X-Men Extended Headcanon, Season 7: Messiah Complex

The X-Men franchise has had a few animated series, and is on their way to a sixth live action movie. But how would you put together a ten season live action show with continuity and including the best stories from the various X-books over the years?

​The events of the last season brought the mutant population from millions to 198. Despair ran through the Xavier school, the ashes of Genosha, Mutant Town and beyond. This season Beast tries to come up with a way to bring the species back from the brink of extinction.

Look at all them pretty graves.
Art by Marc Silvestri and Stjepan Stejic

Season Seven: Messiah Complex
(showrunners Peter David and Mike Carey)

Backup of the first six episodes: Endangered Species
(written by Mike Carey, Christopher Yost, and Christos Gage, art by Scot Eaton, Mark Bagley, Mike Perkins, Tom Grummet, and Andrea Divito)

Beast goes across the globe in search of a solution to the decimation crisis, running into a slew of villains, old friends, and surprises along the way.


Episode 1: New Avengers The Collective
(written by Brian Michael Bendis, art by Steve McNiven and Mike Deodato)

The Avengers know all about what happened during House Of M so they’re super worried when a new cosmic entity shows up in Alaska that appears to be a mutant. What it is is much, much worse.

The Collective. 1 episode



Serial 1: X-Factor Life & Death Matters, X-Factor Many Lives Of Madrox, Heart Of Ice
(written by Peter David, art by Pablo Raimondi, Ariel Olivetti, Dennis Calero, Renato Arlem, and Roy Allen Martinez)

The heart of the post House Of M world is X-Factor. Peter David’s decision to draw from the event and then only skirt around the other crossovers works really well, making this book much more engaging than any of the other X-books. In these two volumes they deal with mutant terrorist cells, the truth behind Decimation, the enigmatic Layla Miller, and the X-Men who really want them to pick aside in Civil War.

The Many Lives Of Madrox. 5 episodes



Serial 2: Messiah Complex
(written by Ed Brubaker, Mike Carey, Peter David, Craig Kyle, and Christopher Yost, art by Marc Silvestri, Billy Tan, Chris Bachalo, Humberto Ramos, and Scot Eaton)

A mutant child is born in Alaska and every mutant and villain are fighting for control of it. Marauders. Purifiers. Reavers. Mr Sinister. Forge. Lady Deathstrike. Mystique. Pretty much everybody but Apocalypse is involved. And in the end, the X-Men are betrayed by several of their own. But at least there’s hope. Also, Madrox and Layla Miller go to the future to learn what they can. It doesn’t go well.

Messiah Complex.  6 episodes



Serial 3: X-Factor The Only Game In Town
(written by Peter David, art by Pablo Raimondi and Valentine De Landro)

X-Factor had a rough time during Messiah Complex and Madrox and Layla’s return to Mutant Town isn’t precisely restful. Plus, Quicksilver has had a rough time of it since House Of M but maybe things will finally turn around for him. Also, Val Cooper from the early X-Factor days gets some comeuppance.

The Only Game In Town. 2 episodes



Episode 14: Wolverine Get Mystique
(written by Jason Aaron, art by Ron Garney)
Mystique wreaked havoc during Messiah Complex, and Logan decides he needs to make her pay.

Get Mystique. 1 episode



Serial 5: Cable Messiah War, Cable Waiting For The End Of The World
(written by Duane Swierczynski, art by Ariel Olivetti, and Ken Lashley)

Tasked with keeping the future of mutantkind safe, Cable travels through the future with Hope but they are constantly being trailed by a certain turncoat X-Men who thinks Hope is the key to mutantkind’s extinction, not their salvation.

Waiting For The End Of The World. 2 episodes



Serial 6: X-Factor Time And A Half, X-Factor Overtime
(written by Peter David, art by Valentine De Landro and Marco Santucci)
Just when you think X-Factor couldn’t get any darker, it does. Longshot, Darwin, and Shatterstar join the team. Madrox goes back to the future and we finally learn why Layla Miller “knows stuff”.

Overtime. 3 episodes



Serial 7: Cable X-Force Messiah War
(written by Duane Swierczynski, Craig Kyle, and Christopher Yost, art by Ariel Olivetti, Jamie Mckelvie, Mike Choi, Sonia Oback, Clayton Crain, and Larry Stroman)
Returning from their adventures through time, Cable and the child are greeted by X-Force and a litany of villains still trying to claim the messiah child as their own. Remember how I said it was everybody but Apocalypse? Yea, well, Apocalypse shows up. Plus, Deadpool and Cable have some long unfinished business.
Messiah War. 2 episodes


Season seven. 22 episodes

Interseason Special: X-Men Legacy Divided He Stands, Uncanny X-Men Divided We Stand
(written by Mike Carey and Ed Brubaker, art by Scot Eaton, John Romita Jr, Billy Tan, Greg Land, Brandon Peterson, Mike Deodata, and Mike Choi)

​Having been shot by a traitorous X-Man earlier in the series, Professor X is being put back together by an unknown benefactor memory by memory. Meanwhile Cyclops and Emma Frost go to the west coast to examine the future of mutantkind.