Among Marvel's rare missteps, the the X-Men tapped into themes of identity and social justice. Even the Avengers, once a secondary team, organically rose to prominence through strong creative runs and cross-title synergy.

But for every organic success, Marvel has also faced its fair share of blunders. Events like Civil War II and Secret Empire received backlash for controversial character choices and underwhelming execution. Sometimes, the push to meet publishing goals or media tie-ins has led to forgettable stories or the sidelining of beloved characters. These moments serve as reminders that positive can’t be rushed or manufactured. More specifically, attempts to artificially elevate certain characters or groups like the Inhumans have failed to connect with readers, despite editorial insistence.

Marvel's Inhumans Have Never Reached The Same Level Of Popularity As The X-Men

The Inhumans Have Always Been Overshadowed By The X-Men's Massive Multimedia Popularity

Like the X-Men, the Inhumans are a genetically distinct offshoot of humanity whose latent powers are unlocked through a specific process or event, and they share a tense and distant relationship with humankind, seeking isolation to live in peace. The Inhumans made their comic book debut in 1965, only two years after the X-Men. Yet, the X-Men have completely overshadowed the Inhumans in of popularity and narrative prominence for over five decades

While the Inhumans remained relatively niche, the X-Men exploded in popularity after a major reinvention in Giant-Size X-Men #1 (1975), where writer Len Wein and artist Dave Cockrum introduced a brand-new and more diverse line-up. This new X-Men team laid the groundwork for the legendary run by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, which delivered iconic arcs like The Dark Phoenix Saga and Days of Future Past. With X-Men: The Animated Series and Fox’s X-Men films cementing the team's cultural impact, the X-Men have remained one of Marvel's most beloved and commercially successful franchises, second only, perhaps, to the Avengers.

Marvel Tried To Replace The X-Men With The Inhumans In The 2010s

Marvel Insisted On Making The Inhumans The Only Mutant-Like Characters In Their Universe

Fox's X-Men movie franchise helped the superhero movie genre establish itself as box office gold, and it reached new heights in the 2010s with movies like X-Men: First Class and X-Men: Days of Future Past. However, the Marvel Cinematic Universe was devouring the cinematic landscape at the time, and top Marvel Comics properties like the X-Men and the Fantastic Four were off-bounds for Marvel Studios. Not so coincidentally, Marvel sidelined the Fantastic Four and gave the Inhumans a major push following 2015's Secret Wars, and the Inhumans were given center stage while all mutantkind was endangered by the same Terrigen Mist that gave the Inhumans their powers.

Marvel went ahead with the plan to put the Inhumans in the spotlight with the storylines Inhumanity, which saw a new wave of Terrigen Mists awaken many Inhumans' dormant powers; Inhuman, where Medusa gathers all NuHumans; and Uncanny Inhumans, where the Inhumans officially take the place of the X-Men. Death of X dives into the transition, revealing that Cyclops and many other mutants died to the Terrigen Mists. Soon after, Inhumans vs X-Men fully pits both teams against each other, but the Inhumans ultimately decide to give up the Terrigen in order to spare the mutants' lives.

Marvel's Attempts To Make The Inhumans As Popular As The X-Men Missed One Key Detail

The Inhumans' Sudden Protagonism Was Unnatural

Marvel's sudden focus on the Inhumans was awkward at best. It came at a moment when fan interest in them was minimal, which only made the effort appear more like a corporate strategy than a natural response to reader demand. The X-Men's long-standing popularity stems from a mix of consistently strong storytelling and enthusiastic fan engagement, whereas the Inhumans never garnered comparable attention. In other words, Marvel's push for the Inhumans lacked the one element that made the X-Men so popular: organic interest in the characters.

Marvel's Abandoned Inhumans TV Show Was The Final Nail In The Characters' Coffin

Marvel Put Little Effort In The Payoff To The Inhumans' Comic Push

Marvel Studios initially announced an Inhumans movie around the same time that Marvel Comics began pushing the Inhumans to the forefront of its publishing line. However, the Inhumans movie was soon transformed into a television series. When Inhumans premiered in 2018, it was met with overwhelmingly negative reviews, which cited its poor writing, uninspired visuals, and evidently low budget. Inhumans failed to do its titular characters justice, both in of powers and personalities, and was swiftly canceled after just one season. Since then, the Inhumans have been largely abandoned in the MCU.

Marvel Studios also refused to integrate Agents of SHIELD and its Inhumans storyline into official MCU canon

Prior to 2018's Inhumans, ABC's Agents of SHIELD season 3 centered on the Inhumans and the Kree's intertwined history. The Inhumans and the Terrigen's mythos also played a significant role in Agents of SHIELD seasons 4 and 5, and the stage was set for a live-action version of the NuHumans to become important characters in the series. Unfortunately, Marvel Studios also refused to integrate Agents of SHIELD and its Inhumans storyline into official MCU canon, and despite its popularity, the show ended in 2020 with no ties to the broader franchise.

Marvel's Attempts To Make The Inhumans An A-List Property Only Caused The Opposite Effect

The Inhumans' Failed Replacement Of Mutants Made Readers Grow Tired Of Them

The Inhumans’ lack of mainstream popularity, their inherently antagonistic role, and the poor quality of the storylines in question only made readers more inclined to side with the X-Men. To make matters worse, the conflict between the two groups felt heavily skewed against the mutants. The Inhumans, an archaic and privileged society, refused to save mutantkind from a certain death caused by their own source of power until the last minute. As a result, the poorly-timed conflict painted the X-Men as the underdogs, further distancing readers from the Inhumans.

Kamala Khan’s ambiguous origin was ultimately revealed to be a hybrid of mutant and Inhuman. Still, Ms. Marvel was retconned into mutant history, making her a retroactive member of the X-Men.

Following the failed attempt to replace the X-Men with Inhumans, Marvel restored mutantkind and undid many of the drastic changes made to their lore. The Terrigen Mist was no longer lethal to mutants, Cyclops returned, and internal divisions among the X-Men were resolved. NuHumans stopped proliferating, and the Inhumans quietly returned to their traditional, smaller role within the Marvel Universe. By the 2020s, the most notable appearance by an Inhuman came in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, where Scarlet Witch — a long-implied mutant — killed Black Bolt in a humiliating fashion.