X-Men Reading Order Guide – Era #11: The New Age

Stories occurring between Uncanny X-Men #444 in July 2004 and Uncanny X-Men #465 in December 2005. This begins with the immediately post-Morrison period and concludes with X-Men being decimated at the end of House of M. A part of Crushing Krisis’s Collecting X-Men: A Definitive Guide. Last updated January 2013.

Ongoing X-related titles in this era:

• Uncanny X-Men #444-465
• X-Men, Vol. 2 #157-176
• Exiles #46-71
• X-Statix #21-26 (end)
• Weapon X #19-28 & Days of Future Now #1-5 (end)
• Mystique #14-24 (end)
• Wolverine, Vol. 3 #13-35
• X-Men Unlimited #3-12

The following new titles were launched at the start of this era as part of “X-Men: Reloaded.”

• Cable and Deadpool #1-18
• Alpha Flight #1-12 (end)
• New X-Men: Academy X #1-19 & Hellions #1-4
• Excalibur #1-14 (end)
• District X #1-14 (end)
• Astonishing X-Men #1-12
• Rogue #1-12 (end)
• Gambit #1-12 (end)
• Nightcrawler #1-12 (end)

The following mini-series are included in this period

• Colossus: Bloodline
• Hellions
• House of M
• Jubilee
• Kitty Pryde: Shadow & Flame
• Mutopia X
• Secret War
• X-Men / Fantastic Four (also known as X4)
• X-Men: Phoenix – Endsong

Notes:

• Emma Frost was an ongoing series at this time, but all of its stories were told entirely in flashback to Era #1.
• X-Statix #21-26 are listed with the prior era.
• Due to the line-changing nature of the end of House of M, cut-off points above refer to the last issue released prior to the impact of House of M’s conclusion. Cable and Deadpool actually ends this era at #20, but #18 makes for a better break point. Both Nightcrawler #12 and X-Men Unlimited #12 were released after House of M ended, but neither addresses Decimation.

Wolverine #7-11

Wolverine #12-19

Wolverine/Punisher #1-4

Rampaging Wolverine

Astonishing X-Men #1 and Uncanny X-Men #444 can be read here to introduce the next sequence of stories to explain who is on the team at this time (including Kitty), though I have grouped them with the rest of their arcs below.

Weapon X #19-28
When: #20-25 is Wolverine’s appearance between UXM #444 and XMv2 #157. Otherwise, it shares no characters with the main narrative of UXM. I need to check issues #26-28 for cross references to other X-titles, but until then I believe they are safe to place here.

X-Men #157-160
When: The “Day of the Atom” trade collects both this and the following arc in #161-165. If you plan to read it all in one sitting, I would suggest you skip it here and read it where the rest is placed, below.

New X-Men #1-6
When: Cyclops appears here after XMv2 #157  before he appears in UXM #446. Because we know Wolverine appears in the entire arc starting from #157, this can be placed between there and UXM #446.

Uncanny X-Men #444-449
When: Wolverine appears in #445 after XMv2 #160.

Excalibur #1-4
When: This does not intersect with the main X-Men story, and is Professor X’s first appearance after #443. It ends around the same time as UXM #449.

X-Men Unlimited #1-14
When: Though these two-story anthology issues don’t take place all at once, they all fit within an handful of issues of here in UXM, so I suggest simply reading them here in a chunk while you can! The placement of each pair of stories will make you crazy – they fit into over a dozen unique places in the read order, and I simply don’t think it’s worthwhile to split them up that much.

District X #1-6
When: Bishop appears here between UXM #449-450.

Rogue #1-6
When: Rogue #2 occurs before UXM #450, and Rogue #6 is complete by XMv2 #161

Uncanny X-Men #450-451 fit here, but can just as easily be read with the connecting arc as listed below, as Wolverine is the only character shared in the intervening stories.

X-Men, Vol. 2 #161-165
When: Issue #165 actually fits below.

Uncanny X-Men #450-454

Alpha Flight #1-6
When: I don’t believe this has any crossover to X-Men storylines, it ends around UXM #450.

Mystique #13-24
When: Wolverine appears in #23 after UXM #454. I need to recheck #13-23 to see if Professor X is in Genosha while he communicates to Mystique.

Nightcrawler #1-6
When: This is a tricky placement. Nightcrawler #1-2 occur around the same time as all of the other action after UXM #444. However, the completion of this run does not fit until after #454. Since the action here is ancillary to the action in the main X-books, I choose to place this run at its conclusion.

Avengers Disassembled occurs here.

District X #7-12
When: Bishop appears here between UXM #454 and XMv2 #165 before appearing in UXM #455. District X #13-14 are separated by several story arcs, so I was forced to place them below.

Madrox #1-6
When: Bishop’s also appears here prior to XMv2 #165.

X-Men, Vol. 2 #165 can be read here.

Marvel Team-Up #1-6

Jubilee #1-7
When: Placed her due to Wolverine’s sequential appearances.

Cable & Deadpool #1-6
When: Some characterx appear in #6 after Marvel Team-Up. While #1-5 almost surely occur earlier, I am placing it here based on that final story.

Cable & Deadpool #7-12
When: #7-10 are Wolverine’s next chronological appearance, and Cyclop’s first after MTU. I don’t believe there are any conflicts to finishing the TPB with #11-12 here, although I need to check the stories to be sure.

Excalibur #5-10
When: This is placed by its chronological release. I need to check to see if any of these character appear elsewhere.

X-Men / Fantastic Four #1-5
When: Per Cyclops and Wolverine’s next chronological appearances.

New X-Men #7-11
When: While Cyclops appears in #8-9 after XMv2 #165 and before the subsequent MTU run, the bulk of this run fits better here.

Uncanny X-Men #455-461
When: Emma appears in #455 prior to Astonishing X-Men #2-6, which occurs parallel to #457-459. UXM #460 occurs after Colossus’s return and during Wolverine’s programming, below. UXM #461 is a straggling issue, but little in it will conflict with reading it here aside from the fact that it falls after Wolverine’s deprogramming.

Astonishing X-Men #1-6
When: Clearly some of issues #1-3 may happen parallel to events depicted above, but the bulk of the action in #4-6 works here.

Wolverine #20-25
When: Wolverine and Kitty appear here after AMX #6. This marks the start of Wolverine’s programming by The Hand and Hydra, meaning only stories where he is a villain can fall between #24 and #25. After Wolverine #25, Wolverine is captured and deprogrammed.

New Invaders #1-9 can be read here or just after Wolverine #32, as #6 includes the villainous Wolverine. The series stars Namor.

Wolverine #25-32
When: Wolverine #32 happens an indeterminate amount of time after the other issues here, but it must occur before House of M, so I suggest simply reading it here.

Irredeemable Ant-Man #1-6 are interspersed with the preceding Wolverine run.

Cable & Deadpool #13-18
When: Wolverine appears in #13 just after his deprogramming in #25, but I don’t believe it’s necessary to interrupt the Wolverine story for this entire group of issues. In this instance, I am recommending continuing through #18, even though #17 is a House of M tie-in, because they are all part of the same story arc. I have to check if this should be placed later for other reasons, such as heavy House of M spoilers.

X-Force, Vol. 2 #4-6
When: Wolverine’s first appearance after #31

Secret War #1-5
When: Despite a number of flashbacks to around the beginning of this era, the present day sequences in Secret War occur here.

X-Men: Phoenix Endsong
When: Wolverine arrives here directly from Secret War

X-Men Unlimited #12 can be read here.

X-Men, Vol. 2 #166-170
When: This is the next appearance of Wolverine after Endsong.

Wolverine: Soultaker
When: This is the next appearance of Wolverine after XMv2 #170

Astonishing X-Men #7-12
When: This does not strictly obey continuity, as it features Professor X (and, by implication, an off-screen Magneto) on Genosha independent of the events of Excalibur, Vol. 2

X-Men Unlimited #9 can be read here.

At this time, Wolverine joins the New Avengers! You can read New Avengers #1-6 here; see New Avengers for reading options. While this guide will not track all of his Avengers appearances (since, by definition, they aren’t X-Men), I will continue the major action from that main title here when appropriate.

Rogue #7-12
When: Rogue appears here before XMv2 #171

Gambit #1-6
When: Despite a release schedule that would indicate otherwise, Gambit does not begin this series until after Rogue ends hers.

Gambit #7-12
When: Gambit resolves his series before appearing in XMv2 #171.

X-Men Unlimited #10 can be read here.

X-Men, Vol. 2 #171-174

New X-Men #12-15
When: Beast’s first appearance after XMv2 #174 is in #14. Dust appears in UXM #160 between #13-14. Since no main-cast X-Men appear in #15, I believe it should be safe to place here.

New Avengers #7-10 can be read here.

Kitty Pryde: Shadows and Flame

Nightcrawler #7-12
When: Wolverine and Cyclops’s appearance places #8-12 between Kitty’s limited series and X-Men, Vol. 2 #175.

District X #13-14

New X-Men: Hellions #1-4
When: Emma Frost appears in the conclusion of this just before XMv2 #175.

X-Men #175-176 & Black Panther #8-9

Colossus: Bloodline
When: This is some of the last action prior to House of M.

Alpha Flight #7-12
When: I do not believe this connects to any ongoing X-Men stories, but it does occur prior to House of M.

Exiles #49-68
When: Exiles has no discernible character crossover to the main story of X-Men from the beginning of this period until House of M.

Excalibur #11-14
When: The events including Scarlet Witch that lead directly to House of M.

House of M

House of M #1-8

Uncanny X-Men #462-465
When: Runs in parallel to House o fM

Exiles #69-71

New X-Men #16-19

Wolverine #33-35

Cable & Deadpool #17-18

See Marvel Events: House of M for complete collection information. No other X-Men ongoings participated in House of M, although District X ostensibly becomes Mutopia X in this period.

Read Anytime

Weapon X: Days of Future Now #1-5
This acts as an epilogue to the main Weapon X series and is set in a speculative future. Thus, it can be read anytime in this period – perhaps just prior to House of M.

Era #10: New X-Men  X-Men Reading Order Guide  Era #12: Endangered Species