History ComicBook / AstonishingXMen

** Ord is the main antagonist in the "Gifted" arc. To fulfill his objective of driving the mutant population to extincion, he conducts a series of illegal experiments to develop a serum that inhibits the mutant gene.

* ComicBookTime: The Whedon run suffered badly from ScheduleSlip, which makes fitting it into wider X-Men continuity a notorious nightmare. The run appears to take place over a matter of weeks at most, but the "Danger" arc begins with Xavier and Magneto still hanging out homoerotically on Genosha (so prior to ''ComicBook/HouseOfM''), and the final issue has ComicBook/SpiderMan making a joke about ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' having happened. To be fair, even if the book had been biweekly, this would have happened to a lesser extent due to the nature of the medium.

** The panel in which Kitty strikes a pose and says "Now it's '''my''' turn" is a reference to the final panel of ''Uncanny X-Men #132''.

** At the end of #15 the whole team is incapacitated except for Shadowcat whose fist-clenched pose in the sewer is a direct reference to Wolverine's in Uncanny X-Men #132.
--->'''Kitty:''' Now it's my turn.

-->'''Kitty:''' Now it's my turn.

** When Piotr introduces Kitty to Dafi, the girl asks "[[WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck Like the duck]]?"

* BilingualBonus: Wolverine is "sparring" with the students in the Danger Room training facility:
-->'''Wolverine''' (with his claws stopped millimeters from Hisako's eyes): My claws'll pierce your armor, but not the rest of me. What's that stuff made of?
-->'''Hisako''': It's... my family. I... I mean. the line of my ancestors passes this strength, this protection that I can access, it's hard to... you didn't *know* you wouldn't go through?
-->'''Wolverine''': What am I, research guy? It all worked out.
-->'''Hisako''': I coluld be dead!
-->'''Match''' (at the bottom of a pile of exhausted and beaten students): Dead sounds nice...

* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: When Colossus and Kitty finally consummate their relationship, it turns out Colossus, the teams NiceGuy, is such a talented lover he causes Kitty to subconsciously activate her power and phase through the floor. When they have sex again in Breakworld, Kitty gushes to him afterwards about what a great lover he is.

* BeginWithAFinisher: A giant Sentinel robot attacks the X-Mansion, where there are no civilians to protect and nothing in the line of fire with trees, so Cyclops simply takes off his visor and unleashes the full power of his [[EyeBeams optic blasts]]. Nothing is left but a crater.

* AuthorAppeal: Kitty Pryde returns to the team and [[spoiler:is the one person who manages to save the Earth]] during the end of Whedon's run. Joss has already stated that she is his favorite X-Man and one of the main inspirations for characters like [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Buffy Summers]] and [[Series/{{Firefly}} River Tam]].

** Colossus is resurrected by Ord, who intends to experiment on his body in order to develop a serum that can inhibit mutations.

--> '''Colossus:''' I am made of rage!

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Male example in Piotr. Despite being horribly tortured, experimented on and imprisoned for years he's still as handsome as ever with no visible scarring, and he somehow managed to maintain his muscular physique, as Emma points out.

* FunnyBackgroundEvent: The Danger Room serves as a font of these for the first few issues. [[spoiler:Given a CerebusRetcon when it's revealed that this is the Danger Room's emerging sentience rebelling against it's eternal imprisonment in the only way it can.]]

* CruelMercy: Scott's plan for Kaga. Since he hates his life so much and is willing to take himself out in his plans, Scott plans to keep alive as long as possible when they catch him.

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Male example in Piotr. Despite being horribly tortured, experimented on and imprisoned for years hes still as handsome as ever with no visible scarring, and he somehow managed to maintain his muscular physique, as Emma points out.

* AuthorAppeal: Kitty Pryde returns to the team and [[spoiler:is the one person who manages to save the Earth]] during the end of Whedon's run. Joss has already stated that she is his favorite X-Man and one of the main inspirations for Buffy.

* BiggusDickus: Colossus is rather well endowed, judging by Kitty's comment after their sex scene.
-->'''Kitty Pryde''': You're more than I could have imagined. And I've imagined.

* HazyFeelTurn: The first two arcs heavily imply that Emma Frost has a hidden agend and is planning to turn on the X-Men. "Torn" reveals that [[spoiler:this was all due to Cassandra Nova messing with her mind, and she genuinely loves the team]]. However, her morality is brought into question once again at the end of the "Unstoppable" arc, when she convinces Danger to help the heroes by [[spoiler:offering to personally deliver Professor Xavier to her]].

* AdaptationalSuperpowerChange: In ''ComicBook/NewXMen'', Negasonic Teenage Warhead is shown to have the ability to foresee the future through her psychic dreams. In "Torn", this is changed so that she is instead a RealityWarper who can make her dreams come true. [[spoiler:Subverted when it's later revealed that both Negasonic and her new powers were actually just an illusion created by Emma Frost while the latter is under Cassandra Nova's influence]].

* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: Emma Frost threatens to give Langford a paraphilia as revenge for not being invited to his party. Later on, wh en the Benetech soldiers have the X-Men cornered, she compels them to vomit uncontrollably whenever they hear the words "parsley", "intractable" and "longitude". Her tendency to use her psionic powers to give people ridiculous compulsions is lampshaded by Scott.
--> '''Scott:''' My girlfriend is really weird...

* MrFanservice: Colossus is the main source of fanservice. He is given multiple shirtless scenes throughout the comic and even spends the first 3 issues of his resurrection wearing nothing but a tight red speedo, with quite a few panels displaying loving close ups of his ass and muscles. Emma even compliments him on his physique several times.

* MrFanservice: Colossus is the main source of fanservice. He is given multiple shirtless scenes throughout the comic and even spends the first 3 issues of his resurrection wearing nothing but a tight red speedo. Emma even compliments him on his physique several times.

* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: Emma Frost threatens to give Langford a paraphilia as revenge for not being invited to his party. Later on, when the Benetech soldiers have the X-Men cornered, she compels them to vomit uncontrollably whenever they hear the words "parsley", "intractable" and "longitude". Her tendency to use her psionic powers to give people ridiculous compulsions is lampshaded by Scott.

-->'''Kitty Pryde''': You're more than I could have imagined. And I've imagined.

It also focused on the building relationship of Cyclops ([[TheLeader Scott Summers]]) and [[ByronicHero Emma]] [[ManipulativeBitch Frost]] following their psychic affair and the death of his wife, Phoenix (Jean Grey); with Emma seemingly working as a [[TheMole mole]] for a new Hellfire Club, Scott tries to return the X-Men to a traditional superhero team, using Kitty, [[TheBigGuy Peter]], and Emma, along with Beast ([[TheSmartGuy Hank [=McCoy=]]]) and Franchise/{{Wolverine}} ([[BreakoutCharacter you know who he is]]) as his core team.