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M-Day redirects here. For the NATO definition, see Military designation of days and hours

"Decimation" is the name of the late 2005 Marvel Comics crossover spinning out of the House of M limited series, that focuses on the ramifications of the Scarlet Witch's stripping nearly all of the mutant population of their powers, reducing a society of millions to one of scant hundreds. This event, which occurred on November 2nd according to X-Men (vol. 2) #191, is known as "M-Day" in the Marvel Universe.

"Decimation" began with the self-titled one-shot Decimation: House of M: The Day After, and heralded the relaunch of the Excalibur team in New Excalibur, focusing on Pete Wisdom looking for Captain Britain to head up a new British super team, as well as the relaunch of X-Factor from the MadroX miniseries. It also includes several mini-series - Son of M starring a depowered Quicksilver, Generation M focusing on other depowered characters, Sentinel Squad O*N*E showing the latest iteration of the mutant-hunting Sentinels to be robots piloted by humans, X-Men: Deadly Genesis, and X-Men: The 198 - and continues throughout the Marvel Universe, particularly in the X-Men-related titles. One consequence is an upswing of anti-mutant sentiment, especially among certain religious groups, who consider M-Day to be God's judgment against mutant kind.

It has been confirmed by various sources that there are considerably more than 198 mutants remaining - the number has been referred to as "symbolic" rather than actual, and in The 198 Files is said to be the earliest confirmed number. Numbers for pre-Decimation mutants vary from "over a million" (House of M #8) to 16 million (New X-Men #115, where it is said that the 16 million mutants who died on Genosha was around "half" the mutant population), giving a population, if the commonly-used 90% depowered figure is true, of between one hundred thousand and one and a half million.

Both Hank Pym and Beast note shortly after the event that it is impossible for the energy that certain mutants controlled to simply have vanished, and that it must have been "sent" somewhere. As would later be revealed, most of this energy became a sentient entity called "The Collective", who has since come into violent conflict with the Avengers. In addition, a portion of the energy revived the body of Gabriel Summers, who had been trapped in space for many years following the defeat of Krakoa.

Criticism

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The event was designed to reduce the number of mutant characters wandering around the Marvel Universe, which had been seen as unwieldy and also a lazy way for writers to bring in new superpowered characters, without spending the time to establish their origins. However, critics have pointed out that since most of the main mutant characters survived the Decimation intact, as did over one-hundred other mutant characters, there has been effectively no change at all, merely the illusion of change. There is still a huge supporting cast, and the vast majority of the depowered mutants were nothing but background characters anyway. The choice of the number 198 was rather arbitrary, as few fans can name 198 mutants on demand anyway. Furthermore, it has not always been clear whether a character was depowered or not. For example, in Generation M, several characters were shown to still have their physical mutation, but were still considered depowered. Arguments to the effect that Marvel is thinking more in terms of a general social change are undermined by the lack of focus on such issues in the post-Decimation titles. (Also, as Peter David pointed out in an issue of X-Factor, Marvel is using the term incorrectly: "decimation" refers to the destruction of ten percent of a group or population, and not ninety percent. However, it should be noted that in current English use, the word decimation can refer to an extreme reduction in the number of a population or force, usually far greater than the one tenth specified above.) Additionally, characters such as Namor and the Great Lakes Avengers, who are described as mutants but not particularly tied to the "X-series", have not been affected by the event.

Notable depowered mutants

While Wizard Magazine published a list of supposedly-decimated characters, it has been confirmed by Marvel sources that the list includes mutants who still have their powers, and also includes non-mutant characters. That list therefore should not be trusted.

Confirmed Remaining Mutants

The 198 Files

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Revealed elsewhere

Repowered

Callisto, Freakshow, Hub, Hack, Purge, Shola Inkosi, Wicked, Unus have all been repowered by the Terrigen Mists in the Son of M limited serie but that was not permanent. Unus was suffocated by his own powers.

Iceman is not repowered, since he never lost his powers in the first place. He just somehow sensed M-Day and developped a mental block, which suppressed his secondary mutation and blocked his powers.

Collected editions

Trade paperbacks

Hardcovers

Bibliography

• Decimation: House of M - The Day After (one-shot)
• Generation M #1-5
• Mutopia X #5
• New Excalibur #1-3
• New X-Men : Academy X #20-23
• Sentinel Squad O*N*E #1-5
• Son of M #1-6
• Uncanny X-Men #466-468
• Wolverine #36-40
• X-Factor #1-4
• X-Men #177-179
• X-Men: Deadly Genesis #1-6
• X-Men: The 198 #1-5
• X-Men: The 198 Files (one-shot)
• X-Men Unlimited #13

References

1. http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showpost.php?p=1152661&postcount=576
2. ^ Craig Kyle & Chris Yost (w), Mark Brooks (p), Jaime Mendoza with Jay Leisten (i). "Childhood's End" New X-Men (series 2), no. 21 (February 2006). Marvel Comics. Cite error: The named reference "newxmen21" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
3. ^ Craig Kyle & Chris Yost (w), Paco Medina (p), Juan Vlasco (i). "Crusade" New X-Men (series 2), no. 24 (May 2006). Marvel Comics. Cite error: The named reference "newxmen24" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
4. ^ David Hine (w), Jim Muniz (p), Kevin Conrad (i). "Untitled" X-Men: The 198, no. 2 (April 2006). Marvel Comics. Cite error: The named reference "xmen198-2" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
5. ^ Mike Carey (w), Chris Bachalo (p), Tim Townsend with Holdridge, Irwin, Mendoza, Olazaba & Vey (i). "Supernovas" X-Men (second series), no. 189 (September 2006). Marvel Comics. Cite error: The named reference "x-men189" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
6. ^ Peter Milligan (w), Salvador Larocca (p), Aron Lusen (i). "The Blood of Apocalypse" X-Men (second series), no. 183 (April 2006). Marvel Comics. Cite error: The named reference "x-men183" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
7. ^ Uncanny X-Men #466
8. ^ Craig Kyle & Chris Yost (w), Mark Brooks & Paul Pelletier (p), Jaime Mendoza with Jay Leisten (i). "Childhood's End" New X-Men (series 2), no. 23 (April 2006). Marvel Comics. Cite error: The named reference "newxmen23" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
9. ^ Peter Milligan (w), Salvador Larocca (p), Danny Miki & Allen Martinez (i). "House Arrest" X-Men (second series), no. 177 (January 2006). Marvel Comics. Cite error: The named reference "x-men177" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
10. Mike Carey (w), Chris Bachalo (p), Chris Bachalo, Tim Townsend, Al Vey, Jaime Mendoza, Sibal & Olazaba (i). "Supernovas" X-Men (second series), no. 188 (October 2006). Marvel Comics.
11. ^ David Hine (w), Jim Muniz (p), Conrad & Glapion (i). "Untitled" X-Men: The 198, no. 4 (June 2006). Marvel Comics. Cite error: The named reference "xmen198-4" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
12. ^ David Hine (w), Yanick Paquette (p), Serge LaPointe (i). "Untitled" Civil War: X-Men, no. 1 (September 2006). Marvel Comics. Cite error: The named reference "civilwarxmen1" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
13. ^ Craig Kyle & Chris Yost (w), Mark Brooks (p), Jaime Mendoza (i). "Childhood's End" New X-Men (series 2), no. 20 (January 2006). Marvel Comics. Cite error: The named reference "newxmen20" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
14. David Hine (w), Jim Muniz (p), Kevin Conrad (i). "Untitled" X-Men: The 198, no. 3 (May 2006). Marvel Comics.
15. ^ David Hine (w), Jim Muniz (p), Kevin Conrad (i). "Untitled" X-Men: The 198, no. 1 (March 2006). Marvel Comics. Cite error: The named reference "xmen198-1" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
16. Craig Kyle & Chris Yost (w), Mark Brooks (p), Jaime Mendoza with Jay Leisten (i). "Childhood's End" New X-Men (series 2), no. 22 (March 2006). Marvel Comics.
17. ^ Mike Carey (w), Chris Bachalo (p), Tim Townsend with Jaime Mendoza (i). "Supernovas" X-Men (second series), no. 188 (September 2006). Marvel Comics. Cite error: The named reference "x-men188" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
18. Peter Milligan (w), Salvador Larocca (p), Danny Miki & Allan Martinez (i). "House Arrest" X-Men (second series), no. 179 (February 2006). Marvel Comics.
19. Chris Claremont (w), Billy Tan (p), Jon Sibal (i). "Wand'ring Star" Uncanny X-Men, no. 470 (April 2006). Marvel Comics.
20. Ed Brubaker (w), Nilly Tan (p), Danny Miki (i). "The Rise & Fall of the Shi'ar Empire" Uncanny X-Men, no. 475 (September 2006). Marvel Comics.

External links

• Marvel.com - Official Decimation webpage
• UXN's "Generation M" issue summaries

• Marvel Comics
• Marvel Comics storylines
• X-Men storylines