The merry Marvel mutants are like a family to me.   Uncanny X-men was the first comic I ever read.   My father gave me all of his old comic books for Christmas 1986.   I didn’t know it then, but he had given me a new family to keep tabs on and a new universe to enjoy.  

 
Over the past seven years loyal readers of the X-books have been treated to multiple events.   The one that stands at the forefront of everybody’s mind is House of M.   A little over 4 years ago Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, was left in a fragile mental state after the popular Avengers Disassembled story.   While in this condition she was manipulated by her brother, Quicksilver, to use her powers; warping reality and giving almost everybody their heart’s desire.   The new universe was a peaceful utopia for mutants.   (Not to be confused with the floating asteroid off the coast of that is the current home of most of the world’s mutants today.)   At the end of this great event the mutant universe would change forever though.   “No more mutants.”   Those three words altered reality throughout time as the X-factor gene disappeared from mutants across reality.

 
Decimation set in.   Tragically some mutants died as a result of loosing their powers.   They never saw it coming.   The events of that day became known as “M-Day.”   Mutants numbered in the millions, just the day before.   Now all that could be accounted for were 198. Well 199 if you counted the mysterious “Mutant Zero,” that was later revealed to be Typhoid Mary.   The mutant population had essentially become an Endangered Species. 
 
Hank McCoy set out on a quest for answers.   He had to find out why some people kept their X-gene intact while others did not.   Along his journey he partnered with the Age of Apocalypse doppelganger, Hank McCoy a.k.a. Dark Beast.   During their research they found that the X-gene had even been removed from even the deceased mutants buried in the ruins of the Weapon X facility Neverland.   This was a key point for character development for Beast as he saw his darker side at work and even went on a darker path himself briefly.   Faced with that, he looked to others for any sort of answer.   Talking to every mutant geneticist and expert on the planet, he came to nothing but dead ends.   Finally he sought out Dr. Strange, (then still Sorcerer Supreme,) and it was revealed to him that Wanda Maximoff’s spell had altered reality across the universe.   Also seen in his visions however, every alternate reality version of himself; also coming to dead ends. Even after the conclusion of that arc Beast was teamed with what Cyclops dubbed the “X-Club.”   Their entire mission was to seek and find a way to save their species.  

 
While many of the prominent mutants had developed a “Messiah Complex” trying to lead a fallen race something phenomenal happened.   A surge of energy shot across the world and a blip on cerebra showed up like the Star of Bethlaham in .   Going to investigate this incident, the X-Men discovered a decimated town and that there were multiple interested parties as well.   A child had been born.   The first mutant child birth post M-Day brought a ray of hope for a dying race.   This child would later be named Hope.   (Mutant 200 if you are keeping track.)  

 
After battling against Purifiers, Mr. Sinister, and even fellow X-man Bishop, the X-Men recovered the baby girl.   For the safety of the child Cyclops sent her with his son Cable into the future so that she could grow up and someday come back.   The only problem was that Cable was being tracked by Bishop.   Who was hellbent on killing the child he thought would grow up to cause his horrible future that doomed mutants.   Cable’s other problem, a damaged chronol device that would only let him move forward through time.   Having the chance to stay longer in some times than other he jumped further and further forward.   We watched Hope grow up and Cable grow old.   There was even the brief Messiah War that happened when Cyclops sent X-Force to the future to look for Cable.   This event stuck out mostly because it was a future where Stryfe had taken over the world from the thralls of Apocalypse, and Deadpool was still around after being locked in a building for eons.

 
The process of Hope and Cable running from Bishop would continue for almost a year.   This did not cause our current 616 present to take a break at all.   Norman Osborne had been given the keys to America and its security.   His Dark Reign would soon interfere with the X-Men and their lives in San Francisco.   This caused more issues and Cyclops and his team formulated a new plan.   This plan established a new Nation (X) for the mutants on the remnants of Magneto’s Asteroid M risen of the coast of San Francisco.   The new island was dubbed Utopia, and would be a protected free state where all mutants were welcome and given sanctuary.

Things were hard enough for the mutants on Utopia when the dead started rising and assaulting the island.   These dead mutants were popping up everywhere even on Cerebra’s scanners.   There were even millions detected in Genosha.   This new assault was lead and manipulated by Selene, former Black Queen of the Hell Fire Club.   She oversaw things from her citadel on Necrosha.   Her goal was to ascend and become the goddess that she believed she should have always been. (Being the oldest mutant, a supreme sorceress, and an External is just not enough these days.)

 
Essentially evil is thwarted and the world is ready and Hope and Cable arrive in our time.   The Second Coming has occurred.