skippcomet wrote:

I can understand being disappointed by mostly updated entries and relatively little in the way of completely all-new material, but I think handbook fans need to keep some things in mind.  (And I speak as a fellow fan, and not on behalf of anyone involved with the production of the handbooks.)

1.  Ever since the end of the hardcover series ten years ago, the X-Men corner of Marvel is the largest ongoing and active corner that has nonetheless seen very little dedicated handbook coverage even as Handbook content became more sporadic.  Outside of the Phoenix Force Handbook (which itself had a broad reach), the most X-related content could be found in the back of a handful of X-centric trades, and most of THAT was just new and fully updated versions of previous entries, such as on Rogue, Legion, Blindfold, or Cable.  I think the only brand-new entries were on Loa, Indra, the Neo, and the Children of the Vault.  Meanwhile, thanks to the movies, Avengers-related content received the bulk of attention.

2.  The new handbook format, with its larger physical page-space requirements for both art and text, has meant fewer actual entries per handbook ever since it was introduced in 2016's All-New All-Different handbook.  We got spoiled by handbooks with 30-40 entries in the old format; now we've been averaging around 20 enties.  Also, no more half-page entries.

3.  Also with the newer format has come a curtailing of the breadth and depth of entries, with a much closer adherence to a handbook's theme.  Gone, for now, are the days where we can speculate that Beverly Switzer might get an entry just because she met some character once or twice.

4.  Themed handbooks are now centered around not just a particular character, team, or category, but either a new publishing initiative (ANAD) or a specific event.  We've been told that Marvel editorial has provided a list of required entries, and that once the space they'll need has been decided on, the writers have only so much space left to devote to other entries that they can decide on including.

With all the above, I think it was inevitable that the first new X-centric handbook in almost a decade was going to be more updates than new entries.  I'm guessing that the only way we're going to get more X-coverage is either we get more X-events, or if editorial were to green-light a dedicated Handbook series to the X-universe.  And I'd expect the former long before I'd hope for the latter.  But that's just me.

You've pretty much nailed it. We desperately wanted to include more new entries, but once we allocated space for those we had to include, there wasn't much leeway left over. Hopefully we can get more handbooks sooner rather than later, as the more frequent they are, the better the odds that we'll have enough coverage to fit in more brand new profiles.

Loki wrote:

Pinball_Lizard wrote:

Hello! This is my first post here... sort of (I had an account on the old site years ago but can't recall the information), and I'd like to ask one of the Marvel people here, if you know and are at liberty to discuss, for some clarification on something related to the Resurrection Protocols. Or, more specifically, someone: has Wallflower been resurrected?

I always liked her character, and was disappointed when she died, as it meant her interesting arc relating to her creepy dad would likely never be finished. As a victim of senseless anti-mutant violence and the girlfriend of one of the Five, she seems like she'd be a high priority for resurrection, but she's one of the few dead mutants of any real note who hasn't been seen in the Krakoa era.

This handbook says "all" deceased X-Men members have now been resurrected on Krakoa, and I was wondering if that included students as well, which would mean not only Laurie but all the Prurifier Massacre victims have returned. Yay, if so. As well, Laurie had a rather interesting recent appearance lately in Agents of Wakanda of all places, in a fantasy of being fawned over by hot chicks being had by... Broo, who never knew her when she was alive. Are we to assume he met her on Krakoa?

Looking forward to a response, if you're able to answer, thanks!

If she's not been seen on panel then there's a slight chance she's remained dead for reasons as yet unknown - but the smart money is yes, she's back. Your point about Broo is a good one - that does suggest he's met her, which would require her to have been resurrected. I suppose it's feasible he's just seen a picture and fallen for her that way, but it's more likely given the whole resurrection thing that she's back.

Thank you! Feels so good to have that settled at last. Any word on the other victims of the Purifiers' killing spree, Quill, Rubbermaid, etc.? We've seen a few of them on Krakoa - Tag, DJ, Icarus, technically Wallflower as mentioned above - and I figure it'd be weird to rez some but not all, particularly since Icarus' sheer gullibility CAUSED the entire mess I feel like he'd be... lower priority than the others, heh heh.

A couple more questions about the resurrection machine (which granting the mutant world is a revolving door still seems like a bad idea as it eliminates a lot of what little remaining suspense there is; for that matter it arguably ends Moira's quest as long as the machine remains in good shape).

1. Does the device have to be on Krakoa in order to work? I hope that's the case because it strikes me that that's the best way to recover some sense of danger; sooner or later Krakoa will probably tun on the heroes.
2. Is the mutants only rule part of the machine or a choice? Or to put it another way, could the X-Men cut a deal with Spider-Man to resurrect all his lost loved ones in exchange for his services in some matter?

One interesting thing to speculate but probably can't be answered is, if Moira were to die, would the machine work on her, or would that be impossible because she's already leaped into a new body?

Rayeye wrote:

A few questions:

I am not the right person to answer how these decisions came to be, but some thoughts about the X-Men membership IMHO.

Rayeye wrote:

About the X-Men membership:
3) I'm missing Alchemy. IIRC Cyclops told him he was an X-Man prior to his death.

Rayeye wrote:

7) Triage, Hijack, Goldballs, Morph and Tempus were Cyclops' revolutionary X-Men trainees. I wonder why they did not make it to X-Men-in-Training, since they all eventually joined the Xavier Institute.

I am  guessing that regarding points 3 and 7, as the file says, Cyclops' revolutionary team is not considered official X-Men, as they were totally against Cyclops actions, therefore Alchemy, as well as the trainees, are not part of the X-Men. When the trainees joined the Xavier Institute, they may have joined only as students, but that does not mean they are X-Men-In-Training.

Rayeye wrote:

4) What about Doop? Was he an X-Man or only part of the Jean Grey School staff (much like Deathlok Prime)?

While I think Doop  was only part of the Jean Grey School staff, I would have expected that there was a sub-team called AvX Jean Grey School  X-Men or something like that, refering to the faculty and staff that defended the school from Phoenix Colossus in Wolverine and the X-Men 14 (2012).  This provisional team included (Kitty Pryde, Lockheed, Husk, Warbird, Deathlok (Earth-10511), Doop, Toad and Krakoa)?

Maybe Loki can  share his  thoughts about this.

Rayeye wrote:

5) I guess Kid Apocalypse/Genesis should have been listed in the Time-Displaced X-Men roster.

Agreed

Rayeye wrote:

About the X-Men-In-Training membership:
6) I wonder why Broo, Crosta, Ernst, Eye Boy, Indra, Face, Hindsight, Kid Gladiator, Kid Omega, Nature Girl, Sapna, Scorpion Boy, Shark-Girl, Sprite, Wolf Cub and Ziggy Karst are not consided X-Men trainees? Could you tell me when someone is officially a trainee, because it's hard to tell in the comics when someone becomes an X-Men trainee. By the way, I feel bad for Wolf Cub not being an X-Men trainee, since he was part of the Young X-Men.

I  believe Indra, Crosta and Ernst may be a mistake not considering them X-Men-In-Training. 

Indra - I guess he was not mentioned in the last OHOTMU file of the X-Men (in the Hardcover)  as when this came out, Indra may yet to appear proactively fighting alongside the X-Men (it happened until X-Men: Legacy 226?).  However,  he was  considered an X-Man-In-Training later in two places: X-Men: Earth's  Mutant  Heroes and in Indra's OHOTMU file in X-Men: Legacy Collision TPB.

Crosta - Uncanny X-Men vol2 1 (Jan 2012) puts him as part of Team Cyclops Street Team, which are all supposed to be part of the X-Men-In-Training  (as is the case with "the Lights").

Ernst - As is the case with Glob, she was also made an X-Man-In-Training in  Extraordinary X-Men.

Face - The only appearance of Face with Cyclops team  in Utopia where he fights alongside the X-Men, is in Uncanny X-Men 542 (during the Fear Itself storyline). However other mutants helped during that battle,  such as Avalanche and Adam-X which are not considered X-Men. After that he  went with Karma to the Jean  Grey School as only a student... so he  may or may not be considered an  X-Man-In-Training?

Wolf Cub - He was a member of the Young X-Men when Donald Pierce was impersonating Cyclops as the X-Men were disbanded at the time, therefore they were not recognized as X-Men. They were recognized as X-Men-In-Training until later, in Young  X-Men 6, but Wolf Cub died in Young  X-Men 5. I know that his OHOTMU file considers in OHOTMU A-Z Update vol2 1 considers him an X-Man, but I  think that is a mistake.

The rest were all part of the Jean Grey School which  promoted that students will not be trained to be X-Men, but only students. However several of them were "called-to-arms" in Uncanny X-Men 9 (2019) by Jean? My only doubt would be Kid Omega, who graduated in Wolverine and the X-Men 42 (2014), so maybe with this graduation he could be considered an X-Man-In-Training?

Let's see  what Loki tells us about this.

Thanks to all the OHOTMU team... this was a very needed Handbook! 10 years of the last X-Men file!!!!


 

We're in the middle of proofing for King in Black handbook (and some other, non-handbook stuff we've been asked to check over) right now, so I will see about getting answers to the queries above, but it won't be immediately. As such, please feel free to bump the posts to remind me if I've not got back to you in the next week or two.

RVcousin wrote:

Loki wrote:

We're in the middle of proofing for King in Black handbook (and some other, non-handbook stuff we've been asked to check over) right now, so I will see about getting answers to the queries above, but it won't be immediately. As such, please feel free to bump the posts to remind me if I've not got back to you in the next week or two.

We have waited 10 years for this Handbook, so don't worry 😉. It's already very nice to have this Handbook and an answer one day.
Good work for the next Handbook and if you need help, I am here.

Totally agree with you, RVcousin!
 

RVcousin wrote:

Rayeye wrote:

Totally agree with you, RVcousin!
 

Thank you Rayeye.
I have noticed another missing ad-hoc X-Men team : all the mutants assembled by Beast in Uncanny X-Men #9 and 10 (2018) to face Nate Grey. They were all considered as X-Men according to Beast.

That one I can answer without checking, as I raised a similar query during the process of this book being written. The ruling came back that at the time in question only Kitty could make someone an X-Man, as at that point in time she owned the X-Men name (per Astonishing X-Men). 

 

I also want to say the profiles in this handbook are written very well! Although I really like Broo's profile, I wonder why he is in this handbook (since he was no role in X of Swords so far; same goes for Meggan).
I also wonder why in Magik's profile Magik was referred as Rasputina instead of her first name Illyana?

Rayeye wrote:

I also want to say the profiles in this handbook are written very well! Although I really like Broo's profile, I wonder why he is in this handbook (since he was no role in X of Swords so far; same goes for Meggan).
I also wonder why in Magik's profile Magik was referred as Rasputina instead of her first name Illyana?

Broo was a replacement for young Cable - we had to find someone we could fit into the available space, and wanted to include at least one character not previously covered. We figured Broo would be an interesting option. I can't recall if we'd been told if he also features more in X of Swords; I'm not the one who deals with editorial most of the time, so I don't recall who was on the list of "must haves", "good to include because they'll play a role" and "no prominent role, but it'd be nice if we could squeeze in a few more previously not-yet-covered characters."

As for Magik's entry, we've been given editorial instructions to use surnames except where that would be confusing (e.g. two characters sharing the same surname being discussed in the same profile).

warriorX wrote:

Rayeye wrote:

A few questions:

I am not the right person to answer how these decisions came to be, but some thoughts about the X-Men membership IMHO.

Rayeye wrote:

About the X-Men membership:
3) I'm missing Alchemy. IIRC Cyclops told him he was an X-Man prior to his death.

Rayeye wrote:

7) Triage, Hijack, Goldballs, Morph and Tempus were Cyclops' revolutionary X-Men trainees. I wonder why they did not make it to X-Men-in-Training, since they all eventually joined the Xavier Institute.

I am  guessing that regarding points 3 and 7, as the file says, Cyclops' revolutionary team is not considered official X-Men, as they were totally against Cyclops actions, therefore Alchemy, as well as the trainees, are not part of the X-Men. When the trainees joined the Xavier Institute, they may have joined only as students, but that does not mean they are X-Men-In-Training.

Rayeye wrote:

4) What about Doop? Was he an X-Man or only part of the Jean Grey School staff (much like Deathlok Prime)?

While I think Doop  was only part of the Jean Grey School staff, I would have expected that there was a sub-team called AvX Jean Grey School  X-Men or something like that, refering to the faculty and staff that defended the school from Phoenix Colossus in Wolverine and the X-Men 14 (2012).  This provisional team included (Kitty Pryde, Lockheed, Husk, Warbird, Deathlok (Earth-10511), Doop, Toad and Krakoa)?

Maybe Loki can  share his  thoughts about this.

Rayeye wrote:

5) I guess Kid Apocalypse/Genesis should have been listed in the Time-Displaced X-Men roster.

Agreed

Rayeye wrote:

About the X-Men-In-Training membership:
6) I wonder why Broo, Crosta, Ernst, Eye Boy, Indra, Face, Hindsight, Kid Gladiator, Kid Omega, Nature Girl, Sapna, Scorpion Boy, Shark-Girl, Sprite, Wolf Cub and Ziggy Karst are not consided X-Men trainees? Could you tell me when someone is officially a trainee, because it's hard to tell in the comics when someone becomes an X-Men trainee. By the way, I feel bad for Wolf Cub not being an X-Men trainee, since he was part of the Young X-Men.

I  believe Indra, Crosta and Ernst may be a mistake not considering them X-Men-In-Training. 

Indra - I guess he was not mentioned in the last OHOTMU file of the X-Men (in the Hardcover)  as when this came out, Indra may yet to appear proactively fighting alongside the X-Men (it happened until X-Men: Legacy 226?).  However,  he was  considered an X-Man-In-Training later in two places: X-Men: Earth's  Mutant  Heroes and in Indra's OHOTMU file in X-Men: Legacy Collision TPB.

Crosta - Uncanny X-Men vol2 1 (Jan 2012) puts him as part of Team Cyclops Street Team, which are all supposed to be part of the X-Men-In-Training  (as is the case with "the Lights").

Ernst - As is the case with Glob, she was also made an X-Man-In-Training in  Extraordinary X-Men.

Face - The only appearance of Face with Cyclops team  in Utopia where he fights alongside the X-Men, is in Uncanny X-Men 542 (during the Fear Itself storyline). However other mutants helped during that battle,  such as Avalanche and Adam-X which are not considered X-Men. After that he  went with Karma to the Jean  Grey School as only a student... so he  may or may not be considered an  X-Man-In-Training?

Wolf Cub - He was a member of the Young X-Men when Donald Pierce was impersonating Cyclops as the X-Men were disbanded at the time, therefore they were not recognized as X-Men. They were recognized as X-Men-In-Training until later, in Young  X-Men 6, but Wolf Cub died in Young  X-Men 5. I know that his OHOTMU file considers in OHOTMU A-Z Update vol2 1 considers him an X-Man, but I  think that is a mistake.

The rest were all part of the Jean Grey School which  promoted that students will not be trained to be X-Men, but only students. However several of them were "called-to-arms" in Uncanny X-Men 9 (2019) by Jean? My only doubt would be Kid Omega, who graduated in Wolverine and the X-Men 42 (2014), so maybe with this graduation he could be considered an X-Man-In-Training?

Let's see  what Loki tells us about this.

Thanks to all the OHOTMU team... this was a very needed Handbook! 10 years of the last X-Men file!!!!

Thanks for your help in this, warriorX!
After re-reading the X-Men entry I think I only left wondering if Alchemy and Doop shouldn't have been listed as X-Men (though I guess Alchemy is just unofficial since it was Cyclops who made him an X-Man, at the time Cyclops' own revolutionary team wasn't considered official X-Men).

Regarding the X-Men-in-Training you're right about Triage, Tempus, Morph, Hijack and Goldballs. Eye Boy and Nature Girl were only part of the "Lovable Losers" so according to the entry not X-Men trainees, though I wonder if Eye Boy, along with Sprite, Kid Gladiator, Shark Girl and Broo, were somewhere considered X-Men trainees once (perhaps in the Wolverine & the X-Men series?). On a second thought there's no reason to believe Face, Ziggy Karst and Scorpion Boy were ever considered trainees. Left me wonder what about Kid Omega, Wolf Cub, Genesis/Kid Apocalypse and Crosta.

On a final note I remember a comic page with icons of those X-Men who lived on Utopia. At that page the main X-Men team was named the Extinction Team, Psylocke's team was called Security Recon (X-Men) and there was a Street Team with Dazzler, Boom Boom and Lifeguard as members. I wonder if these were official (sub-team) names? IIRC the Street Team was also called San Francisco Street Team in some later comic issue.

Last edited by Rayeye (11/06/2020 3:28 pm)

RVcousin wrote:

Hello guys,
About the memberships :
1) Lucid is in, as an honorary member, and I'm very happy for that, but why is she officially a member and not Fiz, Deadpool and Energizer, also "honorary members" ?

Belatedly. Can I ask what stories/issues you feel they were conferred honorary memberships in? It's tricky to confirm someone has never been offered membership, as you have to check every appearance they've ever had. Checking the specific issues that someone feels membership was conferred is a lot easier, and allows us to evaluate. 

In Deadpool's case, I know (because I just checked) that the Deadpool Wiki for example claims in their X-Men entry that Wade was made an honorary member after the events of Deadpool (2010)#16-18; however, that story actually shows the exact opposite:
And before anyone says that this was all being done for a news cameraman's benefit, Wade was in on that and playing for the camera, but Cyclops wasn't.

RVcousin wrote:

6) About Fantomex & EVA, I am agree with you, but apparently the SHIELD isn't according to SHIELD (2014) #1, where Agent Coulson lists the former members of the X-Men and mention Fantomex & EVA.

SHIELD doesn't know everything, and it's fair to say that to outside observers Fantomex hung out with the X-Men often enough that they might mistake him for being a member. 

Lonewolf36 wrote:

RVcousin wrote:

I have a question for a potential update and that could answer almost every other questions : are all the mutants fighting alongside Jean in X of Swords Destruction, full X-Men members ?

If anyone has the authority to confer X-Men status Jean and Scott should be able to and Jean says "to me my X-Men." So i would assume there X-Men until confirmed not.

Without having checked the issue, I'd agree in general, but with a caveat - it also depends on the context. For example, if Jean or Scott were in the middle of a melee with loads of X-Men and other heroes around, and were to be set upon and shout out "to me, my X-Men" as a rallying cry/call for help, then if (say) Captain America also came to her aid, he didn't just become an X-Man. When there are lots of people around, and you call for "your" ones to come to you, you can't really prevent people who are not "yours" also doing so.

So, not related to this handbook, exactly, but does anyone here know whether those one-shots spotlighting the individual Weapon Plus programs will be continuing? We got one for Weapon V and another for both IV and II, and then nothing since the pandemic began.

As noted in the general Q&A thread, I now have responses from the relevant members of the handbook team. So:

Rayeye wrote:

Finally the handbook is there! At first sight I like it, though I agree with slevin87 I hoped to see more new profiles. I like pictures/art, though Magik's main picture above her data is a bit small compared to the other profiles. I'm glad we finally got an updated X-Men roster!

A few questions:
1) Wolverine's profile states Raiden being his great-great-great-grandson (Wolverine: Exit Wounds #1) is in error. Can you tell my why it was decided it was an error? I mean Raidens mother Hoshiko is listed as a relative of Logan.

Unfortunately, you might be misreading the note - it does not state that "Raiden" is not the boy's name, not that he isn't a relative. When we found that the boy was called two names in the story we asked Chris Claremont which name is correct and here is what he said: "Boy’s name is Tatsuo, which means ‘male dragon.’ (The other name, Raiden, means 'God Spirit.’ Essentially he has two names; when I chose to use just one, I didn’t think of switching the other. My bad.)" Long story short, Chris Claremont changed his mind in the midst of making the issue and forgot to change one in the script. Tatsuo is listed in Wolverine's relatives as his great-great-great grandson.

Rayeye wrote:

About the X-Men membership:
3) I'm missing Alchemy. IIRC Cyclops told him he was an X-Man prior to his death.

Cyclops wasn't real. It was a psychic projection created by Emma Frost who called Alchemy an X-Man, but even if it had been the true Cyclops, he was not in a position of making an official declaration of membership at the time since he was on the outs with the X-Men. Same with Emma Frost.

Rayeye wrote:

4) What about Doop? Was he an X-Man or only part of the Jean Grey School staff (much like Deathlok Prime)?

Doop was never granted X-Men membership. He was a school employee, basically. The employees are not considered a sub-team.

Rayeye wrote:

5) I guess Kid Apocalypse/Genesis should have been listed in the Time-Displaced X-Men roster.

Drat. That's unfortunate. We had him listed but under "Apocalypse" - we had that removed and asked for it to be added back alphabetically as Kid Apocalypse but we must have missed that it never made it back in. That's on us and we are sorry we missed it. At least he's in the headshots, still!

Rayeye wrote:

6) I wonder why Broo, Crosta, Ernst, Eye Boy, Indra, Face, Hindsight, Kid Gladiator, Kid Omega, Nature Girl, Sapna, Scorpion Boy, Shark-Girl, Sprite, Wolf Cub and Ziggy Karst are not consided X-Men trainees? Could you tell me when someone is officially a trainee, because it's hard to tell in the comics when someone becomes an X-Men trainee. By the way, I feel bad for Wolf Cub not being an X-Men trainee, since he was part of the Young X-Men.

Not every student to attends the school is in training to become an X-Man. On top of that, the X-Men-in-Training program, in essence, was discontinued after the Schism and not reinstated. There have been some students who became X-Men since then but the last entrants to the X-Men-in-Training program/sub-team were the Lights (and the new members who joined the lights after the Schism - they were still considered trainees because they stayed behind with Cyclops' faction of the X-Men and were never promoted).

Storm's referring to the students present in Extraordinary X-Men #3 was just like the Second Coming moment for Cyclops - calling them X-Men was a way to rally them to do what needed to be done. Glob is really the only one who accepted it as official and pursued it afterward. Since it was such a huge deal for him, an exception was basically made for him to be in training for the X-Men, even though the sub-team was defunct.

Indra was not chosen to be on the trainee team of X-Men in New X-Men #23 (2006), and he went with the other students when the X-Men moved to San Francisco. His religious beliefs forbid him from violence, so joining the X-Men-in-Training wasn't really an option. However, in X-Men: Legacy #238 (2010) he is called home to Mumbai when his brother falls comatose. At the end of the story Indra disobeys his father by returning to the U.S. with the X-Men. In 2010 we interpreted that scene as Indra choosing to go back to train in the use of his powers and we listed X-Men-in-Training in his group affiliations in the profile we wrote for him in the trade paperback of the X-Men: Legacy story. However, he did not appear again until we saw him choose to follow Wolverine back to New York after the X-Men schism. All students there were not training to be X-Men and their sub-group status was (essentially) voided. We never saw him doing anything ever slightly X-Men/X-Men-in-Training related. Essentially, that means we have errata in the Indra profile. X-Men-in-Training should be stricken from his membership.

The Young X-Men were not official members of the X-Men or their sub-teams at the time Wolf Cub was around. If the X-Men offered posthumous/honorary membership, it's possible he could be honored that way. However, he was a mutant ally of some characters who eventually became X-Men or X-Men-in-Training.

Rayeye wrote:

7) Triage, Hijack, Goldballs, Morph and Tempus were Cyclops' revolutionary X-Men trainees. I wonder why they did not make it to X-Men-in-Training, since they all eventually joined the Xavier Institute.

The X-Men-in-Training program was essentially ended when Wolverine moved back to New York at the end of Schism. When those characters came to Storm's school, they became students, nothing more.

RVcousin wrote:

Hello guys,
First of all and most importantly, thank you, thank you, thank you. 10 years of waiting for an updated roster and 5 years for a X-themed Handbook, I really hope, it's the last time we will have to wait so longly.

It is now my turn to have a lot of questions about the roster :
First of all, what makes a team official, sub-group or unofficial ?

In-story: A declaration by the owner of the X-Men name (Professor X, then Storm, then Kitty Pryde, now likely back to Professor X now that he's been resurrected) or the officially appointed leader of the X-Men.

If there is no such clear cut declaration, we took each mutant group to editorial and extensive discussions were had in order to come up with a ruling.

RVcousin wrote:

Why is the Red Team considered as an official team, while the Blue team and the London team are only considered as sub-groups and that Magneto's Uncanny X-Men, Havok's Astonishing X-Men and Cyclops's Revolutionary team are not even considered as sub-groups.

Jean's team in X-Men Red was officially sanctioned by Kitty Pryde, who was the owner of the X-Men name at the time.

The blue team is complicated. Most of the time they were still students in training. From pretty much 1963 until the New Mutants, being a student of Xavier and an being an X-Men were synonymous. Ergo, while the original five were official X-Men, they were mostly treated as students/trainees when they came to their future due to their age and relative inexperience. When they went on their road trip in 2015's All-New X-Men and when they stopped seeking official sanction of Kitty in X-Men Blue, so their actions and members were never put up for official membership to be granted by the owner of the X-Men name. That's why they are considered a sub-team (though many of their members are still official team members).

The London team was never put up for official sanctioning. They gathered and disbursed before that could happen. Because of that, it's basically a group of official X-Men who banded together while not on an official roster to accomplish a goal.

Magneto's group is one that editorial admitted should have likely been an X-Force title. However, besides that - their actions as lethal killers set them outside of X-Men standards, so even if they were put up for official sanction, it would not have been granted to them by the then-owner of the X-Men, Storm (who distinctly disagrees with lethality, as shown in Second Coming and its epilogue).

Havok's group not being granted official membership was a plot point expressly detailed in the Astonishing title - Kitty refused to give it to them, and as the then-owner of the name, she had the right to refuse.

Cyclops' revolutionary team were operating outside of X-Men standards - this was an oft-occurring plot point in the titles at the time. Here's the basic result of the discussions with editorial about this group:
OHOTMU: "Cyclops' revolutionary mutant group from Uncanny X-Men (2013) called themselves X-Men but they were not an official roster since the official X-Men considered what they were doing to be antithetical to the true X-Men mission. How should we define them?"
EDITORIAL: "Well. This is a really complicated question. The book they were in was called X-Men, they called themselves the X-Men... I think we gotta say they were X-Men. Like if you want to put a note saying their status was disputed, you can do that. But the guy who ran that team is the same guy who runs the team now."
What was printed in the roster is an acknowledgement of Cyclops' long history with the team but also honoring the official X-Men at the time and their feelings that Cyclops' group were not acting as X-Men should.

RVcousin wrote:

Same qestion goes for the following ad-hocs groups, all named X-Men :
1) the First X-Men (from the limited series of that same name)

Never given official sanctioning by the owner of the X-Men name at the time.

RVcousin wrote:

2) Utopia's Protection Team (all said as X-Men by Cyclops during Second Coming in New Mutants (2009) #14

Not all moments when someone is called an X-Man during times of battle becomes official members. One has to consider what happens after, too. The characters who helped protect Utopia in that story were not included in any official rosters afterward. In fact, most returned to training to (hopefully) become X-Men someday. Moments like the one in New Mutants (2009) #14 are more of a tool the leader uses to rally people when they are needed most, not an official designation being granted.

RVcousin wrote:

3) Dead X-Men (from the Chaos War X-Men Limited Series)

Never given official sanctioning by the owner of the X-Men name at the time.

RVcousin wrote:

4) Jean Grey School Protection X-Men (considered as X-Men by Kitty Pryde in Wolverine & X-Men #14, like Warrior X said earlier today)

This is a case of the X-Men present and the employees of the school protecting their home, not an official/sub-official teaming. They were just protecting what was theirs. It's a bit like someone stopping a criminal from invading their home; that person does not become a member of law enforcement. They are simply protecting what is theirs.

RVcousin wrote:

5) In Phoenix Resurrection #2, there is X-Men (according to Kitty Pryde), separated in 5 sub-groups (black, silver, gold, yellow and blue)

Not official titles for sub-groupings. It was one mission where the collected X-Men had to separate to accomplish the unified team goal, not official separate organizations outside of the X-Men's operations.

RVcousin wrote:

About the memberships :
1) Lucid is in, as an honorary member, and I'm very happy for that, but why is she officially a member and not Fiz, Deadpool and Energizer, also "honorary members" ?

Honorary membership is not really an official status on the team roster unless it is granted by the owner of the X-Men name.

Lucid was granted honorary membership by Storm, who was the owner at the time, so we honor it here.

No one present had the power to grant any sort of membership to Luz.

Deadpool - He was never given membership of any kind. In fact, a big point of the story is that the X-Men repeatedly deny his requests.

Energizer's honorary status was not granted by Professor X (the owner at the time). And let's face it, it was given to her to make her less afraid and to trust the X-Men in those stories, not an official proclamation.

RVcousin wrote:

2) Kid Apocalypse became the X-Men leader during Axis

Nothing that took place while under the influence of a soul-twisting magical spell should be considered official.

RVcousin wrote:

3) why is Anole still an X-Men-in-Training, since he has graduated in Wolverine & the X-Men #42

Graduation does not equate X-Men membership. He never served on an official X-Men roster nor was he granted membership by the owner of the X-Men name. Pixie graduated in the same issue and her status on the team was announced. If he was given membership on the team, it would have been announced, too.

RVcousin wrote:

4) Alchemy was considered as an X-Man by Cyclops during Death of X (as mentioned by Rayeye)

Cyclops wasn't real. It was a psychic projection created by Emma Frost who called Alchemy an X-Man, but even if it had been the true Cyclops, he was not in a position of making an official declaration of membership at the time since he was on the outs with the X-Men. Same with Emma Frost.

RVcousin wrote:

5) For Krakoa (Hellfire Club's spawn), in Wolverine & the X-Men #3, he asked if he can join the X-Men

We can deduce membership was never granted, despite the request, because we never saw Krakoa's spawn active with any roster. Krakoa's spawn is more along the line of an Academy "employee" or ally of the team. Asking does not automatically result in membership, as proven by Deadpool.

RVcousin wrote:

6) About Fantomex & EVA, I am agree with you, but apparently the SHIELD isn't according to SHIELD (2014) #1, where Agent Coulson lists the former members of the X-Men and mention Fantomex & EVA.

Per the notes in the profile, they never accepted membership. Coulson likely saw them active with the X-Men and assumed they were official, or he was going off of incorect information he found in SHIELD databases. Long story short, the writer of that story likely used online sources for researching the X-Men roster (which are not vetted by Marvel), and pulled down incorrect fan-created material that wrongly listed them as members. Even if that hadn't been the case, Coulson isn't in any position to declare who is or isn't an X-Men member, so anyone he referred to in that scene wouldn't be granted membership because Coulson thought they were.

RVcousin wrote:

7) What about more recent Krakoan additions : young Cable (X-Men #1 and 2), Pyro (Allerdyce) (in X-Men/Fantastic Four LS) and Synch (in X-Men #5), and also the ones X of Swords (like Siryn and Unus).

Cable is listed in the X-Men roster. So far, all evidence is leading us to understand the Cable we have been reading about since the Extermination miniseries is the same Cable who we have been reading about since New Mutants #86, just from an earlier point in his history. Cable's solo series should be giving us more information about Cable in 2021.

Pyro (Allerdyce) has never joined the X-Men; he's a member of the Marauders team. Per the note in the membership: Current groups operating from Krakoa (such as Excalibur, New Mutants, X-Force, etc.), though largely comprised of X-Men members, have non-X-Men members who are not automatically granted X-Men membership. Pyro fits into the latter description. The Marauders were active in the X-Men/F4 limited series, true, but it apparently wasn't important enough to any mutants present in the story to explain/correct the distinction between the Marauders and X-Men to the Fantastic Four and Doctor Doom.

Synch, Siryn, and Unus have not been granted official membership in any in-story capacity; though they assisted mutant causes as official Krakoans, official membership has not been bestowed upon them.

RVcousin wrote:

That's all for now and once again thank you for making this Handbook existing and I really really hope there will be more X-Handbooks soon

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