8 Things Everyone Always Gets Wrong About The X-Men

4. The Original Team

Contrary to popular belief, the most iconic incarnation of the X-Men (the one featured in 1975's Giant Size X-Men #1) isn't the team's first. In actual fact, the original X-Men group was comprised of Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast (pre-furry mishap) and Bobby Drake, AKA Iceman. Wolverine and Storm wouldn't come onto the scene until the following decade, and that's really when the X-Men first gained prominence.

Of course, the first wave of stories featuring the group are noteworthy (Iceman's original snowman-esque design is still great to see), but the X-Men were truly made in the seventies onwards, as is evidenced by the sheer plethora of media that has taken inspiration from that era of X-books.

Stan Lee and Jack Kirby still deserve praise for the comic's genius premise, but it's the simple truth that the concept of the X-Men evolved to such a degree that the likes of Len Wein, Dave Cockrum and Chris Claremont deserve just as much praise for being pivotal in the team's development. Without them paving the way, it's unlikely that the franchise would be the behemoth it is today.