Giant-Size X-Men (2025 event) Reading Order Checklist

Marvel Comics has a habit of mining its back catalogue of classic stories. For better and for worse, the publisher has dedicated a not-insignificant amount of their publishing slate to nostalgia-driven material in recent years. These revisit a classic period or story and tell new tales in the cracks between them, exploring new angles and celebrating anniversaries. Giant-Sized X-Men (2025 event) is one of those, with the crossover event celebrating a whopping four anniversaries.

The first is Giant-Size X-Men #1 from 1975, celebrating 50 years this year. But that’s not all, the classic Dark Phoenix Saga celebrates 45 years, the 90s favourite Age of Apocalypse reaches 30 years, and the X-Men/Avengers event House of M ticks over to 20 years old too. But how do you celebrate all these stories cohesively? You’ll have to read this event to find out, but it will involve Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan) and time travel.

Follow along with Ms. Marvel’s time-travelling adventure with this handy reading order. Not only does it highlight the recommended way to read this celebratory event, but also other handy details like background reading, details of preludes to future stories, and much more.

Is Giant-Size X-Men (2025 event) new reader-friendly?

This crossover comic will not be the best entry point into the X-Men. It celebrates the anniversaries of multiple classic stories, revisiting them from a different perspective. It’s the kind of story you will enjoy more if you’re familiar with the tales it revisits.

Check out the background reading section if you’re determined to do the reading before the 2025 event.

Revelations and hidden lore

The core story of this event will focus on a time-swept Ms. Marvel, who’s witnessing X-Men history firsthand. However, each issue will also have a back-up story that Marvel Comics calls “Revelations“. These explore a given period and reveal unknown details not disclosed in the original story. Some of these will go as far as to act as preludes for future X-Men stories, some of which will be set in the present day.

Giant-Size X-Men #1 cover by Gil Kane and Dave Cockrum.

Background reading

Giant-Size X-Men (2025 event) is a nostalgia-driven event. As a result, there’s plenty of background reading you can do, if you chose to do so. These are the stories I recommend:

Giant-Size X-Men #1
Written by Len Wein. Art by Dave Cockrum.

The X-Men comic featured only reprinted material for the first half of the 1970s. That changed with Giant-Size X-Men #1, featuring a story introducing many new characters to the team. The 1975 special is a turning point for Marvel’s mutants, which helped kick off Chris Claremont’s legendary 15-year run and make them one of the biggest comics.

Marvel has reprinted Giant-Size X-Men #1 as a facsimile edition multiple times. It’s also collected in X-Men Epic Collection: Second Genesis and Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men Volume 1.

The Dark Phoenix Saga
Written by Chris Claremont. Art by John Byrne.

The Dark Phoenix Saga is a classic story that saw Jean Grey become a twisted, all-powerful being after being possessed by the omnipotent Phoenix Force. The story is considered by many to be the greatest X-Men tale of all time. You can see if they were right by reading Uncanny X-Men #129-138.

Marvel has reprinted The Dark Phoenix Saga multiple times as a standalone trade paperback collection and as part of X-Men Epic Collection: The Fate Of The Phoenix and Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men Volumes 4-5.

Age of Apocalypse
Written and art by Various.

Age of Apocalypse was a 1995-1996 X-Men comic book event. Turning 30 this year, it replaced the X-Men line for a few months to tell of an alternate world where villain Apocalypse took over the world. I’ve written about it at length and it’s by far the most interesting X-Men comics of the era. Check out this reading order to learn how to read it.

House of M
Written by Brian Michael Bendis, Art by Oliver Coipel.

House of M is a X-Men and Avengers comic book series that turns 20 years-old in 2025. You can read more about it in our write up and learn how to read it with this handy reading order.

Giant-Size X-Men (2025) #1 cover by Adam Kubert.

Giant-Size X-Men (2025 event) reading order

Read Giant-Size X-Men (2025 event) in the following order, as seen below.

Giant Size X-Men (2025) #1 (Part 1)
Written by Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzig, and Al Ewing. Art by Adam Kubert and Sara Pichelli.
On sale 28th May

Giant Size Dark Phoenix Saga #1 (Part 2)
Written by Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzig, and Steve Foxe. Art by Rod Reis and Lucas Werneck.
On sale 11th June

Giant Size Age of Apocalypse #1 (Part 3)
Written by Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzig, and Jeph Loeb. Art by C.F. Villa and Simone Di Meo.
On sale 25th June

Giant Size House of M #1 (Part 4)
Written by Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzig, and Saladin Ahmed. Art by Francesco Manna and Martín Cóccolo.
On sale 16th July

Giant Size X-Men (2025) #2 (Part 5)
Written by Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzig, and Jed MacKay. Art by Adam Kubert and Cafu.
On sale 30th July

Buy Giant-Size X-Men on…

X-Men of Apocalypse Alpha #1 cover by Simone Di Meo.

After Giant-Size X-Men (2025 event)

Usually, I don’t need to put an “after” section in these nostalgia-driven event reading orders. They tend to be relatively self-contained. However, the Revelations back-up stories will set up stories in the present day of X-Men comics. Marvel teased these when they announced each issue, but have not yet pointed readers to where most of these will lead.

However, we know the back-up story for Giant Size Age of Apocalypse #1 by Jeph Loeb and Simone Di Meo will act as a springboard for X-Men of Apocalypse. This series will pick up directly after the classic 1995 event and explore what happened next.

X-Men of Apocalypse
Written by Jeph Loeb. Art by Simone Di Meo.
Begins in August, 2025.

Giant-Size House of M #1 is looking like it will act as a prelude to an upcoming Wolverine story and Giant-Size Dark Phoenix Saga #1 is likely to hint at an upcoming story in the pages of the Jean Grey solo series Phoenix. It’s unclear when these will happen. I’ll update this section when more is known.

Have your say

Share your thoughts in the comments below or via Bluesky, Facebook, X, or Mastodon.