The X-Men‘s history has gotten a reputation for being one of the most confusing in comics, and a big reason for that is time travel. Superhero comics love to use time travel in a variety of ways, and the men and women of X have had some of the wildest time travel stories ever. The team’s time-traveling tales made the dystopian future into a major part of the comic industry, and have helped set up one of the most trustworthy tropes in fiction: someone from a bad future coming back to stop it. The X-Men did this years before The Terminator made it popular, and as time went on, we’ve gotten more stories like this. Sometimes, it’s worked, and sometimes it’s failed.
Marvel’s merry mutants have had some of the best time travel stories, but they’ve also had some of the worst. Their best time travel stories are some of the most amazing in comic history, and their worst are legendary stinkers. Here are ten of the most notable X-Men time travel stories, ranked from worst to best, a collection of stories that fans love and hate.
10) “Age of Revelation”
2024 marked the end of the Krakoa Era (which could probably be on this list, because of how important timey-wimey stuff is to it), with a new group of editors taking over. 2025 was the 30-year anniversary of “Age of Apocalypse”, so readers got “Age of Revelation”. This story saw Cyclops and Beast sent to a terrible future ruled by Revelation, the heir of Apocalypse, and fans just didn’t connect it whatsoever. “Age of Revelation” failed in numerous ways, although the aftermath might turn out well, so that’s a plus.
9) “Battle of the Atom”
After the unfairly maligned Avengers vs. X-Men, the original five X-Men were brought to the present, which led to “Battle of the Atom”. This story ran through Wolverine and the X-Men, All-New X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, andX-Men, as well as two bookend issues. It saw a group of the X-Men from the future come back to the present to convince the team to send the O5 back to the past, but the whole thing gets really complicated, really fast. This story had a fine structure and wasn’t all that confusing, but it just never came together. This is what happens when four very different creative teams have to tell a story. It’s not a terrible story, but it’s also not a great one.
8) “Days of Future Present”
“Days of Future Past” is the most important X-time travel story ever, and has had a huge effect on the comic industry. Since the story dropped, its future has become almost canon, with more of the events being fleshed out because of characters like Rachel Summers. In 1990, Marvel decided to put out “Days of Future Present”, which revolved around Franklin Richards, both in the present and the future, as Ahab comes to the present to attack the members of the X-Men, New Mutants, and the Fantastic Four. This story was taking place in the transitional period where writers Chris Claremont and Louise Simonson were being pushed out, and it’s very much an all style, no substance type of story.
7) X-Factor (Vol. 1) #65-68
Apocalypse was first introduced as the big bad of X-Factor (Vol. 1), with the villain and the team clashing numerous times. Their final battle took place in X-Factor (Vol. 1) #65-68, by Chris Claremont, Jim Lee, and Whilce Potracio. A mysterious figure from the future comes to the present just as Apocalypse kidnaps Nathan Summers, leading to Apocalypse’s first (and coolest) death. Nathan is sent to the future, infected by a techno-organic virus by En Sabah Nur, to save his life. This story is very much ’90s cheese, so it’s not exactly great, but the art is good, and it has some awesome moments. It doesn’t really stand up in 2026, but it’s still pretty okay.
6) The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix
The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix, by Scott Lobdell and Gene Ha, was a sequel of sorts to X-Factor (Vol. 1) #65-68. Published in the wake of X-Men (Vol. 2) #30, the wedding of Cyclops and Jean Grey, it followed the two heroes after they are pulled into the future by Mother Askani (their “DoFP” daughter Rachel who came back to become Phoenix II and eventually went into the future) to help raise and protect Nathan Summers, the future Cable, from the forces of Apocalypse. This story is pretty average. Lobdell can be both a great and terrible writer, and this story is basically in the middle of the quality scale. Ha’s art is cool, but he wasn’t as good as he would be in the future. All in all, it’s a story that you’ll enjoy reading, but it’s not all that memorable.
5) “Age of Apocalypse”
“Age of Apocalypse” is a legendary story, and is beloved by many fans. One of the most interesting aspects of the story is that it’s an alternate universe story and a time travel tale, all in one. After Xavier was killed in the past, a new universe was created where Apocalypse takes over the Americas and starts war with humanity, with only Bishop remembering the old world. He eventually joins up with the X-Men, under the leadership of Magneto, and the group hatches a plan to go back in time and stop Xavier’s death at the hands of his son. People love this story, but if we’re being honest, not all of it is great. While time travel plays a part in the ending, the amount of actual time-traveling in it is small, but it still counts.
4) “Past Lives”
Old Man Logan (Vol. 2) was one of the best books of a bad era of X-Men, as writer Jeff Lemire told a story of Logan getting used to the present and the changes to his life. Lemire’s final story on the book “Past Lives” saw Logan try to stop the events that caused him to kill the X-Men by time travel, powered by the magical villain Asmodeus. However, the villain instead sends him back in time and tries to sell his body. It’s a trip through the history of the character, and Lemire and artist Eric Nguyen do a fabulous job with the story, an emotional journey that changes Logan forever.
3) “Here Comes Tomorrow”
Grant Morrison’s New X-Men is legendary. It definitely lived up to its name, as the writer took the standard tropes of the team and used them in new ways. That extended to the final story of their run, “Here Comes Tomorrow”, with artist Marc Silvestri. This story took place a hundred years after New X-Men #150. The Earth has been ruined by the Beast of the Apocalypse, with a small team of X-Men getting their hands on the Phoenix Egg in hopes of using Jean Grey to save everything. However, Beast is able to get his hands on it, with the team making a final desperate effort to defeat him. Morrison is in rare form here, their massive imagination coming up with one of the best alternate futures ever. Silvestri is also at his best, giving readers a time travel story that sowed the seeds for one of the X-Men’s greatest relationships.
2) “Legion Quest”
“Legion Quest” was a truly epic time travel story. The four-part tale run through Uncanny X-Men and X-Men, by Scott Lobdell, Fabian Nicieza, Andy Kubert, Roger Cruz, and Ron Garney, and told the story of Legion wanting to fix his life. However, the method he chooses is to go back in time and kill Magneto, blaming the master of magnetism for the problems Xavier had, which kept father and son apart. Storm, Bishop, Jean Grey, Psylocke, and Iceman are pulled with him, and do their best to stop him. This story hits on all cylinders, giving readers the kind of drama and action that they crave. It’s an important part of X-Men history, quality storytelling that set the stage for one of its most popular stories.
1) “Days of Future Past”
“Days of Future Past” changed comics forever. Chris Claremont and John Byrne’s classic time travel tale took readers to a future where the war between mutants and humans took a terrible turn, with the Sentinels in control of the world. The X-Men send Kate Pryde back in time to stop their future from happening, as the team in the future battled the Sentinels in a final effort. If you like dystopian future superhero stories, you can thank the popularity of this story for it. This is a classic, with great writing and gorgeous art. It’s an amazing piece of work, and one of the high points of Claremont and Byrne’s time together.
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