There are multiple alternate realities in the Marvel Universe, some more famous and impactful than others. For the X-Man, nothing beats Age of Apocalypse, one of the most iconic storyline for the X-Men. With a name and a premise similar, Zac Thompson and Lonnie Nadler gave us Age of X-Man in 2019, a utopia led by Nate Grey (X-Man).
Per the official Marvel synopsis: Enter the Age of X-Man, a perfect world with perfect heroes! In this alt-universe read, the commune-dwelling X-Men live on a utopia planet where fear and hatred are things of the past… along with concepts like “love” and the nuclear family. United under the banner of mutantkind, all mutants idolize the X-Men. Then the cracks begin to show, and a rebellion grows against this weird world order…
What to read before Age of X-Man?
As writer Zac Thompson indicated at the time on Twitter, you just need to know who the X-Men are to jump into this event. For those who like to go deeper, here are some of the recommended stories to read before Age of X-Man:
Nate Grey, also known as X-Man, is an alternate version of the regular Marvel Universe hero Cable, coming from the Age of Apocalypse where he made his first appearance in 1995. This major alternate reality also serves as an inspiration for Age of X-Man, but it is not required reading to understand it. If you want to know more about it, you can consult the complete X-Men Age of Apocalypse Reading Order.
- X-Men: Age of Apocalypse Omnibus
Collects Uncanny X-Men #320-321, X-Men #40-41, Cable #20, X-Men Alpha, Amazing X-Men #1-4, Astonishing X-Men #1-4, Factor X #1-4, Gambit & The Externals #1-4, Generation Next #1-4, Weapon X #1-4, X-Calibre #1-4, X-Man #1-4, X-Men Omega, Age Of Apocalypse : The Chosen and X-Men Ashcan #2.
After disappearing for a few years from the Marvel Universe, Nate Grey makes his comeback in the rebooted Uncanny X-Men, with the storyline X-Men Dissambled from which spanned out the alternate-reality event (but, despite that fact, you can go read the event without the prelude).
- Uncanny X-Men: Disassembled (prelude)
Collects Uncanny X-Men (vol. 5) #1–10.
Age of X-Man Reading Order
Age of X-Man Reading Order: Collected Editions
- Age of X-Man: The Marvelous X-Men
Collects Age Of X-Man: Alpha and Omega, and Age Of X-Man: The Marvelous X-Men #1-5. - Age of X-Man: NextGen
Collects Age of X-Man: Nextgen #1-5. - Age of X-Man: The Amazing Nightcrawler
Collects Age Of X-Man: The Amazing Nightcrawler #1-5. - Age of X-Man: The X-Tremists
Collects Age Of X-Man: X-Tremists #1-5. - Age of X-Man: Prisoner X
Collects Age Of X-Man: Prisoner X #1-5. - Age of X-Man: Apocalypse and the X-Tracts
Collects Age Of X-Man: Apocalypse & The X-Tracts #1-5.
Age of X-Man Reading Order: Issue by Issue
The event “Age of X-Man” can mostly be read in any order, with the exception of two issues – Age of X-Man Alpha #1 opens the story and Age of X-Man: Omega #1 closes it. You are mostly free to read as you wish, and some people on the web offer a few options like the one below, coming from Akhil Chauhan at Everythingmarvel.net.
- Age of X-Man Alpha #1
- The X-Tremists #1
- Prisoner X #1-2
- NextGen #1-5
- The Amazing Nightcrawler #1-5
- Apocalypse and the X-Tracts #1
- The Marvelous X-Men #1-2
- Apocalypse and the X-Tracts #2
- The Marvelous X-Men #3
- Apocalypse and the X-Tracts #3
- The Marvelous X-Men #4
- The X-Tremists #2-3
- Prisoner X #3-5
- The X-Tremists #4-5
- Apocalypse and the X-Tracts #4
- The Marvelous X-Men #5
- Apocalypse and the X-Tracts #5
- Age of X-Man: Omega #1
Following the event of Age of X-Man, reconnect with Uncanny X-Men with the last two issues:
- Uncanny X-Men #21-22
