Mutant Massacre: How a 1986 X-Men Story Changed Marvel Forever The Mutant Massacre saw the Marauders slaughter the Morlocks and left the X-Men broken, reshaping Marvel Comics and its mutant heroes for decades to come. The Mutant Massacre, a landmark X-Men storyline published in 1986, saw a group of mutants targeted for death not by humans but by their fellow mutants. The attack on the Morlocks in their Manhattan tunnels left Colossus a quadriplegic, Nightcrawler in a coma, Kitty Pryde trapped in her phased form and Angel without his wings, forever changing Marvel's mutant heroes. The Rise of the X-Men in the 1980sThe early 1980s were an amazing time to be an X-Men fan. In 1980, readers got The Dark Phoenix Saga, and Days of Future Past followed just a few issues later. Two of the best Marvel stories ever hit readers one after another and no one could look away.The X-Men became the biggest superteam in the land, thanks to legendary writers like Chris Claremont and Louise Simonson. Artists were a key part of that success, bringing stories to life and adding new perspectives and novel ideas to the process.Characters such as Wolverine, Rogue, Storm, Sabretooth, Mystique, Mister Sinister, Nightcrawler, Magneto and Cyclops all became more fleshed out and interesting. Most important, though, were the stories themselves. Even the best writers and artists working on the most interesting characters could not succeed without good stories.Claremont teamed with artists Dave Cockrum, Paul Smith, John Romita Jr., Alan Davis, Barry Windsor-Smith and numerous others to build the team and its villains into something special. He also rebuilt the central conflict of the X-Men, with human and mutant relations taking center stage.The Morlocks and the Mutant MassacreInto this world came the Morlocks, the ugliest mutants, the ones who had no hope of ever fitting in with the surface world, forced to eke out a living in the sewers of Manhattan. They began as enemies of the team, monsters in the sewers paying back a world that cast them out, but over time they became more sympathetic as victims of humanity's racism.Between 1980 and 1986, Claremont and Simonson had created a good equilibrium for the X-Men, the New Mutants and X-Factor. It was a fun status quo that allowed them to tell exciting stories. However, one of the best parts of the 1980s X-books was the way creators were always willing to smash that status quo and send the narrative in bold new directions.The Mutant Massacre did exactly that. The story saw the Marauders attack the Morlock Tunnels, leading the various mutant teams, Power Pack, Thor and Daredevil to come to their aid.It delivered the first major Sabretooth and Wolverine fight. Angel lost his wings, Kitty Pryde was trapped in her phased form, Colossus was injured and left a quadriplegic, and Nightcrawler was left in a coma. It was one of the most traumatic moments in X-Men history, blitzing the team and readers with the darkest story of the decade so far.Breaking the X-Men ApartThe first five years of the 1980s were about building the team up, and the last five were about tearing them down. The Mutant Massacre was the first part of a cycle of stories that would see Claremont and Simonson break everything they had been building.The destruction of the Morlocks was the first major loss for the team in a while, and worse, it left them and their allies completely broken. They had not only lost the battle but had been badly hurt.Colossus, Nightcrawler and Kitty Pryde took a backseat. Kurt and Kitty left the team alongside Rachel Summers and formed Excalibur. Colossus dropped the role of team strong man to Rogue, and Psylocke finally joined them full time, with Havok and Polaris stepping up down the road.The story had major repercussions for X-Factor as well. The loss of Angel's wings led Warren to the depths of depression, ending with him attempting to commit suicide. Along with the Morlock Plague, he was transformed into one of the Horsemen of Apocalypse. The Egyptian mutant had been around as a big bad, but it would be the Horsemen of Apocalypse story that would make the villain into a superstar.Mister Sinister's Hidden RoleIt would later be revealed that the Marauders did not just decide to attack the Morlocks out of nowhere. They were working for Mister Sinister, who at the time had not actually appeared yet. To him, the Morlocks were a useless genetic dead end, so they did not deserve to live.The Mutant Massacre proved that the X-Men were ready for the biggest spotlight in the Marvel Universe. It not only changed the team forever but also set the stage for the darker, more complex mutant stories that would define the years to come.