1978

The X-Men:

Cyclops/Scott Summers

Banshee/Sean Cassidy

Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner

Storm/Ororo Monroe

Colossus/Peter Rasputin

Wolverine/Logan

Professor X/Charles Xavier

Phoenix/Jean Grey

Allies:

Moira MacTaggert

Lilandra

Beast

Ka-Zar

Foes:

Weapon Alpha [physical attributes enhanced to peak of human potential, flight, force field generation, energy blasts, all granted by special battle suit]*

Warhawk [steel hard “omnium skin” which is bulletproof]

Mesmero

Magneto

Sauron

Zaladane (sorceress)**

Petrified Man [immortality, stone-like body, can fire beams of fire from his eyes, can turn his entire body into energy and can manipulate matter on sub-atomic scale, he became the living avatar of the stone god Garokk after drinking a strange liquid from his Shrine]  

Havok and Polaris decide to take some time for them and help James Madrox at Moira’s Island for a while. Jean Grey feels odd about herself, like she’s not the same person since the Phoenix Force went inside her body, and not only Xavier feels it, Cyclops too. Apparently in a moment of confusion, Mesmero finds her and gains control over her mind, using her later to access Xavier’s mansion and hypnotize the rest of the X-Men to use them as circus freaks, while Xavier himself is currently taking a vacation in Greece with Lilandra. Beast stumbles with this surprise and manages to help them, but he’s beaten by Mesmero’s hypnotic powers falling unconscious. Luckily, the X-Men go back to their normal self on their own and when Mesmero’s defeated, Magneto shows up and takes them to an underground complex at the heart of a volcano to make them prisoners. Thanks to an old trick Storm learned in the streets, back when she was a kid after the death of her parents, they take Magneto by surprise and defeat him, but after the battle the complex collapses and apparently only Magneto, Phoenix and Beast managed to escape, thinking the rest of them died underground. However, they did find their way into the Savage Land, believing Beast and Jean died as well. While Cyclops doesn’t mourn Jean’s “death”, Wolverine does, he starts showing strong feelings towards her. Karl Lykos finds and takes Storm by surprise, absorbing her energy and transforming into Sauron again. Defeated, Lykos go back to his human form and Ka-Zar shows up calling him his friend, asking the X-Men for help to face Zaladane, priestess and queen of the Sun people, who summoned Petrified Man, the Sun God worshiped by their people, to conquer the Savage Land. Zaladane’s plan fail and Petrified Man falls into an abyss after an optic beam battle with Cyclops. Leaving Savage Land in peace, the X-Men start they return home riding a small wooden boat through the ocean.

* Leader of the secret branch of the Canadian Department of National Defense named Alpha Flight. He tried to take Logan back as their agent, by force. He calls Wolverine by the name of "Weapon X".

** Sister of Lorna Dane (Polaris).

1977

The X-Men:

Cyclops/Scott Summers

Banshee/Sean Cassidy

Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner

Storm/Ororo Monroe

Colossus/Peter Rasputin

Wolverine/Logan

Professor X/Charles Xavier
Phoenix/Jean Grey [Phoenix Force grants her the ability to psionically manipulate matter and any form of energy, create powerful “cosmic” fire, resurrect from death and manipulate life energy in others, manipulate timelines and travel unaided through space]

Allies:

Moira MacTaggert

Multiple Man [self duplication]

Lilandra

“Starjammers” (space pirates)*

Foes:

Black Tom Cassidy

Juggernaut

Erik The Red

Magneto

Havok

Polaris

Firelord [energy projection via eyes and staff, superhuman strength, reflexes and durability, flight, mastery of the electromagnetic spectrum, total immunity to the rigors of space, light speed travelling and mastery of cosmic flame]

Gladiator [superhuman strength, speed, stamina, agility, reflexes and durability, flight, heat vision and freeze breath]**

Synopsis:

Moira asks the X-Men to go to her island, a mutant research center. She’s worried since she left someone named James Madrox (multiple man) in charge and hasn’t heard from him lately. Erik The Red took over the island to lure the X-Men’s attention and try to eliminate them again. He’s being helped not only by Polaris and Havok, but also Magneto, who was kept in the facilities after being transformed into a baby*** and Erik The Red made him adult again so it wasn’t hard for Magneto join forces with him. A normal Jean Grey is taken back to her parents while Xavier’s mansion is attacked by Erik The Red and his henchmen, along with Firelord, an alien from the planet Xandar in the Andromeda Galaxy, who is being tricked by Erik The Red. Back in Jean’s house, a female Shi’ar appears before Xavier and somehow he knows her, she’s Lilandra, princess of the Shi’ar who has come to meet him in person for an important matter and this is what Erik The Red was told to prevent. When Firelord aggressively breaks into Jean’s house, she transforms into Phoenix and defeats him easily. Jean is aware of her new powers and apparently in control, so she tries to help Xavier protecting Lilandra from Erik The Red and joins the X-Men chasing him through a portal, landing in the middle of the Shi’ar Empire, in front of an enraged mass of aliens and Gladiator, a powerful Strontian who serves the Shi’ar imperial guard. In the middle of the battle, a group of space pirates named Starjammers shows up to help the X-Men. Lilandra wanted to prevent his brother D’Kan from obtaining power from the M’craan Crystal, so she asked Xavier’s help since she has been observing him and his X-Men all this time, and how many times they saved mankind. Using and empathic link she had with the Crystal, Phoenix discovered an energy field in the form of a latticework which acted as a living shield for the Neutron Galaxy. The latticework was deteriorating. If it failed, the intense gravity from the Neutron Galaxy would cause all of creation to be sucked into it and the resulting Big Bang effect would give rise to a new virgin universe. Phoenix uses her powers combined with the powers of her fellow X-Men to repair the Crystal and thus save the universe from ultimate destruction. All return home along with Lilandra, who has been exiled from the Shi’ar empire.

* Their leader; Corsair, is Christopher Summers, Scott and Alex's father. Which is unknown to them until he decides to reveal this to them and why he left, in issues to come.

** Same powers as Superman, almost the same look, uses the same colors including a red cape… and he’s an alien… come on Marvel, don’t make it that obvious.

*** The Defenders is a heroic group formed by Dr. Strange, the Hulk, Valkyrie and Nighthawk. In Defenders # 16 they fight The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants {Magneto, Blob, Mastermind, Lorelei and Unus}, helped by Professor X. The Brotherhood use a powerful mutant who is capable of warping reality, but he turns against them after realizing he was doing wrong and reverts them to the age of children. 

1976

The X-Men:

Cyclops/Scott Summers

Banshee/Sean Cassidy

Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner

Storm/Ororo Monroe

Colossus/Peter Rasputin

Wolverine/Logan

Professor X/Charles Xavier

Allies:

Moira MacTaggert

Jean Grey

Foes:

Erik The Red [superhuman strength and agility, hollow bones, mind control, force blasts]*

Havok

Polaris

Steven Lang

Sentinels

X-Sentinels [capable of acting like the original X-Men, and using their powers]

Black Tom Cassidy [concussive blasts via wooden mediums]

Juggernaut

Synopsis:

Davan Shakari, an agent from an alien race named Shi'ar arrives to Earth as an "observer", sent by their ruler D'Ken. He assumes the identity of Erik The Red and gains control over Polaris and Havok in order to use them as henchmen against the X-Men. Dr. Steven Lang, a pioneer in the field of robotics and genetic mutation manufactures another wave of Sentinels to capture some of the X-Men and take them to a space station, luring the rest into a trap. There, Lang uses a human size horde of droids that look and act exactly like the original members of X-Men, including Xavier, to attack the new X-Men.** The droids lose the battle, and Lang escapes leaving a near to explode space station behind. Since the aircraft the X-Men were trying to use to escape wasn't working, Jean decides to stay in the station and operate it with telekinesis, sacrificing herself to save her teammates.*** After the ship enters Earth's atmosphere, and lands into the sea, a possessed Jean emerges calling herself Phoenix and as soon as she prepares to attack, falls unconcious and is taken to a hospital. In a battle against Juggernaut and Banshee's cousin; Black Tom Cassidy, who are working for Erik The Red, It is revealed that Storm's claustrophobia roots in a past tragedy when she was a kid, and found herself trapped in rubble next to her dead parents after bombing attacks in her homeland Egypt. Jean awakens, but a strange force seems to take over her.

* Something odd but never explained. He uses the same exact outfit Cyclops wore to infiltrate Mesmero's facilities, even the same fake identity.

** In this battle, we see Colossus and Wolverine using their throwing technique for the first time: the fastball special. They used this move many times.

*** This part is pretty similar to the end of the second movie of X-Men, where Jean also sacrifices herself to save her teammates from dying staying outside the jet. The desperation from Cyclops to get her back, and the final goodbye through telepathy it’s incredibly similar; especially considering this event is followed by her return as Phoenix. Thumbs up Bryan Singer.

1975

The X-Men:

Cyclops/Scott Summers

Banshee/Sean Cassidy

Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner [teleportation, enhanced night vision, superhuman agility, prehensile tail, ability to stick to walls, blending into shadows]

Storm/Ororo Monroe [weather manipulation, flight, energy perception, ecological empathy, resistance to the effects of the weather and extreme temperatures, resistant to telepathy]

Colossus/Peter Rasputin [ability to transform his body into “organic steel” granting him superhuman strength, stamina and durability]

Wolverine/Logan [regenerative healing factor, superhuman senses, strength, agility, stamina, reflexes and longevity, adamantium-laced skeletal structure, three retractable adamantium-laced bone claws on each hand]*

Thunderbird/John Proudstar [superhuman senses, strength, speed, stamina, sturdiness]

Professor X/Charles Xavier

Allies:

Marvel Girl

Angel

Iceman

Polaris

Havok

Sunfire

Moira MacTaggert

Foes:

Krakoa [living ecosystem with mind control, control over flora and fauna, all caused by exposure to radiation]

Count Nefaria

“Ani-Men”: Frog-man [superhuman strength, agility, stamina and leaping frog-like legs, frog-like physiology], Ape-man [superhuman strength, agility, stamina and reflexes, ape-like physiology], Bird-man [flight with wings, hollowed bones, superhuman strength, agility, stamina and reflexes], Cat-man [natural razor-sharp claws, superhuman agility and reflexes, acrobatic skills, cat-like physiology] and Dragonfly [hypnotic gaze, flight with dragonfly wings]

Kierrok

Synopsis:

After a couple of reprints…Xavier sends the X-Men to Krakoa Island, where according to Cerebro, lies a mutant that needs help, but a mysterious force hits them and only Cyclops escapes. Xavier, with the help of Cerebro, tracks a certain number of mutants around the world to help Cyclops in going back to Krakoa Island and rescue the disappeared X-Men. After a hard quest fighting the dangers of the island, they find the X-Men unconscious and discover Krakoa is actually a living island, an intelligent ecosystem able to command all living things native to its island body, and it's currently feeding from the X-Men´s energy. Krakoa battles the new and old X-Men by forming a giant humanoid body out of its terrain. With a combination of psi interference by Professor X and energy blasts from Cyclops and Havok, Storm is able to supercharge Polaris' magentic powers with bolts of lightning. Polaris interacts with the Earth's core and creates a magnetic pulse so strong that she is able to launch Krakoa into outer space. After solving this situation; Polaris, Havok, Marvel Girl, Angel, Iceman and Sunfire decide to abandon the mansion for good, leaving the remaining in the team, as the new X-Men. Count Nefaria returns with a new “Maggia” group: the Ani-men, animal-like warriors with powers granted by terrorist scientists, threatening with destroying the world with nuclear missiles. After beating the Ani-men, Count Nefaria escapes on a jet and Thunderbird tries to stop him, dying along with Nefaria when the jet explodes. Thunderbird’s death affects Cyclops, who starts questioning his leadership skills and out of control shoots an optic beam that hits an obelisk known as the Cairn, which triggered the release of an ancient demon named Kierrok that wishes to rule mankind.** Storm later was able to find the Cairn and destroy it, sealing Kierrok in his dimension again. Professor X leaves to attend some personal business, leaving Moira MacTaggert, an expert in genetic mutation, in the mansion as housekeeper.

* Wolverine's first appereance was actually as an enemy of the Hulk in The Incredible Hulk # 180.

** The way Cyclops is tormented by Thunderbird's death, and hears voices that makes him angry and lose control shooting a beam that triggers the release of an evil force, remembers me of X-Men 3: The Last Stand.

Side note: In case you're wondering "what happened with Beast?!" Well, Beast leaves the X-Men after the Z'nox events, before their mission to Krakoa Island (which is pretty obvious cos you don't see him around in the new issues, but there's no explanation) and this is shown in Amazing Adventures # 11, back in 1972, as a flashback. Hank was offered a position in the Brand Corporation, and he takes the oportunity to leave the nest, and make the transition from teenager to man. He later discovers the secret of his own mutation, and after realizing the corporation he was working for has plans to kill him, uses his discovery to hide his identity and transforms into the blue-furred monster we all know. Then, he joins The Avengers.

1971-1974

4 years of reprints, nothing new.