How Old Are X-Men When They First Join the Team?

So like how old was each member when they first joined the X-Men?

Oh. This a hard one.

Since you didn't specify which group of X-men, I'll start with the O5.

In most cases its not stated how old a character actually is. Nor do most of them age in real time. To further complicate matters you have to take into account retcons and linking of certain characters to historical events. Finally, not all writers and editors agree on certain characters, so while one writer might say a certain character is say 35 everyone else might interpret the character to be 45. So, with all that being said, this is how I view most characters of the X-men franchise, both age at joining and current age, because why not? If someone disagrees that's fine! This is for the most part educated guesswork.

Of the O5 it was stated that Beast was the oldest by one year with Bobby being the youngest. So realistically we can guess when they first joined that within a year or two they were:

Cyclops 18

Jean 18

Angel 18

Beast 19

Iceman 17

I would further guess that right now their current ages are:

Cyclops 33 and currently dead

Jean 31 from being dead for a few years

Angel 33

Beast 34

Iceman 32

@ashetdust: It was "joined".Didn't scott joined much earlier?

@mrnihal: Yeah Scott had joined first and the second last entrance was Beast with Jean i guess ....i told this words based on what was said on x-men grand design 1 ...........any opinions @xwasright?

@mrnihal: As far as I know, both Scott and Jean encountered Prof X back before the team actually came together. But you can't really join a team that doesn't exist yet.

I'll use this as an example. Charles ran into a very young Storm, who as a child was a pick pocket in Cairo, but just because he encountered her does not make her a member of the team. It might be splitting hairs, but that's the way I interpret the question.

@ashetdust: But Jean didn't joined Prof X or did she ???(it was said on grand design that Scott and Professor X recruited Iceman followed by Warren ...I am not sure about btw cause grand design was a summary rather than the whole picture)

@ashetdust: Well,the word should be "recruited".Xavier didn't recruit storm nor jean before.

@biswaboxz: According to the original run; Scott, Bobby, Warren, Hank, Jean joined the team in that order.

As for their age, most of the accounts are contradictory, but to make a general estimation, @ashetdust's numbers are the best bet.

I'd say they're old than that, because Marvel comics that took place in 1961-1967 happened in real time and X-Men comics from 1975-1984 happened in near-real time.

This means the 05 are around:

40 (Jean Grey, but looks physically younger I'd imagine)

41 (Iceman)

42 (Cyclops before his death)

43 (Angel)

44 (Beast)

Scott mentioned in Schism that sentinels have been trying to kill him since he was 16...they didn't encounter sentinels for the first time until after the team formed.

Also the O5 after having been brought to the present seem a bit younger than 18.

So based on that im thinking Hank was 17, Scott Jean and Warren 16, and Bobby 15 upon joining

@LordMordor: These numbers are usually contradicted, In X-Men Origins Cyclops, he's 17 when Charles finds him and 21 during X-Men's first mission (which is the same time Jean joins the time). In Dark Avengers-Uncanny X-Men: Exodus he said he's been an X-Men since he was 15. When O5 Scott and Jean came to his group for help in Battle of The Atom (in Uncanny X-Men 12), he said that that's a 16 yo me. None of these numbers can be taken at face value.

True...plus ages later in life aren't certain either since comic-time is so uncertain.

Very best we could say is the ranged from 16-20 id guess

The reason I came up with those numbers for the current ages of the O5 is because from what I've read, most writers and editors consider the Giant Size X-Men crew (Storm, Colossus and Nightcrawler) to be around 30 years old with the O5 to be a few years older than them. Hence the early 30s. Maybe I'm placing them to young though? I can convinced to moving them forward a couple of years but not to the 40s. I would imagine Banshee and Forge to be in their 40s due to them both being stated as being older than the O5.

Thoughts?

Going by the O5 brought back from the past I would say they couldn't be no older than 14-16 when they joined the X-men. Storm seems to be around the same age as the O5 and Rogue was like 17 when she first encountered them. Currently the O5 from the original timeliine would be somewhere between Early 30's to mid 30's max. Honestly though I don't think there actually exist ages for characters in comics besides the time it becomes relevant.

Although I will say Tony seems to be in his 40's alongside Wasp+Co. By time the X men formed the Avengers were already around late 20's early 30's. And the 05 were definitely teenagers when they joined Xavier.

@cosmiccelest: Actually, the X-Men formed before the Avengers, but I see what you're getting at.

I'd say the gap between Jean Grey joining the X-Men and Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Storm ect... joining is at least 5 years, because the X-Men took a break in canon, along with their comics being reprinted. In that break Beast left, transfurmed, joined the Avengers; Cyclops powered up ect...

@takeshi57: The X-Men and the Avengers were both created in September, 1963. And to my knowledge, it isn't mentioned anywhere that the X-Men were formed sooner in-universe.

My point is that Tony was around his 30's when the X-men came to be who were at the time stated to be teenagers. Current Tony is like in his 40's so the O5 can't be older than their 30's was my point. I don't know who came first but I wasn't saying one came before the other just that during the time both X-men and Avengers existed that their ages differed and to use that as a way to gruge the X-men ages.

Wow, good luck trying to figure this shit out.

I have just always posited that the X-Men were all 16/17 when joining with the exception of Iceman, who would be 14/15.

The Avengers are formed in Avengers 1, whereas the X-Men have been around for awhile in X-Men 1. Unless X-Men 1 takes place at a later date than Avengers 1 than it's safe to say they existed as a team before them.

@xwasright: When Angel joined the X-Men, it was before the Avengers even existed.

@takeshi57: @cattlebattle: True, I was considering the time the entire O5 were formed.

@LordMordor: @AsheTDust: @cattlebattle: @cosmiccelest:

It’s stated in the very first issue of Uncanny X-Men that Iceman is 16 and the other were a couple of years older than him.

I think the numbers Stan Lee gave are the definitive answer. Which is 16-18

So yeah, they're 40-44 now. This means Tony Stark is in his late 40s or early 50s.

@takeshi57: More like 30s.

@DevilMayehm666: I already said that they have to be in their 40s due to most of the 60s and the first 10 years of the Claremont Era happened in near real time.

Figuring out actual time progression in comics will cause you to lose it. There's a panel in Avengers No Surrender where one of the characters is reminiscing and comments the Avengers were formed just a little over a decade ago.....

In issue #1 most of them were 18 with Iceman being 16 and Beast 19. As for when they joined, I'm not sure. Jean joined in issue #1, so she was 18. I never got far enough into the Stan Lee run to see the flashbacks of when the others first joined.

Psylocke was thirty when she joined and Marvel used real time. Her Birthday Is 4/23/56 She joined in 1986.

When she joined Doug Was 14, and Kitty was 15.