Being a teenager’s tough, but being a super-powered mutant sucks even more. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby introduced the strangest super-heroes of all time in 1963, a group a genetic freaks just trying to make their way in the world. The X-Men challenged racism and feelings of social alienation, making it captivating reading for geeks who no one loves. It took almost a decade, though, for the X-Men to conquer the comic book world. After barely escaping cancellation, Len Wein and Dave Cockrum launched the all-new, all-different X-Men in 1975 with a multicultural team. Chris Claremont took over the series for almost two decades, building the X-Men into one of the largest comic book franchises, penning the team’s greatest stories and defining its greatest characters.