The Mutant Massacre takes Kurt out of the team in a particularly ugly way. He's already been having trouble after fighting Nimrod, and he goes into the tunnels anyway because pe…

The Mutant Massacre takes Kurt out of the team in a particularly ugly way. He's already been having trouble after fighting Nimrod, and he goes into the tunnels anyway because people need help. Riptide gets him in #211. Kurt can't just teleport clear, and the injuries leave him in a coma. That matters because escape is one of the first things you'd expect him to be able to do. This time his body can't give him what he needs. His friends have to get him out, and then they have to wait without knowing how much he'll recover. Kitty is badly hurt too. The two of them end up recovering on Muir Island while the active team keeps going. Then the X-Men apparently die in Dallas. Kurt survives something that nearly kills him, only to believe that many of the people he would have gone back to are gone. His move away from the main team starts with injury and loss, rather than deciding he's tired of his friends.