10 Times Superheroes Weren’t There To Save The Day
7. Xorn Decimates New York - New X-Men #146-150
The X-Men discovered an imprisoned mutant called Xorn who housed a miniature star in his brain. Terrified he could lose control of his power, the enigmatic mutant told the X-Men he considered suicide. To give him purpose, the team allowed Xorn to live at the Xavier Institute.
Little did the X-Men know that "Xorn" was actually Magneto in disguise! As he infiltrated the team's ranks, the Master of Magnetism sealed Wolverine and Jean Grey on a space station, had Beast and Emma Frost abandoned at sea, and imprisoned Professor X in a fluid container. With no obstacles in his way, Magneto decimated New York City, killing hundreds of thousands. The X-Men did manage to stop him but only after Magneto murdered Jean Grey.
As crazy as this story was, it got even crazier. It turns out Xorn WASN'T Magneto. A billion-year-old sentient bacteria called Sublime manipulated Xorn to launch an epic attack on humanity. Sublime made Xorn resemble Magneto so society would see the destruction of New York as a declaration of war from mutantkind. This would cause humans and mutants to wipe out each other, allowing Sublime to take over the world. Even by comic book standards, this story was insane.