Editing X-Men (section)

==Background and creation==
In 1963, with the success of [[Fantastic Four|the Fantastic Four]], co-creator [[Stan Lee]] wanted to create another group of superheroes. Unlike Lee's earlier creations such as [[Spider-Man]] who acquired their powers through scientific means, Lee decided that this new group of heroes were "[[Mutant (Marvel Comics)|mutants]]", born with powers as he had grown weary of creating separate origins for each superhero.<ref>{{cite web | title=Stan Lee |work=Archive of American Television | date=March 22, 2004 | url=http://www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/stan-lee# | access-date=January 4, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-03-26 |title=Stan Lee |url=https://www.arts.gov/stories/podcast/stan-lee |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240918102128/https://www.arts.gov/stories/podcast/stan-lee%23transcript |archive-date=2024-09-18 |access-date=2024-09-18 |website=National Endowment for the Arts |language=en}}</ref>

In a 1987 interview, Kirby said:

<blockquote>The X-Men, I did the natural thing there. What would you do with mutants who were just plain boys and girls and certainly not dangerous? You school them. You develop their skills. So I gave them a teacher, Professor X. Of course, it was the natural thing to do, instead of disorienting or alienating people who were different from us, I made the X-Men part of the human race, which they were. Possibly, radiation, if it is beneficial, may create mutants that'll save us instead of doing us harm. I felt that if we train the mutants our way, they'll help us – and not only help us, but achieve a measure of growth in their own sense. And so, we could all live together.<ref>''Conversations With The Comic Book Creators'' by Leonard Pitts, 1987; also published on ''The Kirby Effect: The Journal of the Kirby Museum'' website as [https://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/effect/2012/08/06/19867-kirby-interview/ "1986/7 Jack Kirby Interview"], 6 August 2012.</ref></blockquote>

Lee devised the series title after Marvel publisher [[Martin Goodman (publisher)|Martin Goodman]] turned down the initial name, "The Mutants," stating that readers would not know what a "mutant" was.<ref name="sonoforigins">{{Cite book | last1=Lee | first1=Stan | author2=Jack Kirby | others=John Buscema, Don Heck, Bill Everett, Gene Colan | title=Son of Origins of Marvel Comics | publisher=Marvel Comics | date=August 2005 | volume=1 | page=[https://archive.org/details/sonoforiginsofma0000lees/page/448 448] | isbn=0-671-22166-3 | url=https://archive.org/details/sonoforiginsofma0000lees/page/448 }}</ref>

Within the [[Marvel Universe]], the X-Men are widely regarded to have been named after [[Professor X]]. The original explanation for the name, as provided by Xavier in ''The X-Men'' #1 (1963), is that mutants "possess an extra power ... one which ordinary humans do not!! That is why I call my students ... X-Men, for EX-tra power!"<ref>''X-Men'' #1</ref>