THIS IS NOT THE WORLD YOU KNOW!

In the beginning of 1995, a four part story took place, where Xavier's all-powerful son Legion travelled 20 years back in time, to kill Magneto and help his father's dream. However, four X-Men were taken back with him, and despite their valiant efforts to stop him, he still got his one shot at the X-Men's deadliest foe. This was when the Xavier of that time threw himself in the way, to save the life of his best friend, and died in his place. History was altered, and without Xavier, the world became a very different place. For the Age Of Apocalypse storyline, all the x-titles mutated for four months:

In addition to these temporary transformations, two one-shots (X-Men:Prime and X-Men:Omega) and a two-part limited series (X-Universe) were also introduced, to help carry the saga. The generalisation of the storyline is as follows:

When Xavier was killed by Legion's psionic blade, and the Magneto of that time tried to protect himself with his powers, Apocalypse detected this mutant activity. This caused him to move his plans ahead of schedule, rather than waiting 20 years.This meant there was no Xavier, and no X-Men to stand in his way. However, when Xavier died, and the past was altered, not all the X-Men vanished. Bishop, who was already a temporal aborration, remained, with his mind fractured. He spent the next twenty years wandering America. Twenty years later, Apocalypse ruled America, and humans were hearded into concentration camps.

While many mutants were under Apocalypse's rule, Magneto had gathered together a band of mutants, and operating from Xavier's mansion, named them the X-Men. While the mutants known as Rogue, Quicksilver, Sabretooth & Wildchild, Blink, Storm, Banshee, Morph, Sunfire, Exodus, Dazzler, Nightcrawler, and Iceman operated as Magneto's X-Men, Shadowcat and Colossus acted as teachers to Generation Next - Chamber, Husk, Skin, Know-It-All, Vincente, and Mondo. Gambit lead a team of outlaws, comprising of Jubilee, Sunspot, Guido, and Lila Cheney, while Weapon X operated with his lover, Jean Grey. Forge travelled with his companions, posing as circus performers, to better train young Nate Grey as the ultimate weapon against Apocalypse. Bishop came across the X-men during a battle between them and some of Apocalypse's army mebers, the Infinates. He told Magento of how this world was wrong, and that Xavier should never have died.

 

Magneto took Bishop on his word, and while Rogue and a team went to stop a culling, he sent Nightcrawler in search of his mother Mystique so that he might find Destiny. He also sent Generation Next to rescue Illyanna Rasputin, and The Externals to steal a piece of the M'Kraan Crystal. They all went about on their missions, but while they did so, Apocalypse attacked the mansion, which was only occupied by Magneto and Bishop. Magneto was taken to be held prisoner by Apocalypse himself, while Bishop was taken to have his mind torn apart by The Shadow King. Nanny escaped into the Morlock tunnels with Magneto and Rogue's son charles, but was stopped by Guido, who was being manipulated by Rictor. Most of the others were successful in their missions except as well as Guido defecting, Sunspot died, and Gambit lost the M'Kraan crystal fragment. Also, Colossus and Shadowcat lost their students saving Illyanna, and Nate Grey lost Forge and his friends to Mr Sinister. While Dazzler and Exodus went into the tunnels to save Gambit and search for Charles, Quicksilver found out from Angel where Magneto and Bishop were being held. Bishop was saved by Quicksilver and Storm, although it cost Banshee his life. With that, Rogue led them all in a final attack to rescue Magneto and Charles, and set the world right again. Most of them died, but they successfully sent Bishop back in time with the aid of Illyanna, Destiny, and the crystal, and he saved Xavier's life putting the world right again. Normal X-Men continuity was set right again, with four new characters surviving from the Age Of Apocalypse - Nate Grey (X-Man), Sugar Man (In charge of the plant where Illyanna was held), Nemesis (Apocalypse's son) and Dark Beast (the genetisist working for Sinister). Despite the fact it's been almost five years since the AOA, the four have remained major characters the current x-continuity.

Something else that survived from the AOA was a wave of Blink fans. The Blink of the mainstream marvel universe died very shortly after her introduction, and fans immediately took to the AOA Blink that was introduced a few months later. The demand for Blink's return continues to grow, although it remains to be seen if it will come to pass.