Chris Claremont

Apocalypse returns for his most ambitious scheme — gathering twelve mutants whose combined power will make him a god. The Twelve saga brings together storylines that had been building for years as the X-Men race to prevent Apocalypse from achieving ultimate power. The event has lasting consequences including the merging of Cyclops and Apocalypse, setting up one of the most dramatic X-Men storylines of the early 2000s.

The gathering storm before Inferno — the buildup to one of the most emotionally devastating X-Men crossovers ever told. Madelyne Pryor's descent into madness as the Goblin Queen, the demonic corruption of New York, and the secrets of Sinister's manipulations are all set up across the X-line in these central prelude stories. The relationships between Cyclops, Jean Grey and Madelyne reach a breaking point that would define X-Men continuity for decades.