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Today, it’s hard to walk into a comic book shop without seeing countless X-Men titles, but during the early 1970s, things were different. Marvel had cancelled the original X-Men title due to low sales. The book continued as a reprint title, but between 1970 and 1975, Marvel didn’t publish any new X-Men stories - and what Marvel's editorial boss thought at the time they needed to do was get rid of those costumes.

Roy Thomas, who became Marvel’s editor-in-chief in 1972, never forgot about the team. As the last regular writer on the series before new X-Men stories were aborted, Thomas had a soft spot for the X-Men, and believed the team could still work. It just needed the right revamp.

“It sort of gestated for a number of years as a reprint book, with my plan to bring them back as plainclothes heroes and various things. I always liked the X-Men, so there I was trying to revitalize them by putting them in plainclothes and making them more realistic, revitalize them and make them an original group,” Thomas said during an interview inside Fantagraphics’ The X-Men Companion #1.

However, the timing was never right, so Thomas tabled the idea of an X-Men reboot until Giant-Size X-Men #1. The Len Wein and Dave Cockrum story took the team in a bold new direction, reinvigorating the franchise.

Still, it’s fun to think about how different Marvel history would have gone if Thomas had gone with his original idea. It’s hard to imagine the X-Men as grounded plainclothes heroes. Would the franchise have reached the same heights? Only Cerebro knows for sure.

Join Popverse in our own little X-Mansion as we cover just about everything you need to know about the X-Men. Learn how Marvel's mighty mutants are classified by power, or why the Krakoan Age of comics is coming to an end. And once you're done with those, keep up with the characters' big screen outings via Popverse's X-men movie watch order.