At some point, the X-Men universe of the comic books became so bloated and full of confusing retcons, interpersonal drama and history that Marvel thought it'd be best to just wipe the slate clean. As the years have gone creators have added countless mutants to the Xavier School and the Brotherhood. Too many, arguably. And given all those mutants then have to contend with X-Men's soap opera dramatic and hookings up, untangling all of their various characteristics and histories requires a library full of infographics. The House Of M event from a few years ago was supposed to solve that. Scarlet Witch used her reality-warping powers to reduce the mutant population by 90%, making them an endangered species. Which would be a cool inversion on the film's story so far, but the amount of characters isn't really an issue at this point plus House Of M uses a lot of other Marvel characters, who Fox don't have the movie rights to.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
