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Earth X is a 1999 comic book limited series published by American company Marvel Comics. Earth X was written by Jim Krueger with art by John Paul Leon. Based on Alex Ross' notes, the series features a dystopian version of the Marvel Universe.

The series was followed by two sequels, Universe X and Paradise X, and a prequel, Marvels X. The universe of Earth X is designated as Earth-9997 in the Marvel Comics multiverse.

The Earth X incarnation of Spider-Man made his cinematic debut in the 2023 feature film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, depicted as a member of Miguel O'Hara's Spider-Society.

Characters (Earth X and Universe X)

Uatu – Uatu has been blinded and has not been able to watch the Earth for twenty years, and has become very nihilistic and callous.
Machine Man – A transparent Machine Man has become the New Watcher after Uatu became blind, and ultimately renders Uatu useless by removing his source of hearing, annoyed at his assurance at the heroes' defeat.

Avengers

Steve Rogers / Captain America – Steve Rogers / Captain America is 100 years old and showing his age, although still in physically good shape. He has become a broken, haunted man who struggles to maintain hope in defending the nation whose name he bears. He bears an A-shaped scar on his forehead.
T'Challa / Black Panther – T'Challa / Black Panther was mutated into a humanoid panther.
Bruce Banner / Hulk – Hulk has been separated from Bruce Banner, who was transformed into a child, while Hulk devolved into an ape-like creature. Banner was blinded by his transformation, but can see through Hulk's eyes.
Carol Danvers / Ms. Marvel – Ms. Marvel assisted Mar-Vell in fighting Death.
Thor – Thor is now a woman due to Loki tricking Odin into thinking that Thor needs to learn humility as a female.

Avenging Host

After Mar-Vell killed Death, he reshapes part of the Realm of the Dead into a paradise and selected a group of dead heroes to be its guardians called the Avenging Host. Most of its members have an angel-like appearance.

Blackagar Boltagon / Black Bolt – After trying to stop Maximus from detonating the Terrigen Crystal Bomb, he died in battle against the Celestials.
Victor Von Doom / Doctor Doom – Doom possesses metallic skin. He is later killed in an explosion.
Hank Pym / Giant-Man – Absorbing Man kills him by impaling him on the Washington Monument.
Clint Barton / Hawkeye – Clint Barton / Hawkeye was mutated to have two additional sets of arms. Absorbing Man kills him by absorbing rubber and deflecting his arrows back at him.
Tony Stark / Iron Man – Fearing mutation, Stark isolates himself in a sterile environment, remotely controlling his Iron Man suits.
Matt Murdock / Daredevil – He and Elektra Natchios are killed by Bullseye.
Phoenix Force – In death, the Phoenix Force adopts a appearance similar to Jean Grey.

Fantastic Four

The Fantastic Four no longer exist with the exception of Invisible Woman.

Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic – Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic wears Doctor Doom's armor and inhabits his castle. In Universe X, he donates an arm for Alicia Master to sculpt in the image of Susan Storm-Richards and the two are reunited. In Paradise X, he becomes the New Eternity.
Susan Storm / Invisible Woman – Invisible Woman accepted her fate and ultimately learned to live in the dystopian society, in addition to never return to her home.
Ben Grimm / Thing – Thing married Alicia Masters and they have two children, Buzz and Chuck (collectively known as the Brothers Grimm).
Johnny Storm / Human Torch - The Human Torch was killed by Namor snapping his neck.

X-Men

Charles Xavier / Professor X – Charles Xavier / Professor X died at the beginning of the mutations when the Skull's power manifestation caused a psychic backlash and the X-Men disbanded. His spirit later aided Mar-Vell in fighting Death.
Warren Worthington / Archangel – Archangel lost his fortune and became a literal "guardian angel".
Sean Cassidy / Banshee – Banshee was killed by Black Tom Cassidy. His spirit later aided Mar-Vell in fighting Death.
Hank McCoy / Beast – Beast's fur became white and he moved to Wakanda to work under Black Panther.
Nathan Summers / Cable – Cable fully succumbed to the techno-organic virus and took refuge in Sentinel City.
Piotr "Peter" Rasputin / Colossus – Colossus became the Czar of Russia.
Scott Summers / Cyclops – Cyclops, under a new identity called Mr. S, becomes the leader of a new team of X-Men to help Captain America.
Alison Blaire / Dazzler – Dazzler was killed by Mephisto in retaliation for Mar-Vell killing Death.
Alex Summers / Havok – Havok joined his father Corsair in space following Professor X's death.
Robert "Bobby" Drake / Iceman – Iceman is trapped in his ice form and was forced to move to a colder climate. He built a city at the North Pole.
Katherine "Kitty" Pryde / Shadowcat – Kitty was killed when protecting Colossus from a bullet that was meant for him at the time when he could not shift to his metal form.
Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler – Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler is a shadow of his former self and has become a demon after being tricked by Mephisto. After losing his arm, Nightcrawler becomes Belasco, the Lord of Limbo.
Jean Grey – A woman who appears to be Jean is now married to Wolverine and the Phoenix Force resides in the Realm of the Dead. It is unclear how Jean could be alive when the Skull's emergence apparently killed all other telepaths. Later in the Earth X series as she is leaving Wolverine, the woman states that she is in fact Madelyne Pryor.
Longshot – Longshot went missing and not even X-51 can find him.
Jamie Madrox / Multiple Man – Multiple Man ended up with the Wendigo curse after cannibalizing one of his duplicates due to a food shortage.
Nate Grey – Nate was infected by the techno-organic virus and became Stryfe. He battled Cable and died trying to protect Madelyne Pryor.
Lorna Dane / Polaris – Polaris leaves with Havok to join Corsair in space.
Anna Marie / Rogue – According to X-51, Rogue was killed by a kiss that killed Gambit as well. However, Beast recounts that Rogue was so grief-stricken by Gambit's death that she sought a cure for her mutant ability through Sauron (who ended up taking her life as well as her powers). The details of either of these two accounts, or if they are related or not, remains to be substantiated.
Ororo Munroe / Storm – Ororo Munroe / Storm marries T'Challa / Black Panther and becomes the Queen of Wakanda.
John Proudstar / Thunderbird – John Proudstar / Thunderbird is seen in the Realm of the Dead talking with Professor X.
James "Logan" Howlett / Wolverine – Wolverine is married to the woman claiming to be Jean Grey. He is overweight and appears to be drunk despite his healing factor. With help from Machine Man, he discovers that he is a descendant of Moon-Boy's species.

New X-Men

This is the new incarnation of the X-Men that is led by Cyclops. They were former members of the second Daredevil's circus:

Charmer – Charmer can create energy constructs in the shape of snakes. She has feelings for her new mentor, which remains unrequited.
Dogface – Dogface is implied to be a mutated dog living in Wakanda. He was the Dog-Faced Boy before joining the X-Men.
Double-Header – Double-Header is a two-headed human.
Mermaid – Mermaid has mutated a fish tail giving her the appearance of a mermaid. She is able to "swim" in the air.
Tower – Tower is a giant human.

Other heroes

Brian Braddock / Captain Britain – Brian Braddock / Captain Britain is the king of Britain.
Christopher Summers / Corsair – Christopher Summers / Corsair is joined by Alex Summers / Havok and Lorna Dane / Polaris in space.
Daredevil – Following the death of the original Daredevil, a man with a powerful healing factor (who Thing believes to be Wade Wilson / Deadpool) has taken his name and performs as a circus stunt-man, using his powers to overcome horrific injuries.
Devil Dinosaur and Moon-Boy – Devil Dinosaur and Moon-Boy are both dead. Their corpses are found on the Blue Area of the Moon.
Doc Samson – Doc Samson becomes a psychiatrist of the Skull. He is killed when the Skull uses his powers to make Samson rip his body apart.
Stephen Strange / Doctor Strange – Doctor Strange is killed in his astral form by Clea, who then allies herself with Loki. His body is looked after by Wong. Mar-Vell later restores his astral form enabling Doctor Strange to return to life.
Kevin Plunder / Ka-Zar – Ka-Zar mutates to have the head of a Smilodon.
Luke Cage – Luke Cage fights crime as a police officer.
Mar-Vell – Mar-Vell is reborn as a child and goes on a crusade to gather various powerful artifacts in order to create a paradise. Captain America joins him on his quest.
Namor McKenzie / Namor the Sub-Mariner – Namor is cursed by Franklin Richards for killing Human Torch. One side of his body burns when in contact with air forcing him to remain in the ocean.
Kyle Richmond / Nighthawk – Kyle Richmond / Nighthawk's eyes, given by a disguised Mephisto, allow him to see into the future. He dictates what he sees to his colleague Isaac Christians so that a record can be kept of what will become of history.
Hobie Brown / Prowler – Hobie Brown / Prowler possesses a piece of Absorbing Man following his rampage in Washington DC.
Rom – Rom is stranded in Limbo and is forced to fight Dire Wraiths constantly. He is referred to as "the greatest Spaceknight".
The Micronauts  - referred to as the "ant-men"
Shanna O'Hara / Shanna the She-Devil – Shanna O'Hara / Shanna the She-Devil mutates to resemble a humanoid leopard.
Peter Parker / Spider-Man – Peter Parker, losing his wife Mary Jane Watson and publicly revealed as Spider-Man, retires, figuring he is no longer needed in this world of powers. However, he leaps into action once again after his daughter had been turned into a slave of the Skull.
May "Mayday" Parker / Spider-Girl – Spider-Girl has bonded with the Venom symbiote, straining her relationship with her father, though she remains fully in control.
Shiro Yoshida / Sunfire – Sunfire now rules Japan as its emperor.

Villains

Carl "Crusher" Creel / Absorbing Man – Carl "Crusher" Creel / Absorbing Man absorbs Ultron's intelligence and gains better knowledge of his abilities. He kills the Avengers until Vision infects him with a virus and shatters him. Absorbing Man is brought back by the Tong of Creel and attacks New York. He is convinced by Loki and Iron Maiden to turn his body into vibranium to save New York.
Bullseye – Bullseye is killed when Daredevil learns the Hand's body-swapping technique.
Otto Octavius / Doctor Octopus – Doctor Octopus is seen in Spider-Man's illusion on Peter Parker of which he took control.
Enforcers – The Enforcers act as the bodyguards to President Norman Osborn.
Fancy Dan – Fancy Dan mutates and becomes invisible except for his mustache.
Montana – Montana mutates and develops the ability to change his hands into lassos.
Ox – Ox mutates, taking the form of a humanoid ox (somewhat similar to a minotaur).
Norman Osborn / Green Goblin – Norman Osborn is the President. His face has mutated to resemble a goblin, but he wears a mask to look human. He is later killed by the Skull. After he is tossed from his office window, his foot catches on the flag which breaks his neck, thus killing him in a way similar to Gwen Stacy's death.
High Evolutionary – High Evolutionary uses one of his devices to convert Franklin Richards into the new Galactus.
Immortus – Immortus is the Pope of a church dedicated to himself.
Billy Russo / Jigsaw – Jigsaw commits suicide and dwells in the Realm of the Dead.
Wilson Fisk / Kingpin – Kingpin is dead and dwells in the Realm of the Dead.
Kraven the Hunter - Kraven the Hunter mutated into a humanoid lion.
Loki – Loki has figured out that the Gods (of this Marvel Earth) are instead long-lived mutants who are mind-locked by the Celestials into believing that they are immortal, never-changing gods so that they won't evolve further as mutants and potentially threaten the Celestials (as was the case with Reed Richards' son Franklin, who is so powerful as a mutant that just by believing himself to be Galactus, gained the powers and abilities of Galactus).
Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto – At the time when the Terrigen Mist is in the atmosphere, Magneto thinks he is getting a "mutant" brother through every mutation. Magneto manipulates the Sentinels into building a sanctuary called Sentinel City in the Savage Land. Due to the polar shift in the planet, he loses his power which was later gained by Toad. Toad humiliates Magneto until Iron Maiden with the help of Cable restores part of Earth's polarity giving Magneto back his power.
Calvin Zabo / Mister Hyde – Hyde appears in the Realm of the Dead as one of the mindless dead. The details of his death are unknown.
Karl Lykos / Sauron – Hank McCoy / Beast claims that, grief-stricken after killing Gambit with a kiss, Anna Marie / Rogue turns to Sauron's draining abilities in an attempt to lose her powers, but ended up losing her life as well. Whether this is true is not confirmed.
Skull – Son of Comet Man, Benjamin Buckley aka The Skull is the main antagonist of the series. An adolescent neo-Nazi, he uses his Terrigen Mist granted-telepathic powers to rule the world, taking advantage of the Mists' catastrophic effects. Captain America defeats him by snapping his neck.
Spiders Man – An African-American homeless man who mutates to a reptilian form that resembles Spider-Man's costume. He uses energy webs that can trap people in an illusion.
Ultron – His intelligence is absorbed by Carl "Crusher" Creel / Absorbing Man.
Adrian Toomes / Vulture – Adrian Toomes / Vulture mutates into his namesake minus the wings. He is associated with the Enforcers.

Other characters

Harry Osborn – Harry is seen in Spider-Man's illusion on Peter Parker of which he gained control.
J. Jonah Jameson – J. Jonah Jameson loses his job and the Daily Bugle goes out of business when Spider-Man reveals his identity as Peter Parker. Jameson later mutates into a humanoid donkey.
John Jameson – John becomes Man-Wolf. He regulates his Man-Wolf transformations with a special device created by Reed Richards that absorbs ambient sunlight, causing him to only transform at night.
Red Ronin - Decommissioned by Norman Osborn, his blueprints were used to make Iron Man's last armor.

Reception

The staff of Wizard magazine named Earth X the best comic of 1999 in its 100th issue.

Clarifications

Initially, the Earth X storyline was purported as being the future of Earth-616, but the series often substantially retconned the origins and workings of characters to better suit the story, to the point where they were no longer reconcilable with their counterparts in the mainstream Marvel Universe. One example is the revelation in Paradise X that Wolverine is not a mutant, but instead one of the few remaining "pure strain humans", free from the genetic manipulations of the Celestials (as well as a descendant of Moon-Boy). Marvel editors solved these discrepancies by officially declaring that anything stated in Earth X would not be considered canonical. It is later revealed in issue #11 of Paradise X that the events shown in the series are not set in an alternative future, but rather an alternative present (the issue reveals that Paradise X is set in 2003, the year of publication).

The Paradise X series was never properly concluded, due to editorial interference midway through its publication. Due to dwindling sales, the X and A specials, which were intended to be double-sized issues, were both reduced to 22 pages and the intended ending was never used. Writer Jim Krueger expressed dismay at the loss of pages and not being able to use the original ending. In the intended ending, Captain America, suspecting Captain Marvel's treachery, would have killed Marvel just as Marvel put the energy wall around the universe to keep out the Celestials and Elders. At this final moment, having ascended to the throne of Paradise, Captain America would have realized that Marvel's intentions were good: "Cap would have sat on the throne, completely unworthy of it. And this, this would have been the final testing necessary to make Cap worthy of it".

Collected editions

In September 2005, Marvel released a 592-page hardcover deluxe edition of Earth X. This edition included the Earth X regular series, the #0 and #X bookends, the #1 / 2 issue (drawn by artist Bill Reinhold) and the Epilogue, plus extras pulled from the Graphitti hardcover, Marvel's trade paperback and the sketchbooks.

The various volumes include:

Earth X (hardcover, September 2005, , softcover, January 2001, , July 2006, )
Universe X:
Volume 1 (softcover, February 2002, , December 2006, )
Volume 2 (softcover, June 2002, , March 2007, )
Paradise X:
Volume 1 (softcover, October 2003, , August 2007, )
Volume 2 (softcover, December, 2003, , September 2007, )

Accompanying volumes include:

Earth X Trilogy Companion (collects Earth X #1 / 2, background material and sketches, 200 pages, October 2007, )

In other media

Many elements of the storyline were adapted in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
The franchise’s incarnation of Moon Knight is visually inspired by the Universe X version of the character.
Earth X was cited as a major inspiration for the film, Eternals, including the Eternals and Deviants' origins and the revelation of Earth harboring a Celestial seed.
The Shalla-Bal incarnation of Silver Surfer appeared in The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
The Earth X incarnation of Spider-Man makes a cameo appearance in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse as a member of Miguel O'Hara's Spider-Society.
The Shalla-Bal incarnation of Silver Surfer, based on her The Fantastic Four: First Steps appearance, appears as a playable character in Marvel Future Fight.

References

External links

Read Earth X #1 online
Infinite Ammo: Greatest Graphic Novels Review