10 Bronze Age Comics That Changed DC & Marvel Forever

Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975)

The X-Men are widely considered one of the success stories of Marvel's hugely inventive run in the 60s, lumped together with Spidey, Hulk and the Fantastic Four. In truth, however, sales of the original X-Men always lagged far behind other Marvel titles and the series was dropped entirely in 1970.

It was only with the Bronze Age's All-New, All-Different X-Men that they became the mutant team that was popular enough to spawn hit TV cartoon and live action movie franchises in the 90s and 2000s.

The new X-Men began in 1975 with this bumper issue written by Len Wein in which the original all-white, all-American X-Men have to get rescued by their more diverse successors. Executives at Marvel had insisted the team be "more international" to broaden the appeal, resulting in the new lineup being far more distinct than one another both aesthetically and in outlook.

Kenyan weather manipulator Storm, bright blue German Catholic teleporter Nightcrawler and Soviet bruiser Colossus all brought something individual to the team. But it was Canadian maverick Wolverine that would become one of Marvel's greatest icons.

The story and the new cast laid the groundwork for all that was to come for X-Men. Chris Claremont was still a junior writer at the time, but Wein saw his enthusiasm for the new X-Men and handed him the reins as the series' creative driving force.

In the years that followed X-Men would become a dramatic soap opera with ambitious long arcs spread over years, like the legendary Dark Phoenix Saga. But all that began here.