History of the X-Men, 1963-1964

The following is a history of the X-Men for the years of 1963 and 1964, in which the team of young mutants was formed by Professor X and battled their earliest foes, most notably the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants led by Magneto.

History

Formation and facing Magneto

By 1963, Professor Charles Xavier, codenamed Professor X, had established an institution in Westchester County, New York, disguised as a prestigious private school, to house young mutants—people born with some sort of "mutation" that distinguishes them from the average human. Mutants were often shunned and disowned for their differences, and this school gave them a safe haven away from judgment. Xavier soon recruited four mutants with remarkable powers: Cyclops, who could shoot powerful energy beams from his eyes; Iceman, who could conjure and manipulate ice and snow at will; Angel, who was born with large, feathery wings that granted him flight; and Beast, a young man with ape-like power and agility. Xavier himself, bound to a wheelchair, possessed the power of telepathy and other potent mental abilities. Within his special school, Xavier would instruct his students how best to take advantage of their mutations to protect others. In particular, the X-Men's raison d'être was to defend humanity—those who might discriminate against them—against other, more extreme mutants who sought to exert their will over the innocent.

During a typical day of training in late 1963, the X-Men received a fifth member, Jean Grey, who Xavier gave the moniker of Marvel Girl. She was instantly a target of infatuation from the other young mutants, with the exception of Iceman. Grey introduced herself and her power, that of telekinesis powerful enough to easily carry another person. The following day, Professor X learned of what appeared to be a mutant attack on the nearby Cape Citadel military base. The X-Men arrived on the scene, requesting permission from the officers there to resolve the situation. They reluctantly granted it, and the X-Men took to action as Professor X guided them mentally from their home base. The villain in question was Magneto, a mutant with the ability to manipulate magnetic fields. This power enabled him to terrorize Cape Citadel and other military bases, sending missiles off track and taking over Cape Citadel through threat of total destruction. The X-Men engaged Magneto, breaking through the thick magnetic field he'd constructed around himself. They combined their powers to fend off Magneto's attempts to use the base's resources to fire missiles at them, overwhelming him with their unexpected power and coordination. Magneto was forced to retreat, flying off into the distance through magnetic manipulation.

The threat of the Vanisher

The X-Men were next notified of another villain known as the Vanisher, a mutant capable of teleporting at will. He had recently robbed a bank with minimal effort, and soon set his sights even higher, publicly declaring that he would steal invaluable defense plans from the Pentagon. Despite the heavy armed guard standing at the ready, Vanisher blinked in and out of the Pentagon with the plans successfully. On Xavier's instruction, the X-Men met Vanisher outside. They did their best to stop him, but his mutation proved too much for their combined efforts, as he simply teleported away. He attempted to blackmail the United States government, threatening to sell their secrets unless his demands were met. Professor X realized that Vanisher was too strong for the young heroes at their current experience level, and decided to take matters into his own hands. A meeting was arranged between Vanisher and his cohorts with the X-Men led by Professor X. They met in front of the Washington public, and Xavier gave Vanisher a chance to surrender. Vanisher brusquely refused, and the psychically powerful Xavier wiped his memory. Vanisher was left clueless and babbling, baffled as to even his own identity. The X-Men wiped the floor with his underlings, and Vanisher was taken into custody. Some time later, Angel was affected by an atomic test while flying Tony Stark's plant, turning him evil. He violently left the X-Men, declaring his allegiance to the other evil mutants. The hero Iron Man (secretly Stark himself) was able to snap him out of it by threatening his own death, returning Angel to the group in the same day.

The impenetrable Blob

Xavier soon detected the presence of another mutant in the city, and sent out the X-Men to find their exact location. Cyclops found a massive man at a carnival sideshow being billed as the Blob, and Xavier remotely confirmed that he was the concerned mutant. The Blob's display demonstrated that his obese flesh was virtually impenetrable, even bouncing rifle shells off of his skin. Angel and Marvel Girl also arrived, and the three convinced Blob to come to the X-Men's school and undergo testing. Xavier confirmed Blob's mutanthood by demonstrating that he was essentially immovable, and invited him to join the team. The arrogant Blob refused, unimpressed with the X-Men. Professor X realized what a threat Blob would thus be having learned their identities, and the X-Men leapt into action to restrain him, but Blob's immense girth was too much for them, and he escaped. Upset over his mistake, Xavier implored the team to return Blob to the school so that he may wipe his memory as he did Vanisher's. Later, Angel returned to the carnival and observed that Blob had rallied a mob of carnival workers into following him in storming the X-Men's base. The team shored themselves up back at the school, and fought back Blob and his cohorts while Xavier put the finishing touches on a beam that would amplify his mental powers and wipe the memories of all of their foes at once. The Professor's plan succeeded, and Blob and his henchmen were left to wander back to the carnival, utterly confused.

The invasion of Santo Marco

Professor X soon learned of Magneto attacking the small country of Santo Marco using a stolen battleship. By the time he and the X-Men arrived to investigate, Magneto had taken over the country's government. Xavier detected the presence of other mutants as well, and the X-Men soon found that Magneto had been helped in his invasion by his new group, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. The X-Men became acquainted with the Brotherhood as they attempted to fight their way to Magneto: Toad, a small, stout mutant with extensive jumping ability; Mastermind, able to conjure photorealistic illusions; Scarlet Witch, a powerful sorceress; and Quicksilver, able to run at blinding speed. The Brotherhood proved a formidable threat for the young heroes, but the X-Men managed to back them into Magneto's inner sanctum. As the X-Men and Xavier approached the door to Magneto's lair, Xavier jumped in front of Beast and triggered an explosive booby trap on the door, saving his student and knocking him unconscious. The Brotherhood fled as Magneto triggered a timer on a nuclear bomb set to destroy Santo Marco in ten minutes. The X-Men chased the Brotherhood as they escaped, but on the way out Quicksilver deactivated the countdown, unwilling to kill so many innocent people. The Brotherhood escaped, and the X-Men checked on Xavier. He had seemingly lost his mental powers, suddenly unable to read minds or influence others. The X-Men vowed to step up to their leader's example and defeat the Brotherhood.

The Brotherhood kidnaps Angel

The X-Men returned Xavier home to rest, realizing that with their leader apparently stripped of his powers, they were on their own against the Brotherhood. Some members of the team took the time to relax, though Cyclops in particular was too distraught over Xavier's condition. The others watched a track meet on television, where they witnessed one of the athletes exhibit truly exceptional jumping ability. The crowd at the event became hostile, believing that he was cheating somehow. The X-Men correctly deduced that he was a mutant, and that they needed to protect him. They traveled to where the event was taking place, extracting the mutant from an angry crowd of humans. As they brought him home on the subway, the ever-attentive Beast suspected that something was up. He tugged at the mutant's hair, pulling off a mask and revealing the conniving Toad. Toad slipped away from them at the next stop, leading them into a trap from the rest of the Brotherhood. The two teams did battle until Magneto was able to restrain Angel with several iron bars. He and the rest of the Brotherhood hastily ran off with him, leaving Toad behind. Angel was brought to Asteroid M, Magneto's base on an asteroid orbiting Earth, and was held in confinement in an attempt to get him to divulge the X-Men's base. Toad was left to wander aimlessly, seemingly in a trance without his master's guidance.

The X-Men closely observed him, careful not to bring him back to the school in case it was a ruse. Toad pulled out a device and pressed a button that brought down a rocket from the skies that he mindlessly stepped into. The X-Men joined him, aware that it may be a trap, but out of options otherwise. Toad and the X-Men arrived at Asteroid M, and Toad suddenly snapped out of his trance and hopped away to find Magneto. The X-Men were soon overcome by the base itself, as Magneto observed them from his control room and used the metal around the base to assault them. The X-Men fought their way through Magneto's threats, as Cyclops made his way to their foe directly. Magneto was preparing to open the airlock and release the X-Men into space, but was stopped by Scarlet Witch. Cyclops tried to convince her and Quicksilver to leave Magneto. Quicksilver confessed that he hated Magneto, but his debt to him was too great. The other X-Men freed Angel from his confines, and the two sides did battle as the X-Men tried to escape. In the confusion, someone brushed against a button on Magneto's control panel that caused a portion of the asteroid to begin to detonate. Asteroid M eventually split into two, with the X-Men on one side and the Brotherhood on the other. The X-Men were narrowly able to escape in the same sort of rocket they arrived in, landing safely back on Earth. As they returned to the school to report to Xavier, he told them there was no need: he hadn't lost his powers in the first place, and this was merely the team's "final exam." The proud Professor X declared that they had passed with flying colors.

The puppet professor

While sitting at his desk one day, Professor X was suddenly overcome by a mental assault: someone was trying to take over his mind. It was in fact the Puppet Master, a villain known for using special radioactive clay to craft puppets of his foes and take control over them. Xavier's powerful mind resisted, far more than anyone had before, but with an extreme amount of clay Puppet Master was able to assume control. The conquered Xavier told the X-Men that their next task was to defeat the Fantastic Four, arguably the world's premier team of heroes, claiming that they were planning world domination. The X-Men were baffled, but nonetheless trusted in their leader and set out to do as he commanded. They arrived at the Baxter Building and met with the Four cordially enough before triggering their surprise attack. Stunned at this sudden betrayal, the Four did their best to fight off the five mutants, but Cyclops got the upper hand by aiming his power beam at one of Mr. Fantastic's powerful pieces of technology, demanding that they surrender. Fearing a catastrophic explosion, Mr. Fantastic conceded. The X-Men kidnapped Invisible Girl and made off with her in their jetcopter, deliberately coaxing the rest of the Four to follow them. Per Xavier's orders, the X-Men took her to an abandoned crater in a remote island and awaited the Four's arrival. Xavier sent them a mental message commending them and telling them to subdue the Four when they arrived. The Four came as expected and the fight began anew. Before long, several advanced booby traps began to trigger across the battlefield, incapacitating members of the Fantastic Four. Suddenly, the Puppet Master and the Mad Thinker revealed themselves through a trap door: they explained that they had taken mental control of Professor X in order to defeat the Fantastic Four. Puppet Master had Xavier knock out the X-Men with a mental command, but the order was diffused across the five of them, and the intelligent Beast was able to withstand it. He knocked the Xavier puppet from the Master's hands and destroyed it, releasing Professor X from his control and reviving his teammates. Thinker released his Awesome Android, which proved a dire threat to the combined forces of the Fantastic Four and the X-Men with its ability to adopt the physical composition of whomever it touched. But Xavier's renewed lucidity allowed him to intervene from afar, striking the Android's artificial nervous system and taking it down. Thinker and Puppet Master escaped back underground and out through a secret tunnel by plane. The X-Men apologized to the Four for their grievous mistake, and the heroes made up and complimented each other on their valor.

Namor and the Brotherhood

Professor X soon became interested in recruiting Namor the Sub-Mariner, a human-Atlantean hybrid that he believed may be a mutant. But Namor was often unpredictable, and Xavier feared that Magneto may also attempt to secure his allegiance. Indeed, Xavier mentally observed Magneto's own mental projection visiting Namor's palace under the sea. Xavier and the X-Men boarded a ship for Magneto's hidden island base in an attempt to cut off this threat before it could begin. They arrived shortly after Namor himself did, and a fight ensued between the X-Men and the Brotherhood. Namor witnessed how Magneto ungratefully treated the Brotherhood, particularly Scarlet Witch, and swore off any form of alliance with him. Eventually, the X-Men took Quicksilver captive, and Xavier took him under mental control. Magneto fled to his inner sanctum with Toad and Mastermind, but Scarlet Witch refused to leave her brother behind. Namor lost interest and went to leave, renewed in his hatred of all surfacemen. Magneto vowed revenge against Namor for not aligning with him, as he escaped by rocket with Toad and Mastermind and gave the others a mental command to follow. Xavier released Quicksilver and allowed the siblings to leave peacefully, failing to convince them to leave Magneto's cause.

Graduation day and the Blob's departure

The day the X-Men had been working toward soon came to pass, as they officially graduated from Xavier's academy. Xavier believed that they had each mastered their mutant powers to his satisfaction and were ready to fight for themselves. With that in mind, he announced that he would be leaving for some time to attend to some other matters, and appointed Cyclops the team leader in his stead. Professor X introduced Cyclops to Cerebro, a powerful machine that would allow anyone to detect mutants at long-range in the same way that Xavier can himself. As the other X-Men went out to celebrate their graduation, Cyclops remained at the school to watch over Cerebro. That evening, Cerebro notified him of a threat from the Blob. He contacted the other X-Men through Angel's car phone, and the team quickly returned and suited up. Suddenly, Magneto contacted the X-Men by radio and brashly informed them where he could be found: it was clear that Blob had joined him and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. They went to the specified location, an abandoned factory in the middle of nowhere, and fought Magneto, Blob, and the rest of the Brotherhood. Eventually, Magneto fired a series of torpedos that he had prepared, but the X-Men all ducked behind the Blob, and he absorbed the entirety of the blast. Incredibly, he was unharmed, but Magneto realized that his plan had failed and the core Brotherhood members retreated in his plane. Blob became fed up with the mutant conflict as a whole, and decided to return to his job at the carnival, independent of the X-Men and the Brotherhood.

The strange case of Unus the Untouchable

One day, while Beast and Iceman were out on the town in street clothes, Beast saw a child perilously atop a high building, and hastily climbed up it to bring him down. Though he shielded his face from human onlookers, it was nonetheless clear from his actions that he was a mutant, and the gathering crowd jeered him and chased him down despite his heroism. Returning to the school, Beast complained to Cyclops that humanity wasn't worth protecting, and resigned from the X-Men. A worried Cyclops contacted Professor X for advice, but Xavier simply told him to let him be, confident that he wouldn't join Magneto and the Brotherhood. By the following week, Hank McCoy had begun a career in professional wrestling, becoming known once again as the Beast. He was pitted against an opponent known as Unus the Untouchable, whose moniker turned out to be quite literal: Beast couldn't get close to him no matter how hard he tried, as though an invisible barrier surrounded him. After being knocked out of the ring, Beast noticed that Mastermind was in the crowd watching, and deduced that Unus must be a mutant himself, and Mastermind was scouting for the Brotherhood. Having departed the X-Men, Beast concluded that it was none of his concern either way.

Later, the X-Men minus Beast received word of a bank robbery, and arrived at the scene to find Unus holding a bag of cash. They engaged him, but wound up having the same problems Beast had had. Nonetheless, Cyclops began to prove his value as a leader, as his hours of intense, rigorous training with the others led to an unprecedented level of synergy between them. During the fight, Unus revealed that he aimed to bring the X-Men to Magneto: he wanted to join the Brotherhood, but Mastermind insisted he prove himself first. Finally, Angel discovered that he was able to get close to Unus, but was simply unable to hit him. Unus grabbed him in a wrestling hold, but Angel simply flew high above the city and left him gripping the edge of a tall spire to incapacitate him for the time being. Cyclops concluded that any blow designed to hurt or injure Unus would be deflected, but other kinds of contact would go through. Returning to the school to plan their next move, the X-Men found Beast constructing a ray that would amplify Unus's powers. They panicked, fearing the worst, but Beast escaped them. The five all went to Unus at the gym, where Beast fired the ray before the other X-Men could stop him. Unus indeed became more powerful, as he began to repel anything that came within a few feet of him. The X-Men returned to the school once more, while Beast assured them that Unus would be defeated. Indeed, when they went back to Unus later, he was desperate to be changed back: he was unable to touch anything, and would therefore inevitably starve to death over time. Beast used the ray to revert his powers to normal, on the condition that he refrain from using his powers for evil. Unus readily agreed, eager to return to the wrestling ring. For his part, Beast rejoined the X-Men. Also by this point, Cyclops and Marvel Girl had developed mutually secret feelings for each other that were getting harder and harder to withhold.

Lucifer and the Avengers

During the conflict with Unus, Professor X revealed to Cyclops the nature of his absence: he was trailing someone known as Lucifer in the Balkans. Not long after, as Xavier closed in on Lucifer's location, he contacted Cyclops and told him to bring the X-Men to his location. The team took a passenger ship to Europe—Xavier contacted Cyclops telepathically to tell him that he was moments away from Lucifer. Cyclops pleaded with him to hold off, but Xavier was too eager. He told Cyclops that Lucifer was responsible for Xavier losing the use of his legs, and he must be stopped as soon as possible. Xavier's overzealousness got the better of him, as the masked Lucifer caught him in his lair deep in an underground cave system. Xavier was armed and attempted to shoot Lucifer, but Lucifer warned him that he had a large thermal bomb ready to be launched, connected to his vital signs: if he were to die, the bomb would go off, killing millions. Lucifer possessed great psychic power similar to Xavier's, but admitted that Xavier was a rare threat to him. The X-Men arrived in a village far above Lucifer's cavernous lair, and Lucifer sent out a powerful psycho-ionic blast to destroy them. But Xavier's power exceeded his, and he was able to warn the X-Men to get out of the way in time. Xavier further warned them, without time to explain why, that Lucifer must not be directly harmed.

As the X-Men exchanged their civilian garb for their heroic disguises, they were shocked to find the Avengers in the forest nearby: Thor, Captain America, Giant-Man, the Wasp, and Angel's one-time foe Iron Man. They had come to Europe having detected a source of great evil through Thor's hammer Mjölnir. The Avengers offered to help, and were adamant that Lucifer must be destroyed. However, knowing the danger involved in such a goal, Xavier insisted that the X-Men hold them back while he dealt with Lucifer himself. The two teams fought, as Xavier was able to disable Lucifer with a carefully calculated mental attack, knocking him unconscious without altering his heartbeat. Xavier then contacted Thor telepathically, explaining the entirety of the situation. Thor in turn explained it to the Avengers: the fight was called off, and the Avengers left the X-Men to their foe. They followed Xavier's directions to Lucifer's cave, where Professor X and Cyclops cooperated on the surgical task of disabling Lucifer's bomb. The two succeeded, and Xavier let the recovering Lucifer free, reminding him that the X-Men would stop him once more should he ever act up again.

See also

• History of the X-Men, 1965