New X-Men (2001 series)

The full run of Morrison's New X-Men consisted of eight full story arcs with one issue designed to be read in between the first and second arcs, as all stories in New X-Men are largely interconnected and tell a long-form narrative.

• "E Is for Extinction" (#114-116, illustrated by Frank Quitely) - The opening arc begins after the destruction of Genosha. Cassandra Nova makes her presence felt and Emma Frost returns to the team.
• "The Man From Room X" (Annual 2001, illustrated by Leinil Francis Yu) - A Chinese army officer, Ao Jun, is concluding the secret sale of a powerful captive mutant, Kuan-Yin Xorn, with John Sublime. To prevent that sale, Domino, of Asia's X-Corporation, is welcoming the X-Men at Hong Kong. Sublime is there promoting his U-Men, humans with grafted mutant organs. When Xorn contemplates committing suicide, which due to his mutation would destroy Hong Kong, Cyclops attempts to persuade him to instead join the X-Men.
• "Imperial" (#118-126, illustrated by Ethan Van Sciver, Frank Quitely and Igor Kordey) - Delving deeper into the motivations of Cassandra Nova, this story further fleshed out the makeup of the Xavier Institute's student body by introducing new students such as Angel Salvadore and Beak, as well as giving a more in-depth focus on the Stepford Cuckoos and the U-Men.
• "New Worlds" (#128-133, illustrated by Igor Kordey, John Paul Leon, Phil Jimenez and Ethan Van Sciver) - In the aftermath of both the Genoshan genocide and Cassandra Nova's revelation of Professor X's mutant powers, as well as his school's function as a mutant haven, the X-Men must try to broker peace amidst rising human/mutant tensions, while still combating the mutant threats arising worldwide. This story arc not only dealt with the fallout of Genosha's destruction, but also began the psychic affair shared by Cyclops and Emma Frost.
• "Riot at Xavier's" (#135-138, illustrated by Frank Quitely) - This arc is centered around Quentin Quire, who is fleshed out as a super-intelligent young teenager that is a pupil of Professor X's mutant school at the X-Mansion. When he finds out he is adopted, and a mutant celebrity called Jumbo Carnation is killed by anti-mutant racists, Quire begins to mock Xavier's pacifistic teachings, hero-worships the mutant supremacist Magneto, and assembles a gang of militant classmates to kill humans in retaliation. Their rage is fueled by consumption of the fictional drug "Kick", which supercharges their mutant abilities.
• "Murder at the Mansion" (#139-141, illustrated by Phil Jimenez) - After finding her husband in a "mental" sexual relationship with Emma Frost, Jean thrusts Cyclops out of the shared mindscape in order to quarrel with Emma. Using the power of the Phoenix, Jean burns through Emma's psychic defenses, ultimately revealing her hidden past. As Jean is about to discover whether or not Scott was physically unfaithful to his wife during an assignment in Hong Kong, he breaks into the room containing Jean and Emma and demands that Jean search his mind for the answer. As Jean understands that her husband's affair was not physical, Cyclops leaves the mansion. Hours later, Beast discovers Emma Frost's crystalline remains, shattered in a million pieces. Bishop arrives to investigate her death, in which every member of the X-Men is suspect.
• "Assault on Weapon Plus" (#142-145, illustrated by Chris Bachalo) - Cyclops, who has recently left the X-Men after his psychic affair with Emma Frost was exposed, is found by Wolverine drinking at the Hellfire Club, and is contemplating quitting the X-Men. Incidentally, Sabretooth is also dining at the facility. Wolverine is aggressive toward Sabertooth, but is unable to escalate an argument into a conflict because it is against the rules of the Hellfire Club for patrons to fight within the building. Fantomex arrives and convinces both Cyclops and Wolverine to join him in breaking into the Weapon Plus installation floating in orbit around the Earth.

It is in this story that Wolverine discovers most of the details of his past (although they are not revealed to the reader), and where it is discovered that Weapon X is actually Weapon Ten. Weapon Plus is also discovered to go back to at least World War II, with their first program revealed to be Operation: Rebirth which created the original Captain America (who is designated by the program as Weapon I).

• "Planet X" (#146-150, illustrated by Phil Jimenez) - Jean Grey, Beast, and Emma Frost leave the X-Mansion while Xorn forces the newest member of the "Special Class", Dust, to attack Professor X and destroy Cerebra. Confronting Xavier, Xorn imprisons Dust in a jar to keep her from helping the professor, and then removes his mask, to reveal that he is Magneto in disguise. Magneto, enjoying the lack of progress Xavier has made in improving mutantkind's lot since his "death" (partly due to his manipulations), has begun to teach his militant anti-human philosophy to the Special Class while indulging in the mutant-power enhancing drug Kick, supplied to him by his helper, Esme of the Stepford Cuckoos.
• "Here Comes Tomorrow" (#151-154, illustrated by Marc Silvestri) - In the far future, human X-Man Tom Skylark evades a pack of Crawlers (foot soldiers genetically engineered from Kurt Wagner's DNA, along with the powers of other X-Men, namely Madrox, Scott Summers, and others) amongst the ruins of the X-Mansion. His Sentinel partner, Rover, dispatches the Crawlers. Tom is met by E.V.A., a representative of the Xavier Institute, now an interspecies organization. Together, they transport the Phoenix Egg, found on the moon, to the X-Men's secure headquarters in the Manhattan Crater. But a Crawler has hitched a ride inside the compound, replicating itself with Multiple Man DNA and attacking with the force of an army with Cyclops' DNA. E.V.A. and Tom are rescued by the efforts of a bird-man named Tito (descended from Beak), but the Phoenix Egg is teleported back to the Crawlers' master and creator: The Beast, a white-haired Henry McCoy.

It is in the final act of this arc that Jean, using the Phoenix Force, allows Scott to return to the X-Men and begin a life with Emma Frost in an act of compassion and love, as well as ensuring that the future in which she now resides never comes to pass.

Some of the more long-lasting changes occurred during Morrison's run. The secondary mutation of Beast resembles a lion-like creature rather than his former ape-like appearance. Emma Frost was introduced as a member of the team. The ties between Jean Grey and the Phoenix (retconning the retcon) were revisited and the death of Phoenix occurs in Morrison's run. The school expanded from simply a training center to a legitimate school with dozens of mutant students, a story idea that was first explored in the X-Men film.[2] One of the more controversial events of New X-Men happened in issue #115 when the island of Genosha and its inhabitants, including Magneto, were completely destroyed. This set the tone that dominated the rest of Morrison's tenure on the book.[1]

In June 2004, Chuck Austen, previously the writer of Uncanny X-Men, moved to New X-Men with issue #155. The title of the series reverted to its original title of X-Men in July 2004 with issue #157 during the "X-Men Reload" event.

• Greene, Darragh. (2015) "'Here Comes Tomorrow': The Ethics of Utopianism in Grant Morrison's New X-Men." ImageTexT 8.2 Web journal.