| Publisher: | Marvel Comics |
| Startmo: | October |
| Startyr: | 1986 |
| Endmo: | December |
| Endyr: | 1986 |
| Crossover: | y |
| Titles: | New Mutants #46 Power Pack #27 Thor #373-374 The Uncanny X-Men #210-213 X-Factor #9-11 Daredevil #238 |
| Main Char Team: | X-Men X-Factor Thor New Mutants Power Pack Marauders Hela |
| Writers: | Chris Claremont Louise Simonson Walter Simonson |
| Pencillers: | John Romita Jr. Walter Simonson Sal Buscema |
| Inkers: | Dan Green Bob Wiacek Sal Buscema |
| Letterers: | Tom Orzechowski Joe Rosen John E. Workman Jr. |
| Colorists: | Glynis Oliver Petra Scotese Christie Scheele |
| Tpb: | Mutant Massacre |
| Isbn: | 0-7851-0224-8 |
| Cat: | X-Men |
| Sortkey: | Mutant Massacre |
"Mutant Massacre" was a 1986 Marvel Comics crossover storyline. It primarily involved the superhero teams the X-Men and X-Factor. The solo hero Thor, the New Mutants, Power Pack, and Daredevil crossed over for an issue each in their own comic books.
The crossover was a surprise success, yielding sales boosts to the mutant-based books and prompting Marvel Comics' long-running policy of holding such mutant crossovers annually.[1]
The story depicts a massacre of the Morlocks during an attack by the Marauders. The X-Men, X-Factor, and Power Pack attempt to intervene, with the X-Men having three of their members injured in the conflict.
The mysterious Marauders attack a mutant named Tommy and her Hellfire Club boyfriend in Los Angeles for the purpose of following her back to New York and finding the location of the underground mutant community known as the Morlocks.[2] The Marauders kill Tommy and hundreds of Morlocks before the X-Men[3] and X-Factor[4] teams arrive separately and fight them, avoiding the total slaughter of the Morlocks. The two teams however do not meet during the battle and suffer crippling losses: X-Factor's Angel is crucified by the Marauders,[4] while the X-Men's Colossus, Shadowcat, and Nightcrawler are all severely wounded.[3] X-Factor's casualties are less due to the arrival of Power Pack[5] and Thor,[6] who help save the horribly wounded Angel and the rest of X-Factor from suffering any additional harm.
Thor uses his powers to cleanse the dead from the Morlock tunnels with fire,[7] which causes problems for the X-Men, who briefly believe that the firestorm was caused by the Marauders and believe that the New Mutants died in said fire.[8] Several Morlocks, including Berzerker and Masque,[9] make their way into the surface world and begin to work for their personal aims.
Meanwhile, Wolverine saves the Power Pack[5] and Healer[8] from the Marauder Sabretooth. After their clash, Sabretooth follows Logan home to the X-Mansion. He destroys Cerebro, but is kept from hurting the other Morlocks when Psylocke engages Sabretooth in battle. Wolverine and the rest of the X-Men arrive, and Sabretooth falls off a nearby cliff in order to escape the X-Men, pursued into the water by Wolverine. As the fight continues in the ocean, Psylocke is able to glean some information about the Marauders from Sabretooth's mind.[10]
Uncanny X-Men
X-Factor
Daredevil
Daredevil #238 is set after the events of the Mutant Massacre. The issue features Daredevil fighting Sabretooth after his escape from the X-Mansion.
Here is the list of Morlocks that were killed during the Mutant Massacre and the issue they were killed in:
| Character | Death | Mutant power | Method of death | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annalee | Uncanny X-Men #211 | Empathy | Shot by Scalphunter. | |
| Berzerker | X-Factor #11 | Electrical powers | Cyclops' optic blast knocked him into the river, where he electrocuted himself. | |
| Blowhard | X-Factor #11 | Wind exhaling | Shot by the Savage Wolf Gang leader. | |
| Cybelle | Uncanny X-Men #211 | Acid sweat | Killed by Harpoon. | |
| Piper II | Uncanny X-Men #212 | Controlled animals using music | Killed by Scalphunter. | |
| Scaleface | X-Factor #11 | Transforms into a large dragon-like reptilian creature | Shot by the police. | |
| Tommy | Uncanny X-Men #210 | Two-dimensional ability | Killed by Harpoon and Scalphunter. | |
| Zeek | X-Factor #10 | Unknown | Killed by Harpoon. |
Hundreds of other Morlocks were killed, but were not identified in the comics. Annalee and Piper were the only established characters among the casualties; the others were all generic characters whose sole purpose was to be victims of the massacre. This aspect of the story was satirized in What The--?! #4.
Writer Chris Claremont originally conceived the systematic killing of the Morlocks as a storyline that would run in the pages of Uncanny X-Men, but X-Factor writer Louise Simonson felt that such a big storyline would run overlong in a single title, and suggested that it be done as a crossover between all three mutant titles.[1] [16]
Claremont and Simonson, the chief writers of the crossover, exchanged copies of their typewritten plots and scripts, and extensively discussed the intersecting storylines over the telephone.[16] Asked what it was like to coordinate all the Mutant Massacre-linked stories, Simonson said "It was horrible. I don't know why we're thinking of doing this again."[16]
Walt Simonson, who wrote the Thor instalments of "Mutant Massacre" and pencilled the X-Factor instalments, said:
| X-Men: Mutant Massacre (TPB) | Uncanny X-Men #210-214, X-Factor #9-11, New Mutants #46 | June 1997 | ||
| X-Men: Mutant Massacre (HC) | Uncanny X-Men #210-214, X-Factor #9-11, New Mutants #46, Thor #373-374, Power Pack #27, Daredevil #238 | January 2010 | ||
| X-Men: Mutant Massacre Omnibus | Uncanny X-Men #210-219, X-Men Annual #11, X-Factor #9-17, X-Factor Annual #2, New Mutants #46, Thor #373-374 377-378, Power Pack #27, Daredevil #238, Fantastic Four vs. the X-Men #1-4, X-Men vs. the Avengers #1-4 | January 2022 |
In The Gifted episode "calaMity", The Purifiers murdering all of the Morlocks in their tunnels was the premise of the "Mutant Massacre" storyline.
X-Men Turn Thirty
. 66–69.