X-books 2000-2007: Era of the X-films

The first X-Men film surprised audiences in 2000. Hugh Jackman's agent instructed him not to tell anyone he had agreed to appear in a cheesy sci-fi movie about mutants or something. But fueled by Jackman's Eastwood-esque grit, it turned into a huge hit. Like Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films, this series helped set the course for the panoply of superhero films that have followed in subsequent years.

The core X-men books continued on their course from the 90s, somewhat shaped by ideas from the films. But other currents diverged. Chris Claremont’s 24 issue “X-Men:The End” allowed him to wrap a bow around his version of the characters and their outcomes. “Ultimate X-Men” offered a gritty re-imagining of the mythology from the ground up but didn't catch fire. Grant Morrison’s controversial “New X-Men” brought buckets of new ideas, many incompletely fleshed out, and sometimes contradicting the franchise’s past. Joss Whedon followed Morrison with a self-contained saga steeped in character development and Bronze Age heroism. Teen versions of the original “First Class” of X-Men were brought forward in time for modern-day adventures.

Eventually “House of M” would undo much of the progress and demote mutants to tertiary importance in Marvel continuity behind the Avengers and even Inhumans, in keeping with new corporate values to promote the intellectual properties for which Marvell still owned film rights.