"The Phalanx Covenant" was a

crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Albums and songs * ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album) * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album) * ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album) * ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...

storyline that ran through

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

X-Men The X-Men are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, first appearing in ''The X-Men'' #1 by artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby and writer/editor Stan Lee in 1963. Although initially cancelled in 1970 due to lo ...

family of books in September and October 1994. One of its unique aspects was that the X-Men themselves only played a minor role in the story.

Plot

The X-Men are attacked by

mutant In biology, and especially in genetics, a mutant is an organism or a new genetic character arising or resulting from an instance of mutation, which is generally an alteration of the DNA sequence of the genome or chromosome of an organism. It ...

-hating humans who have used the alien Warlock's techno-organic

Phalanx The phalanx ( grc, φάλαγξ; plural phalanxes or phalanges, , ) was a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, sarissas, or similar pole weapons. The term is particularly ...

virus to turn into techno-organic beings themselves. With these powers, the Phalanx are able to change their shape and assimilate organic matter. The Phalanx are also a hive mind and they are programmed to destroy all mutants. The Phalanx Covenant was told in three separate storylines: *''Generation Next'': With the X-Men gone,

Banshee A banshee ( ; Modern Irish , from sga, ben síde , "woman of the fairy mound" or "fairy woman") is a female spirit in Irish folklore who heralds the death of a family member, usually by screaming, wailing, shrieking, or keening. Her name i ...

Emma Frost Emma Grace Frost is a fictional Character (arts), character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, most commonly in association with the X-Men. The character first appeared in ''The Uncanny X-Men'' #129 (Jan. 1980), and was ...

Jubilee A jubilee is a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term is often now used to denote the celebrations associated with the reign of a monarch after a milestone number of y ...

and Sabretooth have to save the next generation of mutants from the Phalanx agents led by Harvest. This storyline also planted the seeds for Marvel's next mutant title,

Generation X Generation X (or Gen X for short) is the Western demographic cohort following the baby boomers and preceding the millennials. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1960s as starting birth years and the late 1970s to early 1980s a ...

. *''Life Signs'': X-Factor,

Excalibur Excalibur () is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes also attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Britain. It was associated with the Arthurian legend very early on. Excalibur and the Sword in th ...

and

X-Force X-Force is a fictional team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, most commonly in association with the X-Men. Conceived by writer/illustrator Rob Liefeld, the team first appeared in '' New Mutants'' #100 ...

discover that the Phalanx are losing their hive-mind programming and are becoming more and more independent and alien. The rogue Phalanx Douglock takes Forge, Wolfsbane and

Cannonball A round shot (also called solid shot or simply ball) is a solid spherical projectile without explosive charge, launched from a gun. Its diameter is slightly less than the bore of the barrel from which it is shot. A round shot fired from a lar ...

on a mission to prevent the Phalanx Shinar from contacting the alien Phalanx. *''Final Sanction'':

Cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

Wolverine The wolverine (), (''Gulo gulo''; ''Gulo'' is Latin for " glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is a muscul ...

, Cyclops, and

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

reunite to rescue the X-Men by infiltrating the main base of the Phalanx.

Tie-in issues

''Generation Next'' *''

Uncanny X-Men ''Uncanny X-Men'', originally published as ''The X-Men'', is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics since 1963, and is the longest-running series in the X-Men comics franchise. It features a team of superheroes called the X- ...

'' #316 *''

'' #36 *''Uncanny X-Men'' #317 *''X-Men'' #37 ''Life Signs'' *'' X-Factor'' #106 *''

'' #38 *''

'' #82 ''Final Sanction'' *''

'' (vol. 2) #85 *''

'' #16

Collected editions

The comics were collected into the ''Origin of Generation X'' trade paperback, published in 1996. A second printing was published on June 1, 2001 ().

Related issues

* The X-Tinction Agenda: included events which led to the creation of the Phalanx. * ''Uncanny X-Men'' #291: Steven Lang is recruited from an institution to guide the mutant-hating group who will become the Phalanx. * ''Uncanny X-Men'' #305–306, and 312–313: The X-Men battle early Phalanx prototypes and face the real deal for the first time. * ''Excalibur'' #78–80: Douglock joins Excalibur.

In other media

*This storyline was re-imagined by Marvel in illustrated novel form on October 17, 1995. *''The Phalanx Covenant'' was adapted into the two-part fifth-season premiere of the X-Men animated series with Beast as the central character. The Phalanx were conceived to be fully alien and not mutant hating humans who were infected with the technology, becoming more like the Technarchy, with

Cameron Hodge Cameron Hodge is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is usually depicted as an opponent of the X-Men. Created by writer Bob Layton and artist Jackson Guice, he first appeared as a s ...

working along with them serving much the same role as in the comics. During the two parter, Beast teams up with Warlock, Forge (part of X-Factor), Mr Sinister, Amelia Voght (who was working on Muir Island at the time) and Magneto. *The Phalanx were also the primary inspiration for the 1995 Sega Genesis

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

, '' X-Men 2: Clone Wars''.

Trivia

* In the Season Two premiere of ''

Boy Meets World ''Boy Meets World'' is an American coming-of-age sitcom created by Michael Jacobs and April Kelly that aired on ABC for seven seasons between September1993 and May2000. The series centers on Cory Matthews (Ben Savage) and his friends and fami ...

'', Cory's class is assigned with reading ''Uncanny X-Men'' #316 and comparing it to the ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Iliad'', th ...

''. {{Marvel Animated Universe