The Morlocks

The Morlocks The Morlocks enter Uncanny X-Men in #169–170 (1983), written by Chris Claremont with pencils by Paul Smith and inks by Bob Wiacek. Beneath Manhattan, the X-Men discover a mutant community living in tunnels and an abandoned Cold War shelter known as the Alley. Their introduction begins with Angel’s abduction. Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Kitty Pryde descend below the subway to find him, gradually realizing how many people inhabit this hidden world. The rescue takes them into a society with its own leader, loyalties, and rules for settling challenges to authority. Callisto explains that the people gathered here have been rejected and hunted on the surface. Their name comes from the underground inhabitants of H. G. Wells’s The Time Machine. Shelter and belonging are central to their identity, even as Callisto’s treatment of Angel makes the immediate encounter violent. Callisto, Caliban, Sunder, Masque, and Plague give this first story several distinct faces. Around them is a much larger community. Following those five figures, and the leadership change in #170, shows how quickly this underground world becomes part of the X-Men’s story.