Previous Posts: Introduction | Chapter 1: Lee/Kirby Part 1 | Chapter 2: Lee/Kirby Part 2 | Chapter 3: The Roy Thomas Era (1966-1968) | Chapter 4: The End of the Silver Age (1968-1970) | Chapter 5: Origins and Flashbacks Part 1 | Chapter 6: Silver Age Flashbacks Part 2 | Chapter 7: X-Men: First Class Vol 1 | Chapter 8: X-Men: First Class Vol 2 Part 1 | Chapter 9: X-Men: First Class Vol 2 Part 2 | Chapter 10: The Hidden Years

After X-Men was cancelled in 1970 with issue #66, the team went on to make a number of guest appearances in other titles over the next five years, before the book was revived in 1975. There are also a smattering of continuity implant stories that take place in this era which I’ll cover here. Iceman doesn’t get a whole lot to do in this era, and yet this period is fertile ground for queer readings

Oddly, in most of the stories published in the 1970s, the X-Men are back in their trainee uniforms, perhaps because at the time, X-Men was running reprint stories from the trainee era (X-Men #67-93).

 

X-Men: Deadly Genesis #2 (December 2005)
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Trevor Hairsine

Havok has a brief hallucination (provoked by Vulcan, using Sway’s and Rachel Grey’s powers) of a time when Lorna kissed Bobby behind Alex’s back. She’s apparently had a change of heart since she told Bobby in no uncertain terms that she wasn’t interested in him multiple times in The Hidden Years and the Silver Age issues. We’re apparently meant to take this at face value, but it really doesn’t seem in character for Lorna, and it’s more likely that Vulcan is taunting the X-Men with a series of images of events that didn’t actually happen. Other hallucinations presented in this series clearly didn’t actually take place. Bobby is also in the wrong costume here.

Note the phrasing: “Before I met you, I was the straightest arrow in this school…” Bobby again seems incredibly eager to assert his heterosexuality.

 

Incredible Hulk #150 (April 1972)
Writer: Archie Goodwin
Artist: Herb Trimpe

Lorna has gone back to Alex, prompting another dumb fight between him and Bobby, in which Alex uses his power against him. Feeling guilty, he quits the X-Men and sets up a home in New Mexico, which will become a recurring location for him and Lorna through the 1980s.

Lorna comes to get him back but he’s not interested since he doesn’t want to be a superhero (and, unstated, but he already has his college degree, so doesn’t need to be at a school like the other X-Men). But Hulk stumbles past them and confuses Lorna for his alien friend Jamella and provokes a fight. Alex is motivated to rejoin the X-Men because the fight causes him to realize his super-powers can be useful.

Nevertheless, Havok and Lorna never make it back, as they are captured by the Secret Empire between issues – a long-running subplot through the X-Men’s appearances in this era. The X-Men simply suspect Lorna decided to stay in New Mexico with Alex (and apparently never bothered to call).

 

Amazing Spider-Man #92 (January 1971)
Writer: Stan Lee
Penciler: Gil Kane

Stan Lee writes Iceman for the first time in ages. Iceman has a misunderstanding that leads him into a fight with Spider-Man before they team up to expose the criminal dealings of an old-school bigot candidate for DA. Oddly, neither seems to remember the multiple times they’ve met before in the pages of X-Men.

When we first see Bobby, he’s on a date with an unnamed woman. But he can’t be that interested, since he immediately packs her into a cab with the excuse that “a guy needs his beauty sleep!” before going off to fight Spidey in his undies.

 

Amazing Adventures #11 (March 1972)
Writer: Gerry Conway
Artist: Tom Sutton

Beast leaves the X-Men to work at the Brand Corporation, where he turns into his familiar ape-like form.

There’s a bit more gristle for my “Bobby and Hank were a couple” theory. When he leaves, all the X-men shake his hand or pat him on the back, except Iceman, who feels up his chest and waist.

 

“Remember how you felt as you prepared to leave those you’d come to know — and love?” Hmm… whom among the X-Men did Hank McCoy love?

In the group photo he packs of the original X-Men, he and Bobby are side by side, mimicking Scott and Jean’s pose. Later, when he’s angry at himself for the transformation, he looks at the picture and shouts, “Everything I could have been — Everything we were together – is gone.” Really? Tell me what you were together, Hank.

There’s a pretty clear queer subtext through this whole story. Hank leaves the X-Men to join mainstream society and promptly starts a relationship with a woman, Linda Donaldson – his first real romantic relationship, given that his silver age relationship with Vera Cantor never went anywhere. And yet, when he becomes a visible mutant, he finds that he can no longer consummate their relationship, as she’ll discover his face is just a rubber mask. The premature end of the Beast feature leads the Linda Donaldson story to be wrapped up in Captain America, where we learn she was a spy for the Secret Empire.

Donaldson also shoots her colleague Dr. Carl Maddicks, who is also a Secret Empire spy.

But despite what we’re told in the story, he doesn’t die. He turns up in X-Factor as the father of Artie Maddicks, future Generation X member.

 

Amazing Adventures #12-17 (May 1972-March 1973)
Writer: Steve Englehart
Artist: Tom Sutton

Iceman doesn’t appear in these issues, but I’m including them because of their impact on the Beast-Iceman theory.

Mastermind, Unus, and Blob, having reformed the Brotherhood in the flashback in Avengers #103, try and fail to recruit Beast into their club in issues #12-13. They’re still hiding out in a circus since they last appeared in X-Men: The Hidden Years. They don’t recognize Beast and Mastermind has given Beast amnesia so he doesn’t recognize them. I think for the first time, Mastermind drops the “Evil” from the group name.

Issue #14 is a forgettable fight with Fantastic Four villain Quasimodo, who previously showed up in X-Men #48.

In issue #15, Beast finally lets Angel know what happened to him and they fight the Griffin. Angel makes quite the impression at the Brand Corporation. It’s odd that Iceman isn’t in this issue at all, but Angel’s physical mutation works thematically here. Beast finally subdues Griffin with Spider-Man’s help two years later in Marvel Team-Up #38.

In #16, Beast fights the Juggernaut, recently escaped from the Crimson Cosmos following a fight in Dr. Strange #182. Contrary to the end of this story, Juggernaut doesn’t die; he turns up in Incredible Hulk #172. Beast is heading to Canada with his ex-girlfriend Vera Cantor, who tracked him down because she needs the help of an expert in mutants. But cancellation of the Beast feature leads to this story being wrapped up in Incredible Hulk #161.

Issue #17 is just a reprint of the “Origin of the Beast” backup from X-Men #49-52 with a new framing sequence.

 

Incredible Hulk #161 (March 1973)
Writer: Steve Englehart
Artist: Herb Trimpe

Beast and Vera arrive in Canada, where Vera finally explains that she needed Hank’s help curing her boyfriend, Calvin Rankin, of his Mimic powers which are flaring out of control. Mimic is suddenly now draining life forces of everyone near him, which is why he’s hiding in the Canadian wilderness. Unfortunately, the Hulk is nearby, and when Mimic drains the Hulk, a fight begins. Mimic attempts suicide by absorbing the Hulk’s gamma radiation, but while that knocks Mimic out, it has no real effect on the Hulk. Everyone goes home, believing Mimic to be dead (and he stays that way until Marvel Comics Presents #56-61).

I believe this is the only story that positively identifies Mimic as being in a heterosexual relationship. Then again, it’s with Vera, who is possibly the most sexless librarian who ever lived. Around 2012, speculation was heavy that he is in a relationship with Weapon Omega.

Sometime after this story, Beast is kidnapped by the Secret Empire.

 

Marvel Team-Up #4 (September 1972)
Writer: Gerry Conway
Penciler: Gil Kane

Back to Bobby. Xavier calls in the X-Men to help find a scientist who he believes has been kidnapped by Spider-Man. When they realize the truth, they save Spider-Man’s life before he dies of toxins in his blood.

Oddly, the X-Men appear in their trainee outfits at the beginning of the story but appear in civies with no masks throughout the story. Bobby’s outfit is, um, quite something, with the open shirt and cock-ring necklace.

 

 

There’s a flashback to this story in Adventure Into Fear #20 (February 1974), in which Morbius escapes the Mansion and Xavier declines to send Cyclops to find him, because they have to deal with the Secret Empire.

 

Spider-Man Family Vol 2 #8 – Second Story (April 2008)
Writer: Nate Piekos
Penciler: Zach Howard

Bobby and Peter Parker race to get the last table at a Sushi restaurant.

Oddly, Bobby and Peter recognize each other out of costume – it’s established in Peter Parker, Spider-Man #18 that Spider-Man learned Bobby’s identity in Marvel Team-Up #4, but the inverse was not established. Perhaps they looked under Spider-Man’s mask when he was unconscious? I’m pretty sure this is just an error, since Spider-Man has never been open about his identity with the X-Men.

In this story, Bobby is on a date with a different generic, unnamed woman, but she apparently knows he’s Iceman, which also has to be an error. Honestly, it’s probably best to just ignore this story altogether.

 

Avengers #110-111 (April-May 1973)
Writer: Steve Englehart
Penciler: Don Heck

After defeating the X-Men, Magneto tries to take down the Avengers, who must recruit Daredevil and Black Widow to stop him from unleashing deadly radiation on the world in the hope of creating more mutants.

Bobby barely does anything in this story and the X-Men are all brainwashed or unconscious throughout. But there’s a bit to unpack here for continuity’s sake.

First, we learn that the new costume Magneto gave Angel in X-Men #62 was an energy-sapping device that stored Angel’s “youthful mutant energy.” When Magneto attacks the X-Men, he drugs Angel, strips him of his costume, and puts it on, and that restores the Magnetic powers that have been flagging since he returned in X-Men #60.

Second, Magneto is being aided by Piper, of the Savage Land Mutates. Presumably, he restored the mutates who reverted back into savages in X-Men #62. The Mutates also appeared in Avengers #105, but it was never explained how they’d been restored.

Finally, when the dust is cleared, no one knows where Angel is. The eventual explanation is that Magneto simply left him at the mansion when he kidnapped the rest of the X-Men, which seems…unusual. This was the first published story to acknowledge the mystery of the missing mutants, kicking off the Secret Empire story.

 

Incredible Hulk #172 (February 1974)
Writers: Roy Thomas and Tony Isabella
Penciler: Herb Trimpe

The US Army accidentally brings the Juggernaut back from the Crimson Cosmos and he teams up with the Hulk to escape their prison before they get into a fight. After Hulk removes his helmet, the X-Men suddenly show up and knock him out.

Iceman doesn’t appear on panel, but presumably he’s part of the team still, because Xavier says they’re specifically there to recruit Havok and Lorna to help find Angel. Maybe they thought Bobby wouldn’t make the strongest case.

 

Captain America #172-175 (April-July 1974)
Writer: Steve Englehart
Penciler: Sal Buscema

Englehart ties up the story he began in Avengers #111 by using it to close off another Captain America plot.

Professor X discover the mutant kidnappings are related to ongoing attempts to smear Captain America. It turns out a Hydra offshoot called The Secret Empire is trying to stage a coup using a flying saucer powered by mutant brainwaves. So, they kidnapped Havok, Lorna, Angel, Iceman, Beast, Blob, Mastermind, Unus, and Mesmero. Apparently, they didn’t need any other mutants, as they don’t add Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Falcon, or Professor X to their machine after they’re captured. And presumably, it was too difficult to capture Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Magneto, Namor, Sunfire, Toad, or Vanisher. (Boy it’s crazy how few mutants there were in the 1970s!)

Eventually, they’re defeated by Captain America, Falcon, Prof X, Marvel Girl, Cyclops, and SHIELD. The final scene strongly implies that the Secret Empire was led by President Nixon himself, but apparently Marvel backed away from that.

Iceman is unconscious throughout the entire story.

“It’s Always Darkest…” and “Before the Dawn” are the titles of the last two chapters of this story, and they give X-Men Epic Collection Vol 4 its title.

 

Marvel Team-Up #23 (July 1974)
Writer: Len Wein
Penciler: Gil Kane

Iceman and Human Torch have a misunderstanding and then team up to stop Equinox, who has flame and ice powers just like them. In the end Equinox escapes into a sewer.

Again, Iceman and Human Torch act like they’ve never met, even though they’d met several times in the silver age.

The X-Men politely ask Iceman to wrap up his fight with the Torch before dawn so they can go on a top-secret mission. We never find out what the mission was, but Xavier refers to it in Defenders #15.

Equinox’ story is wrapped up in Marvel Team-Up #59-60, where he’s cured of his out-of-control powers, and he doesn’t appear again for nearly twenty years.

A cutaway to this fight is seen in Code of Honor #1 (March 1997), a sort of version of Marvels covering the bronze age and told from the perspective of a Black NYPD officer.

This is Iceman’s last published appearance before the relaunch.

But, before we get to that, a quick rundown of other notable X-Men appearances set in this era:

 

X-Men Unlimited Vol 2 #10 – Second Story (August 2005)
Writer: Joe Meno
Artist: Homs

Cyclops takes the newly mutated Beast back to his hometown where he reconnects with his old girlfriend Jennifer Niles. In the original story, Xavier had made Niles forget Hank, but maybe she only forgot he was a mutant? Notable for the fact that Beast’s parents are once again the most accepting parents in the X-Men universe.

 

Spider-Man Family Vol 2 #9 – First Story (June 2008)
Writer: Paul Tobin
Artist: Derec Aucoin

SHIELD asks Jean Grey and Spider-Man to babysit Bruce Banner for an afternoon.

 

Incredible Hulk #162 (April 1973)
Writer: Steve Englehart
Artist: Herb Trimpe

Of note only because it’s the debut and origin of Wendigo, who goes on to be a regular Wolverine adversary.

 

Incredible Hulk #180-182 (October-December 1974)
Writer: Len Wien
Artist: Herb Trimpe

The Hulk is back in Canada fighting the Wendigo when Wolverine makes his debut. Later stories establish that Xavier was monitoring Wolverine’s fight.

 

Defenders #15-16 (September-October 1974)
Writer: Len Wien
Artist: Sal Buscema

With the X-Men still on their secret mission from Marvel Team-Up #23, Xavier asks the Defenders to help him stop Magneto, who has taken leadership of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (now joined by Lorelei). Ultimately, Magneto and the Brotherhood are turned into infants by Magneto’s creation, Alpha, the Ultimate Mutant.

Somehow Xavier has gotten himself to the middle of the desert in New Mexico on his own power.

Magneto tells us that after Avengers #111, the Avengers decided the only way they could imprison him was to encase him in a metal bubble and trap him in the center of the earth. This seems… incredibly inhumane.

Magneto says he remained trapped there for months (how did he eat, breathe, etc…), until the passing Kohoutec Comet caused enough of a shift in the earth’s magnetic forces to free him. When he escapes, he comes across alien machines that he uses to build his weapon, Alpha, the Ultimate Mutant. Magneto really seems keen on creating mutants rather than leading existing ones, doesn’t he? This is the fourth time one of his plots has hinged on that.

Anyway, Alpha has vague, constantly evolving powers, and Magneto uses him to haul the United Nations building into space and demand that it cede sovereignty of the world to him. Xavier convinces Alpha that Magneto is in fact the bad guy, so Alpha uses his power to turn Magneto and the Brotherhood into infants. He then announces that he has evolved past humans and mutants and leaves for the cosmos. He eventually is seen in Quasar #14-15.

As for the Brotherhood, ­X-Men #103-104 explains that Xavier takes the infants to Muir Island, where Moira focusses on trying to raise Magneto right. Later flashbacks in X-Men Vol 2 #2 and X-Men Unlimited Vol 1 #2, show how she tampered with his biology to try to eliminate his insanity. Erik the Red restores Magneto so he can distract the X-Men from his own plans, and Champions #17 confirms that he accidentally restores the other Brotherhood members in that process.

Xavier acting on his own is in keeping with a few other stories from this era. In Avengers #88 (May 1971), he worked with Tony Stark and Reed Richards to develop a trap for the Hulk. That seemingly leads to the founding of The Illuminati, along with Namor, Dr. Strange, and Black Bolt, as seen in New Avengers: The Illuminati (2006) and New Avenges: The Illuminati #1-6 (2007). He also helps Shanna the She-Devil fight Mandrill and Nekra in Shanna the She-Devil #5 (August 1973). X-Men Origins: Colossus (2008) establishes that Xavier was keeping tabs on Colossus and protecting him from the Russian government during this period. And then there’s:

 

Giant-Size Fantastic Four #4 (Feb 1975)
Writer: Chris Claremont and Len Wien
Artist: John Buscema

Professor X helps the Fantastic Four stop Multiple Man, who has been living in isolation on his Kansas farm since his parents’ deaths, and is suffering from mental health issues. Behind the scenes, the Professor sends Multiple Man to Muir Island, where he’ll be a background character until the 1990s. (Presumably, he wasn’t stable enough yet to join Moira’s team in Deadly Genesis). Madrox being somewhat queer is strongly alluded to in New X-Men #128 (August 2002) and Madrox #1 (November 2004).

Odd continuity: Madrox’s father worked at Los Alamos Nuclear Research Center and knew Xavier. Charles also knew of Madrox and his powers from the time he was born. So why did he never approach him before? It’s not like Xavier was shy about taking in teenagers. Seems pretty negligent that he left him alone on his farm from age fifteen.

Presumably, the other X-Men are still on the top-secret mission mentioned in Marvel Team-Up #23 but never seen. While all the X-Men are away, Beast drops by the X-Mansion in Captain America #183 (March 1975), where he’s the only one around when Cap calls trying to find Falcon (who recently learned he was a mutant). Beast gives Cap advice about giving Falcon space to come to terms with who and what he is.

 

Avengers #137-139 (July-September 1975)
Writer: Steve Englehart
Penciler: George Tuska

After Scarlet Witch and Vision get married, Beast joins the Avengers, and the new team face off against the Toad (yes, really), who’s stolen technology allowing him to mimic the power of The Stranger (yes, really).

Beast has had a bit of a personality transplant since we last saw him. He’s now fully accepted his ape-like appearance and has decided to live out and proud as a mutant with no secret identity. This is a bit of a turning point for mutants in the Marvel Universe, even though the Avengers have had mutant members before (Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch). Beast is the first X-Man to “come out” as a mutant – he’ll soon be followed by Angel in Champions. Beast is given provisional membership here, and becomes a full member in Avengers #151, leaving in Avengers #211 to join the New Defenders. Still, he’ll make occasional guest appearances in X-Men.

Where to find these stories: They’re all currently available on Marvel Unlimited. The key X-Men stories from this era are collected in X-Men Epic Collection Vol 4 “It’s Always Darkest Before the Dawn” and in Marvel Masterworks The X-Men Vol 7-8. 

Next week: It’s the launch of the All-New X-Men, the era that quickly made X-Men the hottest book on the market. But Bobby misses all that, as he quits the team and moves out west with Angel instead. We’ll be looking at The Champions.