.^[21][22][18]

After the Phoenix Force possessed Jean Grey, she left the X-Men to seal the power of the M'kraan Crystal and take it away from mortals.^[23] In the wake of this, Cyclops also quit the X-Men, before returning to them just as they discovered that Jean was still alive.^[24] Despite the best attempts of Professor X and Moira MacTaggert to help her, the Phoenix Force remained inside Jean Grey and she was manipulated by the Inner Circle, becoming their "Black Queen" before then being transformed into the "Dark Phoenix", attacking her teammates.^[25] The X-Men then fought the Shi'Ar Imperial Guard over her fate - when they lost, Jean Grey sacrificed herself and was resurrected by the Phoenix Force.^[26]

When Earth was attacked by the alien Phalanx, abducting mutants including the X-Men, Beast managed to evade them and teamed up with the rogue Phalanx called Warlock. Beast then called Forge - the leader of the US Government-sponsored mutant team X-Factor - for help and this temporary team was then joined unexpectedly by Mister Sinister.^[27] They then contacted and were joined by first Amelia Voght and then another long-time foe of the X-Men, Magneto, before rescuing Polaris (now a member of X-Factor) and the X-Men.^[28]

Eventually, Professor X was outed as a mutant and shot with a weapon that disrupted his mutant powers by Henry Peter Gyrich on live television, leaving him dying. Morph rejoined the X-Men, impersonating Professor X on television to calm riots that had broken out. The X-Men then allowed Professor X to be taken for medical help by Empress Lilandra and the Shi'Ar, leaving people on Earth to believe he had died.^[3]

Following this, Morph finally rejoined the X-Men full-time and Bishop joined the X-Men as a team member in the present day.^[29] Bishop helped to rescue a young mutant, Roberto Da Costa, from the Friends of Humanity and Da Costa then started staying at the Xavier Mansion.^[29]

In Charles Xavier's last will and testament, he gave his dream, his school, and his X-Men to Magneto, making him the leader of the X-Men. ^[30]

Storm was soon after depowered by another weapon, intended for Magento, and left the team to recuperate.^[31]

It was later revealed that Mister Sinister had at some point replaced Jean Grey with her genetic clone, Madelyne Pryor, who gave birth to Cyclops' son Nathan. When Jean returned, Madelyne turned against the X-Men as the "Goblin Queen" but she later reconciled with them and left the team.^[32] Bishop also returned to the future to take the baby Nathan there, after he had been infected with the Techno-Organic Virus.^[32]

Sebastion Gilberti, now Bastion, masterminded a massacre of mutants on Genosha by the Wild Sentinels, killing many including Madelyne Pryor and Gambit, and kidnapping Magneto.^[1][33] The X-Men were shaken up after the death of Gambit and apparent death of Magneto, with Cyclops resuming command of the team. At this point, an associate of the team, Nightcrawler, joined the X-Men (he had moved to Genosha after previously encountering Rogue, Gambit and Wolverine in Germany^[34] and later being revealed to be the son of Rogue's foster mother Mystique^[35]), as did Cable, who was revealed to be the son of Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor.^[36]

Professor X returned to the X-Men on Earth after this and Magneto shut down the Earth's electricity, recruiting Rogue and Roberto Da Costa and retreating to Asteroid M.

The X-Men split up into Blue and Gold Teams to take down Magneto and Bastion respectively, with a repowered Storm returning to the team along with another longtime associate of the team, Forge, joining for the first time.^[5]

• Blue team consisted of Professor X, Cyclops, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and Jubilee. Rogue and Roberto Da Costa - now called Sunspot - later joined Blue Team after rejoining the X-Men.^[37]
• Gold Team consisted of Jean Grey, Storm, Morph, Beast, Forge, and Cable.

The X-Men were later split up across various points in time after extinction was prevented on E-Day.^[37]

• The team that remained in the present consisted of Forge, Jubilee, Sunspot, and Cable, as they were all on the ground when the Asteroid vanished.
  • Jubilee, Sunspot, and Cable had all gone AWOL six months after E-Day.
  • Bishop would later end up returning to the present joining up with Forge.
• The team sent to the future consisted of Cyclops, Jean Grey, Wolverine, Storm & Morph.
• The team sent to the past consisted of Rogue, Nightcrawler, Beast, Professor X and Magneto.

• In 1992, the Fox Network launched an X-Men animated series with the roster of Professor X, Cyclops, Storm, Jean Grey, Wolverine, Beast, Rogue, Gambit and Jubilee, and with Bishop and Cable frequently guest starring. The two-part pilot episode, "Night of the Sentinels" set off what would become a five season series. It was an extraordinary success, becoming one of the most watched animated series in television history and helped widen the X-Men's popularity. The five seasons ended in 1997. It was put back in Fox's line up for several months after the first movie was released.
• The X-Men roster throughout the 5 seasons of X-Men: The Animated Series more closely resembles Cyclops' Blue Team from the X-Men's various Earth-616 rosters and it largely remains the same throughout. In X-Men '97 the the team's lineup changes from episode to episode, as reflected in its opening credits.

• Morph's role in the first episode of X-Men: The Animated Series was originally meant for Thunderbird. Series developer Eric Lewald felt uneasy about killing off the show's only Native American character right away, so Thunderbird was replaced with Morph.^[38]