During the prolonged period when they were abducted by the Brood, Xavier believed that the X-Men had been killed. Moira MacTaggert convinced him to form a new team of adolescent mutants that needed his help in controlling their powers. Unwilling to see more of his students perish, Xavier was only willing to train them in the use of their special abilities rather than sending them out into combat as he had with the X-Men. These New Mutants ended up in many battles regardless, and occasionally aided the X-Men.
The X-Men learned there was one Brood embryo that had not been eliminated, one planted in Professor Xavier during their first contact with the evil aliens. Racing home they found Xavier had already been transformed into one of the Brood while battling the startled New Mutants. Defeated and taken onboard the Starjammer, Xavier's mind was placed in a cloned body.
Upon returning from space, Cyclops left the X-Men for a prolonged period of time. He had met Madelyne Pryor during a trip to meet his grandparents in Anchorage and fallen in love. It was unknown at the time that Madelyne was a clone of Jean Grey, though the resemblance was obvious. The two married, and had a child; Nathan.
Angel briefly rejoined the team, only to be captured by the Morlocks, and taken down into their tunnels to be Callisto's groom. Storm challenged Callisto to combat, without powers and to the death, which she won, securing her leadership of the Morlocks and Angel's freedom.
Two more members soon joined the team. Rogue's Brotherhood of Mutants teammates couldn't help as the Carol Danvers persona she had previously absorbed began to overwhelm her own personality. Xavier agreed to aid the desperate mutant and added her to the roster. Carol Danvers was furious that her friends would allow the girl that destroyed her life to join the team, and left Earth with the Starjammers. Most of Rogue's teammates still held animosity towards her for what she had done as a member of the Brotherhood, but she slowly gained their trust by continually showing her bravery; she nearly died protecting Wolverine and infiltrated the SHIELD helicarrier to rescue Michael Rossi. Later, Jean Grey's daughter from an alternate timeline, Rachel Summers, traveled back in time and joined the team.
Growing from his crisis of conscience, Magneto became an X-Men ally. Captured by Freedom Force while attending a Holocaust memorial gathering, he was put on trial in Paris. Mostly exonerated of charges on account of his second infancy, the trial was unfortunately interrupted by the Fenris twins, who sent Magneto and Professor X for a ride in the Parisian sewers. Half-drowned and near-death from other medical conditions, Xavier convinced his old friend to take his place as headmaster of the institute. Lilandra took him from Earth to recuperate from his injuries. Using the alias of Michael Xavier, Charles Xavier's alleged cousin, Magneto was Headmaster for a long tenure. Magneto was later invited to join the inner circle of the Hellfire Club, an offer which he and Storm decided was worth accepting.
Cyclops returned, but his attempts to regain leadership of the X-Men was opposed by an experienced Storm, now also an accomplished leader even without her powers. Storm defeated Cyclops through martial skill alone - forcing him to surrender by removing his visor. Cyclops left the team. Shortly afterwards, Angel contacted the original X-Men, including a recently discovered living Jean Grey, with the intent of getting them back together again. At the behest of his friend Cameron Hodge, Angel proposed that X-Factor become a mutant-hunting contractor as a cover for their activities. Rachel went dancing up the spiral paths into the Mojoverse shortly thereafter.
The Marauders (secretly commanded by Mister Sinister) made a substantial impact on the X-Men with their callous murder of most of the Morlocks living in the Alley. In their first battle with the X-Men, the Marauders took a gruesome toll, paralyzing Colossus, putting Nightcrawler in a coma, and trapping Shadowcat with her own power such that she was slowly discorporating. Magneto succeeded in healing Colossus, who rejoined the team, but Shadowcat and Nightcrawler were beyond the X-Men's help. Cyclops' brother and reservist Havok, Mojoverse freedom-fighter Longshot, the singer Dazzler, and telepath Psylocke took the injured mutants place. After recovering, Shadowcat and Nightcrawler went on to form Excalibur.
Members:
Storm
Wolverine
Colossus
Nightcrawler
Shadowcat
Rogue
Phoenix II
Havok
Longshot
Dazzler
Psylocke
Supporting Cast:
Magneto
New Mutants:
Cannonball
Karma
Sunspot
Mirage
Wolfsbane
