The X-Men may be used to protecting a world that hates and fears them, but they were blindsided by the Eternals attacking them and the Avengers in the ongoing event A.X.E.: Judgment Day. This is a major oversight, as the Eternals came close to wiping out the X-Men once before.

The X-Men have spent decades of publication history fighting for Charles Xavier's dream of a world where humans and mutants can coexist peacefully. They have fought human mad scientists, supervillains, killer robots, invading aliens, and demons from Limbo. However, one of their own came closest to defeating the X-Men for good, when Wanda Maximoff removed the powers of 99 percent of the mutant population in the tragic aftermath of 2005's House of M event by Brian Michael Bendis and Olivier Coipel. A string of subsequent attacks by their enemies left them weakened, and mutantkind came perilously close to extinction during 2010's Second Coming event. Despite triumphing against a coalition of their cybernetic foes in that event, the X-Men found themselves facing annihilation shortly after - at the hands of the Eternals' creations.

Related: Marvel Confirms: The Eternals Are Secretly The X-Men's Oldest Enemies

Writer Christopher Yost and artists Paco Medina and Dalibor Talajic created a story running through X-Men Giant Size #1 and X-Men (vol. 3) #12-15, where the X-Men battled a mysterious and powerful new foe, a race known as the Evolutionaries. The Evolutionaries were created millions of years ago by the Eternal Phastos in order to protect the struggling early humans. It is revealed that the Evolutionaries were given the task of safeguarding the human subspecies farthest along the evolutionary track from those who would harm them. Mutantkind fits the bill in modern times, both due to their advanced status, and their imperilment. The Evolutionaries decide to blame Cyclops and the X-Men, as mutantkind's unofficial leaders, for the sad state the species is in and target the heroes for destruction.

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The X-Men triumph in the end, and Cyclops defiantly tells the Evolutionaries that mutantkind doesn't need them because the X-Men will always be there to protect their kind, bringing the conflict to a close. However, recent events show that the X-Men should have paid more attention to Eternals, as the X-Men are again close to destruction due to Eternals and their creations. In many ways, this arc served as the prototype for the current storyline: the X-Men are living secluded on a mutant island nation, with mutantkind reeling from recent crises, when they are unexpectedly attacked by Eternals and/or Eternal-created weapons, passing judgment on the X-Men. The salient difference is that the Evolutionaries attacked the X-Men because they viewed them as having failed to protect mutantkind from near-extinction; now, Druig's Eternals are trying to cause mutantkind's end.

This adventure raises some interesting concerns given the current Judgment Day conflict between the Eternals and the X-Men. Phastos's creations were so secret that Xavier allowed the Evolutionaries to mindwipe him and the X-Men after their first encounter early in their careers. With Eternal secrets coming to light, particularly regarding their relationship with mutantkind, there will likely never be a better opportunity to revisit the Evolutionaries, particularly with all the changes that Krakoa has brought. Perhaps the Evolutionaries will turn on their former creators in order to fulfill their duty and protect mutantkind. With the mutants united, immortal and prospering thanks to the likes of Xavier, Magneto, Cyclops, and others, it's doubtful that the Evolutionaries would side with the Eternals and try to destroy the X-Men this time.