Decimation

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

Decimation event logo, as shown on the covers of tie-in comics

Decimation is the name of the late 2005 Marvel Comics storyline 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 2 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 14 million (New X-Men #115, where it is said that the 16 million mutants who died on Genosha was around "over half" of the estimated global mutant population of 30 million mutants), giving a population, if the commonly-used 90% depowered figure is true, of between one hundred thousand and one and a half million. Based on the mathematical comparisons of the oft-repeated 198 and several million, Marvel has recently reevaluated the 90% figure into "Over 99%". This is shown in Civil War: Battle Damage Report when Iron Man comments on the Post-CW world. The figure may be reevaluated again depending on events taking place in the upcoming Endangered Species and X-Men: Messiah Complex storylines.

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 in New Avengers, 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

According to Marvel Editor-In-Chief, Joe Quesada, the Decimation event was designed to reduce the number of mutant characters in the Marvel Universe as he felt the number of mutants had gotten out of hand after forty years of publishing.^[1] Most criticisms by fans have been aimed at inconsistencies regarding the roster of mutants who retained their powers after the event. For example, in the Generation M mini-series, several characters were considered depowered, even though they retained their physical mutations. The Civil War Files one-shot revealed that the US government's assessment of the number of mutants on Earth may not be accurate, which allowed Marvel to change the number of depowered mutants. Additionally, characters such as Namor and the Great Lakes Avengers, who are described as mutants but not particularly tied to the X-Men series of books, have not been affected by the event.

Notable Depowered Mutants

Wizard Magazine published a speculative list of supposedly-decimated characters, which Marvel Comics dismissed as including a number of mutants who still have their powers^[2] and also includes non-mutant characters. The list therefore should not be trusted.

     Those mutants remain active while depowered or have not been confirmed repowered

     Those mutants got their powers back

     Those mutants were remutated

     Those depowered mutants are dead

     Those mutants are dead but were repowered at the time

     Those mutants are dead but were remutated at the time

Notes:

• Domina, Electric Eve, Revenant, Toad-In-Waiting are presumed depowered following Wizard's list but haven't been confirmed on panel.
• Sunfire, while depowered long before M-Day because of Rogue was listed among the energies in the Collective. Seeing that Rogue still has his powers how this is possible remains unknown.
  

  Sunfire, listed among other depowered mutants in New Avengers #19
• It is not clear which powers Black Tom Cassidy has lost. While he has surely lost his tree form/plant control power, he may have only been mimicking his energy power against New Excalibur as it was said he used Black Air technology.
• According to the New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #12 Wild Child may have retained some of his powers since he gained some of them through genetic manipulation during his Alpha Flight and Weapon X days.
• The only students at Xavier's who are still powered were shown in New X-Men vol. 2, #23. That means that despite not being shown on panel Kidogo, Flubber and Rain Boy are depowered. Any other student but the ones listed either here or in the powered section either died prior to M-Day or are depowered. The ones who died on the bus weren't shown before (Amber for instance) except for DJ, Dryad, Network, Rubbermaid, Tag.
• Many mutants still remain active although they are depowered, they include the New Warriors Blackwing, Tempest, Wondra and Wind Dancer, the X-Cell as well as Brass and El Aguila as reported in Civil War: Battle Damage Report
• It has been revealed in the Endgangered Species storyline that latent mutants, such as Charlotte Jones, have also lost their X-gene after Decimation.

Confirmed Remaining Mutants

While it has been stated that there are at least 198 remaining mutants, according to Henry Peter Gyrich, there are actually "around 300"; the 198 number is merely the number of mutants the US government has catalogued, with a 199th mutant being off the record.^[4] However, only 192 mutants have in fact been confirmed within the actual story material; and 20 of said mutants have died post-Decimation. The confirmed remaining mutants are as follows:

Mutants who arrived post-Decimation
The following mutants entered the 616 Marvel universe post-Decimation, and thus were unaffected by the decimation:

Notes:

• All of the mutants from alternate timelines who entered the 616 universe pre-Decimation are powered according to X-Men: Endangered Species.
• Despite sometimes being called so, Deadpool, Juggernaut, Lady Deathstrike, Mastermind Excello, Mister Sinister, and any member of the Folding Circle or the original members of Psionex are not mutants.
• In the X-Men: Phoenix - Warsong limited series it was revealed that the Stepford Cuckoos were actually Weapon XIV of the Weapon Plus Project. With this information also came the revelation that the girls were genetic daughters/clones of Emma Frost. They were harvested from 1000 of her eggs, and they had 995 other identical mutant siblings. Ultimately at the climax of the story all but the 3 original living Cuckoos perished.
• The Owl may or may not be a mutant, as his powers supposedly came from a serum he ingested, and there have been both mutants like the Beast, and mutates like the Lizard, who have similar origins for their abilities. The exact nature of his powers has yet to be confirmed, though it should be noted that in the Age of Apocalypse, he possesses the exact same powerset as an assassin for Apocalypse, in a reality where genetically human mutates were extremely rare.
• Asp actually fears the Superhuman Registration Act (which Mr Fantastic, at the time, prevented to pass), not the Mutant Registration Act in the Acts of Vengeance crossover, the exact nature of her power is still unknown and has yet to be revealed .
• Cloak & Dagger are listed as science/magic-based mutates in Civil War: Battle Damage Report but have otherwise long been established in the main Marvel continuity as latent mutants whose powers were activated by drugs developed by the demon D'Spayre. Their mutant nature was also confirmed in the Age of Apocalypse limited series, where they were part of Sinister's Six. Similarly Namor the Sub-Mariner was said to be the first official mutant in House of M. Since both reality diverged after the characters' respective births this confirms their status as mutants in the main Marvel continuity as well.
• The Black Cat, Mimic, and the Purple Man have all been called both mutants and mutates. Mimic, who hasn't shown any power since M-Day but was a Thunderbolt detainee, which suggest he had some, was claimed to be a latent mutant whose powers were activated by accidental exposure to experimental gases as a young boy in his father's lab by former head X-writer Scott Lobdell. The still powered Purple Man gained his after a similar accident since he introduced himself as a mutant when he met X-Man (which he had no real reason to lie about and which was not disputed by Nate Grey when he read his memories), his daughter Purple Girl, who inherited the exact same powers is a confirmed genetic mutant, though numerous mutates have given powers to their children. Black Cat had her powers triggered through mechanical means but is unclear whether or not it was a latent mutation, her powers were stripped long before M-Day in exchange for catlike abilities anyway.
• Franklin Richards and Cable were depowered before M-Day but remain genetic mutants. Cable has since found a way to mimic his powers through technological means.
• Living Monolith is actually a human whose DNA was artificially spliced with the mutant genomes of Havok by Apocalypse's then servant Mister Sinister (who also added some mutant DNA to his own at times). In the same way Andreas Strucker had his powers added in vitro, as the same way for Quake. As such they are all mutates.
• Cassandra Nova and Ultra Girl do not belong to the human species and as such are not "Homo Superior" mutants. Ultra Girl is a Kree mutant while Cassandra, as Professor Xavier's dark twin belongs to the Mummudrai species while in the Here Comes Tomorrow storyline, it was implied she had been reeducated and transformed into Ernst, which despite later retcons, has not yet been conclusively disproven, so Ernst can still be considered a mutant for now.
• The original Cyber's body died long ago and only his spirit now exists. He is classified as a mutant because he currently lives in the body of the mutant Milo Gunderson in the same way as Shatterstar, who inhabits the body of a mutant, Benjamin Russell (they are physically identical though the exact nature of their connection -whether they be twins, clones, or split-personalities-has yet to be revealed) was listed as one of them in X-Men: The 198 Files.
• The Civil War: Battle Damage Report made no mention of if any mutant referenced remained powered, although several were listed as potential recruits for The Initiative. It is clear with Moonstar's inclusion in the Initiative that being powered is not the sole factor in being part of the program. Plus, some mutants, such as El Aguila and Brass, are well-trained enough or sufficiently armed to fight crime without mutant powers.
• The Gibbon, Doug & Jerry, Irving have been shown as retaining their physical mutation, but showed no sign of their former mutant abilities, likewise Bandit, Dark Mother (deceased), Quiet Bill (deceased), Scarlet Witch, and Timeslip appeared on panel but showed no powers. As such, their status is unknown.
• Harpoon was confirmed depowered in New Avengers #18, but has since reappeared as a member of the Marauders. It is unknown if he has since been repowered, cloned, or if he's simply fighting powerless with a weapon. The same question is raised for Black Tom Cassidy who may have only been mimicking his energy power against New Excalibur as it was said he used Black Air technology.
• Despite heavy fan speculation Debrii, Speed, Typhoid Mary, and Wiccan have not been confirmed as mutants as of yet.
• It is unknown what exactly Hollow is. Originally explained a prisoner of Emplate, the creature was retconned into being M II imprisoned by Emplate who attacked her and created the Penance shell around her. M II was freed from the Penance shell, and the St. Croix twins went inside it, becoming Penance, in order to make up the wrong that was done to their sister. When they later were freed from the Penance shell, it was discovered that the shell was autonomous. It remains to be seen whether Hollow is a living creature, some mystic device, a magical creation, etc.
• Madame Web is a human who was able to reach her human psychic potential. She has never been called a mutant in the comics, nor has there ever been any indication that she possesses an X-Gene. Recent Handbooks have referred to her as a mutant, making them the only such contradiction, but nothing in-continuity has yet to indicate her mutant status.
• Only 4 Tao-Yu brothers are still alive as of Cable/Deadpool #8^[76]. It is not known as of yet which brother is dead.

Unconfirmed Mutants

Mutants whose official mutant status has not been confirmed since M-Day. Current Marvel policy is to suspect the following mutants powered until official confirmation, especially the ones who were listed in an Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z and not stated as depowered.