SPOILERS: Major X-Men and X-family deaths through the end of the Muir Island Saga. Nothing beyond where I'm reading right now.

SPOILERS: Major X-Men and X-family deaths through the end of the Muir Island Saga. Nothing beyond where I'm reading right now. Going back through the Mutant Massacre gave me another idea. I wanted to put some of the main deaths from my X-Men reading in one place, with a smaller breakdown of how they died and what was happening around them. Some were X-Men, some were friends, and some were people whose lives had become tangled up with the team. This isn't every single death, but these are some of the ones worth stopping on. THUNDERBIRD: JOHN PROUDSTAR John barely got any time with the new X-Men before he was gone. During the fight with Count Nefaria, he climbed onto Nefaria's escaping aircraft and kept trying to bring it down. He wouldn't let go, even with Xavier trying to get him to stop. The aircraft exploded with him still on it. That was an early reminder that being recruited onto this team didn't mean you were going to survive it. His death also left his brother James with a lot to carry. (X-Men #95.) THE MORLOCKS The Mutant Massacre is the obvious one here. The Marauders hunted down people who were already living underground to get away from a world that didn't want them. Tommy was killed after being followed back toward their home. Annalee and children in her care were murdered. Piper was another of the named victims, alongside many others we barely got to know. (Uncanny X-Men #210–212 and the crossover.) CYPHER: DOUG RAMSEY Doug died protecting Rahne. The New Mutants were trying to help Bird-Brain and the Ani-Mates when the Ani-Mator fired at Wolfsbane. Doug got her out of the way and took the bullet himself. His ability was understanding language, not surviving gunfire. He was still the one who stepped in. Then you have the others trying to deal with losing him, especially Warlock, who didn't even understand death the way they did. (New Mutants #60.) CANDY SOUTHERN Candy wasn't a superhero, but she mattered to Warren and had been part of this world for a long time. Cameron Hodge abducted her and subjected her to experiments. When Warren reached her, Hodge disconnected her life support and killed her in front of him. The rescue came too late. It's another reason Hodge belongs in the conversation when we're talking about how vicious these enemies were. (X-Factor #34.) MADELYNE PRYOR Madelyne's story ended in Inferno with her final confrontation with Jean. She tried to take Jean down with her, and Jean survived while Madelyne died. By then we'd watched Madelyne go from someone building a life with Scott to the Goblin Queen, with Sinister's manipulation and everything about her identity coming out. I've already talked about the Phoenix side of this, but she belongs on this list too. (X-Factor #38.) SUNDER AND DESTINY These were losses from the Reavers' attack on Muir Island, not the Mutant Massacre. Sunder had survived the massacre. Pretty Boy killed him during this later attack. Destiny died during the same crisis at Legion's hands, with the Shadow King's influence involved. Those are two different deaths in the middle of a situation that was already getting completely out of control. (Uncanny X-Men #254–255.) WARLOCK Warlock was already badly depleted during X-Tinction Agenda, and he used more of what he had left helping his friends. Hodge then tried to take his shape-changing abilities. Warlock didn't survive what Hodge did to him. Rahne tried to intervene, but she couldn't save him. After everything with Doug, losing Warlock too meant losing both halves of a friendship that had been such a big part of the New Mutants. (New Mutants #95.) Two others need a distinction: Phoenix's death on the moon was originally presented as Jean's death, but I've already reached the revelation that the original Jean was in the cocoon. And the X-Men's sacrifice in Dallas really happened, but Roma restored them immediately afterward. Those stories still count as major losses the characters experienced, but I'm not putting them on a list of people who are still dead at this point. That's where I'm stopping. If something changes later, I'll get to it when I read it.